I AM wholeheartedly in support of state Judge Michael McSpadden and the Chronicle's editorial board for their enlightened approach to our "bogged down" legal system in Harris County (see the Chronicle's Nov. 21 editorial "Smarter on crime / It's time for Harris County to heed the message of a tough-on-crime judge about handling of drug cases").

Having served on grand juries since 1997, I have been appalled by the waste of time, money and young lives by our self-righteous system.

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Re: the Oct.10 article "UA med student leaves prison."

I fully support the decision by Gov. Jane Hull to commute Scott Brannan's sentence to time served and allow him to continue his medical studies.

In reading the list of parties appealing to the governor on Brannan's behalf, I couldn't help wondering about the hundreds of Arizonans who are not well-connected and will not get their cases reviewed by the governor or anyone else, for that matter.

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