(Original Post 10-11-09)
Twenty-one year old Gerald Jackson was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison in a Seattle courtroom by King County Superior Court Judge Helen Halpert on Friday. Jackson's sentence was enhanced because he is a member of the West Side Street Mobb gang. Jackson was accused of pimping three women, collecting all on the money they earned. Jackson described how he forced one of the women to prostitute herself.
King County prosecutors filed charges against six men thought to be members of or affiliated with the West Seattle gang following a joint investigation by the King County Sheriff's Office and Seattle police. Jackson and four others have pleaded guilty to prostitution-related offenses so far; the sixth, 19-year-old Deshawn Cash Money Clark, is currently facing a jury.
"Although she started doing it voluntarily, I used threats to keep her working for me. I expected her to turn over her earning to me. I have hit her hard enough to cause bruises."
"I am determined to leave prison a better human being," he also said.
Absent from his statement, at least in Halpert's expressed view, was any understanding of or remorse for the damage done to the women who prostituted themselves for him.
Speaking to Jackson, the judge said she did not hear him take responsibility for his actions. Still, in an unusual move, Halpert issued a sentence six months shorter than the one prosecutors and Jackson's attorney had agreed on as part of the plea agreement; asked to explain her reasoning by Senior Deputy Prosecutor Sean O'Donnell, Halpert said she was persuaded by Jackson's short criminal record.
Another defendant, 21 year old Desmond Manango, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for promoting prostitution. His sentence was shorter than Jackson's because he was not involved with a gang.
Clark's trial will continue on Tuesday.
(Update 10-18-09) Another defendant has been sentenced in the case. 20 year old Thomas Foster plead guilty to two counts of first-degree promoting prostitution, conspiracy to commit the same crime and second-degree assault. On Friday, October 16, King County Superior Court Judge Helen Halpert sentenced Foster to 5 1/2 years, 6 months longer than the recommended sentence by both the prosecution and defense.
The charges came from Foster's coercion of his baby's mama into prostitution. Foster threatened to leave the victim if she did not make money, and "when she did make money, I would take all of from her. I did not care if she might get hurt (working on the street). I just wanted to make money." The 2nd degree assault charge stems from an incident in West Seattle where Foster choked and tried to choke his victim.
(Update 12-29-09) Shawn Clark, DeShawn's brother, was sentenced to 9 years in prison on December 11 by King County Superior Court Judge Helen Halpert for 9 criminal counts including violating a protective order, promoting prostitution, witness tampering and criminal conspiracy. Shawn pled guilty to these charges in August, and his brother faces 20 years for his part in the prostitution ring. DeShawn Clark is the 1st person in Washington State to be convicted of human trafficking and faces 20 years in prison when he is sentenced next month.
(Update 1-27-10) DeShawn Clark was sentenced to 17 years in prison last Friday. The prosecution's case rested on the testimony of three girls Clark lured into prostitution, including the prosecution's star witness, a 19 year old girl.
Having fallen out of touch, Clark and the teen began dating during the summer of 2007. That relationship quickly took a violent turn, prosecutors contended, and the teen was soon on her way to Las Vegas with Clark to work as a prostitute.
After pimping the teen in Las Vegas, Clark returned with her to Washington and continued to pimp her there. All the while, prosecutors alleged, Clark assaulted her and threatened to do worse to keep her working for him.
When it became clear to Clark and others in the gang that the young woman intended to testify, prosecutors claim they began to harass her in the hope that she'd be scared away from court. The girl was shot with a pellet gun, greeted by two of Clark's associates at a confidential shelter, and chased into the truck of a Seattle police detective, who proceeded to arrest one of her pursuers.
The victim explained to police that she continued working for Clark because "if I do or don't say anything, they're gonna get me, gonna hurt me. It doesn't matter what I do. They're gonna do what they're gonna do to me, so I might as well do what's right."
After this victim escaped, a second victim, a 15 year old girl that Clark "dated" was forced to "walk the track." According to King County Prosecutor Sean O'Donnell, "If [Clark]felt that she was taking breaks unnecessarily, he yelled at her to get back out on the track and make him some money.At the end of each day, he returned to pick her up and took the money she had earned." Clark also beat the girl along with other associates from the West Side Mobb.
One admitted pimp and Street Mobb member, Mycah Johnson, described learning how to manipulate and intimidate young women from Clark. "'Cash' showed me how to be a pimp," Johnson wrote the court. "He would tell me where I should have (her) work and would explain how to use Craigslist to post her ads. He told me how to manage (her), specifically with respect to the money she earned -- I was to keep all of it."
The sentencing judge was King County Superior Court Judge Douglass North.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
"Girlfriend" gets at least 32 years for torture death of man in Northern England
Life sentences for Chilton torture murderers
12:07pm Friday 22nd January 2010
Neil Hunter The Northern Echo
TWO people are today starting life sentences after being found guilty of the brutal torture murder of a man at the home they shared in County Durham. Clare Nicholls, 28, will serve a minimum 32 years for the torture and murder of her patrner Andrew Gardner and her brother, Simon Nicholls, 24, will serve a minimum 25 years. Her on-off lover Steven Martin, 44, is also facing a life term. He will be sentenced in February following the results of tests by a psychiatrist.
Mr Gardner’s battered and burnt body had more than 120 injuries on it when paramedics found him in his living room on March 13 last year. The 35-year-old had been starved, whipped, scalded, slashed, kicked and punched before he died in agony from a catalogue of horrific injuries.
