Enemies of (womankind)

(Original Post 3-23-08)
In international law, hosti humani generis, enemies of mankind, is the term given to those that torture, commit war crimes, genocide, piracy, and a host of other actions which violate jus cogens, or peremptory norms.

What happened to this 29 year old woman is nothing short of horrendous. It rivals the worst cases of child abuse and torture, including a case where the stepfather of a 7 year old girl was convicted of her murder. I'm reprinting this AP story in its entirety.

ALTON, Ill. - Banished to the basement, the 29-year-old mother with a childlike mind and another baby on the way had little more than a thin rug and a mattress to call her own on the chilly concrete floor.

Dorothy Dixon ate what she could forage from the refrigerator upstairs, where prosecutors say housemates used her for target practice with BBs, burned her with a glue gun and doused her with scalding liquid that peeled away her skin.

They torched what few clothes she had, authorities say, so she walked around naked. They often pummeled her with an aluminum bat or metal handle.

Dixon — six months pregnant — died after weeks of abuse. Police have charged two adults, three teenagers and a 12-year-old boy with murder in the case that has repulsed many in this Mississippi River town.

"This is heartbreaking," police Lt. David Hayes said. "It was almost as though they were making fun of the abuse they were administering. This woman was almost like living in a prison."

Investigators put much of the blame on Michelle Riley, 35, who they said befriended Dixon but pocketed monthly Social Security checks she got because of her developmental delays.
Dixon saw little, if any, of the money, Hayes said. For months she weathered the torment to keep a roof over her head and that of her year-old son, who weighed just 15 pounds when taken into state custody after his mom's death.

"I've never seen an almost conspiratorial effort by a group of people to continuously torture someone until she finally died, then not really show any remorse," Hayes said. "It was just a slow, torturous, tragic way to die. I highly doubt Dorothy Dixon even knew she was dying."

Riley, 43-year-old Judy Woods and three teenagers, including Riley's 15-year-old daughter, LeShelle McBride, are charged with first-degree murder, aggravated and heinous battery, intentional homicide of an unborn child, and unlawful restraint. Riley's 12-year-old son is charged as a juvenile.

Riley, her daughter, Woods and 16-year-old Benny Wilson have public defenders who did not immediately return messages for comment. An 18-year-old defendant, Michael Elliott, planned to get his own attorney, court records show. All remain in jail on $1 million bond.

Messages left with a Chicago-area sister of Dixon went unreturned, but neighbors, Hayes and newspaper accounts offer a mosaic of the months leading to Dixon's demise inside the small, white, blue-shuttered house.

Riley and Dixon, police said, had lived in Quincy, a Mississippi River town about 100 miles north of St. Louis, Mo. Quincy is where Riley worked as a coordinator for a regional center that helps the developmentally disabled with housing and other services. Dixon was a client.

For years, an impoverished Riley struggled raising her children. Her use of methamphetamine and cocaine brought drug convictions in 2002 and 2004. But with treatment and housing help from the Quincy YWCA, Riley put her life in order — so much that in February of last year, the Quincy Herald-Whig did a story on her comeback.

Last summer, Dixon and Riley moved into the $800-a-month, three-bedroom rental in Alton about 15 miles north of St. Louis. From the start, neighbors Chad Hudson and Terri Brandt considered Riley trouble.

"Michelle was evil, vindictive. Manipulative," said Hudson, convinced the teenagers were Riley's powerless minions. "She was angry, vicious," added Brandt.

Riley considered Dixon her slave, making her rub Riley's feet until Riley fell asleep and forcing her to run naked around the house when she got in trouble, the neighbors said. "Being in their house was like being in a prison day room," Hudson said. "They just sat around the kitchen table and fought." There was little question that Riley ruled the roost.

While doing fix-ups on the home last fall, landlord Steve Atkins saw Riley "barking orders" at the children and everyone else. Atkins joked to her whether he needed to call the Army and see if they wanted their drill sergeant back.
"She didn't laugh about it at all," Atkins said. "Obviously, I hit a nerve."
Atkins said Dixon generally kept to herself "but was always nice when she spoke to you." He saw no hints she'd been suffering or tortured.  "I would have never, ever suspected something like this," he said. "It's definitely shocking."

