Ohio gym teacher charged with allegedly doing members of football team gets 4 years, lifetime SO registration

(Original Post 2-6-11)
An Ohio teacher has been charged with 16 counts of sexual battery and 3 misdemeanor counts of offenses involving underage persons for allegedly having sex with football team members and providing them alcohol at the high school she worked at. Stacy Schuler of Springboro OH, was charged by the Warren County Prosecutor's Office after parents went to the authorities regarding their sons' sexual contact with Schuler. Schuler's indictment can be found here.

Schuler, a health and physical education teacher at the 3,048 student-populated Mason High School, has been under investigation by police after an anonymous tip was given to school officials during the week of Jan. 10, according to Tracey Carson, schools spokeswoman. Carson said Schuler was placed on paid administrative leave on Jan. 18. During that time, Schuler was prohibited from attending district events or being on district property.

Chief Assistant Prosecutor Bruce McGary said the allegations did not happen at a party. Mason police Detective Toni Hoelke said when the parents of the students found out about the allegations, they “were surprised and that they had no idea about it.”

The Mason High School teacher, who turns 33 next week, was arraigned in Warren County Common Pleas Court Friday, February 4 and is currently being held on $50,000 bond, which she has not yet raised, according to her attorney, Charlie Rittgers of Lebanon, OH.

“We knew she was being investigated. There has been no discovery from prosecutors and we’ll be starting our own investigation.” Rittgers also stated that if she made bond, thought to be unlikely before the end of the weekend, she would have to wear a GPS monitoring device. and stay away from the victims and other Mason High students. “Anytime a teacher is accused of having sex with students, it gets peoples attention. It doesn’t surprise me with those allegations.”

Mason High school mother Ginnie Sclosser said that "It is just heartbreak all over, and I especially feel bad for the students that were involved and my heart breaks for their parents, too. It's just a bad situation for everybody,"

Schuler graduated from Centerville High School in 1996 and Wright State University in 2000. She was a student teacher at Fairmont High School in Kettering from 1999-2000, according to her file.Her duties included work as an athletic trainer for the high school’s girls and boys sports teams. She earned $53,194 in 2008, according to her personnel file.

In her Health Education Philosophy as part of her application to work at Mason, Schuler wrote that she wanted to teach students about major risk factors for teenagers including “sexual behaviors that result in disease, STDs, and unwanted pregnancies.” Part of her mission statement included “Today’s society has its own standards of behavior, values, and norms that do not necessarily reflect healthy living...How can a child who is sexually active as a teenager learn about STDs and how to prevent unwanted pregnancies?”

Mason superintendent Superintendent Kevin Bright said that “Our job at the end of the day, is to partner with our families and to empower our staff to report anything that seems out of line, and then to act swiftly when someone behaves inappropriately. He also said his district “acted swiftly, partnered with police immediately, and we are standing her[e] today because of how seriously our high school principal took an anonymous tip.”

 

The principal of Mason High, Mindy McCarty-Stewart sent out a e-mail to parents January 31. She said that “As high school principal, I am committed to the safety and well-being of our students, and will not tolerate behavior that does not conform to that goal. Our staff is prepared to help our students during this situation, and know how it important it is to continue to build trust with our students and families.”

 

Schuler isn't the only Mason High employee who has been embroiled in this scandal. George Coates, an assistant Mason High principal, allegedly sent Schuler sexually explicit images. Coates turned in his resignation and the Mason High School board is voting on whether to accept it at their upcoming Tuesday meeting. The school board is also voting on whether to suspend Schuler without pay and beging termination procedures against her at the meeting.

(Update 2-9-11) Schuler was released on her own recognisance yesterday. Conditions of release include a 8PM to 6AM curfew, no contact with any minors or high school students over 18, and no drugs or alcohol. The now former teacher must also wear a GPS device.

