Life of Brian: The Outtakes

tj/Santorum Reached Out to Google

Rick Santorum told Poltico he contacted Google about his “Google problem” but says the search company isn’t interested in fixing it.

Said Santorum: “I suspect if something was up there like that about Joe Biden, they’d get rid of it. If you’re a responsible business, you don’t let things like that happen in your business that have an impact on the country.”

He added: “To have a business allow that type of filth to be purveyed through their website or through their system is something that they say they can’t handle but I suspect that’s not true.”

-politicalwire.com

@redmanlaw: That’s the first thing to make me smile since hearing of the impending execution of Troy Davis in Georgia.

@SanFranLefty: So had the witnesses recanted prior to the federal court review of the evidence or was that later? I don’t know anything about criminal appellate law, but isn’t that new evidence that was unavailable at the time of trial or the evidentiary review?

@redmanlaw:

In the week before his third execution date, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay of execution to consider arguments from his lawyer that new testimony that could prove his innocence had not been considered.

The appeals court denied the claim but allowed time for Mr. Davis to take his argument directly to the Supreme Court, which ordered a federal court to once again examine new testimony.

But in June, a federal district court judge in Savannah said his legal team had failed to demonstrate his innocence, setting the stage for this latest execution date.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/21/us/troy-davis-is-denied-clemency-in-georgia.html?hp

I feel sick.

The Savannah police contaminated the memories of four witnesses by re-enacting the crime with them present so that their individual perceptions were turned into a group one. The police showed some of the witnesses Mr. Davis’s photograph even before the lineup. His lineup picture was set apart by a different background. The lineup was also administered by a police officer involved in the investigation, increasing the potential for influencing the witnesses.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/21/opinion/a-grievous-wrong-on-georgias-death-row.html?hp