Fabulist who murdered wife convicted, sentenced to LWOP

(Initial Post 9-26-10)
A Tulsa County, OK jury needed only a half hour of deliberation in a lawyer's shooting murder by her own husband. John Robert Kastner, 52, was convicted of the 1st degree murder of his wife, 44 year old Lori Moon Kastner, at their south side Tulsa, OK home on June 25, 2008. The motive, according to Tulsa County, OK prosecutors, was that the victim was about to expose her husband's lies.

Kastner had led his family to believe that all five family members were traveling by plane to Israel on June 25, 2008, prosecutors said. Kastner indicated he was a former member of the Israeli military who had been honored for heroism and that the trip to Israel was related to a high-paying job that Lori Kastner was going to get with a corporation connected to her husband.

No such flight or job offer existed, and Kastner never served in the Israeli military, prosecutors said.

Kastner made significant financial promises to benefit Webster that he could not keep, and he "was a ticking time bomb getting ready to explode," [First Assistant District Attorney Doug] Drummond said.

Drummond also insisted that "[Kastner's] reputation was going to be ruined, and that was the most important thing in John Kastner's life."

The other prosecutor in the case, Assistant District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler, said that Kastner, the "legend of Webster High School," is "nothing but a bald-faced liar. You cannot believe a word that the defendant says."

Kastner said the killer was an intruder who he said picked up Kastner's gun in the house. He told police that he struggled with the intruder and was shot in the hand, and he said the intruder fled with a bag containing about $5,000, evidence indicated.

Kunzweiler said Kastner's account features a "mysterious man" moving around in a dark house and finding a loaded gun and money on the same table. Kastner was an English teacher, "and as an English teacher he deals in fiction," Kunzweiler said

Assistant Public Defender Jill Webb said that Kastner had no motive to kill his wife because killing her would not solve his problems - "John's problem was John." Webb said that while Kastner was guilty of lying and making false promises, it did not prove he was a murderer. Kastner was never called to the witness stand.

When he is formally sentenced tomorrow, Kastner will be sentenced to life without parole - in Oklahoma, murder carries death, life without parole, or life with parole. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, and jurors ruled out life with parole.  Amber Merchant, Lori Kastner's best friend, said "We're very pleased with the verdict and feel like justice was served."

Kastner plans to appeal the verdict, according to Chief Public Defender Pete Silva. The presiding judge is District Judge Tom Gillert.

(Update 9-29-10) Kastner was formally sentenced to life without parole Monday, September 27, 2010. If he had been granted parole, he would have had to serve 38 and 3 months before his first chance of it.

Serial "girlfriend" rapist sentenced to life without parole for raping woman in front of her child

A Savannah, GA man with a history of raping "girlfriends" was sentenced to life without parole as four-time habitual offender Monday, September 20. 47 year old Jerry Howard was convicted by a Chatham County, GA jury Saturday, September 18 of rape, aggravated assault, and misdemeanor cruelty to a child for raping and choking his 28 year old "girlfriend" in front of her 1 year old daughter at his home November 29, 2007.

Assistant District Attorney Isabel Pauley presented evidence that Howerd tried to intimidate the victim into recanting the charges and called as a witness a previous "girlfriend" who was attacked in a similar manner in 1988. 

Chatham County Superior Court Judge John E. Morse Jr imposed the life sentence on Howard based on prior felony convictions. The life term for rape and the 20 year term for aggravated assault were imposed consecutive to each other. A year term for cruelty to a child will be served concurrently with the life sentence. Because this is his fourth strike, the life term is without parole. These convictions include robbery, possession of controlled substances and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Howard was released from prison in August 2007, three months before the latest attack.

Below is the law requiring four time felons in Georgia to serve the maximum sentence for that crime without parole.

