ID: little miss can be wrong

From the Idaho Mountain Express:

Supreme Court upholds Johnson convictions

The Idaho Supreme Court has upheld Sarah Johnson's convictions of killing her parents in 2003... Now 21, Johnson was 16 at the time...

From the Times-News:

Justices reject Sarah Johnson appeals - Court says 2005 murder conviction was legal

The Idaho Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously upheld the conviction of Sarah Johnson for murdering her parents five years ago in their Bellevue home... Johnson was given two life sentences after a jury handed down a guilty verdict on two counts of first-degree murder for shooting her parents, Alan and Diane Johnson...

Update: I take that back, I hope she's doing fine - she does have a colorable ineffective assistance claim. See the Idaho Supreme Court opinion here (pdf file).

ID: supreme Sarah Johnson smackdown

Heckling during oral argument, in front of the state Supremes, perhaps from the state Supremes, reported by Cassidy Friedman by the Times-News:

Supreme Court weighs Johnson case

Idaho Supreme Court justices will have to decide whom to blame for Sarah Johnson's botched defense: the judge or her attorney. Guessing from the blasting that Johnson's absent attorney received, the furious scribbling by reporters and the astonishment of Johnson's family each time a new heckle was uttered, it's not looking good for the attorney.

Members of the state's Supreme Court heard arguments on Johnson's appeal Friday, over three years after an Ada County jury found her guilty... (of) first-degree murder... (At trial), defense attorney Bob Pangburn harped the same line, "no blood, no guilt" - meaning that since no blood spatter was found on Johnson, the triggerman must have been somebody else.

Never did that defense seem more regrettable than Friday when Justice Roger S. Burdick, at Johnson's appeal, called that once memorable line "some silly jingle." As it turned out just before the jury's deliberation, the defense blew into a rage when the judge instructed the jury they could just as easily find Johnson guilty of murder by aiding and abetting someone else to do it because the two accusations are one and the same by Idaho law. To be guilty of the charge, she didn't have to be the one who pulled the trigger.

"Why wouldn't a competent defense attorney say, 'OK, she's being charged with first-degree murder,' (and) prepare a defense that goes either way?" asked Justice Warren E. Jones...

Fair question, that. It'll be asked in post-conviction proceedings too.

ID: this is the song that never ends

From the Times-News:

Discovery Channel revisits Johnson murder case

Discovery Channel crews have launched a week of filming for the storied Sarah Johnson murder case. The uncommon trial of a girl charged with shooting her parents already has been highlighted in an unending stream of national media coverage... Now, Discovery Channel, which will debut a new show, "Solved," in the fall, is featuring the Wood River Valley with a decidedly law enforcement bent...

ID: human costs of caseload cost-cutting

From the Twin Falls Times-News:

'Lowest rung on the ladder'

Michelle Mellinthin was no angel. Charged with grand theft, meth possession and forging a bank card, her public defender in Canyon County didn't waste time finding out if she was actually guilty of all those charges, the Idaho Supreme Court later determined. So when a county prosecutor offered an early plea bargain, the public defender leaped at it. Her attorney refused to wait for the state lab to finish testing a white crystal substance found in her possession. Had he waited, he would have learned the substance was not meth.

A judge ruled that it was too late and let the guilty plea stand. After that, the same public defender and a second one each failed to help her file a direct appeal. Mellinthin went to prison. "My guess is that Ms. Mellinthin just gave up," said State Deputy Appellate Public Defender Sara Thomas. In 2002, Thomas appealed Mellinthin's case on grounds that her public defenders had provided an ineffective defense. And she won.

Mellinthin's case was far from the first or only time a busy county public defender blew a case, citing too little time and resources. A wide disparity exists between the time and resources some Idaho county public defenders have compared with others. But until recently, the state wasn't paying much attention...

ID: intrepid reporter lasts 21 hours in jail

What's the worst part about doing time in Blaine County? It's not the pink elephants. From the Times-News:

A day on the inside - Journalist wants to see if county really needs new jail

My plan was to spend a full day - 24 hours - as an inmate in the Blaine County Jail. I didn't make it.

With 21 hours down, I left my cell for a quick visitation with a coworker, and after getting out from behind the bars and hearing a familiar voice, I couldn't stand the thought of another three hours.

The problem wasn't my cell mates - who were nicer than I ever would have expected - or the quality of the food. It was the boredom...

