Free Republic

Even when Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals does the right thing - as it did Monday in denying convicted killer Kevin Cooper a hearing on yet another of his dubious appeals - there is always a judge, or in this case five, on the court with an overly active imagination. And those judges don't help the court's results-oriented reputation. On June 2, 1983, Kevin Cooper escaped from the California Institution for Men at Chino where he was serving time under a phony name for burglary. He hid out at a Chino Hills home until June 4, when he broke into...

Saddam Hussein’s trial for crimes against humanity began before the Iraqi Special Tribunal on October 19, 2005. On November 5, 2006, the former Iraqi dictator was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. Hussein’s appeal was rejected on December 26, 2006 and he was ordered executed within 30 days. On December 30, 2006, Hussein was hanged. The Iraqis bungled the hanging, but justice was carried out in less than 15 months.Compare Hussein’s trial – and remember, he had the blood of tens of thousands of people on his hands – with the trial of GA rape suspect, Brian Nichols,...

BEFORE YOU ASK, I'll answer your questions: Why not sentence convicted murderers to life without parole, so that they'll be locked up where they can't hurt anyone else? Clarence Ray Allen, who is scheduled for execution at San Quentin State Prison on Tuesday, is living proof that a convicted killer can snuff out the lives of innocent people from behind bars. In 1977, Allen began serving a life sentence for the murder of his son's 17-year-old girlfriend -- her punishment for confessing to a victim robbed by the Allen gang. Allen then concocted a scheme he thought would set him...

Former death row inmate fights to avoid return trip to prison Tuesday, July 5, 2005 By Mike Robinson The Associated Press Aaron Patterson walked out of prison two years ago, a free man with a pardon from Gov. George Ryan and a chance to start fresh. But the happy ending never came for Patterson, whose story of torture by police and long years on death row helped to launch an emotional campaign against the death penalty in Illinois. These days, the 40-year-old Patterson sits glumly in a federal jail awaiting the start of jury selection today in a drug...