UNBIASED - Week in Review: October 17-22, 2022

Episode Date: October 24, 2022

1. Oklahoma Executes Benjamin Cole Via Lethal Injection (1:01)2. British Prime Minister, Liz Truss, Resigns After a Short Six-Week Tenure (9:15) *Update: Rishi Sunak Named Britain's New Prime Minister on Wednesday, October 25, 20223. House GOP Introduces Bill that Mimics Florida’s Don’t Say Gay Bill & Why it Won’t Pass (14:44)4. How To Vote & How to Get Ready for Midterm Elections (19:35) All links to sources can be found on www.jordanismylawyer.comFollow Jordan on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube: @jordanismylawyer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Please gamble responsibly. Gambling problem? For free assistance, call the Connex Ontario helpline at 1-866-531-2600. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. You are listening to the Jordan is My Law podcast. This is your host Jordan and I give

you the legal analysis you've been waiting for. Here's the deal. I don't care about your political views, but I do ask that you listen to the facts, have an open mind and think for yourselves. Deal? Oh, and one last thing. I'm not actually a lawyer. lot of learning that can happen today. So I have one execution to talk about that happened this past week. I'm going to talk about a federal bill that was just introduced, and then I'm going to end the episode giving you guys some resources on how to vote, why you should be voting in midterms, and things of that nature. So just a lot of information. So the first story is about the execution that just happened this last week in Oklahoma. So his name was Benjamin Cole, and in December of 2002, he was convicted and sentenced to death for killing his nine-month-old daughter by bending her backwards and breaking her

spine. The reason he did this was because his daughter was crying while he was playing video games. So he has a long history of mental illness. He's not right in the head, but nonetheless was found to be competent enough to stand trial back in 2002, sorry. And he was ultimately sentenced to death. Now, the thing is, is that when he was going to trial back then, prosecutors actually offered him multiple times a plea deal for a life sentence, but he declined it. And there's no real reason as to why, but his lawyers say it's due to religious reasons. So there's no real clarity there, but nonetheless, to decline such a life sentence and then fight such a battle, which we'll get into to avoid your death sentence is kind of interesting and contradictory. But anyway,

he petitioned for clemency a few months back. And basically what he was asking for was that life sentence that he denied back when he was offered it in 2002. Why do I have such a hard time saying that? I think I'm just because I'm so used to saying 2022 or I don't know. Anyway, so he petitioned for the clemency that he denied back in 2002. And his petition was denied on September 27th in a four to one decision. But the petition described him as wheelchair bound and catatonic and explained that he suffers from a combination of brain damage resulting from multiple childhood and early adulthood head traumas and a family history of mental illness, which were exacerbated by repeated physical and sexual abuse as a child that eventually led to persistent alcohol and drug use.

Like I said, that petition was denied. So then his lawyers filed a petition in the county court where he was set to be executed, seeking a jury trial on his competency. So now they were trying to figure out, or trying to argue basically, you know, he's not competent enough to be executed and we want a jury trial to determine that. But the district court judge ruled on their own that he was competent enough to be executed and that was that. Then his attorneys

filed a last minute appeal to the Supreme Court. But on Wednesday, the Supreme Court denied the appeal and the next day he was next day, he was executed. So he was executed by way of the lethal injection. He was pronounced dead at 10.22 a.m. Oklahoma's lethal injection protocol consists of three drugs, so you guys hear me talk about that. Sometimes it's one, sometimes it's two, three. Nebraska has four. But Oklahoma's is midazolam, which is a sedative. The second drug is vercronium bromide, which is a paralytic. And then the third is a lethal dose of potassium chloride, which stops the heart. So there was actually, Oklahoma's had a lot of issues with their lethal injection. They just resumed executions in October of 2021. So this is their sixth execution since then from a very long

