Confessions of an American PI

Detective Story

2012-01-20T16:39:00.002-07:00

Even more than writing in other genres, the detective story, often called a whodunit, tends to follow standard rules. This is because readers of detective mysteries seek a particular experience: they want the intellectual challenge of solving the crime before the detective does, and the pleasure of knowing that everything will come together in the end.

The detective's investigation is based on motive, opportunity, and means, and the detective arrives at solving the crime by, of course, eliminating suspects who do not fulfill these criteria.

The detective questions suspects, sifts through clues, and tracks down perpetrators. The detective shares all the clues with the reader but withholds their significance until the end.

To make the case interesting to the reader, the writer often puts complications, and twists and turns in the detective's way: several suspects, additional murders, red herrings.

Only at the end does the detective unmask the culprit and plot, and present the deductive reasoning used in solving the case.

Detective mysteries evolved in the early part of the 20th Century from stories about detectives in which the reader wasn't a participant, but rather a witness, looking over the detective's shoulder, so to speak.

Early Detective Stories

The originator of the early stories of investigation was the American poet and short-story writer Edgar Allen Poe, creator of the world's first known fictional detective C. Auguste Dupin.

Dupin's methods of deduction and his strange personal habits provided the model that many detective story writers have followed since.

Dupin made his debut in April 1841, when Graham's magazine published Poe's classic horror story: The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Dupin appeared thereafter in 'The Mystery of Marie Roget' (1842-43), 'The Purloined Letter' (1845). It is believed that Poe's Dupin character was modeled after real-life crook-turned-cop French detective Eugene Francois Vidocq (1775-1857).

Charles Dickens ventured into writing detective stories with The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870), but the novel was unfinished at the time of Dickens' death and his ending for it remains unknown.

English author and playwright Wilkie Collins, contributed The Moonstone (1860) and The Woman in White (1860) featuring Detective Sergeant Cuff.

Sherlock Holmes and Followers

Detective stories didn't become truly popular, however, until Beeton's magazine published in 1887 'A Study in Scarlet', introducing to England and the world the most famous detective of all time – real or fictional – Sherlock Holmes.

Obviously influenced by Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, the English writer who created Holmes, gave Holmes Dupin's mental traits and equally strange habits, and he narrated his detective's exploits, as did Poe, from the vantage point of a close companion, in Holmes' case Dr. Watson.

Altogether, the original Sherlock Holmes mysteries consists of 4 novels and 56 short stories. Holmes is the hero, even today, of detective adventures written by other writers.

Sherlock Holmes popularized the detective story and brought it to its present form. Since Conan Doyle, writers have sought to develop detective heroes who echo both Holmes' unique character and omniscience.

In 1911, the English writer G.K. Chesterton developed the character of Father Brown, a priest-detective.

In 1920, during what is often called the golden age of the detective story, the English writer Agatha Christie introduced her hero, Hercule Poirot (1920-75), a dapper Belgian detective.

In the U.S., the Ellery Queen detective series began in 1928, created by Frederic Dannay (1905-1982) and Manfred Bennington Lee (1905-1971); and S.S. Van Dine (1888-1939), under the pseudonym of Willard Huntington Wright, began writing about the dilettante detective Philo Vance in 1926.

Meanwhile, another American writer, Earl Derr Biggers (1884-1933) wrote about his famed Chinese detective, Charlie Chan (1919).

Other authors who emerged in the 1930s are American writer Rex Stout (1886-1975) with his famous gourmet detective Nero Wolfe (1934), and the scholarly English writer Dorothy Sayers, whose detective hero was an aristocrat, Lord Peter Wimsey (1921).

Authors of the 1930s, in their efforts to outwit the reader, concocted elaborate ingenious puzzles such as the locked-room mysteries of American writer John Dickson Carr (1906-77). The aim was to produce as the murderer the least likely of all suspects, which Agatha Christie excelled at.

Private Eye Tales

Meanwhile, in the U.S. during the 1920s, another type of detective story was emerging – shaped by the pulp magazines of the time, notably Black Mask, which wanted hard-hitting detective heroes and tough language.

Authors who wrote this style of detective story include Erle Stanley Gardner, creator of Perry Mason, the most famous lawyer-detective; Dashiell Hammett, creator of Nick Charles and Sam Spade; and Raymond Chandler, creator of phillip Marlowe.

In these hard-boiled private detective novels, sleuths worked for money instead of intellectual fun, and the style was on action and the puzzle was underplayed. The story's physical activity, which sometimes degenerated into rough sex and sadism, rather than the puzzle, held the reader.

The Police Procedural

In the early 1950s, a trend away from the sex and sadism type of detective novel and away from the private detective tale in general, developed. The "police procedural" – stories about how real police detectives go about solving real crimes – was born.

The difference offered by the police procedural detective novels from its predecessors is that the reader consorts, not with genius, but with fallible, ordinary people, specially trained in investigation.

The most prominent writers of this type of detective novel are John Creasey (1908-73) writing under the pseudonym J.J. Marric, with his tales of Gideon of Scotland Yard; Evan Hunter (1926-2005) and his 87th Precinct series under the pseudonym Ed McBain; and former New York City transit police detective Dorothy Uhnak (1930-2006) with her series featuring Detective Christie Opara and others.

The detective story is sure to endure as staple reading fare even with its pendulum swings in popularity. Its strength is that it provides excitement and satisfaction. The detective story novel deals with evil, which is generally fascinating, at the same time promising that good will triumph over evil, and that the ending will be relatively happy and complete.

Brian Blackwell

The Book Project

2012-01-05T12:53:00.000-07:00

For as long as I can remember, all I have wanted to do is be a writer. But then life happened, and like for many people, events occurred altering the course of my life, and like most people do, I did the practical thing and pursued jobs that provided a much more steady, stable income, putting my aspirations of being a writer aside.

During this time, I wrote short stories and poems, published articles occasionally, hoping that one day I would be able to write a book and have it published. I have accumulated a vast body of poems that is ever expanding, which I hope I can have published.

In 2009, I began posting on Facebook a collection of poems I wrote and soon developed a following of fans of my writing who encouraged me to have my poems published in book form.

In seeking a publisher for my book, I soon discovered that when the financial crises hit in 2008, as with many other industries, the book publishing industry was deeply affected financially, and a person attempting to get their first book published went from being difficult to nearly impossible, especially for an unknown individual.

As a result of the current economic climate, most publishers are not willing to gamble on the success of a book written by a (first book) author, and on the rare times when they do, they are requiring (first book) authors to share in the cost of production.

Even with self-publishing, the cost of publishing a book is considerably high. Even on a small-to-medium scale, the pre-production and printing costs are very high to produce a tastefully done book, which I in no way have the financial means to cover the cost.

Rather than giving up on my goal, I am seeking financial backing from the public. As a backer, you are guaranteed to receive an advanced copy of my book of poems with any donation of $45 or more (limited to 250 copies) and every supporter will have their name included in the book in a special "partner" section. It's really important to me to list the names of the backers who made the book a reality. If you'd like to be an anonymous backer, I will not list your name in the book.

My poetry book will be 200 pages, and there will be an explanation with each poem of my motivation for writing the poem, which is very rare and unique for a poet to do. I can assure you, my book will be a quality read and very tastefully done.

I am also writing a suspense thriller novel while getting my poetry book published.

To help, please go to: http://www.BrianBlackwell.com

Rembrandt Drawing Stolen From Calif. Hotel

2011-08-15T00:52:00.005-06:00

A drawing by Rembrandt, valued at $250,000, was stolen from a hotel in Marina del Rey, California in what Los Angeles County Sheriff's investigators say was a well-planned heist.

The pen-and-ink drawing, believed to be called "The Judgment," was stolen Saturday night while a curator was distracted by a guest at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Marina del Rey, L.A. Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

Investigators believe the theft occurred during a 15-minute window starting at 10:20 p.m.

"When the curator turned back to the Rembrandt, it was gone," Whitmore said, adding that it "was a well-thought-out, well-executed theft."

Investigators were studying surveillance video from the hotel. The footage was unlikely to be made public, Whitmore said.

Officials asked anyone who spotted anything suspicious to contact the sheriff's department. Sheriff's investigators were working with security officials from the hotel.

"The Ritz-Carlton has some of the best hotel security in the nation," Whitmore said. "We're confident that our leads, and the surveillance video will help us solve this."

Whitmore said the work by the Dutch master was valued at $250,000.

The drawing was part of an exhibit at the hotel sponsored by San Francisco's Linearis Institute. A call to the institute was not immediately returned Sunday.

Brian Blackwell

Casey Anthony Found Not Guilty

2011-07-05T12:43:00.012-06:00

Jurors in Orlando, Florida have found Casey Anthony not guilty in her murder trial. The jury was out for just 10 hours after getting instructions on Monday.

Anthony was also found not guilty on manslaughter and child abuse charges. Anthony was found guilty on four counts of providing false information to law enforcement.

Casey Anthony in court

Prosecutors argued the woman killed her 2-year-old daughter Caylee because the toddler interrupted her carefree partying and love life.

Jurors in the murder trial ended their first day of deliberations on Monday without reaching a verdict.

Anthony was charged with first-degree murder and six other charges. If convicted of first-degree murder, she would have been sentenced to death or life in prison.

The seven women and five men of the jury were chosen from the Tampa Bay area because of pretrial media coverage of the case and have been sequestered in an Orlando hotel. They have listened to 33 days of testimony and another two days of closing arguments.

Anthony's attorneys say the girl drowned in the family's pool.

They have said Anthony panicked and that her father, a former police officer, decided to make the death look like a homicide by placing duct tape over the child's mouth and dumping the body in some nearby woods. George Anthony has denied that.

The state contended Anthony was a party girl who killed Caylee because the toddler got in the way of her love life.

Brian Blackwell

Legendary Mobster Whitey Bulger Arrested

2011-06-23T07:56:00.013-06:00

Organized crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger, once one of the most powerful mobsters in the nation, has been captured after 16 years on the run.

One of the FBI's Top 10 most wanted fugitives and the inspiration for the 2006 Martin Scorsese film, "The Departed," Bulger -- once head of Boston's Winter Hill Gang -- was sought in connection with 19 slayings and a slew of other crimes.


Crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger with his longtime girlfriend Catherine Elizabeth Greig.

He was arrested Wednesday at a Santa Monica, California, home along with his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Elizabeth Greig, who was also wanted for harboring him.

Bulger was an FBI informant before he fled in 1995 after being tipped off by an FBI agent about an impending racketeering indictment. The agent was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his involvement.

The 81-year-old -- known to alter his appearance through disguises -- was "considered armed and extremely dangerous," according to the FBI. "He has a violent temper and is known to carry a knife at all times," the FBI said in an official description of him.

The FBI offered a $2 million reward for information leading directly to his arrest.

Authorities credit a new publicity campaign for the tips that led them to the fugitives.

On Tuesday, the FBI began airing a 30-second public service announcement, buying about 350 spots in 14 U.S. cities.

The ad focused on Grieg, 60, and targeted female viewers around the same age. It described her as loving dogs and other animals and frequenting beauty salons. it said she had worked as a dental hygienist, likes to maintain her teeth, and has had multiple plastic surgeries.

Bulger was sought for his role in numerous murders committed from the early 1970's through the mid-1980's in connection with his leadership of an organized crime group that controlled extortion, drug deals, and other illegal activities in the Boston area.

An "avid reader with an interest in history," he was known to frequent libraries and historic sites, the FBI said.

Bulger has been in hiding since 1995. The FBI put him on its Most Wanted list in 1999 and had a special task force devoted to his capture.

He will make his first court appearance Thursday, the FBI said. Bulger is charged with 19 counts of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, extortion, narcotics distribution and money laundering charges, the FBI said.

Before the arrest, the last confirmed sighting of Bulger and Grieg was in London in 2002.

Brian Blackwell

FBI "No Probable Cause Required" Powers

2011-06-13T03:41:00.005-06:00

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is giving significant new powers to its 14,000 agents — allowing them to search databases, go through household trash or use surveillance teams to scrutinize the lives of people without needing to worry about probable cause rules.

The FBI soon plans to issue a new edition of its manual, called the Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide, according to an official who has worked on the draft document and several others who have been briefed on its contents.

The new rules add to several measures taken over the past decade to give agents more latitude as they investigate for possible signs of criminal or terrorist activity.

The FBI recently briefed several privacy advocates about the coming changes. Among them, Michael German, a former FBI agent who is now a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, argued it was unwise to further ease restrictions on agents’ power to use potentially intrusive techniques, especially if they lacked a firm reason to suspect someone of wrongdoing.

"Claiming additional authorities to investigate people only further raises the potential for abuse," German said, pointing to complaints about the bureau’s surveillance of domestic political advocacy groups and to an inspector general’s findings in 2007 that the FBI had improperly used "national security letters" to obtain information like people’s phone bills.

Valerie E. Caproni, the FBI general counsel, said the bureau had fixed the problems with the national security letters and had taken steps to make sure they would not recur.

She also said the bureau — which does not need permission to alter its manual so long as the rules fit within broad guidelines issued by the attorney general — had carefully weighed the risks and the benefits of each change.

Since December 2008, FBI agents have had the power to look into people and organizations "proactively" and without firm evidence for suspecting criminal or terrorist activity.

Under current rules, agents must open such an inquiry before they can search for information about a person in a commercial or law enforcement database. Under the new rules, agents will be allowed to search anyone's database without needing to follow probable cause rules nor making a record of their decision.

Brian Blackwell

Denver Prostitution Ring Records Stolen

2011-06-08T01:21:00.002-06:00

Hundreds of documents, including a client list with the names of Denver's elite and politicians, kept by the former owner of a high-profile prostitution ring in Denver were stolen Monday in a home break-in, according to police.

Scottie J. Ewing, who once owned Denver Players and Denver Sugar escort services — identified by federal agents as a prostitution ring — told Denver police that thieves broke into his home Monday between 6 and 8 p.m., entered an upstairs office and took off with his computer and a large container of files.

"Both computer and files contained sensitive material," the police report says.

The files included a client list and appointment sheets.

The thieves gained entry by cutting a hole in the back screen door, knocking out a Plexiglass panel and unlocking it.

Ewing is presently serving a six-month home detention after a plea bargain with the IRS over unpaid taxes associated with the businesses. He was ordered to pay a fine of nearly $80,000 earlier this year.

Reached by telephone this afternoon, Ewing said: "I don't have any comment."

The detention allows him to work at his business, Sugar House, a restaurant and bar that caters to the swinger community.

Between early 2004 and mid-2005, Ewing's escort businesses charged customers $300 an hour, and escorts who worked for the service told 9News in 2008 that the business' client list included the city's elite.

Then-Chief U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham resigned from the bench that year after a 9News report alleged that Nottingham's name appeared on the escort service's client list.

Police investigated the scene of the crime Monday, tested for fingerprints and surveyed the neighborhood, according to the police report.

Brian Blackwell

Addicts Putting Pharmacies Under Siege

2011-06-06T00:11:00.006-06:00

Less than two hours after picking out a man in a Seattle, Washington police lineup who held up his drugstore, pharmacist Mike Donohue was being robbed. Again.

The new robber's face was hidden under the hood of a bulky black sweatshirt. He rocked back and forth anxiously, with his right hand planted in his pocket.

Like the other five robbers who had held up Donohue's store before, the man demanded OxyContin, a popular painkiller known for its high abuse potential.

"My technician came back and showed me the note that said, 'Give me your OxyContin. I have a gun,' " Donohue said.

Instead of handing over the drugs, Donohue unholstered the Glock 19 handgun he wore beneath his white lab coat and sprinted to the front of the small pharmacy.

The pharmacist pointed the firearm loaded with 15 hollow-point rounds at the head of the hooded man.

"Down!" Donohue yelled.... http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/06/03/drugstore.robberies/index.html?hpt=ju_t3

Brian Blackwell

Casey Anthony Trial Resumes

2011-05-28T20:16:00.005-06:00

Caylee Anthony's grandmother gave jurors in her daughter's capital murder trial a detailed glimpse of her efforts to connect with the 2-year-old girl in the weeks following her disappearance, recounting reason after reason her daughter gave for keeping the toddler away from home for nearly a month.

The reasons included work meetings, a car accident and sudden plans to hang out at a hotel with a wealthy suitor Cindy Anthony said she had long heard about, but had never met, jurors in the Orlando woman's capital murder trial heard Saturday.

Casey Anthony in court

Testimony from Cindy Anthony dominated the abbreviated Saturday session, which ended just before 1 p.m. in Orlando.

Casey Anthony, 25, is charged with seven counts, including first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and misleading police in the death of her daughter, who was last seen June 16, 2008. Her skeletal remains were discovered were found in a wooded field in December 2008.

Prosecutors say Anthony used chloroform on her daughter and then put duct tape over her nose and mouth, suffocating the girl.

Anthony's attorneys argue that she did not kill Caylee, but rather that the girl accidentally drowned in the Anthonys' pool. They say Anthony and her father discovered her body, panicked, and kept the death a secret. George Anthony denied that claim in testimony Thursday.

After describing her last day with Caylee, spent visiting the girl's ailing great-grandfather in a nursing home, swimming at home and then looking at pictures and videos, Cindy Anthony testified about her efforts to talk to Caylee between June 16, the next day, and July 15, when she was finally reported missing to police.

"There was always a reason I missed her," Cindy Anthony said.

At first, Cindy Anthony said, she believed Caylee was staying with her nanny, Zanny, while her daughter attended work meetings. Then, Anthony told her mother that she was taking the girl to Tampa, Florida, for an outing with a co-worker and her child.

When they didn't return as expected, Cindy Anthony testified her daughter told her a serious car accident had left Zanny injured, and that she felt obligated to stay and care for her.

When her father, George Anthony, ran into her at home on June 24, when she was supposed to be nearly 80 miles away in Tampa, Casey Anthony explained she had returned to get insurance information for Zanny and get some things from home, Cindy Anthony testified.

When asked why she didn't bring her daughter home, Casey Anthony said she "didn't think about it," her mother testified.

After that, Casey Anthony told her mother that she, Caylee and Zanny were staying at an Orlando hotel with a wealthy suitor, according to Cindy Anthony's testimony. When she failed to return home as expected, Casey Anthony then explained the delay by saying she was working on a closed Make-A-Wish event that Caylee could attend, but Cindy Anthony could not.

On July 3, Cindy Anthony testified, she went to Universal Studios -- where she believed her daughter worked -- to confront her over a money issue. That's when Casey Anthony told her she wasn't in Orlando, but rather in Jacksonville, Florida -- at the suitor's condo.

Despite what she was telling her mother, Casey Anthony was actually spending time in Orlando with numerous friends, attending parties, going shopping and hitting nightclubs, according to previous testimony and evidence in the case.

For instance, on June 20, when Casey Anthony was telling her mother she was working and taking Caylee to an amusement park in Tampa with a co-worker, she was instead participating in a "hot body" contest at an Orlando night club, according to previous testimony in the case. Photos of the event shown at the trial show her dancing at the club.

Casey Anthony's attorneys explain her behavior in June and July 2008 by saying she had been sexually abused by her father and was trained from a young age to hide her pain. George Anthony denied abusing his daughter in previous testimony.

Cindy Anthony broke down on the stand early in her testimony, while look at pictures of Caylee's Winnie the Pooh-themed bed, depictions of her backyard playhouse and an image of her visiting the nursing home. At one point, she interrupted prosecutor Linda Drane Burdick's qustioning to ask that Caylee's image be taken off a computer screen in front of her.

"I'm trying not to cry," she said.

During a break following testimony in which Cindy Anthony was discussing how she and her husband, George, bought and installed an outside playhouse for Caylee, Casey Anthony could be seen crying and gesturing angrily as she spoke with her attorneys.

