...Obama's speech in January came a week after the high court ruled 5 to 4 that corporations had a free-speech right to spend unlimited sums to elect or defeat candidates for office.
The president, looking down at the six justices in attendance, sharply criticized the Supreme Court for having "opened the floodgates for special interests" to sway elections.
Senate Democrats rose to their feet, applauding and cheering the president's comments...
When Obama voiced his criticism, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. shook his head slightly and appeared to say, "Not true."
Responding to Roberts' comments Tuesday night, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement, "What is troubling is that this decision opened the floodgates for corporations and special interests to pour money into elections, drowning out the voices of average Americans."
An ex-con facing life in prison for allegedly swiping two bikes will get a new trial because of a prosecutor's "willful omission" of sharing fingerprint evidence, a judge ruled Wednesday.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Harry Elias' ruling did not address the larger concerns raised by a senior member of San Diego County public defender's office in Vista of allegedly systemic failures by prosecutors to turn over evidence. Attorneys had used the theft case as a platform to air those complaints.
But the judge's 15-page ruling focused solely on the dispute in the criminal case against accused thief Kenneth Ray Bowles. At issue: a fingerprint on a pawn ticket for one of the stolen bicycles.
Elias declined to dismiss Bowles' case, finding the strength of other evidence against Bowles probably would have led a jury to find him guilty of stealing and pawning the bikes.
Late last fall, a North County jury convicted Bowles of theft and burglary. During a post-conviction proceeding, his attorney learned that one of the pawn tickets had a fingerprint that could not be definitively matched to Bowles.
The judge said in his decision there was a "significant and substantial violation" of the evidence rules when the prosecutor failed to tell the defense that the inconclusive finding had been left out of the report by the forensic fingerprint expert.
Elias found that the prosecutor, Vanessa DuVall, had "an affirmative duty" to share that information. Elias ordered a new trial for two of the three charges Bowles faced.
Elias said the "willful omission" of sharing inconclusive fingerprint evidence was not so severe that it would have changed the jury's finding of Bowles' guilt. Elias noted other evidence in the case, including a security camera recording of the theft and Bowles confession to investigators.
Elias also said he considered issuing an order of contempt for the deputy district attorney, but opted against it because a fine would not solve the damage done to Bowles.
Requests for comment by prosecutors were referred to Paul Levikow, spokesman for the San Diego County district attorney's office. Levikow declined comment because the criminal case is still pending. DuVall also declined comment.
Defense attorney Kathleen Cannon, a senior member of the Vista branch of the public defender's office, called the ruling "reasoned and thoughtful."
Late last month, Cannon told Elias in court that there had been "a continuing pattern of failure" to turn over evidence.
She pointed to two recent cases in which she said prosecutors violated the rules. In a gang rape case, the prosecutor did not give the victim's statements to defense attorneys. In another case, the prosecution is alleged to have failed to turn over a bloody knife ---- evidence that actually could have worked in favor of the defense.
Neither of those cases went to trial; the defendants took plea deals offered by prosecutors. But the bicycle case did reach a jury, and Bowles was found guilty...
His conviction for manslaughter and robbery in Whitfield's death was vacated just hours after a Jefferson County grand jury indicted 45-year-old repeat offender Percy Phillips for her death. Phillips is already serving a 20-year sentence for assault.
For 16 years, Edwin Chandler faithfully believed the day would come when everyone would know he wasn't the man who shot Brenda Whitfield in the head during a 1993 robbery at the Chevron station where she worked.
That day finally arrived Tuesday, when Jefferson Circuit Judge Fred Cowan vacated the manslaughter and robbery charges against Chandler after prosecutors and police announced they had convicted the wrong man...
When Steve Schroering prosecuted Chandler in 1995, he said he had no doubt that the right man went to prison.
[Maura Larkins comment: Prosecutors never have any second thoughts, do they?]
“It was never a case I had second thoughts about until this morning” when Commonwealth's Attorney Dave Stengel called to tell him the conviction was being set aside.
After all, a store video camera captured the crime and an eyewitness tentatively identified Chandler. Fingerprints, a knit cap and sunglasses were found at the scene. And Chandler made a taped confession to detectives, admitting to the robbery and saying the shooting was accidental.
But the fingerprints didn't match Chandler's, the owner of the cap and sunglasses was uncertain, and Chandler said he falsely confessed, coerced by police scare tactics and coaching.
Chandler said then-Detective Mark Handy told Chandler he believed he was lying and threatened to charge his sister and girlfriend with harboring a fugitive if he didn't tell the truth.
Chandler said he was a few blocks away, watching a movie with his girlfriend. He remembers seeing a swarm of police cars but didn't know what had happened.
Police focused on Chandler after a witness identified him near the scene, and he already was wanted on a jail-escape charge...
But Chandler's jurors never heard some of the information that could have helped acquit him.
They never heard from John Gray, who was pumping gasoline when the shooting occurred. Gray left his name with a county officer at the scene, but it was never passed on to the city officers investigating the case..
In 1996, Gray was serving time in prison with Chandler and told him he saw the shooter and his name was Percy...