Police said Dixon was allowed out of the house but didn't say under what conditions. Hayes didn't know who the father of Dixon's fetus is.

Hayes said things apparently came to a head Jan. 30, when investigators believe that Woods, during a dispute, beat Dixon on the head with an object Hayes wouldn't identify. The next day Woods found her dead.

Hayes watched the autopsy and found her injuries disturbing. X-rays revealed roughly 30 BBs lodged in her. Deep-tissue burns covered about one-third of her body — her face, her chest, her arms and feet — and left her severely dehydrated. Her face and body showed signs of prolonged abuse. Many of her wounds were infected.

None of the injuries, Hayes said, proved singly fatal to Dixon. Her system already was taxed by her unborn baby. "The autopsy sort of indicates her immune system just shut down," he said. "It was not capable of fending off any more."

In the rental home's basement, Atkins said, he found spots of blood in a shower and tiny smears on the concrete floor, washer and dryer. "It's disgraceful the way this girl died, as kind and as sweet as this girl was," he said. "She didn't deserve to die the way she did. It's just terrible, senseless. It's just a total shame."

(Update 2-7-10) The ringleader of the torture, Michelle Riley, was sentenced to 45 years in prison for 1st degree murder Friday, February 5. This was the maximum sentence possible in a plea agreement made by Michelle Riley, 37 and Assistant State's Attorney Mike Stewart. Stewart believed that "I don't think 45 years is enough, but that's what we agreed to."

Riley, said in front of presiding Madison County Circuit Judge Charles Romani Jr, "I'm sorry that I can't take it back," but Romain said that that statement, along with Riley's history of substance abuse, was no excuse. "There were things done to this woman that you don't see done to animals, let alone human beings. This lady was tortured."

Riley will serve her sentence without parole, as she pled guilty to 1st degree murder. Her lawyer, Jon Delaney, said she took the plea deal to spare her daughter, 17 year old LeShelle, 1st degree murder charges in exchange for 2nd degree murder. The daughter and three others are scheduled to go on trial for 1st degree murder. 

(Update 7-13-10) LeShelle McBride was spared a trial and 1st degree murder charges by pleading guilty to 2nd degree murder. WIth credit for time served, she could be out in 2 to 8 months. A 12 year old boy was found deliquent for 2nd degree murder and sentenced to juvenile detention. Others are either awaiting trial for or sentencing on 1st degree murder charges.

(Update 4-19-11) Benny Wilson, the last defendant in this case, was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment for 1st degree murder. According to authorities, it was Wilson who repeatedly shot Dixon in the head with a BB gun. Assistant State's Attorney Jennifer Vucich asked for 45 years while defense attorney Rand Hale asked for 20 years. Vucich said that "Clearly what he did to Dorothy Dixon was despicable. I don't think anyone in the room can imagine the suffering she endured." Madison County Associate Judge James Hackett imposed sentence and presided over the guilty plea Friday, April 15.

Prosecutors have said that some of the other defendants received better deals because they were less culpable. Michelle Riley got a sentence of 45 years because she was believed to be the ringleader in the murder.

Michael Elliot and LeShelle McBride both pled to second degree murder and received sentences of eight years and six years respective; Judy Woods pled to aggravated battery and was sentenced to 18 months' periodic imprisonment.

Judge Hackett said that testimony was"some of the most horrific that could come before this court."
"It is stunning. It is at least remarkable, at most, overwhelming." However, Judge Hackett took into account the lack of previous criminal history, young age, and multiple perpetrators when sentencing WIlson.

