A Two-fer

Normally I don't post twice in the same day, but this story epitomizes, I think, the nature and mission of this blog:

Louisville lawyer Steve Pence tied to case of crooked N.Y. banker
Ex-Lt. Gov., prosecutor an unnamed co-conspirator

Louisville lawyer Steve Pence, a former Kentucky lieutenant governor and federal prosecutor, has been linked as an unnamed co-conspirator to a federal criminal case in New York in which an ex-bank CEO pleaded guilty to fraud.

Read the full story here.

A Slap on the Wrist

The Fayette Urban County Council has found a Lexington police sergeant guilty of misconduct.

(and he still gets away with it)

Earl Rayford was demoted during a disciplinary hearing Tuesday night, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. Rayford was accused of going against state law and department policy by asking officers to give money found on a fugitive to his step-daughter.

Rayford's attorney says his client was only trying to return the money to its rightful owner, but his superiors say what he did was wrong.

Now I could be completely mistaken, but when someone - anyone - goes against state law, isn't that person supposed to be charged and prosecuted under state law ? What, then, is the message the Lexington PD is sending - that violations of state law committed by Lexington police aren't serious enough to merit prosecution and potential prison time? Is is a race issue? A tenure issue? An issue of "connections"?

HE STOLE MONEY.

The Kentucky Revised Statutes defines theft as:

 514.030 Theft by unlawful taking or disposition -- Penalties.
(1) Except as otherwise provided in KRS 217.181 or 218A.1418, a person is guilty of theft by unlawful taking or disposition when he unlawfully:
(a) Takes or exercises control over movable property of another with intent to deprive him thereof; or
(b) Obtains immovable property of another or any interest therein with intent to benefit himself or another not entitled thereto.
(2) Theft by unlawful taking or disposition is a Class A misdemeanor unless the value of the property is five hundred dollars ($500) or more, in which case it is a Class D felony.

Seems pretty straight-forward to me, yet the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government seemed to gloss over this particular statute when it came to a police sergeant in their employ. Was it politics, favoritism, or...?

Read the full story, then you decide.

I can use "Bull Malarkey" in a sentence, too

Yet another judge says "They're out to get me" in yet another case of judicial misconduct. To that I say "Bull Malarkey"...

Harlan circuit judge faces misconduct charges

The top judicial official in Harlan County abused his position to try to discredit his cousin's opponent in a political race, an ethics panel has charged.

Circuit Judge Russell D. Alred also committed numerous other ethics breaches, including seeking a job for another cousin; compromising his impartiality by pushing for investigations of people; and ordering people to take drug tests without cause, the charges allege.

The state Judicial Conduct Commission publicly issued a total of 20 charges against Alred on Tuesday. That is a high number compared to other recent cases.

The charges — which are administrative, not criminal — allege that Alred has committed misconduct, besmirched the judiciary, allowed family or other relationships to impair his objectivity and has been unfair.

The commission could rule that the charges have no merit.

However, if the panel decides Alred violated ethics standards, his potential punishment ranges from being privately admonished to being suspended or even removed from office.

An Idea So Crazy, It Just Might Work

The cost of incarceration vs. the cost of everything else must be starting to make an impression on the "Lock 'Em All Up" crowd...

FRANKFORT -- Some bills strut and fret their hour on the stage, full of sound and fury, but in the end signify little. Others come through on cat’s feet, quietly, plain in their presentation but historically transformative in what they plan to do.

This week, a true ‘change’ bill of the latter sort passed the General Assembly, quickly and with little fanfare, a strikingly bipartisan bill that rethinks a fundamental but ever-more-costly function of state government: Corrections.

House Bill 463 takes a long look at the drift toward harsh and punitive sentencing in the so-called War on Drugs, and admits the unproductive drag such sentencing of non-violent offenders has become on the state budget.

Kentucky has about 20,500 prison inmates and spends about $440 million a year on Corrections -- closing in fast on a billion dollars a biennium. As recently as 2008, the Pew Research Center reported Kentucky had the fastest growing prison population in the nation. Incarceration costs nearly $22,000 per inmate, per year -- money many have come to see as pure waste if all it accomplishes is simple punishment of low-level, non-violent drug offenders.