'Back into the Sunlight' 

Editor:

Thank you for the epic tale of Aaron Bjorkstrand ("Freeing Aaron Bjorkstrand," Aug. 22). The lawyers in the Humboldt County Public Defender's Office are like the heroes of Greek myths who toil endlessly to drag a soul up from the grim kingdom of Hades, back into the sunlight.

Both time and space have a completely different meaning down there. Cruel, rock-hard laws take decades to be worn away. The U.S. Supreme Court is as unyielding as the dark Ruler of the Dead: Scalia's judgement in 1993 that there is "no basis in the Constitution for a right to demand consideration of newly discovered evidence of innocence brought forward after conviction" still stands. Innocence isn't enough. It's irrelevant.

Thadeus Greenson's article points inarguably to the social factors precipitating Bjorkstrand's tragedy. It allows him to describe the hell he was thrown into. Voters are responsible for choosing governments which spend billions on provoking and waging war instead of nurturing our populations into prosperity. Attorneys like Adrian Kamada, who tirelessly tear into the obstacles obstructing justice, should be honored. Other public defenders have worked exhaustively to present defenses that directly address vital issues, instead of circuitous arguments based on legal minutiae of little relevance to the defendants. This happened recently in Humboldt with forest defenders, whose attorneys dared to argue the defendants' reason for blockading a northern-spotted-owl-populated forest: necessity.

There are prosecutors, too, with courage and integrity, one of whom is presently on the international stage: Karim Khan, who charged Netanyahu with war crimes. Fourteen senators wrote a letter to the ICC stating that this prosecution threatened U.S. sovereignty. They warned Khan that the U.S. might react by invading the Hague. Congress, too, voted overwhelmingly to sanction Khan.

Perhaps part of Bjorkstrand's recovery from prison will include helping others to overcome the sorrows of poverty, and reject drug addiction.

Ellen Taylor, Petrolia