ID: enter the ex - Jesuit

From Blaine County's Idaho Mountain Express:

Jury acquits Harrison of kidnapping charge - Guilty verdict rendered on lesser, misdemeanor charge

A Blaine County jury on Monday found Robert Joe Harrison Jr. not guilty of second-degree kidnapping, but convicted the former airport security guard of a lesser misdemeanor count of child enticement.

In finding Harrison not guilty of the more serious felony, the jury was in accord with a recommendation from 5th District Court Judge Robert Elgee, who exercised a rarely used courtroom procedure and advised the jury to acquit Harrison of the charge...

Elgee's non-binding advisement to the jury to acquit Harrison of the kidnap charge came at the request of Harrison's public defender, Kevin Cassidy...

Kevin was my father confessor in Twin and has my life-long respect. From the priesthood to the AG's Office to the magistrates bench to his current gig, he's always delivered.

The county commissioners may be sending his firm more clients.

ID: teen murderer is appealing

I for one have never found due process to be particularly excessive, especially in criminal court, but that's what the headline says. From the Idaho Mountain Express:

Sarah Johnson appeals murder convictions - Were due process and sentences excessive?

Sarah M. Johnson has appealed her murder convictions to the Idaho Supreme Court. Convicted in 2005 for the shooting deaths of her parents, Johnson alleges in her Notice of Appeal to the high court that she was denied due process of law in trial proceedings and that the sentences imposed were excessive. Johnson, 19, is serving two life sentences..

ID: ineffective screw-up of counsel

From the Blaine County paper:

Sarah Johnson seeks appeal - Hearing to determine if murder conviction can be appealed

A court hearing is scheduled for Tuesday in Hailey to determine if Sarah M. Johnson can once more appeal her convictions for the murders of her parents in Bellevue in 2003.

The Idaho Supreme Court dismissed her original appeal in April, ruling that it was filed beyond the legally mandated deadline. Johnson filed court papers later in April seeking reinstatement of her appeal rights on the grounds that her attorneys screwed up in filing the appeal too late.

I believe that the reporter must have taken the term "screwed up" from the pleadings.

ID: "like a real-life Matlock"

Meet Doug Nelson, an Idaho criminal defense hero:

Move over Matlock - Hailey attorney clears woman of murder charge

Hailey attorney Doug Nelson used his expertise in child head injury cases to clear a woman that he proved was wrongly accused of killing an 11-week-old baby in Jerome last summer.

Like a real-life Matlock, Nelson uncovered forensic evidence that left prosecutors little choice but to drop a first-degree murder charge against Yeimi Lira-Juarez...

"Yeimi should have never been charged," Nelson said. "I think the state should have slowed down and waited for all the evidence to come in..."

ID: teen murderer still seeking relief

Saw this coming, just not this soon:

Johnson seeks new appeal to conviction - Claims ineffective legal counsel contributed to guilty verdicts

Sarah M. Johnson, convicted in 2005 for killing her parents in their Bellevue home, has filed court papers that allege mistakes by her attorneys contributed to guilty verdicts against her and led to dismissal of her conviction appeal by the Idaho Supreme Court...

Prior Sarah Johnson posts are here and here.

ID: two losses for Sarah Johnson

From the Mountain Express:

Authorities conclude Johnson lied about rape charge - Supreme Court dismisses murder conviction appeal

Blaine County authorities have concluded that convicted Bellevue murderer Sarah M. Johnson lied about being raped or having sex with another inmate while she was awaiting trial in the county jail in Hailey...

In another development, the Idaho Supreme Court last week dismissed an appeal on Johnson's murder convictions. The high court ruled Thursday that the appeal "was not timely filed."

Attorney Bob Pangburn, a member of the Johnson defense team, told the Express Tuesday that the deadline for filing was confusing because there was an amended judgment after Johnson was sentenced. Furthermore, he said Johnson told him the appeal was going to be filed by the State Appellate Public Defender Office, but he filed the appeal himself, hoping there was still time, after he found out it hadn't been done.

Next comes the ineffective assistance phase...

Idaho: among the believers

Johnson gets continued representation for free - Belief in girl's innocence spurs continued work

Following her sentencing June 30 to life in prison for slaying her parents... convicted murderer Sarah M. Johnson was left without official legal representation.

