I could not help but notice the juxtaposition of two articles in a recent issue of Indiana Lawyer and how they reflect on the administration of justice, particularly by Governor Mitch Daniels.
In one article Gov. Mitch Daniels vehemently attacked the Court of Appeals judges who issued a decision overturning Indiana's voter identification law. It wasn't that Gov. Daniels disagreed with the decision, but the way he did it. The Governor blasted the judges who decided the case, calling it political, saying the writing judge was usually wrong, and stating that "better judges" had affirmed the law. The Governor's statement effectively called the deciding judges incompetent and political stooges who decided cases based on politics, not the law.
Gov. Daniels vitriolic language drew the unusual step of sharp rebukes from both the Indiana State Bar Association and the Indianapolis Bar Association.
But on the same page of the Indiana Lawyer was a story about the Innocence Project headed up by attorney Barry Scheck. The article featured an Indiana man who spent 17 years in prison on a wrongful conviction.
What is noteworthy is that Gov. Daniels has sent more prisoners to their death than any recent governor. Eight in five years.
Think the irony is lost on the Governor. Here he is sending men to their death who have had their cases heard by the same judges that the Governor says are incompetent.
Hey Gov. Daniels -- what happens the next time someone comes up for execution that has had their appeal heard by these judges you called incompetent?
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