Doctors found he had suffered 21 rib fractures and associated tissue damage as well as a fractured skull, bleeding on the brain and blood poisoning. Crude abuse had been scrawled on his back in nail varnish, and marks on his torso were described in court as “a grotesque game of noughts and crosses”.
His girlfriend, her brother and her former lover denied murder but were this afternoon convicted by a jury at the end of a harrowing three-week trial. Nicholls shook her head, laid it on a glass barrier in the dock and wept when the verdict was announced, but the two men showed no reaction.
The court heard how Clare Nicholls ruled the home in Arthur Street, Chilton, and how the men of the household were terrified of her temper. She repeatedly attacked Mr Gardner – the father of her youngest child – for what she saw as him being lazy or “stealing” food from the cupboards.
Some jurors wept during the trial as they heard how children saw the punishment beatings and, at times, were encouraged to join in. Nicholls’ brother and Martin – an ex-lover who moved into the house three weeks before Mr Gardner’s death and reignited an affair – also helped.
They later told police that Nicholls was the instigator and they were too frightened to stop the attacks in case she turned her violence towards them. On March 13 last year, Simon Nicholls made a 999 call, saying Mr Gardner had returned home half-an-hour earlier and collapsed unconscious.
He told paramedics that Mr Gardner said he had been beaten up by a gang while out for a walk, and was complaining about severe back pain. The story quickly raised doubts and police were called in, and a lengthy investigation followed – which resulted in the three being arrested.
A series of medical examinations showed that many of Mr Gardner’s injuries had been inflicted days – if not weeks or months – before he died. The suspects were released on bail, but were re-arrested and charged with murder in July when the results of the tests were received by police.
Clare Nicholls pleaded guilty to manslaughter at the end of the prosecution case, but the plea was not accepted and she was forced into the witness box. She confessed to inflicting “the best part” of Mr Gardner’s injuries, but also blamed her brother for some of the rib fractures and other beatings.
Martin was accused of “branding” Mr Gardner with a white-hot cigarette lighter, and scalding his feet and leg with boiling water from a kettle. He also owned up to repeatedly holding his lover’s boyfriend against a piping hot radiator for up to 20 seconds, causing three separate burns.
The court heard how the rib fractures were probably caused when former charity shop worker Nicholls jumped on her partner with her knees. A pathologist told the jury that the injuries were the kind usually associated with victims of car crashes or falls from “considerable” heights.
Prosecutors are seeking a 30-year starting point for the killers, but defence teams will argue this afternoon that the tariff should not be as high as that. The jurors who heard the harrowing details of Andrew Gardner's death will be spared jury service for the next 20 years.
Judge Peter Fox, QC, told the seven men and five women: "This has been a case of particular responsibility and heavy responsibility in its discharge.
"What I can decide and, indeed, pronounce my decision about, is to say as a reflection of my appreciation of the responisbility you have carried out, you are excused jury service for at least 20 years, with my thanks."
12:07pm Friday 22nd January 2010
Neil Hunter The Northern Echo
TWO people are today starting life sentences after being found guilty of the brutal torture murder of a man at the home they shared in County Durham. Clare Nicholls, 28, will serve a minimum 32 years for the torture and murder of her patrner Andrew Gardner and her brother, Simon Nicholls, 24, will serve a minimum 25 years. Her on-off lover Steven Martin, 44, is also facing a life term. He will be sentenced in February following the results of tests by a psychiatrist.
Mr Gardner’s battered and burnt body had more than 120 injuries on it when paramedics found him in his living room on March 13 last year. The 35-year-old had been starved, whipped, scalded, slashed, kicked and punched before he died in agony from a catalogue of horrific injuries.
Doctors found he had suffered 21 rib fractures and associated tissue damage as well as a fractured skull, bleeding on the brain and blood poisoning. Crude abuse had been scrawled on his back in nail varnish, and marks on his torso were described in court as “a grotesque game of noughts and crosses”.
His girlfriend, her brother and her former lover denied murder but were this afternoon convicted by a jury at the end of a harrowing three-week trial. Nicholls shook her head, laid it on a glass barrier in the dock and wept when the verdict was announced, but the two men showed no reaction.
The court heard how Clare Nicholls ruled the home in Arthur Street, Chilton, and how the men of the household were terrified of her temper. She repeatedly attacked Mr Gardner – the father of her youngest child – for what she saw as him being lazy or “stealing” food from the cupboards.
Some jurors wept during the trial as they heard how children saw the punishment beatings and, at times, were encouraged to join in. Nicholls’ brother and Martin – an ex-lover who moved into the house three weeks before Mr Gardner’s death and reignited an affair – also helped.
They later told police that Nicholls was the instigator and they were too frightened to stop the attacks in case she turned her violence towards them. On March 13 last year, Simon Nicholls made a 999 call, saying Mr Gardner had returned home half-an-hour earlier and collapsed unconscious.
He told paramedics that Mr Gardner said he had been beaten up by a gang while out for a walk, and was complaining about severe back pain. The story quickly raised doubts and police were called in, and a lengthy investigation followed – which resulted in the three being arrested.
A series of medical examinations showed that many of Mr Gardner’s injuries had been inflicted days – if not weeks or months – before he died. The suspects were released on bail, but were re-arrested and charged with murder in July when the results of the tests were received by police.
Clare Nicholls pleaded guilty to manslaughter at the end of the prosecution case, but the plea was not accepted and she was forced into the witness box. She confessed to inflicting “the best part” of Mr Gardner’s injuries, but also blamed her brother for some of the rib fractures and other beatings.
