#Clark County Superior Court

[offender42085]

Post 1037

After the Judge commented that she would make sure that the inmate would never see the light of day again, the inmate whose hands were shackled responded; “That’s great,” and gave the Judge a thumbs-up.

Talen Clark Barton, California inmate AX9898, born 1996, incarceration intake October 2015 at age 19, sentenced to 71 years to life, scheduled for parole consideration July 2039

Murder, False imprisonment

In October 2015, a Laytonville California teen described by a Mendocino County detective as “pure evil” following a brutal, hate-fueled rampage in which he stabbed to death two members of the family he was living with and nearly killed two others was sentenced Tuesday to 71 years to life in prison.

The crimes committed by Talen Barton were so heinous that Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Ann Moorman said she would be writing a letter to the state corrections department so she can comment at his parole hearing, should he ever be granted one decades from now.

“I’ll see to it you never see the light of day,” Moorman told Barton.

“That’s great,” said Barton, who was shackled but still able to give the judge a thumbs-up.

Barton has indicated on multiple occasions that he believes he deserves to be punished for what he did the night of July 19, 2015. But he has remained largely emotionless in court and during interviews with sheriff’s detectives and psychologists, according to a comprehensive probation report filed with the court.

Barton in September 2015 pleaded guilty to charges that include two counts of murder and two of attempted murder. He also pleaded guilty to imprisoning two teen girls in the Laytonville home after the attacks and preventing them from phoning 911 by cutting the phone lines, according to the probation report. He later used a cellphone to call 911 himself.

Barton smoked marijuana and offered the imprisoned girls cookies while he waited for deputies to arrive, according to the probation report. He also asked the surviving victims how it felt to die as they struggled to live, the probation report stated.

The plea agreement allowed Barton, who has told sheriff’s investigators and psychologists that he was suicidal the night of the stabbings but afraid of death, to avoid facing a potential death sentence.

He told a psychologist he wanted to kill people “to know what it was like to die,” according to the probation report.

The crimes were so atrocious, and Barton was so “self-satisfied” and unemotional, that one of the detectives interviewing him later wrote he felt he was encountering “pure evil” and hoped to never see Barton released from prison, according to the probation report.

“He is an absolute monster,” Detective Clint Wyant said in his investigative summary.

Psychological exams found that Barton suffered from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder from his early years living with drug-addicted parents and step-parents. Mental health examiners suspect he was exposed to methamphetamine while in his mother’s womb. Barton also alleged he was once sexually abused by one of his mother’s friends.

Barton frequently expressed self-loathing to psychiatric evaluators and sheriff’s investigators, according to the probation report. Scars on his forearms showed that he had burned himself with his marijuana joints. He said he’d initially planned to kill himself and take others with him because he believed in reincarnation and believed they’d all be together again, the probation report states.

But, despite his many emotional problems, psychiatric evaluations found Barton was not psychotic when he attacked his victims.

3s

[lboogie1906]

Leah J. Ward Sears (June 13, 1955) is a retired Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. She served (1992-2009). She became the first African American woman chief justice of any state’s highest appellate court and the youngest person to serve as a judge on the Fulton County Georgia Superior Court. She retained her position as a Supreme Court Justice and became the first woman to win a contested statewide election in Georgia. She was appointed as Chief Justice in June 2005.

She was the first woman and the youngest person to serve on the Fulton County Superior Court as a trial judge. Mayor Andrew Young appointed her to the City of Atlanta Traffic Court. She worked as an attorney with the law firm of Alston and Bird.

She was born in Heidelberg, Germany, and grew up in many different areas of the world as a child of an Army officer. She is one of three children born to the late Colonel Thomas E. Sears and Onnye Jean Sears, an elementary teacher.

She earned a BS from Cornell University. She married Love Collins. They had two children. She earned a JD from Emory University School of Law and a LLM from the Virginia School of Law.

She is the founder of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys and the Columbus branch of the Battered Women’s Project. She is an active member of many community boards around the State of Georgia as well as the Institute for American Values in New York City. She has received honorary degrees from Spelman, Piedmont, LaGrange, Morehouse College, Clark-Atlanta University, and John Marshall Law School.

She joined the Atlanta office of the law firm of Schiff Hardin as a partner. She is a visiting professor at the University of Georgia School of Law and serves as the William Thomas Sears Distinguished Fellow in Family Law at the Institute of American Values. She was elected to the Emory University Board of Trustees. She was appointed by Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to serve as Chair of the Task Force for the Promotion of Public Trust.

She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and lives with her husband Haskell Ward (1999) retired judge, and former deputy mayor of New York City. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #alphakappaalpha

[therealcrimediary]

The defense in the Georgia election interference case, led by former President Donald Trump's lawyer Steve Sadow, has filed a joint motion to appeal Fulton County Superior Court Judge McAfee's ruling on the disqualification motions against District Attorney Fani Willis and her office. The motion notes that although the Court found an appearance of impropriety in Willis' actions, it refused to dismiss the case or disqualify her due to a lack of controlling precedent in Georgia case law. The original disqualification motion was filed by one of Trump's co-defendants, Michael Roman, who accused Willis of improper conduct and financial gain in the case. Trump followed with his own motion, and other defendants also filed motions. Defense attorneys in the Trump Georgia election interference case have requested Judge McAfee to let them appeal his decision not to disqualify District Attorney Fani Willis and her office. The defense does not believe that the dismissal of Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade is adequate and argument that relevant case law requires the dismissal of the case or, at the very least, disqualification of the district attorney and her entire office. The defense also disputes McAfee's ruling regarding Willis' speech at the Big Bethel AME Church, calling it "legally improper" and argues that failure to disqualify a prosecutor who should be disqualified could necessitate a retrial without showing prejudice. The defense also claims that Willis has a personal stake in the prosecution due to actual conflicts of interest and the appearance of impropriety created by her actions. The defense argues that immediate appellate review is needed based on Willis' personal stake in the prosecution and claims that a criminal defendant is entitled to a "disinterested prosecutor." The motion was filed on behalf of Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Jeffrey Clark, Robert Cheeley, Michael Roman, David Shafer, Harrison Floyd, and Cathleen Latham. Trump and his co-defendants were indicted in August 2023 after a 2-½ year investigation on charges related to trying to change the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Some charges have been dismissed, including three against Trump, and four defendants have already accepted plea deals from Fulton County. Willis was initially pushing for a trial date for Trump and the remaining defendants in August 2024. The defense is seeking pretrial appellate review of Judge McAfee's decision on the disqualification motions against District Attorney Fani Willis and her office in the Georgia election interference case. Despite finding an appearance of impropriety in Willis' actions, the Court declined to dismiss the case or disqualify her due to a lack of precedent in Georgia case law for the standard of disqualification of a prosecuting attorney for forensic misconduct. The defense argues that the dismissal of Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade is not adequate and that Judge McAfee's ruling regarding Willis' speech at the Big Bethel AME Church was "legally improper." The defense also claims that Willis has a personal stake in the prosecution, necessitating immediate appellate review. If the judge grants the application, the Court of Appeals will decide whether to hear the appeal, and the defense believes that a criminal defendant is entitled to a "disinterested prosecutor." The motion is supported by Trump and his co-defendants, who were indicted after a lengthy investigation related to trying to change the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Some charges have been dismissed, and four defendants have already accepted plea deals. Willis was initially seeking a trial date for Trump and the remaining defendants in August 2024. The defense is arguing that the failure to disqualify a prosecutor who should be disqualified is a "structural error" that could require a retrial without additional showing of prejudice.

