crime

Washington Post
Kermit Gosnell To Get Life Sentence After First-Degree Murder Conviction
Huffington Post
Gosnell, 72, was found guilty Monday of first-degree murder in a case that became a flashpoint in the nation's abortion debate. Former clinic employees testified that Gosnell routinely performed illegal abortions past Pennsylvania's 24-week limit, that ...
Philadelphia Abortion Doctor Guilty of Murder in Late-Term ProceduresNew York Times
Abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell convicted of murder in deaths of three infantsWashington Post
Abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell convicted of first-degree murderNBCNews.com
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UNNAMED DAD

http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2013/05/father_of_missing_boys_wrote_s.php

Father of missing boys wrote suicide note, did not mention his sons

Tuesday 14 May 2013

The father of two boys missing for over a week left a suicide note on his computer, police said on Tuesday.

In the letter, the man said he did not see any point in living any longer but did not give a motive. The letter made no mention of the brothers, aged nine and seven, who were last seen on Monday evening a week ago.

Their father’s body was found in woods near Utrecht on Tuesday morning.

The letter was written on Monday afternoon, after the man had collected his sons from their mother. He told his ex-partner they were going on holiday to Luxemburg.

More details are emerging about the man’s final hours. Police say they now know he withdrew €175 from his bank account on Monday but only €45 has so far been accounted for.

He also bought petrol in Limburg on Monday evening and phoned his girlfriend to say he was in a hotel. Police say that call was actually made from the car.

Searches of woodland in Utrecht and Limburg have failed to turn up any sign of the boys.

Their disappearance will be the subject of a television appeal on Tuesday evening.

In a new column in The Atlantic, contributing editor Andrew Cohen writes about the 50th anniversary of the "Brady" Rule, in which the Supreme Court unanimously declared that prosecutors have a constitutional obligation to share exculpatory evidence with criminal defendants. Cohen highlights the case of John Thompson, who was wrongfully convicted of murder and sent to death row in Louisiana. While facing his seventh execution date, a private investigator hired by his appellate attorneys discovered evidence of Thompson's innocence that had been concealed for more than a decade by the New Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office.

Thompson is a free man today because of the so-called "Brady" rule. But he likely would have been a free man all along -- without spending 14 years on death row -- had his prosecutors obeyed the law in the first place. That dichotomy is what makes Thompson such a poignant symbol of the Brady rule. He proves both that it works and that it is deeply flawed; that it saves innocent people from being railroaded by prosecutors and that countless others are wrongly convicted and imprisoned anyway. The sad truth is that 50 years after Brady, in an increasingly complex criminal justice system, too many prosecutors still hide exculpatory evidence, and too few judges do anything about it.

A rare example of being held accountable for a Brady violation occurred last month in Texas, when a court ruled that former Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson will face criminal contempt and tampering charges for failing to turn over evidence pointing to the innocence of Michael Morton, who was later exonerated by DNA evidence after serving 25 years for his wife's murder, despite a court order and legal obligation to do so.

Anderson faces relatively minor charges. But if it were up to Thompson, Anderson would be facing attempted murder charges. "What happens when we learn that a district attorney has killed an innocent man?" he asked me yesterday. "Isn't it premeditated murder? What are we willing to accept" from our prosecutors?

Read the full article.

Watch our video about the Thompson case and the One for Ten video about the case.

Pussy Riot Doc Defends Free Speech But Skips the Messy Details
The Nation. (blog)
From left to right, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich sit in the defendant's cage at their trial. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko.) At the culmination of the documentary Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer, band member Maria ...

Assembly passes transgender hate crime bill
San Francisco Chronicle
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Nevada lawmakers are making a strong statement that crimes motivated by hatred of someone being a transgender person will not be tolerated in the Silver State. The Assembly passed SB139 by a 30-11 margin Tuesday. The bill ...