Earlier Saturday, Casey Anthony's former boyfriend took the stand to discuss text messages between the two on July 16, the night after Anthony's daughter was reported missing to police by Cindy Anthony.

In the messages, Anthony told the boyfriend, Anthony Lazarro, that she had been driving around with police looking for her daughter.

"If they don't find her, guess who gets blamed and spends an eternity in jail?" Anthony texted.

Anthony called herself "the dumbest person and the worst mother.

"The best person in my life is missing and God only knows if I'm ever going to see her again," read another text.

Prosecutors began questioning Lazarro the day after Judge Belvin Perry questioned their attempts to introduce another set of instant messages that Assistant State's Attorney Frank George said showed Anthony believed her daughter was in the way of their relationship.

"Only a few more days and you can bring your ass over anytime you want and stay any night you want," read one text message that prosecutors said was sent June 10. George said the message and others like it would help prove Anthony's motive for killing Caylee. The instant messages showed that Caylee's presence was stifling her lifestyle, which prosecutors have tried to paint as hard-partying and carefree.

"She couldn't do what she wanted to do," George told Perry in a discussion held without the jury present in the courtroom.

But Perry questioned the logic, asking why Anthony did not also plot to kill her parents.

After Perry said he did not believe the evidence was relevant and would be excessively prejudicial even if it was, prosecutors withdrew their attempt to have it introduced into evidence, for the time being at least.

Testimony Friday focused largely on Casey Anthony's car, a white Pontiac Sunfire found abandoned in a parking lot and later towed to an impound lot where her parents, George and Cindy Anthony, picked it up two weeks later.

George Anthony and a tow company manager testified that Casey Anthony's car reeked of the unmistakable odor of a decomposing body.

In all, Anthony is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child and four counts of misleading police. If she is convicted of capital murder, she could be sentenced to death by the seven-woman, five-man jury.

Anthony has pleaded not guilty and denies harming her daughter or having anything to do with her disappearance. Baez has said that once all the facts are known, it will become clear that his client is not guilty.

The trial will resume Tuesday after a break for the Memorial Day holiday. It is expected to last another five to seven weeks.

Brian Blackwell

http://www.brian-blackwell.com/2010/04/casey-anthony-jailhouse-letters-i.html

http://www.brian-blackwell.com/2010/07/judge-allows-911-tapes-in-casey-anthony.html

http://www.brian-blackwell.com/2010/07/caylees-family-to-square-off-in-court.html

California Prison Overcrowding

2011-05-24T12:10:00.005-06:00

So How’s That "War on Drugs" Working Out?

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled yesterday that California prisons violated the U.S. constitution – their cramping of prisoners in overcrowded conditions constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

California’s public finances are also in terrible shape, which means two things:

One, they’re in no position to build more prisons. Two, having so many prisoners is a key reason for their bloated budget in the first place.

California spends over $10 billion a year jailing and taking care of prisoners. Furthermore, for every prisoner incarcerated, they had to be pursued and arrested by police officers and tried in courts. All these things cost a lot of money.

Furthermore, most prisoners aren’t rehabilitated in prison. Instead, they become more hardened. When they are released, they have trouble integrating into society because it’s extremely difficult for ex-convicts to secure long-term gainful employment.

Given California’s insane parole violation laws, many first-time offenders become repeat-offenders and simply cycle through the prison system for the rest of their lives.

Then there is the funding of gangs.

That’s right, the ‘war on drugs’ funds gangs – something clueless California lawmakers don’t seem to comprehend.

Gangs exist for one reason: to make money.

In the beginning, they were largely limited to theft. If prostitution was illegal, they were involved in that. When alcohol became illegal in the U.S., they hit pay-dirt. In fact, alcohol prohibition is by far the biggest factor that gave rise to large-scale organized crime in the U.S.

When the U.S. started its ‘war on drugs,’ gangs – in the U.S., Mexico, Colombia, and many other countries – hit the jackpot.

The logic is simple. Because drugs are illegal, they’re a highly desired and "scarce" -- that is, not easily obtainable through legal means -- and monopolized by criminals. Any business executive will tell you that monopolizing such a product will guarantee the supplier riches and secure funding for expanding operations.

Moreover, the ‘war on drugs’ has stupidly moved drugs to a shadow society, to the detriment of the public and drug users.

First, there is the missing tax revenues. More importantly, there is a complete lack of regulation and law in the "drug shadow" world. For example, there are very few safe procedure (e.g. preventing the spread of diseases) and screening (e.g. for age) practices.

Basic laws regarding violence and theft also go out the window. For example, it’s ridiculous to imagine rival licensed alcohol stores carrying out assassinations against each other.

However, drug-dealing gangs commit violent crime all the time.

California’s overcrowded prisons and bloated budget are just two symptoms of the insane and failed policy of the "war on drugs."

Having a saner drug policy would solve those problems and much more.

Brian Blackwell

California must cut prison population by 30,000

IMF Chief Used Eliot Spitzer Madam

2011-05-20T02:09:00.003-06:00

Kristin Davis, 35, admitted to providing young women for International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in 2006 as he ran for the French Socialists' presidential nomination, and said that one complained about his "aggressive" behavior.

"He was a client of my agency," she said. "When men abuse women, I'm no longer going to protect their identities".

Strauss-Kahn, 62, has been charged with sexually attacking a 32-year-old hotel maid at the Manhattan Sofitel on Saturday. He denies the claims and is being held in Rikers Island prison.

Kristen Davis, 35, who has a long list of celebrity clients, said Strauss-Kahn called her directly on her mobile phone and paid $1,200 cash for two-hour sessions in hotel rooms.

"He asked for an 'All-American girl', with a fresh face, from the midwest," she said. "A girl in January 2006 complained he was rough and angry, and said she didn't want to see him again".

In September 2006, Strauss-Kahn travelled to New York for a conference hosted by Bill Clinton. That month Davis, sent Strauss-Kahn a Brazilian-born prostitute who reported that "he was rough", said Davis, adding: "She told me not to send any new girls to him."

Davis was jailed in 2008 for promoting prostitution. She named Eliot Spitzer, who resigned that year over disclosures that he used prostitutes, as one of her clients.

Strauss-Kahn's lawyers declined to comment on the allegations. They came as the maid told a New York court of her ordeal and the IMF chief was alleged to have assaulted a maid in Mexico.

The maid, a Guinean widow with a 15-year-old daughter, told a grand jury that the head of the IMF locked her in his suite, violently groped her and forced her to perform a sex act on him.

Her attorney, Jeffrey Shapiro, said beforehand that she would explain to the hearing, which took place in secret, that "there is nothing consensual about what took place in that hotel room."

"This is nothing other than a physical, sexual assault by this man on this young woman," Shapiro said.

Attorneys for Strauss-Kahn, 62, say forensic evidence from the hotel, near Times Square, will "not be consistent with a forcible encounter", indicating that he will allege she agreed to sex.

He faces seven charges, including attempted rape, unlawful imprisonment and an illegal sex act. His next court hearing is expected on Friday.

A judge at Manhattan's criminal court will be told whether or not the grand jury has decided there is sufficient evidence to indict Strauss-Kahn for prosecution.

The married father of four filed a request with New York's supreme court to be freed on bail. He offered to waive extradition rights and remain under electronically-monitored home detention 24 hours a day.

He is expected in court for the hearing. on Friday, a judge at Manhattan's criminal court is expected to be told whether or not the grand jury has decided there is sufficient evidence to indict Strauss-Kahn for prosecution.

Meanwhile press reports in Mexico say that Strauss-Kahn also assaulted a maid in the country while making an official visit there in recent years.

The claim originated in the 2010 French book 'DSK: Secrets of a presidential contender', by an author using the pseudonym Cassandre, who said she had close knowledge of Strauss-Kahn.

The incident in Mexico was not described at any length. It had not been reported to the local authorities, and had gone unpunished. The book has been the source of several allegations of improper behaviour towards women by Strauss-Kahn.

It also emerged on Wednesday that the maid, who has not been named due to the nature of the crimes, lives in a New York City apartment that houses people with HIV and Aids. Shapiro denied she was HIV-positive.

Brian Blackwell

Police Enter Homes Without Owner Knowing

2011-05-18T02:38:00.002-06:00

A special type of government search warrant that allows authorities to search homes without informing the owner for months is becoming more common.

Imagine someone walking through your neighborhood, coming into your home and rifling through your intimate belongings.

Delayed-Notice Search Warrants Increasing

"They search through your home, your dresser drawers, your computer files," Peter Simonson, with ACLU New Mexico, said.

These search warrants don’t involve knocking on doors or any type of warning at all. Delayed-notice search warrants, or "sneak-and-peek" warrants, allow federal agents to enter your home without telling you they’ve been there until months later.

The warrants have always been around, but their use has spiked since the revamped Patriot Act in 2005. The number of delayed-notice search warrants spiked nationally from nearly 700 in fiscal year 2007 to close to 2,000 in 2009.

Upwards of 200 approved during that same three-year stretch came out of the 10th Circuit Court, which covers a handful of states including New Mexico.

The majority of those delayed search warrants aren’t even for terrorism-related cases. According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s figures, the majority of the warrants are for drug cases.

"While billed as an anti-terror tool, (a sneak-and-peek warrant) had no requirements on it that it precluded it from being used in standard criminal investigations," Simonson said.

The warrants are so secret that the New Mexico U.S. Attorney’s Office won't tell the news media about them.

The ACLU said it expects delayed-notice warrant numbers to keep growing each year as long as certain parts of the Patriot Act remain on the books.

Brian Blackwell

No Right To Resist Illegal Police Entry

2011-05-14T15:04:00.003-06:00

Overturning a common law dating back to the English Magna Carta of 1215, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Hoosiers have no right to resist unlawful police entry into their homes.

In a 3-2 decision, Justice Steven David writing for the court said if a police officer wants to enter a home for any reason or no reason at all, a homeowner cannot do anything to block the officer's entry.

"We believe ... a right to resist an unlawful police entry into a home is against public policy and is incompatible with modern Fourth Amendment jurisprudence," Justice David said. "We also find that allowing resistance unnecessarily escalates the level of violence and therefore the risk of injuries to all parties involved without preventing the arrest."

Justice David said a person arrested following an unlawful entry by police still can be released on bail and has plenty of opportunities to protest the illegal entry through the court system.

The court's decision stems from a Vanderburgh County case in which police were called to investigate a husband and wife arguing outside their apartment.

When the couple went back inside their apartment, the husband told police they were not needed and blocked the doorway so they could not enter. When an officer entered anyway, the husband shoved the officer against a wall. A second officer then used a stun gun on the husband and arrested him.

Professor Ivan Bodensteiner, of Valparaiso University School of Law, said the court's decision is consistent with the idea of preventing violence.

"It's not surprising that they would say there's no right to beat the hell out of the officer," Bodensteiner said. "(The court is saying) we would rather opt on the side of saying if the police act wrongfully in entering your house your remedy is under law, to bring a civil action against the officer."

Justice Robert Rucker, a Gary native, and Justice Brent Dickson, a Hobart native, dissented from the ruling, saying the court's decision runs afoul of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

"In my view the majority sweeps with far too broad a brush by essentially telling Indiana citizens that government agents may now enter their homes illegally -- that is, without the necessity of a warrant, consent or exigent circumstances," Justice Rucker said. "I disagree."

Justices Rucker and Dickson suggested if the court had limited its permission for police entry to domestic violence situations they would have supported the ruling.

But Dickson said, "The wholesale abrogation of the historic right of a person to reasonably resist unlawful police entry into his dwelling is unwarranted and unnecessarily broad."

This is the second major Indiana Supreme Court ruling this week involving police entry into a home.

On Tuesday, the court said police serving a warrant may enter a home without knocking if officers decide circumstances justify it. Prior to that ruling, police serving a warrant would have to obtain a judge's permission to enter without knocking.

Brian Blackwell

Feds To Auction Unabomber Items Online

2011-05-13T23:50:00.002-06:00

Following a lengthy court battle, the U.S. Marshals will auction off "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski's personal effects online beginning later this month, with proceeds to compensate some of his victims.

The online auction will begin May 18 and run through June 2, the Marshals said in a statement Thursday. Among about 60 items up for sale are personal documents such as driver's licenses, birth certificates and checks; academic transcripts; typewriters, and "more than 20,000 pages of written documents, including the original handwritten and typewritten versions" of Kaczynski's manifesto, authorities said.

The auction will be conducted by the General Services Administration, the Marshals said. A catalog of the items will be available on the GSA's auction website when the sale begins.

Kaczynski, now 68, killed three people and wounded 23 others in a string of bombings from 1978 to 1995. He was arrested in 1996, pleaded guilty in 1998 and is now serving a life term in the federal "Supermax" prison in Florence, Colorado.

The FBI dubbed him the "Unabomber" as shorthand for his early targets -- universities and airlines.

Four of his victims are owed $15 million in court-ordered restitution; the others opted not to seek restitution from him.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals approved the auction plan in 2009, said Steve Hirsch, a San Francisco attorney who represented the four victims in the court proceedings regarding the auctions.

The nearly two-year delay is due to two factors, Hirsch said. First, "the auction plan tries to protect the privacy of not only the named victims, but the other victims," and Kaczynski's writings had to be redacted to delete the victims' names and the details of their injuries, he said.

In addition, Kaczynski was furnished with copies of the writings, and filed motions in both the 9th Circuit and a lower court about them with objections including that he didn't have time to "quality check" the copies, Hirsch said. "We pretty much designed the auction around his objections," to prevent him from raising any potential First Amendment claims in court, he said.

Kaczynski has been "cycling through lawyers" throughout the court fight, he said, sometimes firing his appointed attorneys and opting to represent himself.

"I have not filed a petition to the Supreme Court ... because I have not been able to find representation for such an effort," says one neatly-handwritten motion Kaczynski filed in June 2009. "My experiences in the federal courts to date have convinced me that any pro se effort on my part is futile, no matter how strong its legal basis may be, and that I can hope for success only with the help of a lawyer who has the skill to influence judges on other than legal grounds."

"He's been fighting a losing battle," Hirsch said of Kaczynski, but fighting it "adroitly."

The items to be auctioned were seized from the Montana cabin where Kaczynski lived for years with no running water or indoor plumbing. The cabin has since been rebuilt and is now exhibited at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

"I regard him as the essence of evil," Dr. Charles Epstein, one of the four victims, told CNN in 2009. "He has no compassion." Epstein, a medical geneticist, was 77 when he died in February after battling pancreatic cancer, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Epstein was injured in 1993 when a bomb went off in a piece of mail he opened at his home. The blast destroyed both his eardrums and he lost parts of three fingers.

"That's one of the sad aspects of this," Hirsch said -- that Epstein didn't live to see the auction take place. His estate, however, is still owed the restitution, he said.

The 35,000-word manifesto itself led to a break in the investigation, according to the FBI. The essay claimed to explain the bomber's motives and railed against modern society. A task force recommended it be published, in hopes it would lead to the bomber's identity.

After it appeared in The Washington Post and The New York Times, authorities were contacted by David Kaczynski, the FBI said, who provided letters and documents written by his brother. "Our linguistic analysis determined that the author of those papers and the manifesto were almost certainly the same," authorities said.

Prior to David Kaczynski contacting the FBI, authorities had no idea who Ted Kaczynski was. He was not on a list of possible suspects.

The documents provided the basis for a search warrant for Kaczynski's cabin. There authorities found "a wealth of bomb components; 40,000 handwritten journal pages that included bomb-making experiments and descriptions of Unabomber crimes; and one live bomb, ready for mailing," the FBI said.

U.S. Marshal Albert Nájera of the Eastern District of California pointed out the irony of selling Kaczynski's belongings online.

"We will use the technology that Kaczynski railed against in his various manifestos to sell artifacts of his life. The proceeds will go to his victims and, in a very small way, offset some of the hardships they have suffered," he said.

Brian Blackwell

Deal Made In Rutgers Bullying / Suicide Case

2011-05-09T11:04:00.007-06:00

A former Rutgers University student who watched a web video secretly taken of a male student's sexual encounter with another man has been admitted to a pretrial intervention program.

Molly Wei pleaded not guilty Friday to two counts of invasion of privacy, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.

A grand jury indicted Wei's classmate Dharun Ravi for secretly streaming online the encounter between his roommate, Tyler Clementi, and another man in September 2010.

Molly Wei

Clementi's body was recovered from the Hudson River on September 30, more than a week after he jumped from the George Washington Bridge, which spans the Hudson River separating New York and New Jersey.

Should Wei complete the three-year program without additional legal troubles, the invasion of privacy charges for watching the video will be dropped.

Wei will be required to complete 300 hours of community service and must participate in counseling associated with cyberbullying and alternate and cultural lifestyles.

The deal also requires that she testify against Ravi, who set up the camera.

A grand jury indicted Ravi on 15 counts including invasion of privacy, bias intimidation, tampering with physical evidence, witness tampering and hindering apprehension or prosecution.

Authorities said Ravi secretly placed a camera in the room and accessed it remotely.

He "then provided others an opportunity to view the encounter," Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan said in a written statement.

Two days later, Ravi attempted to view a second encounter between Clementi and the same male, alerting others on Twitter of the planned meeting, the statement said.

Ravi is accused of then deleting the tweet and replacing it with a false tweet in an effort to mislead investigators, according to the statement.

http://www.brian-blackwell.com/2010/10/rutgers-students-suicide-shows-dire.html

Brian Blackwell

Teens Plead In School Bullying-Suicide Case

2011-05-06T03:52:00.008-06:00

Three teenagers admitted Thursday that they participated in the bullying of a 15-year-old girl who later committed suicide, with their attorneys complaining that they had been unfairly charged.

Sharon Chanon Velazquez, 17, and Flannery Mullins and Ashley Longe, both 18, were sentenced to less than a year of probation after they admitted to sufficient facts to misdemeanor charges in the bullying of Phoebe Prince, a freshman at South Hadley High School who hanged herself in January 2010.

Phoebe Prince

Prosecutors said Prince, who had recently moved from Ireland to South Hadley, about 100 miles west of Boston, was hounded by five teens after she briefly dated two boys.

Her death drew international attention and was among several high-profile teen suicides that prompted new laws aimed at cracking down on bullying in schools.

By admitting to sufficient facts, the three teens acknowledged that prosecutors could win a conviction if the case went to trial. The charges against the girls were continued without a finding and will be dismissed if they successfully complete their probation.

Under a plea deal approved by Prince's family, prosecutors agreed to dismiss more serious charges against them.

Two other teens finalized similar deals with prosecutors in court on Wednesday, and prosecutors announced Thursday they had dropped a statutory rape charge against a sixth defendant, effectively ending the case.

Alfred Chamberland, a lawyer for Mullins, said it was not a "relentless" three-month bullying campaign, as retired District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel alleged when the teens were charged last year.

In a statement he read to reporters, Chamberland said prosecutors had "overcharged" the girls and the media had unfairly portrayed them as "mean girls and bullies."

District Attorney David Sullivan denied that Scheibel's office had brought inflated charges against the teens. He said his office reached the agreements with strong support from the Prince family.

"The defendants in these five cases have accepted responsibility for their actions and admitted that they engaged in criminal conduct toward Phoebe Prince in the weeks, days and hours before she took her life," Sullivan said during a news conference.

He said the "most positive message" to come from the Prince case is that "it has put an international spotlight on bullying and its devastating consequences. He added "The era of turning a blind eye to bullying and harassment is over.

In court, Assistant District Attorney Steven Gagne said that Mullins, after hearing rumors at school that Prince had had "some sort of romantic relationship" with her boyfriend, told at least one classmate that "someone ought to kick her ass," referring to Prince.

Then, during gym class, several students heard her and others making "disparaging and vulgar" comments about Prince, Gagne said.

He said Velazquez, Mullins' friend, then approached Prince in a "loud and threatening manner" and called her disparaging names. Velazquez also was overheard telling Mullins that she was willing to hit Prince or get someone else to do it, Gagne said.