[recentlyheardcom]

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The Los Gatos mother accused of giving minors alcohol and encouraging them to have sex pleaded not guilty in court on Monday morning following a grand jury indictment that resulted in more than 60 counts against her last week.Shannon O'Connor, 49, was arraigned in Santa Clara County Superior Court on 20 felonies and 43 misdemeanors, including accusations of giving alcohol to children as young as 14 years old to the point of throwing up.Deputy District Attorney Rebekah Wise, who is prosecuting the case, said "multiple children were left unconscious from alcohol intoxication, vomiting from alcohol intoxication, sexually abused unconscious. Or one with broken bones."She quietly entered the courtroom on Monday wearing a green jail uniform and took a front-row seat.Prosecutors said O'Connor engaged in this behavior over an 11-month period in 2020.Her case experienced many delays for a number of reasons, during which seven new charges were filed against O'Connor.Wise explained, "the new charges reflect felony sexual assault, felony dissuading a witness and additional child endangerment reflecting her conduct as we continue this investigation after we filed the original complaint."O'Connor's attorneys considered a plea deal that would have resulted in a 17-year sentence, but ultimately, they chose to proceed to trial.About 17 victims testified before the grand jury about how the events destroyed their lives, which ultimately led to the latest indictment.The district attorney's office's unusual decision to use a grand jury indictment to advance the case to the arraignment phase may pose challenges for the defense.Legal analyst Steven Clark said, "this was a missed opportunity for the defense team for Shannon O’Connor because they will not get a chance to cross-examine the victim and other witnesses at a preliminary hearing. They’re gonna have to relay on that grand jury transcript to give them the information they need to prepare for trial. For the prosecution, they’re saying, times up for Shannon O’Connor."O'Connor is being held at the Elmwood Women's Complex in Milpitas.She is scheduled to return to court on December 20 to confirm her counsel, and a potential trial date may be set.

[springfieldvtpd]

Arrest - Fugitive From Justice

Offenses: Fugitive From Justice

Incident Number: 23SF004278

Investigating Officer: Fitzgibbons/Clark/Sgt. Dunning (Charlestown)

Date/Time of Incident/Arrest: 10/4/23 @ 0400

Defendant: Martin Gonyea, 37, Springfield, Vermont

Edward Gauthier, 54, Springfield, Vermont

Summary of Incident: On October 2, 2023, at about 0400 hours, with assistance from the Charlestown NH Police Department, I responded to 107 Park Street for a call reporting a male and female fighting in an apartment.

Contact was made with two parties in the apartment, Martin Gonyea and Edward Gauthier. It was found that both parties were alleged to have active warrants for their arrest.

Gonyea was allegedly wanted out of the State of New Hampshire and Gauthier out of Windham County, Vermont. Both were taken into custody and transported to the Springfield Police Department. Gauthier was lodged at the Southern State Correctional Facility.

Gonyea was later transported to the Vermont Superior Court, Criminal Division, Windsor Unit.

[arpov-blog-blog]

“The Court concludes that Clark has not submitted evidence to meet his burden to show that his actions were causally related to his federal office,” Jones wrote in his decision.

He previously rejected an attempt mounted by Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, though Meadows is appealing. Jones has not yet ruled on the requests to move courts filed by the three “fake electors” charged in the indictment.

Trump’s lawyer said Thursday he will not try to move his prosecution to federal court.

“This decision is based on his well-founded confidence that this Honorable Court intends to fully completely protect his constitutional right to a fair trial and guarantee him due process of law throughout the prosecution of his case in the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia,” Trump attorney Steve Sadow wrote in court filings.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) has opposed each attempt, seeking to keep the defendants all in state court.

The dispute over moving the charges, a process known as removal, has become one of the major legal battles in the case since Willis indicted Trump and 18 others last month, accusing them of entering a months-long conspiracy to unlawfully keep Trump in power.

If successful in removing their charges, the defendants have signaled they intend to follow-up by asserting constitutional immunity to get their charges dropped before trial. 

Even if they were to go on to face a jury, removing the charges would broaden the jury pool to areas of northern Georgia beyond heavily-Democratic Fulton County. It would also prevent the proceedings from being televised.

Some legal experts believe that if any one defendant is successful in getting their charges moved, the other 18 co-defendants would automatically move with them.

Clark is charged over his desire to send a letter to Georgia officials raising concerns of mass election fraud. Prosecutors allege Clark knew the letter included a false statement, also claiming that Clark’s superiors at the Justice Department told him it was a lie and that neither he nor the department had authority to make the fraud claims.

Prosecutors have pushed back on Clark’s assertion that his efforts to try to send the letter were within the scope of his Justice Department job. Clark at the time oversaw the Justice Department’s environmental division and, in an acting capacity, the civil division. 

Clark argued Trump changed his job responsibilities to include election-related matters. Trump had at one point following the 2020 election wanted to have Clark lead the Justice Department (DOJ) as he latched onto baseless claims of fraud.

Jones, the judge, ruled that Clark submitted “no evidence” the letter in question was written within the scope of his DOJ role.

“To the contrary, the evidence before the Court indicates the opposite: Clark’s role in the Civil Division did not include any role in the investigation or oversight of State elections,” Jones said."

[dertaglichedan]

Former MAGA attorney Lin Wood is a witness for the state in Georgia’s election interference RICO case against the former president and 18 others. Wood, who retired from practicing law earlier this year to avoid disbarment, worked as a member of Trump’s legal team in the aftermath of the 2020 election and heavily promoted claims that the election had been rigged against the former president.

According to a Wednesday filing to the Fulton County Superior Court, which seeks a resolution to potential conflicts of interest between attorneys for Trump and several of his co-defendants, Wood is a witness for the prosecution.

“L. Lin Wood, Coreco Ja’Quan Perason, Vikki Townsend Consiglio, Gloria Kay Godwin, James Kenneth Carroll, and Carolyn Hall Fisher, are witnesses for the State in the present case. Sidney Katherine Powell and Cathleen Alston Latham are Defendants in the present case,” the filing reads.

Harry W. MacDougald, who is representing Jeff Clarke in the Georgia case “also previously represented and was co-counsel to L. Lin Wood in Wood v. Raffensperger.”

Prosecutors claim that “there is a significant risk that the Rules of Professional Conduct may be violated, which may compromise the rights of certain witnesses for the State of Georgia should those witnesses be cross-examined by their former attorneys.”

In a statement to Rolling Stone, Wood said that he had been informed he was “going to be subpoenaed as a witness,” but had no other information on the matter.

Hours later, Wood wrote on Telegram that there is “NO TRUTH” to accusations that he “flipped” on the former president. “I have no idea why I am being asked to testify at the trial. I have had no discussions with the DA’s office since I testified before the special grand jury several months ago,” he added.

[districofcolumbiaprelawland-blog]

Former Member of Bay Area Rap Group Has Been Sentenced to 21 Years for Allegedly Killing His Acquaintance

By Tehya Thompson, Howard University Class of 2025

May 26, 2023

Bay Area rap group, SOB X RBE, undoubtedly made an impact on the California rap industry between the years of 2016 and 2019. They had hit songs like “Anti” and “Lane Changing” that held a special place in the memories of Gen-Z youth from California around those years. Additionally, they were even featured on the soundtrack for the Black Panther movie. Their song, “Paramedic!” that they did with Grammy award-winning rapper, Kendrick Lamar, went platinum in 2020. Unfortunately, the arrest of one of their members, Lul G, whose real name is George Harris, left a stain on the group’s reputation and no matter how hard they worked, they couldn’t make a full recovery. Harris had just been signed to Def Jam during the time of his arrest, but has seemingly been dropped from the label. Def Jam hasn’t made any comment regarding Harris’ status with the label, however his picture and information is no longer on the website.

On September 21st, 2019, Harris was arrested in Clark County, Nevada, for the alleged murder of 26 year-old Rashied Flowers, known affiliate of said rap group, in Fairfield, California on July 24th, 2019. Flowers, Harris, and others were gathered at a house to shoot a music video, when they took a brief pause to hold a dice game. During said dice game, things escalated between Harris and Flowers, and that’s when Harris allegedly fired the gunshot. Harris was allegedly under the influence of both drugs, specifically cocaine, and alcohol during the time of the incident. Harris allegedly began crying and apologizing after having shot Flowers, and Flowers was taken to a nearby hospital where he eventually died due to blood loss.

Originally, Harris was charged with first degree murder and had pleaded not guilty. On June 26th, 2020, Harris’ then lawyer - Claire J. White - petitioned Judge Carlos R. Gutierrez of the Solano County Superior Court for a competency report, allegedly stating that Harris may not have been able to fully understand court proceedings or aid in his own defense. Judge Gutierrez suspended the criminal proceedings against Harris and granted the competency examination to White on July 1st, 2020. However, after Harris was examined by a mental health professional, Judge Gutierrez reinstated the criminal proceedings against him on August 28th, 2020, as Harris was deemed competent. 