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Still no explanation as to the circumstances behind dad MICHAEL BELL JR.'s access to the murdered baby. Was he "caretaking"? "Babysitting" while Mom was at work? Was this a court-ordered custody/vistation situtation? What? And what happened to the mother of this baby?

http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20130514/NJNEWS14/305140018/Plainfield-infant-allegedly-assaulted-dies-father-charged-first-degree-murder

Plainfield infant allegedly assaulted dies; father charged with first-degree murder

May 14, 2013 3:36 PM
Written by Staff Report

ELIZABETH — The father of a Plainfield infant, who died after being gravely injured during an alleged assault Friday, is facing murder charges, authorities said.

The baby’s father, Michael Bell Jr., 34, was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder in connection with Monday’s death of his 3-month-old son, Zino Bell, Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow said.

Bell is scheduled to make his first court appearance Friday at Union County Superior Court, Elizabeth.

Bell was arrested Saturday in Newark while on a bus on the way to Iowa, officials said.

The arrest was part of a cooperative investigation near Newark’s Penn Station between the Union County Homicide Task Force, New Jersey Transit Police Department and Amtrak Police Department. He was transported to the Union County Jail in Elizabeth and ordered held without bail.

Bell originally was charged with aggravated assault. The charges were upgraded to murder Tuesday afternoon.

According to the investigation by the Union County Homicide Task Force and the Plainfield Police Division, the baby was assaulted by his father Friday.

Officers were called to a house on the 200 block of Lee Place in Plainfield at about 10:35 p.m. and discovered the injured 3-month-old suffering from fractures and internal bleeding, authorities said.

Police transported the child to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where he remained in grave condition until he was pronounced dead Monday afternoon.

The baby’s is believed to be Plainfield’s second homicide of 2013. A 44-year-old city man allegedly beat his mother to death in February.

Written by Trevor Solomon Baleke
The Observer (blog)
13 arrested over Luuka police riot · News. Tuesday, 14 May 2013 22:45. Written by Trevor Solomon Baleke. 0 Comments · E-mail · Print · PDF. Police in Luuka last week arrested 13 people, after they rioted at Ntayigirwa police post. The residents were ...

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Report: DRC Mining Deals Highlight Resource Corruption - VOA
Voice of America
GOMA, DRC — The Africa Progress Panel, a research organization chaired by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, says most Africans are not getting a fair deal out of their countries' natural resources. In its annual report, the panel highlights ...

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Jury: Cable repairman guilty of murder
Chicago Tribune
A walks Family members of murder victim Urszula Sakowska, including fiance Grzegorz Magiera, left, are led through the lobby of the Leighton Criminal Court Building by a victim's services representative ,second from left, after a guilty verdict was ...
Cable repairman convicted murderWGNtv.com
Cable TV repairman Anthony Triplett found guilty in 2006 murder caseABC7Chicago.com
Cable repairman convicted of murderThe State Journal-Register
FierceCable
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Notice that Mom found out about the beating by telephone.

Was Daddy babysitting, or was this court-ordered visitation? Not explained.

Dad is identified as CHARLES PERRY.

http://www.registercitizen.com/articles/2013/05/13/news/doc5191627ba2f49826056463.txt

Torrington dad accused of beating 4-year-old son
Published: Monday, May 13, 2013

By Jessica Glenza

BANTAM

A Torrington father accused of striking his 4-year-old son in the head and back with a leather belt is facing felony risk of injury to a minor and misdemeanor assault charges.

Charles Perry, 23, 92 Cookes Ridge, Torrington, told police he struck the child after the 4-year-old strangled two of the man’s four pet rats.

According to a sworn statement from Perry, he left his 4-year-old son inside for between 30 and 45 minutes while Perry went outside to work on his car in the driveway. When Perry went inside to check on the toddler, he saw two of his four pet rats were dead, and that he believed the boy had strangled them.

Perry said he asked the 4-year-old, “What did you do?” The boy responded, “I don’t know.”

According to Perry’s arrest affidavit, he told police, “He lost it and slapped [the boy] on the side of his head. (The boy) began crying and Perry kept asking him ‘What did he do?’ (the boy) kept saying he didn’t know. Perry said he took his leather belt off placed (the boy) on the bed and struck (the boy) two to three times on his bottom.”

