crime

I have never seen a man facing a murder rap be able to raise thousands of dollars because of that murder rap and yet be treated with kid gloves for the way he managed those thousands of dollars. Subhash Kateel http://www.huffingtonpost.com/subhash-kateel/

Authorities in Minnesota are searching for a woman reported missing Friday when she failed to report to her job as a store manager at the... Steven Hoffer http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-hoffer/

Is the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and the warrantless wiretapping of US citizens it allows for, constitutional? We may never know, because the Supreme Court just ruled that the law can't be challenged in federal court. In a 5-4 decision, the court today agreed to a government request to throw...

By JESSICA GRESKO, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — The man who shot and wounded President Ronald Reagan has been spending too much time at a... Paige Lavender http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paige-lavender/

A mother-daughter duo managed to scam a multibillion dollar company. Carrie and Sarah Jones bilked Coca-Cola out of more than $200,000 by manipulating a bottle... Jillian Berman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jillian-berman/

Hurriyet Daily News
Pussy Riot Early Release Possible, Speculates Bandmate Yekaterina Samutsevich
Huffington Post
Freed Pussy Riot punk Yekaterina Samutsevich vowed to pursue every legal route to free her jailed bandmates, saying there was still a chance the Russian authorities could free the two women early. "The main task is to get Nadya and Masha out," ...
Pussy Riot member Alyokhina allowed to stay in secure cell for 90 more daysRussia Beyond The Headlines
Pussy Riot's Alyokhina ordered to spend 90 days in solitary confinementRAPSI

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A teenager accused of killing three schoolmates and wounding three others in a high school shooting in northeastern Ohio last year has pleaded guilty to murder and other charges in the case.

While interviewing the 16-year-old victim, cops noted that he had "burrito cheese, sauce and meat all over his clothing and face."

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VIENNA — The story of Natascha Kampusch, who grew from a 10-year old to a young woman as a captive of a sadistic abductor, is... AP http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kia-makarechi/

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio might want to watch his back -- and his Facebook feed. Ignacio Carbajal, an Arizona resident, was arrested Tuesday after... The Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisamiller/

A South Carolina father has admitted that he threw his infant son on the floor "in anger" because the child would not stop crying, according... Hilary Hanson http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hilary-hanson/

The confessed killer and the aggressive prosecutor are set to confront each other again Tuesday, as cross-examination resumes in Jodi Arias first-degree murder trial. In... David Lohr http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-lohr/

Two US sailors Tuesday admitted raping a Japanese woman in Okinawa last October, news reports said, in a case that generated huge anti-American anger on... Agence France Presse http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carlo-davis/

Suspect in 1994 Pennsylvania cold case murder caught in Dominican Republic
Fox News
Miranda is the prime suspect in the 1994 murder of 30-year-old Jorge Antonio Velazquez Jr., of Bethlehem, Pa., who police say was stabbed to death after a fight following a game of dominoes, according to the newspaper. Miranda was reportedly found ...

LA Now Live: Discuss the Bell corruption trial
Los Angeles Times
The case is the first chapter in a broader alleged municipal corruption case in which authorities contend that the city's then-chief executive -- Robert Rizzo -- dipped into the city treasury by paying huge salaries, loaning city money and padding ...

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UNNAMED DAD

http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/2013/02/26/363--Worship-not-rape-girl-child-says-court-sentencing-father-.html

Worship, not rape girl child, says court sentencing father

New Delhi,Crime/Disaster/Accident,Immigration/Law/Rights, Tue, 26 Feb 2013

IANS New Delhi, Feb 26 (IANS) Saying a "girl child is to be worshipped and not raped", a fast track court here sentenced a man to life imprisonment for raping and sodomising his minor daughter.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Virender Bhat, also slapping a fine of Rs.60,000, held that the crime committed by the convict, being the father of the victim, was intensely grave, serious and barbaric in nature.