"Word quickly spread around the school that Mullins was angry at Prince and that Mullins planned on fighting her," Gagne said. "Prince became fearful, skipped class and went to the school nurse several times. She was frightened to go to class and was unable to focus on her studies."

Mullins admitted to sufficient facts to a misdemeanor civil rights violation, which was continued without a finding until she turns 19 in January 2012, and to a charge of disturbing a school assembly, which was continued without a finding for three months.

Prince's mother, Anne O'Brien, delivered an emotional victim impact statement, recalling her daughter's "kind heart" and the compassion she showed to others. "School for Phoebe became intolerable," O'Brien said.

Mullins showed no emotion as Prince's mother spoke and did not offer an apology in court.

Velazquez cried softly as she listened to Prince's mother describe her daughter and the pain she felt from the bullying.

Her attorney, Colin Keefe, called the plea agreement "an appropriate disposition" and said Velazquez has been subjected to an "endless public reprimand."

"My client has very much endured a very significant punishment for the last year," he said.

The third teen, Longe, cried as a prosecutor described how she yelled disparaging remarks at Prince in the school library just hours before she committed suicide and threw a beverage can at Prince as she walked home from school that day.

Longe admitted to sufficient facts to a charge of criminal harassment. The charge will be dismissed if she successfully completes nearly a year of probation.

Longe and Mullins were ordered to complete 100 hours of community service to help at-risk or underprivileged youths. Velazquez was ordered to complete 50 hours and was asked by Prince's family to voluntarily complete an additional 50 hours.

After the court hearings, prosecutors announced they had dropped a statutory rape charge against Austin Renaud, the boyfriend of Mullins who also dated Prince.

Renaud, 19, was not charged with bullying Prince as the other teens were. His attorney, Terrence Dunphy, said the dismissal of the charge is a relief.

Brian Blackwell

Cult Film Actress Yvette Vickers Remains Found

2011-05-05T21:50:00.005-06:00

The mummified remains found last week in a Los Angeles home are that of actress Yvette Vickers, who starred in the 1950s cult horror movies "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" and "Attack of the Giant Leeches," according to the L.A. County Coroner's Office.

Vickers, 82, was also a Playboy Playmate centerfold in July 1959.

Yvette Vickers

A neighbor checked on Vickers April 27 and discovered the remains in the bedroom of Vickers' home in Los Angeles' Benedict Canyon community, said Los Angeles County Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter.

Vickers was last seen alive at least four months ago, and investigators have contacted her family.

Vickers lived alone, Winter said. It's not uncommon for Los Angeles County authorities to find mummified remains within homes or outdoors, Winter said. "We find a few every year," Winter said. "Usually they are shut-ins and people that are reclusives."

Playboy magazine was a 6-year-old scandalous sensation when Hugh Hefner chose Yvette Vickers to appear as Miss July 1959, with a centerfold photo of her lying on a sofa flashing her bare behind.

Brian Blackwell

Man Wanted For 3 Decades Apprehended

2011-04-29T16:14:00.006-06:00

A 63-year-old man wanted for sexually assaulting and impregnating his young relative is in federal custody, following his arrest three decades after and about 1,800 miles from where the alleged crime occurred.

Deputy U.S. Marshals and law enforcement officers in Kentucky arrested James David Gibson on Wednesday, about two years after his alleged 13-year-old victim came forward to authorities.

James David Gibson

She waited several decades to tell her story until her daughter became an adult and she felt that both were old enough to defend themselves, U.S. Marshals said Thursday.

The assaults occurred in the late 1970's and early 1980's in Benson, Arizona, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Authorities said that, after learning that the victim was pregnant, Gibson kidnapped her and together they fled to Tennessee.

It was not until 2009 that the victim came forward and law enforcement authorities opened their case. By then, she was back in Arizona, more than 1,500 miles from Gibson. It wasn't immediately clear when the two separated.

Soon thereafter, Gibson was tracked down in Tennessee. After the he refused to provide a DNA sample, law enforcement tried to serve him a court order demanding as much. But by then, he'd fled the state -- prompting a warrant, issued in March 2009, charging him with kidnapping and sexual assault of a minor -- according to the U.S. Marshals.

Gibson was eventually found again in Jenkins, Kentucky, where he was living with a granddaughter.

By Thursday, authorities were awaiting clearance to extradite Gibson back to Arizona. The U.S. Marshals' office was not aware if, at that point, he had yet retained or been assigned an attorney.

Brian Blackwell

Obama Kenyan-Born News Report

2011-04-22T03:46:00.008-06:00

The following is a Sunday, June 27, 2004 AP news report about Barack Obama's Illinois U.S. Senate run

Sunday June 27, 2004 - AP
Kenyan-born Obama all set for U.S. Senate

Kenyan-born U.S. Senate hopeful, Barrack Obama, appeared set to take over the Illinois Senate seat after his main rival, Jack Ryan, dropped out of the race on Friday night amid a furor over lurid sex club allegations.

The allegations that horrified fellow Republicans and caused his once-promising candidacy to implode in four short days have given Obama a clear lead as Republicans struggled to fetch an alternative.

Ryan’s campaign began to crumble on Monday following the release of embarrassing records from his divorce. In the records, his ex-wife, Boston Public actress Jeri Ryan, said her former husband took her to kinky sex clubs in Paris, New York and New Orleans.

"It’s clear to me that a vigorous debate on the issues most likely could not take place if I remain in the race," Ryan, 44, said in a statement. "What would take place, rather, is a brutal, scorched-earth campaign – the kind of campaign that has turned off so many voters, the kind of politics I refuse to play."

Although Ryan disputed the allegations, saying he and his wife went to one ‘avant-garde’ club in Paris and left because they felt uncomfortable, lashed out at the media and said it was "truly outrageous" that the Chicago Tribune got a judge to unseal the records.

The Republican choice will become an instant underdog in the campaign for the seat of retiring Republican Senator Peter Fitzgerald, since Obama held a wide lead even before the scandal broke.

"I feel for him actually," Obama told a Chicago TV station. "What he’s gone through over the last three days I think is something you wouldn’t wish on anybody."

The Republican state committee must now choose a replacement for Ryan, who had won in the primaries against seven contenders. Its task is complicated by the fact that Obama holds a comfortable lead in the polls and is widely regarded as a rising Democratic star.

The chairwoman of the Illinois Republican Party, Judy Topinka, said at a news conference, after Ryan withdrew, that Republicans would probably take several weeks to settle on a new candidate.

"Obviously, this is a bad week for our party and our state," she said.

As recently as Thursday, spokesmen for the Ryan campaign still insisted that Ryan would remain in the race. Ryan had defended himself saying, "There’s no breaking of any laws. There’s no breaking of any marriage laws. There’s no breaking of the Ten Commandments anywhere."

— AP
June 27, 2004

Brian Blackwell

U.S. Files Huge Human-Trafficking Lawsuit

2011-04-22T01:53:00.006-06:00

The federal government is calling a human-trafficking lawsuit against a California-based farm labor contractor and eight farms the largest case of alleged forced labor of farm workers in the United States.

The lawsuit, made public in Los Angeles by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, accused Global Horizons Manpower Inc., based in Beverly Hills, California; and eight farms in Hawaii and Washington state of luring more than 200 men from Thailand to work at farms where they were subjected to abuse.

Global Horizons Manpower Inc., Beverly Hills, CA., and
eight farms in Hawaii and Washington state are being
sued by the U.S. government in a forced-labor case.

The government alleges that between 2003 and 2007, Global Horizons promised hundreds of workers lucrative jobs in the United States, and then charged the workers exorbitant recruitment fees that they were expected to work to pay off. In some cases, according the lawsuit, the workers owed tens of thousands of dollars.

"I did not earn 70-80,000 baht (about $2,340 to $2,680) per month while working on the farm, as the recruiters had promised," said one Thai man, identified as "Ken," in a statement provided by the Thai Community Development Center, which filed the complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

"Instead, I was paid $9.03 per hour and my hours were very inconsistent," said Ken, who said he borrowed money using his parents' home and land as collateral to pay the 550,000 baht (about $18,430) recruitment fee.

The men were brought to the United States under a federal H2-A visa program, which places foreign workers on U.S. farms.

But once the men arrived, the suit says, their passports were confiscated and they were not paid for their work. It also alleges that many of the workers were barred from leaving the farms and were forced to live in cramped, dirty conditions.

In many cases, the Thai workers were threatened with deportation if they complained about the conditions, the lawsuit said.

"Some were left without water. Others were given inadequate food to eat," said EEOC attorney Anna Y. Park, who filed the lawsuit Tuesday against Global Horizons Manpower and the farms. "In some cases, bodyguards were stationed around the farms so they could not escape."

The government named six farms in Hawaii and two farms in Washington in the lawsuit, alleging the companies not only ignored abuses but participated in the "obvious mistreatment, intimidation, harassment, and unequal pay of the Thai workers."

The lawsuit alleges the workers endured screaming, threats and physical assaults by their supervisors and were threatened with deportation if they complained.

"I feel what my traffickers did to me was not right and I do not want them to be able to do this to other people," said another man, "Sawat," in his statement. "I hope that justice is brought against them." Sawat said he borrowed 650,000 baht, or $21,000, to pay the recruitment fee.

Federal criminal charges were brought last year against Global Horizons' owner, Mordechai Orian, and others for the alleged trafficking of more than 400 Thai workers. But this week marked the first time the federal government implicated farms in the case. None of the farms faces criminal charges.

The farms in Hawaii include: Captain Cook Coffee Co., Del Monte Fresh Produce, Kauai Coffee Co., Kelena Farms, MacFarms of Hawaii and Maui Pineapple Farms. The farms in Washington state were identified as Green Acre Farms and Valley Fruit Orchards.

Del Monte denied the allegations, saying in a written statement to CNN that it "did not engage in or support any alleged mistreatment of Thai workers, nor did it receive complaint from the Thai workers." It also said the company had already sued Global Horizons for breach of contract based on the EEOC charges filed on behalf of the Thai workers.

The Captain Cook Coffee Co. also denied the allegations, saying it fully cooperated with the EEOC investigation and that the federal agency has refused to identify any specific wrongdoing by the company. "The complaint filed this week again offers no factual basis for any of the allegations against Captain Cook," the company said in a written statement.

Kauai Coffee Co.'s owner, Alexander and Baldwin, said in a statement, "We are disappointed that the EEOC continues to include our company in their claims against Global Horizons, Inc., despite years of our cooperation with their investigation against Global and without any evidence of wrongdoing by Kauai Coffee Company, Inc."

The company said it had never been informed by any workers from Thailand, the government or anyone else that the Thai workers were mistreated while at Kauai Coffee. It said it assisted with the government investigation and conducted its own investigation, which "confirmed a strongly positive working relationship between the Thai workers and Kauai Coffee employees. We made multiple requests of the EEOC to identify specific acts of wrongdoing and have not received any information."

The federal lawsuit accuses Global Horizons and the farms of violating the Civil Rights Act. It is seeking back pay and monetary damages of between $50,000 and $300,000 for each worker. The EEOC said that the case could potentially involve hundreds of victims and witnesses.

The first allegations of mistreatment of Thai farm laborers was brought to light in late 2003 when a worker escaped a farm in Hawaii, said Chanchanit Martorell, executive director of the Thai Community Development Center -- the agency that first brought the case to the attention of the government.

Martorell said the man was the first of more than 260 Thai workers who made their way to the nonprofit agency. All she said recounted similar stories: A poor Thai farmer is approached by a labor contractor, offered what is said to be a lucrative job on a farm in the United States and then arrives only to find he owes thousands of dollars in recruiting fees.

"They end up getting their passports confiscated," Martorell told CNN. "They are completely restricted in their freedom. They are not allowed to move around. In some cases, they are under surveillance."

"Ken" said he eventually bought a bus ticket to Los Angeles, where he has worked at restaurants. He said he now earns about $500 a week and sends money to his family in Thailand "to support them and to pay off the large amount of debt that I still owe for my Global Horizons recruitment fee." He said he still owes 90,000 baht, or nearly $3,020.

The Geneva-based International Labour Organization, which tracks forced-labor statistics, estimates the world's current "human trafficking stock" is 2.4 million people.

While many associate stories of forced labor with the trafficking primarily of women and children as sex workers, analysts say labor trafficking involves as many men as it does women and children.

"The workers who are trafficked for labor purposes tend to work in sectors that are isolated from the mainstream," said Kathleen Newland, the director of the Migrants, Migration and Development and Refugee Protection Programs at the Migration Policy Institute.

Brian Blackwell

Tobacco Tax Increases Lure Violent Criminals

2011-04-18T04:25:00.003-06:00

A recent wave of state tobacco tax increases, designed to pump revenue into cash-strapped local governments, is inspiring an increasingly dangerous cigarette smuggling industry where big profits lure violent criminal gangs and drug traffickers into the booming illegal market, according to law enforcement officials and court records.

Larry Penninger, acting director of the tobacco diversion unit of teh Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), says investigations and prosecutions involving tobacco trafficking have been increasing as smugglers flood high-tax states with cigarettes from low-tax states.

From 2007 to last year, 27 states raised their cigarette taxes, according to Michigan’s Mackinac Center for Public Policy, which closely tracks tobacco tax rates across the country. Mackinac describes tobacco smuggling as an "unintended consequence of high cigarette taxes."

There is so much illicit money to be made, according to Penninger, that some drug and weapon trafficking organizations are adding tobacco to their product lines to boost profits.

For example, in low-tax states such as Virginia, where cigarettes cost about $4.50 a pack, smugglers can sell a truckload (typically 800 cases) in New York at $13 a pack. New York is the highest tobacco taxing jurisdiction in the country.

Smuggling costs states and the federal government about $5 billion, according to U.S. government estimates. "Everybody out there (involved in illegal trafficking operations) is tapping into tobacco," according to Penninger.

Since 9/11, much of federal law enforcement has focused on terrorism, but tobacco smuggling is attracting fresh interest.

• Last year, the ATF reported 357 open cases involving tobacco smuggling, compared with a handful a decade earlier.

• During the 2010 fiscal year, the Justice Department reported 71 new prosecutions referred by the bureau, a 39% increase from the year before, according to records compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University in New York.

• Seizures of cash and property also have been rising, from $11 million in the 2007 fiscal year to $31.5 million in the 2009 fiscal year.

Brian Blackwell

ATF Fast and Furious Gun Running

2011-04-18T04:05:00.004-06:00

Federal agents and prosecutors last year encouraged Arizona gun dealers to sell firearms to buyers for Mexican cartels even after the store owners told them that weapons might be used to kill Border Patrol agents, according to e-mails obtained by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.

Grassley, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder that the e-mails refute earlier Justice Department denials.

The e-mails were exchanged by a federal agent and an Arizona gun dealer last April and June.

"In light of this new evidence, the Justice Department’s claim that the ATF never knowingly sanctioned or allowed the sale of assault weapons to straw purchasers is simply not credible," Grassley wrote in the letter sent Wednesday.

The letter and e-mails were made public Thursday.

The controversy stems from Operation Fast and Furious, an Arizona investigation in which agents monitored weapons and buyers after suspicious sales in an effort to track guns to cartel members.

After U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in a December shootout near Nogales, Ariz., two AK-47s found at the scene were traced to Operation Fast and Furious. They had been purchased in Glendale 11 months earlier.

U.S. authorities previously denied that gun-store owners were encouraged to continue selling firearms to cartel operatives, some of whom visited shops repeatedly, purchasing dozens of assault rifles.

The e-mails released by Grassley contradict those statements. In correspondence with an unidentified gun dealer last April, ATF Supervisor David Voth wrote: "I understand that the frequency with which some individuals under investigation by our office have been purchasing firearms from your business has caused concerns for you.... However, if it helps put you at ease, we are continually monitoring these suspects using a variety of investigative techniques which I cannot go into (in) detail."

The firearms vendor responded by asking for a letter to ensure that he would not face repercussions for selling dozens of weapons to a suspected criminal: "I want to help ATF with its investigation, but not at the risk of agents’ safety because I have some very close friends that are U.S. Border Patrol agents in southern Arizona."

Agent Terry was killed six months later in a firefight with suspected border bandits. No one has been charged in the slaying.

In the letter to Holder, Grassley said the Justice Department’s depiction of Operation Fast and Furious "is simply not credible" and rebuked the Justice Department for failing to provide records that he began seeking in February.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Phoenix on Thursday issued a statement that said federal prosecutors are restricted from commenting about ongoing cases.

U.S. and Mexican justice authorities have complained for years that cartel bloodshed is fueled in part by the illegal flow of weapons, mostly AK-47s, purchased in the United States and smuggled unlawfully across the border.

Operation Fast and Furious culminated three months ago with 34 arrests and 700 gun seizures.

At the time, Bill Newell, special agent in charge for Arizona, insisted that no guns had been intentionally allowed to enter Mexico.

In addition to claiming the ATF allowed straw buys, agency whistleblowers and some critics also have alleged that agents knowingly allowed hundreds of firearms out of the country, hoping to track the weapons to cartel bosses in Mexico rather than to low-level players in the United States.

Justice Department and ATF officials previously discounted allegations that agents intentionally let weapons be smuggled into Mexico on their watch.

Weapons linked to the Fast and Furious investigation entered Mexico, officials said, because the guns were purchased before suspects came under surveillance or because straw buyers managed to slip away while being monitored.

An investigation is being conducted by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General.

Fast and Furious was part of a larger ATF campaign, Project Gunrunner, launched in 2006 to combat the weapons trafficking.

An inspector general’s report last year criticized the bureau for catching only straw buyers, or minnows.

Reports that hundreds of guns were allowed across the border in pursuit of bigger fish have generated outrage among some Mexican lawmakers and a demand for information from the government’s Foreign Ministry.

More: http://www.brian-blackwell.com/2011/03/atf-agent-i-was-ordered-to-let-us-guns.html

Brian Blackwell

Decades Old Murder Mystery Solved

2011-04-17T06:42:00.018-06:00

Three men have been charged with the murder of a 15-year-old boy, bringing to a close a more than four decades old Massachusetts murder mystery.

Edward A. Brown, 59, Walter Shelley, 60, and Michael Ferreira, 57, face charges in the asphyxiation murder of John McCabe on September 27, 1969, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone said in a written statement Friday.

"These charges are the result of an incredible turn of events in what has been an unsolved case for over 40 years," he said.

Police found McCabe's body in an abandoned car in Lowell. He was bound with rope and his eyes and mouth were taped shut, Leone said.

Edward A. Brown, Walter Shelley
and Michael Ferreira

"Suddenly they said we had to meet at the police department to discuss and my parents and I were almost in shock," Roberta McCabe-Donovan, who was 6 years old when her brother was killed, told CNN Friday.

The men were 18, 17, and 16 at the time of the crime.

Prosecutors say Shelley faces murder charges. Brown is charged with manslaughter. Ferreira was a minor at the time and will be charged with murder in juvenile court, Leone added. He also faces perjury charges outside of juvenile court for lying to the grand jury.

"They were persons of interest for a long time," said district attorney spokeswoman Jessica Venezia Pastore. New witness statements combined with old evidence enabled the break in the case, she said.

Investigators say McCabe disappeared after leaving a dance at a Knights of Columbus hall in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. His parents reported him missing hours later when he did not arrive home.

The three men abducted McCabe and "bound and gagged him in such a way that it led to his death," Leone said.

McCabe was left in the trunk of a car in a deserted field, where he ultimately died. The medical examiner determined McCabe died from "asphyxia due to strangulation."

"There was no reason known for 42 years and then Friday we found out it was because of a girl," said McCabe-Donovan, who saw the perpetrators for the first time Friday at the courthouse. "I don't believe John even knew the three of them."

Authorities believe McCabe was targeted because the other young men were upset about him speaking to a girl at the dance.

