Crime Newswire

Washington Times
Patricia Cornwell: Crime writer takes stand at negligence trial
Washington Times
BOSTON (AP) — Crime writer Patricia Cornwell has taken the witness stand to testify in her lawsuit against her former financial management company. Miss Cornwell was on the stand Thursday morning in U.S. District Court in Boston. The author, best ...

Murder charge dropped in Miami Gardens self-defense case
MiamiHerald.com
Prosecutors on Thursday dropped a murder charge against a man who claimed self-defense in fatally shooting an armed teen during a June 2010 brawl in Miami Gardens. Travis Cooper, 28, had been charged with second-degree murder in the killing of ...

Christopher Dorner, the shooting suspect who allegedly went on a rampage and killed an officer on Thursday, wrote an online manifesto on his Facebook page... Andy Campbell http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-campbell/

Chung Kim Update: Texas man accused in "dog poop double murder" claims ...
CBS News
(CBS) DALLAS - Chung Kim, a Dallas man accused of killing two neighbors on Monday in an argument about dog droppings, now claims he did it in self-defense, CBS DFW reports. Kim, 75, admits the shooting started with a long-standing argument over dog ...

CBS News
Christopher Dorner, ex-LAPD cop suspected in double murder, reportedly opens ...
CBS News
Police are on a manhunt Thursday morning for murder suspect Christopher Dorner, who is accused of shooting 28-year-old Monica Quan and 27-year-old Keith Lawrence to death in their car on Sunday. Riverside Lt. Guy Toussaint said officers were stopped ...
Former LA police officer sought in murder of women's basketball coachCBSSports.com
Ex-LAPD cop suspected in murder spreeHLNtv.com
3 bystanders reportedly shot by police during hunt for murder suspectFox News
FOX News Radio -Detroit Free Press -KARE
all 457 news articles »

Despite the formation of Anita Alvarez' Cook County Integrity Unit last year, prosecutors continue to resist claims of innocence in confession cases. Daniel Taylor and seven other juveniles were convicted of a Chicago area double murder 20 years ago, even though police records showed that Taylor was incarcerated at the time of the crime. Taylor was 17 years old when he was arrested for disorderly conduct and detained for more than four hours by Chicago police when the murders were committed at 8:45 p.m. on November 16, 1992.

Despite the prosecutions' unwillingness to accept that false confessions occur, especially among juveniles, Taylor has received support from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Illinois Attorney General's office.

Taylor's attorneys from the Center on Wrongful Conviction filed a petition Thursday with the Cook County Circuit Court that confirms there were five current and former police employees who have sworn the records accurately indicate that Taylor was locked up. It also claims that a prosecutor's notes and other documents supporting Taylor's innocence were withheld before trial.

Still, the prosecution remains more convinced by the confession than the police records. The Chicago Tribune reports:

"The evidence that prosecutors typically rely on - police officer statements, police reports, records - demonstrate that Daniel couldn't have committed the murders," said Karen Daniel, who is Taylor's lawyer and an attorney at Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions.

"Conviction integrity means not putting innocent people away, but also making sure that there's a fair and constitutional process. If these records weren't turned over to the defense, then Daniel Taylor's trial wasn't fair and constitutional, and Daniel's conviction has no integrity."

Allegedly, four of the juveniles were in an apartment when the shooting deaths occurred and the other four acted as lookouts. Police said all of them confessed and implicated each other. Taylor, who was taken into custody more than two weeks after the shootings, remembered being arrested the night of the murders. Although those records were presented at trial, Taylor was sentenced to life in prison and is still behind bars.

Read the full article.

Read Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn's blog about the case.

Read about the Cook County Conviction Integrity Unit.

Yahoo! News (blog)
Afghan corruption worth twice government revenue: report
Yahoo! News (blog)
KABUL (Reuters) - A figure equal to twice the Afghan government's domestic revenue - $3.9 billion - was gouged from the country by public sector corruption last year, a U.N. report said on Thursday. This amount is also roughly equal to the annual aid ...
Cost of corruption in Afghanistan nearly $4 billion – UN surveyUN News Centre
UN: Cost of Afghan corruption rose sharply last year, with half the population ...Washington Post
Corruption on the rise in Afghanistan3News NZ
Marketplace.org -BBC News
all 18 news articles »

Wellesley, Mass., went from a town renowned for its colleges and highly educated residents to a place where cops busted an alleged prostitution ring that operated out of a massage parlor. Phillip Martin http://www.huffingtonpost.com/phillip-martin/

These days, it isn't that weird for a baby to have two mothers—but how about two mothers and a father? One 23-month-old girl now legally has just such a family, after a Miami-Dade judge approved a settlement in which her biological mother, her mother's wife (the two married in...

