<p>For an article on something much closer to home that involves either prosecutorial misconduct or police misconduct or both, in an Idaho murder case that appears to be yet another instance of the conviction of an innocent man, see the following news story from today's papers, also reprinted below my signature.</p><p><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/ID_ASHTON_MURDER_IDOL-?SITE=IDMOS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT">http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/ID_ASHTON_MURDER_IDOL-?SITE=IDMOS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT</a></p><p /><p>I have also provided a link to the stunning oral argument in which a panel of the US Court of appeals for the Ninth Circuit, including the brilliant, conservative, United States Court of Appeals Judge for the Ninth Circuit, Judge Alexander Kozinski, takes the Idaho Deputy Attorney General to task for even appealing the federal district judge's decision that a likely innocent man was convicted based on evidence altered by the
State. The case is Grube v. Blades<font size="4">. If you go to the following link on the Ninth Circuit web site:</font></p><p><a href="http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/media.nsf/Media+Search?OpenForm&Seq=1">http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/media.nsf/Media+Search?OpenForm&Seq=1</a></p><p><font size="4">and then plug in the case number: 06-35132 </font></p><p><font size="4">you will be taken to a tape of the oral argument which took place on Thursday April 12, 2007.</font></p><p><font size="4"></font></p><p><font size="4">In the Grube v Blades argument, Judge Kozinski references the Duke lacrosse case and the NC Attorney General's determination of innocence in that case one day earlier. Judge Kozinski also tells the Idaho Deputy Attorney General, arguing on behalf of the State, to inform Attorney General Wasden </font><font size="4">that Wasden's credibility </font><font size="4">in all cases from Idaho was diminished in the Ninth Circuit for even pursuing th!
e case,
and that if the Idaho Attorney General did not "do the right thing" and dismiss the appeal within one week, an opinion would be issued and the Ninth Circuit would "pull no punches." </font></p><p><font size="4"></font></p><p><font size="4">I</font><font size="4">n today's papers, wire service articles announced that the Idaho Attorney General dismissed the appeal of the Grube case, though the State is insisting on putting Mr. Grube through another trial, rather than investigate the apparently criminal activity of those who altered the evidence in a way that hid the apparent involvement of the more likely suspect in the murder, one of the police themselves.</font></p><p><font size="4"></font></p><p><font size="4">Idaho Federal District Judge Winmill's thoughtful and detailed opinion granting a new trial in Grube v. Klauser, no. 1:01-cv-00357-BLW, may be found here:</font></p><p><a
href="http://www.id.uscourts.gov/dc_decisions.htm">http://www.id.uscourts.gov/dc_decisions.htm</a></p><p>but registration is required to obtain the 59 page opinion. I will be happy to provide a pdf copy off-list to any that are interested in reading it.</p><p><font size="4"></font></p><p><font size="4">Bruce Livingston</font></p><p /><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Apr 20, 9:12 PM EDT</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><p> </p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Idaho AG: Grube should be retried in '83 slaying <p /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><p /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) -- Th!
e state
attorney general's office says a man convicted in the 1983 slaying of a 15-year-old girl, but set free on bond after a judge found problems with the original prosecution, should be retried.<p /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><p> </p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Rauland J. Grube was convicted of first-degree murder in 7th District Court and sentenced to life in prison in 1991 in the slaying of Amy Hossner.<p /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><p> </p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">In June 1983, the girl was found dead in her bed from a shotgun blast fired through the window of her basement bedroom in Ashton in eastern <state w:st="on"><place
w:st="on">Idaho</place></state>.<p /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><p> </p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">In 2006, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ordered that Grube be released or get a new trial after Winmill determined investigators had withheld a key witness at trial and that police logs had been tampered with.<p /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><p> </p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The attorney general's office appealed the order for a new trial, but was rebuked earlier this week by another federal judge.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><p /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Alex Kozinsky, who serves on a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Seattle</place></city>, said Grube would likely be acquitted if he were tried again. </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Kozinsky also said that Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden might instead consider prosecuting the people who handed in tainted evidence "instead of holding onto a conviction that is incredibly thin on the facts and undermined by just unspeakable misconduct."<p /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><p> </p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Wasden's office disagreed. </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">"We have carefully reviewed the entire case!
and
determined the proper course of action is to retry Rauland Grube," Bob Cooper, Wasden's spokesman, told the Post Register on Thursday.<p /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><p> </p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Grube has been free on $250,000 bond and has lived in eastern <state w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Idaho</place></state> since the spring of 2006.<p /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><p> </p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">"Now that the case has been remanded back, my client is entitled to the presumption of innocence that every citizen enjoys," said Grube's attorney, Greg Moeller of Rexburg.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>"A retrial!
will be
quite different from the first trial, given the suppressed evidence we now possess and the new scientific evidence now available. We are prepared to vigorously defend him."<p /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><p> </p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">In 1991, prosecutors focused on forensic analysis of lead shotgun pellets in Hossner's body that were compared with pellets in shells found in Grube's garage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Prosecutors also said a mark on a shotgun barrel was made when it hit the window frame of Hossner's bedroom after being fired.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Winmill said the ballistic evidence has since been disavowed by the FBI.<p /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><p> </p></span></p><p
class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Grube's appeal focused in part on evidence that a key witness had not been disclosed to defense lawyers.<p /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><p> </p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">In 1994, Lynn Gifford approached defense lawyers and told them he had informed investigators in 1991 that he had reported seeing a local police officer - an early suspect in the crime - driving a patrol car within a few blocks of the Hossner home about 2:30 a.m. on the night of the slaying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>None of what Gifford told defense lawyers had been disclosed by prosecutors, so Grube filed a request for a new trial because of that alleged denial of due process and because Gifford's information led to the discovery tha!