The three men made a pact with one another to never talk about the murder, according to the Associated Press, and thus went without punishment for their alleged crime for more than 41 years.

But while Leone credits "recent evidentiary developments" for the recent arrests, a childhood friend of McCabe's said she was at least partially responsible for cracking the cold case.

Maggie Coffey, who grew up with McCabe, said she was supposed to go to the dance with him the night he was killed. Ever since, the mystery surrounding his death has spurred her to keep on top of the local authorities to continue the investigation.

"[We were in art class together], and he had startling blue eyes and red, red hair, and he came right up to me and showed me his poster and said, 'I made this for you.' Then he asked me to the school dance," recalled Coffey, now 56. "I, of course, said yes. But my mom made me stay home and babysit. I cried and cried and pissed and moaned about the whole thing.

"John never came back from the dance that night," she said. "The case never went away in my mind. I kept it going. I would email old school friends, and anything I heard I just shot it immediately to the police.

"Today, the investigative machine is getting all the attention," she added, "but what I firmly believe is that John's friends and the impression John made on us and the fact that we could never forget him -- it was that kind of resilience that kept the heat up all those years. ... It renewed efforts and, finally, I think it got done.

"All we wanted was for the truth to come out and to know what happened before John's parents died," said Coffey. "Think about it all those years they never knew what happened, who was responsible. And now they do."

At a press conference today, McCabe's sisters thanked authorities for their hard work. Their parents did not speak.

Shelley and Ferreira are being held on $500,000 cash bail while Brown was released on his own recognizance. Shelley and Brown's next court date is scheduled for May 26 and Ferreira will be back before a judge on April 18.


Scene of a cold case: Maple Street in Lowell, Mass. as it looks today. Police say John McCabe, 15, was left to die on this quiet street in 1969 by older boys.

On the night of the killing, Shelley, Ferreira, and Brown were driving around looking for John Joseph McCabe to "teach him a lesson" because the blonde, thin youth had caught Shelley’s girlfriend's eye, according to a police report.

The three defendants found McCabe thumbing a ride home along Route 38 and Ferreira dragged him into Shelley’s 1965 Chevrolet Impala and punched and threatened him in the back seat as they drove to a secluded lot, police said.

They bound his wrists and ankles, then ran a rope from his neck to his feet and covered his mouth and eyes with tape, police said, telling him all the while this is what he got for “messing with Marla.” The three returned to the lot an hour later and found him dead, police said. The three vowed there to tell no one.

Lowell police were called to a field off Maple Street on Sept. 27, 1969, where two 9-year-old boys found McCabe, the Middlesex District Attorney’s office said. Bill McCabe, the boy’s father said the family stayed up all night and he was called the next day by Lowell police who put him in the back of a police car and began to drive.

Several years ago, Lowell police set up a "cold case" project. Initial suspects and witnesses were spoken to again in 2008, including Ferreira.

Brown was the person who finally talked. The Lowell Sun said Brown told police of a vow of silence the three young friends took in the aftermath of finding McCabe dead.

"Brown told police they were fearful they would be caught, so they took a vow of silence. Ferreira threatened to kill anyone who broke that vow," according to court documents.

Shelley, who lives just a couple of miles from McCabe’s parents, pleaded not guilty to murder on Friday and was ordered held on $500,000 cash bail. Brown also pleaded not guilty and was released on personal recognizance. Ferreira faces a fugitive warrant in New Hampshire before he can appear in a Massachusetts courtroom.

Brian Blackwell

Man Gets 34 Years For Honor Killing

2011-04-15T23:45:00.017-06:00

An Arizona judge sentenced an Iraqi immigrant on Friday to more than 34 years in prison, about two months after his conviction for running over and killing his 20-year-old daughter because he claimed she had become "too Americanized."

A Maricopa County, Arizona, jury in February convicted Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 50, of one count of second-degree murder in the death of Noor Faleh Almaleki.

He was also found guilty of aggravated assault for causing serious injuries to Amal Edan Khalaf, the mother of Noor's fiance, as well as two counts of leaving the scene.

Faleh Hassan Almaleki

On Friday, Judge Roland Steinle sentenced Almaleki to a total of 34½ years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for his crimes.

That includes 16 years -- less than the maximum possible sentence of 22 years -- on the murder charge, which will be served concurrently with a 15-year aggravated assault sentence. In addition, Almaleki will get consecutive 3½-year terms for leaving the scene.

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery applauded the judge's decision and told reporters: "Mr. Almaleki will have an appropriately long time in prison to ponder this truth."

"The killing of one's own child is more than just a violation of the law," Montgomery said. "It is an offense against parenthood itself and the awesome responsibility parents have for nurturing and protecting their children."

Noor Faleh Almaleki died in November 2009 at an Arizona hospital, nearly two weeks after being run over by a Jeep in a parking lot in the Phoenix suburb of Peoria, authorities said.

Faleh Hassan Almaleki believed his daughter had become "too Americanized" and had abandoned "traditional" Iraqi values, Peoria police said. The family moved to the Phoenix area in the mid-1990s, and Almaleki was unhappy with his daughter's style of dress and her resistance to his rules, according to police.

Khalaf testified that Almaleki made no effort to stop before she and Noor Almaleki were struck.

Defense attorneys said Faleh Almaleki was trying to spit on Khalaf, but swerved and ended up running down both women, KTVK reported. Almaleki chose not to testify in his trial.

After the incident, Almaleki drove to Mexico, abandoning his vehicle in Nogales, police said. He then made his way to Mexico City and boarded a plane to Britain, where authorities denied him entry into the country and put him on a plane back to the United States.

Brian Blackwell

More:
http://www.brian-blackwell.com/2011/02/iraqi-convicted-in-arizona-honor.html

1943 Missing Airman Remains Found

2011-04-14T00:21:00.004-06:00

The remains of a Massachusetts airman missing in action from World War II have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial, the Department of Defense said Wednesday.

Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Martin P. Murray, 21, of Lowell, Massachusetts, took off on October 27, 1943, from an airfield near Port Moresby, New Guinea, with 11 other crew members aboard a B-24D Liberator.

At the time, plans were being formulated to mount an attack on the Japanese fortification at Rabaul in Papua New Guinea's New Britain Province, the Defense Department's POW/Missing Personnel Office said in a statement.

The crew was assigned to conduct reconnaissance on nearby shipping lanes in the Bismarck Sea. During the mission, however, the crew was told to land at a friendly air strip nearby due to poor weather.

The last radio transmission from the crew did not indicate their location. Multiple search missions in the following weeks did not locate the aircraft.

After World War II, the Army Graves Registration Service searched for missing airmen, including Murray, in the area, but concluded in June 1949 all of them were unrecoverable, the department said.

In August 2003, a team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command received information on a crash site from a citizen in Papua New Guinea while investigating another case, according to the statement. The citizen gave the team an identification card from one of the crew members and said there were possible human remains at the site.

Other teams attempted to visit the site twice in 2004, but were unable to because of poor weather and hazardous conditions at the helicopter landing site, authorities said. "Another team was able to successfully excavate the site from January to March 2007 where they found several identification tags from the B-24D crew as well as human remains."

Scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used forensic identification tools, circumstantial evidence, dental comparisons and mitochondrial DNA to identify Murray's remains, the statement said.

Murray's remains will be buried Saturday in Marshfield, Massachusetts, the Defense Department said.

At the end of World War II, the U.S. government was unable to recover and identify 79,000 Americans, the statement said. Now, that number has decreased to 74,000.

Brian Blackwell

Long Island, NY Serial Killer Investigation

2011-04-11T23:12:00.008-06:00

Police found a human skull Monday on the outskirts of a bird sanctuary in Long Island, New York, according to Nassau County Police, the potentially ninth set of remains discovered in the investigation of a suspected serial killer.

Lt. Kevin Smith of the Nassau County Police Department said the skull was found around 3:30 p.m. in Oyster Bay.

About four hours earlier, a New York State Police trooper and his cadaver dog spotted another set of remains about a mile and a half away, and authorities are working to determine whether those remains are human.

New York State Police and Nassau County Police find

set of human remains Monday in Lond Island, N.Y.

These discoveries come on the first day that police investigating the deaths of several young women searched for evidence in and around Nassau County. Since

December, eight sets of human remains have been found in Suffolk County, just to the east of Nassau County and roughly five miles from the sites of Monday's discoveries.

"It's just been very startling, all of it has been," Smith told reporters Monday. "It's just amazing that we're finding these things. Obviously, we have a lot of work to do."

Police are working on the presumption that a single person is responsible for the women's killings. The five victims who have been identified thus far all advertised prostitution services on websites such as Craigslist, police have said.

"Collectively, we want to bring to justice this animal who has obviously taken the lives of a number of people," said Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano on Monday.

Police could not describe what type of remains were found on Monday morning, and Smith did not detail the condition of the skull found in the afternoon.

But police have said that the bodies discovered earlier were in various stages of decomposition, including at least one that could have been there for as long as two years, according to Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer.

The remains have included four female bodies found in December stuffed in bushes along a quarter-mile strip of beachfront property.

Last week, three bodies were uncovered within a few miles of each other, fueling speculation that they could be the work of a serial killer. A woman's body was also found March 29 off Ocean Parkway, west of Cedar Beach.

The missing woman who prompted authorities to initiate the search -- 24-year-old Shannan Gilbert -- has not yet been identified.

K-9 units and dive teams had been added to the search operation in an effort to locate Gilbert, who was last seen alive in May in the Gilgo Beach area.

Gilbert's sisters said Shannan was an escort who was visiting a client. They said she ran from the man's house and called 911, claiming that someone was trying to hurt her.

Several neighbors also called 911. Police came more than 30 minutes later, but by then Gilbert was gone and has never been heard from again.

"You want to believe everything was OK with her," Sherre Gilbert said. "But at the same time, so much time has passed it's impossible to really think that she is still alive."

Sherre Gilbert said even if her sister is never found, the search has led to one positive outcome: the discovery of the other women's bodies.

Brian Blackwell

http://www.brian-blackwell.com/2011/04/more-bodies-found-on-stretch-of-long.html

Rape Victim Seeks To End Gun-Free Campuses

2011-04-09T17:14:00.005-06:00

She survived an horrific attack at the hands of a serial rapist, but she’s hoping her story will help change the law and keep others safe.

Amanda Collins, 25, was one of the victims targeted in a string of attacks in and around the University of Nevada Reno campus.
>>>>>>

Across the U.S., lawmakers are debating whether universities should let students and faculty with permits carry their concealed weapon on campus. Opponents wonder why colleges protect most Constitutional rights, but not the one that matters most when staring into the face of a violent criminal.

Collins, a wife and new mother, and a concealed weapon permit holder for years has become an unlikely hero for those who want to put an end to gun-free zones on college campuses in Nevada and across the country.

Collins couldn't aim her gun at the serial rapist who attacked her at the University of Nevada at Reno, where she was a student. That's because, like most public colleges outside of Utah and Colorado, UNR is a "gun free" zone. The rule required her to leave her gun at home, leaving her defenseless the one time she needed its protection most.

In October of 2007, while walking to her car after a night class, Collins was grabbed from behind in a university parking garage less than 300 yards from a campus police office. The school's "gun-free" designation meant nothing to James Biela, a serial rapist with a gun of his own, who saw Collins as an easy target. "He put a firearm to my temple," she recounted, "clicked off the safety, and told me not to say anything, before he raped me."

The university has since installed more emergency call boxes and lights in the parking areas in hopes of deterring crime.

But Collins -- like other rational thinking people -- knows that installing more lights and call boxes won't stop an attacker who knows the campus is a gun-free zone, a policy that invites crime, and may have even emboldened the man who raped her.

Just months later, Biela went on to murder 19-year old Brianna Dennison in a case that received widespread national attention. While Biela now sits on death row, Collins is convinced the outcome would have been different had she been armed.

"I know, having been the first victim, that Brianna Dennison would still be alive, had I been able to defend myself that night."

Collins is believed to be the first victim of an on-campus rape to come out and publicly share her horrific attack in an effort to change the law and keep people safe.

Last month, she testified before Nevada lawmakers in support of SB 231 , a bill that would allow concealed weapons at the state's public universities. It would abolish the requirement that permit holders get permission from the university president -- a request that is routinely denied. (Amanda was finally allowed to carry her weapon -- after she was raped).

But liberals say campus gun-free zones are vital to maintain security and reduce chances of gun related accidents and violence. An academic group called the Nevada Faculty Alliance opposes people having the right to defend themselves with a firearm on college campus.

Author John Lott, who writes in support of gun rights, argues that at the 70 schools that allow students and faculty with permits to carry guns, "not one has experienced the type of harm predicted by those who want gun free zones. Not a single permit holder on these campuses has been involved in a firearm accident or crime."

For Collins, the ban defies logic.

"I don't understand why (the state) trusts good, responsible people to be able to have their firearm across the street, and as soon as they cross an arbitrary line, they somehow lose all reason and ability to be able to be competent with that responsibility. It makes no sense to me at all."

Her main argument comes from self protection. "Everyone deserves a chance to defend themselves," she says. "The criminals who are intent on committing a crime don't care about what the rules and regulations are. The only ones that do are the law abiding citizens, and those are the ones who are permitted to carry everywhere else.

A dozen other states, including Florida, Idaho, and Texas, are also debating whether to lift gun bans on college campuses. As traumatic as it to relive her attack, Collins says she'll testify wherever and whenever she can to help make that happen.

Brian Blackwell

More Bodies Found On Long Island, NY Beach

2011-04-06T11:52:00.008-06:00

The remains of three women found on a remote stretch of beach in Long Island, New York do not include those of Shannan Gilbert, whose search led to the investigation of a possible serial killer.

Gilbert, 24, of Jersey City, New Jersey has been missing since May and was last seen alive in the Gilgo Beach area.

As authorities searched for clues concerning her disappearance last year, they uncovered a total of eight corpses found in various stages of decomposition.

A woman's body was found March 29 off Ocean Parkway, west of Cedar Beach, police said.

When medical examination determined they were not Gilbert's remains, the police continued to search. On Monday, they found the remains of three additional people. They have also since been determined not to be those of Gilbert, police said in a statement Tuesday.

Police say the hunt for a potential serial killer continues, as does the search for Gilbert, who, like the women whose bodies have been found, advertised for prostitution services on Craigslist and other similar sites.

The first four bodies were discovered stuffed into bushes on a quarter-mile stretch of waterfront property on Oak Beach, indicating "they were dumped there by the same person or persons," said Richard Dormer, Suffolk County Police commissioner, in December. "It's too coincidental that there were four bodies in the same location."

The remains of the fifth body were found about a mile from where the other corpses were discovered, he said, refusing to disclose exactly where the three additional remains were found on Monday.

Brian Blackwell

http://www.brian-blackwell.com/2011/01/four-bodies-found-were-prostitutes.html

Officers Sentenced In Post-Katrina Murder

2011-04-04T12:14:00.004-06:00

Two New Orleans police officers convicted last year in the murder of a man during the chaos following Hurricane Katrina were sentenced Thursday in federal court.

Former Officer David Warren got more than 25 years in prison, and current Officer Greg McRae was sentenced to more than 17 years, the Justice Department said.

A jury in December found Officer Warren guilty of manslaughter for killing Henry Glover, 31, on September 2, 2005.

He was also found guilty of deprivation of rights under color of law -- a charge that relates to abusing one's status as a police officer while breaking the law.

Prosecutors contended that Officer Warren fired at Glover from the police station's balcony after he saw Glover heading toward the station.

After Glover was shot, bystanders drove him to a nearby school looking for help. Instead, the men were beaten by police officers at the school, who then left the school with a car that had Glover's body in it.

Officer McRae had been found guilty of using a fire to commit a felony -- specifically, burning the Chevrolet Malibu with Glover's body inside. McRae burned the car near the police station where Glover was shot, prosecutors said.

The jury also convicted him on three counts of deprivation of rights under the color of the law and found him not guilty on one such count.

Earlier this month, a federal investigation found that the New Orleans Police Department has engaged in patterns of misconduct in violation of the Constitution and federal law, the Justice Department announced.

Among the findings are that the police department has used excessive force, made unconstitutional stops and searches, and illegally profiled people based on race, ethnicity and sexual orientation.

The investigation also found a number of practices that contributed to the illegal conduct, including failed systems for recruiting and promoting officers, poor training and lack of supervision, among others.

Brian Blackwell

http://www.brian-blackwell.com/2010/12/guilty-verdicts-for-nola-officers-in.html

http://www.brian-blackwell.com/2010/11/new-orleans-police-officers-on-trial.html

Misconduct Reverses 18 Convictions

2011-03-31T07:42:00.005-06:00

California prosecutors committed 130 instances of misconduct last year, some of which were so egregious that they resulted in the reversals of 18 convictions, including eight for murder, a new study says.

In all, researchers with the Northern California Innocence Project at the Santa Clara University School of Law found 102 cases in which 130 instances of prosecutorial misconduct occurred in California's state and federal courts in 2010.

In 26 of the cases, the misconduct resulted in the setting aside of the conviction or sentence, a mistrial, or a barring of evidence. But courts upheld the convictions in 76 other cases because the prosecutors' misconduct didn't alter a trial's fairness, the study's authors said.

The study highlights the need for further scrutiny of prosecutors' performance, and researchers said they are now trying to find ways to expand their initiative nationwide. The California researchers have been in touch with other innocence projects in North Carolina and New Jersey.

"One of our goals at NCIP is essentially to branch out and take this to a national level, and in that regard, we've already had discussions with folks in two other states who want to duplicate our study," said Maurice Possley, a visiting research fellow with the project.

"This is a problem not just in California but in the country. As we've seen with the implosion in states and federal courts ranging from the collapses of the case with (the late U.S. Sen.) Ted Stevens in Alaska and other cases where prosecutors cross the line and their conduct causes cases to be set aside or cases being retried or dropped, prosecutorial misconduct is a factor in a number of wrongful convictions in this country," said Possley, a Pulitzer Prize winner and former journalist at the Chicago Tribune who helped lead that newspaper's investigations into prosecutorial misconduct in Illinois.

At stake, he said, "is the integrity of the criminal justice system and how it is perceived in the public."

Already, the State Bar of California, an arm of the California Supreme Court, is investigating prosecutorial misconduct that the California researchers found last year in a study of cases between 1997 and 2009, Possley said.

Discipline can range from private reproval to disbarment. Suspensions of a law license can range from 30 days to four years.

The California state bar wasn't aware of some instances of prosecutorial misconduct resulting in verdict reversals that were found by the researchers, Towery said. That's because judges and attorneys didn't report the incidents, though state law requires it, Towery said.

The Innocence Project has come under criticism by prosecutors who say "most of the misconduct is not that bad, that it's a small number of cases when you consider the vast number of prosecutions that are brought."

"Well, Possley asserts, "how many are acceptable in a system that we want to be fair and just."

"The fact is that most prosecutorial misconduct occurs in trials, and in California, only 3% of the felony cases go to trial. The rest are handled by plea agreements. So when you start to focus it that way, it becomes more of a significant issue," Possley said.

The vast majority of prosecutors, Possley added, are "ethical and hard working. "It's a relatively small number who continue to cross the line. The fact is, there is no attention paid to it, it becomes acceptable behavior, and it shouldn't be."

Wednesday's announcement combined the project's 2010 findings with its report last fall for the years between 1997 and 2009.

In all, between 1997 and 2010, the project found prosecutorial misconduct in more than 800 state and federal cases in California, and in 202 of them, the misconduct resulted in the setting aside of a conviction or sentence, a mistrial or a barring of evidence, the researchers found.

In 614 of them, the misconduct didn't affect the fairness of the trial, the studies found.

In the more than 800 cases, 107 prosecutors committed misconduct more than once; two were cited for misconduct four times; two more were cited five times; and one was cited for misconduct six times, the researchers found.

