The good news is that Saudi Arabia has changed its mind about executing a poet for “the contents of his poetry book.” Then there is the bad news.

"[T]here are issues in which the law too often feels as if it is being applied in discriminatory fashion. I don't think that's the norm." — President Barack Obama, November 24, 2014

Last week, an impassioned letter from a sexual abuse survivor surfaced online. Its author had been at the center a scandal that attracted national media attention. The letter's vulnerability, and its bravery, gave me chills.

Turns out the Grinch is real, and he's actually a woman. Janice Tully, a woman from Hyannis, Massachusetts, was arrested yesterday for stealing a haul of donated toys meant for her neighbors' five children.

Remember the Montana judge who gave a lenient sentence to a teacher who raped his student, claiming the student was "older than her chronological age?" Turns out that's not his only, shall we say, questionable ruling.

America's embrace of the death penalty makes us a gross anomaly in the developed world. The good news is that we seem to be growing less and less fond of it. The newest numbers are (relatively) encouraging.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has backed away from the reintroduction of stoning as a punishment for adultery.

China is abolishing its forced labor camps, and the NYC Housing Authority is making it easier for people with criminal records to live in public housing. It's a good day to be a (former) prisoner (relatively speaking).

In February of 1987, deputies were transporting inmate William R. Blake to court in Dewitt, New York, to face drug and robbery charges. Blake grabbed a deputy's gun and shot two officers, killing one. He was apprehended immediately. For the past 25 years, Blake has been in solitary confinement in a prison in upstate New York. He will not leave prison alive.

Steven Rattner, the New York Times reporter turned hot shot banker turned Obama "Car Czar," has agreed to be banned from the securities industry for "a few years" as punishment for an illegal kickback scandal. Fall from grace: complete. [NYT]

Paul Baldwin is a 49-year-old man from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. As of June, Baldwin has been arrested 154 times for arson, trespassing, receiving stolen property and theft, among others offenses. His most recent arrest was for stealing 48 beers.

Ronnie Lee Gardner, the Utah man convicted of killing an attorney in 1985, was executed this morning by a firing squad. Utah is the only state that still uses the method for executing prisoners. [Salt Lake Tribune]

Convicted Utah killer Ronnie Lee Gardner, who asked to be executed by a firing squad, has made an unsuccessful attempt to have his sentence commuted and is scheduled to be shot at 12:01 am tomorrow.

Louisiana congressman Joseph Cao hinted to BP America's president today that he consider killing himself.

After banning Rod Blagojevich from tweeting from the court room Monday, the judge in his corruption trial has now "admonished" him "to avoid making any facial or other expressions" during proceedings, which he had been doing, annoying jurors and prosecutors.

Major Nidal Hassan will make his first appearance in a Fort Hood military court today for an Article 32 hearing, which is similar to a grand jury proceeding. He could receive the death penalty for killing 13 soldiers. [AP, pic]

Cha-chung! Who needs Law & Order when the Supreme Court dishes sexy, hardscrabble rulings, like they did today: "Sexually dangerous" offenders may be jailed indefinitely, but child offenders may not. Sexually dangerous children will be condemned to hit TV shows.

Former NYC Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik is headed to a federal prison in Maryland today to serve a four year sentence for lying to Bush administration officials and tax fraud. He blogged his last night of freedom.

Former Port Authority police lieutenant William Burns, who was convicted for stealing over $4,400 from the agency and for having porn on his work computer, will receive a post-traumatic stress pension worth over $150,000 per year. [NYP, pic]

Steve Consalvi, the 17-year-old Phillies fan who was gently electrocuted by a Philadelphia cop for running onto the field during a baseball game, has been charged in juvenile court with defiant trespassing, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. [NYP, pic via]