Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Law Legal panel won't go after McDaniel
Posted by Max Brantley on Tue, Jul 12, 2011 at 6:10 AM
Mara Leveritt reports (pay wall) that the Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct won't pursue her complaint that Attorney General Dustin McDaniel's office had violated ethics codes by continuing to fight to uphold West Memphis Three convictions marred by evidence of juror misconduct and other violations of the defendants' constitutional rights. New evidentiary hearings have been ordered for the three, convicted in the slayings of three West Memphis children.
The committee said it had no authority to review the discretionary acts of public officials such as McDaniel.
No surprise in this, of course. At least the committee didn't seek a contempt citation against Leveritt for talking publicly about her complaint, which is prohibited by a constitutionally questionable court rule.
The attorney general arguably is bound to seek to uphold verdicts won before juries and upheld by appellate courts. But there's a do-right rule, too, and McDaniel has run roughshod over it in defense if these convictions. Leveritt observed in a letter to the lawyer disciplinary committee:
If these men are someday freed, I will be one of those wondering how many years they spent in prison unnecessarily because the attorney general chose to interpret his duty as one of representing the interests of a state prosecuting attorney rather than as the [Arkansas] constitution requires, defending the interests of the state.
Speaking of...
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Attorney General gives okay on "private option" referendum
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May 14, 2013Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has announced that Arkansas will get $5.1 million, including federal matching funds, for its Medicaid program as part of the $500 million settlement of a lawsuit against Ranbaxy, a drug manufacturer in India that provided subpar generic drugs. /more/
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The open line
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Help sought for memorial to victims in West Memphis 3 case
April 21, 2013May 5 will mark the 20th anniversary of the slayings of three Arkansas children in what would come to be known internationally as the West Memphis Three case. /more/
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April 11, 2013It's all fun and games until the world's richest corporation spills 200,000 gallons of goop in your backyard. /more/
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April 4, 2013Attorney General Dustin McDaniel is pressing Exxon Mobil for information on the devastating oil spill in Mayflower. /more/
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April 2, 2013Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, who's been something less than an environmental crusader to date, has announced that he'll investigate the Exxon Mobil pipeline spill that drenched a Mayflower neighborhood with thousands of barrels of heavy Canadian crude oil. /more/
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The war on the poor continues
April 2, 2013Some odds and ends to start the day. * THE WAR ON THE POOR THROUGH PAYDAY LENDING: Is it really a surprise that a gang of Republican lawmakers is trying again to open the legal door to bring the blood-suckday payday lending industry back into Arkansas? /more/
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