Eideard

David Camm — Keith Henderson

If former Indiana state Trooper David Camm is tried a third time in the murders of his wife and their two children, Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson should not be involved, an Indiana appeals court has ruled.

The unanimous, three-judge panel ruled that a special prosecutor should replace Henderson because he entered a book deal to write about the case while Camm’s second conviction was being appealed.

The panel called that deal, which has since been canceled, “an irreversible, actual conflict of interest with his duty to the people of the state of Indiana…”

Camm was convicted twice of murdering his wife, Kimberly Camm, their 7-year-old son, Bradley, and 5-year-old daughter, Jill, in the garage of their home near Georgetown in September 2000. Both convictions were overturned because prosecutors used impermissible evidence or arguments.

In June 2009, while the Indiana Supreme Court was weighing Camm’s appeal of the second conviction, Henderson reached an agreement with Berkley Penguin Group to write a book about the case…

He and a co-author split a $3,400 advance and promised to deliver the manuscript by Aug. 1, 2009, court records show. But just days after Henderson entered into the contract, the state high court overturned the conviction.

Though Penguin canceled the contract, Uliana filed a motion with Special Judge Jonathan Dartt in December 2009 asking that Henderson be replaced by a special prosecutor if a third trial were to be held.

Looks like Penguin has more sense than the DA or the political hacks who had endorsed his continued presence as prosecutor. What an egregious creep!

DA Gerry Leone initiated the cold case program after taking office in 2007

State Police arrested and charged a Holyoke man last night with a 1983 slaying, moving to close an investigation that had been open for 28 years.

The Middlesex district attorney’s office said Shawn Marsh, 46, of Holyoke, had been indicted by a Middlesex grand jury and arrested by State Police in connection with the homicide after evidence against him emerged through new fingerprint testing technology…

The case dates to Aug. 22, 1983, when Malden police, responding to reports of gunshots, found Rodney Wyman, of Simsbury, Conn., suffering from a gunshot wound at the Town Line Motel in Malden. Wyman was rushed to Malden Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Authorities said an immediate investigation into the case yielded no arrests at the time because of a lack of evidence…

The technology, including a national fingerprint identification database, had not been developed at the time of the homicide. The system was launched by the FBI in 1999 and contains the fingerprints, criminal history, and physical description of more than 66 million criminal subjects. It is the largest biometric database in the world…

Authorities alleged that the defendant and another suspect, who has yet to be identified, shot Wyman after breaking into his hotel room with the intention of robbing him.

Bravo. I’m enough of a CSI-freak as it is. But, re-opening and solving cold cases like this one are a special benefit of advances in forensic science.

A district attorney is telling Juneau County [Wisconsin] schools to abandon their sex education courses, saying a new curriculum law could lead to criminal charges against teachers for contributing to the delinquency of minors.

Starting in the fall, the new law requires schools that have sex education programs to tell students how to use condoms and other contraceptives. Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth said such education encourages sex among children, which is illegal, and could lead to charges against teachers.

The new law “promotes the sexualization – and sexual assault – of our children,” Southworth wrote in a March 24 letter to officials in five school districts. He urged the districts to suspend their sex education programs and transfer their curriculum on anatomy to a science course.

“Forcing our schools to instruct children on how to utilize contraceptives encourages our children to engage in sexual behavior, whether as a victim or an offender,” he wrote. “It is akin to teaching children about alcohol use, then instructing them on how to make mixed alcoholic drinks.”

Rep. Kelda Helen Roys (D-Madison), who helped write the new law, said Southworth’s letter was irresponsible and that it was laughable to think teachers could be charged for telling students how to use contraception.

“Using condoms isn’t a crime for anyone,” she said. “This guy is not a credible legal source on this matter, I’m sorry to say. His purpose is to intimidate and create enough panic in the minds of school administrators that they’ll turn their backs on young people and their families.”

She said the Legislature passed the law because comprehensive sex education is the most effective way to change sexual behavior and reduce teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases…

When the new law was approved, all Republicans in the Assembly and Senate voted against it. Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, signed it in February.

Small minds appear to run in the same course.

One summer night in 2007, a pair of 13-year-old northeastern Pennsylvania girls decided to strip down to their skivvies to beat the heat.

As Marissa Miller talked on the phone and Grace Kelly flashed a peace sign, a third girl took a candid shot of the teens in their white bras.
It was harmless, innocent fun, the teens say.

But the picture somehow wound up on classmates’ cell phones, and a prosecutor has threatened to charge Miller and Kelly with child pornography or open lewdness unless they participate in a five-week after-school program followed by probation.

On Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union asked a federal judge to block Wyoming County District Attorney George Skumanick Jr. from filing charges, saying that the teens didn’t consent to having the picture distributed and that the image is not pornography, in any event.

Skumanick said he would fight the lawsuit. “Frankly, we just wanted to protect these kids…

The ACLU’s lawsuit claims…the photos are protected First Amendment speech.

Basic premise #1: people who think images distributed electronically are like carrying a single copy to show a friend and, then, bringing it back home safely are too ignorant for polite description.

Basic premise #2: 19th Century moralists in cop suits are about as useful to the process of moderating communications between human brings as a cast-iron gag. The all-seeing eye of someone who’s growing old awaiting his turn to run for governor.

UPDATE: The ACLU and the girls won their case and the judge has ordered charges dropped. Bravo for common sense.