During the Mason School Board meeting last night, the board unanimously accepted the resignation of Schuler, who has submitted a letter of resignation Monday. They also accepted the resignation of former assistant principal George Coates. Despite this, Dr. Kevin Bright, Mason School District superintendent, faced calls from parents to also resign. One said "All this stuff happened under his watch." and another said, "It's your policies that now have cost the children their innocence. You ought to get out of Mason. Just get out of Mason. Get out."

Bright said that he reported the allegations to the Ohio Department Of Education, and "While we had begun the process to terminate Ms. Schuler, we received her resignation today and believe that accepting it will save the district a lot of legal fees, which is in the best interest of our taxpayers and students."

(Update 10-28-11) After a three day bench trial, Stacy Schuler was convicted of 16 felony counts of sexual battery and three misdemeanor counts of giving alcohol to minors in a Warren County, OH courtroom yesterday. The presiding judge was Judge Robert Peeler. All five teenage boys were over Ohio's age of cpnsent, which is normally 16, but does not exist when there is a position of formal authority.

All five teens, who were about 17 years old at time, testified that Schuler was drinking alcohol at the time of the alleged incidents, was a willing participant in the acts and initiated much of the contact.

One of the teens testified they considered Schuler’s home a safe place to get high. Several said they were high on marijuana during sex with Schuler and that she made them vodka smoothies and served them beer and peach wine.

Originally, Schuler plead not guilty to all charges, but changed her plea to guilty by reason on insanity, a plea which according to a prosecution witness, was planned by Schuler before she was formally charged. During Thursday's closing arguments, Assistant Warren County Prosecutor Teresa Hiett said that "She got drunk and made some really poor choices. Does that mean she’s insane? No. She was the adult. She was the teacher. She had the trust. It’s the relationship between the defendant and the victims that makes this a crime.”

Defense attorney Charlie Rittgers said that her condition was caused by a mixture of bipolar disorder, Zoloft, an antidepressant drug, and alcohol."The underlying disease is the bipolar. The catalyst is the Zoloft magnified by the alcohol.”

Rittgers said it didn’t make sense that a person with Christian values would risk her livelihood and freedom, and said that the evidence supported an insanity defense.

“They want us to believe that all of a sudden after 10 years teaching, she wants to throw it away to have sex with five different guys,” he told the judge. “It’s far more reasonable to believe Stacy was suffering from an underlying psychological disorder.”

Judge Peeler said that while the defense argument about the adverse reaction of alcohol and drugs or an underlying condition may explain Schuler's behavior, it does not excuse it. Being voluntarily drunk was no excuse for taking advantage of students, and that it would be "a leap" to suggest that Schuler did not appreciate the wrongfulness of her conduct.

Before the verdict, the mother of one of the victims took the stand and said while crying, "These young men may appear as if they are tough guys, but in reality they are truly hurting. (Schuler) played on their emotions and she crossed the line.”

The four year prison sentence comes with an option for early release in six months. Besides the felony convictions of sexual battery, Schuler must register as a Tier 3 sex offender every 90 days for the rest of her life. Schuler resigned as a gym teacher from Mason High school back in February.

Missing Jersey City mom's body found in concrete drum - "husband" charged with 1st degree murder

A Jersey City man was charged with 1st degree murder in the death of his baby's mother, a Canadian who moved to Jersey City, NJ to become a waitress. 38 year old Steven Acuna was charged with strangling his wife and dumping her into a cement-filled barrel which he then folded his wife's body into. The mother's remains were discovered Friday, Septem,ber 23 and Acuna was formally charged with 1st degree murder.

[Randy "Amanda"]Lehrer, 32, was reported missing on Aug. 17. One of the last times she was seen publicly was leaving Tommy’s Family Restaurant on Central Avenue where she worked on Aug. 12 with Acuna, officials said.

Tommy Diakos, owner of Tommy’s Restaurant where Lehrer worked for nearly four years last saw her on Friday Aug. 12 when she finished her shift at 2 p.m.