Prosecutors who committed misconduct multiple times accounted for almost a third of all misconduct cases, the researchers said.

The misconduct occurred in a wide range of cases, including burglary, rape, kidnapping, fraud, drug possession, and transporting illegal immigrants, Possley said.

The studies were conducted by the Veritas Initiative, the research and policy arm of innocence project at Santa Clara University School of Law, founded in 1911 on the site of California's oldest operating higher-education institution.

Brian Blackwell

Exonerated Inmate Gets $14 Million Judgment

2011-03-30T01:40:00.014-06:00

An ideologically divided Supreme Court overturned a $14 million judgment Tuesday given to a former death row inmate who was convicted of murder after New Orleans prosecutors withheld evidence in his trial.

The court's five conservative-leaning justices, in their first ideological victory of the year, said the New Orleans district attorney's office should not be punished for not providing specific training to young prosecutors on Brady rights, which dictate when to turn over evidence to a suspect's lawyer that could prove their innocence.

But in a rare oral dissent read directly from the bench, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that John Thompson deserved damages for "the gross, deliberately indifferent and long-continuing violation of his fair trial rights."

Former death row inmate John Thompson

Thompson, who at one point was only weeks away from being executed, successfully sued the prosecutor's office in New Orleans, arguing former District Attorney Harry Connick showed deliberate indifference by not providing adequate training for assistant district attorneys.

Prosecutors did not turn over a crime lab report that indicated Thompson's blood type did not match the perpetrator in an attempted robbery in 1985. Prosecutors used that conviction to get the death penalty in another case Thompson was involved in.

Prosecutors normally have immunity for their actions while working, but Thompson convinced a jury that the district attorney's office had not trained its lawyers sufficiently on how to handle evidence.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans was split evenly on appeal, which upheld the lower court verdict.

Brady rights are named after the Supreme Court's Brady v. Maryland case, which says prosecutors violate a defendant's constitutional rights by not turning over evidence that could prove a person's innocence.

Lawyers are expected to know the law when they graduate law school and pass the bar exam, and undergo professional on-the-job training and continuing education afterward, Justice Clarence Thomas said. But Connick cannot be blamed for his lawyers' deficiencies, he said.

"Prosecutors are not only equipped but are also ethically bound to know what Brady entails and to perform legal research when they are uncertain," Thomas said. "A district attorney is entitled to rely on prosecutors' professional training and ethical obligations in the absence of specific reason, such as a pattern of violations, to believe that those tools are insufficient to prevent future constitutional violations."

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Samuel Alito and Antonin Scalia joined with Thomas in his decision.

Ginsburg and the court's left-leaning justices said Thompson deserved to win, however.

"Ample evidence presented at the civil rights trial demonstrated that Connick's deliberately indifferent attitude created a tinderbox in which Brady violations were nigh inevitable," Ginsburg said.

She was joined in her dissent by Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

Thompson was convicted of attempted armed robbery in 1985, shortly before he was to stand trial in the unrelated case of the killing of Raymond Liuzza Jr. He did not testify during the murder trial. Prosecutors used Thompson's conviction in the robbery case to help secure the death penalty in the Liuzza murder case.

In 1999, an investigator working on Thompson's case discovered a crime lab report that prosecutors had not turned over, indicating Thompson's blood type did not match the perpetrator in the attempted robbery.

A state appeals court set aside Thompson's murder conviction in 2002 after deciding he'd been unconstitutionally deprived of his right to testify during the murder trial. That cleared the way for a new trial in which Thompson was acquitted.

He sued the district attorney's office soon thereafter.

The problems were not in just the attempted robbery case, Ginsburg said. Thompson is 5-foot-8-inches tall and wore his hair in an Afro during the time of the murder.

"The prosecution in Thompson's murder trial failed to produce a police report containing an eyewitness description of the murderer as six feet tall with close cropped hair," Ginsburg said. ..."No fewer than five prosecutors concealed, year upon year, this and other evidence vital to Thompson's defense."

Thompson was disappointed in the court's decision, saying none of the prosecutors who handled his case had been disciplined. "I spent 18 years in prison, 14 of them in a cell waiting to be killed, because Harry Connick's prosecutors covered up evidence in my case. I was delivered an execution warrant in my cell seven times," he said.

Thompson got $150,000 in compensation from Louisiana, the maximum the state allows.

"My life was spared despite the efforts of many prosecutors from Harry Connick's office who sought my conviction and execution over 18 years. They're the criminals they made people believe I was," he said.

The case is Connick v Thompson, 09-571.

Brian Blackwell

Illegals Wearing U.S. Marine Uniforms Arrested

2011-03-28T04:11:00.006-06:00

U.S. Border Patrol agents recently arrested 13 illegal immigrants wearing U.S. Marine uniforms and riding in a fake military van while attempting to enter the United States at a checkpoint near San Diego.

The van that was stopped along Interstate 8 on March 14. The van had a U.S. government licence plate with an altered number, Border Patrol officials said last week.

The group obtained the military uniforms from Americans living in the United States. Each of the 13 uniforms were embroidered with the surname 'Perez'.

"This effort is an example of the lengths smugglers will go to avoid detection, and the skilled and effective police work of the agents and the customs and border protection," the Border Patrol said in a statement.

Two U.S. citizens who were with the illegals were arrested for alien smuggling.

Three of the immigrants were being held in federal custody as witnesses and the others were returned to Mexico, their country of origin.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Border Patrol are conducting a joint investigation of the incident.

NCIS spokesman Ed Buice said he couldn't discuss details, but said, "there are several obvious questions that need to be answered."

It is not known if the two U.S. citizens who were arrested have been in the military.

Officials believe the van entered the U.S. at Calexico. The vehicle is registered in Yucca Valley California.

The fake number plates actually belong to a van registered to the U.S. Marine Corps.

Brian Blackwell

Sex Abuse Of Daughter Mom Sentenced

2011-03-24T07:59:00.005-06:00

A judge in Maine handed down a 15-year prison sentence to a woman convicted of sexually abusing her 2-year-old daughter and streaming the acts over the internet to a teenager in the United Kingdom.

Julie Carr, 33, received a 20-year sentence last week after she was convicted on child pornography charges, according to court documents.

U.S. District Judge John Woodcock imposed the second sentence Tuesday, which will run concurrently with the first.

Julie Carr

Carr was convicted of producing child pornography and gross sexual assault and exploitation of a minor.

"When I see child-pornography, I ask myself: Where are the parents? Where are the people who are supposed to be protecting the child?," Woodcock said, according to the court transcript. "Well, Ms. Carr, in your case, we know where the mother was."

The acts took place in June 2009 when Carr used a webcam to deliver four live videos of herself performing oral sex on her youngest daughter, according to the documents.

The videos were sent to Nicholas Wilde, then 19, in West Midlands, England, whom Carr had met on an internet dating site, the documents said.

They exchanged messages for approximately 10 hours over the month in which the crime occurred, accoridng to the documents.

The videos were later discovered by British police after searching Wilde's home in relation to a separate child pornography case.

Police collaborated with American authorities to identify and locate Carr, the documents said.

Wilde was sentenced last year in England to nearly five years in prison for possessing child pornography and inciting the sexual abuse of a child, according to West-Midlands police spokeswoman Hazel Steer.

Wilde, who claimed to suffer from Asperger's syndrome -- a form of autism -- was ordered to sign the sexual offenders register and is banned for life from working with children.

Meanwhile, Carr's four children have been removed from her custody, according to Assistant U.S. AttorneyTodd Lowell.

"I want to say that I am sorry," she told the court. "I never meant to hurt anyone in my family, and I have regretted it ever since."

Once released, Carr will receive a mandatory 10 years of supervision where, along with checks for drugs and alcohol, her computer and internet use will be monitored, and will also be registered as a sex offender, the documents said.

"I have always thought that possession is bad enough, but production is another level of true evil," Woodcock said.

"Unequivocally, yours is the worst case I've ever seen."

Brian Blackwell

8 Of Ten Illegals Apprehended Never Prosecuted

2011-03-20T03:05:00.017-06:00

An illegal immigrant apprehended by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has an 84 percent chance of never being prosecuted, according to figures compiled by the office of U.S. Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas).

Rep. Culberson submitted the 2010 figures for the record during a hearing Wednesday of the House Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security.

Of 447,731 illegal immigrants apprehended the U.S. Border Patrol -- a division of the Customs and Border Protection agency at the Department of Homeland Security -- during fiscal year 2010 (which ended last September), only 73,263 (16.4 percent) were prosecuted, according to the submitted data. That means that 374,468 illegal immigrants that were taken into custody (83.6 percent) were never prosecuted.

U.S. Border Patrol Agent
Imperial Valley, California

Describing the situation during the hearing, Rep. Culberson said that those who were not prosecuted "had a chance of being home in time for dinner," after being in custody for a few short hours. He asserted that criminal consequences for those involved in illegal cross-border activity was "the key" to securing the nation’s border with Mexico.

The Texas Republican suggested that Operation Streamline, a program that fast-tracks prosecution and deportations of illegal immigrants crossing the border, should be applied to the entire southwest border.

According to CBP, the operation "targets illegal immigrants apprehended in specific enforcement zones for immediate prosecution for illegal entry. Violators face punishment of up to 180 days in jail. Additionally, deportation procedures are initiated to formally remove the individual once they complete their jail sentence."

"This is the key," said Culberson. "If we enforce existing law, impose real consequences such as criminal prosecution – up to six months in jail depending on the circumstances."

But CBP chief Michael Fisher, who testified during the hearing, disagreed that Operation Streamline was the sole key to securing the border. There were "a lot of other variables" at play, he said, citing "different judicial districts" with varying capacities to handle the prosecution load.

CBP divides the almost 2,000-mile-long U.S.-Mexico border into nine sectors. Running from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf Coast they are, in order, San Diego, El Centro, Yuma, Tucson, El Paso, Marfa, Del Rio, Laredo, and Rio Grande.

According to Rep. Culberson’s figures, of the 212,202 apprehensions along Arizona’s Tucson sector – which is where most of the apprehensions took place in FY2010 – only 30,748 (14.5 percent) led to prosecutions.

Testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee on Feb. 9, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano told lawmakers that her "top priority in terms of effective control is the Tucson sector of the southwest border."

Brian Blackwell

Pa. Man Stoned to Death For Sex Advances

2011-03-19T13:43:00.009-06:00

Police in Pennsylvania have made an arrest in the brutal beating death of a 70-year-old man inside an apartment building earlier this year in Delaware County.

John Joe Thomas, 28, of Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, who lives in the same building as the victim, was arrested on Thursday and charged with first-degree murder in the death of Murray Seidman.

Police say Thomas confessed to the crime.

Back on January 12th, police were called to the Ath-Dara Apartments on Lansdowne Avenue for a report of a person banging on doors and screaming in the hallway.

When officers arrived, they say they found Thomas sitting in the hallway crying. He said "I'm not going down there again, there is too much blood."

Officers went into Seidman's apartment where they found dried blood spatter on the floor, walls and furniture.

Seidman's body was found face-down on the living room floor.

When he was interviewed, Thomas told police that he read in the Old Testament that homosexuals should be stoned in "certain situations."

According to court documents, Thomas said Seidman made sexual advances toward him over a 'period of time.' Thomas told police that he prayed for an answer and the answer he received was to put an end to Seidman's life.

So, Thomas told police, he took a rock from outside the apartment, put it in a sock and beat Seidman approximately 10 times in the head.

After the final blow, Thomas told police made sure Seidman was dead he threw his bloody clothes in a dumpster and left. He claims he returned a few days later to make it appear he had just discovered the body.

Thomas also told police he had spent nearly every day with Seidman, and he had the power of attorney over Seidman's affairs.

Police say they also learned that Thomas met with a lawyer and prepared a will for Seidman, to which Thomas is the sole beneficiary. However, if Thomas was after the money, he never got it. According to county records, Seidman's will has not been probated.

Brian Blackwell

Justice Finds Wide Abuses By NOLA Police

2011-03-18T15:48:00.010-06:00

A Justice Department 10-month investigation into the New Orleans Police Department reveals a force that is profoundly and alarmingly troubled, Justice officials said Thursday.

Their report, released Thursday, describes in chilling detail a police department that is severely dysfunctional on every level: one that regularly uses excessive force on civilians, frequently fails to investigate serious crimes and has a deeply inadequate, in many cases nonexistent, system of accountability.

Using the report as a guideline, federal and local officials will now enter into negotiations leading to a consent decree, a blueprint for systemic reform that will be enforced by a federal judge.

Asst. Attorney General Thomas E. Perez, left,
Mayor Mitch Landrieu, center, with
Justie Dept. officials at a news conference.

"There is nobody in this room that is surprised by the general tenor and the tone of what this report has to say," said Mitch Landrieu, the mayor of New Orleans, at a news conference. "I look forward to a partnership that transforms this Police Department into one of the best in the country."

Landrieu publicly invited federal intervention in the Police Department just days after his inauguration in May. The city’s police chief, Ronal Serpas, said he fully embraced the report and would be going over its findings with senior leadership.

While the report describes an appalling array of abuses and bad practices, it does not address in detail any of the nine or more federal criminal investigations into the department. These inquiries have already led to the convictions of three police officers, one for fatally shooting an unarmed civilian and another for burning the body.

Justice Department officials chose to exclude the information gleaned in the criminal inquiries to keep a wall between those investigations and the larger civil investigation into the practices of the department. But there were more than enough problems left to uncover.

While other departments generally have problems in specific areas, like the use of excessive force, "New Orleans has every issue that has existed in our practice to date, and a few that we hadn’t encountered," said Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil rights division.

The report reveals that the department has not found a policy violation in any officer-involved shooting for the last six years, though federal officials who reviewed the records found that violations had clearly occurred.

The New Orleans Police Department’s canine unit was so badly mismanaged — the dogs were so aggressive they frequently attacked their handlers — that federal officials encouraged the department to suspend it last year even though the investigation was still under way.

The report details a record of discriminatory policing, with a ratio of arrests of blacks to whites standing at nearly 16 to 1. Calls for police assistance by non-English speakers often went unanswered.

The report also found that the police "systemically misclassified possible sexual assaults, resulting in a sweeping failure to properly investigate many potential cases of rape, attempted rape and other sex crimes."

The problems described in the report go beyond policy failings, depicting a culture of dysfunction that reaches all facets of the department. The recruitment program is described as anemic, training as “severely deficient in nearly every respect,” and supervision as poor or in some cases nonexistent.

The department has attracted this level of scrutiny before. As bad as it appears now, the police force was far more troubled in the mid-1990s. Two officers from that era are now on death row, and the number of murders in the city at the time soared above 400.

Federal agents conducted a similar investigation of the department, but there was less cooperation by local officials and, crucially, there was no consent decree.

While the department improved for a time, the structural problems remained and festered, as Thursday’s report makes clear.

This time, there will be federal court oversight, and there is already widespread consensus that systemic police reform is needed. Confidence in the department is so low that prosecutors have trouble finding juries, as so many prospective jurors declare that they would not put any trust in the testimony of a New Orleans police officer.

The robust citizen engagement that has been a significant factor in the city’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina has also changed the dynamic, officials said. While the New Orleans police force may be troubled to a rare degree, federal officials also described the city’s appetite for systemic reform as unprecedented.

Federal officials said the team of agents assigned to investigate the department worked with police leadership as well as rank-and-file officers. Investigators also reached out to community leaders to a degree that they had not previously done.

Still, officials acknowledge that changing the department’s entrenched culture will be hard and will take years.

Though Chief Serpas, who was an officer during the reform efforts in the 1990's, has already begun addressing many of the concerns, news reports of police abuses during the Mardi Gras season have come out in the past few weeks, and the number of homicides is still stubbornly high.

"I’m not naive about the hard work that lies ahead," Perez said, adding that he was still optimistic. "I’m certain that we’re in a qualitatively different position than we were 10 years ago."

Brian Blackwell

Global Pedophile Ring Busted

2011-03-16T20:31:00.008-06:00

Police have broken up the largest international pedophile ring ever uncovered, rescuing 230 children from abuse and arresting 184 suspects — including teachers and police officers.

Europol said Wednesday the network of pedophiles were centered on an Internet child pornography forum with 70,000 members across the globe, including in the U.S., the U.K. and Australia.

The website set up in the early 2000's and run out of the Netherlands exploited legal loopholes to protect its owners and members from prosecution, authorities said.

Free-speech laws allow people to write what they want, so some websites "use house rules to keep themselves below the threshold of the law," said Rob Wainwright, the director of Europol, in an interview.

The "threshold" varies by country, Europol officials said, but this pedophile website's rules were set as strictly as possible so it was, on the face of it, illegal nowhere. The website was a forum for discussion around certain themes and prohibited "insults or threats" and "sexual descriptions," authorities said.

The challenge for law enforcement, Mr. Wainwright said, was to catch pedophiles setting up trades of illegal pictures or stories of abuse.

The heavily encrypted forum, whose administrator appeared in a Dutch court on Tuesday charged with sex offenses, had up to 70,000 members.

The three-year investigation code named Operation Rescue uncovered 670 suspects and identified and safeguarded children in more than 30 countries by arresting people accused of abusing them, said Rob Wainwright, director of the European Union police agency Europol.

Grant Edwards, Australian Federal Police,
and Peter Davies, U.K. Child Exploitation and
Online Protection Center.

The investigation was led by Britain's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center but also involved law enforcement agencies as far afield as Australia, the United States and Thailand.

In 2008, Dutch police seized the server used to operate the website, and its administrator, a Dutchman named Amir Ish-Hurwitz, now 37 years old. He pleaded guilty on Tuesday in a court in Amsterdam and will be sentenced to three and five years in prison, according to police.

Between 2008 and 2010, Europol brought in other police forces from around the world. One of the first was the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, which joined the effort in June 2008.

Investigators at Europol, a Hague-based organization with a staff of 662 and an annual budget of $95.4 million (€68.5 million), decoded the list of IP addresses that had logged on to the website.

Using an open-source program shared by authorities internationally, they ended up with a list of some 70,000 members, living all over the world.

Many of the 70,000, it turned out, were protected by free-speech laws. Authorities said they were considering filing charges against 670 of them.

Police have arrested 184, mostly for cases of serious sexual molestation.

The majority of the 184 people arrested so far are suspected of direct involvement in sexually abusing children. They include teachers, police officers, lawyers, bus drivers, and scout leaders.

One is 84 years old. Another is a woman. One Spaniard who worked at summer youth camps is suspected of abusing some 100 children over five years.

After his arrest, the forum's Dutch administrator helped police crack the complex web of encryption measures shielding users' identities, allowing police to begin covert investigations that included posing as children online.

Some were already known to the public, including John McMurdo, an English scoutmaster found guilty of possessing child porn, and Lee Palmer, who abused two young boys. Both have been sentenced to jail terms. Police said 230 child victims had been identified during the investigation, and parents and authorities had been alerted.

Brian Blackwell

Jury Selection In 2nd Petit Trial

2011-03-16T17:32:00.011-06:00

Jury selection began today in the murder trial of a second Connecticut man for the brutal murder of a mother and her two daughters during a 2007 home invasion.

It's a process that is expected to take months. The trial for Joshua Komisarjevsky is scheduled to start on September 19 in New Haven.

Petit family

It's the same courtroom where Steven Hayes, 47, was given a death sentence in December after being convicted on 16 of 17 charges related to the same home invasion and murders.

Hayes and Komisarjevsky, in July 2007, invaded the Petit home in Cheshire beat and tied up Dr. William Petit, raped and strangled his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, molested one of their daughters, and then the pieces of crap set the Petit house on fire before fleeing.

The deaths shocked the affluent suburb, where Dr. Petit is a prominent endocrinologist. His wife was a pediatric nurse who did not let multiple sclerosis keep her from working or raising a family.