[A]ny person who, after having been convicted under the laws of this state for three felonies or having been convicted under the laws of any other state or of the United States of three crimes which if committed within this state would be felonies, commits a felony within this state other than a capital felony must, upon conviction for such fourth offense or for subsequent offenses, serve the maximum time provided in the sentence of the judge based upon such conviction and shall not be eligible for parole until the maximum sentence has been served. (from O.C.G.A. 17 -10-7)

Queens rapist gets 37 to 42 years imprisonment for attacking student during first day on job

A Queens, NY rapist was sentenced to a prison term of 37 to 42 years Thursday, September 23. 23 year old James Gillespie was convicted September 3 of the July 2009 rape of a 20 year old St. John's University student in Fresh Meadows, NY. The victim was walking to her first day at work as a part time restaurant hostess when Gillespie pounced.

As Gillespie dragged the woman into an alley, she reached into her purse and called 911 and her pleas for mercy – which Gillespie ignored – were recorded and played back in court during Gillespie’s trial.

"Please don't do this to me- Oh, my God, sir, please!" she pleaded just before the rape. Of course, Gillespie violated her. He also took her cell phone and purse.

Assistant Queens DA Jared Rosenblatt asked for the maximum sentence.

"You are an animal," Rosenblatt said over the objections of Gillespie's lawyer. "You are evil and your actions were heinous."

Gillespie offered a rambling denial."I don't even know why I'm still standing here in this courtroom," he said. "I don't understand what's going on here."

At the sentencing, which the victim attended, her statement to her attacker was this. "You are less than a man. Luckily, I'm a strong individual...I must let you know you are weak. You are a coward. You do not deserve to walk the streets as you are."

Queens Supreme Court Richard Buchter sentenced Gillespie to the max for rape, criminal sex act, and robbery.

"I think Mr. Gillespie is seriously lacking in any humanity.The defendant’s only concern us his own perverse sexual satisfaction. He’s young and that what worries me. He shouldn’t get out while he can still do it again."

Queens DA Richard Brown said about the woman's testimony, "She testified with dignity and grace. Hopefully, knowing that he will now be behind bars for a long time will provide her with a small measure of help in overcoming the physical and psychological trauma." That trauma includes sleepless nights, fear of AIDS, and a reluctance to walk alone.

Bangor, ME woman gets six years for scalding, sexually assaulting man

A 28 year old Bangor, ME woman was sentenced to 6 years in the Maine prison system yesterday for sexually assaulting, then scalding a now 43 year old man. Laura M. Smith plead guilty in June to elevated aggravated assault and gross sexual assault for scalding her victim with boiling water and sexually assaulting him with a wooden dowel on November 28, 2009.

The 43-year-old man, who is not being identified by the Bangor Daily News, was passed out at a party at Smith’s First Street apartment in Bangor. In addition to suffering second-degree burns on his back, the man’s bowel was perforated, according to court documents. The victim also suffered a broken ankle when Smith and another man moved him to his apartment. He was hospitalized for more than a month, according to previous reports.

Superior Court Justice William Anderson sentenced Smith to 18 years in prison with six to serve and four years probation afterwards. Penobscot County district attorney Michael Roberts and  defense attorney David Bate agreed on the 18 year sentence, but Roberts believe only 6 years of the sentence should be suspended. Bate did not give a sentencing recommendation.

Just before the sentencing, Smith said “I am truly sorry for the pain and suffering I caused. I truly, truly am sorry for all that you have been through.” The victim was not present during Smith's sentencing. Smith also tried to partially excuse herself by claiming the attack was due to her alcoholism.

The following is Judge Anderson's sentencing statement. “Although this was a barbaric and depraved act, I can’t conclude it was done for sexual gratification as the statute defines the crime. It seems to have begun as a cruel, painful and degrading prank. The person who did it was not really aware of how horribly painful this was going to be to the victim. There’s absolutely no reason in the world for this to have happened.”

Smith will be credited for the time she has served in the Penobscot County Jail. After release, she will have to register as a sex offender for a decade.