Harris’ alleged first degree murder charge would’ve given him a sentence of at least 25 years to life. Given that he has a criminal history, had been on probation since he was 17, and admittedly used a firearm, he most likely would’ve had charges added and been sentenced to more than that.  In fact, according to FADER [4], Harris could have received a 50 years’ sentence. Harris’ current team of lawyers, Deputy Public Defenders Denisse Tanasa and Maxamino A. Fuentes were able to get him a plea deal where if he agreed to plead no contest to voluntary manslaughter, his sentence would be reduced and he’d avoid a jury trial. Harris agreed, and within the past few days, Harris was officially sentenced to 21 years in state prison.

______________________________________________________________

Bammer, R. (2021, April     6). Prelim hearing date reset for     Vallejo rapper, 22, charged with 2019 murder. The Vacaville Reporter.     https://www.thereporter.com/2021/04/05/prelim-hearing-date-reset-for-vallejo-rapper-22-charged-with-2019-murder/    

Bammer, R. (2022, April 27). October trial set for Vallejo rapper,     23, charged with a 2019 murder. The Vacaville Reporter.     https://www.thereporter.com/2022/04/26/october-trial-set-for-vallejo-rapper-23-charged-with-a-2019-murder/    

Bammer, R. (2023, March 3). Vallejo rapper pleads to voluntary     manslaughter for 2019 shooting, gets 21 years. The Vacaville Reporter.     https://www.thereporter.com/2023/03/02/vallejo-rapper-pleads-to-voluntary-manslaughter-for-2019-shooting-gets-21-years/    

Darville, J. (2023, May 25). Lul G (ex-SOB X rbe) receives 21-year     prison sentence. The FADER.     https://www.thefader.com/2023/05/25/lul-g-ex-sob-x-rbe-receives-21-year-prison-sentence    

Espinoza, J. (2023, March 21). Former SOB X RBE rapper Lul G to     receive 21-year sentence over fatal shooting (update). Complex.     https://www.complex.com/music/former-sob-x-rbe-member-lul-g-sentenced-2019-fatal-shooting    

Galindo, T. (2023, May 25). Former Kendrick Lamar collaborator Lul     G receives 21-year prison sentence. American Songwriter. https://americansongwriter.com/former-kendrick-lamar-collaborator-lul-g-receives-21-year-prison-sentence/    

Grow, K. (2023, May 25).     Lul G, former member of SOB X Rbe,     sentenced to 21 years in prison. Rolling Stone.     https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/lul-g-george-harris-21-years-in-prison-sentence-1234742305/    

[bobmccullochny]

History

May 1st - Observed as May Day, a holiday and spring festival since ancient times, also observed in socialist countries as a workers' holiday or Labor Day.

May 1, 1707 - Great Britain was formed from a union between England and Scotland. The union included Wales which had already been part of England since the 1500's. The United Kingdom today consists of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

May 1, 1960 - An American U-2 spy plane flying at 60,000 feet was shot down over Sverdlovsk in central Russia on the eve of a summit meeting between President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet Russia's Premier Nikita Khrushchev. The sensational incident caused a cancellation of the meeting and heightened existing Cold War tensions. The pilot, CIA agent Francis Gary Powers, survived the crash, and was tried, convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison by a Russian court. Two years later he was released to America in exchange for an imprisoned Soviet spy. On his return to America, Powers encountered a hostile public which apparently believed he should not have allowed himself to be captured alive. He died in a helicopter crash in 1977.

May 1, 2004 - Eight former Communist nations and two Mediterranean countries joined the European Union (EU) marking its largest-ever expansion. The new members included Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, along with the island of Malta and the Greek portion of the island of Cyprus. They joined 15 countries already in the EU, representing in all 450 million persons.

Birthday - Irish-born American labor leader Mary 'Mother' Jones (1830-1930) was born in County Cork, Ireland. She endured misfortune early in life as her husband and four children died in the yellow fever epidemic of 1867. She also lost all of her belongings in the Chicago Fire of 1871. She then devoted herself to organizing and advancing the cause of Labor, using the slogan, "Join the Union, boys." She also sought to prohibit child labor. She remained active until the very end, giving her last speech on her 100th birthday.

Birthday - World War II General Mark Clark (1896-1984) was born in Madison Barracks, New York. He commanded the U.S. Fifth Army which invaded Italy in September of 1943, fighting a long and brutal campaign against stubborn German opposition.

Birthday - African American Olympic athlete Archie Williams (1915-1993) was born in Oakland, California. Williams, along with Jesse Owens, defeated German athletes at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and helped debunk Adolf Hitler's theory of Aryan racial superiority. Williams won a gold medal in the 400-meter race. After the Olympics, he went on to earn a mechanical engineering degree from the University of California-Berkeley but faced discrimination and wound up digging ditches. He later became an airplane pilot and trained Tuskegee Institute pilots including the black air corp of World War II.

[athenslawfirm]

Website: https://www.athens-lawfirm.com/athens-felony-defense-lawyer

Address: 1143 Prince Ave, Athens, GA 30606

Phone: +1 706 548 3933

Athens felony defense lawyer Kim T. Stephens has defended people charged with crimes across the state of Georgia for more than twenty-five years. Kim Stephens has won or successfully resolved serious felony criminal cases in Athens-Clarke County, Gainesville, Hall County, Jackson County, Madison County, Oconee County, Oglethorpe County, Hart County and other counties throughout northeast Georgia. He has also been successful in superior, state and local courts in Macon, Augusta, central Georgia, Gwinnett County, Atlanta, Fulton County, Douglas County, Forsyth County, Barrow County, and most every other county in the metro Atlanta area. Stephens has won or successfully resolved numerous high profile cases in Athens and Atlanta, including representing Atlanta Falcons’ football players, UGA athletes, as well as professionals such as doctors and real estate agents throughout the state of Georgia. Felony defense attorney Stephens understands the damaging impact of the media on successful individuals charged with serious crimes and works to minimize the impact on reputation and home life in addition to aggressively defending the charges.

[offender42085]

Post 1013

Rodney T Franck, Washington inmate 409506, born 1994, incarceration intake in 2020 at age 26, sentenced to 8.5 years, scheduled discharge date not available

Manslaughter

In January 2020, one of two men who beat a Vancouver, Washington man into a coma that lasted more than a year before he succumbed to his injuries was sentenced in Clark County Superior Court to 8 1/2 years in prison.

Rodney T. Franck’s guilty plea to second-degree manslaughter brings the nearly 5-year-old case to a close.

Chris Brewster died June 7, 2016, more than a year after the April 2015 beating by Franck and co-defendant Spencer A. Pell, 23, in Vancouver’s Hough neighborhood. He suffered blunt-force head trauma and never regained consciousness.

The deadly beating apparently began as an argument between Brewster and the men over a cigarette, according to court records.

Franck, 26, was facing second-degree felony murder; the charge was added after Brewster’s death. Pell was not charged with murder, however, and was subpoenaed to testify against Franck if his case went to trial. Pell pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree assault in 2017 and was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison.

Shortly after 11:30 p.m. April 23, 2015, witnesses near West 21st and Columbia streets saw two men kicking another man who was lying in the road. The assailants fled before Vancouver police arrived, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

Police found the men, identified as Franck and Pell, based on descriptions provided by witnesses, about a mile away. Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kasey Vu said Friday that they were both highly intoxicated at the time. Both men denied being involved in the beating.

Although Franck reportedly had bruising, cuts to his right eye and blood on his clothing, police didn’t initially arrest him. He was instead booked into the Clark County Jail on an unrelated charge. While in custody, detectives seized his clothing and tested the blood stains. They were found to be a match to Brewster’s DNA, court records say.

Franck also made self-incriminating statements during a phone call made from the jail on Jan. 5, 2016, according to a separate probable cause affidavit filed in the case.

Then, on Jan. 26, 2016, Pell came forward to talk to police.

Both men said they didn’t recognize Brewster from a photograph and said that they were intoxicated that night. However, Pell said he argued with a man over a cigarette and then the man punched him. Pell hit him back, but then he “blacked out,” he said, and didn’t remember kicking Brewster, an affidavit states.

