Saturday, July 19, 2008

Open Thread: Stuff to Read While I'm Out

While much of the political blogging word has migrated to Austin for the weekend, I'm leaving town. Blogging will be slow till Monday, so until Grits gets back in the saddle here's some related reading for you.

First off, in part to thank them for an enjoyable lunch outing yesterday, check out recent posts from blogger-attorneys Jamie Spencer from Austin and Robert Guest from Dallas. Also, Mark Bennett in Houston raises an important question about whether prospective jurors should be stricken if they're unwilling to convict based on uncorroborated witness testimony. See also Doc Berman and CrimProf blog for informative recent posts.

Use this as an open thread to let us know what other crimjust topics you're watching and I'll be back before you know it.

4 comments:

Ron in Houston said...

Feeling a bit anti-social Grits?

Have a great time.

Anonymous said...

Hey grits, can't wait to read your take on this story from the LA Times:
How reliable is DNA in identifying suspects?

Anonymous said...

Out of town? Pleeze. I can update my blog anywhere with a handy little wireless adapter.

The airwaves are freeee!

Anonymous said...

This is probably off topic for Grits, but if possible I would like to see comments on the US case against Lori Drew, the Missouri woman who harrassed a young teenage girl to the point that the girl committed suicide.

Missouri did not have a law that could be applied (it has since corrected that).

The US Attorney, in LA I think, got a grand jury indictment against Drew for violating the Federal Computer Crime law. In essence she is charged with unauthorized access of a computer. It is argued that Drew violated MySpace's Terms of Service, thus her use of MySpace was the "unauthorized use" of a computer.

I'm particularly upset with this over-reaching. If it is successful, it will make Federal criminals out of a lot of people where it is really a matter between the ISP and the customer.

The case number is CR08-00582, US District Court, Central District of Calif.

I would appreciate comments.