The boy’s mother, however, found a red mark on the boy’s back and a bruise behind his right ear. The boy’s mother also said that Perry called her immediately after the incident, saying he’d hit the boy twice on the head and once on the back with the belt.

A public defender has since been appointed to represent Perry, whose bond was set at $30,000. Perry is scheduled to appear in Bantam Superior Court on June 6.

The Plain Dealer 's coverage of the Cleveland kidnapping case has been nothing short of riveting, but it will be the paper's "last hurrah," writes Justin Peters on Slate . This summer, at least 53 members of its staff are being laid off, and the paper will deliver only three days...

Exclusive-Cuba readies corruption trials of Western businessmen
Reuters
HAVANA (Reuters) - Canadian and British executives of three foreign businesses shut in 2011 by Cuban authorities, ostensibly for corrupt practices, have been charged after more than a year in custody and are expected to go on trial soon, sources close ...

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The mother of a man who died while honeymooning on a cruise in 2005 has new hope that the mystery surrounding his death will be solved after the FBI's New York office agreed to review the case.

We first covered this story when it broke back in August 2011. Freaking unbelievable that this guy was never locked up, and was allowed to terrorize this mother and children as long as he did.

The self- confessed killer dad is NAIM RASOOL MUHAMMAD.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Father-Accused-of-Drowning-Sons-Faces-Death-Row-207340801.html

Father Accused of Drowning Sons Faces Death Row

Tuesday, May 14, 2013 | Updated 6:11 AM CDT

The attorney for a 34-year-old man accused of drowning two of his sons in a North Texas creek told jurors on Monday that he expects the father to be convicted, and he'll focus on keeping the man off death row.

Defense attorney Paul Johnson gave the blunt assessment to a Dallas County jury during his opening statements in the capital murder trial of Naim Rasool Muhammad, who is accused in the August 2011 drowning of two of his sons, 5-year-old Naim and 3-year-old Elijah. Prosecutors have said they would seek a death sentence if Muhammad is convicted.

Dallas County prosecutor Tammy Kemp detailed for the jury, step by step, the moments leading to the children's deaths south of Dallas.

She said Muhammad used a brick to force the boys and their mother into his vehicle as she walked the children to school; the older boy was starting kindergarten.

Their mother jumped out of the vehicle at an intersection and alerted a nearby constable, who called police but did not pursue the fleeing vehicle. Constables are mainly process servers in civil cases.

Muhammad's mother later called 911 to say her son had drowned the boys and she had their unresponsive bodies.

Court records show Muhammad has a history of violence and Child Protective Services officials had been tracking the family for months.

Muhammad confessed to the killings later that day, telling homicide detectives during a videotaped interview that he drowned the boys in a remote creek, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Authorities have said Muhammad also tried but failed to take his youngest child, a 1-year-old, from another location earlier in the day.

The children had been under watch by Texas Child Protective Services since early 2011, after the agency received a referral of family violence. CPS declined to say who made the referral but said the three children and their mother, Kametra Sampson, were living together in a shelter at the time.

The suspects are accused of running a prostitution ring out of their apartments, using cocaine, and ultimately causing drunks and drug addicts to bother others living in the building, pass out in the halls, and leave used condoms in the rec room. Oh, the building in question? It's a senior...

Man gets life sentence for leading murder
MiamiHerald.com
TAMPA, Fla. -- A Tampa Bay area man has been sentenced to life in prison for leading several others in a murder. Kasey Lee Ackerman, 23, pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree murder and armed kidnapping as part of a deal with Hillsborough County ...

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So it's "unclear" where the mother is or what happened to her. Let me suggest two likely scenarios for a custodial father who had no problems torturing his own little girl:

1) He killed her and hid the body very well; or
2) She fled for her life and has "disappeared" in order to stay alive

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/chinese-girl-torture-father-arrested-1888845

Chinese girl torture: Father arrested after 11-year-old daughter is found with mouth stitched with fishing cord

14 May 2013 15:49

Xiao Li was also forced to kneel on broken glass, hung upside down and beaten with sticks and had her head dipped in boiling water

An 11-year-old girl had her mouth stitched up with fishing cord and her head dipped in boiling water during a horrific campaign of alleged abuse by her father, according to reports.