“I never thought he (Acuna) would do something like that. He was very quiet when he came here,” Diakos said yesterday. “I hope she rests in peace. The baby is going to miss her more than anybody else.”

Acuna was always a suspect in his wife's disappearance. After Jersey City police used cadaverdogs to search their apartment and found nothing, Acuna was held of outstanding warrants, then released. Officials went back late last week after surmising that Amanda's body might have been dumped in the basement.

Hudson County, NJ Prosecutor Edward DeFazio stated, “Last week, based on further investigation, Jersey City police ascertained that tenants in the building had access to the basement. Based on that information they got permission from the owner of the property to inspect the basement...They discovered this barrel that was hidden by construction-type debrisAnd when they saw that barrel, based on good intuition, they said something didn’t look right about the barrel.”

The barrel was opened and Lehrer’s remains were found “encased” in concrete, according to DeFazio. There was no evidence that she was dismembered. “It is almost like she was bent, folded,” the prosecutor said. As investigators examined the remains, they realized they belonged to a woman, DeFazio said.

“Although there was decomposition, they were of a mind that it was Amanda. Then, further corroboration was obtained at the time of autopsy.”

DeFazio went on to say, "We believe this (murder) occurred during the course of a domestic violence situation and it could be that she was strangled.We believe it happened shortly after she was last seen alive.”

Acuna is being held on $1 million bail for 1st degree murder at the Hudson County Correctional Facility.  After his wife's body was found, neighbors organized a vigil outside their apartment. A woman who was visiting her daughter said, "It's so sad, just painfully sad. I was visiting my daughter and wanted to know why everyone was standing around this house. Now, I wish it wasn't so."

Serial British philandering teacher sentenced to 22 to life for murdering "partner"

A JUDGE described music teacher Andrew Lindo as “cunning, cruel and calculating” as he sentenced him to 22 years in prison for the murder of Marie Stewart. Mr Justice Andrew Smith said it was “chilling” that Lindo had shown no remorse after brutally murdering his fiancee Miss Stewart, 30, at their Holmfirth home.

Throughout the sentencing at Bradford Crown Court, Lindo stared forwards blankly and expressionless, his hands clasped in front of him.The 29-year-old – in a grey suit and blue striped tie – did not flinch when the judge told him he would serve a minimum of 22 years.

Mr Justice Smith told Lindo: “When you have served it, it will be for others to consider whether it is safe to release you. Those faced with the decision will weigh it carefully.

“They will be wary of your extraordinary cunning and facility for deceit. They will also reflect upon how someone could be as calm and calculating as you were so soon after such a murder. They will consider all the texts that you sent that evening, and they will ask themselves whether your mental state can sufficiently be comprehended for it to be safe to release you.”

Lindo brutally murdered Marie – who was a special needs carer at Holmfirth High School – on December 18 last year, while their two children slept in their rooms at their rented house on Perseverance Place, Holmfirth.

Mr Justice Smith said: “The murder was not planned, but the attack on her was vicious and sustained.
You assaulted Marie in bed, and tried to throttle her. You used a suitcase to haul her to the living room.She was still alive. I am prepared to suppose – having considered the evidence – she was not conscious.You battered her face with a solid wood chair and you tried to strangle her with a belt.

You pulled her to the garage, covered her face in bubble wrap plastic and then inflicted fatal blows with a knife, stabbing her at least eight times.Your children were in the house at the time.”

Lindo then stuffed Marie’s body in a flight bag and hid it in the garage – her remains were not discovered by police for nearly two months. Mr Justice Smith said Marie had been devoted to Lindo and their children and said that she had recently found out that Lindo was cheating on her.

He told Lindo: “I cannot tell why you killed Marie Stewart, still less why you killed her so brutally – whether there was a motive and if so what it was. I do not accept that you were provoked or suffering prolonged stress. But that evening you faced a crisis in the double life that you were leading.”

The judge said that Lindo had become scared that his lover Angela Rylance would find out that he was living with Marie.