hiatus starting in 2014. And basically what happened there was they stopped executing because of some botched executions. And I've touched on the eighth amendment in the past, which protects against cruel and unusual punishment. And basically what the Supreme court has said is that the punishment has to be proportional to the crime. Now it's unclear exactly what that means. And because of this, inmates will typically file lawsuits alleging their method, like the method in their state is unconstitutional and ask the Supreme Court to rule on it just because they figure, you know, let's take a stab in the dark. Maybe this is cruel and unusual because the cruel and unusual standard isn't so clear cut. But in this case, Oklahoma conducted an execution in 2014 where an inmate convulsed for almost 45 minutes. And he was

actually yelling out that his whole body felt like it was burning. He eventually died of a heart attack after those 45 minutes. And then the next year, Oklahoma called off an execution of an inmate shortly before he was set to go forward because the facility realized they ordered the wrong drug. So they ordered potassium acetate instead of potassium chloride, and they had unknowingly used it on an inmate earlier that year. So they had all kinds of issues happening. And in response to those mistakes, the state put a hold on its executions until October of 2021 when it executed John Grant by lethal injection. According to the autopsy report of John Grant, Grant had frothy fluid in his lungs, which

suggested a painful death. According to one of the doctors that reviewed the autopsy and has reviewed many autopsies of death row prisoners where this midazolam drug had been used, he said that this type of pulmonary fluid buildup produces a sensation of doom, panic, drowning, and asphyxiation. So you can imagine that that's not the best way to go. So because of that, a group of 28 death row prisoners in Oklahoma filed a lawsuit arguing that midazolam fails to adequately anesthetize an individual and it thus violates the 8th amendment. But on June 6th, so just a couple of months ago, following a six-day trial, the judge in that case ruled that the use of midazolam and Oklahoma's lethal injection protocol is in fact

constitutional. And he explained that the prisoners fell short of making their case that midazolam does not adequately render the prisoner unable to feel pain, creating risk of severe suffering. Now, one of the attorneys representing the prisoners said that it's not just the midazolam that's the issue, it's also the second drug, the ruricronium bromide. Attorney Jennifer Moreno says that it serves no legitimate purpose other than to make it appear as if the death is occurring peacefully while hiding any suffering and expressions of pain that occur. So that, I mean, they've had issues with their lethal injection in the past, but now they've resumed executions again following that court ruling in June, where the judge found that their lethal injection protocol is okay. So that's the situation with that. And Oklahoma does have

two other methods of execution. I believe it's the electric chair and nitrogen hypoxia, which nitrogen hypoxia has never been used before, but both of those methods don't kick in or aren't available unless and until the lethal injection is found to be unconstitutional. So in this case, obviously, the judge decided the lethal injection is constitutional, so none of those other options are available. Now, I do have a question for you guys in regards to mental stability. Do you think someone in this case, so his petition that was written by his attorneys described him as catatonic, mentally unstable, and essentially incompetent. Do you think someone like that should be granted clemency based on their lack of mental awareness? Or in other words, do you think that they should be taken off death row

and only be required to serve a life in prison sentence because they lack the requisite mental awareness? Or do you think that that's more of a reason to execute the inmate because not only are they murderers, but they're also not serving any purpose in society? So then you have the argument of, you know, why should the state continue to pay to keep these people alive? So I'm just curious how you think mental stability plays a role in determining whether or not someone should be on death row or serving a life sentence. Now that takes us into story two, which is a very short story, but it made the news and I wanted to talk about it. So Liz Truss was the British Prime Minister who just resigned this week, this past week, I should say. And she is now the shortest serving Prime Minister in British history by far. Her tenure lasted only six weeks. So if you remember,