Martin was accused of “branding” Mr Gardner with a white-hot cigarette lighter, and scalding his feet and leg with boiling water from a kettle. He also owned up to repeatedly holding his lover’s boyfriend against a piping hot radiator for up to 20 seconds, causing three separate burns.
The court heard how the rib fractures were probably caused when former charity shop worker Nicholls jumped on her partner with her knees. A pathologist told the jury that the injuries were the kind usually associated with victims of car crashes or falls from “considerable” heights.
Prosecutors are seeking a 30-year starting point for the killers, but defence teams will argue this afternoon that the tariff should not be as high as that. The jurors who heard the harrowing details of Andrew Gardner's death will be spared jury service for the next 20 years.
Judge Peter Fox, QC, told the seven men and five women: "This has been a case of particular responsibility and heavy responsibility in its discharge.
"What I can decide and, indeed, pronounce my decision about, is to say as a reflection of my appreciation of the responisbility you have carried out, you are excused jury service for at least 20 years, with my thanks."
Friday, January 22, 2010
Cleveland woman gets probation for "sitting" death of boyfriend
A Cleveland mother who suffocated her "boyfriend" was sentenced to time served in jail, 3 years probation and 120 hours of community service after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter on Wednesday, January 20. Mia Landingham, 25, used her 300 pound heft to smother her "boyfriend," 120 lb Mikal Middleton-Bey, on Saturday August 15, 2009. Middleton-Bey was 29 when he was killed.
She had been drinking all day and the two argued, a police spokeswoman said. Landingham punched him in the face and he grabbed her. She pushed him to the ground and got on top of him. When she got off, he was not breathing. Middleton-Bey was pronounced dead at MetroHealth Medical Center at 5:46 a.m.
Sharon Phillips, the victim's stepmother, said that "I just want to let you know how much you have hurt us by taking Mikal away from us." Landingham's public defender pointed out the history of domestic violence between the couple and his client's lack of criminal record.
While Middleton-Bey's family hoped that the Landingham, the mother of his three kids would eventually have a change to be a part of their lives, they were upset at the lack of additional incarceration. "So basically you can say that I can go sit on somebody and get probation. I feel there wasn't no justice."
She had been drinking all day and the two argued, a police spokeswoman said. Landingham punched him in the face and he grabbed her. She pushed him to the ground and got on top of him. When she got off, he was not breathing. Middleton-Bey was pronounced dead at MetroHealth Medical Center at 5:46 a.m.
Sharon Phillips, the victim's stepmother, said that "I just want to let you know how much you have hurt us by taking Mikal away from us." Landingham's public defender pointed out the history of domestic violence between the couple and his client's lack of criminal record.
While Middleton-Bey's family hoped that the Landingham, the mother of his three kids would eventually have a change to be a part of their lives, they were upset at the lack of additional incarceration. "So basically you can say that I can go sit on somebody and get probation. I feel there wasn't no justice."
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Psychopathic rapist sentenced to at least 10 years in Scottish prison
Lindsay McIntosh [The Times Online]
A violent offender who subjected a 24-year-old beautician to an eight-hour rape ordeal in a squalid drinking den was jailed for life yesterday. Michal Marchlewski, described in a report as a psychopath, will have to serve at least 10 years.
Marchlewski, 21, a Polish citizen, had admitted charges including rape, assault, danger to life and robbery. He and his cousin raped the woman eight times after dragging her into a filthy shelter strewn with pornography in Dalry, Edinburgh. His cousin Tomasz Kryczyk, 26, hanged himself in his cell days before he was due in court.
Their victim, who has since moved back to Australia, was attacked in the face with pepper spray as she walked home from work through a pedestrian underpass in daylight. Marchlewski grabbed her from behind and dragged her down an embankment through undergrowth to the makeshift shelter.
She told police she did not think she would survive. At one stage, she managed to get a step out of the shelter before being dragged back. Eventually the two cousins packed some of her belongings into a suitcase and said she could leave.
Sentence had been deferred to the hearing at Edinburgh High Court yesterday, for Dr Stephen Evans, an expert on risk assessment, to complete a report on the rapist. Dr Evans said Marchlewski had continued the assault despite the woman’s pleas and protests, and had subsequently shown no concern or remorse. He would be capable of sadistically motivated violence in the future and showed a “psychopathic personality disorder”.
The father of the victim was in court as lawyers discussed Dr Evans’s report. He heard of Marchlewski’s violent background which included abusing his sister and terrorising members of the capital’s Polish community. The rapist had shown “visible enjoyment” while slaughtering a pig during a previous job. The court heard that Marchlewski had followed his father to Scotland early in 2007 but had not held down a job. He has previous convictions in Poland.
Judge Lord Bracadale said if he was freed, Home Office officials should consider deporting him to Poland.
He imposed a life-long restiction order on the rapist. Tony Graham, for the defence, insisted that Marchlewski was sorry. “He has destroyed somebody’s life. His actions that day cannot be forgiven, cannot be forgotten and will have a lasting impact,” he said.
After the sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector John McKenzie, of Lothian and Borders Police, said the victim was to be commended for her bravery in coming forward to police.
A violent offender who subjected a 24-year-old beautician to an eight-hour rape ordeal in a squalid drinking den was jailed for life yesterday. Michal Marchlewski, described in a report as a psychopath, will have to serve at least 10 years.
