Crime (funny, not-so-funny, bizarre, and just plain stupid) and dealing with it

[Lady Sidhe]

BRITISH TO USE GPS ON PRISONERS

The British prison system plans to introduce the satellite
Global Positioning System to track criminals in England and
Wales to save on prison space. GPS tracks all movements via
an electronic anklet and sets off an alert when perimeters have
been broken, the BBC reports. Inmates' movements can be tracked
on computer to ensure they do not enter a restricted area, such
as a school. The British government agency has been studying
the U.S. Department of Corrections in Florida, which monitors
3,000 convicts by GPS.


I think that's a pretty damned good idea@

Sidhe

[Lady Sidhe]

Would you consider yourself an animal lover? If you live in
Sweden, that description takes on a whole new meaning. Defying
moral and ethical standards, sex with animals is legal in the
Scandinavian country. As a result, between 200 and 300 pets
are injured every year due to sexual assaults by their owners.
And why is this act not illegal? After homosexual sex was
decriminalized in 1944, the case for animal intercourse was
raised and seen as comparably justified. Since then,
veterinarians estimate that every 20th cat or dog that receives
treatment is there as a result of sexual assault.


Um, EW.

Sidhe

[Lady Sidhe]

In perhaps one of the touchiest police standoffs of all time,
a 20-year-old female suspected of dealing drugs battled police
for 10 hours after she shoved some crack in a crack of her own.
After being spotted, the woman reached into her pants and a
batch of suspected crack cocaine "disappeared". Unable to
convince the woman to produce the evidence, she was taken to
a San Francisco hospital for the drug's extraction. However,
non-compliance from the suspect and hospital staff forced a
legal standoff that spanned almost half a day. Finally, after
obtaining a "body cavity search warrant", police persuaded
the suspect to give up and take out the contraband herself.


Sidhe

[Lady Sidhe]

An Iowa man whose wife testified his penis was too small to
be seen from 35 feet away now faces jail time for indecent
exposure. Doug Neece, 41, has been on trial for three charges of indecent exposure, the Quad City Times reported Friday. Part of his defense entailed having his wife testify that he is not well-endowed enough for a female postal worker to have seen his penis from about 35 feet. That did not appear too convincing to the Scott County jury that took five hours to
convict him. Neece faces up to a year in jail on each charge
and will be placed on the state's sex offender registry.



Sorry, but....HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!


Sidhe

[Lady Sidhe]

"Saudi Takes Four Wives in One Night
to Spite His Ex" -- AFP headline


"Fiji Village to Apologize for Eating English Missionary" -- AFP
headline

AMATEUR MEETS EXPERT: The manager of Action Video in Greensboro, N.C.,
looked at the gun held by the robber in front of him. "That is not a
real gun," Ron Simpson told the robber. "This is a real gun," he added
as he pulled out his own gun, which he has a permit to carry. The
surprised robber grabbed a candy rack to use as a shield. "Like that's
going to stop the bullet," Simpson told him as he picked up the phone
to call police. The robber ran. "Police don't suggest this, I know,"
Simpson said later, but "I'd do it again." (Greensboro News & Record)


RANK AMATEURS II: When two men stepped up to the counter at a convenience
store in Stuart, Fla., the clerk asked if they were old enough to buy
beer. When Winston Lamar, 22, handed over his ID, she noticed he had a
gun. But before he could do anything with it, store clerk Marie Blanco,
42, grabbed it and the men ran, taking the beer. A half hour later,
Lamar called the store to ask if he could come back for the gun and ID.
Blanco said he could, telling him the police had left, but two
sheriff's deputies were there to arrest him and Drew Nash, 21, when
they returned. (Ft Myers News-Press) ...Old enough to buy beer: yes.
Smart enough to buy beer: no.




Sidhe

[Lady Sidhe]

Sarasota, Fla. (AP)

A mechanic charged with kidnapping and killing an 11-year-old girl whose abduction was caught on a carwash surveillance camera was ordered held without bond on Saturday...

Joseph P. Smith, who has been arrested at least 13 times in Fla. since 1993, waived his first court appearance in the slaying of Carlie Brucia a day after her body was pulled from thick underbrush in a church parking lot.

Carlie's slaying has prompted Florida's attorney general to investigate stiffening penalties for criminals who violate the terms of their release. Smith has been free despite violating his probation, and Carlie's family has called for an investigation of how his numerous past arrests were handled.


