Sad Serious of Events

Last December a jury convicted Derrick Wren of murdering his friend Adam Calderon in cold-bold. I worked on that case for several years and was one of the trial prosecutors. During the month long trial I got to know Adam’s family – the Matos family – as they sat through it. Edwin Matos was Adam’s brother. Edwin had a young son. Yesterday Edwin was murdered at a local mall. So sad. Such a sad serious of tragic events.

I feel really awful for the Matos family, for Edwin’s girlfriend, and for his kid.

Political In-Laws

As far as I know no one in either my direct or extended family has been to prison. Additionally, no one has ever been arrested for selling drugs. Now, the extended family’s got those living on the fringes; just trying to make ends meet even before the recent recesision. None, and this is to the best of my knowledge, has ever been arrested for dealing drugs.

See, it’s really easy. Really really really easy (note the use of three adverbs, that makes point even better) to go through life and never sell drugs. Now, I understand all of the addictions so I’m not going to say the same thing for taking drugs because using drugs (being a drug addict) and being a drug dealer are two completely different things. Dealers are in the business (yes, it’s a business, it’s a massive black market business) of making money through selling drugs. Addicts are, well, their name sort of tells the story doesn’t it?

Now, who, generally speaking, really “goes after” drug dealers and users? Makes it a plank in their party’s platform?

Conservative Republicans.

Now with Bristol Palin’s future shot gun wedding mother-in-law, Sherry Johnston, arrested on A felony drug dealing charges, well, doesn’t that put a crinkle in Palin’s future plans? First, her daughter gets pregnant by some high school drop-out. Second, middle of the road conservatives, figure-out Palin’s family choices (as exemplified by such poor conduct by her own children) are not really something they want to put on the national scene. Third, baby daddy’s mom gets arrested for dealing hydrocodone and oxycontin?

How does one spell hypocrite?

The State Troopers busting someone for drug dealing takes some doing. First the troopers conduct an unrecorded drug buy. They then need to get a warrant to record (audio/video) the subsequent drug transaction which is almost always done to an undercover trooper. Finally, a search warrant is secured for the drug dealer’s house where more drugs are almost always located.

What really gets me here is that Johnston’s bail was set at $5,000 unsecured. That means so long as she attends her court dates she’ll not have to post any bail. That’s right, she hasn’t posted any bail. This would make sense if she was a first-time C felony offender (0-5 years max with no minimum jail term) but for an A felony offender, that is unheard of. Her specific A felony offense, second-degree drug misconduct carries a range of 5-20 years in prison. The minimum presumptive prison term is 5-8 years and can ratchet up to 20 if, for example, she’s dealing drugs to minors. I’ve had first-time C felony theft offenders (say, stealing more than $500.00 worth of goods from Best Buy) receive $2,000 bond, meaning they must actually post the money before being released. What’s up with mother-in-law getting such treatment?

Naknek

Arrived in King Salmon last night (11/11/8). Checked in to the Antler’s Inn and had two beers at Eddie’ Fireplace Inn. Spoke with the owner, Mike, and several customers. Ate a not too bad pork chop dinner with good side of mashed potatoes.

Tried to start the AST truck this morning but the battery was dead. I got help jumping it from the Fish & Wildlife trooper and then followed him into Naknek. I’d never been here before so Trooper Fay was kind enough to show me where the courthouse is (it’s in the borough office building’s basement).

Unfortunately, the judge and defense counsel didn’t make it in from Dillingham this morning due to weather. So now I’m stuck waiting for them to (hopefully) arrive this afternoon so we can start tomorrow.

King Salmon

Waiting for the flight to King Salmon at 4:30. I start a trial tomorrow in Naknek. I’ve never been there before. I always like travelling around Alaska doing my job. Such a great place to practice law.

Joe Vogler

I have been trying to avoid any real mention of politics on the blog but it’s rather difficult for me. I saw a clip from Keith Olberman on an Alaskan website and it really got me angry. Angry because there are a lot (and I mean vast) of complete morons out there and most are completely uneducated. Now, I’m not really a fan of Olberman and, frankly, I don’t watch any of the cable news networks, but I am familiar with him. Olberman discusses someone who I am (or was) very familiar with – Joe Vogler. Now I see that Salon has an article on Vogler. It’s fairly short and not necessarily correct so I’ve decided to bring back my old thesis.

That’s right, a thesis.

Many years ago (a decade in fact) I was but a simple college student working on a senior thesis so that I could graduate in four years. As a history major I, of course, was tasked to write develop a thesis grounded in history. As a student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks I thought it wise to utilize the resources that my institution provided to me; namely, the immense collection of documents relating to Alaskan history. For reasons long lost I chose to write about Joe Vogler, the founder of the Alaska Independence Party, and the main proponent of the Alaskan secessionist movement.

By the time I arrived in Fairbanks, Vogler was dead but the signs seeking help into his sudden and mysterious disappearance were still plastered-up through-out the Tanana Valley. While I knew what had happened to him (shot dead by a delusional “artist” looking to purchase explosives from Vogler) there was so much still to learn about who he was and why a Kansas farmboy turned attorney fled to the Territory of Alaska in 1943, ultimately becoming a gold mining and resource/land development legend through-out Alaska. I set out to answer the why but with any “larger-than-life” figure (even in a small state) my answer never came. I discovered a racist with delusions of grandeur, prone to paranoia, but uncommonly well-read and highly self-reliant. He was (and remains today) an enigma.

Given my changed opinions I’ve retitled the essay to “Unfit Alaskan”. Whether this is due to my now advanced age or significantly more education I simply do not know. Please forgive the poor writing and (perhaps more importantly) my horrific legal scholarship. After all, this was written years before I even attended law school.

To read please click on the image below for the Adobe Acrobat file.

Prison Population

Interesting report from the Dept of Justice came out today – the Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities, 2005. The study details the differences between correctional facilities in 2000 and 2005 (most recent statistics). The number of state and federal correctional facilities increased by 9%, from 1,668 to 1,821. The number of prisoners held in custody increased by 10%, from 1,305,253 to 1,430,208. Here in Alaska, the number of facilities dropped from 24 to 21 while the number of inmates increased from 3,248 to 4,146 (27.6% increase). Alaska’s overall rate of incarceration (# per 100,00 residents) rose from 518 to 618. That’s way higher than the National average which went from 464 to 480 (per 100,000).

I think I’ll just leave-out my own personal observations of this upward trend lest I say something that will get my ass in trouble.