Katy, TX man sentenced to 48 years with half to serve for point-blank shooting murder of wife

A Katy, TX man was sentenced to 48 years imprisonment Monday, September 20 for the point-blank shooting murder of his wife. Michael Wayne Cantu, a petrochemical engineer, will be eligible for parole after serving half of his sentence. Cantu was tried in Texas 400th District Court under Presiding Judge Clifford J. Vacek.

Cantu reported his wife of 15 years, Jackie Ramirez Cantu, shot herself at their home in the 26300 block of Eden Point on April 24, 2008.

He said during the initial police investigation that he and his 37-year-old wife got into an argument while looking at family photos and reported that his wife then went into the master bathroom and shot herself in the forehead with a .38-caliber revolver.

The couple's two children, now 11 and 9, were in the house at the time but were asleep, [Defense attorney Wendell]Odom said.

Changing statements about the manner of the woman's death led police to charge Cantu with murder. Cantu first told police that he was in the kitchen when his wife committed suicide, then changed his story to claim he was in the bathroom. Cantu later told detectives that he move the gun from the bathroom floor, where it was pointed towards the victim's neck. Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office officials eventually ruled Jackie Cantu's death a homicide.

During the trial, Fort Bend County prosecutor Chad Bridges successfully argued that the changing statements, along with ballistics showing gunpowder residue on Michael's hands and a bruise where he pressed the gun up against Jackie's forehead before firing, constituted evidence of murder. According to Bridges, the forehead bruise was "a tight contact wound, which is inconsistent with trying to pull the firearm away." Jackie tried to defend herself before the father of her two children killed her.

As for the nature of the argument, Bridges said "As for what exactly happened that night and what they were arguing about, we don't know," Bridges said. "We don't know what the exact nature of the conversation was."  About the jury, he said, "We recognize the juror’s personal sacrifice to see that justice is done. It was a long trial of terrible circumstances and intense emotions.  It’s never pleasant but always necessary

The Cantus met while both of them were attending Texas A&M University. Jackie Cantu was originally from Bryan, while Michael Cantu was from Houston. They married in 1992. Both graduated from Texas A&M with Jackie Cantu earning a degree in microbiology, said her father, Guillermo Ramirez of Bryan.
 
"I wish this thing would have never happened to my daughter, to the family. There's a lot of sadness. The only justice that would satisfy me is if my daughter came back and if I could turn back time and prevent this from happening. But I can't."
 
Odom said this about his client after the sentencing. "He's always maintained that it was an accident, that he was trying to take the gun away from her.He's realizing that his life will never be the same — that he'll probably spend the rest of his adult life in the penitentiary. He vows that someday he'll be exonerated."
 
The Cantu children, the true victims of this crime, are being cared for by both sets of grandparents.

Paroled rapist gets two life without parole sentences for rape, arson murder of sisters

A man who raped and burned to death two Northwest Indiana sisters was sentenced to life without parole Thursday, September 9, 2010. 36 year old David Alan Flores, a sex offender convicted of rape twice before, was sentenced by Lake Criminal Court Judge Thomas Stefaniak Jr for the burglary, rapes, and murders of two twenty something sisters, one of which had recently married.

Flores, 36, of Griffith, had faced the death penalty had the case gone to trial. He pleaded guilty Aug. 26 to two counts of murder and two counts of rape of Jennifer Evans, 28, of Griffith, and Kristen Evans-Kennedy, 25, of Chicago.

Acknowledging the family's wish to avoid reliving the horror of the sisters' deaths during perhaps 25 years of death penalty appeals, Stefaniak reluctantly accepted Flores' guilty plea for which he will serve two life sentences for murder and two 20-year sentences for rape.

Stefaniak said that if Flores had received the death penalty, there was a three-in-five chance that it would have been overturned on appeal. However, the judge made clear that Flores deserved such a punishment. "As I live my life and talk to people, this is just the case in a perfect world that would justify the death sentence. I could pronounce a death sentence. The fact of the matter is you, Mr. Flores, are the devil among us. There are no redeeming qualities that you have and there is nothing you can offer society," Stefaniak told the murderer.