He said: “You had convinced Angela Rylance that you were a single father deserted by your partner, and you were committed to having her spend the night at your home. You might have been driven to do what you did because you could not face losing Angela Rylance. It was not the first time that you had seduced other woman with such deceit, cunningly trapping them and betraying Marie and your family.”

Mr Justice Smith said: I have seen no sign of remorse. Even when eventually you had no choice but to admit killing Marie, you again portrayed yourself as the victim. Your allegations against Marie reached new depths – accusing her of mistreating her own daughter. I am sure that those allegations were without truth – that they were a deliberate and despicable fiction.”

The judge said an aggravating feature was that the attack was “sustained and cruel” and culminated in a multiple stabbing. And that it had all been done while the children – a daughter, three , and a baby son – slept in their bedrooms in the three-storey house.

He said: “There is no evidence that they woke before or during the fatal attack – we can only hope that, mercifully, they did not. But the noise was enough to rouse the two-year-old boy next door.”

Mr Justice Smith said that it was “chilling” that Lindo had lacked any remorse following the murder and that he had been “cruel” and “calculating” when he concealed her remains in the garage and continued his lies about what had happened to her.

DETECTIVES who investigated the murder of Marie Stewart condemned the “selfishness” of her callous killer. They said Andrew Lindo had sought only to cause further suffering for her family.

Det Supt Dick Nuttall, of West Yorkshire Police’s Homicide and Major Enquiry Team, said Lindo had done nothing but “compound” the Stewart family’s suffering by trying to blacken Marie’s name.
He spoke out minutes after 29-year-old Lindo was jailed for at least 22 years for the brutal murder.

He said: “Andrew Lindo has now been convicted of the murder of Marie Stewart, a verdict which confirms that this was a cruel and deliberate act rather than the spontaneous and momentary loss of control that Lindo has claimed in his defence.

Lindo killed Marie in a series of brutal assaults that began in a bedroom a few feet from where their young children lay asleep and which continued through three floors of the family home before ending with Marie’s body being callously consigned to a flight bag in the garage.

“Within hours of Marie’s death – and by prior arrangement – Lindo brought his unsuspecting new girlfriend into his home before embarking on an elaborate charade that convinced everyone that Marie was still alive for several weeks. In his conduct since killing Marie, Lindo has continually sought to avoid or minimise his responsibility for his actions."

“Right from Lindo’s despicable behaviour and use of text and facebook messages prior to his arrest, his lies and crocodile tears in police interviews through to his descent to the ultimate low of blackening Marie Stewart’s character in the worst possible way he has shown himself to be calculating and manipulative.”

He said Lindo’s behaviour “inspired revulsion” among even the most experienced officers on the enquiry team who painstakingly exposed his lies and subterfuge to present a compelling case to the court.

“This killing had it roots in Andrew Lindo’s selfishness and whilst it is his behaviour that will make the news we shouldn’t forget that through his actions he has caused the needless death of Marie Stewart and has deprived her two young children of their loving and devoted mother.”

Match.com rapist sentenced to a year in jail

A Southern California man who raped a woman after his second date on Match.com was sentenced to a year in jail yesterday for his crime. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Barbara R. Johnson sentenced 67 year old Alan Paul Wurtzel of Pacific Palisades, CA to 5 years probation, lifetime registration as a sex offender, and no use of computers or telephones for social networking unless approved by a probation officer.

Wurtzel pled no contest to sexual battery by restraint, and prosecutors dismissed a charge of forcible oral copulation. The victim learned abut his history of sexual assault after he followed her into her home and attacked her. She sued Match.com and settled the lawsuit last month, which would require the dating site to screen members against the state and federal sex offender registries.

Oregon man sentenced to 56 years for sexual attacks on wife

A man who raped his wife and terrorized their children was sentenced to 56 1/4 years in the Oregon prison system on August 10, 2011. 50 year old Diego Lara Andrade was convicted of numerous sex crimes at the conclusion of a two day trial which took place in a Umatilla County, Or courtroom on July 25 and July 26.