The convict would not be entitled to any clemency till he spends at least 20 years in jail, the court ruled.

"There is no crime more heinous and ghastly than the present one and no other crime can be more humiliating and disgraceful for a man than act of seducing his own daughter," the order stated.

"The girl child is considered incarnation of Mata Lakshmi in a household. Hindu religion ordains us to worship the girl child as the manifestation of Goddess Lakshmi. There is a tradition prevalent in the Hindus to worship minor girls on the last day of Navratras which is known as 'Kanjak Puja'."

"The girl child is to be worshipped and not raped. Sexual assault upon a girl child is the most sinful, barbaric and savage atrocity and hence not only highly deplorable but severely punishable. One fails to imagine how a person would think of ravishing a minor, innocent girl and that too when the girl is his own daughter who, in fact, deserves to be worshipped as a form of Goddess Durga."

In September 2012, the mother of the child registered a case against her husband, a resident of Najafgarh, alleging that he had raped and sodomised their minor daughter several times.

She told police that her child was complaining of stomach pain past several days and she had consulted various doctors but there was no relief to the minor. After noticing swelling in the child's body, she again took her to doctor who told her that the child was sexually assaulted.

Police had said that the nine-year-old child then told her mother about her father's act and a case was registered against him.

"The crime committed by the convict depicts extreme form of depravity and brutality on his part. He has ravished his own daughter, who had yet not crossed the single digit age. A father is the protector of the honour and dignity of his daughter and a girl child looks towards her parents for every kind of help and assistance in case of adversity," said the court.

"However, in the present case, the father himself has become the tormentor and has perpetrated the heinous crime of rape upon his own daughter."

Apart from the Iraq excuses, this is a pretty typical daddy abuse story. Deadbeat Daddy has a few brews, is playing video games/xbox/etc., gets "frustrated" by crying baby/dirty diapers/normal infant behavior--and bashes the baby. Then lies about it.

Dad is identified as RICHARD ELIAS.

http://www.salemnews.com/local/x1837419344/Father-admits-hurting-infant

February 26, 2013

Father admits hurting infant

23-year-old gets 3-4 years in prison, blames PTSD from Iraq war service

BY JULIE MANGANIS STAFF WRITER

PEABODY — A Peabody man who admitted to shaking and “head-butting” his 7-week-old daughter because she would not stop crying while he was trying to play Xbox was sentenced to three to four years in state prison yesterday.

The baby suffered brain damage and may have permanent damage to her vision.

Richard Elias, 23, received the prison term, to be followed by two years of supervised probation, as a result of a plea agreement.

That agreement was negotiated after it became apparent that an important witness in the case — the infant’s mother and Elias’ wife — had dropped her divorce complaint and was no longer interested in testifying against him. In fact, Rachel Elias, 38, sat just a few feet from her husband, chatting with him, prior to the start of yesterday’s hearing and, according to court papers, has taken the baby, Isabella, to see him in jail.

Elias’ lawyer laid blame for the abuse on post-traumatic stress disorder, arising from his service in Iraq with the U.S. Army in 2007. As part of a unit that searched for mines and improvised explosive devices, Elias came upon the scene of a suicide bombing that had killed approximately 15 people, his lawyer said.

The abuse that led to two counts of assault and battery on a child causing serious injury occurred in October 2011, when Elias, 22, was home alone with the baby, prosecutor Kate MacDougall told Salem Superior Court Judge Timothy Feeley.

On Oct. 20, Rachel Elias had gone out to pick up her two older children when her husband found himself changing Isabella’s diaper. He later told investigators that he became frustrated when the infant immediately soiled her new diaper and confessed to shaking the baby and slamming her head into the table.

That shaking triggered a series of seizures in the infant, who was evaluated. But Elias said nothing about what he had done, and doctors sent the baby home, not sure what had caused the seizures.