Jennifer had bought a house on North Lindberg Street, and Flores happened to show up with a friend on Sept. 10, 2009, at a small gathering she hosted.

He went inside to use the bathroom, unlocked a window to the office across the hall, and returned after the women were in bed to rape, strangle and stab them. Before he left, he collected items he'd touched, then set fire to the home. The autopsies showed the women were alive when the fire was started.

Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter said that the family of the victims would have gone for the death penalty, but "They did not want in and out of court for the next 25 years.You have to listen to the family."

Family friend Sue Brownwell said that "Each was a force in her own right, and they were an unbeatable team together. They will live in our treasured memories."

Mary Ann Evans, comparing the murders of her daughters to 9-11, called the murders her "personal terrorist attack." Her husband and the victims' father Ron, a retired Munster firefighter, was the person who discovered his daughters' still burning bodies. "I watched him die the day he found Jen and Kristen. I am alone. I am the woman that everybody pities," she said. Ron died of cancer six months after the murder. A slideshow of them was played just before Flores' sentencing.
 
Mary Evans is working with legislators to ensure that repeat sex offenders like Flores can never be granted parole. Flores was on parole for another rape when he murdered the two young women.

More allegations against sexting Calumet County WI DA lead to his resignation

(Original Post 9-21-10)

Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle has called for the removal of the Calumet County DA over allegations that he sexted a domestic violence victim and invited a "date" to an autopsy. The DA, Calumet County Attorney Kenneth Kratz, has taken a leave of absence, citing "medical reasons." Doyle cannot formally seek removal unless he receives a complaint from a Calumet County resident, something he expects to occur later this week.

The second allegation regards a woman who was "dating" Kratz when he took calls involving a missing persons case. The case involved someone believed to have been murdered. He discussed aspects of the case that no other layman (or woman) knew, and that woman alleged Kratz "invit[ed] me to go with him to the autopsy (provided I would be his girlfriend and would wear high heels and a skirt)."

Doyle said "It's mind-boggling.To have an autopsy be used for the premise of a social engagement is just beyond anything anyone can imagine, I think.... That's the part that concerns me the most because it's really the use of official duties, in his official status as district attorney, for purposes completely unrelated to his job as district attorney."

Legislators, advocates for crime victims and prosecutors from across the state had already been calling for Kratz's resignation in the wake of reports that he had sent 30 text messages last year to Stephanie L. Van Groll, 26, while he was prosecuting her ex-boyfriend on domestic violence charges.

Van Groll's lawyer, Michael R. Fox, said Monday that he is aware of the new allegations against Kratz. "If it's credible, it's incredible," Fox said of the letter released by Doyle's office.

Kratz began texting Van Groll just minutes after she met with him Oct. 20 to discuss the abuse her ex-boyfriend had inflicted upon her. After Van Groll told Kratz about the abuse, he asked if she would mind if he dropped the charge from a felony to a misdemeanor, according to documents released Monday by the state Department of Justice.

Van Groll said she considered the request odd and told Kratz that trying to strangle someone is a felony, the documents show. Kratz sent his first text to Van Groll about 10 minutes after the meeting, telling her that she had potential and signing the message, "KEN (your favorite DA)." In other text messages sent over three days, Kratz referred to Van Groll as a "young, hot nymph" and asked if she "likes secret contact with an older married elected DA."

Van Groll reported the text messages to police. Kratz removed himself from the prosecution of Van Groll's boyfriend after the state began investigating his communication with her. The state appointed a prosecutor to take over the case, and Van Groll's ex-boyfriend was convicted in April of a domestic violence felony, according to court records.

On Friday, Kratz issued a statement saying that he "showed a lack of respect not only for my position but for the young woman that was involved," but refused to step down.

The Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault released a joint statement saying "Whether or not Kratz has been an advocate for crime victims in the past, it is clear he can no longer serve in his current position. He has ignored victims, advocates and his peers, who have all called for him to step down. His repeated attempts to minimize his behavior show he either is in denial or only concerned for his personal interests."

