Ex Post Facto Progress and Hope for us all
(Weekly Update #158)
Dear Members and Advocates,
Someone just posted something great on our website. He wrote, “well to show there may be hope, Bill Cosby just had his conviction overturned”.
I don’t mean to imply this comment is great because of the overturned conviction. In fact, if someone was actually guilty and evaded justice, the news is certainly not great. The reason I thought the comment was great is because here’s a guy who was skewered in the court of public opinion, convicted at trial, sentenced to what could effectively be the rest of his life in prison at that age, totally lost his appeal, and was denied parole just last month… yet tonight he’s home with his family and sleeping in his own bed.
Again, this is not a celebration of an overturned conviction, but a celebration of hope. The fact that Bill Cosby, after years of so many defeats, was just handed a life changing decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, should give us all hope that as long as we hang in there, keep fighting, and hold out for hope, one day we might also get that life changing Court decision.
Ironically, as news came in about Cosby, I was reading the brilliant Response to the State’s Motion To Dismiss filed late yesterday in our “Ex Post Facto Plus II” challenge. You can read the Response for yourself here: https://floridaactioncommittee.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/EPF-II-Response-to-MTD.pdf In fact, I suggest everyone receiving this email takes a few moments to read the response, because I would love for it to offer you as much hope as I have right now.
Attorneys Val Jonas and Todd Scher (in our opinion) did an amazing job of fighting back against the State’s motion, not only through well-articulated arguments, but through their citations to the latest and greatest authorities and precedents. It is clear that nobody has deeper knowledge of this area of law than the attorneys who are fighting on our behalf and is clear that nobody is more dedicated to seeing this through to the finish line either.
We still need to continue fundraising for this challenge (which is now, actually two cases). You can monitor the progress by looking at the thermometer under “Ex Post Facto – Sustainer 2021” and if you are able to make a donation, please help us move closer to our goal. And, be sure to keep hope alive!
Sincerely,
The Florida Action Committee
Reminders:
Housing is Needed – We receive calls daily from members looking for housing. If you have housing to rent or purchase, please contact email membership@floridaactioncommittee.org or call 833-273-7325, option 1. We will only share the information with the FAC Outreach team and the County Coordinator in your area.
Research Studies – Voluntary Participation. Shelley Kavanagh (Doctorial Candidate) is conducting one-on-one phone interviews with mothers of registered citizens living in Florida. For more information about the study and how to schedule an interview, click here.
July 1 Thursday at 8:00pm ET – Monthly Membership Call – Topic to be announced next week. Phone 319-527-3487. If unable to connect, text “CALL ME” to same number to receive call back and be joined to the meeting.
July 8 Thursday at 8:00pm ET – New Member Orientation Call – phone 319-527-3487. Ask questions about the organization, share resources, discuss local issues and learn about volunteer opportunities. If unable to connect, text “CALL ME” to same number to receive call back and be joined to the meeting.
July 10 Saturday – 11:00am-1:00pm ET. Therapist-led Family Support Session via Zoom. Limited participation. Email membership@floridaactioncommittee.com or leave message at 833-273-7325 Option 1 for access to the Monthly group session.
July 17 Saturday (NEW DATE) 1:00pm-4:00pm Titusville (Brevard) Meet and Greet. For location, text “RSVP Brevard” with your name and number of attendees to 904-452-8322 or email membership@floridaactioncommittee.org
Need to Talk? FAC has peer volunteers that are here to talk one-on-one, call 904-452-8322. Volunteers are not available 24/7 but you will receive a call as soon as possible. If you have an emergency, call 911, or helpline at 1-800-273-8255 or a crisis center (Listing of Crisis Centers and Hotlines)
SOME HEADLINES FROM THE WEEK
Florida Digital Driver’s Licenses – Could this be a good thing for us?
Yesterday, Governor DeSantis signed HB 1313 into law. This bill brings Florida up to date with modern technology by establishing a “Digital proof of driver license”. The Digital proof of driver license is an electronic credential viewable on an electronic…
United States Sentencing Commission: Child Pornography: Non-Production Offenses
Just released is the United States Sentencing Commission June 2021 report, “Federal Sentencing of Child Pornography: Non-Production Offenses”. The last time the USSC issued a report on CP sentencing was in 2012, so this updated report is 9 years in the making. As with…
Juveniles cannot be mandated to register as lifelong sex offenders in Colorado if there is no way for offenders to be individually assessed or to later be removed from the registry, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday. “Mandatory lifetime sex offender registration…
Online Event: Confronting the Registry: The History and Consequences of U.S. Sex Offender Laws
TUESDAY, JULY 6, 2021 AT 6 PM ET–7 PM ET. The Searchlight Series – “Confronting the Registry: The History and Consequences of U.S. Sex Offender Laws”
Free. Live-streamed on Facebook (see https://www.easternstate.org/facebook or see https://www.facebook.com/events/3037197116557805?ref=newsfeed) and via Zoom webinar ( Log-in here. ) Join us as we take a look at the history and consequences of well intentioned legislation and…
In this causes the case, I’m not sure whether to classify this as prosecutorial perhaps judicial misconduct or merely incompetence. I may air on the side of caution and see the latter. Wouldn’t be the first time. I think about the Casey Anthony case. Even the jury said if you had charged her with a lesser charge we would probably convicted. But the prosecution decided they wanted to swing for the fences and go for a death penalty offense, even though I’m sure most of us honestly believe that the child’s Death was accidental or at worst the result of negligence. So they swing for the fences with felony murder charges and lost badly. Like the kids today say, play stupid games when stupid prizes. You could possibly make a similar argument in the Zimmerman case, but that was an instant of the state not having an eyewitness and the defendant having a fairly solid affirmative defense. Do you want an example of how a controversy all public keys should be handled, look at the Chauvin. The “public opinion” defense was “he shouldn’t be convicted because back the blue.” Unfortunately for him, the prosecution had lots of helpful things like eyewitness testimony and video. That never helps a defense. Sometimes I think people actually forget that typically, these cases where the application of law and the interpretation of the rights of the individual rarely involve sympathetic defendants like a Rosa Parks. More often than not they involve dodgy people like Clarence Gideon and Miranda. Or Bill Cosby. These days, it seems like you have to take these crappy cases as wins because that’s all we’re getting. But major court just ruled that police are not permitted to lie to minors in the course of an interrogation to get them to converse or trip them up. I had seen this before. My ex-wife pulled in front of some bicyclist in Gainesville and he clipped her rear bumper. She was oblivious and didn’t even know it until she was 2/3 of the way home and somebody caught up with her and told her that she had hit the guy on the bike. She was new at driving in the neighborhood so she came home got me and we went back. There was no one there. The good Samaritan had gotten the tag number off of her car and not long afterwards the sheriff shows up to arrester. Actually the sheriff showed up with the Gainesville police because we were right outside of the city limits. So we get in the room there and there’s cops trying to tell us oh you went back. Did you see the ambulance there and the cop cars? We said no because there were no ambulances or cop cars. But the wires just naturally flow from the mouse. So why do we only have to reign them in if they’re interrogating a minor? Why are they allowed to continue to lie to adults? That seems minor, no pun intended. But just think about that. How has the wall evolved so that someone can lie to you in an Interrogation/investigation in order to try to trip you up and get you to confess to something you may not of even done? Stuff like that is the reason that we actually have to celebrate a “bad guy“ getting off. It’s rare that anyone gets a break. Look at the average “positive result“ rate for your typical prosecutor. 90 to 95%? Those guys don’t need any more help from the law. They got all the help that anyone could ever dream of. But that’s what you can expect when you have almost unlimited resources