In the approximately 10 years I spent trying cases before the international tribunals, I got out of touch with the criminal justice system in Houston. Now that I'm back, I see that there are more mentally ill people in the system than when I left. A whole lot more.
Last weekend, my psychologist interviewed three defendants in the Harris County Jail. He says two are incompetent to stand trial.
One is charged with assaulting a police officer. It's the second time he's been charged with that. In 2004, he was found incompetent, sent to a state hospital and returned after he was treated and returned to competency, he pled guilty.
The other is charged with drug dealing. He thinks he's the "Earth King."
Both have been through the system many times before.
Just about any felony judge and just about any intellecually honest prosecutor or defense attorney will admit that the holdover cells in the courthouse are filled with people who have severe mental illness, many of whom self medicate with cocaine. Nationwide, taxpayers probably spend billions of dollars annually to lock up the non-violent mentally ill. Given the number of pills taken by some of my clients, the county's pharmacy bill alone must be staggering.
OK, I understand that a lot of mentally ill people can be violent and dangerous. We need secure facilities for them, but perhaps they should be more hospital-like than prison-like. The goal should be to treat people, get them out of the criminal justice system and work towards a return to society.
We have had untreated more and more mentally people on the streets since the 1960s, when Gov. Ronald Reagan started closing mental hospitals and putting the patients on the streets. The theory was that it would be cheaper and more humane to treat them with medications through local programs han it was to keep them hospitalized with Nurse Ratchett.
The only problem is that there has never been enough funding for local treatment programs.
The end result is that these folks include many if not most of the homeless. They're often dirty and strange looking. Nobody wants them in front of their business, stores or restaurants. So, there's pressure to get them off the streets.
Add that to the self medicating and you have a revolving door to the jailhouse.
I don't have the answers. If I did, I'd run against Gov. Goodhair and, hopefully get more than 39 percent of the votes. But, as a society, we owe these, often the least of our brethern, something better than the Harris County Jail.
There needs to be someplace other than the criminal justice system to deal with these people.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Malmedy and al-Queda
Malmedy is a word that most people won't recognize today. But once, it was a rallying cry for the U.S. Army and its aftermath have important lessons for prisoners captured as part of the War on Terror.
Malmedy is a small town in Belgium. During the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, SS troops massacred about 85 American prisoners of war near that city. The troops were commanded by SS Lt. Col. Joachim Pieper. After the war, more massacres came to light and it generally is accepted that Pieper's troops killed about 315 American POWs and another 110 civilians during the battle.
For Pieper and his stormtroopers, the Malmedy massacre probably was only a slight unpleasantness. After all, compared to what they had done on the Russian Front, it was small potatoes.
However, the American authorities took a different view. When Pieper and his troops were captured after the German surrender in May 1945, they were transferred to the Dachau concentration camp for trial. Pieper, his division commander and about 75 other SS men were tried. Forty-three, including Pieper, were sentenced to hang. Another 22 got life sentences and eight received lesser sentences.
In my opinion, if the defendants were guilty, the sentences were richly deserved. If I had been there, I gladly would have pulled on the rope to hang Pieper.
Now, the rest of the story.
After the trial, allegations surfaced that Pieper and his men were tortured, kept on starvation diets and put through mock trials in order to extract confessions. The Supreme Court considered the case but the vote was a tie, with four voting to vacate the sentences and four voting to affirm. The ninth justice, Robert Jackson, had been the lead prosecutor at the Nuremberg Tribunal and recused himself.
The Secretary of the Army appointed a commission headed by a Texas judge to investigate. While the commission did not take a public stand on the allegations of torture, it did confirm the mock trials. Later, a subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee investigated and agreed with commutation of all of the death sentences. No one seriously contested the defendants' guilt.
All of the defendants eventually walked out of prison. Pieper was the last, after serving about 11 years. He went to work for Porsche and a Volkswagen dealer. He eventually moved to France, where he was killed in 1976 during a firebomb attack on his home.
Why is the story of Malmedy important to how we deal with al-Queda and other terrorists? It's because Americans are a fair people who at the end of the day will come out for justice over revenge.
We've heard and read horrible stories about the torture of al-Queda prisoners by the U.S. and its agents. Aside from the fact that torture is illegal, immoral and stupid, I'm afraid that someday one of the terrorists responsible for 9/11 will walk out the door because of his treatment.
Torture is illegal both under US law and the Torture Convention. It's immoral and if someone needs me to explain why, I can never convince them that it is wrong. And it's stupid because you can never be sure of the information you get. I know people who can get a confession from President Obama that he was the guy on the grassy knoll in Dallas who shot Kennedy, even though he was only 2 years old when it happened.
Let's be straight about this. I have no sympathy for terrorists. The people who planned and financed 9/11 deserve a fair trial followed by what they have coming to them.
But, at the end of the day, the American people won't stand for convictions and executions based on torture.
We're Americans and this is the United States of America. We have to be what we are. And, we are a nation founded on the Rule of Law. I want Osama bin Laden to get a fair trial in front of 12 citizens of Manhattan. I don't want to see him walk out of jail because his conviction was based on torture.
Malmedy is a small town in Belgium. During the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, SS troops massacred about 85 American prisoners of war near that city. The troops were commanded by SS Lt. Col. Joachim Pieper. After the war, more massacres came to light and it generally is accepted that Pieper's troops killed about 315 American POWs and another 110 civilians during the battle.
