The Ninth Circuit yesterday refused to consider en banc a case where a murderer's conviction was overturned.  The court initially held he was denied a fair trial because the audience in his trial wore memorabilia depicting the victim's face. It's an interesting topic that isn't considered often.

Members of [the victim's] family, who sat in the front row of the gallery at trial, wore buttons on their shirts with the decedent's picture on them during each of the 14 days of the trial. The trial judge overruled defense objections to the wearing of the buttons. Convicted of first degree murder, Musladin lost his state appeals, the Court of Appeal holding that while the wearing of photographs depicting a victim should be discouraged, it did not brand the defendant as guilty in the context of the particular case.

Divide those libruls and conquer:

WASHINGTON -- Two circuit courts serving the western United States would be better than one, according to the House Judiciary Committee, which voted 22-12 in favor of dividing the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

"The 9th Circuit is too large, too cumbersome," Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif., a former California attorney general, said after Thursday's vote.

Opponents said the move was based partly on Republican opposition to some of the court's rulings, among them the 2002 opinion that declared the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional when recited in public schools.