MORRISTOWN, Tenn. - The Hamblen County Jail has been described as a dangerously overcrowded "cesspool of a dungeon," with inmates sleeping on mats in the hallways, lawyers forced to meet their clients in a supply closet and the people inside subjected to "horrible conditions" every day. And that's the county sheriff talking. Jail populations used to be concentrated in big cities. But since 2013, the number of people locked up in rural, conservative counties such as Hamblen has skyrocketed, driven by the nation's drug crisis. [continues 1477 words]
A local prosecutor in South Carolina said Tuesday that she would not bring charges against a police lieutenant who fatally shot a 19-year-old man during an attempted drug arrest in a Hardee's parking lot in July. The case has drawn outrage in some quarters, partly because a private autopsy on the man, Zachary Hammond, who was unarmed, indicated that he had been shot from the side and the back, and through his car's side window. That seemed to contradict the account of the officer who killed him, Lt. Mark Tiller of the Seneca Police Department, who said that he had fired two shots at point-blank range because Mr. Hammond had rapidly accelerated as he drove toward the officer, and that he would have been run over had he not pushed himself off Mr. Hammond's car. [continues 584 words]
To Zachary Hammond's supporters, the shooting death of the 19-year-old man was yet another example of questionable police behavior that has shaken communities around the country. In their view, the police in Seneca, S.C., falsely claimed Mr. Hammond was shot last month as he tried to drive his car over the officer who fired on him, when his wounds show he was actually shot from the side and back. They also say the deadly confrontation, in which officers approached with their guns drawn and screaming profanities, evolved from an absurd sting effort to trap his date into selling a tiny amount of marijuana, a drug now decriminalized in much of the country. [continues 1046 words]
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- After decades of new laws to toughen sentencing for criminals, prosecutors have gained greater leverage to extract guilty pleas from defendants and reduce the number of cases that go to trial, often by using the threat of more serious charges with mandatory sentences or other harsher penalties. Some experts say the process has become coercive in many state and federal jurisdictions, forcing defendants to weigh their options based on the relative risks of facing a judge and jury rather than simple matters of guilt or innocence. In effect, prosecutors are giving defendants more reasons to avoid having their day in court. [continues 2732 words]
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Though the Afghan opium harvest has declined for the second consecutive year, a new United Nations report says, there is growing evidence that some Afghan insurgent forces are becoming "narco-cartels" -- similar to anti-government guerrilla groups in Colombia -- that view drug profits as more important than ideology. Afghanistan's multibillion-dollar illicit narcotics industry finances much of the country's insurgency, and the influence of drug money is a major reason the Afghan government is considered among the most corrupt in the world. [continues 802 words]
DALLAS, Aug. 15 -- A college professor in Ohio has drawn the unwelcome attention of one of Mexico's most powerful families. Lawyers for a bank controlled by the family of a Mexican billionaire, Carlos Hank Gonzalez -- a former mayor of Mexico City -- say that Donald E. Schulz leaked a secret Justice Department document last year that described the Hank family as a "significant criminal threat" and linked it to large-scale drug trafficking and money laundering. A lawsuit, filed late today in federal court in Cleveland, alleges that Mr. Schulz, who is now chairman of the political science department at Cleveland State University, leaked copies of the report to newspapers last year. [continues 502 words]