Brewster was so badly beaten, Vu said, that his face was unrecognizable.

When it was his turn to address the court, Franck said, “There is a lot I want to say, but I know nothing I say at this point will help the family.” He added that he’s sorry for what happened.

He faced a standard sentencing range of 77 to 102 months in prison. Both the prosecution and defense recommended a sentence of 96 months, or eight years, to run concurrent with his sentence from a case in Pacific County.

Judge John Fairgrieve a sentenced Franck to the maximum under the sentencing range — 102 months.

3g

[occupyhades]

Washougal man sentenced to 108 years for child rape in Clark County court - Colombian.com

See on Scoop.it - Denizens of Zophos

A Washougal man was sentenced Friday in Clark County Superior Court to 108 years in prison for producing sexually explicit materials depicting his rape of two infants.

[evranmersiblog]

Ex-employee accuses Ryan Hurley, Hurley Development of sexual harassment, discrimination

Lawsuit filed today also names current director of development and former construction director

A former employee of Hurley Development LLC filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the local real estate company, its owner, Ryan Hurley, and a current and former employee, alleging sexual harassment and sexual and religious discrimination.

Hurley, through his company, denied wrongdoing.

The complaint was filed in Clark County Superior Court by Colin McHugh of Navigate Law Group on behalf of the plaintiff, Jill Meyer.

The company’s current director of development, Scot Brantley, and former construction director, Vladimir “Vlad” Rakach, are also named as defendants.

Meyer, who worked as an executive assistant to Hurley, alleges she endured months or years of sex-based jokes, offensive comments and inappropriate touching, creating a hostile work environment.

Of the incidents listed in the 24-page complaint, Meyer contends that Rakach made lewd comments and actions toward women in the company. One example given in the complaint detailed a moment when Rakach allegedly laid on the floor acting out sexual positions during a company-sponsored happy hour at the office.

Meyer alleged Brantley made numerous unwanted sexual comments toward her. The complaint went on to argue that Hurley himself treated women poorly but men well, specifically accusing women of going through menopause and being “too feminist.”

“Women should never have to deal with this level of humiliating and degrading mistreatment at work,” McHugh said in a statement. “It is surprising that such well-known and accomplished local businesspeople like the defendants would let behavior like this go on for so long. Hopefully, this case will open the eyes of the defendants and help them understand how unacceptable and shameful their behavior was for at least the last few years.”

“Since its founding 12 years ago, Hurley Development has worked to make significant contributions to our community and has done so with a culture of inclusivity, respect and valuing all our employees,” a statement sent on behalf of Hurley Development read.

“We are devastated that false allegations have been made against the company and especially against Ryan personally. We are committed to defending ourselves vigorously and continuing to live out our value of respect toward our employees and track record of hiring and promoting employees based on their merit and performance at all levels within the company, regardless of gender or religious affiliation.”

Meyer left her position at the company in June of this year, after bringing her concerns forward but not seeing anything that appeared to be done, according to the complaint.

“On June 2, 2022, when Ms. Meyer approached Mr. Brantley about sexual harassment, Mr. Brantley’s response was to falsely accuse Ms. Meyer of starting a rumor about an affair in the workplace. Mr. Brantley then threatened Ms. Meyer, stating essentially, ‘be careful’ and that Mr. Hurley ‘doesn’t like complainers,’ ” the complaint reads.

The complaint alleges that Rakach was eventually fired, but not for sexual harassment.

Meyer’s complaint also contends that employees who didn’t attend Hurley’s weekly Christian devotionals were treated less favorably and missed out on important company business or events.

Meyer is claiming damages, including emotional distress, humiliation, lost wages and attorneys’ fees. No dollar amount was listed in the suit.

[petnews2day]

Clark County man accused of killing cats

New Post has been published on https://petn.ws/tTu1X

Clark County man accused of killing cats

A Clark County man is accused of killing at least two cats after police found their disfigured bodies earlier this month in Washougal. Kenneth G. Thurman, 41, appeared Tuesday in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of two counts of first-degree animal cruelty. His bail was set at $50,000, and he is scheduled to be […]

See full article at https://petn.ws/tTu1X #CatsNews

[masterofd1saster]

CJ current events 29sep22

LA DA Gascon

For the second time in six weeks, Los Angeles prosecutors have failed to convince judges that sheriff’s deputies assaulted a gang member after he fled from a gunfight with law enforcement, court records show.

District Attorney George Gascon has had back-to-back losses that are almost unheard of in the office, said attorney Josh Ritter, who defended one of the deputies.***

On Thursday, Superior Court Judge Norman Shapiro denied a prosecutor’s motion to reinstate charges against sheriff’s deputies Woodrow Kim and Jonathan Miramontes for filing a false police report and assault in 2018.

The case was dismissed by Judge Robert Coen during an Aug. 11 preliminary hearing to determine whether enough evidence existed for a trial.*** https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/crime/los-angeles-da-gascon-handed-another-police-prosecution-defeat

***

Prolly want the eternal warrant on the a/c unit you’re buying

A Kansas man was sentenced [Thurs] to 30 years in prison for impersonating a minor female on social media and enticing dozens of minors in the Topeka area to record and send him sexually explicit images and videos of themselves. ***

Jeffrey D. Pierce, 42, of Topeka, was a former teacher and basketball coach at Seaman High School in Topeka who impersonated a minor female on various social media platforms and induced minor males in the Topeka area to create and send him images of themselves engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Evidence recovered from Pierce’s phones and other electronic devices shows that his exploitative scheme lasted for at least several years and that he targeted minors in his own community, including his own students at the high school where he formerly taught. *** To date, the FBI has identified over 80 minors who were victimized by Pierce. Pierce’s online communications with these victims established that he coerced at least one minor to send him additional sexually explicit material by threatening to distribute that minor’s images to others, distributed sexually explicit images of other minors, and encouraged another minor to engage in in-person sexual conduct with him while he was still impersonating a minor female. In total, law enforcement recovered from Pierce’s electronic devices several thousand images and videos depicting minor males engaged in sexually explicit conduct, as well as hundreds of screenshots of social media accounts belonging to other users and multiple images of nude and undressing minors that appear to have been taken in locker rooms at two Topeka high schools.*** https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-teacher-sentenced-producing-child-sexual-abuse-material

***

To Catch a Pedo-Pete

DANVILLE, Ind. — The jury was waiting. They’d cringed when they learned what kind of case they’d hear in this Indiana courthouse. Child solicitation.

But don’t worry, the county prosecutors assured them. There would be no graphic pictures. There would be no testimony from an abused child.

Because in this case, there was no child.

The man charged with the crime — a 37-year-old veteran named Joshua Clark — didn’t know the 14-year-old girl he thought he was texting with was actually an adult, prosecutors said.

Law enforcement had been using this tactic for years, investing millions to train detectives on how to go online, pretend to be teenagers and wait for predators to emerge. Clark knew they conducted sting operations like these; after serving in the Army and working in a prison, he’d been hired as a police officer himself. That was, until he was arrested and fired.

Now on this July morning, the jury was going to meet the person responsible for catching this cop.

The prosecutor stood up. “The state calls Eric Schmutte,” she said.

The courtroom doors opened. But no detective walked in.

Instead, there was a man in a polo shirt. His dreadlocks were tucked into a ponytail. After raising his right hand and swearing to tell the truth, Schmutte, a 35-year-old welder, began to explain why he was there.*** https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/22/prredator-catchers-vigilante-justice/

***

The Warrior of the Wasteland

https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2022/09/23

***

Always representing

Abortion protester indicted.  United States v. Houck, 22-cr-32, Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  Two counts for pushing one man last year?

If you’re really Christian, remembers Matthew 5

11 Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of me.g

12* Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.h Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

+++

ODESSA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — An 83-year-old woman was shot while passing out pamphlets at a home in Ionia County, Michigan State Police said.

On Tuesday afternoon, the woman got into what police called an “alleged verbal altercation” while she passed out pamphlets. She was shot in the shoulder.

