Jackson Jambalaya

Looks like we are having a food fight about crime in the Letters to the Editor section of the Clarion-Ledger.

The "Reverend" Jeremy Tobin wrote a pro-criminal letter to the editor:

"Our criminal justice system is anything but reasonable. Judged by outcomes, it is built to round up black men, transfer public funds to private companies to warehouse them and then kill them - all legal and tidy.

Visit any criminal court in the country, you will find it packed with black and Hispanic and poor people waiting for the 5-minute consult with their public defenders who literally have their futures and their lives in their hands.

This is reality. No, this is not CSI Special Victims Unit. This is not the good guys win, the bad guys get caught. This is dirty reality with poor to rotten representation, with prosecutors out to score more wins. All of this is fed by a public perception that something is being done to be tough on crime.

Those who get sentenced to death are poor, are minority, and have poor legal help. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg said, "I have yet to see a death case among the dozens coming to the Supreme Court on eve-of-execution stay applications in which the defendant was well represented at trial. People who are well represented at trial do not get the death penalty." Life has a price tag.

Rev. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem"




Ann Pace, mother of a daughter murdered by black serial killer Derrick Todd Lee in Baton Rouge, wrote a rebuttal to Mr. Tobin's diatribe:

"I thought I would offer another view - one from a victim's family member perspective. The convicted serial killer in my own case murdered seven women in Louisiana.

Tobin states that our justice system "is built to round up black men, transfer public funds to private companies to warehouse them, and then kill them."

This is quite different from my experience whereby serial murderer Derrick Lee was represented at trial by three very competent attorneys, one a Millsaps graduate.

As a result of overwhelming evidence - including seven bodies with his DNA, an eyewitness, and other forensic evidence - he was convicted and sentenced to death by a multiracial jury.

It is not true as Tobin says that offenders who are "well represented at trial do not get the death penalty." Moreover, Lee is being housed at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, a state rather than a private institution.

Though Lee's conviction has been upheld twice already at the level of the U.S. Supreme Court, Louisiana and Mississippi both allow for what is called post-conviction relief (whenever I use that term, I always pause to appreciate the utter irony of that nomenclature), which is yet another set of appeals allowed in capital cases, even those with overwhelming forensic evidence for guilt.

I will go again to Louisiana District Court on Wednesday as I have for years for yet another hearing whereby the defense attorney Gary Clements - out to "score more wins" as Tobin says the prosecutors do -files endless specious claims on behalf of his serial killer client. The post conviction process allows Clements to hijack the legal system, contrary to a rational application of the law.

To me it appears to be a clear case of defense attorneys failing to care at all about the human or fiscal cost of their actions, failing to value honor or justice for the dead, and - in my experience - contempt for the families of those who died at the hands of killers.

Here I have to agree with Tobin; our justice system is "anything but reasonable." Were it reasonable in cases where DNA - which is considered absolute proof by the Innocence Project - is available, the obvious would be accepted. There is no logic for post-conviction appeals in such cases.

The post-conviction process should be congruent with scientific fact. Good science is the best certainty for justice for all of us - regardless of ethnicity or sex or income level.

Ann R. Pace"


Ms. Pace is far closer to the truth than is Tobin. The fact is Mr. Tobin is pro-criminal and always has been pro-criminal. Notice how he says NOTHING about what really is the case here in Jackson: criminals are caught, turned loose, and go on the rampage again. How many stories do we read in the newspaper where a criminal is caught over and over again yet escapes any consequences? Look at the paper this morning. The burglar that was apprehended by attorney Curt Crowley had a rap sheet ELEVEN PAGES long (See note below for details). He was out on bond yet there he was, committing another crime. Does Tobin say anything about that? Is he outraged about serial criminals never being kept away from society? Does he get upset when criminals repeatedly commit crimes while out on bond or on probation? Where was his outrage when one of Giles Byrant's killers was released from jail only a few years later or one of murderers of Brad Dew was back out on the street after less than ten years? Don't think I recall any letters of protest from Mr. Tobin or words of outrage from his pulpit.

If anything, the criminal justice system in Jackson works to release criminals, fails to protect society, and has no accountability to anyone as everyone -judges, prosecutors, police, and politicians- all point their fingers at each other while we suffer. Mr. Tobin also very conveniently ignores the fact that the reason why so many blacks are being thrown in jail or prosecuted for crimes is well, at least in this area, they are committing most of the crimes. Compare murder by race. Not even close. We can argue about the effects of poverty and education on crime (and yes, those are valid questions to debate conservatives). Last time I checked Madison and Rankin were pretty tough on white criminals as well as black ones. I also didn't see Mr. Tobin protesting when Judge Green broke the law to go easy on daughter-rapers as she did in the Bias case.

The fact is Mr. Tobin is pro-criminal. Its never the criminal's fault. Poverty, ignorance, racism, lack of education- they are all reasons for his behavior. He and his ilk look for every excuse to attack the criminal justice system but never the criminal. Of course, if people then move away from crime, its because of racism. You can't argue with people like this. You can't debate them. They will find every reason possible to remove blame from the criminal. The real tragedy is victims like Ms. Pace have to suffer fools like Mr. Tobin.

Oh, and good job Clarion-Ledger on posting the arrest record. Glad you posted it but you could have at least blacked out the Social Security number.

Note: Here is CL story on Mr. Crowley:

"A Jackson man with a lengthy criminal record spanning nearly 20 years didn't get away with anything when he allegedly broke into a downtown law office on Aug. 31, according to police.

That's because attorney Curt Crowley was working late and caught the suspect, Police Detective Paul Hobson testified during Anthony Demon Jones' preliminary hearing last week on a business burglary charge.

Crowley, armed with a .40-caliber handgun, kept the burglar at bay until the police arrived.

"I was willing to kill him," Crowley said in recalling the encounter at his 201 W. Capitol St. office. "He ended up begging me not to kill him."

In fact, the man kept begging him so much that he had to tell him to shut up at one point so he could hear the 911 dispatcher, Crowley said.

Crowley said he was unaware Jones, 48, was in court last week on the burglary charge.

Jones' attorney, Yemi Kings, asked Hinds County Judge Houston Patton about lowering Jones' $25,000 bond on the charge, but Patton took note of Jones' numerous police encounters. Looking up from Jones' rap sheet, Patton said he was inclined to raise the bond instead of lowering it.

"It should be much higher with the rap sheet he has," Patton said.

Beginning in 1993 up to the latest charge, Jones has 11 pages of both misdemeanor and felony charges.

Kings said Jones claims not all the charges are his....

n the end, Patton left the bond at $25,000.

But Jones won't be getting out of jail even if he tried to post bond.Court records show his bond has been revoked because of a pending auto burglary charge. He was out on bond on that charge when he was accused of breaking into Crowley's office.

If convicted of burglarizing Crowley's office, Jones could receive a life sentence because he is now charged as a habitual offender."