Correctional officer sentenced to probation for sex acts with inmate

A female former correctional officer was placed on two years probation Friday, March 25 with 2 years imprisonment suspended for having sexual contact with a 24 year old male inmate at the Burlington, IA facility where she used to work. 32 year old Megan Elizabeth Cecil originally faced four counts of sexual misconduct with offenders, but per plea agreement, two of those counts were dropped, and prosecutors agreed "not to file any additional charges now known to the state related to the defendant's employment at the Burlington Residential Correctional Facility."

Cecil admitted to engaging in a "sex act with an individual committed to the custody of the 8th Judicial District Department of Correctional Services," while she was a residential officer on March 9 and again on March 19, both of last year. The original charging document stated she had an inappropriate relationship with the inmate two more times later that same month.

Dan Fell, the correctional service's District Director, said Cecil started as a part-time residential officer in Sept. 14, 2007. She became a full-time employee in the position May 30, 2008, and resigned in April of last year. Three of the "sex acts" were reportedly committed inside the halfway house, and one was "in a location outside the facility," prosecutors said.

The two years probation were a compromise between jail time prosecutors were asking for and a deferred judgement that the defense wanted. Besides the probation related to her charge, Cecil will have to register as a sex offender and undergo counseling. Cecil will spend a decade on probation after the initial sentence.

"Monster" sentenced to 18 years, 8 months for attemped stabbing murder of wife

A man who stabbed his wife 63 times in front of their two children was sentenced to 18 2/3 years of imprisonment yesterday, February 28, 2011. 29 year old Brian Rolstad plead guilty to single counts of attempted murder causing great bodily injury, felony spousal abuse and two counts of felony child endangerment. The attack on his wife, Rachel, happened last spring at their Chula Vista, CA home. At sentencing yesterday, Rachel described as she drifted in and out of consciousness and saw fear on her sons' faces as their father attacked their mother.

The assault at the home in the 1300 block of Granite Springs Drive was reported shortly before 8 p.m. last June 14, according to Chula Vista police. A motive was not disclosed.

Officers arrived to find the assailant gone and the victim suffering from multiple stab wounds, most of them to her upper body. Rolstad was found about 7 the next morning, sitting in his car near Chula Vista Police Department headquarters.

"The torture was excruciating, horrifying and ruthless. I could feel each stab as it entered into and out of my body. He stabbed me over and over and all I could do is curl up in a fetal position to protect my heart while begging and hoping he would stop...You only care about yourself. Look how you washed yourself, changed your clothes and made sure you were nice and clean but left our kids crying, with blood smeared on their poor little faces, traumatized… while you left to go hide...When I see you, I see a monster."

To Superior Court Judge Esteban Hernandez, Rachel said that  "Brian Rolstad is a cold-hearted, senseless human being… I see an angry man with no remorse… a vicious criminal who I believe will take revenge after his release. If he tried to kill me once, who's to say he won't try it again...He's not crazy but I'm afraid he will come back to get me when he’s released."

The perpetrator was ordered to get mental health treatment while incarcerated, something that may take place at one of California's state hospitals.

Man convicted of bathtub drowning murder of wife

Associated Press
LEBANON (OH): A man found guilty of murder in his third trial over his wife's bathtub drowning buried his face in his hands as he heard the verdict Tuesday and continued to maintain his innocence, telling the judge he loved his wife and ''would never have hurt her.''

A Warren County jury deliberated about 12 hours over two days before convicting Ryan Widmer, who was in tears as the verdict was read. Judge Neal Bronson sentenced him to 15 years to life in prison. ''Judge, I did not do this,'' Widmer said, breathing heavily. ''I don't know why this has to keep going on. I mean, my life has been ruined.''

It was the second time Widmer was found guilty. The verdict from his first trial was thrown out over juror misconduct, and his second trial ended in a hung jury. Defense attorneys didn't comment on appeal plans or return an after-hours call seeking comment.

The couple had been married for about six months when she died. Ryan Widmer told a 911 dispatcher that his wife had fallen asleep in the bathtub.

Prosecutors in this trial for the first time had asked jurors to consider the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. The judge had instructed jurors that a murder conviction meant they believed Widmer purposely killed his 24-year-old wife, Sarah, in 2008. Involuntary manslaughter would mean they agreed that he assaulted his wife and caused her death but didn't mean to kill her.