Her appointed public defender, Bob Pangburn, is no longer under contract with Blaine County and has, at least temporarily, faded from the case. However, Boise attorney Mark Rader, investigator Patrick Dunn and counselor Linda Dunn are continuing to represent the 18-year-old for free...

...[T]he long and short of it remains: ... Johnson's defense team does not appear ready to back down.

Update: You can tell going in that a profile of Sarah Johnson which starts with lyrics from "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" - "She hold the shotgun while you do-si-do" - isn't going to be too pro-defense... Yow!

Fixed life for Idaho teen murderer

After a jury found her guilty of murdering her parents, Sarah Johnson was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 15 years for use of a firearm. The defense had argued for the chance for Johnson to be paroled after serving 15 years. Next comes the appeal.

"Jury gets more wiggle room to convict Johnson of murder"

Here.

Because in a first-degree murder trial, what you want to do with that beyond - a - reasonable - doubt thing is to give the jury more wiggle room.

Atrocious.

Quotes from the judge (outside the presence of the jury, I damn-well trust):

"The hypotheses 'no blood no guilt' has always been curious to me."

"I'll let you argue to the jury how she was asleep in the room and how someone else came in and planted bullets and got the robe," he said to the defense attorneys.

(By the way, he's also the administrative judge for the whole judicial district back in Idaho that I just fled.)

Coconut

The defense has opened by stating "no blood, no guilt" in the not-unbloody case of the Idaho teen-ager accused of murdering her parents. The judge previously denied a defense motion to introduce a videotape showing a coconut being shot with a rifle as evidence to depict what happened to one of the victims when she was shot:

...(S)tate's witness Glen Groben, a pathologist with the Ada County Coroner's office, (stated), "Can you compare a human head with a coconut? It's like apples and oranges."

Rocky Mink, a forensic scientist who had assisted in producing the video, defended the use of the coconut to replicate a head.

"Did your coconut have a brain in it?" asked prosecutor Justin Whatcott, referring to prosecution's contention that a coconut is unlike a human head.

"Not that I know of," Mink said.

Idaho teen on trial for murdering her parents

I don't know if you've been following this trial, but a teenager is on trial in Idaho for murdering her parents. Sarah M. Johnson was 16 when her parents were killed in September 2003. Court TV has been providing full coverage here.

The trial has not been going well lately. In fact, it's turned pretty ugly.

On Wednesday, a jailhouse snitch claimed that Johnson admitted the murders through "a slip of the tongue." "One time, she said, 'When I killed...'." Then she stopped herself and was like, 'When the killers ...'." The defense lawyer tried to rattle the snitch by asking if she thought this trial was funny, only to get back a face-full of "you're a joke to me, Mr. Defense Lawyer." Advantage: snitch.

On Thursday, trial was halted for two hours when prosecutors spread out blood-covered bed sheets and court officials became concerned over "body pieces" falling to the floor. Fault: prosecution. On Friday, a blood-spatter expert put on a pink bathrobe to demonstrate his theory of how the killer stood while shooting the victims. Point: expert.

It's been fairly compelling to follow as a spectator. Please spare me from ever having to do another murder trial as a participant.

We're all in this together

David Neiwart at Orcinus has another well-written invitation to the Democratic Party and the 40% or so of us rural Red Staters to reconcile and reason together, with some charitable things to say about Idaho, our former governor Cecil Andrus, and the Blaine County D's up the road who raised hundreds of thousands for Kerry in one event without so much as a personal thank-you. He also linked to this line I can use in the future if I ever catch any Seattle attitude: "If you're gonna cop that attitude about people who live in red states, count me among the red staters. That's not just an abstract, Niemollerian stance: I have more in common with them than I do with most of you."

I think both writers would have liked my father-in-law Lloyd Walker, G d rest him, a son of a butcher and grandson of Blaine County hard-rock miners, who chaired the Idaho Democratic Party back in the glory days. Early on, he told our senator Frank Church to remember the average Idahoan and not tie himself too tightly to the Ivy League crowd (and to tweak your assumptions, my father-in-law was a graduate of Harvard College and HLS). A whole history of might-have-beens would be written if the lunch-bucket Democrats, the tree-huggers and the technocrats had held it together against the common foe. If the DLC types are serious about rebuilding the party, maybe they can listen to the West for a change. They could start by reading Orcinus.