The Wisconsin District Attorneys Association sent this letter, stating that Kratz' actions "has cast aspersions on our entire profession," and goes on to say that the would have fired subordinates who commites similar actions.
 
Van Groll's lawyer, Michael R. Fox, said "I am going to pull up every floorboard that I can to see what is behind this. There are things here that don't make sense. It is very strange how it has come to light. I believe my client was treated the way she was treated because she is a woman and was very vulnerable because she was a victim of domestic violence. It strikes me as something that requires further inquiry, because I don't know how you can text a victim in such a suggestive way and not immediately, the moment those texts leave your (phone), be in a conflict of interest."

(Update 9-22-10) Two more women have claimed that Kratz has harassed them. Maria Ruskiewicz, an Appleton, WI native who is now 31, claimed that she was sexted when she met with him in 2008 to discuss a pardon for a 1997 drug conviction. Ruskiewicz needed the pardon because as a student attending Oklahoma City University as a law student, it was necessary for her career goals. Kratz had prosecuted her for the drug conviction and she needed his support for the application she would send to Govenor Jim Doyle.

At the meeting, Kratz asked her about secratary - boss sex, and afterwards Kratz began to send her sexually suggestive texts, including texts describing him in the bedroom. After discussing the harassment with relatives, Ruskiewicz asked Kratz to stop texting her, which he did.

Deborah Felice, the associate dean for students at the law school, said she met with Ruskiewicz at her request on Sept. 25, 2008, to discuss the messages.

"She said she was very upset because she was pursuing a pardon and the DA she was working with was sending her these text messages that were basically stalking her," Felice said, adding that she was shown some of the messages.

Felice said she and Ruskiewicz met with a university lawyer five days later. They decided the best course of action was to ignore Kratz and hope he would go away. Felice said she spoke with Ruskiewicz weeks later and the messages had stopped, and "that's the last I heard of it until this morning," when she saw a segment about Kratz on national TV.

Richard Ginkowski, an assistant Kenosha County prosecutor, discussed the texts with Ruskiewicz as they were discussing the pardon application, and Ginkowski offered to take the matter to the Office of Lawyer Regulation, but "I decided in the end I didn't want to rock the boat." Since the scandal broke, she has said "This is not an isolated event. This happened a year prior to the first woman who came out. He is choosing women who are in vulnerable positions, not just women in general."

Ruskiewicz was granted her pardon last month by Gov. Doyle. A fourth woman has also claimed that Kratz contacted her inappropriately.

(Update 10-5-10) Kratz resigned yesterday as Calumet County DA. In a letter to Jim Doyle, Kratz said, "I hereby resign from my position as District Attorney, Calumet County, effective immediately." The resignation ends Kratz' 18 year career as Calumet County, WI district attorney. The resignation ends the official removal process, with a hearing scheduled for October 8 in Chilton being canceled.

A statement sent by fax to news outlets said Kratz remains at an out-of-state treatment center. He apologized to his "wife, son and entire family for the embarrassment and shame I have caused" and offered his "deepest apology to the citizens of Calumet County."

He cited an undisclosed condition for which he's receiving treatment as his downfall. "I have lost the confidence of the people I represent due primarily to personal issues which have now affected my professional career," Kratz wrote.

The Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence spokesman Tony Gibart said "I think the resignation is an important step and a necessary step. It's something that had to happen for victims to regain trust in the Calumet County legal system." However, Gibart said that Kratz needs to also face professional and perhaps even criminal charges for his actions. "I don't think that [only a resignation]sends the right message to victims," Gibart said.

Man who dropped into house, stabbed estranged wife to death sentenced to life without parole

On Friday, September 17, a Ft. Worth, TX man who stabbed his estranged wife to death in front of his 8 year old twin boys, named after him, was sentenced to life without parole by State District Judge Mike Thomas. 41-year-old Alma Garcia was stabbed to death by her husband, 42 year old Abel Noe Dominguez, on March 8, 2009. Dominguez broke into his wife's house and stabbed her between 11 PM and 10 AM, according to the testimony of his two oldest children, earning him a capital murder charge, which is applied to murder committed in the course of another felony, in this case, burglary.

