INTERESTINGLY:

    33) The first use of the helicopter by the police was in New York in 1947. Today, all 50 states use helicopters in police work. As of 1980 there were 1,500 helicopters used in police work.

    32) Over 70 million free, law-abiding American citizens own legal firearms.

    31) On average, every 13 seconds a free, law-abiding American gun owner uses a legal firearm in defense against a criminal.

    30) From January 1, 2000, to April 7, 2000, there were 647,869 criminal attacks stopped by free, law-abiding American gun owners.

    29) For prisoners executed in America between 1977 and 1997, the average elapsed time on death row from date of sentencing to date of execution was 111 months or 9.25 years.

    28) In England there was no right to appeal a criminal conviction until 1907.

    27) Think the death penalty saves tax dollars?  In New York each death penalty case is estimated to cost the taxpayers $3 million dollars.  In Florida the cost of each execution was estimated at $3.2 million dollars.  From 1973 to 1988 Florida spent $57 million dollars on death penalty cases.  In Kentucky the cost of a capital trial varied between $2 million and $5 million dollars.  The state of North Carolina spends $2.16 million more per death penalty case than for murder trials resulting in imprisonment for life.  In California the death penalty adds $90 million annually to the cost of the criminal justice system.  In Texas the cost of a death penalty trial is estimated at $2.3 million.  The State of Ohio spent $1.5 million to execute one mentally ill man who volunteered to be executed.  In 1991 New Jersey laid off 500 police officers at a time when it was funding a death penalty statute that would cost the state about $16 million annually - more than enough money to rehire all the laid off police.

    26) Think the death penalty deters crime?  In California studies have found that the number of murders actually increases in the days prior to as well as on the day of the execution. In addition, homicide rates were actually higher in the weeks just after an execution.  A study in Illinois found that the net effect of executions was to increase the number of first degree murders in Chicago.  A study in Georgia found that a publicized execution  is associated with a 6.8 % increase in homicides in the month of the execution.

    25) Land of the Free? Every year Americans get 150,000 new laws from all level government - federal, state and local - not to mention the 2 million new regulations passed annually.

    24) Every year 6,500 Americans are injured by their toilet seats.

    23) The USA Today reports that the 8th leading cause of death in America is medical malpractice. According to the article more people die annually of medical malpractice than from auto accidents, aids or breast cancer.

    22) State Farm Insurance Company reports that a car is stolen every 19 seconds in North America! You checked your garage lately?

    21) Your laptop computer may not be covered under your homeowners insurance. If not, you should ask your insurance agent about obtaining a PAP (ie. Personal Articles Policy) which offers extended coverage for such items.

    20) In its News and Notes the State Farm Insurance Company absurdly reported that 20 to 50 percent of all American couples regularly suffer from violence in their relationship.

    19) In 1998 the average cost per case handled by a public defender in the state of Kansas was $550.00; in Wisconsin it was $532.00; in Iowa $472.00; in Colorado $420.00; in North Carolina $380.00; in Missouri $325.00; in Oklahoma $324.00; in Minnesota $243.00; and in Tennessee it was $235.00. During this same time period the average cost per case handled by the First Judicial Circuit Public Defender Corporation was $290.68.

    18) Author Peter Megargee Brown notes that Attorney, John W. Davis, was one of the few masters of the art of cross-examination. Brown also notes that John W. Davis and his father were trial lawyers from West Virginia, and that John W. Davis was a presidential candidate in 1924. Additionally, as Solicitor General, John W. Davis represented the United States of America in the case of Brown v. Board of Education.

    17) American Patriot, Patrick Henry, once represented his sister-in-law, Nancy Randolph, who had been charged with murder (by abortion) - she was found not guilty. At that trial Patrick Henry's co-counsel was Attorney John Marshall. Marshall went on to become the most influential Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

    16) The cost of housing an inmate in West Virginia for a full year in 1996 was $17,555.00. During this same time period Minnesota spent $37,825.00 per inmate per year while Alabama spent only $7,987.00. In 1996 the state of West Virginia spent $46 million dollars to house all of its inmates.

    15) Famed criminal defense attorney, Johnny Cochran, participated in over 125 jury trials in his first two years out of law school.

    14) By age thirty-four (34) famed criminal defense attorney, Johnny Cochran, had already tried and won ten murder cases in a row.

    13) Thomas Jarman, considered by some to be the world's leading expert on Wills, died without a Will. As did President Abraham Lincoln, Pablo Picasso, Howard Hughes and Irving Fish.

    12) Rhode Island was the most appeal-prone of the early American colonies; yet it usually had less than one (1) appeal per year during the period from 1696 to 1783.

    11) Prior to 1660 in the colony of Massachusetts, there had been a total of fifteen (15) executions: four for murder; two for infanticide; two for adultery; two for witchcraft; and four for being Quakers.

    10) The most commonly punished crimes in 17th century Massachusetts were fornication and drunkeness.

     9) During colonial days in America every able-bodied man had a duty to work, and idleness was a punishable criminal offense.

     8) England has an unwritten constitution.

     7) In his book, Journey to Justice, Johnny Cochran reveals that Judge Lance Ito had waged a quiet but determined political campaign among the court's administrators to have the O.J. Simpson Trial assigned to himself.

     6) According to Johnny Cochran, "... the criminal defense attorney - usually underpaid and always underappreciated - is the single most vigilant sentinel on the rampart of American liberty."

     5) Famed criminal defense attorney, Johnny Cochran, left a private law practice where he had been making over $300,000.00 annually to accept a position as an assistant prosecuting attorney at a yearly salary of $49,000.00.

     4) In private practice, Attorney Johnny Cochran once obtained a $9.4 million dollar verdict against the Los Angeles Police Department.

     3) According to Johnny Cochran, "Honest Criminal Defense Lawyers Will Tell You that they live in terror of innocent clients, if only because the overwhelming majority of criminal cases end in a conviction of one sort or another."

     2) According to Johnny Cochran, in Los Angeles prior to 1994, judges avoided appointing lawyers who were too aggressive or zealous on behalf of their clients. During that same time period, appointed attorneys were paid $100.00 per hour.

     1) In his work, A History of American Law, Lawrence M. Friedman notes that the vigilantes of Montana during the early 19th Century sometimes avenged crimes which had never been committed or hanged the wrong man by mistake.