On Wednesday, Connecticut Superior Court Judge Jon Blue divided 19 prospective jurors into four groups for questioning through Thursday afternoon. He noted to the jury pool that the case has gotten publicity, but that "just because you've heard of the case doesn't mean you can't serve."

Some prospective jurors, however, were excused after indicating they were unsure if they could put their feelings about the crime aside. [ Who could? ]

"I'm a fair person and I've read a lot about this case and I'm really not sure that I can be unbiased," said another man. Both men were excused.

The Connecticut State Police collected overwhelming physical evidence from the crime scene that proves Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes are guilty of committing the heinous crime.

Komisarjevsky and Hayes initially confessed to the crime.

Komisarjevsky wore gray slacks and a white shirt and tie in court. His hair was closely cropped. His father was also present, sitting in the first row.

Members of the Petit family were also in the courtroom.

Joshua Komisarjevsky

Komisarjevsky's attorneys last week asked a court to accept a guilty plea on the condition that their client would be spared the death penalty. The judge has not yet ruled on that request.

Komisarjevsky's attorneys also asked to move the proceedings out of New Haven, singling out the Stamford-Norwalk district to the southwest as a better trial option.

They claimed that "the unprecedented, prejudicial publicity surrounding the case" made it nearly impossible to seat an objective jury in New Haven, a court memorandum said.

Steven Hayes

But Blue disagreed, ruling last month that there were enough impartial potential jurors in the New Haven judicial district, there wasn't a widespread sense that Komisarjevsky had confessed, and that four years -- a considerable amount of time -- will have passed since the incident.

Hayes forced Hawke-Petit, 48, to go to a bank and withdraw $15,000 from an account after finding evidence that the account held between $20,000 and $30,000, authorities said.

The two daughters -- 17-year-old Hayley Petit and 11-year-old Michaela Petit, both of whom had been tied to their beds -- died of smoke inhalation. William Petit escaped to a neighbor's home.

The murders led to a public outcry for tougher laws against repeat offenders when it was learned that the suspects had been convicted of multiple felonies.

Brian Blackwell

Petit Killer Gets Death Sentence

Jury Returns Guilty Verdict in Connecticut Home Invasion Murders

Jurors: He Should Die For Deadly Home Invasion

Jurors: Hayes Trial Was Life-Changing

Bank Of America Mortgage Fraud Emails

2011-03-14T14:14:00.005-06:00

Hacker group Anonymous (aka OperationLeaks on Twitter) just released what they say is a trove of damning documents on Bank of America.

You can find them at: bankofamericasucks.com

Anonymous says the emails deal with BofA's mortgage practices, but the source is not an employee of Bank of America proper -- the source is a former employee from Balboa Insurance, a firm which used to be owned by Bank of America.

The ex-Balboa employee tells Anonymous that what he/she sends will be enough to, crack [BofA's] armor, and put a bad light on a $700 mil cash deal they need to pay back the government while ruining their already strained relationship with GMAC, one of their largest clients. Trust me... it'll piss them off plenty.

The source then sends over a paystub, an unemployment form, a letter from HR upon dismissal and his/her last paystub and an ID badge.

He/she also describes his/herself:

My name is (Anonymous). For the last 7 years, I worked in the Insurance/Mortgage industry for a company called Balboa Insurance. Many of you do not know who Balboa Insurance Group is, but if you’ve ever had a loan for an automobile, farm equipment, mobile home, or residential or commercial property, we knew you. In fact, we probably charged you money…a lot of money…for insurance you didn’t even need.

Balboa Insurance Group, and it’s largest competitor, the market leader Assurant, is in the business of insurance tracking and Force Placed Insurance... What this means is that when you sign your name on the dotted line for your loan, the lienholder has certain insurance requirements that must be met for the life of the lien. Your lender (including, amongst others, GMAC... IndyMac... HSBC... Wells Fargo/Wachovia... Bank of America) then outsources the tracking of your loan with them to a company like Balboa Insurance.

The Emails

Next comes the emails that are supposed to be so damaging. The set of emails just released shows conversational exchanges between Balboa employees.

The following codes pertain to the emails, so use as reference:

1. SOR = System of Record

2. Rembrandt/Tracksource = Insurance tracking systems

3. DTN = Document Tracking Number. A number assigned to all incoming/outgoing documents (letters, insurance documents, etc.)

The first email asks for a group of GMAC DTN's to have their "images removed from Tracksource/Rembrandt." The relevant DTNs are included in the email -- there's between 50-100 of them.

In reply, a Balboa employee says that the DTN's cannot be removed from the Rembrandt, but that the loan numbers can be removed so "the documents will not show as matched to those loans." But she adds that she needs upper management approval before she moves forward, since it's an unusual request.

Then it gets approved. And then, one of the Balboa employees voices their concern. He says, "I'm just a little concerned about the impact this has on the department and the company.

Why are we removing all record of this error? We have told Denise Cahen, and there is always going to be the paper trail when one of these sent documents come back. this to me seems to be a huge red flag for the auditors... when the auditor sees the erroneous letter but no SOR trail or scanned doc on the corrected letter... What am I missing? This just doesn't seem right to me.

'Anonymous' website http://bankofamericasuck.com/03/13/ex-bank-of-ameica-employee-can-prove-mortgage-fraud-part-1

Judge: Twitter Must Turn Over Records In WikiLeaks Case

Bank Of America Mortgage Fraud Release

2011-03-13T20:37:00.004-06:00

Anonymous, a hacker group sympathetic to WikiLeaks, plans to release e-mails obtained from Bank of America Corp. early Monday morning, according to posts on the group's Twitter feed.

The group, unrelated to the document leak website founded by Julian Assange, said it plans to release documents exposing "corruption and fraud" at the largest U.S. bank by assets.

Anonymous said the documents relate to the issue of whether Bank of America has improperly foreclosed on homes.

A Bank of America Corp. spokesman said the documents were non-foreclosure related clerical and administrative documents stolen by a former Balboa Insurance employee.

The division -- which Bank of America has since agreed to sell to Australian insurer QBE Insurance Group -- provides mortgage and auto insurance for banks, and provides home insurance for consumers.

Brian Blackwell

Union Protesters Threaten To Kill Republicans

2011-03-11T20:43:00.005-07:00

The threat was sent in an e-mail with the subject, "Death threat!!!! Bomb!!!!"

Wisconsin state Sens. Joe Leibham and Glenn Grothman said they are among as many as 18 Republican senators who have received a death threat from public union protesters following their votes to eliminate most collective bargaining powers for public workers.

Wisconsin Troopers remove a
protester from the Capitol building

The threat was sent in an e-mail late Wednesday with the subject, "Death threat!!!! Bomb!!!!" according to a copy of the letter released by Grothman's office. The e-mail also was addressed to Sen. Pam Galloway, R-Wausau.

Grothman, R-West Bend, said the e-mail is the latest example of "a new height in incivility." He said in recent weeks he has received obscene phone calls at all hours of the night, been jostled at the Capitol and has been shouted down during interviews.

"This is another example of the anger which is being spewed by the government unions," Grothman said. "This has been all about intimidating … Republican legislators into bowing to the public unions, and it has only steeled our resolve."

Grothman said he is hesitant to completely disregard the threat given the volatile atmosphere in Madison. A note shoved under his door Wednesday night said, "The only good Republican is a dead Republican."

With Democratic senators out of state, Republican senators late Wednesday separated the collective bargaining elements from Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill. Republicans voted 18-1 to eliminate collective bargaining for public workers in Wisconsin aside from some wage negotiations. Leibham and Grothman supported the measure.

Leibham, of Sheboygan, said the threat came to him via e-mail as well, and his staff contacted police at the Capitol and in Madison.

The letter tells lawmakers to "make your peace with God as soon as possible and say goodbye to your loved ones," warning they will be killed "due to your actions in the last eight weeks."

The letter, which is signed, says the writer is working with a group of people and knows where the legislators live. It says legislators may be shot in their homes or killed with bombs placed at locations they frequent.

"We feel that you and the people that support the dictator have to die," the letter reads. "If you and your goonies feel that it's necessary to strip the rights of 300,000 people and ruin their lives, making them unable to feed, clothe, and provide the necessities to their families and themselves then We Will 'get rid of' (in which I mean kill) you."

Leibham said that even with the vehement protests, the democratic process is working just the way it's supposed to during the budget debate.

"We debate bills, a vote has taken place, and now the public has the right to hold me accountable either favorably or negatively for that vote," he said. "Not through threats or other means, it's through the election process. I'm just hoping for the protesters' sake and for legislators' sake it's being done in a safe way because it's been getting a little bit intense from a safety standpoint. I don't want anybody … to get themselves hurt or injured as they passionately protest."

Brian Blackwell

ATF Raid Leaves N.M. Town Without Police

2011-03-11T16:40:00.009-07:00

The mayor, police chief and a village trustee who claim they were operating under the direction of the ATF in the New Mexico border town of Columbus have been charged along with eight other defendants with buying firearms for illegal export to Mexico.

An 84-count indictment accuses the 11 of being what authorities describe as a gun-trafficking ring. The ring bought guns "favored by the Mexican cartels," such as American tactical 9 mm pistols and the so-called "AK-47 pistols," which are weapons resembling AK-47 rifles but with shorter barrels and without rear stocks, U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales of New Mexico told CNN.

Authorities seized 200 such firearms, purchased illegally using "straw" buyers, and intended for sale in Mexico. 1,500 rounds of ammunition were also seized.

All individuals arrested say they were operating under the direction of the ATF. U.S. authorities say much of the Mexican drug cartel violence is carried out with weapons originating from the United States.

The indictment alleges that 12 firearms previously purchased by the defendants were found in Mexico and were traced back to them, authorities said.

"I couldn't tell you for sure that the firearms would ultimately be put in the hands of people who were going to hurt other people, but because we believe the firearms were destined for Mexico, we feel we made a big difference today," Gonzales told CNN.

Arrested Thursday were Columbus Police Chief Angelo Vega, 40; Mayor Eddie Espinoza, 51; and village trustee Blas Gutierrez, 30, said Gonzales, who added the town's population was about 2,000 people.

As of late Thursday, no attorneys had entered appearances for any defendants, who all were in the custody of the U.S. Marshal, said spokeswoman Elizabeth Martinez of the U.S. Attorney's office in New Mexico.

They and seven other defendants were arrested by federal and local authorities Thursday, and all but one of them were arrested in Columbus, Gonzales said. The 11th defendant, Ignacio Vallalobos, 24, of Columbus, remained a fugitive and is facing two counts of firearms smuggling and a conspiracy charge, authorities said.

"Presumably these folks are engaging in this activity because there is money to be made," Gonzales said. "We're very disappointed that we have among these 11 people three people in government positions -- a police chief sworn to protect the public and a mayor sworn to lead and provide for the public safety and a village trustee that has that duty as well."

Authorities also conducted searches at eight residences, a business and even the Columbus Police Department, authorities said.

"That was part of the tragedy here -- we're actually having to search a police department," Gonzales said. He didn't know what was seized from there Thursday.

Because the small town of Columbus has only a four-member police force, including the chief, Luna County Sheriff Raymond Cobos told CNN Thursday that his deputies were now providing police patrols.

But the sheriff has told Columbus officials that their police department could no longer use the same radio frequency as the county, to ensure the integrity of local law enforcement.

Sheriff Cobos said the remaining three members of the village board were now running the town, and he was in negotiations with them to take over police protection.

"It's right across the border from Puerto Palomas (Mexico) and they have a history of street violence down there that include daylight assassinations, kidnappings, shootings and one of the last incidents down there was finding three heads in a gazebo in the town plaza," Sheriff Cobos said.

When asked about how the federal raid left the small town without several top officials, the sheriff said: "I haven't seen anything like this before. Whatever comes up, we take care of it the best way we can. We're meeting with other state officials to see what we can come up with" regarding public safety in Columbus.

Between January 2010 and March 2011, the defendants allegedly bought about 200 firearms from Chaparral Guns in Chaparral, New Mexico, which is owned and operated by Ian Garland, 50, who was also arrested and is facing several charges, authorities said.

The defendants allegedly claimed they were the actual purchasers of the firearms, when in fact they were acting as "straw purchasers" who were buying the firearms on behalf of others, authorities said.

The indictment came after a year-long federal investigation and was part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, a program targeting the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those responsible for the nation's illegal drug supply, authorities said.

During the investigation, law officers also seized 40 AK-47-type pistols, 1,580 rounds of 7.62 ammunition, and 30 high-capacity magazines from the defendants before they crossed the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities said.

No weapons were knowingly permitted to cross the border, authorities said.

"Identifying and arresting individuals involved in criminal activities, especially weapons and drug trafficking, in our homeland is a national security priority for ICE," Manuel Oyola-Torres, special agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in El Paso, Texas, said in a statement.

All 11 defendants are charged with one count each of conspiracy to smuggle firearms from the United States to Mexico. If convicted, each defendant could receive a sentence of five years of imprisonment and a $250,000 fine, authorities said.

Some of the defendants also are charged with making false statements in connection with the acquisition of firearms. Conviction carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine, authorities said.

Some of them are charged with unlawfully concealing and facilitating the transportation of firearms knowing that the firearms were intended for exportation from the United States, authorities said. The maximum penalty for that offense is 10 years of imprisonment and a $250,000 fine, authorities said.

ATF Agent: "I Was Ordered To Let U.S. Guns Into Mexico

Brian Blackwell

N.Y. TV Exec Gets 25 Years For Wife's Beheading

2011-03-10T18:03:00.010-07:00

A former television executive was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison Wednesday for the beheading death of his wife.

After an hour of deliberation, an upstate New York jury convicted Muzzammil "Mo" Hassan of second-degree murder last month after a three-week trial.

In imposing the sentence, Erie County Judge Thomas Franczyk also issued a protection order on behalf of Hassan's two children.

In February 2009, Hassan, who founded a TV network aimed at countering Muslim stereotypes, went to a police station in the Buffalo, New York, suburb of Orchard Park and told officers his wife was dead, police have said.

Aasiya Hassan had been decapitated and the long knife used by her husband had left marks on his office's tile floor, prosecutors said during opening statements.

Murder suspect a battered spouse? The sentence was the maximum amount Franczyk could impose under state law, said Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita. He said the sentence was "a perfectly appropriate sentence under the circumstances and considering the violent nature of the crime and a lack of genuine remorse by the defendant."

The sentence basically means life, he said -- Hassan will not be "eligible to talk to the parole board" for 25 years. "The chances of him getting out before his sentence is completed is not going to happen," Sedita said.

Hassan gave his own closing arguments. Earlier in the trial, he had dismissed his attorney, Jeremy Schwartz, who by trial's end was acting as his legal adviser.

According to prosecutors, Aasiya Hassan had filed for divorce less than a week before she died.

On the day she died, she agreed to take some of her husband's clothes to his office after he had moved out of their home. He had told her he would not be there, prosecutors said.

"The defendant viciously killed ... and desecrated her (Aasiya's) body because six days earlier she had dared to file for divorce. Dared to seek a better life for herself and the children," Assistant District Attorney Paul Bonanno said in the prosecution's opening statement.

Schwartz, then his client's defense lawyer, said in his opening statement that the couple's marriage was a "sad and unhealthy relationship."

Aasiya Hassan threatened to embarrass his client and take away his children, Schwartz said. "It ended with 'Mo' Hassan in fear of his very life," he told jurors. "Mo Hassan killed his wife, but he is not guilty of murder in the second degree."

During the trial, Michael and Sonia Hassan testified that their father had become violent in the past.

While both said the couple argued, neither recalled a case in which Aasiya -- their stepmother -- instigated a fight.

Police earlier said they had responded to several domestic violence calls at the couple's home, but no one had ever been arrested.

Hassan was the chief executive officer of the network Bridges TV, and Aasiya Hassan was the general manager. He launched the network -- billed as the first English-language cable channel targeting Muslims inside the United States -- in 2004.

At the time, Hassan said he hoped the network would balance negative portrayals of Muslims following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Hassan fired three defense attorneys before the trial. Schwartz was the fourth to be dismissed.

Brian Blackwell

http://www.brian-blackwell.com/2011/02/muslim-tv-executive-in-upstate-new-york.html

Scott Ritter Set For Trial In Child Sex Sting

2011-03-10T11:13:00.009-07:00

Scott Ritter, the former UN weapons inspector who strived to stop the 2003 invasion of Iraq by loudly disputing claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, was in court Tuesday night on charges of soliciting sex with a minor over the internet.

The trial, barring a last-minute plea bargain, was expected to get underway in a Stroudsburg court in Pennsylvania with jury selection on Friday.

Scott Ritter

The trial stems from his arrest in November 2009 for soliciting a girl calling herself Emily and showing acts of masturbation via live streaming video -- in an internet chat room.

Emily was in fact a male vice detective.

The case is the third in which Ritter has been accused of trying to solicit sex with a minor, in what he claims is a smear campaign against him because of his opposition to the war.

Prosecutors alleged that in April 2009, Ritter had an 80-minute, typed conversation with the vice officer identifying himself as 15-year-old Emily.

They contend that after turning on his webcam to show himself masturbating, Ritter turned it off again saying he did not want to get into trouble but later turned it on again. Finally the officer, identified as Ryan Venneman revealed his real identity.

"You know ur in a lot of trouble don't u," Mr Venneman typed in the Yahoo chatroom message. "Im a under cover police officer u need to call me asap." Ritter responded: "Nah. Your not 15. Yahoo is for 18 and over. Its all fantasy. No crime... As far as I know, you're a 56 year old housewife."

Ritter's history of legal tangles stretches back to early 2003 when supposedly sealed police reports of two sex-sting arrests in 2001 were leaked to the press. He hinted at the time that the leaks were part of the campaign to discredit him after he publicly attacked the decision to go to war.

The leaked papers showed Ritter was caught by police in April 2001 and then in June of the same year after contacting and then trying to meet with underage girls in Upstate New York where he lives.

He received a warning the first time. The second time he was charged with a misdemeanor but a county prosecutor agreed to have the records sealed on condition he stayed out of trouble for six months.

Brian Blackwell

ATF Agents Ordered To Let Guns Into Mexico

2011-03-09T15:59:00.004-07:00

ATF strategy known as letting guns "walk" dates back to 2008

A controversial operation in which U.S. agents were ordered not to intervene as American guns flowed to Mexican gangs may have been going on for many years, reports CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson.

An ATF photograph (left) shows an astonishing display of high-powered weapons put up for suspected Mexican drug cartel gun buyers. It's a rare glimpse into ATF's controversial undercover operations.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives let gunrunners walk off with weapons - thousands of them - to see if they'd end up in the hands of the drug cartels.

Special Agent John Dodson works in ATF's Phoenix office and has blown the whistle on the strategy, known as letting guns "walk.'

Dodson believes there are other ATF operations going on that have done the same thing.

Multiple sources now tell CBS News the questionable tactics were used in more than one operation, and date back as far as 2008 in the Tucson area. One case was called "Wide Receiver."

Sources tell CBS News licensed gun dealers often wanted no part of selling to suspicious characters who could be supplying the cartels.

But, sources say, ATF enlisted the gun dealers as paid Confidential Informants and encouraged them to sell even more.

"ATF has asked me to assist in an official investigation," reads one agreement.

Gun salesmen closed the deals, and ATF watched and listened with recording devices.

"ATF Special Agents conducted surveillance...and identified the dates and times that the conspirators... crossed the international border," says one court documenT.

Dodson argues that something that should never be done. "A lot people are going to get hurt with those firearms between the time we let them go and the time they're recovered again in a crime."

Sources tell CBS News these ATF operations involved about 450 weapons. Despite the risk, two years later the same strategy was expanded to include thousands of guns.