For Pieper and his stormtroopers, the Malmedy massacre probably was only a slight unpleasantness. After all, compared to what they had done on the Russian Front, it was small potatoes.
However, the American authorities took a different view. When Pieper and his troops were captured after the German surrender in May 1945, they were transferred to the Dachau concentration camp for trial. Pieper, his division commander and about 75 other SS men were tried. Forty-three, including Pieper, were sentenced to hang. Another 22 got life sentences and eight received lesser sentences.
In my opinion, if the defendants were guilty, the sentences were richly deserved. If I had been there, I gladly would have pulled on the rope to hang Pieper.
Now, the rest of the story.
After the trial, allegations surfaced that Pieper and his men were tortured, kept on starvation diets and put through mock trials in order to extract confessions. The Supreme Court considered the case but the vote was a tie, with four voting to vacate the sentences and four voting to affirm. The ninth justice, Robert Jackson, had been the lead prosecutor at the Nuremberg Tribunal and recused himself.
The Secretary of the Army appointed a commission headed by a Texas judge to investigate. While the commission did not take a public stand on the allegations of torture, it did confirm the mock trials. Later, a subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee investigated and agreed with commutation of all of the death sentences. No one seriously contested the defendants' guilt.
All of the defendants eventually walked out of prison. Pieper was the last, after serving about 11 years. He went to work for Porsche and a Volkswagen dealer. He eventually moved to France, where he was killed in 1976 during a firebomb attack on his home.
Why is the story of Malmedy important to how we deal with al-Queda and other terrorists? It's because Americans are a fair people who at the end of the day will come out for justice over revenge.
We've heard and read horrible stories about the torture of al-Queda prisoners by the U.S. and its agents. Aside from the fact that torture is illegal, immoral and stupid, I'm afraid that someday one of the terrorists responsible for 9/11 will walk out the door because of his treatment.
Torture is illegal both under US law and the Torture Convention. It's immoral and if someone needs me to explain why, I can never convince them that it is wrong. And it's stupid because you can never be sure of the information you get. I know people who can get a confession from President Obama that he was the guy on the grassy knoll in Dallas who shot Kennedy, even though he was only 2 years old when it happened.
Let's be straight about this. I have no sympathy for terrorists. The people who planned and financed 9/11 deserve a fair trial followed by what they have coming to them.
But, at the end of the day, the American people won't stand for convictions and executions based on torture.
We're Americans and this is the United States of America. We have to be what we are. And, we are a nation founded on the Rule of Law. I want Osama bin Laden to get a fair trial in front of 12 citizens of Manhattan. I don't want to see him walk out of jail because his conviction was based on torture.
Welcome to my blog
I've been practicing law for 19 years with Schneider & McKinney. And, I've had a good time.
Working with Stan Schneider and Troy McKinney is a real privilege and it can be a lot of fun. Stan and Troy are two of the best lawyers I know.
Before that, I spent 15 years as a reporter for the Houston Chronicle and a year as a reporter for the Midland Reporter-Telegram.
A few weeks ago, I wrote a short op-ed piece for the Chronicle about the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates. I thought then and I still think he was arrested for contempt of cop, not the color of his skin.
I had forgotten what an ego trip it is to write something, then have a lot of people read it. So, I thought about blogging.
After Troy started his blog, Law4Lunch, I made up my mind that I should do it too.
I can't promise how often I will post. A lot depends on how much work I have and whether something sets me off.
One of the things I want to discuss is how the criminal justice system handles -- and abuses -- the mentally ill. It isn't anything malicious. It's simply a matter of no other organ of government has the ability to deal with them, so the criminal justice system gets the job by default.
And, I am sure I will write about the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. When I do, you can bet there will be some unhappy people on New York, UN headquarters; The Hague, the site of the ICTY; and Arusha, Tanzania, where the ICTR is located. Especially Arusha.
So, while I work myself into a proper rage and compose my rants, I hope this blog will be thought provoking.
Talk to you soon.
Working with Stan Schneider and Troy McKinney is a real privilege and it can be a lot of fun. Stan and Troy are two of the best lawyers I know.
Before that, I spent 15 years as a reporter for the Houston Chronicle and a year as a reporter for the Midland Reporter-Telegram.
A few weeks ago, I wrote a short op-ed piece for the Chronicle about the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates. I thought then and I still think he was arrested for contempt of cop, not the color of his skin.
I had forgotten what an ego trip it is to write something, then have a lot of people read it. So, I thought about blogging.
After Troy started his blog, Law4Lunch, I made up my mind that I should do it too.
I can't promise how often I will post. A lot depends on how much work I have and whether something sets me off.
One of the things I want to discuss is how the criminal justice system handles -- and abuses -- the mentally ill. It isn't anything malicious. It's simply a matter of no other organ of government has the ability to deal with them, so the criminal justice system gets the job by default.
And, I am sure I will write about the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. When I do, you can bet there will be some unhappy people on New York, UN headquarters; The Hague, the site of the ICTY; and Arusha, Tanzania, where the ICTR is located. Especially Arusha.
So, while I work myself into a proper rage and compose my rants, I hope this blog will be thought provoking.
Talk to you soon.
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