Marchlewski, 21, a Polish citizen, had admitted charges including rape, assault, danger to life and robbery. He and his cousin raped the woman eight times after dragging her into a filthy shelter strewn with pornography in Dalry, Edinburgh. His cousin Tomasz Kryczyk, 26, hanged himself in his cell days before he was due in court.
Their victim, who has since moved back to Australia, was attacked in the face with pepper spray as she walked home from work through a pedestrian underpass in daylight. Marchlewski grabbed her from behind and dragged her down an embankment through undergrowth to the makeshift shelter.
She told police she did not think she would survive. At one stage, she managed to get a step out of the shelter before being dragged back. Eventually the two cousins packed some of her belongings into a suitcase and said she could leave.
Sentence had been deferred to the hearing at Edinburgh High Court yesterday, for Dr Stephen Evans, an expert on risk assessment, to complete a report on the rapist. Dr Evans said Marchlewski had continued the assault despite the woman’s pleas and protests, and had subsequently shown no concern or remorse. He would be capable of sadistically motivated violence in the future and showed a “psychopathic personality disorder”.
The father of the victim was in court as lawyers discussed Dr Evans’s report. He heard of Marchlewski’s violent background which included abusing his sister and terrorising members of the capital’s Polish community. The rapist had shown “visible enjoyment” while slaughtering a pig during a previous job. The court heard that Marchlewski had followed his father to Scotland early in 2007 but had not held down a job. He has previous convictions in Poland.
Judge Lord Bracadale said if he was freed, Home Office officials should consider deporting him to Poland.
He imposed a life-long restiction order on the rapist. Tony Graham, for the defence, insisted that Marchlewski was sorry. “He has destroyed somebody’s life. His actions that day cannot be forgiven, cannot be forgotten and will have a lasting impact,” he said.
After the sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector John McKenzie, of Lothian and Borders Police, said the victim was to be commended for her bravery in coming forward to police.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
British defense secretary's niece sentenced to 15 years in French prison for murdering man she met at bar
Lizzy Davies in Versailles
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 12 January 2010 20.52 GMT
The niece of a British minister who admitted stabbing to death a man she had picked up in a bar and taken back to her apartment for sex was last night sentenced to 15 years in jail for his murder.
Jessica Davies, a niece of Quentin Davies and a model whom prosecutors described as possessing "the devil's beauty", remained impassive as she was told she had been found guilty of murdering Olivier Mugnier, a 24-year-old French graduate, in November 2007.
Mugnier, who had met Davies in a pub in the chic Parisian suburb of St-German-en-Laye, was found by police with a fatal wound to his chest caused by a kitchen knife which Davies, 30, had previously used to try to kill herself.
The pair had tried to have sex but stopped after Mugnier failed to perform, the Versailles criminal court heard. The young woman, whom prosecutors characterised as a psychologically disturbed seductress, claimed to have no memory of what happened next.
When she opened the door of her flat to police, having called the emergency services herself at around 2.30am, the court heard that she told them: "It's me who did that, I'm a monster. I wanted to cut him a bit and it went right in."
When making her plea for the court to jail Davies for 12 years – a sentence lighter than that subsequently handed down – prosecutor Myriam Quemener argued yesterday that the troubled woman had a habit of using men as "pure sex objects" on which to inflict her distress.
"She had ambivalent feelings of desire and hatred towards men," the court was told in a citation from a psychiatrist's report. "Olivier failed to fill the void in [her]. Instead of taking it out on herself, Olivier freed her destructiveness."
Davies, whose father, Richard, is the younger brother of Labour MP Quentin Davies, told the court that she was "horrified" by her actions – even if she could not explain them. "What I did terrifies me. I don't even dare ask Olivier's family for forgiveness," she told the jury. "I want to express the extent of my remorse. I assume the responsibility and consequences of what I did."
Minutes after the verdict was read out, Davies, who had shown no emotion for the duration of the two-day trial, was laughing and joking with police officers guarding her. As well as 15 years in prison, she was sentenced to 10 years' probation and psychological monitoring. Her family was ordered to pay €105,000 in damages to Mugnier's parents and twin brother, Benjamin. Her lawyers have 10 days to appeal the ruling.
Ever since she was placed in detention after the events of 11 November 2007, Davies had insisted she had experienced a blackout that had left her unable to explain why she had plunged a knife 12cm deep into her lover's chest. She was said to be high on drink and drugs.
The prosecution argued Davies was benefiting from a convenient selective memory. "She calculates. She erases from her memory incriminating evidence in a way that has escaped no one in this court," said Quemener.
However, her lawyers, who had recommended a sentence of 10 years in prison, rejected any idea that she was faking her amnesia as "totally erroneous". In a plea which compared her fragile mental state to the "atrocious anguish" evoked by the poet Charles Baudelaire, Daniel Soulez-Larivière said the murder should be interpreted as a manifestation of the violence the young woman had previously turned against herself in two previous suicide attempts.
"This is not a crime of a thief or a pervert, or a sexual crime, but a suicidal act," he said.
Davies had a turbulent family background in which her father was largely absent, having moved to Italy to be with his mistress, he added. "There is a certain English tendency to say 'touch nothing, say nothing'. Everything is smooth on the surface but underneath a lot is going on and … it can lead to tragedy," he said.
Psychiatrists who examined Davies concluded that she suffered from a borderline personality disorder which could have led her to suffer an "alteration of personality" at the time of the killing. Although harsher than expected, the sentence of 15 years was still less than the maximum of 30 years allowed under French law for voluntary but unpremeditated murder.