Boris Johnson was the previous Prime Minister. He resigned on July 7th of this year following some criticism and pressure to step down due to some scandals and things of that nature. Following that, the queen appointed Liz Truss on September 6th, just days, literally days before the queen passed away. Truss had promised a radical shift in Britain's economic fortunes, turning it into a low-tax, high-growth country that would ultimately, quote-unquote, unleash its post-Brexit potential. Soon after her appointment, her first finance minister, so obviously their government system is very different than ours, but soon after her appointment, her first finance minister announced 45 billion pounds in unfunded tax cuts, which

equates to about 48 billion dollars. And this sent the government's cost of borrowing spiraling. It caused an emergency intervention from the Central Bank of England, a reprimand from the International Monetary Fund. All of these things went awry because of this. And despite the finance minister being fired and the successor attempting to reverse almost all of these policies, Britain is still left navigating the fallout with record inflation and increased mortgage rates. According to a YouGov poll, Truss's approval rating, personal approval rating, while in office fell to minus 70, making her the most unpopular party leader in British history. And she is a part of the Conservative Party. The Conservative Party is currently ruling in England. Now, President Biden made a statement about her

resignation saying in part, I thank Prime Minister Liz Truss for her partnership on a range of issues, including holding Russia accountable for its war against Ukraine. We will continue our close cooperation with the UK government as we work together to meet the global challenges our nations face. Right now, it's clear that the people of Britain want stability. It's something that's been lacking since their departure from the European Union, and it's unclear who's going to take Liz Truss's place. Some people have even argued that Boris Johnson could be a unifying candidate who could kind of bring stability to the country. So that would be interesting considering he just stepped down months ago.

But I did a bit of research on the way this system kind of works in Britain because obviously it's different than ours. So how it goes is typically if a prime minister's term is up, the new prime minister would be chosen in a general election, which happens every five years. But instead of voting for the leader directly, so like us, we vote for our president directly. When we go to cast our ballot, we literally pick one or the other. They don't do that. So the public chooses between delegates of each party to represent their local area, which is known as a constituency, and the party that wins the most constituencies wins the election. And then the leader of that party typically becomes the prime minister. So currently the conservative party holds a strong majority in parliament with 358 of 650 seats. But as far as how the party leaders are chosen, it's actually through an internal process, normally in advance of a general election or in the case that a leader steps down

or is forced out. So right now, given the current situation, the new prime minister that will take trust his place will be decided through an internal process, not through a vote of the people. And in order to take part in that internal race, a conservative member of parliament needs to be nominated by at least 20 colleagues. And then a winner is selected from the nominated individuals in another two-stage process. So the biggest difference between, you know, us and Britain when it comes to government is we're electing our president directly, whereas they kind of do it in an indirect way if that makes sense so it's said that there are a couple of favorites that may take her place including a finance minister and a international trade secretary that were thought to potentially replace boris johnson and didn't

so we'll see what happens there but that's a little lesson on how the prime minister election works in britain and now you know who the shortest serving prime minister in British history is if you ever decide to make an appearance on Jeopardy. And I will say, if I have any British listeners, please feel free to comment on my website, jordanismylawyer.com and share any additional knowledge you have.

I think it's very fascinating to find out, you know, how each country runs their election process. So if you have anything to share with me or even any corrections to anything I said or any clarification you want to add, please feel free to do so. the house of representatives introduced a bill that mimics florida's don't say gay bill i previously covered florida's law most importantly i just want to reiterate florida's law does not say anywhere don't say gay despite being given that name what it does is in a nutshell it prevents instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in grades, kindergarten through third grade. It also does

a few other things like gives parents more rights and accessing their kids' school records. Um, it, you know, kind of dictates when a teacher has to report or doesn't have to report things said by the student to the parent of that student about their sexual identity. But I just want to clarify, although it's been coined the don't say gay law, it doesn't actually say don't say gay. But now the house has introduced a similar law on a federal level, but it actually goes further than Florida's law. And we'll talk about why, but I do want to just clarify that this likely won't become a law in the current Congress and under President Biden, because the reality is the current climate of Congress just doesn't allow that. But hypothetically, if Republicans were to

take back control of the House after midterms, then it's possible. But even then then it's unclear how many Republicans would support the bill. And even if it were to pass both chambers, president Biden would most likely veto it. And then it would need two thirds majority in both houses, which is unlikely. So I do want to touch on this just to kind of make you guys aware of it, but just know this is likely not becoming a law. So it was introduced on Tuesday by Mike Johnson, who's a Republican representative from Louisiana, and it's called the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act. I do have this act linked on my website, so you can read it for yourself. It's only six pages. It's not a long read. And its intended purpose is to quote, prohibit the use of federal funds to develop, implement,

