New York City
A Trial by Jury, both the book and Carl T. Bogus’s review [“A Verdict on the System,” Dec. 10, 2001], were interesting and insightful, but I offer the following: Bogus says, “If convicted, Milcray [the defendant] could go to prison for life. They [the jurors] were not supposed to know this because under New York law the jury’s only job is to determine whether the defendant is guilty of the charged offenses; it is the judge who decides the sentence” [my emphasis].
Actually, it is not the judge who decides the sentence. The legislature sets the framework, e.g., the options are at least fifteen years to life or at worst twenty-five years to life for a murder conviction, as in this case. The judge cannot deviate from that formula. However, it is the parole board that decides when, if ever, to release the prisoner. (I believe The Nation pointed this out last summer in an article about Kathy Boudin, in whose case the judge imposed a sentence of twenty years to life with a recommendation that she be released after twenty years; however, the parole board disagreed and she remains incarcerated until the parole board–not a judge–decides to release her.)
It is in drug cases that the sentencing has especially frustrated and rendered judges powerless, since only the prosecutor may permit deviation (usually minor) from the mandatory minimums, and almost always in exchange for a guilty plea. The last person to decide the sentence is the judge, regardless of what she finds the equities to be, or the individual and the facts to deserve.
EMILY JANE GOODMAN Hatboro, Pa.
Carl Bogus wrote, “No one can say whether the jury made the correct decision in this case.” The jury did indeed reach the “correct” verdict: Because the prosecution did not prove its case (or disprove self-defense) beyond a reasonable doubt, the proper verdict under the law, as the jury determined, was “not guilty.” If Bogus meant that the “correct decision” should reflect what “truly” happened that night, the legally relevant “truth” was that the state did not meet its burden of proof.
What impressed me was that the jurors applied the law properly and managed to set aside their conjectures, hunches and suspicions. When faced with the massive power of the state, a defendant is entitled to the presumption of innocence, and when the state does not meet its heavy burden of overcoming that presumption beyond a reasonable doubt, the defendant should, as a matter of law, continue to enjoy that presumption. Sometimes we don’t know the “truth” about what happened, but the rule of law requires recognizing the truth that no one should be punished as a criminal when the state doesn’t prove its charges.
L. ROY ZIPRIS
New York City
I thoroughly enjoyed Russell Neufeld’s December 10, 2001, book review, “The Rope and the Law.” As I see it, the heart of the matter concerning the correctness of Justice Potter Stewart’s rationale for execution in Gregg v. Georgia (the 1976 decision that restored the death penalty) is the proper role of our due process clause. We, in the due process tradition, condemn mob-dominated trials like that of Leo Frank, where the cries for the defendant’s blood by the throngs outside the courthouse were heard and felt by the jurors. If Justice Stewart was correct that to avoid vigilantism the law must do in the courtroom what the larger society outside insists on and would do for itself if the law failed to do it on it’s behalf, then have we not succumbed to vigilantism right inside the courtroom? Public justice is not private justice. Is it not intolerable for the ministers of the law to ask the larger society concerning the accused, “Do you want a piece of him”? Would the judicial robe or all the pomp, dignity and wood paneling in the world mask the essence of that courtroom transaction from it’s bottom-line meaning, “We have ordered that the condemned be put to death, for if we don’t, the mob outside will”?
WILLIAM M. ERLBAUM
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Memo to: Foreign Policy Therapist Any time you offer therapeutic advice in a public forum, you run the risk of simplifying the therapeutic process and offering a one-dimensional analysis. In this case your patient has suffered a horrible tragedy, is feeling traumatized, anxious and insecure and is struggling to find a way to heal. Yet you provide no empathy nor suggest immediate, realistic things the patient can do to feel better. Instead you tell the patient his/her problem is “denial.” This only furthers resistance and does not help the patient collect ego strengths to work toward positive change. Worse, instead of acknowledging that a real problem of loss and death has occurred, you say that the patient’s “real problem is simply the way millions and millions of people around the world feel about you.” This generality is not helpful, nor is it an accurate way to portray the problem, or any problem for that matter. Your vision of the world as operating as a “unified mechanism” is itself mechanistic and does not allow for the free play of choice.