She said yesterday she would "never touch another drop" of alcohol and would continue with her medical treatment. "I can assure you that it will never happen again," she said.
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 12 January 2010 20.52 GMT
The niece of a British minister who admitted stabbing to death a man she had picked up in a bar and taken back to her apartment for sex was last night sentenced to 15 years in jail for his murder.
Jessica Davies, a niece of Quentin Davies and a model whom prosecutors described as possessing "the devil's beauty", remained impassive as she was told she had been found guilty of murdering Olivier Mugnier, a 24-year-old French graduate, in November 2007.
Mugnier, who had met Davies in a pub in the chic Parisian suburb of St-German-en-Laye, was found by police with a fatal wound to his chest caused by a kitchen knife which Davies, 30, had previously used to try to kill herself.
The pair had tried to have sex but stopped after Mugnier failed to perform, the Versailles criminal court heard. The young woman, whom prosecutors characterised as a psychologically disturbed seductress, claimed to have no memory of what happened next.
When she opened the door of her flat to police, having called the emergency services herself at around 2.30am, the court heard that she told them: "It's me who did that, I'm a monster. I wanted to cut him a bit and it went right in."
When making her plea for the court to jail Davies for 12 years – a sentence lighter than that subsequently handed down – prosecutor Myriam Quemener argued yesterday that the troubled woman had a habit of using men as "pure sex objects" on which to inflict her distress.
"She had ambivalent feelings of desire and hatred towards men," the court was told in a citation from a psychiatrist's report. "Olivier failed to fill the void in [her]. Instead of taking it out on herself, Olivier freed her destructiveness."
Davies, whose father, Richard, is the younger brother of Labour MP Quentin Davies, told the court that she was "horrified" by her actions – even if she could not explain them. "What I did terrifies me. I don't even dare ask Olivier's family for forgiveness," she told the jury. "I want to express the extent of my remorse. I assume the responsibility and consequences of what I did."
Minutes after the verdict was read out, Davies, who had shown no emotion for the duration of the two-day trial, was laughing and joking with police officers guarding her. As well as 15 years in prison, she was sentenced to 10 years' probation and psychological monitoring. Her family was ordered to pay €105,000 in damages to Mugnier's parents and twin brother, Benjamin. Her lawyers have 10 days to appeal the ruling.
Ever since she was placed in detention after the events of 11 November 2007, Davies had insisted she had experienced a blackout that had left her unable to explain why she had plunged a knife 12cm deep into her lover's chest. She was said to be high on drink and drugs.
The prosecution argued Davies was benefiting from a convenient selective memory. "She calculates. She erases from her memory incriminating evidence in a way that has escaped no one in this court," said Quemener.
However, her lawyers, who had recommended a sentence of 10 years in prison, rejected any idea that she was faking her amnesia as "totally erroneous". In a plea which compared her fragile mental state to the "atrocious anguish" evoked by the poet Charles Baudelaire, Daniel Soulez-Larivière said the murder should be interpreted as a manifestation of the violence the young woman had previously turned against herself in two previous suicide attempts.
"This is not a crime of a thief or a pervert, or a sexual crime, but a suicidal act," he said.
Davies had a turbulent family background in which her father was largely absent, having moved to Italy to be with his mistress, he added. "There is a certain English tendency to say 'touch nothing, say nothing'. Everything is smooth on the surface but underneath a lot is going on and … it can lead to tragedy," he said.
Psychiatrists who examined Davies concluded that she suffered from a borderline personality disorder which could have led her to suffer an "alteration of personality" at the time of the killing. Although harsher than expected, the sentence of 15 years was still less than the maximum of 30 years allowed under French law for voluntary but unpremeditated murder.
She said yesterday she would "never touch another drop" of alcohol and would continue with her medical treatment. "I can assure you that it will never happen again," she said.
Friday, January 8, 2010
California upholds "rape by fraud" conviction of chiropractor
By a MetNews Staff Writer
An Anaheim chiropractor who molested several patients was properly convicted of the relatively new crime of sexual battery by fraud, the [California]Fourth District Court of Appeal has ruled.
In what it said may be a case of first impression, Div. Three ruled Monday that an Orange Superior Court jury reasonably concluded from the totality of the circumstances that Chi Van Pham touched the women with sexual intent, and that the women allowed him to do so because they believed his representations that the acts were part of examination or treatment.
“There appears to be no limit to the ability of our species to devise new and different bad things to do to each other,” Justice William Bedsworth commented for the court.
Jurors found Pham guilty of four violations of [California] Penal Code Sec. 243.4(c), involving three different women.
Sec. 243.4(c), enacted in 2002, is a “hybridization of molestation and fraud,” Bedsworth explained. It makes the touching of an intimate part of the victim for sexual purposes a felony if the victim is “unconscious of the nature of the act because the perpetrator fraudulently represented that the touching served a professional purpose.”
The crimes occurred between 2003 and 2005. One victim testified that while she was being treated for a car accident that occurred when she was 13 years old, Pham touched her breasts and her genitals on multiple occasions.
She said those acts made her feel uncomfortable, but she believed at the time that it was part of treatment, because she had signed a consent form acknowledging that chiropractic manipulation can be discomforting and because she trusted the doctor. She did not begin to suspect the doctor had acted improperly, she explained, until two years later, when she was working as a volunteer in his office and he made unwanted advances towards her.
Another woman, an adult involved in another car accident, said that while she was being examined, Pham touched both of her breasts. She was shocked at the time, she testified, but said nothing to the doctor or his assistant at the time.