facilitate, or fund any sexually oriented program, event, or literature for children under the age of 10 and for other purposes, end quote. So one change just right off the bat or one difference right off the bat from Florida's law is that this applies to children up to 10, whereas Florida's law applies to children up to eight or nine, depending on what age they are in third grade. But this bill, the federal bill specifically calls out school districts that receive federal grants that have implemented sex ed for children under 10. And it says that those curriculums encourage discussions of sexuality, sexual orientation, transgenderism, and gender ideology as early as kindergarten. The bill also calls out state and local library systems, museums, other educational institutions

that receive federal grants and have purchased sexually oriented literature and materials that target pre-adolescent children and teach them about concepts like masturbation, pornography, sexual acts, and gender transition. And it goes on to say that private organizations, state government agencies, local government agencies, and federal agencies like the Department of Defense have made use of federal grants to host and promote sexually oriented events like drag queen story hours and burlesque shows. So basically what the bill is saying is that parents and legal guardians, according to them, have the right and responsibility to determine where, if, when, and how their children are exposed to material of sexual

nature and that federal funds should not be used for such exposure for children under 10. Notably, the bill defines sexually oriented material as quote, any depiction, description, or simulation of sexual activity, any lewd or lavacious depiction of or description of human genitals or any topic involving gender identity, gender dysphoria, gender transgenderism, sexual orientation, or related topics, end quote. The bill also discusses some other things like federal funding limitations, private rights of action, prohibitions at federal facilities, statute of limitations, and things of that nature. But I do highly recommend you read

the bill. As I said, it's linked on my website, jordanismylawyer.com. It's only six pages. It's a very easy read. There's nothing really too complex in there, like we kind of saw with some of the abortion laws. And, you know, I'm curious to know your thoughts on this, whether you think this is an issue that the federal government should have any say on. I know this can be a pretty controversial topic, but that's what I have the comments on my website for to kind of spark some conversation. And the last thing that I want to talk to you guys about before I end this episode is how to vote in midterm elections.

And I know we see a lot of celebrities kind of promoting, go out and vote, go out and vote, go out and vote. And at least in my view, it's very easy to decipher why they're telling you to go out and vote. And it seems like one party kind of pushes voting more so, but I want to do it from an unbiased perspective because I think it's really important no matter what side you fall on, no matter what your views are, it is so important to vote. And there's a few reasons why you should vote, not just in the presidential election, but also in midterms. First, it's your right as a U.S. citizen. And, you know, not all countries offer that opportunity. And so I think it's a

really great privilege that we have and something that we should take advantage of. But on top of that, we know that Congress has a big say in the legislation that's passed during any given term. And, you know, the president's ability or inability to accomplish his agenda has a lot to do with whether his party controls the two houses of Congress. And whether or not you like the president, whether or not you want Republicans to take back control of the house, it really doesn't matter. All of these reasons apply to all of us. But you know, this isn't just about Congress either. This is also about state and local races. And honestly, state races can mean more than the federal races. Because although both are important, in actuality, the overwhelming

majority of legislation in this country is passed at the state level, not the federal level. So for those reasons, go out and vote. Just kidding. But also not. So I am serious, but let's talk about how to vote and some resources that'll tell you how to vote and some stats that we've seen thus far due to early voting. So early voting has already started. There's been a lot of votes cast already. So we do have some statistics out that I want to go over with you guys. But first of all, how do you vote?