[Noely] Dominguez, 17, said she spent most of the day [March 7, 2009] at South Hills High School practicing track and cheerleading.

She said her brothers, Abel and Noe, were at a neighbor’s house while their mother and Janette [Jaimes, 20 year old]were at a birthday party. After returning home about 10 p.m., Dominguez said she picked up her brothers and went back to their house, where the boys watched television in their mother’s room. Dominguez said she watched TV in her own room.

About 11 p.m., when she looked out the window after her dog began barking, Dominguez said she saw a ladder leaned up against the house. Several hours after she went to sleep, she heard her mother and Janette come home but she went back to sleep, she said.

Prosecutors contend that Dominguez broke into the home and waited for Garcia. Defense attorneys say that Dominguez walked through the front door of a house that he shared with Garcia.

Nohely Dominguez said she and Janette were awakened about 11 a.m. by her brothers screaming, “Wake up, I think Mommy’s dead.” When she hesitantly went into her mother’s room, where the boys had been sleeping, Dominguez found “blood everywhere” and her mother['s] body. “We tried shaking her but she was dead,” she said.

During closing arguments,  prosecutors Alana Minton and Kimberly D'Avignon argued that the break-in was burglary because the victim's sister owned the home and the victim kicked her husband out during a violent argument two weeks before her murder. While defense attorneys Wes Ball and Santiago Salinas argued it was Dominguez' home because he made mortgage payments for 15 years, Minton said that the way he entered - climbing onto the roof, dropping through a hole in his sons' room, then lying in wait to stab him victim 19 times, made it murder committed during a burglary.

The burglary specification was significant because in Texas, jurors can convict defendants of capital murder, which carried life without parole or the death penalty, if the homicide is committed during the course of another felony. In Texas, burglary is defined as breaking into someone's home without permission to commit another felony. If not, the homicide becomes simple murder, punishable by 5 to 99 years with one-third to serve. Tarrant County jurors found Dominguez guilty of capital murder after three hours of deliberation over two days.

During the victim impact statement, made after sentencing, Patricia Rodriguez, the homeowner and sister of the victim, said that the children They not only lost their mother. They lost their father. They still have nightmares and cry themselves to sleep because what you’ve done.”

"Shotgun Bandit" sentenced to life for rape, attempted murder of woman

A suburban Dallas-Ft Worth man was sentenced to life for the rapes of two women Thursday, September 16. Stanley Vernell Ledbetter Jr., a Muscogee, OK native and a Plano, TX resident, was sentenced to life for aggravated sexual assault in a April 10, 2007 sexual attack. Jurors took half an hour to convict Ledbetter of aggravated sexual assault and another 20 minutes to assess him the maximum sentence - life with a $10,000 fine.

Testimony opened on September 15 with the then 29 year old's account of the attack.

The woman, who is not being named because she is a sexual assault victim, told jurors she was in her pajamas watching television about 2 a.m. when the glass on her patio door exploded.  "I screamed," she said. "I saw a dark figure coming through the door right at me."


The man, holding a short-barreled shotgun, dragged her by her hair to the bedroom. She testified he made her dump out her purse and turn over hundreds of dollars in cash she had earned from her waitress job. He also forced her to give up her debit card and the personal identification number.
He made her stay in the bathtub as he searched the place. What he was looking for, she didn't know, she told jurors. Then the attacker took her to her bedroom, where he forced her to perform a sex act. If she didn't, he threatened to blow her head off, she testified.
The attacker used zip ties to bind her hands behind her and laid her on the bed. He stuffed a sock into her mouth and held it there with duct tape. Then he covered her face with a pillow and stabbed her three times.
"I couldn't believe this was happening," she said. "The pain was unreal."

