First, here's the press release issued a few minutes ago by Gov. Kaine's office. My commentary on Ken Cuccinelli and Steve Shannon follows.Governor Timothy M. Kaine today announced his intention to call a special session of the General Assembly to begin on Wednesday, August 19, 2009. In agreement with the leadership of the General Assembly, the session will focus solely on the required law changes to assure Virginia’s compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, which deals with the circumstances under which evidence must be presented at trial to comply with the confrontation clause of the U.S. Constitution. The session will occur in conjunction with the annual August meeting of the General Assembly’s Joint Money Committees.Now, a few points on Ken Cuccinelli and Steve Shannon - the two candidates for Attorney General of Virginia - in all this.
“In the absence of further guidance from the Supreme Court, a special session is the most effective way to ensure compliance with Melendez-Diaz and ensure that pending cases in Virginia are handled in an orderly fashion,” said Governor Kaine. “I have been in frequent contact with a number of legislators—especially Delegates Morgan Griffith and Steve Shannon, and Senators Donald McEachin and Ken Cuccinelli—as well as the Attorney General and Commonwealth’s Attorneys Association. We feel that a brief, focused special session will result in legislation that will address the concerns raised by the U.S. Supreme Court.”
In Melendez-Diaz, the U.S. Supreme court ruled that the burden was on the prosecution to present a witness, rather than simply introduce a certificate of laboratory analysis into evidence in criminal trials. This ruling will require forensic professionals to testify in more trials than had previously been required.
Governor Kaine also announced today that he will authorize the use of resources from the Economic Contingency Fund to allow forensic professionals to testify as needed in criminal trials in the Commonwealth. Certain immediate statutory changes will also be required to manage pending cases, and these changes will also be addressed during the special session.
By agreement of the legislative leadership, the only bills that will be heard during the special session will be those introduced on behalf of the administration to address the Melendez-Diaz case. Legislation will be crafted in conjunction with the Attorney General’s office, Division of Legislative Services and relevant stakeholders.
1. Ken Cuccinelli called for a special session in order to score political points without actually proposing any real solution.
2. In contrast, Steve Shannon has been carefully working behind the scenes to solve the problem without posing for the cameras and acting erratically.
3. In the end, Shannon helped convince Kaine to focus on obtaining administrative solutions. In contrast, Cooch basically wants to change the law so that defense attorneys have to prove the certificates are inadequate so that technicians don't need to testify. That's blatantly unconstitutional, since the burden of proof is always on prosecutors, not the defense. Does Cooch understand that?
4. This whole situation is analogous to the difference between Barack Obama and John McCain on TARP during September/October 2008, where Obama acted rationally and thought the situation through while NcCain lashed out.
5. The bottom line is that Steve Shannon keeps his head down, thinks things through, works on finding solutions and gets stuff done. With Cooch, some crisis arises and he reacts with press releases and letters to the Governor and calls for special sessions and unconstitutional laws. He's all over the place.
6. Finally, Cooch has never prosecuted anything in his life, and now he wants to be Virginia's top cop? In stark contrast, Steve Shannon was a Fairfax prosecutor and actually understands these issues.
Tough choice, huh?