First, you need to register in your state. Each state has a deadline, so make sure you meet that. Each state also has their own requirements. So for example, to register in Florida, you have to be a United States citizen. You have to be a legal resident of Florida and the county in which you register. You have to be at least 18 years old. You can't have been adjudicated mentally incapacitated with respect to voting in florida or any other state without having the right to vote restored and you cannot be a convicted felon without your voting rights having been restored so again this depends on your state but i just wanted to give you an example of my home state and how some of these requirements vary. And it's not biased in the sense that, you know, you don't get any indication of like what party this website affiliates with, like some other

websites do. It's just a really great resource. So it's linked to my website. Otherwise it's howto.vote and you literally just click your state and it tells you everything you need to know. So once you're registered, you can vote in person. Depending on the state, there are states that are strictly vote-by-mail states, which I will go over. But in most states, you can vote in person by mail or by dropping your ballot off to a Dropbox. If you want to do a mail-in ballot,

in most states, you have to request a ballot. There are eight states that only do elections by mail, like I said, so you'll automatically get a mail-in ballot sent to you. Those states are California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Washington. And of those states that offer mail-in voting, 27 states offer no excuse absentee voting, which means you can request a ballot and there's no excuse or reason necessary. You just request it and it's sent to you. The other states that aren't those 27 states, obviously, you do need an excuse to qualify.

So definitely look into that. See if you are one of those states. Now let's talk about some statistics. Oh, and most importantly, election day. Election day is November 8th, okay? That's like arguably the most important fact here. Election day is November 8th, but some states have already started their early voting, and because of that, we actually have some numbers so far. So according to data analyzed by the University of Florida's U.S. Elections Project, more than 2 million people have already voted in the 2022 general election. As of October 17th, there had been 14,892,186 total mail ballots requested.

1,842 of those have been returned and 188,615 ballots have been cast in person already, which totals just over 2 million early votes. UF professor Michael Donald, who oversees the elections project said that early turnout so far in 2022 was higher than usual for a midterm election. And he said that the numbers were on par with the 2018 numbers, which was the highest midterm turnout rate since 1914. And honestly, this doesn't surprise me. It's a cool statistic, but it doesn't surprise me just because of everything that's been happening lately. Just all the controversy in regards to abortion rights and the economy and inflation. Like there's just a lot of stuff going on. And I think more people want to have a say than usual, but of all the States that record a party registration, the U S elections project shows more Democrats have voted early this cycle compared to Republicans. So 52.3% Democrat,

31.1% Republican. Now I'll leave you with some polling statistics that have come out in the last week. So according to multiple polls and surveys, the issues top of mind for voters right now are inflation and the economy. Following the overturn of Roe versus Wade, it kind of seemed like the Democratic Party was favored in midterms, right? Because so many people were vocal and like outraged about it. But now, according to recent polls, it looks like the Republican Party is actually regaining momentum. According to a CBS News YouGov survey, 65% of voters feel the economy is getting worse, and 68% say the Biden administration could be doing more to combat inflation. The same poll also found that likely voter preferences break 47% for Republicans to 45%

for Democrats. Now note that these numbers are within the poll's margin of error, so take that for what it is. In a New York Times Siena College poll, 64% of likely voters say the U.S. is heading in the wrong direction, and when asked what they felt the most important problem facing the country today was, the economy and inflation were the only issues named by double digit shares. So 26% and 18% respectively. All other issues sat at 8% or less. Now that same New York Times, Siena College poll found Republican congressional nominees with 49% support to 45% for Democrats among likely voters, also split within the poll's margin of error. And lastly, according to a CNN poll, 9 in 10 registered voters called the economy important to their vote, while 72% rates abortion as that same importance. So from these polls, what I gather is a lot of people are more worried about the economy

and inflation more than anything else. And I think that could just be because at the end of the day, economy and inflation affects all of us. Abortion doesn't affect every single person in this country. So that could be why we're seeing it. But both of those polls, I mean, the voter preferences breakdown between Republicans and Democrats, both polls numbers were within the margin of error. So take that for what it is. So please go out and vote. At the very least, go to my website and check out those sources. The howto.vote is amazing. I'm so

happy I found that site and I plan on making a TikTok about it too because I just want to raise as much awareness as possible. That concludes this episode. I hope you guys thoroughly enjoyed my four stories for today and I have a flight to catch so I'm gonna go and I will catch you guys on Monday. a flight to catch so i'm gonna go and i will catch you guys on monday