She went home, she explained, and told her mother. She called the police a few days later.
Two of the counts involved another woman, who was referred to the doctor by the lawyer representing her in an auto accident case. On two different occasions, she said, Pham performed what she described as a “tapping rub” on her breasts and around her public area.
On the second occasion, she said, she asked the doctor why it was necessary for him to touch those areas, and he told her he was “looking for pain.”
Judge Patrick Donahue sentenced Pham to seven years in prison, the upper term of four years on the count involving a minor and consecutive one-year terms on the other counts. The upper term was justified, Donahue said, because the doctor abused a position of trust.
Bedsworth, writing for the Court of Appeal, explained the unconsciousness element:
“The unconsciousness requirement does not require proof the victim was totally and physically unconscious during the acts in question....It simply requires proof the defendant tricked the victim into submitting to the touching on the pretext it served a professional purpose....This can be accomplished even when the victim has agreed to the act in question.”
There was sufficient evidence, he said, to show that the women trusted the doctor and were totally unaware that he was seeking to fulfill sexual desires by touching them, until sometime after the conduct occurred.
An Anaheim chiropractor who molested several patients was properly convicted of the relatively new crime of sexual battery by fraud, the [California]Fourth District Court of Appeal has ruled.
In what it said may be a case of first impression, Div. Three ruled Monday that an Orange Superior Court jury reasonably concluded from the totality of the circumstances that Chi Van Pham touched the women with sexual intent, and that the women allowed him to do so because they believed his representations that the acts were part of examination or treatment.
“There appears to be no limit to the ability of our species to devise new and different bad things to do to each other,” Justice William Bedsworth commented for the court.
Jurors found Pham guilty of four violations of [California] Penal Code Sec. 243.4(c), involving three different women.
Sec. 243.4(c), enacted in 2002, is a “hybridization of molestation and fraud,” Bedsworth explained. It makes the touching of an intimate part of the victim for sexual purposes a felony if the victim is “unconscious of the nature of the act because the perpetrator fraudulently represented that the touching served a professional purpose.”
The crimes occurred between 2003 and 2005. One victim testified that while she was being treated for a car accident that occurred when she was 13 years old, Pham touched her breasts and her genitals on multiple occasions.
She said those acts made her feel uncomfortable, but she believed at the time that it was part of treatment, because she had signed a consent form acknowledging that chiropractic manipulation can be discomforting and because she trusted the doctor. She did not begin to suspect the doctor had acted improperly, she explained, until two years later, when she was working as a volunteer in his office and he made unwanted advances towards her.
Another woman, an adult involved in another car accident, said that while she was being examined, Pham touched both of her breasts. She was shocked at the time, she testified, but said nothing to the doctor or his assistant at the time.
She went home, she explained, and told her mother. She called the police a few days later.
Two of the counts involved another woman, who was referred to the doctor by the lawyer representing her in an auto accident case. On two different occasions, she said, Pham performed what she described as a “tapping rub” on her breasts and around her public area.
On the second occasion, she said, she asked the doctor why it was necessary for him to touch those areas, and he told her he was “looking for pain.”
Judge Patrick Donahue sentenced Pham to seven years in prison, the upper term of four years on the count involving a minor and consecutive one-year terms on the other counts. The upper term was justified, Donahue said, because the doctor abused a position of trust.
Bedsworth, writing for the Court of Appeal, explained the unconsciousness element:
“The unconsciousness requirement does not require proof the victim was totally and physically unconscious during the acts in question....It simply requires proof the defendant tricked the victim into submitting to the touching on the pretext it served a professional purpose....This can be accomplished even when the victim has agreed to the act in question.”
There was sufficient evidence, he said, to show that the women trusted the doctor and were totally unaware that he was seeking to fulfill sexual desires by touching them, until sometime after the conduct occurred.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Felon who raped "girlfriend's" disabled niece sentence to 12 years imprisonment
A California felon who had a previous federal conviction for bank robbery received a 12 year sentence for the rape of his girlfriend's developmentally disabled niece. Bruce Joseph Clemmons, 54, of Seaside, CA, was caught after his "girlfriend," the victim's aunt and guardian, called police on October 9, 2007, suspecting that he had sexual intercourse with her 27 year old developmentally disabled niece. These issues prevented police from questioning the victim in-depth, though she was able to tell investigators about the sexual contact with Clemmons.
Clemmons admitted the sexual contact, and knowing about the victim's issues. The conviction is his 2nd strike, and he will be on the sex offender registry for life.
Clemmons admitted the sexual contact, and knowing about the victim's issues. The conviction is his 2nd strike, and he will be on the sex offender registry for life.
Habitual felon sentenced to 72 years for shooting death of "girlfriend"
A habitual felon was sentenced to up to 72 years in prison on New Year's Eve by Larimer County, CO Judge David Williams for the shooting death of his girlfriend, 25 year old Valerie Gendernalik, a Colorado State University graduate. 30 year old Justin Levi Moore, convicted of 2nd degree murder, would have only faced 16 to 48 years in prison if he had no previous criminal record.
Evidence presented at trial showed the couple had been out drinking with friends in Old Town hours before Gendernalik was shot in the head at close range.
Jurors heard testimony about the couple’s strained relationship in the weeks leading up to the shooting, Gendernalik’s phone call to her ex-boyfriend the night she died and of allegations of domestic violence from two of Moore’s ex-girlfriends.
Moore claimed he and Gendernalik were toying with the weapon when it went off. Jurors needed just 3½ hours to return their guilty verdict.