t Ashton
police logs for the night of the slaying appeared to have been altered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>"Not only were they altered, they were altered by the police, including the one who was the other suspect," Moeller told The Associated Press on Friday.<p /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><p> </p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">According to Winmill's 2006 ruling concerning the police logs, "police officers actually manufactured false evidence and submitted it to Grube's attorneys as true evidence."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Those alterations, Winmill said, included changing the number of miles traveled and inserting a false time on the log at a later date.<p /></span></p><p><p /><p /><p>-----Original message-----<br />From: lfalen lfalen@turbonet.com<br />Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2!
007
10:58:21 -0700<br />To: "Tom Hansen" thansen@moscow.com, "Vision 2020" vision2020@moscow.com<br />Subject: Re: [Vision2020] The High road<br /><br />> Tom<br />> This was a good article, thanks for posting. These girls seem first class. As for Duke, Nifong should be disbarred,<br />> Roger<br />> -----Original message-----<br />> From: "Tom Hansen" thansen@moscow.com<br />> Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 19:52:22 -0700<br />> To: "Vision 2020" vision2020@moscow.com<br />> Subject: [Vision2020] The High road<br />> <br />> > >From today's (April 20, 2007) Sports Illustrated -<br />> > <br />> > --------------------------------------------------------------------<br />> > <br />> > The High Road<br />> > <br />> > Depth of character from Robinson to Rutgers<br />> > By Terry McDonell<br />> > <br />> > The countdown to the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinso!
n's first
day in the<br />> > major leagues was unfortunately shot through with the inevitable anger and<br />> > melancholy that comes with every moment of racism in sports.<br />> > <br />> > Don Imus was a little boy the day Robinson broke baseball's color line.<br />> > Sixty years later, as host of a nationally syndicated radio show, he was<br />> > mocking the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos." Rarely<br />> > do you hear such naked racism (as opposed to code-talking or show-off<br />> > political incorrectness) but there it was, dominating the news in a vortex<br />> > of argument among athletes, politicians and pundits over not only racism and<br />> > sexism, but also- hip-hop, free speech, shock radio, civil rights, Borat and<br />> > God.<br />> > <br />> > The one sure thing as volume rose was that Imus was going down. Troubling<br />> > was the whiff of self-p!
romotion
that settled over everyone involved - except<br />> > the Rutgers' players and coaches. Almost unknown despite nearly winning a<br />> > national championship, the depth of their character began to show when Aditi<br />> > Kinkhabwala's first story about the controversy on SI.com, where she writes<br />> > a weekly column. <br />> > <br />> > In that piece we learned that junior point guard Matee Ajavon's mother<br />> > cleaned houses until she had enough money to bring Matee and her sisters to<br />> > the U.S. from Liberia; that freshman forward Myia McCurdy is a science whiz<br />> > and former Girl Scout; that junior guard Essence Carson, who last summer<br />> > lost the grandmother who raised her, plays four instruments and writes<br />> > poetry.<br />> > <br />> > Kinkhabwala, who interned at SI and now also covers Rutgers sports for "The<br />> > Record" of Bergen County, !
New
Jersey, stayed on the story, and her exclusive<br />> > report taking you inside the Scarlet Knights' meeting with Imus leads the<br />> > magazine.<br />> > <br />> > In an obvious irony, the fallout from Imus dampened the reaction to the<br />> > declaration by North Carolina attorney general Roy Cooper that the three<br />> > white Duke lacrosse players accused of raping an African-American woman were<br />> > innocent in a case so charged with racial content that it has left Duke<br />> > scarred and reeling. The rush to judgment by ethically impaired prosecutor<br />> > Mike Nifong shredded many lives as is underlined by Rick Reilly's column on<br />> > former Duke coach Mike Pressler, who was forced to resign before his players<br />> > were charged.<br />> > <br />> > What would Jackie Robinson think of all this? Writing about Robinson for<br />> > SI.com last week, senior writer Phil !
Taylor
suggested that the Hall of Famer<br />> > "would undoubtedly have been heartened that the outrage over Imus' comments<br />> > has crossed racial and ethnic lines." Then Taylor laid out an obvious<br />> > truth: "Jackie Robinson didn't tell the public about the content of his<br />> > character, he showed it, over time, through the way he behaved." The women<br />> > of Rutgers are following in his footsteps on that same high road.<br />> > <br />> > --------------------------------------------------------------------<br />> > <br />> > Seeya round town, Moscow.<br />> > <br />> > Tom Hansen<br />> > Moscow, Idaho<br />> > <br />> > "If not us, who?<br />> > If not now, when?"<br />> > <br />> > - Unknown<br />> > <br />> > <br />> > =======================================================<br />> > List services made avai!
lable by
First Step Internet, <br />> > serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. <br />> > http://www.fsr.net <br />> > mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<br />> > =======================================================<br />> <br />> =======================================================<br />> List services made available by First Step Internet, <br />> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. <br />> http://www.fsr.net <br />> mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<br />> ======================================================= </p></p>