The woman said she played dead as he checked her wrist for a pulse. She rolled her eyes back as he lifted each lid to check for signs of life. He removed the sock and duct tape. She said she heard her front door open and then close. She waited about five minutes and then went to her kitchen to try to cut the ties with a knife. When she couldn't free herself, she went to get help.

She met her attacker at the front door. "You didn't think I wouldn't see the kitchen light come on?" she recalled him asking. There was a struggle. She told jurors he pushed her down and stabbed her two more times. He locked the door behind him as he left.

The woman said she lay there for 30 to 45 minutes "to make sure he was gone."

During the trial, Ledbetter's defense attorney attempted to introduce reasonable doubt by sugessting that his client wasn't the one who stabbed the victim. The defense conceded the DNA evidence proved Ledbetter raped the victim. The only defense witness, Denise Ledbetter, was the attacker's mom. She portrayed her son as a devoted son and asked jurors to give him less than life so "That I have more time with my son."

The 2007 attack victim's impact statement followed the penalty phase of the trial, and went like this. "No matter how much pain and anguish you caused, not once would I let you get the best of me. I will never let you steal my strength or my perseverance. ... I'm the reason you were caught. I got you. ... May you rot in jail for life."

During the punishment phase of the trial, jurors got a clearer picture of Ledbetter, known before his arrest as the shotgun bandit because of his choice of weapon in some of the crimes.


A former Garland woman testified about a man breaking into her home through the patio door on June 1, 2005. He forced her to drive to two automated teller machines and withdraw $500 while he sat in the back seat of her Jaguar with a sawed-off shotgun jabbed in her side. "I was petrified," she told jurors.

A former Southern Methodist University student testified under a pseudonym about a man dressed in black and wielding a shotgun who broke into the Dallas apartment she shared with a friend on June 4, 2005. Both were sexually assaulted. A DNA expert testified that trace evidence from the Jaguar's back seat and the Dallas attack matched Ledbetter's DNA.
A 41-year-old woman testified about being sexually assaulted by Ledbetter on Nov. 7, 2005, at her Plano apartment. Several details matched the other attacks.

Prosecutor JoDee Neil told jurors: "There is no why," she said. "This is evil, plain and straight."

First Assistant District Attorney Greg Davis said Ledbetter deserved the maximum of life without parole
"so that no other woman will have to look at Stanley Ledbetter again and fear for her life."
 
Ledbetter, known as the "Shotgun Bandit," was already serving two life sentences on similar criminal convictions. Ledbetter is suspected in attacks on 7 women that took place between May 2005 and April 2007, and is suspected in at least 19 home invasions. The presiding judge was State District Judge Webb Biard. The convictions, from Dallas County, are under appeal.

Hialeah, FL armed robber gets 30 years for robbery, rape, kidnapping

A Hialeah, FL rapist and robber was sentenced to 30 years in prison by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Ellen Sue Venzer on Tuesday, September 14, 2010 after pleading guilty to a crime spree which included burglary, robbery, and rape. Jeosvany Salas was caught after DNA evidence left at the attacks matched his profile.

The crimes Salas plead guilty to involved:

Tying up and robbing a 73-year-old Miami woman in a September 2007 robbery that police said was a case of mistaken identity. Through forensic science, again, a fingerprint found on a piece of Scotch tape doomed Salas.

Kidnapping a Miami-Dade pawn shop owner in August 2008, holding him hostage for nine hours. Salas was nailed when his DNA was found on a beer bottle he drank from inside the victim's home.

Taking a Hialeah mother hostage in May 2008, shooting her with a stun gun and sexually assaulting her. It was that final act that broke the case: Saliva swabbed off the victim's chest matched Salas' DNA.