Yes, it’s important that the patient examine the part he/she plays in a hurtful relationship, but your advice sounds like blaming the victim. You refer to some vague way for the patient to change but stop short of saying what kind of change. It is as if you are skeptical that the patient even can change, which smacks of countertransference issues. This is therapy?
DAVID FORBES
New York City
The patient is armed and dangerous and is killing people between sessions. Compassion must be offered, and helpful suggestions for possible approaches to undeniably reasonable anxieties could be beneficial also, but in this case I felt that a sharply administered declaration of bitter truths was the best way to deal with a very volatile situation.
WALLACE SHAWN
Pomona, Calif.
Thank you for revisiting the issue of Bush v. Gore with Vincent Bugliosi [“Still Time to Impeach the Supreme Court Five,” Dec. 3, 2001]. I, for one, have not forgotten that Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices O’Connor, Kennedy, Scalia and Thomas conspired to commit one of the most egregious crimes in the history of our democracy. They turned their back on the Constitution, on the will of the people, on the federal laws granting Congress the power to resolve disputed electoral slates and on 200 years of legal precedent to appoint George W. Bush as President. They deserve no less than impeachment.
BARBARA L. HAMRICK
New York City
In his critique of the Washington Post‘s hawkish Op-Ed pages (“Word Warriors,” Nov. 26), Michael Massing focuses on what he dubs the “Stentorian Seven” (Will, Novak, Krauthammer, Hoagland, Kristol, Kagan and Kelly). He points out that the Post “does feature some alternative voices, like David Broder, E.J. Dionne Jr. and Michael Kinsley, but they tend to focus on domestic affairs.” That Broder is considered an “alternative” says more about the bias of the Post Op-Ed pages than the blather coming from the Stentorian Seven. Broder sure wasn’t offering much of an alternative on September 13 when he called for a “new realism–and steel–in America’s national security policy…. For far too long, we have been queasy about responding to terrorism. Two decades ago, when those with real or imagined grievances against the United States began picking off Americans overseas on military or diplomatic assignments or on business…we delivered pinprick retaliations or none at all.”
Massing writes that the Post offers “much less diversity of opinion than, say, the New York Times Op-Ed page.” That’s not quite what FAIR found when we surveyed the Times and Post Op-Ed pages in the three weeks following September 11. The Times ran not a single column dissenting from a military response, while the Post ran two. Not much of a choice. See FAIR’s survey, “Op-Ed Echo Chamber,” at www.fair.org.
STEVE RENDALL
New York City
Steve Rendall seems to equate diversity with “dissenting from a military response.” Surely there are other measures, and while I have not sat down to count columns, I do think the Times is far less clogged with national security-type voices demanding that the United States invade Iraq.
MICHAEL MASSING
New York City
I was shocked to read “A Royal Scandal” by Aram Roston [Dec. 3, 2001], who received his information from Mohammed Al-Khilewi and Saad al-Fagih, both discredited persons and unreliable sources. Roston defames Saudi Arabia, an important friend, ally and economic partner of the United States. During the past thirty years, Saudi Arabia has developed into a major modern state. There is no country in Europe or the Americas that has accomplished as much progress so rapidly during this period.
Saudi Arabia bought the most sophisticated US weapons, and its armed forces and national guard have attained the highest professional standard in the entire region. Prince Sultan, the defense minister, and Prince Abdullah, the crown prince, built up the armed forces and national guard and made Saudi Arabia a very strong state that can defend itself against any enemy. Its armed forces played a very important role against Saddam Hussein in 1990.
Prince Sultan also formed the Prince Sultan Charitable Foundation, which built hospitals and other charitable projects all over the country. He was a great friend and associate of King Faisal, and they both were against any kind of corruption. Prince Sultan is loved and respected by all Saudi citizens and by many foreign states, including the United States.
ISSA NAKHLEH
JURY DUTY–I
Justice, New York State Supreme Court
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Defender Association of Philadelphia
JURY DUTY–II
Acting Justice, New York State Supreme Court
AND HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT?
From: Your Supervisor
Re: Advice to Patient, The United States of America (December 3, 2001)
FOREIGN POLICY THERAPIST REPLIES
IMPEACH THE FELONIOUS FIVE
BLATHER AND BIAS AT TIMES, POST
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR)
MASSING REPLIES
SHOCKED BY ‘A ROYAL SCANDAL’