Gunrunning At The ATF

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/02/23/eveningnews/main20035609.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody

AK47's vs. Bean Bags In Border Drug Wars http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/04/eveningnews/main20039492.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody

Agent: I Was Ordered To Let U.S. Guns Into Mexico http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/03/eveningnews/main20039031.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody

Brian Blackwell

Alyssa Kurtz Longmont Colo. Drug Ring Case

2011-03-08T20:55:00.005-07:00

A 24-year-old Longmont, Colo., woman accused of serving as a top-level dealer in a drug ring, which police say moved pounds of methamphetamine and cocaine in and around Longmont, pleaded guilty on Monday morning to organized crime and three felony drug distribution charges.

Alyssa Kurtz

Alyssa Kurtz faces up to 48 years in prison for the second-degree felony violation of the Colorado Organized Crime and Control Act charge and up to 16 years each on drug distribution charges, according to the Boulder County District Attorney's Office.

Prosecutor Ken Kupfner said the drug charges require prison terms, but the plea agreement does not stipulate how long the judge may choose to sentence her or whether the prison terms will run consecutively or concurrently.

Kurtz was indicted with 16 others last year in the first of two rounds of grand jury indictments that resulted from the case.

Kurtz pleaded not guilty to 40 charges in January, including two organized crime counts and 37 drug-possession, distribution and conspiracy charges. She also was charged with one count of misdemeanor child abuse.

Prosecutors dismissed the remaining 36 charges against her as part of her plea deal.

Kurtz and her boyfriend James Romero were accused of serving as high-level dealers in a methamphetamine and cocaine ring that police spent months investigating as part of Operation Private Dancer, which was named for the couple because they met while she was an exotic dancer in Denver.

Brian Blackwell

FBI Investigating S.F. Police

2011-03-07T10:31:00.009-07:00

The San Francisco Police Department has suspended operations of the plainclothes unit accused of using illegal tactics against drug dealers, allegations that have prompted an FBI investigation.

And even as interim Chief Jeff Godown expressed frustration that he learned of the supposed misconduct through videos released to the media, the official who has made three videos public said Friday that at least one more might be on the way.

S.F.P.D. Chief Jeff Godown

Godown said he is "confident" there is not widespread misconduct by undercover officers, who tend to focus on narcotics enforcement and gang activity. He also said the department will attempt to determine if other plainclothes units have used legally dubious methods.

"We're going to audit the entire plainclothes operation," Godown said. "We've identified we have a problem. It's my responsibility to move forward" and investigate how extensive the problem may be, he said.

The eight-officer staff of the Southern Station's plainclothes unit, which covers South of Market and Treasure Island, has been reassigned to administrative functions. Undercover officers from other stations will be deployed to the area while the accusations are investigated.

At least three organizations have opened inquiries into the allegations: the Police Department, the district attorney's office and the FBI.

The third video released Friday appears to show undercover officers forcing open the door of a residential hotel in the Mission on New Year's Eve without showing their badges.

Charges filed against the 28-year-old man arrested at the Hotel Royan that day have been dropped. While he had a bench warrant out for possessing crack cocaine, "there is no record of police checking for the man's bench warrant until after his arrest," according to the public defender's office.

The arrests at 405 Valencia St. involved four officers identified by the public defender's office as Raymond Kane, Raul Elias, Arthur Madrid and Robert Forneris. They were among the six officers involved in busts at the Henry Hotel at 106 Sixth St. on Dec. 23 and Jan. 5.

Videos of each incident were captured by hallway surveillance cameras.

During the Henry Hotel searches, officers had a master key, deputy public defenders said, and in one case they used it to open the door so four officers could rush in and grab a suspect, who is seen being dragged into the hallway and handcuffed. In the other bust, one officer is seen covering the video camera with his hand, reportedly while other officers force the occupant to open the door.

Officers Arshad Razzak and Richard Yick signed the police reports about the Henry Hotel busts and described legal searches under the penalty of perjury.

Officers were led to the apartments based on informant tips and did not have search warrants. They claimed in their reports that they had followed the constitutional requirements of getting consent before entering and searching the rooms, then arresting occupants on felony narcotics charges.

The first two videos were shown to the media Wednesday. On Friday, the FBI confirmed that it is following up on what has become the latest in a series of scandals clouding San Francisco's Police Department.

"The FBI is conducting an independent investigation of allegations against several police officers, and we have the SFPD's cooperation," according to a statement released to the San Francisco Chronicle from Julianne Sohn, an FBI spokeswoman in San Francisco.

The investigations come less than a year after a scandal involving drug skimming at the Police Department crime lab. Probes into that case found that the department and district attorney had no firm procedures for informing defense attorneys about Police Department workers with prior credibility problems. That controversy caused hundreds of cases to be dropped.

In response, then-Chief George Gascón, who was appointed district attorney in January, created an internal affairs unit to investigate police misconduct and ensure compliance with court orders surrounding officer misconduct.

A police spokesman declined to say if the other two members of the suspended plainclothes unit - one of them the supervisor - are also the target of misconduct allegations. They also declined to name them.

At a news conference, Godown made caustic reference to how he would appreciate notification from the public defender's office before videos are shown to the media.

"It makes it very difficult for us to conduct the investigation if I have to watch the TV to find out what's happening in my Police Department," Godown said.

The surveillance videos can be seen on the public defender's YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/user/sfpublicdefender.

Brian Blackwell

Tucson Gunman Indicted On 49 Charges

2011-03-05T08:39:00.002-07:00

Tucson gunman Jared Lee Loughner has been indicted on 49 counts including murder and attempted murder that stem from his shooting spree that left six people dead and critically wounded Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Jared Loughner

A grand jury had indicted Loughner, 22, on three counts of attempted murder, including one for trying to kill Giffords with a Glock semiautomatic handgun during an event for constituents at a Tucson Safeway grocery store in January.

Giffords is currently undergoing rehabilitation at a medical facility in Houston, Texas.

The new indictment, returned by a federal grand jury Thursday, includes those three charges and adds murder charges connected to the deaths of John M. Roll, a federal district judge, and Gabriel M. Zimmerman, a staff member for Giffords.

He also faces charges in the deaths of Dorothy J. Morris, Phyllis C. Schneck, Dorwan C. Stoddard, and a child, referred to in the indictment as C-T G.

Nine-year-old Christina-Taylor Green was among those killed in the shooting.

A charge of attempted assassination of a member of Congress also is among the 49 counts.

"The deceased are not the only ones whose rights are being defended," U.S. Attorney Dennis K. Burke said in a news release. "Those citizens who were peaceably assembled to speak to their member of Congress are also named victims in this indictment."

The indictment carries a potential death sentence if convicted, Burke added, although prosecutors have not said yet whether they will seek the death penalty.

"We will seek justice for the federal officials, Judge Roll and Gabriel M. Zimmerman, and for Dorothy J. Morris, Phyllis C. Schneck, Dorwan C. Stoddard, and C-T G," Burke said.

Jared Lee Loughner previously had faced two murder charges in the deaths of Roll and Zimmerman, but in a procedural maneuver, prosecutors had temporarily dropped those charges, bringing them back under the superseding indictment.

Loughner, who is being held by authorities in Arizona, is expected to be arraigned on the new charges March 9 in Tucson, the district attorney's office said.

Also Friday, Giffords' office released a picture of her taken the morning of the shooting. The congresswoman is seen standing in front of the grocery store, talking to constituents identified by her office as Jim and Doris Tucker.

Jim Tucker was shot twice, once in his calf and once in his collarbone. His wife escaped unharmed.

Brian Blackwell

Convicted Sex Offender Sues Mom Of Victim

2011-03-04T08:29:00.005-07:00

A convicted sex offender in Tacoma, Washington, is suing the mother of a child he had sexual contact with because he says she wrote negative things about him on her blog.

Patrick Rojas, 26, pleaded guilty in 2007 to a gross misdemeanor for contact with a minor for immoral purposes. But Danielle Schneider says that charge didn't come close to describing what Rojas did to her 11-year-old child. Schneider decided to blog about it and warn others.

"I have gone outside of myself in hopes that something redeeming would come out my family's nightmare," Schneider wrote. "I just felt like we needed to tell our story so that that community could know who they were dealing with to protect themselves."

Rojas was the pastor's son at Schneider's church and often visited their home. He is now classified as a level two sex offender in Washington. But in court documents, his attorney claims Rojas is embarrassed by the blog and can't get employment because of it.

Schneider says her family can't afford another court case. She says she offered to take the site down but Rojas' attorney refused.

"The audacity that the person who abused my child and changed the course of our family and our life was suing us," said Schneider.

Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Linquist says he's never seen a case quite like this.

The civil division of the Prosecutor's Office says there are factors in the case that will likely need to be established. The first is whether everything on the blog is true and whether it is public record.

Rojas' attorney did not return calls for comment. He's asking Rojas be paid unspecified damages.

Brian Blackwell

DNA Evidence Clears Man After 17 Years

2011-03-03T05:41:00.003-07:00

Houston prosecutors will ask a court Thursday to formally exonerate a Texas man after DNA tests ruled out his guilt in a rape for which he served 17 years in prison.

George Rodriguez was freed in 2004 after an appeals court found that faulty scientific evidence had been used against him in his 1987 trial.

Prosecutors didn't retry him, citing concerns about having the victim -- who had identified Rodriguez as one of her two attackers in a police lineup -- testify again.

State officials had denied his request for a pardon, but Harris County District Attorney Patricia Lykos agreed to review his case after she took office in 2009.

New DNA tests on the forensic evidence in the case came back February 22 and conclusively ruled out Rodriguez, now 50, Lykos said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

"When this scientific inquiry began, there was no legal requirement or mandate for any further work to be done by our office, because the case had been dismissed," Lykos said. "Instead, we acted on the most important obligation of all -- to see that the truth emerges, and that justice is done. Today, we can state that an innocent man has been vindicated."

The Harris County District Attorney's office will ask a judge to formally declare Rodriguez innocent at a Thursday hearing, she said.

Lykos, a Republican, campaigned on promises to reform the prosecutor's office in Texas' largest city, and she has drawn praise from defense lawyers for creating a post-conviction review process to examine new evidence.

The Innocence Project, which won Rodriguez's release in 2004, gave her an award in 2010 for that program.

Another man, Manuel Beltran, is now serving a 60-year prison term in connection for rape. The DNA testing also confirmed that another man, now dead but long considered an alternative suspect, also assaulted the victim, who was 14 at the time.

Brian Blackwell

Illegals Not Required To Have Driver's License

2011-02-28T05:28:00.008-07:00

"Immigration policy has nothing to do with traffic laws," Jefferson County prosecutors said.

A woman who was severely injured in a traffic accident found the woman -- an illegal immigrant -- cited in the accident still driving without a license. Police haven't done anything to get the driver off the road.

"I had gone to the emergency room, and after multiple X-rays they found out I had chest contusions, and I had asked what about my head because my head was still hurting,” said Diana, who asked her last name not be used. "More than a week had gone by without them knowing I had a brain hemorrhage."

A Lakewood police report says Diana and her husband were turning south on Wadsworth Boulevard from Jewell Avenue on Sept. 10 when their Nissan Pathfinder was struck by a minivan driven by Denver woman Martha Hernandez-Fuerte, 24.

Lakewood police cited Hernandez-Fuerte for failure to stop at a red light and driving without a license, but did not arrest her.

Hernandez-Fuerte’s only identification was a Mexican passport, and she told police she had lived in the U.S. for 6 years.

Court records show that Martha Hernandez-Fuerte is in the United States illegally.

More: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/call7investigators/26959125/detail.html

N.Y. Man Indicted in Sex Slave Case

2011-02-26T21:40:00.003-07:00

A man who faces charges of rape, assault and unlawful imprisonment after he lured a Wisconsin woman to his New York apartment and forced her into being his sex slave has been indicted.

John Hopkins, 45, agreed to provide a woman free rent if she cooked and cleaned for him, then trapped her in his Brooklyn, New York, apartment, according to a statement from the Kings County district attorney's office.

Hopkins was indicted on 62 counts, including rape in the first degree, unlawful imprisonment in the second degree, assault in the second degree and assault in the second degree as a sexually motivated felony.

The 27-year-old woman says she met Hopkins on the website Craigslist before spending nine days trapped in his apartment, where she claims she was repeatedly raped, the statement said.

The woman -- whose name has not been released -- was treated for injuries at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn, New York.

The details of her condition are not clear.

She claims she was looking for work in New York and found an advertisement that Hopkins posted on Craigslist, listing a room for rent, according to the complaint.

The woman claims she was repeatedly raped between February 4 and February 12, and also was tied with a rope, gagged and handcuffed to a radiator, the complaint said.

She said that on the ninth day she managed to call her mother and alert her of the situation.

Police found the woman bruised and bound in Hopkins' apartment, according to the district attorney's statement.

Authorities said the victim was shaking and had marks on her body, according to the complaint.

Hopkins is being held on $350,000 bail. If convicted, he could face up to 25 years in prison.

http://www.brian-blackwell.com/2011/02/da-woman-turned-into-sex-slave-after.html

Brian Blackwell

25 Years For "South Park" Death Threats

2011-02-25T11:35:00.014-07:00

A 21-year-old man who admitted posting online death threats against the creators of the animated TV series "South Park" was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison.

Zachary Adam Chesser (right)

Zachary Adam Chesser encouraged violent jihadists to attack "South Park" writers for an episode that depicted the Prophet Mohammed in a bear suit, court documents said.

He posted online messages that included the writers' home addresses and urged online readers to "pay them a visit," the documents said.

"His actions caused people throughout the country to fear speaking out -- even in jest -- to avoid being labeled as enemies who deserved to be killed," U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride said.

"The fact that a young man from Northern Virginia could support such violence and terror is a sobering reminder of the serious threat that homegrown jihadists pose to this country."

Chesser pleaded guilty in October to providing material support to terrorists, communicating threats and soliciting others to threaten violence. The three charges carried a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

"I accept full responsibility for all of my actions, and I would like to take the opportunity to express remorse," he said in court.

Chesser, who was born in the United States, converted to Islam in high school. U.S. District Court Judge Liam O'Grady told Chesser he had made a big leap from being a high school athlete to a traitor.

Chesser also admitted that he tried to go to Somalia to join Al-Shabaab, an Islamic militant group that the United States considers a terrorist organization.

http://www.brian-blackwell.com/2010/07/virginia-man-charged-with-aiding.html

Brian Blackwell

Adopted Children Suffered Horrific Abuse

2011-02-25T01:41:00.002-07:00

Three adopted children who suffered burns and were forced to eat pet food lived in "inhumane conditions" and might never fully recover, an Oklahoma sheriff said Thursday.

"They have been raised worse than dogs," Canadian County Sheriff Randall Edwards told CNN of the three malnourished juveniles, who are 9, 11 and 15.

John Kluth, 50, and Sonja Kluth, 57, of Yukon, Oklahoma, are accused by the district attorney's office of three counts of child abuse and three counts of child neglect.

The complaint alleges the Kluths confined the 15-year-old boy to a plastic dog carrier for two months and deprived him of food.

The couple surrendered Tuesday and were released on a bond of $9,000 each.

The Kluths confessed to some of the allegations during the execution of a search warrant, Sheriff Edwards said. According to an affidavit filed in support of the arrest warrant, Sonja Kluth told sheriff's investigators that she had tried but lost control of the children and had become a "monster," doing things she never should have done.

The three children are in custody of the Department of Human Services and are improving, according to the sheriff. All three have stunted growth, Sheriff Edwards said. He called it the worst abuse case he has seen.

According to the department, the 15-year-old was found sleeping in a box behind an Oklahoma City store on November 28. An investigator learned about child abuse at his residence in Yukon, a city about 15 miles west of Oklahoma City. The teen has an 11-year-old brother and 9-year-old sister.

Originally, the three were foster children in Wisconsin, officials said. The state placed them in the home of the Kluths, who adopted them and were still receiving $1,500 per child per month from Wisconsin after they moved to Oklahoma, Sheriff Edwards said.

The Wisconsin Department of Children and Families is withholding adoption assistance payments, said Erika Monroe-Kane, communications director for the department.

"On January 20, 2011, we received information from the State of Oklahoma that the children had been removed from the Kluths' home. That same day, we requested additional information from Oklahoma and are still awaiting their response," she wrote in an e-mail to CNN Thursday.

The Kluths burned the children with hot spoons, choked them and locked them "in the storm shelter behind the residence for long periods of time with only chairs to sit on and plastic buckets for bathroom use. The Kluths also deprived the children of meals for punishment and fed them cat food and dog food," according to a statement from authorities.

The older boy said all three had their tongues burned with a hot spoon for lying. The affidavit said the teen revealed scars to his body and smashed fingers. The girl and younger boy had multiple injuries on their face and bodies.

The girl reported Sonja Kluth hit her with handles of brooms and mops and strangled her until she "could not breathe," according to the affidavit.

The older boy said Sonja Kluth would tell him "get back up here, you know I want blood," during the abuse, authorities said. John Kluth told sheriff's investigators the couple was strict and that "there is a wall of discipline in the home."

The kids are illiterate, although Sonja Kluth said she was home-schooling them, Sheriff Edwards told CNN.

"The children disclosed that the Kluths had struck them in the face and about their bodies with their fists, struck their heads on the floor repeatedly and struck them with objects, including but not limited to a mallet, a soup spoon, a can opener and the buckle end of a belt," the statement said.

One of the children was told by Sonja Kluth that he should commit suicide, the statement said.

The Sheriff Edwards also said that three biological children of the couple, who are now adults, urged Wisconsin officials to investigate their claims that they were abused while living at home.

The Wisconsin Department of Children and Families said it could not comment on specific allegations relating to anything that may have happened in that state.

"Under Wisconsin law the Department is prohibited from providing confidential information as it pertains to specific children," according to Monroe-Kane.

Brian Blackwell

Arizona Honor Killing

2011-02-23T11:42:00.009-07:00

Sentencing testimony begins today in the case of an Iraqi man who was convicted of murdering his 20-year-old daughter by running over her with his Jeep Grand Cherokee because she had become "too Americanized."

A Maricopa County, Arizona, jury convicted Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 50, on Tuesday of second-degree murder in the 2009 death of Noor Faleh Almaleki.

It also found him guilty of aggravated assault, for causing serious injuries to Amal Edan Khalaf, the mother of Noor's fiance, and two counts of leaving the scene.

Almaleki, an Iraqi immigrant, was acquitted of more serious first-degree murder and first-degree attempted murder charges. He could receive up to 22 years in prison on the murder charge alone.

Noor Faleh Almaleki

Noor Faleh Almaleki died in November 2009 at an Arizona hospital, nearly two weeks after being run over by a Jeep Grand Cherokee in a parking lot in the Phoenix suburb of Peoria, police said.

Faleh Hassan Almaleki believed his daughter had become "too Americanized" and had abandoned "traditional" Iraqi values, Peoria police said. The family moved to the Phoenix area in the mid-1990's, and Almaleki was unhappy with his daughter's style of dress and her resistance to his rules, they said.

Khalaf testified that Almaleki made no effort to stop before she and Noor Almaleki were struck. Defense attorneys said Almaleki was trying to spit on Khalaf, but swerved and ended up running down both women. Almaleki chose not to testify.

After the incident, Almaleki drove to Mexico, abandoning his vehicle in Nogales, police said. He then made his way to Mexico City and boarded a plane to Britain, where authorities denied him entry into the country and put him on a plane back to the United States.

Brian Blackwell

http://www.brian-blackwell.com/2011/01/arizona-honor-killing-trial-begins.html

Green River Killer Pleads Guilty To 49th Murder

2011-02-18T23:03:00.005-07:00

Gary Ridgway, the man known as the Green River Killer, pleaded guilty Friday to killing a 49th person.

Ridgway, one of the nation's most prolific killers, already is serving 48 life terms at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. He entered his guilty plea Friday at his arraignment on a murder charge at the King County Regional Justice Center in Kent.