The woman then drove herself to the Lake Odessa Police Department to report it and was taken to the hospital where she was treated and released.***  https://www.woodtv.com/news/83-year-old-woman-shot-while-passing-out-pamphlets-in-ionia-co/

***

Sound like society ignoring the homeless poo-flinger?

[Amos wrote 786–746 B.C.]  1 Am 6:1a, 4-7

Woe to the complacent in Zion! Lying upon beds of ivory, stretched comfortably on their couches, they eat lambs taken from the flock, and calves from the stall! Improvising to the music of the harp, like David, they devise their own accompaniment. They drink wine from bowls and anoint themselves with the best oils; yet they are not made ill by the collapse of Joseph!

***

Somebody’s son; somebody’s dad

(CNN)Marnette Gordon was doing laundry at home in Minneapolis one summer morning last year when a call came from her 36-year-old son.

She figured her son, Telly Blair, was checking in to see if she wanted a soda from a gas station down the street, where he often went for fuel and snacks."Mom, I've been shot," he said. "Call the police!"

Marnette, her other son Tamarcus and his 12-year-old daughter rushed to the gas station from their home in the city's north side, a part of town long beset by violent crime.

Blair's family came upon his blue 1986 Chevy Caprice at pump No. 5 — beating police and paramedics by a few minutes, they said — only to find him slumped in his car, bleeding from multiple bullet wounds in his chest. A 17-year-old male in an orange hoodie had fired nine rounds from a handgun into Blair's car before running off.

While an off-duty nurse in scrubs who'd been at the gas station tried to stop his bleeding, Marnette — a heart-transplant recipient — couldn't bear to watch and stood at a distance. Telly was her caretaker.

"It was just horrible to see him sitting there, waiting on the ambulance," she told CNN.

The 12-year-old called 911 while watching her uncle struggle to breathe.

"Oh my God, please," the girl, who was crying, said to a dispatcher, according to 911 transcripts of the August 9, 2021 shooting obtained by CNN. "Hurry up, hurry up, hurry, hurry, he's dead, hurry up!"

Telly Blair was among 93 people who were murdered in Minneapolis last year, city crime data shows. That's just a few shy of the total killings in 1995, when the city earned the nickname "Murderapolis." (Neighboring St. Paul witnessed 38 murders last year — a historic high.)***

[In 2020]  the number of murders soared to nearly 80 — dwarfing the 2019 body count of 46. It has cooled somewhat this year, though the amount of killing — and violent crime in general — remains elevated far above 2019 levels and homicides are on pace to surpass the 2020 figure.***

Against this backdrop, the political pendulum on public-safety matters in this reliably liberal city — the "Mini Apple" hasn't had a Republican mayor since 1973, and that was for just a single day — seems to have swung away from a progressive mindset towards the middle.

And on matters of public safety, the middle is where many of the city's Black residents already were.

Last year, progressives touted a ballot measure that was said to be a referendum on the "defund" concept. Question 2, as it was known locally, would have replaced the Minneapolis Police Department with a new "public health-oriented" Department of Public Safety and removed a minimum staffing requirement from the city charter.

It failed in November, with 56% of voters rejecting it. That figure was 61% in north Minneapolis, a pair of neighboring city wards where Blacks make up a strong plurality of the roughly 66,000 residents. All but one of the 17 precincts in the north voted against the measure.

"We did not believe that the police should be defunded, but we do believe in police reforms," said Bishop Richard Howell of Shiloh Temple, a north-side church founded more than 90 years ago.

Rae McKay-Anderson — Telly Blair's sister — said "you can't possibly defund the police in a way that's going to benefit the Black community."***

"When I got to the hospital, the doctors were like, 'Well, you're some lucky lady and you must be somebody special because you have no metal fragments in your body,'" Howard said. The bullets, she said, "went through and through.

"Howard, who was against the "defund" initiative, said there are specific reforms she would like to see, starting with a push to require more officers to live in the city they serve.(A 2017 Star Tribune report found that just 8% of MPD officers lived in Minneapolis. Chauvin lived in the suburb of Oakdale, where nearly 72% of the residents are White.)

"All Black men are not big and scary," Howard said. "All Black women are not angry. So, you know, you have to be able to know the community."

But she realizes that even with such reforms, improvement would take time.

"I don't even walk Broadway anymore," Howard said, while eying the thoroughfare from a distance, close to where she was shot. "I've seen the cars speeding up and down when they're chasing each other. And then when they start shooting, it can come from anywhere. So I don't even do that anymore. And I never used to be afraid coming over here." https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/25/us/minneapolis-crime-defund-invs/index.html

***

We talk about the STOCK Act in my class on White Collar.

https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2022/09/25

***

We need police; we don’t need stupid police

***Yareni Rios-Gonzalez suffered numerous broken bones when the patrol car belonging to Platteville Police was hit by the train on Sept. 16 near Highway 85 and County Road 38. The video released Friday shows she was in the car for about two minutes before the car was hit.  https://gazette.com/news/watch-train-hitting-platteville-police-cruiser-video-released/article_d6cb53dc-3b85-11ed-a5be-dba27e3a045c.html

***Tues

Big Easy

[New Orleans]  still missing 15% of its tourist jobs, and crime is rampant: A random attacker stabbed two people Saturday in the French Quarter. 

The United States has had a bad time since 2020, but New Orleans has really had a bad time. This year, 203 people have been murdered, a third above last year and more than double the pre-COVID level. 

The killings bring the murder rate to an unheard-of high. In a city with a population shy of 400,000, the current pace is an annual murder rate of 70 per 100,000, multiple times the national average.  

Most of the victims are black men and boys. But this year’s fatalities also include a middle-aged woman dragged to her death by four carjacking teens and a 17-year-old girl killed by a stray bullet. 

Cops are deserting the force by the hundreds. ***  https://nypost.com/2022/09/25/a-mayoral-recall-is-murder-capital-new-orleans-last-chance/

***

STOCK Act in the news

***A recent New York Times investigation should do the trick. The Times dug into the stock trades that members of Congress made from 2019 to 2021. They found many cases in which politicians or their close family members made stock trades in circumstances in which they could have had insider knowledge.

"From 2019 to 2021, 183 current senators or representatives reported a trade of a stock or another financial asset by themselves or an immediate family member," the Times reports . "More than half of them sat on congressional committees that potentially gave them insight into the companies whose shares they reported buying or selling." The Times investigation also revealed that "44 of the 50 members of Congress who were most active in the markets bought or sold securities in companies over which their committee assignments could give them some degree of knowledge or influence."

This investigation is not exhaustive. Other cases of suspected corruption, such as the widely followed trading carried out by the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, aren't captured in the results. That's because the speaker does not technically sit on any committees. In turn, the full measure of possible conflict-of-interests is even broader than the Times results suggest.***https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/fairness-justice/investigation-into-congressional-stock-trading-reveals-massive-corruption-red-flags

*** 

Nawlins

*** Even ranking officers will be assigned to patrol at least once a week.  

“That’s what has to happen for now at least, until we can hire more people, train more people and stop the attrition, so we stop shrinking, this is what’s going to have to happen,” Police Association of New Orleans (PANO) President Capt. Michael Glasser told WWL-TV. 

The department has now fallen below 950 commissioned officers. The NOPD was built for 1600.’ 

“We have to adjust daily in our commitment is to the safety of those officers as well as the safety of our citizens and visitors of New Orleans,” Ferguson said. “We must be successful and creative in reimagining policing, staffing and deployment given the challenges we are facing today.” 

The department has also identified 75 new civilian positions to support NOPD officers.   

To help bolster recruiting, Ferguson said prior marijuana usage and low credit scores will no longer be held against NOPD applicants.  

Sunday, The NOPD officially replaced 11-year Public Integrity Bureau deputy chief Arlinda Westbrook with attorney Keith Sanchez, a former police officer. Westbrook is being sent to City Hall, where she will support implementation of the NOPD consent decree *** https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/local/new-orleans-police-are-redeploying-officers-and-increasing-incentives-in-an-effort-to-bolster-numbers/289-e420d191-26da-4650-a110-bef3231ae001

***

Another Defense Logistics Agency achievement

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Federal authorities are trying to figure out how at least a dozen fully-automatic M16s ended up among military surplus equipment sold to a Houston couple.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) executed a search warrant in a Richmond-area storage facility on Monday afternoon. However, that only came after the couple voluntarily notified authorities of their highly-unusual find.