Salas was set to go to trial on the attack on the 73 year old woman, and was facing 21 life sentences in all, but plead after prosecutors filed the rape case. The attack on the woman occured after Salas and other robbers mistook her home for a Cuban human trafficer's. The rape case started out as a kidnapping and robbery, where Salas and his gang tied up the mother and her daughter while ransacking their home looking for electronics and jewerly. The rape occured after Salas asked the mother for a kiss and licked her body. The pawn show owner was beaten for hours while the robbers tried to get him to hand over his secuirty codes. Police caught Salas after noticing his SUV outside the pawn shop.

Craigslist - "Adult Services" ad section gone for good

updated 9/16/2010 10:43:07 AM ET By Sarah Jacobsson Purewal [PC World]

Pressured by law enforcement, advocacy groups, and Congress, Craigslist said it would permanently remove adult services from its online classified ads here in the United States. The move quickly sparked criticism by free-speech advocates who see Craigslist's shuttering of its adult services as a threat to free speech on the Internet.

Craigslist's lawyers told a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on child sex trafficking Wednesday that it has no plans to reopen its U.S. adult services section, which it shut down Sept. 3 after heavy criticism from human rights advocacy groups and Congress who charged that Craigslist was commonly used in the global sex trade of women.

William Clinton Powell, the director of customer service and law enforcement relations for Craigslist, said that his company had "no intention to bring the category back" and "money is not a consideration." Craigslist skirted the issue of whether it would yield to calls by advocacy groups to stop running erotic services ads that appear on international versions of the Craigslist site outside the U.S.

At the end of August a group of 17 attorneys general requested, in an open letter, that Craigslist disable the adult services section of its site immediately. The letter explained that the "increasingly sharp public criticism" of the adult services section "reflects a growing recognition that ads for prostitution — including ads trafficking children — are rampant on it."

The letter also gave examples of how adult services ads on Craigslist were allegedly tied to sex crimes. It cited one story of two girls who were allegedly trafficked over the Internet through listings on the Craigslist site. Those two girls wrote an open letter in July 2010 requesting that Craigslist take the section down.

Craigslist responded with a request evidence of the alleged trafficking authorities.

Earlier this month Craigslist complied with lawmaker requests and put a black bar with the word "censored" over the section of the site labeled adult services. The move raised the question of free speech and the Internet — and whether or not Congress has the right to censor Internet.

According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the Craigslist decision to "censor" its Adult Services section is an unfortunate one. The EFF points out that the attorneys general basically bullied Craigslist into making such a decision, as "over the past two years, Craigslist repeatedly offered to go far above and beyond their legal obligations to work with law enforcement officials," and "the AGs have inevitably rewarded completely voluntary, non-mandatory offers of cooperation from Craigslist with further demands and insults."

Of course, shutting down Craigslist's Adult Services section for good is unlikely to fix all the sex trafficking issues like that. As Elizabeth McDougall, a partner at Perkins Coie LLP (the law firm representing Craigslist), says, the ads will just "migrate to less socially responsible sites" that won't cooperate with law enforcement.

Brooklyn serial rapist sentenced to 174 1/2 to 178 years in prison

A Brooklyn serial rapist who preyed on women in the Crown Heights neighborhood was sentenced to 174 1/2 to 178 years in the New York prison system Wednesday, September 8, 2010, according to the Brooklyn DA's office. 23 year old Erick Lewis was convicted of rape, criminal sex act, robbery, and 2 counts of sex abuse in August.

Lewis’ string of rapes around Crown Heights began in January 2008 around 12:30 p.m, when Lewis followed a woman into a laundry room in the basement of her Crown Heights apartment building, assaulted her and attempted to force her to perform oral sex.

In August 2008, just after midnight, Lewis raped and robbed another woman, at gunpoint, in the elevator of another Crown Heights building. The victim reported the incident to the police, and was taken to Methodist Hospital. There she was treated, and forensic evidence was collected.

On September 11, 2008, Lewis robbed a woman and forced her to perform oral sex on him, in the elevator of another Crown Heights building. Forensic evidence was collected from the floor of the elevator linking Lewis to the crime.

The presiding judge was Brooklyn Superior Court Justice Vincent Del Giudice.