About two weeks later, on Oct. 29, Rachel Elias went to a Halloween party, her first night out since the birth of the baby. Richard Elias stayed home with the infant, who was fussing as he drank beer and attempted to play Xbox Live with other players online.

Later that night, he called his wife and told her the baby was suffering seizures again, MacDougall told the judge.

What he didn’t tell her was that he had picked up his daughter, squeezed and shook her and then slammed his own head into hers, MacDougall said.

Rachel Elias returned home, but instead of taking the baby to the hospital, the couple waited, Rachel recording the seizures on her cellphone to show doctors later. MacDougall described the recordings as showing the infant in the throes of a seizure, her tiny hands opening and closing.

The next morning, the couple took the baby to a pediatrician, who immediately sent them to North Shore Children’s Hospital. From there, the baby was transferred to Massachusetts General Hospital with injuries that included swelling and bleeding on both sides of her brain and in her retinas. Doctors also discovered that the baby’s ribs had been broken on at least two occasions.

Richard Elias initially tried to convince investigators from the Peabody police and the Department of Children and Families that he had simply handled the infant a little roughly while bouncing her on his knee.

But confronted with additional information about the baby’s injuries, he confessed.

He told investigators that after he head-butted the infant, her skull felt “spongy,” and he became worried enough to ask his fellow Xbox players what to do. They urged him to call 911.

But he didn’t, the prosecutor said.

While Elias could have faced up to 30 years in prison, the recommendation of three to four years was based in part on his willingness to accept responsibility, as well as his underlying mental health issues, which “left him particularly ill-equipped to care for an infant child.”

More than a year and a half later, the baby has made far greater progress than anyone originally expected, MacDougall said, but is expected to suffer some degree of permanent damage to her vision.

Defense lawyer John Apruzzese, in a sentencing memorandum, included information about the baby’s condition now, including mild motor delays but no seizures for the past year.

Elias, meanwhile, has obtained assistance from the Veterans Administration, which will provide in-patient treatment for his PTSD and a substance abuse problem after he completes his prison term, Apruzzese told the judge.

It’s help that Elias, who was briefly hospitalized while still in the service, should have been — but was not — getting after his discharge in the spring of 2011, his lawyer said.

In his sentencing memorandum, Apruzzese said the family was strained by financial problems at the time of the two incidents.

Elias hadn’t worked since his discharge from the service that May, and his wife was earning less because she was working fewer hours after the birth of their child. Weeks earlier, Elias had been involved in a car accident in his wife’s car, but coverage for the damage was denied because he hadn’t been listed as a driver on the insurance policy, the lawyer wrote. They were trying to save money to fix the car and put it back on the road.

Rachel Elias declined to comment outside court yesterday.

In court papers, Apruzzese described how during visits at Middleton Jail, where Elias has been held since his arrest, the baby gives her father “high-fives” through the glass partition.

“I’m terribly sorry for my actions,” Elias told the judge yesterday, his voice breaking slightly. “I wish to become a good father and a good man.”

Jury to soon get corruption trial of Austin lawyer
Houston Chronicle
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — Prosecutors are calling final witnesses to rebut testimony from an Austin lawyer facing racketeering charges in a South Texas judicial corruption case. Lawyers for Marc Rosenthal rested Monday after he spent three days on ...

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Paste Magazine (blog)
A Day In The Life: Ra Ra Riot
Paste Magazine (blog)
On Sunday, Ra Ra Riot made an appearance in Atlanta, Ga. The band spent the afternoon before the show at Terminal West playing street hockey and finely tuning everything for the evening's event. The leisurely game of street hockey was short-lived, ...

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ABC7Chicago.com
19 arrested at mall riot in Chicago
ABC7Chicago.com
19 arrested at mall riot in Chicago. Tuesday, February 26, 2013. Tags: local. Comment Now; Email · Print · Report a typo. ShareThis via email, AIM, social bookmarking and networking sites, etc. Sun-Times Media Wire. February 26, 2013 ( CHICAGO) -- The ...
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