Last week, the couple - who runs a side hustle of buying surplus lots, dividing up the products, and reselling them on eBay - received delivery of 108 empty storage cases sold by a government surplus website. Over the weekend, a friend helped the couple stack and store the cases. As a thank you, they gave one of the cases to the friend.

When that friend opened the case, he realized it was not empty. Inside were 12 fully-automatic M16s, all of them still with various tags designating the military branch and name of service members who handled the weapons.*** https://abc13.com/resellers-receive-guns-military-surplus-boxes-m16s-shipped-to-houston-ebay/12269500/

***

Only current b/c of ads

In the movies, there have been quite a few handsome and noble defense lawyers. And one of the best known may be the military lawyer played by Tom Cruise in “A Few Good Men,” the 1992 courtroom drama about a hazing gone awry at the Guantánamo naval base in Cuba.

So it has been quite a distinction for a Connecticut lawyer named Walter C. Bansley III to claim — with some basis — that he “was the actual military lawyer played by Tom Cruise,” as he did on his Web site (until he was asked about it this week).***

Mr. Sorkin got the idea for the play and movie from his sister, a young military lawyer in the 1980s who represented a Marine in a court-martial at Guantánamo over a hazing incident, he has said in interviews.

Each of the four men who believe Tom Cruise brought them to life on film played a role in that case. (The script calls the Cruise character “almost impossible not to like.”) Ten Marines faced assault charges, and each had a military lawyer.

Several of the lawyers had good hair, including David C. Iglesias, a Navy lawyer at the time. He later became nationally known as the United States attorney in New Mexico who said he was fired for political reasons along with six other United States attorneys in 2006 by the administration of President George W. Bush.

Seven of the 10 Marines originally charged did not go to trial, including Mr. Sorkin’s sister’s client. But Mr. Iglesias, Mr. Johnson and Donald Marcari, a Virginia lawyer, represented three Marines who claimed in trials that the hazing had been indirectly ordered by officers.*** https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/nyregion/4-lawyers-claim-to-be-the-hero-in-a-few-good-men.html

***

Chicken poo?

https://twitter.com/ryanlcooper/status/1573339687984439298  Don’t get me wrong, people who slime around sugar daddy websites are skeevey turds, but skeeviness is not necessarily a federal crime.

***

Who assaults a 7-foot 260lb athlete?

For the last several weeks, Bill Walton, the basketball legend, Grateful Dead fan and avid bicyclist – perhaps San Diego’s most famous resident – has been sending Mayor Todd Gloria emails about the homeless crisis in San Diego.

He’s extremely frustrated.

“you have failed, us and yourself,” he wrote in one, Sept. 2, in a lower-case spoken-word style. He complained of bad personal encounters he had.

“once again, while peacefully riding my bike early this Sunday morning in Balboa Park, I was threatened, chased, and assaulted by the homeless population, in our Park,” he wrote Aug. 28.

“once again, you’ve done, and continue to do, nothing.”***

His politics are generally in line with Gloria’s. When former Mayor Bob Filner resigned, there were rumors Walton would consider running for mayor. Since then, he’s been a convener of support for the political network that helped Gloria become mayor. Just recently, Walton held a fundraiser for Councilwoman Jen Campbell. He asked her to address homelessness above all to his gathered friends and neighbors.***

“you speak of the rights of the homes, what about our rights, we follow the rules of a functioning society, why are others allowed to disregard those rules,” Walton wrote, Aug. 24. “your lack of action is unacceptable, as is the conduct of the homeless population.”***

Even the progressive Council President Sean Elo-Rivera, who came into our studio to record a special podcast on the topic, and who often talks about his own unsheltered stint, is supportive of more enforcement, especially focused, though, on people preying on the homeless selling drugs or trafficking them. *** https://voiceofsandiego.org/2022/09/16/you-have-failed-us-and-yourself-bill-walton-has-had-it-with-the-mayors-approach-to-homelessness/

***

Let’s all take public transportation!

A homeless man who was captured on surveillance footage beating a woman inside a Queens subway station last week was arrested as a teen decades ago for killing his own grandmother.

The suspect, 41-year-old Waheed Foster, has a lengthy criminal history, including a bust for beating his grandmother to death in 1995 when he was just 14.

The elderly victim, Ariela Mascha, had 20 broken ribs, a stab wound in the leg and a punctured liver, police said at the time.

The brutal attack was sparked over a fight about money, police said then.

He was later convicted in her death, but it’s unclear how long he served.***

Last week, Foster allegedly launched at a woman after she ignored him on a train, police said Monday.

The attack happened just after 5 a.m. Sept. 20 as the 33-year-old victim tried to exit the northbound A train at the Howard Beach stop without engaging with the man, cops said.***

Foster allegedly chased the woman off the train, attacking her near the subway entrance, cops said.***

The victim told ABC 7 she hasn’t slept in a week as her head pounds with pain.

“Do you know how scared I am now? I was never a person to be scared,” victim Elizabeth Gomes told the television station.***

Foster was also arrested in 2010 for stabbing a 50-year-old woman in the cheek and shoulder, police sources said. The violence occurred at a mental institution where he punched two other people, according to a lawsuit that stemmed from the incident.

He’s on parole until 2024 for the 2010 assault, sources said.

Foster’s other prior arrests include busts for assaulting a woman with a screwdriver, criminal mischief, robbery and larceny, the sources said.

In 2004, he attempted to escape from a transport vehicle while he was a state prison inmate, the Post-Standard reported back then.

Foster has two other pending criminal matters on charges of criminal mischief and minor theft.  https://nypost.com/2022/09/26/vagrant-seen-pummeling-woman-in-nyc-subway-station-killed-his-own-grandmother-in-the-90s/

***Wed

Just wait until she’s a teenager

WEATHERFORD, Texas (WOAI/TND) — A 12-year-old girl and her father were both shot in what a Texas sheriff's office says was a plot by the girl to murder her family.

The girl lives in the city of Weatherford, roughly 60 miles west of Dallas. She allegedly plotted with another girl more than 200 miles away in Lufkin to murder both their families. The sheriff's office investigating the situation did not say how the two girls were in contact with each other.

"This case illustrates just how vitally important it is for parents to know who their children are friends with, and that would be whether in the classroom, on social media like TikTok and Snapchat, and even gaming platforms,” Jessica Pebsworth, the communications director for the city of Lufkin, told WOAI.

The 12-year-old shot herself in the head after shooting her father in the abdomen and fleeing the scene shortly before midnight Sept. 20, authorities said. The girl and her 38-year-old father are both in the hospital.

Police said the other girl from Lufkin had planned on killing her father, too, but changed her mind. She's charged with criminal conspiracy in the planning of the murder plot.*** https://thenationaldesk.com/news/americas-news-now/12-year-old-girl-shoots-her-father-in-plot-to-murder-family-parker-county-sheriff-office-russ-authier-says-weatherford-texas-abdomen-head-wound-tiktok-snapchat-murder-pact-minors-injuries

***

ODESSA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — The man who fired the shot that struck an anti-abortion rights canvasser in the shoulder last week called it an accident but also said the volunteer had been arguing with his wife, who supports abortion rights, and refused to leave their property.

“I came out and she (the volunteer) is screaming and having a great old time, and being told, I’m sure I heard at least a dozen times, ‘You’re trespassing, get off the property,'” 74-year-old Richard Harvey, wearing a “Facts Matter” baseball cap, told News 8 on Tuesday.

The shooting happened near Lake Odessa on Sept. 20. The 83-year-old victim volunteers for Right to Life, which says she was peaceful and was walking away when she was shot in the back.*** https://www.woodtv.com/news/ionia-county/man-who-shot-pro-life-volunteer-it-was-an-accident/

***

Firing whistleblowers doesn’t end well

Sen Grassley & Johnson sent a letter on 26sep22 to FBI & DoJ about firing a whistleblower.