Larisa Gendernalik, the victim's mother, said that "We all know the story of (Fyodor) Dostoevsky where he was punished by himself. I watched Justin throughout the case and throughout the 18 months here in this courtroom. I truly believe he did not feel any punishment in his own mind.”
The victim's father, Larry said that he did not believe that his daughter was gone until he saw the evidence in court. "It wasn’t until I saw everything in the trial that I realized he did go out and acquire a gun and within weeks he put that gun to my daughter’s head and fired. And I guess really that was when I finally knew that Valerie was gone.”
Despite the conviction and sentencing, Moore maintained his innocence.
I am a human being and I am imperfect. I am a sinner. I am guilty of sins in my past, and I am guilty of crimes in my past and mistakes I made as a young man. I pleaded guilty to the crimes that I was guilty of. This is the first trial that I've been to in my extensive, as (prosecutors) put it, criminal history ... this is the first time I have disputed any act because I am honestly not guilty.
Evidence presented at trial showed the couple had been out drinking with friends in Old Town hours before Gendernalik was shot in the head at close range.
Jurors heard testimony about the couple’s strained relationship in the weeks leading up to the shooting, Gendernalik’s phone call to her ex-boyfriend the night she died and of allegations of domestic violence from two of Moore’s ex-girlfriends.
Moore claimed he and Gendernalik were toying with the weapon when it went off. Jurors needed just 3½ hours to return their guilty verdict.
Larisa Gendernalik, the victim's mother, said that "We all know the story of (Fyodor) Dostoevsky where he was punished by himself. I watched Justin throughout the case and throughout the 18 months here in this courtroom. I truly believe he did not feel any punishment in his own mind.”
The victim's father, Larry said that he did not believe that his daughter was gone until he saw the evidence in court. "It wasn’t until I saw everything in the trial that I realized he did go out and acquire a gun and within weeks he put that gun to my daughter’s head and fired. And I guess really that was when I finally knew that Valerie was gone.”
Despite the conviction and sentencing, Moore maintained his innocence.
I am a human being and I am imperfect. I am a sinner. I am guilty of sins in my past, and I am guilty of crimes in my past and mistakes I made as a young man. I pleaded guilty to the crimes that I was guilty of. This is the first trial that I've been to in my extensive, as (prosecutors) put it, criminal history ... this is the first time I have disputed any act because I am honestly not guilty.
Friday, January 1, 2010
New Illinois laws intended to strengthen DV, stalking, sex assault protection
By Megan Twohey Tribune reporter
Victims of domestic violence, stalking and sexual assault have new legal protections available to them in Illinois starting Friday. Most significant, experts said, are the 2010 state laws to combat stalking, a crime that affects an estimated 3.4 million Americans.
"Historically, stalking victims in Illinois haven't been able to get a lot of help," said Dawn Dalton, executive director of Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women's Network. "With the new laws, it will be easier to prosecute stalkers and easier for victims to protect themselves."
Before, stalking victims had to prove they suffered two separate incidents of following or surveillance and a threat of bodily harm in order to seek a prosecution. Starting this year, victims must prove only that the stalker committed at least two acts that would cause a reasonable person to fear for her safety or suffer emotional distress. (Such acts can include following or surveilling the victim, interfering with the victim's property, or delivering an unwanted object to the victim.)
Cyber-stalking is now defined as at least two acts involving electronic communication that produce the same effect. And for the first time, victims will be able to obtain a civil court order to keep the stalker away no matter the stalker's identity. In the past, victims could only get such a protective order if the stalker was a former lover or household member or had already attacked them.
"This is a huge step," said Sgt. Brett Wisnauski of the Algonquin Police Department. "The new stalking no-contact order should be tremendously helpful."
Another type of civil no-contact order -- this one specifically for victims of sexual assault -- has undergone reforms. Victims of sexual assault can now get a protective order not only against the person who committed the assault, but also against any third party who "aided and abetted" in it. Under the new law, they also can obtain protection for family or other household members. The law makes clear that victims can provide testimony in chambers if doing so in open court may result in serious emotional distress.
And, in sexual assault cases involving elementary, middle or high school students, the judge can order the offender to transfer to another school.
"We hope this law strengthens protections and clears up some confusion," said Neha Lall, an attorney with the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago. "The civil no-contact order for victims of sexual assault has been around for five years, and judges don't have a solid understanding of it because they don't see it very often."
Other noteworthy changes taking effect Friday:
--The Illinois State Police will be required to deny or revoke a firearm owner's identification card when the owner is subject to a domestic violence order of protection.
--The Illinois Department of Corrections must issue a warrant for the arrest of any parolee charged with domestic violence or stalking, and anyone convicted of these crimes must be supervised by a parole agent who has completed at least 40 hours of domestic violence training.
--Strangulation of a family or household member will be considered aggravated domestic battery, a class 2 felony requiring at least 60 days in prison.
Victims of domestic violence, stalking and sexual assault have new legal protections available to them in Illinois starting Friday. Most significant, experts said, are the 2010 state laws to combat stalking, a crime that affects an estimated 3.4 million Americans.
"Historically, stalking victims in Illinois haven't been able to get a lot of help," said Dawn Dalton, executive director of Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women's Network. "With the new laws, it will be easier to prosecute stalkers and easier for victims to protect themselves."