50 year old Diego Lara Andrade of Hermiston, OR was convicted of sexual attacks on his wife, the mother of his children, between March and October 2010. The jury convicted him of several counts of rape, sodomy, and physical abuse of his victimized wife.

Each of the sex crimes defendant was convicted of are listed under Oregon’s Ballot Measure 11, requiring minimum mandatory prison sentences. Convicts sentenced under Oregon’s Ballot Measure 11 are not eligible for parole or any other forms of early release.

Judge Daniel Hill presided over the trial and sentencing of Andrade. Judge Hill imposed five consecutive 100 month sentences in prison for each of the counts of rape in the first degree, one consecutive 100 month sentence for sodomy in the first degree, and one 75 month consecutive sentence for sexual abuse in the first degree for a total of 675 months (56 ¼ years) in prison, without any eligibility for early release.

Judge Hill said that it was his "own arrogance toward his wife and his family that put him in the position he is now in," and that he expected Andrade to die in prison.

Rapist sentenced to 50 more years for week-long assault on wife - appeal denied

(Original Post 9-29-09)
A man who was convicted of raping his wife in a second trial was sentenced to 50 years in prison in addition to 22 years handed down in a previous aggravated rape conviction. The 50 years sentence stems from two consecutive 25 year sentences for aggravated rape and especially aggravated kidnapping. 6 year sentences for aggravated burglary and aggravated assault were imposed, but they'll run concurrently with the other charges.

Sullivan County Criminal Court Judge Robert Montgomery said that he “I shudder to think what might have happened” if Bristol TN resident Doug Young, 49, hadn't been apprehended in Georgia a week after he kidnapped and raped his wife, Heather Moore.

The rapes and kidnapping occurred over the week of January 4 to 11, 2008 after they ate breakfast at Moore's home. Young's presence was a violation of the protective order Moore filed against him on December 3, 2007, citing that “[Young] possesses many firearms and has threatened to shoot me and I am in fear for my life.” Moore's father, fred Moore began staying with his daughter, trying to protect her.

The two traveled in Moore’s vehicle to Asheville, N.C., where they spent the night at a rest stop; to Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where they circled the scenic loop over and over again; and to Cherokee, N.C., where they holed up at the Drama Inn for most of the next week, according to testimony presented Monday and Tuesday.

From Cherokee, Young and Moore took shopping and dining excursions to Spartanburg, S.C., and Clayton, Ga. From Jan. 4 to Jan. 11, Moore testified, Young kept a gun trained on her at almost all times, and forced her to have sex with him on at least seven separate occasions. Prosecutors are focusing only on the incidents that occurred in Sullivan County.

Everywhere they went, Moore testified, Young kept the pistol in his right-hand pants pocket. One day, while drinking vodka and driving, Young menaced her with the gun, running it up and down her head, saying, “I could kill you right now,” she recalled.

Friday’s sentencing concluded the most serious charges that Young racked up in just over a month between Dec. 1, 2007, and Jan. 10, 2008. Before then, he had been a superintendent at BurWil Construction, whose worst offense was an incident of joyriding as a juvenile.

But with his marriage to Moore unraveling, Young turned violent, sexually assaulting Moore in December 2007 at her home, after she refused to give him a hug, a jury concluded.

Then, on the eve of finalizing their divorce and days ahead of a hearing on Young’s aggravated rape charge, he violated the court’s no-contact order and stole in to Moore’s house to wait for her.

Prosecutors in Young’s second trial in August built their case by focusing on his offenses from the time he entered Moore’s residence, to when he left, abducting her at gunpoint, and commandeering her car.

According to Moore's previous victim impact statement, she fears coming home at dark, her rapist escaping and putting a gun to her head, and has to face the door when eating at restaurants. "All of this make it very difficult to report a crime like this and have the most horrible thing that has ever happened to you be exposed in the media for all to see.”