FBI leadership directed Field Office personnel to conduct interviews of January 6 subjects even though there was no direct evidence that they were in Washington, D.C. on January 6, and to use aggressive tactics, such as SWAT teams, when apprehending suspects accused of non-violent misdemeanors, even in cases where those suspects were represented by counsel and cooperating with the Government’s requests for information.

FBI is also reporting cases as being investigated by agents who had no part in investigating them.

https://www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/services/files/5C555FEF-6C65-4DB9-A6B1-F7C4195435E5

***

Shabby dad, sad case

Anthony John Graziano, 45, killed his ex in Fontana on Mon and kidnapped his daughter, Savanna, 15.  He led police on a chase, and both died in a shootout near Victorville.  https://www.foxnews.com/us/california-teen-subject-amber-alert-killed-shootout-between-father-deputies-authorities-say

***

Wonderful human

A Long Island married father of two who was previously convicted of attempted sex trafficking and kidnapping also pleaded guilty on Tuesday to unlawful possession of a firearm and obstruction of justice.

Andrew Frey, 56, of Coram, New York, pleaded guilty Tuesday, a week after he was convicted of the attempted sex trafficking and attempted kidnapping of two women following a two-week-long trial, according to the Justice Department.***

He had lured a heroin-addicted sex worker into his vehicle in Mastic, New York, at the time.

When the victim refused to go with Frey to an isolated spot on the beach, Frey threatened to kill her, according to the DOJ.

He attempted to lock her inside his car and speed away while grabbing her neck, but the victim escaped by jumping out of his moving vehicle. She sustained injuries as a result of falling onto the pavement.*** https://www.foxnews.com/us/long-island-husband-father-convicted-attempted-sex-trafficking-pleads-guilty-other-crimes

***

sad

The suspect in the deadly beating of an off-duty female Los Angeles County probation officer killed during an alleged home invasion over the weekend is a homeless man, according to a report.

The Los Angeles County Probation Department announced on Monday that it is mourning the loss of Deputy Probation Officer II, Paula Lind.

The "devoted staff member" who served the department for 16 years was a "home invasion victim" who suffered "fatal injuries" on Sunday, the press release said.

The Los Angeles Times, citing sheriff’s homicide Lt. Michael Gomez, reported that Lind’s suspected killer is a homeless man believed to have gained entry into her home by shattering a sliding door.*** https://www.foxnews.com/us/la-probation-officer-murdered-home-invasion-suspected-killer-homeless-man-who-shattered-door-report

***

Footloose or uh, you know....

A Michigan man pleaded guilty last week to murdering, dismembering and eating the body parts of another man he met on a dating app.

Mark David Latunski, 53, of Shiawassee County, Michigan, admitted in court last Thursday that he killed 25-year-old hairdresser Kevin Bacon after luring the University of Michigan-Flint student to his home in December 2019, according to local outlet Mlive.com.

Latunski pleaded guilty as charged to mutilation of a body and to open murder, which encompasses murder in the first and second degree.*** https://www.foxnews.com/us/michigan-man-pleads-guilty-murdering-eating-testicles-other-man-met-dating-app

+++

In other cannibal news....

Netflix drops LGBTQ tag on Jeffrey Dahmer series amid backlash https://trib.al/ooRE5bL  

*** 

CHICAGO—Many Black voters in some of Chicago’s most violent neighborhoods are frustrated that Democrats haven’t curbed persistent crime or fixed the economic problems that underpin it, prompting some to weigh sitting out upcoming elections.

The Republican effort to win the Illinois governor’s race this fall has centered on calling for more police officers and blaming Democrats for violent crime in Chicago, which last year had one of its worst years since the 1990s before some types of crimes receded this year. Republican aides and strategists said they wouldn’t come close to winning deep-blue areas of the state such as Chicago but that they hoped to chip away at the Democratic advantage in the city, which could be achieved if some voters stay home.***  https://www.wsj.com/articles/some-black-chicagoans-hit-by-crime-consider-skipping-midterm-elections-11664309629

***

BHR

On the morning of July 12, 2020, the first orange flickers of destruction took hold in the bowels of the hulking USS Bonhomme Richard as it sat moored at a San Diego naval base.

Unimpeded, the fire gathered force, surging upward, conquering one level of the 844-foot ship and then the next, while the crew — the ship’s critical firefighting force — fled to the pier. There, the captain and his sailors stood by as the Bonhomme Richard burned, in cruel irony of its motto “I have not yet begun to fight.”***

Four days later, when the fire was officially out, the U.S. Navy faced the sickening loss of a $1.2 billion-dollar warship, not to war, or even at sea. But to a wholly preventable fire while moored in a stateside port. For the Navy, whose reputation as the world’s finest had been battered by recent collisions at sea and allegations of shoddy equipment and training, the loss of the Bonhomme Richard was an embarrassing — and painfully public — blow.

The service immediately launched two parallel investigations into what went wrong and why.

The command investigation, led by a three-star admiral, sent a team of investigators on a prodigious and methodical examination of the fire. As the months passed, the investigators uncovered in exhaustive detail an astonishing array of failures — broken or missing fire hoses, poorly trained sailors, improperly stored hazardous material — that had primed the ship for a calamitous fire.

A separate investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, for its part, focused on whether anyone was criminally responsible. As the months passed, NCIS investigators appeared to operate in isolation, discounting the damning findings of the command investigation to pursue a case of arson, despite scant evidence.***

The NCIS investigation, however, laid the blame at the feet of a single young sailor. The true culprit, the one who bore responsibility for the billion-dollar loss, the Navy said, was then-20-year-old Ryan Mays. And for that, he should face life in prison.***

Just days before the fire, Mays had angrily texted his division officer, complaining about having to live among contractors who were doing work that was “hazardous as fuck.” A worker was welding near his bunk as he slept, and Mays said he was burned by a stray spark. In 2015, a major fire started on another warship in a shipyard with similar conditions: sailors moving aboard while “hot work” was being done.

The command investigators hung posters of ship drawings all over the walls, each one tracking a different potential problem. While NCIS’ early impressions of the case included a theory of sabotage, another picture altogether was becoming clear to command investigators: The Bonhomme Richard had been a tinderbox.***

On July 24, 2020, less than one week after beginning the criminal investigation, the ATF preliminarily ruled the Bonhomme Richard fire to be arson.

The lead ATF agent, Matthew Beals, and his team of investigators had found no physical evidence anyone purposefully set the fire. Beals later testified that he’d ruled out accidental causes, such as electrical and mechanical, as well as natural ones. With those causes eliminated, along with his assessment of how the fire grew and witnesses' statements, he concluded it must have been arson.

The National Fire Protection Association’s 921 guide, essentially the fire investigation bible, requires investigators to use the scientific method to determine cause. “You can’t in the absence of everything else rule it was arson,” Robert Duval, a director with the association, told ProPublica. ATF said it could not comment on pending litigation. Beals testified that his methods followed the manual and his conclusions were based on a variety of evidence.*** https://www.propublica.org/article/bonhomme-richard-fire-safety-lapses

The Article 32 Investigating Officer recommended not prosecuting the case.  The Vice Admiral in charge disregarded that advice.

***

Just another day in Philly

A 14-year-old is dead and four other high school football players were wounded after gunfire erupted behind a Philadelphia high school Tuesday afternoon, police said.

The five unidentified victims were walking off the field after a scrimmage at Roxborough High School around 4:41 p.m. when someone in a green Ford Explorer drove up to the players and began shooting, police said.

The victims were transported to Temple University Hospital and Einstein Medical Center, according to police.*** https://abcnews.go.com/US/high-school-football-players-shot-dead-philly-drive/story?id=90602219

***

Kids do the craziest things

Tulsa County, Oklahoma, District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler was briefly hospitalized after allegedly being stabbed by a family member Tuesday, per his office. His daughter, Jennifer Kunzweiler, has been arrested in connection to the stabbing, according to police.

“Unfortunately today, I found myself in a situation that I hoped would never happen,” Steve Kunzweiler said in a statement after being discharged from the hospital. "Fortunately, my injuries are such that I was able to go home."*** https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/tulsa-county-da-stabbed-by-family-member-police

***

Soccer coaching is a great way to meet kids

Heberto Limas-Villers, 54, a coach with Real Soccer Club, was arrested Sept. 27 on suspicion of child pornography, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office announced in a news release.***

Investigators executed a search warrant on his residence, located in the east Centennial area, on Sept. 27. He was taken into custody at his residence and was booked into the Arapahoe County Detention Center, the agency said.

