scaliadrape

Obama never surprises.

Via Free Beacon.

One of President Obama’s potential candidates for the Supreme Court has a history of defending some of Iowa’s most infamous criminals, including the “Midwest Pipe Bomber” and the child molester who murdered five-year-old Evelyn Miller.

Judge Jane Kelly, who was appointed to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2013, is reportedly on President Obama’s short list for the Supreme Court vacancy left by Justice Antonin Scalia.

Before becoming a judge, Kelly worked for years as a public defender in Iowa. In 2005, Kelly was the appointed attorney for a 26-year-old man named Casey Frederiksen, who was charged with possession of child pornography.

Although Frederiksen had previously been convicted of sexual assault involving a minor, Kelly urged the judge to grant him leniency, arguing that he was not a danger to others and should be released and allowed to live with his father. Frederiksen was sentenced to 14 years in prison in the case. A decade later, Frederiksen was convicted of murder and sexual assault in the 2005 cold case killing of 5-year-old Evelyn Celeste Miller…

Kelly also defended Luke Helder, better known as the “Midwest Pipe Bomber.” As a student at the University of Wisconsin, Helder planted bombs packed with nails in mailboxes in Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Texas, and Illinois. The devices injured six people, including an elderly couple in Iowa.

Kelly helped make the case that Helder was not mentally competent to stand trial. A judge agreed in 2004, and since then Helder has been confined at a medical center in Minnesota.

***************************************************




This section is for comments from tammybruce.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Tammy agrees with or endorses any particular comment just because she lets it stand.
5 Comments | Leave a comment
  1. Shifra says:

    Is Obama trolling us?

  2. mdannyg says:

    Ah yes, the smiley face bomber. Is Jose Baez (Casey Anthony’s lawyer) on the short list too?

  3. Alain41 says:

    She graduated from Harvard Law with Obama.

    While she was unanimously approved by the Senate in 2013, that was a Democrat controlled Senate. She was assaulted while jogging in 2004, so likely she’ll be defended as understanding criminal violence.

You must be logged in to post a comment.