Moore's mother, Margaret Schaffer, said that “We’re going forward now. We’re not looking back.” Young's 2008 rape conviction is currently being appealed.

(Update 5-27-11) Doug Young's appeal of his 2009 rape conviction has been denied by the Tennessee Court Of Criminal Appeals in a unanimous decision dated Monday, May 23, 2011. The appeal is based on the introduction of Young's 1st rape conviction in the second trial as evidence. The court said that while testimony regarding the first rape conviction was a bit excessive, it allowed prosecutors to privide evidence of a criminal plan or motive. The appellate court also ruled that other evidence against Young outweightd the error of allowing the testimony relating to the first conviction. The entire decision can be found here in this pdf file. The case number is E2010-00027-CCA-R3-CD.

Teacher gets 60 days jail, lifetime SO registration for banging 18 year old student

A former high school French teacher and bowling coach was sentenced to 60 days in jail, a $500 fine, and lifetime sex offender registration for having sexual encounters with an 18 year old student on Monday, May 16, 2011.  
 

44 year old Cheryl Clark’s sentencing was the culmination of a guilty plea entered Monday, April 11, 2011 in a Bellefontaine, OH courtroom. The guilty plea was for a single count of sexual battery. The presiding judge over was Logan County Common Pleas Judge Mark S. O'Connor. Clark, of Huntsville, OH, was a teacher for 15 years at Indian Lake High School before she was charged with sex with an 18 year old student.

Clark and the teenager had sex in her home at least twice, the first time on Feb.10 [2011], 16 days after the student turned 18, [Logan County Assistant Prosecutor Eric]Stewart said. Still, under Ohio law, it is a felony because Clark held a position of trust.

The boy’s mother became suspicious after she saw Clarke with her son at a school event. She went to local authorities,  and the Washington Township Police Department went to Clarke’s home and found evidence, including text messages.

Clark told probation officers who were conducting a pre-sentence investigation that she thought the relationship was permissible because the student had turned 18, Stewart said. O'Connor could have sentenced Clark to as long as five years in prison, and the prosecutor wanted prison time.

Besides the jail sentence, lifetime registration, and the $500 fine, Clark's teaching certificate was permanently revoked. She must also undergo counseling and have no contact with her victim.

Snake rapist sentenced to 25 years prison and lifetime extended supervision

One of two men who were found guilty of raping a woman with a live snake last fall was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment by Eau Claire County Judge Paul Lenz on Tuesday, May 24, 2011. 24 year old John Bullock, of Altoona, earned the sentence after a jury convicted him and 25 year old Damonta Jones of Eau Claire, WI of two counts of 1st degree sexual assault last month.

According to the criminal complaint:

The woman told police she was at Jones' residence in the early morning hours of Nov. 11 with Jones, Bullock and two friends.The group was drinking alcohol and dancing. At one point, one of the friends left the residence while the second went to take a shower. Jones then invited the woman into a bedroom to see his children's pictures.

When she walked into the bedroom the woman said she was struck in the head with an unknown object and thrown on the floor before blacking out. The woman said she remembered Jones holding her while Bullock sexually assaulted her. She said she later was sexually assaulted with a live snake.
Bullock told police he had sexual contact with the woman but that it was consensual.

Besides 25 years imprisonment, Bullock will spend the rest of his life on extended supervision and the sex offender registry. He must stay away from the victim, Jones, minors, taverns, and alcohol. He also can't own pets.

The 25 year sentence falls in line with the pre-sentence investigation prepared by the Wisconsin Department Of Corrections, which recommended a 20-40 year sentence, but under Eau Claire County Assistant District Attorney Meri Larson's 30-40 year sentence suggestion. According to Larson, Bullock "attacked a defenseless woman in the most degrading way he and Mr. Jones could think of" and that Bullock "is a great threat to the community."

