Another Felon on Bush's Watch

It keeps getting better and better:

Claude A. Allen, who resigned last month as deputy secretary in the Department of Health and Human Services, was nominated in 2003 to a federal appeals court seat. He was appointed the president's top domestic policy adviser last year at the start of Bush's second term. That made him the highest-ranking African American on the White House staff.

Working out of a small office on the second floor of the West Wing, Allen shaped administration policy on such issues as health care, space exploration, housing and education.

But according to the Washington Post (March 11, 2006),

Allen, was arrested this week in Montgomery County for allegedly swindling Target and Hecht's stores out of more than $5,000 in a refund scheme, police said.

This is what police said happened Jan. 2:

Employees at the Target store at 25 Grand Corner Ave. in Gaithersburg spotted Allen putting merchandise in a shopping bag. He then walked over to the guest services desk, produced a receipt and received a refund for the items. After getting the refund, Allen left the store without paying for additional merchandise in his shopping cart.

Investigators were able to document 25 fraudulent refunds for items including a Bose home theater system, stereo equipment, clothes, a photo printer and items worth as little as $2.50.

This is a common variation of shoplifting but given the repeated acts, which were done while working for Bush, make the shoplifting felonious. This type of activity is charged as second degree burglary in California.

Allen resigned in February but this activity was taking place while he worked in the White House. It's "unclear" exactly why he resigned.

"At the time of his resignation, Allen denied reports that he was leaving to protest military guidelines that required chaplains to perform only nondenominational services."

Of course, soon after his citation, according to the New York Times (March 11, 2006) he spoke to Andy Card and Harriet Miers.

"Within a few days of the incident, Mr. McClellan said, Mr. Allen told Mr. Card and Ms. Miers that he was thinking of leaving the White House to spend time with his family. But Mr. Allen decided to stay for a while because he was working on domestic initiatives for the State of the Union address, which Mr. Bush delivered on Jan. 31."

Funny thing, Bush wanted him on the 4th COA.

Democrats in Congress blocked his nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in 2003, citing his relative lack of legal experience. The court, based in Richmond, covers Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

What, being a practicing attorney for seven years isn't enough?

One more tidbit which is just priceless.

Allen worked for the Virginia state attorney general's office and as state health and human resources secretary. In that job, he earned a reputation as a staunch conservative; once he kept Medicaid funds from an impoverished rape victim who wanted an abortion.

Bingo! Conservative and anti-abortion. What other qualifications do you need to be a federal judge?

Motion Denied for Incomprehensibility

It's unfortunate that more judges don't come down like this on bad motions; which usually come from the defense.

In denying Defendant's motion, Judge Leif Clark (Texas) ruled that the motion was denied for being "incomprehensible" and then quoted this line from the movie, Billy Madison, in a footnote.

Mr. Madison, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

From The Smoking Gun.

Sloppy on the bench. Sloppy in the Court

I can't imagine filing anything, much less an appeal, without reading it a few times.

Solo's Errant Spell-Check Causes 'Sea Sponge' Invasion

In an opening brief to San Francisco's 1st District Court of Appeal, a search-and-replace command by Santa Cruz solo practitioner Arthur Dudley inexplicably inserted the words "sea sponge" instead of the legal term "sua sponte," which is Latin for "on its own motion."

That left the justices reading -- and probably laughing at -- such classic statements as: "An appropriate instruction limiting the judge's criminal liability in such a prosecution must be given sea sponge explaining that certain acts or omissions by themselves are not sufficient to support a conviction."

And: "It is well settled that a trial court must instruct sea sponge on any defense, including a mistake of fact defense."

The sneaky "sea sponge" popped up at least five times.

Dudley said he didn't notice the mistake in People v. Danser, A107853, until his client -- William Danser, a former Santa Clara County Superior Court judge seeking reversal of his conviction for fixing traffic tickets -- called for an explanation.

Dudley corrected the error in his reply brief, telling the court that a "glitch" caused the weird wording and instructing that "where the phrase 'sea sponge' is found, this court should insert the phrase 'sua sponte.'"

But who is Willaim Dansler?

Dansler was a Superior Court Judge of California's Santa Clara County who was convicted in 2004 of one count of felony conspiracy to obstruct justice, plus eight misdemeanor counts of obstruction, attempted obstruction and conflict of interest.

Danser was accused along with a friend, former Los Gatos police Detective Randy Bishop, of fixing cases for members and associates of the San Jose Sharks hockey and San Jose Earthquakes soccer teams. They did similar favors for "friends of friends," authorities said.

Prosecutors said Bishop, who was moonlighting as a security official for Sharks and Earthquakes, steered 20 people who had two dozen traffic tickets and two DUIs to Danser. They included Sharks players and executives — among them goalie Evgeni Nabokov and team president Greg Jamison — and an Earthquakes player, a team trainer and an equipment manager along with players' girlfriends and wives.

Others were a personal trainer for Danser and his sons, a former private school teacher for the judge's children, and members of the Los Gatos Little League, for which Danser served as president.

Danser dismissed the cases "in the interest of justice" without the traffic violators or their attorneys appearing in court and with no notification to the law enforcement officials who issued the citation or to prosecutors, authorities said. San Francisco Chronicle

Danser was sentenced to 90 days of house arrest with electronic monitoring and three years' probation. Last month, the Court of Appeals rejected his "sea sponge" appeal:

Justice Patricia Sepulveda wrote that "ample evidence supported the charge" that Danser "became involved in the cases in order to grant special treatment."

The "judge" is now appealing to the Supreme Court.