((Now this is the problem, or at least part of it. This is someone with a history of unlawful behavior, and yet he was allowed to violate his probation with no repercussions. One can't help but wonder, if he had been slammed back in jail on his first violation, if this child would still be alive.--Sidhe))



"You can't help but think that some of the statutes are too permissive," Attorney General Charlie Crist said in an interview with the Associated Press. "I think it's important we review putting more teeth in our statutes...it's got to be ratcheted up very quickly."


((...the statutes are too permissive....well, no shit, Sherlock. It took a child being kidnapped and murdered for you to figure that out?? Our statutes ought to have teeth to BEGIN with. Penalties for crimes shouldn't be a slap on the hand. That's what you do to your kid when they try to play with the light socket. It's not what you do to serial criminals.--Sidhe))


Circuit Court Judge Harry Rapkin, who handled Smith's most recent probation hearings, said Friday he had received death threats. Carlie's family denounced the threats through a spokesman Saturday.

Smith "should have been put in jail and put away," said Bruce Meeks, a family friend. "Somewhere in the cracks, our justice system failed us. Whose fault it is, we don't know."




Now, this guy was apparantly caught on a video surveillance camera. Is THAT enough evidence to fry his useless ass??

Sidhe

[wolf]

The surveillance video shows someone, likely him, having contact with the child. It does not show him murdering her on camera.

There are even ways that a video of a murder can be excluded from evidence.

[Lady Sidhe]

Ok, so what if they enhance the video, and find that it IS him? Say this proves that he kidnapped the child. Then we'll have kidnapping. Then say they find DNA evidence to link him to the murder of the child. (One can mess up DNA evidence in such a way so as to make it look like it ISN'T a person it IS, but you can't make it look like it IS a person it ISN'T.) Would THAT be enough?

What if he confessed? Would it then be said that he was coerced, or making it up for the attention?

I'm not being contrary just for the sake of being contrary, understand. I just want to know what it takes to decide that someone deserves to die for the criminal actions s/he has committed....

Sidhe

[wolf]

A clever lawyer and not-so-clever cops has lead to confessions, including videotaped ones being thrown out.

Even if he IS convicted, and gets the death penalty, he won't die for 14 - 20 years because of the appeals process anyway.

It sometimes seems that prisoners on death row have a better chance of dying by natural causes or murder by other inmates than at the hands of the state.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally posted by Lady Sidhe
What if he confessed? Would it then be said that he was coerced, or making it up for the attention?Sidhe

Coerced into telling them where to find the body? Pretty damning, I'd say.

[Lady Sidhe]

Originally posted by wolf

Even if he IS convicted, and gets the death penalty, he won't die for 14 - 20 years because of the appeals process anyway.

It sometimes seems that prisoners on death row have a better chance of dying by natural causes or murder by other inmates than at the hands of the state.

No shit, huh? I'm right there with you on that one. That's the whole reason the death penalty is so damned expensive as compared to "life in prison;" the appeals are what cost so much, not frying the SOB....


Sidhe

[Lady Sidhe]

And while I'm on the rant, you know what else pisses me off? When lawyers talk about "circumstantial evidence." Unless you have an eyewitness, an earwitness, or film, ALL evidence is "circumstantial."

"We will prove that the State's case is purely circumstantial...."

Well, no shit. You don't think the guy's going to invite the press over when he commits the crime, do you??
*sheesh...*

Sidhe

[Lady Sidhe]

From CNN.com:

Key evidence missing in Carlie's killing
Warrant: Smith told witness about killing girl

Friday, February 6, 2004 Posted: 11:27 PM EST (0427 GMT)

SARASOTA, Florida (CNN) -- Authorities are asking for the public's help in finding "key pieces of evidence" that could lead to the conviction of Joseph P. Smith in the death of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia, whose body was recovered Friday.

Carlie's remains were discovered five days and a few miles from a car wash where a surveillance camera captured chilling images of her abduction Sunday.

Sarasota County Sheriff Bill Balkwill said that key evidence includes a pink knapsack.

"You can find that backpack for us -- do not touch it. Call the sheriff's office. We will come and retrieve it," he said.


Authorities were able to recover Carlie's body because Smith confided in a jailhouse witness after his arrest on February 3, according to a warrant.

"On February 5th," the affidavit says, "the defendant told a witness that he abducted and murdered Carlie Brucia. Based upon specific information provided to this witness by the defendant, this witness was able to lead investigators to the body of Carlie Brucia."