Limas-Villers was charged with three counts of sexual exploitation of a child, a class 5 felony, according to the release.***

In August, Howard “Bud” Harper, who was employed by Real Soccer Club as an age coordinator and previously worked as a coach, was booked into the Arapahoe County Detention Center on 17 counts of sexual exploitation of children.

Investigators in the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about child pornography being traded from an IP address in Arapahoe County, the sheriff’s office said on Aug. 10.

The investigators discovered files containing alleged child pornography were being uploaded, and the files included underage victims ranging in age from toddlers to teens, according to the release. The sheriff’s office said investigators identified Harper as the suspect.*** https://highlandsranchherald.net/stories/real-soccer-club-coach-arrested-on-suspicion-of-child-pornography,401746

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It’s all morality police

[Iran’s]  ruling clerics, echoing renowned Muslim theologians from a millennium before, are obsessed with the convulsive power of female sexuality. In this case: with the dark brown hair of Masha Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman not known for provocative political behavior. She died in Tehran after being beaten to death by Iran’s morality police for the crime of having too much hair showing beneath her mandatory headscarf.*** https://www.commonsense.news/p/the-women-burning-their-hijabs-want

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In other repressive regime news,

On Tuesday, Cardinal Joseph Zen’s second day in court in Hong Kong, five witnesses were cross-examined and the magistrate ruled that there was sufficient evidence to justify a trial.

The 90-year-old cardinal appeared on Sept. 27 for the second consecutive day in the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts. The prosecution called four police officers and one other witness to testify in the preliminary hearing.

Principal Magistrate Ada Yim ruled that the prosecution has sufficient evidence to make a prima facie case against the cardinal and five others for failing to properly register a fund to provide legal aid to pro-democracy protesters, according to the Hong Kong Free Press.

Zen’s next trial date is set for Oct. 26. He was arrested in May along with other democracy activists under Hong Kong’s strict national security law. Under the current less serious charge, he could face a fine of about $1,200 but no jail time.*** https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252408/cardinal-zen-s-second-day-in-court-magistrate-rules-there-is-sufficient-evidence

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FBI in the news

Thirty former FBI agents, including a retired deputy assistant director, head of counterterrorism and five SWAT team members, have spoken out publicly in support of suspended FBI whistleblower Stephen Friend.

Their heartfelt messages, obtained exclusively by The Post, show a deep and widespread anguish about the politicization of the FBI.

“It’s time to stop the FBI from being the enforcer of a political party’s ideology,” says Ernie Tibaldi, a retired agent from San Francisco. “We need to reestablish the FBI as the apolitical and independent law enforcement entity that it always was.”

He expressed gratitude to Friend “for having the courage to stand up to the corruption that has taken over the leadership of the FBI.”

Many former agents hailed Friend, a SWAT team member in Florida, as a “hero,” after he was punished for refusing to participate in what he regarded as unnecessarily heavy-handed SWAT raids over Jan. 6 misdemeanors.

In his whistleblower complaint to the Department of Justice inspector general, Friend alleged that the FBI has been manipulating case-file management in order to falsely inflate the threat of domestic terrorism, and using unconstitutional, excessive force against political dissenters.*** https://nypost.com/2022/09/28/30-ex-fbi-agents-stand-up-to-support-whistleblower-who-exposed-agencys-political-bias/

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Vice indeed

https://www.reddit.com/r/trashy/comments/xqj7b7/vice_tried_to_make_a_sympathy_piece_about/

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routine Twitter problem

Sept 28 (Reuters) - Some major advertisers including Dyson, Mazda, Forbes and PBS Kids have suspended their marketing campaigns or removed their ads from parts of Twitter because their promotions appeared alongside tweets soliciting child pornography, the companies told Reuters.

Brands ranging from Walt Disney Co (DIS.N), NBCUniversal (CMCSA.O) and Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) to a children's hospital were among more than 30 advertisers that appeared on the profile pages of Twitter accounts peddling links to the exploitative material, according to a Reuters review of accounts identified in new research about child sex abuse online from cybersecurity group Ghost Data.

Some of tweets include key words related to "rape" and "teens," and appeared alongside promoted tweets from corporate advertisers, the Reuters review found. In one example, a promoted tweet for shoe and accessories brand Cole Haan appeared next to a tweet in which a user said they were "trading teen/child" content.

"We're horrified," David Maddocks, brand president at Cole Haan, told Reuters after being notified that the company's ads appeared alongside such tweets. "Either Twitter is going to fix this, or we'll fix it by any means we can, which includes not buying Twitter ads."*** https://www.reuters.com/technology/exclusive-brands-blast-twitter-ads-next-child-pornography-accounts-2022-09-28/

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Yeah, so?  Maybe we think you need more time.

The man convicted of assassinating presidential candidate and former Sen. Robert Kennedy in 1968 is asking a judge to free him from prison, arguing that he no longer poses a danger to society.

Sirhan Sirhan, 78, is serving life in prison in California for Kennedy's murder, in which he shot the New York senator after he won California’s Democratic presidential primary, jurors found. Five others were wounded during the shooting in Los Angeles at the Ambassador Hotel. Sirhan's attorney, Angela Berry, stated in his request for release on Wednesday that her client is not a danger to the public anymore.*** https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/robert-kennedy-assassin-sirhan-sirhan-asks-judge-to-free-him

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[beardedmrbean]

In the minutes after Katie Summers hit and killed a 31-year-old moped rider, she didn’t stop to help him or call 911.

She made a U-turn and parked in a nearby lot, but didn’t approach police when they arrived.

Her inaction drove Benton County Superior Court Judge Alex Ekstrom to order the 31-year-old mother of two to prison for the high end of the state sentencing range — two years and two months.

“Ms. Summers on the 21st of August of 2018 you killed a man. You did this through the disregard of your obligations as a driver,” he said. “You didn’t do this intentionally. You did do this recklessly, but you killed him. And when you drove away, you probably knew he was dead.”

The sentence came after a morning of tearful pleas Thursday from Leo Birrueta’s family for a lengthy prison term and from Summers and her sister for leniency in front of a courtroom crowded with both families.

Deputy Prosecutor Andrew Clark asked for the maximum end of the Washington state sentencing range at two years and three months.

While Summers’ attorney, Brian Roach, asked for a parenting sentencing alternative which would allow her to stay with her two children or for a first-time offender waiver which would have a three month maximum.

More than three years after the collision, Summers pleaded guilty in January to vehicular homicide with disregard to safety and hit and run from a crash with injuries.

Video obtained by Kennewick police showed Summers drinking saké at a sushi restaurant before she drove that night, but her blood alcohol concentration at the time of the crash could not be proven because of a delay in drawing a blood sample, according to court documents filed by prosecutors.

The moped’s headlights were on, and Summers had a flashing yellow arrow to yield to oncoming traffic when she made a left turn in front of Birrueta’s moped.

Summers stopped a short distance away, and she paced back and forth outside her pickup. She got back in the truck and drove north on Edison, made a U-turn and parked behind the Super Supplements store in the Albertson’s parking lot near the intersection.

She later told Kennewick police that she stopped and called her boyfriend instead of 911 and didn’t go over to help the dying restaurant worker. She also was seen tossing a garbage bag in a nearby dumpster.

Officers retrieved the bag, which held empty containers for marijuana products along with a magazine and a business card, both with Summers’ name on them, court documents said.

When police found her about 11 minutes after the crash, she smelled of alcohol but no field sobriety test was done then, according to documents.

It was another four hours before a blood sample was taken to measure the alcohol and marijuana in her system.

The measure found that she had a blood-alcohol level of .06%, slightly under the legal limit.

While Summers’ drinking was not part of the charge, Ekstrom pointed out it as part of a set of circumstances surrounding the crash.

He noted that she did not call 911 and while she was on the scene when police arrived, she did not stop and talk with them.

“You valued his life less than ... your concern that your boyfriend would be angry at you regarding the condition of the interior of your truck,” Ekstrom said.