Before, stalking victims had to prove they suffered two separate incidents of following or surveillance and a threat of bodily harm in order to seek a prosecution. Starting this year, victims must prove only that the stalker committed at least two acts that would cause a reasonable person to fear for her safety or suffer emotional distress. (Such acts can include following or surveilling the victim, interfering with the victim's property, or delivering an unwanted object to the victim.)
Cyber-stalking is now defined as at least two acts involving electronic communication that produce the same effect. And for the first time, victims will be able to obtain a civil court order to keep the stalker away no matter the stalker's identity. In the past, victims could only get such a protective order if the stalker was a former lover or household member or had already attacked them.
"This is a huge step," said Sgt. Brett Wisnauski of the Algonquin Police Department. "The new stalking no-contact order should be tremendously helpful."
Another type of civil no-contact order -- this one specifically for victims of sexual assault -- has undergone reforms. Victims of sexual assault can now get a protective order not only against the person who committed the assault, but also against any third party who "aided and abetted" in it. Under the new law, they also can obtain protection for family or other household members. The law makes clear that victims can provide testimony in chambers if doing so in open court may result in serious emotional distress.
And, in sexual assault cases involving elementary, middle or high school students, the judge can order the offender to transfer to another school.
"We hope this law strengthens protections and clears up some confusion," said Neha Lall, an attorney with the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago. "The civil no-contact order for victims of sexual assault has been around for five years, and judges don't have a solid understanding of it because they don't see it very often."
Other noteworthy changes taking effect Friday:
--The Illinois State Police will be required to deny or revoke a firearm owner's identification card when the owner is subject to a domestic violence order of protection.
--The Illinois Department of Corrections must issue a warrant for the arrest of any parolee charged with domestic violence or stalking, and anyone convicted of these crimes must be supervised by a parole agent who has completed at least 40 hours of domestic violence training.
--Strangulation of a family or household member will be considered aggravated domestic battery, a class 2 felony requiring at least 60 days in prison.
Dallas County prison guard under investigation for having inmate dance seductively for her
A Dallas County prison guard is under investigation for fraternizing with inmates for having a 20 year old male inmate dance seductively for her. The allegeations allege that Officer Kytrina Lewis had an inmate (and high school classmate, Gregory Miller of Dallas, lap dance for her to music playing from a CD player she brought into the institution. Lewis, a 15 month veteran, resigned December 9 for the incident, which took place December 1. A second claim is that Miller recieved Lewis' personal cell phone with her picture.
Officer Jerkeitha Hawkins wrote that Lewis was sitting down, facing Miller when "He was moving his hips in a circular slow motion and motioning his body in a sexually erotic way as if he were a male dancer [stripper]." Hawkins wrote that Miller's inner thigh touched Lewis' legs. She watcher Lewis because Miller was "hanging out at the desk all night ... listening to music, playing different CDs and talking on the officer's work phone." He allegedly heated Lewis' food and brought her a drink of water.
A second inmate, 36 year old Tevis Mayes, was leafing through CD's. "They switched the CD, and the party continued on well after the supervisors left," Hawkins wrote.
In the south tower, the Suzanne Kays jail, officers are stationed behind a desk, where they can directly observe inmates in each housing pod. Inmates are not separated into individual cells, but function in an open space where bunks also are located.
Miller and another inmate were seen by other guards hanging around Lewis' desk all night listening to music from a CD player she brought into the housing pod, according to sheriff's reports. At one point, Miller heated Lewis' food and brought her water.
A 2006 Sheriff's Department policy bans the use of personal electronic devices, including cellphones, in secure areas of the jail.
Lewis admitted bringing the CD player into the jail and having Miller dance for her. "I asked Miller one day could he still dance like in school," she said. "He stated yes, and on that particular day, he did dance seductively behind my desk...He did not straddle me, but he did dance seductively behind my desk. I played a song on the CD player, and he danced. Yes that was inappropriate, but I wasn't thinking and I did know that it was wrong for me to have the CD player."
Miller claimed to have only met Lewis the month before the incident, and to have never met her before then. The incident is still under investigation.
Officer Jerkeitha Hawkins wrote that Lewis was sitting down, facing Miller when "He was moving his hips in a circular slow motion and motioning his body in a sexually erotic way as if he were a male dancer [stripper]." Hawkins wrote that Miller's inner thigh touched Lewis' legs. She watcher Lewis because Miller was "hanging out at the desk all night ... listening to music, playing different CDs and talking on the officer's work phone." He allegedly heated Lewis' food and brought her a drink of water.
A second inmate, 36 year old Tevis Mayes, was leafing through CD's. "They switched the CD, and the party continued on well after the supervisors left," Hawkins wrote.
In the south tower, the Suzanne Kays jail, officers are stationed behind a desk, where they can directly observe inmates in each housing pod. Inmates are not separated into individual cells, but function in an open space where bunks also are located.
Miller and another inmate were seen by other guards hanging around Lewis' desk all night listening to music from a CD player she brought into the housing pod, according to sheriff's reports. At one point, Miller heated Lewis' food and brought her water.
A 2006 Sheriff's Department policy bans the use of personal electronic devices, including cellphones, in secure areas of the jail.
Lewis admitted bringing the CD player into the jail and having Miller dance for her. "I asked Miller one day could he still dance like in school," she said. "He stated yes, and on that particular day, he did dance seductively behind my desk...He did not straddle me, but he did dance seductively behind my desk. I played a song on the CD player, and he danced. Yes that was inappropriate, but I wasn't thinking and I did know that it was wrong for me to have the CD player."
Miller claimed to have only met Lewis the month before the incident, and to have never met her before then. The incident is still under investigation.
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