#criminal justice

#criminal justice

Vaught was sentenced to three years of probation for administering the wrong medication and accidentally killing a patient at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2017. She also lost her nursing license. So Vaught became a full-time farmer. She and her husband live on a small sheep farm in Bethpage, Tennessee, tucked in the rolling hills north of Nashville. They sell eggs at farmers markets on Saturdays and supply meat to local butchers and restaurants.

New York police say Thompson and a 27-year-old man were both riding the A train on Dec. 29, 2023, before exiting at a station in West Harlem near 125th Street and Eighth Avenue. Officials said Thompson then punched the victim several times, bruising the left side of his face. Prosecutors say Thompson shouted anti-gay slurs before the attack and continued doing so while assaulting the man, according to Bragg's office.

The parents of babies abused by a nursery worker in west London say the decision to deport her after serving less than 15% of her prison sentence is "horrendous". Polish national Roksana Lecka abused 21 babies at two London nurseries between October 2023 and June 2024 and offences included punching, kicking and smacking the children. She may face no further consequences in Poland. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said she "is banned for life from returning to the UK". The Polish government has been asked to comment.

A 74-year-old Michigan man who was wrongfully convicted of the deaths of two hunters in 2022 reached a settlement this week with the accompanying dollar figure: $5.25 million. That's what Jeff Titus will be given to support him in his remaining years, but if you asked the man, I have a feeling he'd still tell you he would have preferred to not be railroaded into a murder conviction by cold case detectives and prosecutors who failed to allow him a fair defense, withholding key evidence that would have flipped his trial on its head.

I oppose the death penalty. There are several reasons for this. First, I consider it barbaric. Second, I am uneasy with the idea of the state wielding such irreversible power (especially given that most states are less competent than we, and they, would like to believe). Third, the line separating those eligible for execution from those not eligible is forever elastic; its scope is always subject to expansion and reinterpretation. Finally, and this is less a philosophical objection than an experiential one, I have stood inside an execution chamber, at the Walls Unit in Huntsville, Texas. It is not a place I ever wish to see again.

Alameda County supervisors approved a $36 million settlement for surviving family members, but primarily for the Trans' teenage son, Brandon Tran, who witnessed the killings and who is now 18 years old. When the crime occurred, Brandon Tran was 14 years old and his mother, Maria Tran, reportedly died in his arms. Maria Tran's mother and brother were also staying in the house at the time of the killings.