Criminal Defense News of the Week
by: Sduclos • November 20, 2012 • no comments
Contents |
Boston District Judge Orders Prison to Provide Sex-Reassignment Surgery for Inmate
"BOSTON - State prison officials must provide taxpayer-funded sex-reassignment surgery to a transgender inmate serving life in prison for murder, because it is the only way to treat her "serious medical need," a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
"Michelle Kosilek was born male but has received hormone treatments and now lives as a woman in an all-male prison. ...U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf is believed to be the first federal judge to order prison officials to provide sex-reassignment surgery for a transgender inmate."
"Judge: Mass. must provide sex-reassignment surgery for murder convict who now lives as woman" by Assoc. Press, Washington Post - Sept. 4, 2012.
Washington County Investigates Shooting of Jeffrey Holmes
"Jeffrey Holmes, 49, was shot at least once after he attacked a deputy with a knife, said Sgt. Vance Stimler, a Washington County Sheriff's Office spokesman. The sheriff's office isn't releasing the number of times Holmes was shot or the number of rounds the deputy fired.
When deputies arrived, they spoke with Holmes through his door at the apartment complex and urged him to come outside and speak with them. Stimler said when Holmes opened his door, he attacked one of the deputies with a knife.
Holmes was taken to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland with life-threatening injuries, said Sgt. Bob Ray, another sheriff's office spokesman."
"Washington County authorities continue to investigate deputy-involved shooting that injured Bethany man" by Rebecca Woolington, The Oregonian - Sept 9, 2012.
Montana Judge Strikes Down Lethal Injection Procedure as Cruel & Unusual
"[State District Court Judge Jeffrey Sherlock] ruled... that the state's three-drug execution procedure differs from a two-drug protocol spelled out in law, which he said "increases the likelihood of confusion and error in the process."
Sherlock also faulted a practice in Montana that allows a prison warden with no medical training or execution experience to determine whether a prisoner is unconscious before a fatal drug is administered. ***"
"Montana judge strikes down state execution method" by Laura Zuckerman, Washington Post - Sept 8, 2012.
Former Hunger Striker Dies in GTMO Custody
"WASHINGTON - A detainee at the American prison at , Cuba, died over the weekend, the United States military announced on Monday.
The military said that guards discovered the man unconscious in his cell on Saturday afternoon and that efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.
He was the ninth detainee known to have died while imprisoned at Guantánamo. ***
[The detainee] was a former hunger striker who had "declared himself to be no longer a hunger striker on June 1," the captain said, and he weighed 14 pounds more than he did when he arrived at the prison. The detainee was being held in "disciplinary status" in Camp 5, a maximum-security wing of the prison, because he had recently splashed a guard with bodily fluids."
- Guantánamo Detainee, a Former Hunger Striker, Dies, by Charlie Savage, NYT - Sept. 10, 2012.