Before sentencing, Bullock said "I can't apologize about a crime I did not commit...My case is a case ... of media sensationalism and police misconduct. My case has been built on a foundation of lies. I am not a man that sexually assaults women."

Judge Lenz disagreed, saying "Just when you think you've seen every kind of depravity that comes into the mind of a man, there comes along another one."

Jones, still being held on $30,000 bail in the Eau Claire County Jail, will be sentenced August 3 after a pre-sentence investigation is run on him. Both Bullock and Jones have appealed their convictions.

15 year old boy handed 15 life sentences in rapes - sentence modified to 65 years

(Original Post 3-14-10) A 15 year old boy was sentenced to 15 life terms Wednesday, March 10 for raping and kidnapping two Apollo Beach restaraunt workers. Jose Walle, 13 when he attacked the woman, entered a blind plea to 19 felony counts last month.

The women were abducted from the Apollo Beach restaurant Aug. 15, 2008, held for several hours and repeatedly sexually assaulted before being dumped along Interstate 75. One said Walle got in the back seat of her truck, pointed a gun at her and raped her.

One of the victims said in her impact statement, "There was no doubt in my mind that he would kill us. He chose to rob us. He chose to abduct us. He was the one who raped me." The other victim said that "I think he should be shown the same mercy he showed us - none."

Walle's parents, friends, soccer coach and attorney, as well as a psychiatrist hired by the defense, portrayed him as a youth soccer star who got caught up in drugs and came under the sway of bad influences - co-defendants Rigoberto Martinez, 22, and Vincente Reyes-Carbajal, 21, who are awaiting trial.

Walle's explanation of his attack on the women was "I was angry. I was on drugs."

But Assistant State Attorney Rita Peters said Walle laughed and smiled his way through a presentence interview with a state corrections official. Walle told the official, "I'm a nice guy, but if you mess with me I have no problems killing you," Peters quoted from the report.

Hillsborough Circuit Judge Chet Tharpe used those statements to justify his 15 life sentences. This is one of the most disturbing cases I have ever come across...If he is not stopped, he is going to do it again. And, quite frankly, I'm not willing to take that chance. It is my intention that you never ever walk the streets of our community again as a free man. He's going to kill; it's just a matter of time."

Walle's life sentences will be served concurrently to one another and consexutively with a 27 year sentence handed down for the rape of a third woman. Two other Florida youths have been jailed for life without parole terms for non-murder crimes committed at 13.

(Update 5-21-11) After a 2010 US Supreme Court ruling stating that juveniles cannot be sentenced to life without parole for crimes other than murder, Judge Tharpe resentenced Walle to 65 years imprisonment on Wednesday, November 17, 2010. Judge Tharpe said at Walle's second sentencing, "Jose Walle knew the difference between right and wrong. He has forfeited his right to live in a free society."

After listening to both sides re-present arguments made during the first sentencing, Judge Tharpe said to the defense, "Let me start out by saying, what's wrong with this picture? Shouldn't our focus be first and foremost on the welfare of the victims? Is it not cruel and unusual punishment for the victims to have endured the rage, the brutality, the terror that your client exacted upon them? What about the fact that these ladies have to live the rest of their lives worrying about whether or not they will become a victim again of another person like Jose Walle …Isn't that cruel and unusual punishment?"

Tharpe also gave the opinon that the juvenile justice system does not give enough accountability to youths convicted of serious crimes and that "grave crimes bring grave sentences.""Why don't we focus our money and our resources and our time on fixing the problems as opposed to trying to coddle a Jose Walle?"

Man who threatened to kill "girlfriend" in front of child then does it gets 30 to life

A Bella Vista, CA man who threatened to kill his "girlfriend" in front of her 7 year old child, then proceeded to do just that was sentenced to a prison term of 30 years to life on April 22, 2011. 49 year old Ty Rone Pitts was sentenced in Shasta County Superior Court by Judge Bradley Boeckman on April 22 for the 1st degree murder of 24 year old Randal Leigh Wert. Wert was stabbed five times in front of her 7 year old daughter Kaylee, with three of those stabbings going through Wert's body. This was not the first felony conviction Pitts had for attacking Wert - a 2008 conviction was for choking and holding a knife to Wert's throat.

