POST-CONVICTION DNA QUESTION 
Federal District Judge John Gleeson has another big case. The judge famously ruled on the New York judicial elections case that will go to the U.S. Supreme Court this year. Now he is being asked by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to determine whether defendants have a right to post-conviction DNA testing under the due process clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. The New York Law Journal reports that the issue has been placed “squarely in the lap” of Gleeson. At issue is the case of Frank McKithen, who wanted DNA testing of blood on a knife that he was convicted of using in the attempted murder of his estranged wife. McKithen’s plea has taken a long road to Judge Gleeson. Queens Supreme Court Justice John Latella had originally found that the testing was not required under state law, and a federal Magistrate Judge dismissed the case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Gleeson accepted the magistrate judge’s ruling, at which point McKithen appealed.

 
A PERRY MASON MOMENT?
The grand jury in the Sean Bell case began deliberations yesterday. But a surprise twist came yesterday as well when a man claiming to have witnessed the fatal police shooting of Bell came forward. He says he saw another man at the scene shooting at the cops, even though Bell and the other men with him were unarmed. It is not clear what role the witness and what Newsday calls his “potentially crucial testimony” will play in the grand jury’s deliberations —if any. Also murky is his credibility. Working in an office building in Kew Gardens, the 23 grand jury members are weighing whether to indict any of the five policemen involved in the November shooting in Jamaica. Police said the witness went to the Detectives’ Endowment Association yesterday afternoon and was too afraid to come forward earlier. The New York Times story is here.

 
MALI BURIAL+REPATRIATION OK 
Following up a story from earlier this week: Mamadou Soumare will be able to travel back to his home country of Mali to bury his wife and children who died in the Bronx fire last week. He can return to the United States within 120 days. Soumare was granted advance parole, which allows immigration with pending applications to travel abroad and return. He applied for asylum in 1992.

 
UNORTHODOX BLOG CHALLENGE
The anonymity of a Long Island blogger is at stake in a case filed in Manhattan state court, the New York Sun reports. An Orthodox Jewish blogger has called Lawrence, L.I. school board member Pamela Greenbaum a “bigot.” So Greenbaum asked Google to identify the writer of the blog popular with Orthodox Jews in the Five Towns area. A lawyer for the blogger says the speech is protected by the First Amendment. Greenbaum has suggested that she intends to sue the blogger for defamation.

 
EVER SEEN MINORITY REPORT?
It’s official: Yesterday Gov. Spitzer signed a law that will keep a class of sex offenders incarcerated in mental health institutions after the completion of their prison sentences. The civil confinement law makes provisions for a panel of mental health experts to assess inmates to determine if they pose a continued risk to the community. A jury will then decide whether the convict is likely to commit future crimes, and a judge will rule on the confinement itself. New York, which is the 19th state to enact a civil confinement law, spends $80 million a year to confine about 100 offenders, according to the Albany Times Union.

CHAUFFEUR CAN LEAVE, OH YES
Yoko Ono’s former driver is free to leave the country voluntarily, rather than be deported. A federal immigration judge ruled that Koral Karsan can return to Turkey without further legal proceedings. Karsan has already served the 60 days to which he was sentenced. The Turkish national pled guilty to trying to extort money from John Lennon’s widow by threatening to release embarrassing recordings and photos of her. Karsan’s lawyers say he was harassed by Ono.