Balkwill said Smith, a one-time auto mechanic with a long criminal record, has been charged with murder and kidnapping in Carlie's death and disappearance. Smith has been in jail in Sarasota since Tuesday on unrelated drug possession and probation violation charges.

He has waived his first court appearance that had been set for this weekend.


Carlie's body was found on the property of Central Church of Christ on Proctor Road near Interstate 75, about two miles from the car wash, law enforcement sources said. The girl was walking home from a friend's house when she disappeared. She may have walked through the parking lot of the car wash to get to her neighborhood.

Kansler said he and his wife Susan Schorpen, Carlie's mother, want Smith to stand trial and get the death penalty.

Smith's arrest affidavit also says Smith gave "misleading and false" information during an interview in which he admitted owning a yellow 1992 Buick Century station wagon that had been linked to the investigation.

In that February 3 interview, the affidavit says, Smith denied being near the car wash where a surveillance video shows Carlie being accosted by a man in what appears to be a uniform. But, according to the affidavit, police saw the car in a surveillance video, "in the parking lot of the car wash approximately three minutes prior to Carlie's abduction."

Kansler said early Friday that police told family members they found DNA evidence linking Carlie to the station wagon.

The tag for the car is not registered in Smith's name.

Authorities searched Smith's house in Sarasota's Kensington Park neighborhood Wednesday as well as a field with tall grass behind it. They found no evidence immediately linking Smith to the girl's disappearance, a law enforcement source involved in the investigation said. Forensic examinations will be conducted on certain items taken in the search, the source said.

Kansler also said other people on a nearby driving range may have seen Smith.

The videotape shows a dark-haired man approach Carlie, grab her arm and speak to her briefly before leading her away Sunday.

The footage does not clearly show the man's face, but he appears to be wearing a uniform and has tattoos on his arms. Smith also has tattoos on his arms, authorities said.

Smith was arrested Tuesday after tips from members of the community, authorities said. A woman who said she lives with Smith told CNN she turned him in after seeing the surveillance video on television.

The sheriff called the owners of the car wash "heroes" for providing the videotape and said he wanted the public to know that Smith never worked there.




So, apparantly, he HAS confessed....

Sidhe

[Lady Sidhe]

Oooh, this just burns me up....marriage is an institution comprised of two people who love each other and want to spend their lives together. It shouldn't matter if they're straight or gay....


Sidhe




Ohio governor signs bill making state 38th to ban gay marriage

Saturday, February 7, 2004 Posted: 11:39 AM EST (1639 GMT)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Ohio Gov. Bob Taft approved one of the country's most-far reaching gay-marriage bans on Friday, saying its adoption was urgent because the nation's first legally sanctioned same-sex weddings could take place as early as this spring in Massachusetts.



((OH, Gawd fah-bid that two people who love each other should get married!!!))


The bill, which Taft signed in private, also prohibits state employees from getting marital benefits for their unmarried partners, whether homosexual or heterosexual.


((now, that's just adding insult to injury))


Approving the bill to make gay marriages "against the strong public policy of the state" became more pressing after the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled 4-3 this week that denial of marriage to same-sex couples as unconstitutional, Taft said. (The Massachusetts ruling)



((it IS unconstitutional, because it is denying the basic right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to a select group of individuals based on their sexual preference))




"It is necessary for us to act now to safeguard Ohio's marriage laws," Taft said. "Ohio could have same-sex couples who were 'married' in Massachusetts taking legal action in Ohio to recognize that marriage and to obtain the resulting benefits."



((ok, and....what's the problem? Afraid that a gay marriage might end up being more solid than a hetero one?))



When the law takes effect in 90 days, Ohio will become the 38th state to adopt a "defense of marriage act" and the second to deny benefits to some employees' partners.


((noooo...it's a defense of marriage for straights only, not a defense of marriage.))


Taft, a Republican, denied assertions that the law promotes intolerance. He said the new law would send a strong positive message to children and families.



((Really? It doesn't promote intolerance? I must be missing the tolerant part....matter of fact, it sounds like he's trotting out the old "separate but equal" idea, just dressed up with new words....and it'll send a message to families and children that love and respect and a desire to spend your lives together isn't what matters in a marriage....what REALLY matters is whether you're straight or not))



"Marriage is an essential building block of our society, an institution we must reaffirm," he said.



((And so therefore we are going o undermine this building block by restricting it to only straights.))


Sidhe

[wolf]

This relates to law, not to crime, but it's your forum and your thread.

Cheers to Ohio.