According to court documents, Pitts told a sheriff's detective that he and Wert, who worked as a shift manager at a fast-food restaurant in Redding, had been arguing the night of the stabbing and that "she continued to 'needle' and 'nag' " at him.

He then pulled an 18-inch "coconut knife" from the top of the refrigerator, and he nicked her arm with it, the court documents show. Wert then told Pitts she was "going to call the cops and he was going to prison."At that point, the report said, Pitts began to stab Wert in the upper torso.

Jankowitz said during the trial's closing arguments that Pitts inflicted the final stab wound after the bleeding and terrified Wert tried to run away from him but tripped and fell down in the driveway at their residence.

Pitts then rolled Wert onto her back and, holding the knife with both hands, raised it high over his head and plunged it into her heart, Jankowitz has said.

Karen Hallenbeck of Shasta Lake, CA said her daughter's murder has caused continuing nightmares."I miss her so much...I talk to her every night before bed...I will never forgive him." Hallenbeck read a letter from her granddaughter Kaylee who asked Pitts why he killed her mother. "I wish you were here so we could play," Kaylee said in her letter.

Hallenbeck also opined that Pitts should get life without parole since "he always said he was going to kill her in front of the children." Judge Boekman said "You predicted this and you made it happen."

Former Houston officer sentenced to 6 years jail for coercing prostitute into sex

A former Houston police officer was convicted, then sentenced to 6 years imprisonment for raping two prostitutes while on duty. 26 year old Demetrie Trevail Dixon, 26 was convicted by a Harris county jury on two counts of sex assault Tuesday, May 3, 2011. The conviction stems from charges that two prostitutes had been coerced into performing oral sex by Dixon while he was on duty.

Dixon was sworn in as an HPD officer in January 2009. He was arrested June 4 and terminated after an internal investigation Jan. 7 [2011].The north Houston division patrol officer was charged last year with four felony counts of sexual assault and two misdemeanor counts of official oppression.

Internal affairs investigators said Dixon stalked several women while on duty then took them to a secluded area to strip-search them. Prosecutors said he raped two of the women twice over a three-month period. After more than a week of trial and about two hours of deliberating, Dixon was sentenced for raping one of the women twice.

While Harris County Prosecutor Prosecutor Matthew Peneguy asked for the maximum of 20 years behind bars for "using the badge to coerce" sex, Dixon's defense attorney said "We don't need to warehouse this guy, he needs help," but the jury disagreed.

Dixon sill faces sexual assault charges for raping the other prostitute, and faces two misdemeanor allegations that he forced two other women, one of them an undercover police officer, to submit to strip searches under threat of jail. 

Woman charged with biting boyfriend's lip off during fight

A 26 year old Las Cruces, NM woman is facing a third degree felony charge after biting her "boyfriend's" lip off during an argument on Sunday May 1, 2011. Aurelia Lorena Reyes, 26, is charged with one count of aggravated battery against a household member causing great bodily injury, a third-degree felony.

At around 11 p.m. Sunday, Las Cruces police were called to the Coachlight Inn at 301 S. Motel Blvd., where officers found the victim with a bloody face. The 35-year-old man was taken to a local hospital and then, because of the severity of his injuries, to University Medical Center of El Paso. His injuries are not life-threatening.

According to Las Cruces police, Reyes had an argument with her boyfriend, who told her to leave. Reyes became angry, so she grabbed the victim's head and bit off his upper lip, which was found about two feet from the entrance to their shared apartment. After hiding out in a neighboring school parking lot, Reyes turned herself it Monday, May 2 morning. Reyes is currently being held on $10,000 bond in the Dona Ana County Detention Center.