Day: July 15, 2014

That post title is a mouthful folks. Let’s begin with Scott Walker as his lawyer filed a motion to keep Walker’s sentencing letters off the record.

Scott Walker to judge: Keep sentencing letters private ~ Anita Lee

Judge Starrett is construing motions from letters that Anita sent the court asking for access to the sentencing letters. The variations in how sentencing letters are handled vary across and within the various Federal Court districts and that variation is somewhat disconcerting. In Louisiana Eastern, sentencing letters are made available via PACER as a general rule without anyone in the media having to file motions to intervene and having to ask for them.  Here in Mississippi, Judge Ozerden released Roger and Sharon Ladner’s sentencing letters in the same way per my inspection of the docket in that case.

Last month at Bill Walker’s sentencing Judge Starrett mentioned that the jurisprudence in the area of sentencing letter release was well settled.  Walker’s motion in opposition to Anita’s request for the release of the letters prominently mentioned the fact that Judge William Steele over in Mobile withheld the letters in USA v Byrd, where the former Jackson County Sheriff got off very light, some would say “Judge Ginger light” and that is saying something.  I’m not yet convinced Steele had anything right in his ruling on the Byrd letters.

If I had to argue against one point Arthur Madden made in the Scott Walker motion, Continue reading “DMR on my mind: Scott Walker’s skin thins, Jim Hood and Stacey Pickering Obstruct and the blood letting at the Bolton Building continues”