Little Xiao Li was forced to kneel on a floor covered with broken glass, hung upside down and beaten with ropes and sticks and had her skin pierced with sewing needles.

The malnourished child's unimaginable ordeal came to light this week when she was discovered walking along a road in the town of Shichang in China's southwestern Guizhou Province.

Photographs from the hospital she was taken to show scars all over her body, while her hair is unlikely ever to grow back because of the temperatures it was subjected to.

The girl's father was arrested following the discovery of the girl.

The victim's grandmother, who is mother to the arrested man, told Sky News that she had looked after the child for five years before her son returned from working elsewhere in China.

Xiao Li is now recovering in hospital. The costs of her medical care have been waived and the local authorities claim to be organising an extensive programme of psychological treatment.

Chen Yuefang, a local government official, said they are now seeking guardians to look after Xiao Li for the remainder of her childhood because her grandparents are too elderly to do so.

It is unclear where her mother is or what might have happened to her.

News 12 Bronx (registration)
2 NY men convicted in triple murder, arson
Wall Street Journal
Vaughan was convicted of first-degree murder, arson and reckless endangerment. Singletary was convicted of second-degree murder and the other charges. Prosecutors say the three people were killed because Vaughan was upset that they allegedly had ...
Hasan Vaughan, Thomas Singletary found guilty in 2009 triple murderNews 12 Bronx (registration)

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We first reported on this case a few days ago. Even at that time, we suspected that ADOLFO GUZMAN was a custodial father. Turns out we were correct. Still no word on what happened to the mother of these kids, or how this guy was able to move from the Dominican Republic to the U.S. with three kids.

http://www.local10.com/news/judge-to-decide-where-boy-lives-after-fathers-child-abuse-arrest/-/1717324/20139690/-/cath1gz/-/index.html

Judge: Boy can stay with older sister

Adolfo Guzman charged with aggravated child abuse

Author: Benjamin Candea, Senior Web Producer
Alexandra Fruin, Producer

Published On: May 14 2013 10:49:52 AM EDT
Updated On: May 14 2013 02:19:41 PM EDT

MIAMI - A dependency court judge ruled a 12-year-old boy can stay with his older sister after their father was charged with tying the boy to a pole with a bicycle cable wire.

The judge ruled Adolfo Guzman's son could stay in their Miami Beach apartment with his 15 and 21-year-old sisters under the supervision of the Department of Children and Families.

Guzman can have no contact with his son until his criminal case is resolved, the judge ruled.. He can see his 15-year-old daughter.

Police arrested Guzman on Sunday and charged him with aggravated child abuse. Neighbors said Guzman hadn't been back to his apartment since his arrest.

According to an arrest report, Guzman's son left their apartment without permission Saturday. When he returned home, Guzman threatened to tie him up if he continued to wander off. A neighbor said Guzman woke up and his son wasn't home.

On Sunday, the boy left again without permission. When he returned, Guzman used the cable wire to tie him to the pole outside their apartment, according to the arrest report.

Passer-bys flagged police officers down, who had the Miami Beach Fire Department cut the boy loose.

"It's all my fault. It's not his fault," the 12-year-old boy told Local 10's Glenna Milberg. "It's all my fault because I'm the one who got out of the house without permission. I came late."

The boy is the youngest of Guzman's children. A single father, Guzman raises his three children on a disability check. He moved to the U.S. from the Dominican Republican about three years ago.

"I don't say nothing because he deserved that because he made my dad do that," said the boy's sister.

"He never hit me in my life. Not even my sisters," said the boy.

Victim's Eye Blinks Key to Ohio Murder Trial
ABC News
Ohio jurors will have to determine whether a dying, paralyzed man identified his shooter by blinking his eyes as they deliberate in the suspect's murder trial. The prosecution and the defense completed closing arguments Tuesday in the trial of 35-year ...
Arguments made in Ohio murder trial of man state says was identified by victim ...Fox News

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