Rudy on Ukraine...Rudy on Something

If you’re looking for a good fright, watch Rudy Giuliani’s interview on Fox and Friends. It’s a rambling train wreck of an interview. He’s got witnesses on tape. He’s got documents about the bribe. There were two bribes. Actually there were three. He’s starting a podcast. He’s going to reveal all. I thought it was appropriate that Geraldo Rivera was on briefly in the clip I saw. He and Rudy can do an updated version of Al Capone’s vault. (Geraldo might have been a separate video – web pages can do that auto play or auto cycle thing.) The audience’s reaction was as frightening as Rudy’s ramblings.

That interview with Giuliani was bizarre and bizarrely comical. There wasn’t anything comical about this CNN article about the execution of Ledell Lee by the state of Arkansas. It’s definitely worth the three minute read. There’s a chance that Arkansas incorrectly executed Lee for the murder of Debra Reese, and there are questions about the trial, the capability of Lee’s defense, and evidence.

Lee’s family and several organizations are pressing for the release of evidence from the crime scene, including DNA beneath the Reese’s fingernails. Arkansas is resisting those calls, using what seems to be a standard tactic in the playbook.

The evidence should be released because it’s considered public record under the Freedom of Information Act, the lawsuit says.

Jacksonville City Attorney Stephanie Freedman rejects that argument.

She provided CNN with an email she sent to the mayor and city council members explaining that Lee’s “DNA physical evidence is not a public record and is not open to public inspection.”

“Additionally,” the email said, “should the City release this evidence, there is the possibility that the evidence would be destroyed, further violating evidence retention laws.”

That logic has never made sense to me. We have to retain the evidence, in the event that we we need to revisit the evidence. Therefore, we can’t revisit the evidence, because we might accidentally destroy the evidence, which would prevent us from using the evidence in the future.

You know what that logic actually sounds like? What if we were wrong? Lee was poor – we can outlast these requests. These are the times I wish I was still on Twitter. I hope Arkansas gets flooded with requests to release the evidence. If they ran a good case, they should welcome the opportunity to bolster confidence in their investigative abilities.

For what it’s worth, I’m very much against the death penalty. We know for a fact that people have been incorrectly convicted of crimes. That’s fact. The first time that happened should have been enough to immediately end the death penalty. I don’t know how people can be pro-life but also accept the possibility of someone being executed incorrectly.

I’ll finish this whatever this is post on a lighter note. NPR has a great article about a sketch artist covering the impeachment hearings. According to the article, there are some cameras allowed, but they’re government cameras, and they’ve got limited coverage. Enter Art Lien for The New York Times. He sketches interesting moments with a graphite pencil and then fills them in with watercolors. I love his drawings.