A mother's love knows no bounds, but Kimberly Margeson's love for her son may have shown no boundaries. New York State police say 54-year-old Margeson... The Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-moye/

The New York City medical examiner's office uncovers more errors, North Carolina introduces legislation to tackle its backlog of samples, and researchers in the UK have developed new technology for police to tag criminal suspects with DNA. Here's this week's round up of forensic news:

In the ongoing review of cases at the New York City medical examiner's office, it was discovered that in more than 50 cases DNA profiles were not loaded into the state database. This error, along with cases containing overlooked biological evidence, led to the firing of the office's deputy director of quality assurance and the suspension of the office's department of forensic biology.

In Texas, the growing backlog of samples at the Austin Police Department crime lab is partially the result of the city's refusal to add more scientists to the staff. However, no national agency regulates backlogs or has standards for how quickly cases should be processed.

Recently proposed legislation in North Carolina aims to reduce a three-year backlog of blood and DNA evidence by creating a new crime lab. The legislation appropriates $17.8 million for the construction and staffing of the lab.

A Massachusetts' man has filed a civil lawsuit against the Hinton State chemist who allegedly falsified conclusive tests on drug samples. The lawsuit claims Annie Dookhan "conducted no scientific testing on the substances [and] falsely recorded that the substances tested positive for cocaine."

Researchers in the U.K. have developed a new technology where DNA can be used to tag suspects, for example in a riot when suspects are dispersed. The controversial technology involves shooting paintball-type bullets filled with a unique DNA signature at individuals so they can later be round up and identified by ultraviolent light.

The American Bar Association drafted a resolution that encourages judges and lawyers to consider a variety of factors when deciding how expert testimony should be presented in court. These resolutions, which could improve testimony from forensic experts and analysts, mirror recommendations from the 2009 National Academy of Sciences report that focuses on forensic research.

This has seriously got to hurt: A Guatemalan woman struggling to make her way through an airport in Panama City, Panama, was arrested after exhibiting... msnNOW.com http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-moye/

Police in LA are on high alert as they hunt for a man accused of killing an officer , wounding two others, and vowing to wage "unconventional and asymmetrical warfare" on the LAPD. Here's how high the alert: Officers opened fire in two separate incidents on trucks matching the description of...

Violent crime database: Where does Memphis stand?
Memphis Business Journal
Memphis' violent crime rate also registered growth through the first six months of 2012 compared to the same period in 2011. The Bluff City's violent crime growth rate of 12.43 percent over the period ranked it 60th among 267 metro areas across the U.S ...

Crime alerts for Florence and 10 other LA neighborhoods
Los Angeles Times
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in 11 L.A. neighborhoods, according to an analysis of LAPD data by the Los Angeles Times' Crime L.A. database. Five neighborhoods reported a significant increase in violent crime. Florence (A) was ...

Francis Slay releases campaign ad on crime
STLtoday.com
ST. LOUIS • A new campaign ad from Mayor Francis Slay focuses on an important touchstone of the St. Louis mayoral race: crime. Slay, who is battling Aldermanic President Lewis Reed in a heated Democratic primary, is up on television with a spot ...

and more »

Accused murderer Jodi Arias has a new man in her life, according to a report by Azcentral.com. The man, identified by the news network as... David Lohr http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-lohr/

VICTORIA - Children's watchdog Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond says British Columbia's child welfare system failed an 11-year-old Prince George boy who was zapped by an RCMP... CP http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andree-lau/

A Pennsylvania gun shop owner gave away an assault weapon and ammunition in an effort to support the Second Amendment. Eric Lowry -- the owner... Meredith Bennett-Smith http://www.huffingtonpost.com/meredith-bennettsmith/

NEW YORK -- An inmate convicted in one of New York's most notorious police killings is fit to stand retrial, a federal judge ruled Thursday.... AP http://www.huffingtonpost.com/inae-oh/