Gary Ridgeway

Becky Marrero was originally listed on the Green River Task Force's list of possible victims. Prosecutors declined to charge Ridgway at that time because he was not able to provide conclusive evidence that he killed her, but the plea deal required him to plead guilty to future King County charges based on new evidence.

Marrero's remains weren't discovered until Dec. 21, 2010, when teenagers found a skull in a ravine at Auburn, south of Seattle. Ridgway was charged Feb. 7.

Judge Mary Roberts sentenced Ridgway to life imprisonment, which will be added to the 48 life sentences he is already serving.

Members of her family attended the hearing, where Ridgway sat, handcuffed and in leg shackles, next to his attorney.

Mary Marrero, the sister of Becky Marrero, stood next to her 79-year-old mother and daughter as she expressed sadness, anger and frustration on behalf of the family.

"My family has had a horrible life due to my sister's murder," she said. "Where do we go from here? What does it take to get the death penalty in the state of Washington?" "I don't agree with this plea deal to spare his pathetic life," she added. "He's very smart. He saved his life and managed to get a plea deal. It makes me sick to my stomach that he beat the system...He's a waste to society and a waste of space. If I had one thing to ask today, it would be (to) kill him."

But under the 2003 plea agreement, the judges hands were tied.

"Usually when I sentence someone I reach out for some semblance of humanity. In this case I cannot (pause) I can find no compassion," said Judge Roberts.

Ridgway, who was a commercial truck painter, has been convicted of 48 murders and confessed to or been suspected of dozens more.

He preyed upon women and girls at the margins of society -- runaways, prostitutes and drug addicts strangled in a spree that terrorized Seattle and its south suburbs in the 1980s.

Several victims were dumped in or posed along the Green River.

He was arrested in 2001 after advances in DNA technology enabled authorities to link a saliva sample he gave authorities in 1987 to some of the bodies. He pleaded guilty two years later, agreeing to help authorities locate as many remains as possible.

He is serving life without release in solitary confinement at the state prison, where he's allowed out of his cell one hour a day four times a week.

Marrero's remains were found 100 feet from where investigators found another of Ridgway's victims, Marie Malvar, in 2003.

Brian Blackwell

6 Bell Calif. Officials Ordered To Stand Trial

2011-02-18T05:54:00.007-07:00

Six current and former Bell city officials were ordered to stand trial on charges of misappropriating public funds.

A judge ruled on Wednesday that there was sufficient evidence after a seven-day preliminary hearing.

During the hearing, court documents revealed the contents of some explosive e-mails in which city officials joked about getting rich off taxpayer dollars.

Take a look at the eight current and former Bell officials
arrested in connection with the city's salary scandal

A defense attorney told a judge the officials were victims of a witch hunt and were wrongly caught up in the corruption scandal.

He said there is no evidence the officials knew of any illegal activity that former city manager Robert Rizzo may have been involved in.

Mayor Oscar Hernandez, City Council members Teresa Jacobo and George Mirabal, and former council members Luis Artiga, George Cole and Victor Bello are scheduled to be arraigned on March 2.

A separate hearing may begin this week to determine if there's enough evidence to try former assistant city manager Angela Spaccia and Rizzo on felony charges of misappropriating public funds.

Brian Blackwell

-- Four Calif. city officials charged with seeing Broadway shows, sporting events on taxpayers dime, paid for phantom meetings

-- Bell Calif. Officials Arrested in Salary Scandal

Wisconsin Woman Turned Into Sex Slave

2011-02-17T21:08:00.006-07:00

A Wisconsin woman who said she agreed to cook and clean for a man she met on the internet in exchange for a free place to stay ended up as his sex slave.

The 27-year-old woman met New York resident John Hopkins on the website Craigslist before spending nine days trapped in his apartment, where she claims she was repeatedly raped, according to a district attorney's statement Wednesday.

Building in Brooklyn, where a
woman was raped and sexually
abused for nine days

The woman -- whose name has not been released -- was treated for injuries at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn, New York.

Authorities charged Hopkins with rape, assault, forcible touching and unlawful imprisonment, arresting him at his Brooklyn apartment on Saturday.

He is currently being held on $350,000 bail.

The woman claims that she was looking for work in New York and found an advertisement that Hopkins posted on Craigslist, listing a room for rent, according to the complaint.

The pair agreed that the woman could stay rent free if she cooked and cleaned for Hopkins, who then paid for her airfare to New York on February 4, 2011.

Upon arriving at his apartment, Hopkins told the woman that she was going to be his slave, the complaint said.

The woman claims she was repeatedly raped between February 4 and February 12, and was also tied with a rope, gagged and handcuffed to a radiator, it said.

On the ninth day, she said she managed to call her mother and alert her of the alleged abuse.

Police found the woman bruised and bound in Hopkins' apartment, according to the district attorney statement.

Authorities said the victim was shaking and had marks on her body, according to the complaint.

Hopkins is expected to appear in court Friday for a preliminary hearing. If convicted, he could face up to 25 years in prison.

Brian Blackwell

Somali Pirate Gets Nearly 34 Years

2011-02-16T22:20:00.004-07:00

A federal court sentenced a Somali man to nearly 34 years in prison Wednesday for acts related to high-seas piracy after he and three other men hijacked a U.S.-flagged ship as it cruised past the Horn of Africa.

Abduwali Abukhadir Muse pled guilty to the 2009 hijacking of the Maersk Alabama and for subsequently taking the ship's captain hostage. He was sentenced to 405 months in prison.

"I'm sorry very much for what happened to victims on ship, I am very sorry about what I caused," Muse said. "I was recruited by people more powerful than me."

He asked "forgiveness for all the people I harmed and the U.S. government."

Muse was also sentenced for his participation in the hijacking of two other vessels in late March and early April of 2009, which also involved the taking of hostages.

He pleaded guilty on May 18, 2010, to two felony counts of hijacking maritime vessels, two felony counts of kidnapping, and two felony counts of hostage taking, according to a U.S. attorney statement.

"For five days that must have seemed like an eternity to his victims, Abduwali Abukhadir Muse terrorized the captain and crew of the Maersk Alabama," said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. "Now he will pay for those five days and the events leading up to them."

The attack occurred in the Gulf of Aden between the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

In the hijacking, U.S. Navy SEALs ultimately rescued the ship's captain, Richard Phillips, while he was held hostage in a lifeboat not far from the Alabama.

Phillips was initially hailed as a hero for his actions in exchanging himself for the safety of his crew. Later, many of those crew members told CNN that Phillips had ignored several explicit warnings that urged him to stay away from the shipping lanes where the attack took place.

Richard Phillips, captain of
the Maersk Alabama

Phillips returned to sea about a year after that attack and was not reassigned to the Alabama.

Until last year, there had not been a piracy-related conviction in the United States since 1861, during the Civil War, officials said.

Some 685 sailors are currently being held for ransom aboard 30 ships off the Somali coastline, according to the International Maritime Organization.

Somalia-based pirates often hijack ships to be used as bases, or mother ships, for launching further attacks, using the ships' crews as "human shields," the organization said in a written statement.

Muse was the only survivor among the men who hijacked the Alabama and was commonly kept in solitary confinement while awaiting trial, according to his defense attorney Fiona Doherty.

He twice tried to take his own life, Doherty said.

His attorneys had asked for leniency, citing the impoverished conditions in the war-torn country in which the 19-year-old had lived.

One in six Somali children is acutely malnourished, considered the highest acute malnutrition rate in the world, according to a recent U.N. World Food Programme report.

In 2010, the United Nations suspended the delivery of food assistance in southern Somalia due to growing insecurity from armed groups in the region.

Brian Blackwell

Related: http://www.brian-blackwell.com/2010/11/jury-convicts-somali-men-of-piracy-in.html

Senate Extends Patriot Act, FISA Court

2011-02-16T17:10:00.008-07:00

The Senate voted late Tuesday to extend through May three controversial Patriot Act spy measures that were set to expire at the end of this month.

At issue are two provisions of the United and Strengthening of America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (USA PATRIOT ACT) and the use of electronic surveillance and physical searches authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA).

Redacted U.S. Constitution

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 -- "FISA" Pub.L. 95-511, 92 Stat. 1783, enacted October 25, 1978, 50 U.S.C. ch.36, S. 1566 -- is an Act of Congress which prescribes procedures for the physical and electronic surveillance and collection of "foreign intelligence information" between "foreign powers" and "agents of foreign powers" -- which may include American citizens and permanent residents suspected of being engaged in espionage and violating U.S. law on territory under United States control.

The third "lone wolf" provision of a 2004 law permits secret intelligence surveillance of non-U.S. individuals not known to be linked to a specific terrorist organization.

The 86-12 vote on Tuesday came a day after the House voted to extend the same provisions to December 8. The House measure, passed 275-144.

Last week the House, in an embarrassment for the new GOP leadership, failed to pass the same bill under an expedited procedure requiring a two-thirds majority.

Twenty-six Republicans joined 122 Democrats in voting against it. Monday’s vote drew 27 Republican no votes.

The main objections are to what critics see as unconstitutional search and seize authority and big government intrusions into private lives.

"I believe the American people have a legitimate fear of out-of-control government," said conservative Republican Dana Rohrabacher, one of the GOP no votes. "And yes, they have a legitimate fear of out-of-control prosecutors and out-of-control spy networks."

This time the bill was brought up under a procedure requiring only a simple majority for passage.

Democrats got only one chance at changing the bill: an amendment stating that investigations must comply with the Constitution and that courts must give expedited consideration when a U.S. citizen argues that his or her constitutional rights have been violated. It was defeated on a party-line vote.

In the Senate, Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., on Thursday plans to bring before his committee a bill that would extend the three provisions through 2013 while tightening disclosure procedures. Republicans have countered with a proposal to make the three measures permanent.

The expiring provisions at issue were set to sunset in December of 2009. Congress extended the deadline until the end of February 2010 in a bid to work out compromise legislation. When that failed, lawmakers punted for a year, declaring that those measures would expire at the end of this month unless new action is taken.

President Barack Obama has said he wants the measures extended, without change, through at least 2012. The act was hastily adopted after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

Here are the extended provisions:

• The "roving wiretap" provision allows the FBI to obtain wiretaps from a secret intelligence court, known as the FISA court (for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act), without identifying the target or what method of communication is to be tapped.

• The "lone wolf" measure allows FISA court warrants for the electronic monitoring of a person for whatever reason — even without showing that the suspect is an agent of a foreign power or a terrorist. The government has said it has never invoked that provision, but the Obama administration said it wanted to retain the authority to do so.

• The "business records" provision allows FISA court warrants for any type of record, from banking to library to medical, without the government having to declare that the information sought is connected to a terrorism or espionage investigation.

There was pressure on the two chambers to reach agreement this week because next week, leading up to the Feb. 28 deadline, Congress will not be in session.

The White House has said it "does not object" to the 10-month extension proposed by the House but would prefer stretching the provisions through the end of 2013 because "longer duration provides the necessary certainty and predictability that our nation’s intelligence and law enforcement agencies require."

Laura Murphy, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington legislative office, said it was a mistake to renew the three provisions without added safeguards for privacy. "We urge the Senate to reject this bill and instead make the necessary changes that will bring the Patriot Act in line with the Constitution."

Brian Blackwell

Report: Less Than Half The Border Secured

2011-02-16T04:04:00.008-07:00

Less than half of the United States' porous southwest border with Mexico is under the operational control of the U.S. Border Patrol, a government watchdog reported Tuesday.

The study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said that the Border Patrol had achieved "varying levels of operational control" over just 873 miles, or 44 percent, of the nearly 2,000-mile border by the end of last year.

The report found that the number of miles under operational control increased an average of 126 miles per year from 2005 through 2010.

The GAO, which is the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress, noted that only 129 of those miles, or 15 percent, were classified as "controlled" -- the highest level for detecting and arresting intruders.

President Barack Obama's administration has been under intense pressure to beef up security on the southwest border to prevent raging drug cartel violence spilling over from Mexico and to stem an influx of illegal immigrants.

Of the nine Border Patrol sectors along the southwest border, only Yuma, in far western Arizona, had achieved complete operational control along its stretch of the border.

The remaining sectors noted between 11 and 86 percent of their area under operational control .

The "Border Patrol attributed the uneven progress across sectors to multiple factors, including prioritizing resource deployment to sectors deemed to have greater risk from illegal activity," the report said.

Of the 1,120 miles of the border where operational control had not been achieved, around two-thirds were classified as "monitored," meaning that the Border Patrol had a high probability of detecting intrusions, although their ability to respond depended on the available resources.

Brian Blackwell

Arizona Rancher to Fight Court Order

2011-02-13T17:15:00.010-07:00

Our Constitutional right to protect our property against illegal activity from dangerous bordering countries has been thrown out the window, thanks to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

According to the court, when you own a ranch bordering dangerous areas in which you have a constant flow of illegal activity and people trashing your land, filling it with human waste and refuse, breaking into your home, stealing your livestock, and stealing your vehicles, you’re suppose to do nothing.

An Arizona rancher who was ordered to pay $87,000 in punitive damages to illegal immigrants he confronted, with a gun, while they were trespassing on his property, has requested a rehearing, according to David T. Hardy, who is representing Roger Barnett.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court verdict Feb. 3 ordering Roger Barnett to pay the damages for the 2004 incident in which the illegal aliens claimed that he approached them with his dog and said he’d shoot them if they tried to leave.

The court said that an Arizona law permitted a person to threaten to use – or actually use – physical force against someone else when that person believes it is necessary for protection “against the other’s use or attempted use of unlawful physical force. But it didn't apply to Barnett's case.”

The court said that Barnett held them at gunpoint even after becoming aware that no one in the group of 16 men and women was armed, and so he could not use the argument of self-defense.

But according to the Cochise County Sheriff's Office and Border Patrol, Barnett had put his gun away after realizing that no one in the group was armed, and after feeling he was not in physical danger.

“What they [judges] missed was that once he saw they were harmless, he holstered his gun,” Hardy said. “When the Border Patrol showed up, the pistol was in his holster.”

David Hinojosa, southwest regional counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund, which represented the illegals in the suit against Barnett, said he is confident the 9th Circuit will deny a rehearing.

In February 2009, a federal jury issued a split verdict in the case against Barnett stemming from the 2004 incident. The jury found that he didn't violate the group's civil rights and that he wasn't liable on claims of battery and false imprisonment.

But the jury found him liable on four claims of assault and four claims of infliction of emotional distress and ordered Barnett to pay $77,804 in damages. The $87,000 he must pay reflects that original amount plus interest.

U.S. District Judge John Roll, who was one of six killed in the Jan. 8 mass shooting in Tucson, presided over the February 2009 trial. He received death threats and was under around-the-clock protection while hearing the case.

The 2004 incident occurred close to a wash near the town of Douglas when Barnett approached a group of 16 illegals while he was carrying a gun and accompanied by his dog.

Attorneys for the illegal aliens - five women and 11 men who had crossed into the U.S. illegally - say that Barnett held the group captive at gunpoint, threatening that his dog would attack anyone who tried to escape.

Since 2002, Barnett has had a truck stolen, water pumps destroyed, calves killed, destroyed gates and fences, an 80,000 gallon water tank destroyed. He went as far as installing a water spigot on the water tank so the illegals would quit damaging it for water. His land is also being used as a human waste depository.

Barnett is credited with helping to start the Minuteman movement in Arizona in the late 1990's when he began patrolling ranch lands near Douglas, looking to stop illegal immigrants.

Brian Blackwell

Illegal Sentenced For Chandra Levy Murder

2011-02-12T14:40:00.010-07:00

Calling him a dangerous predator, a judge has sentenced the man convicted of Murdering Washington D.C. intern Chandra Levy to 60 years in prison.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Gerald Fisher on Friday sentenced Ingmar Guandique, an illegal immigrant from El Salvadore to 60 years on each of the two counts he was convicted on, but ordered that they be served concurrently. The result, Fisher said, is still likely to be a life sentence for what the judge characterized as a chillingly unusual murder.

"The nature of the conduct was predatory," Fisher said. He added that there was "something different and worse" about Guandique's actions that wasn't often seen in Washington murders.

Chandra Levy

Levy, 24, a California native, was in Washington working as an intern for the Bureau of Prisons when she was last seen on May 1, 2001. Her skull was found over a year later, on May 22, 2002, in Washington's Rock Creek Park.

But police didn't arrest Guandique until February 2009. He was then serving a 10-year sentence for attacking two other women in the park and had reportedly spoken about killing Levy.

A jury convicted him of one count of murder with kidnapping and a second count of murder with attempted robbery in November, after 11 days of trial and three days of deliberations.

During the trial, prosecutors argued that Guandique, a reputed member of the Salvadoran gang Mara Salvatrucha, attacked Levy while she was jogging in Washington's Rock Creek Park.

After her skull was found, a search turned up other remains, as well as clothing later identified as hers strewn down the side of a ravine. Her running shoes were unlaced, and her clothes were turned inside out. Her pants were knotted in tight restraints around her legs.

Fisher's sentencing came after a tense moment between Guandique and Levy's mother, Susan, who read letters from her husband and son before reading her own victim impact statement.

During her reading, she consistently looked at Guandique, at one point asking, "Did you really take her? Look me in the eye? Did you?"

Guandique looked at her, shook his head and mouthed, "No."

At the end of her statement, Susan Levy stood, turned to Guandique and loudly addressed him with an expletive before telling the judge, "That is all. Thank you."

Ingmar Guandique

Guandique addressed the court as well. Speaking in Spanish through an interpreter, he said, "I am sorry. I am sorry for what happened to your daughter."

Fisher denied a motion for a new trial filed by Guandique's attorneys. The defense argued prosecutors had engaged in misconduct during closing arguments and that jurors had ignored Fisher's instructions to them by sharing notes.

Fisher said such actions, which were reported in the Washington Post at the end of the trial, would not have impacted deliberations or changed the verdict.

Guandique faced a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.

Regardless of the sentence, "I have a lifetime sentence of a lost limb missing from our family tree," Susan Levy said in November after the verdict. "It's painful. I live with it every day. ... There's always going to be a feeling of sadness."

Prosecutor Amanda Haines, during her closing argument, cited what she portrayed as confessions that Guandique allegedly made to a cellmate as he served time for other attacks, as well as remarks he allegedly made to a female pen pal.

Defense attorney Santha Sonenberg emphasized the largely circumstantial nature of the case, including what prosecutors have acknowledged was a lack of DNA evidence, a lack of witnesses and only secondhand accounts of Guandique's alleged confessions.

Both of the other women whom Guandique was convicted of attacking in the park -- including one on the same day Levy went missing -- spoke at the trial, providing testimony that juror Susan Kelly called "powerful." Guandique had pleaded guilty in those attacks, and was set to be released in September 2010.

The disappearance of Levy drew national attention after her parents discovered a connection with Gary Condit, who was then a congressman from California. Condit was never a suspect in the case, but he was questioned intensively for details about Levy's whereabouts.

He testified in the trial, but refused to address a question about whether he had sex with Levy. An FBI forensic expert later confirmed Condit's semen had been found in underwear retrieved from Levy's apartment in the days after her parents reported her missing.

In refusing to answer the question, Condit said, "We've lost our feeling for common decency. I didn't commit any crime. I didn't do anything wrong."

He said several times during his testimony that the media frenzy surrounding Levy's disappearance was hard to handle, including a helicopter flight over his California home while his daughter and her friends were sunbathing at the family's pool.

"They reported that I had young women in bikinis at my house," he said.

Brian Blackwell

Related:

Jury Convicts Illegal In Chandra Levy Case

http://www.brian-blackwell.com/2010/11/jury-begins-deliberations-in-chandra.html

Illegal alien arrested in Chandra Levy murder investigation http://www.brian-blackwell.com/2009/03/illegal-arrested-in-chandra-levy-murder.html