Prosecutors had argued that bruises on his wife's neck supported their contention that Widmer killed his wife at their Hamilton Township home by grabbing her and forcing her head underwater.

The defense attributed the bruising to rescue workers' efforts to revive her and said she may have suffered a medical problem before drowning. Defense attorney Jay Clark said investigators made mistakes, took shortcuts and made assumptions, and he suggested that the death of an elderly woman in a bathtub under similar circumstances wouldn't have resulted in charges.

The trial featured a new prosecution witness, who testified that Ryan Widmer confessed to her in a phone call. Jennifer Crew, 36, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, testified that Widmer told her on Oct. 26, 2009, that he killed his wife after she said she was going to leave him. Crew said Widmer was crying and so upset he could barely talk.

Crew said she had never met Widmer in person but sent him e-mail and text messages because she thought he was innocent after she saw a Dateline NBC episode about the case that aired after Widmer's first trial.

Man who bludegoned, dismembered mistress sentenced to 25 years

A Delaware man who murdered his mistress and dumped her body in the Atlantic Ocean because he could not afford to take care of two families was sentenced to 25 years in prison with 85% to serve for aggravated manslaughter. Rosario DiGirolamo, now 36, was sentenced in a Trenton, NJ courtroom yesterday for beating Amy Giordano, his 27 year old mistress, with a hammer, cutting her body into pieces, and burying Amy's body in a pond. The killing took place June 7, 2007. DiGirolamo plead guilty to aggravated manslaughter on January 3, 2011, when his $1 million bail, which his parents put up, was revoked.

DiGirolamo was seeing Amy when she lived in Hightstown, N.J, and he and his wife, Maria DiMaggio, lived in Millstone Township. DiGirolamo was putting Amy up in a $850 per month apartment apartment.

DiGirolamo claimed that his mistress lunged at him with a hammer after an argument over money and Giordano was threatening to  expose their affair, but Superior Court Judge Edward Neafsey pointed out that DiGirolamo searched "lethal karate blows to the back of the head...He studied how to do this and learned his lesson well,” Neafsey said. “What the vicious nature of the crime showed was his anger for the victim and his decision to eradicate her, totally eliminate her, from his life.”

The case did not just make New Jersey headlines, but Delaware's headlines, since two days after the killing, DiGirolamo and Amy's baby Michael DiGirolamo, then 11 months, off at a hospital in Delaware with a note stating "Please help my baby John Vincent I can no longer take care of him. Lost job, lost medical. God have mercy on me."

DiGirolamo was charged with murder in March 2008 after his former best friend became a government witness. John A. Russo Jr. told prosecutors that DiGirolamo had told him of plans to kill the 27-year-old Giordano because he couldn't afford two families. On June 4 or 5, 2007, Russo told prosecutors, DiGirolamo bought a reciprocating saw, garbage bags and drain cleaner at a Lowe's store that Russo managed, and on June 8 confided that he had killed Giordano.

Three days after DiGirolamo's arrest in March 2008, Russo took authorities to a pond near his Staten Island, N.Y., home where had led DiGirolamo on June 9, 2007. That day DiGirolamo threw a suitcase containing Giordano's body parts into the water, and drove to Delaware to get rid of their son.

Russo, who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor evidence tampering, was sentenced in December under New Jersey's pretrial intervention program for first-time offenders to three years of supervision and 50 hours of community service.

Though prosecutors let DiGirolamo plead guilty to a lesser charge -- a murder conviction could have brought him 30 years to life in prison -- Assistant Prosecutor Al Garcia said after the sentencing that they never believed the victim provoked DiGirolamo. Garcia said the deal was cut because key witnesses had not always been honest with investigators, which could have undermined their credibility before a jury.

Garcia said about the victim,“She was with the man she loved. She was with her son. On that day Amy thought she was going to start a new life. She thought she was going to get a new job and a new apartment. But the defendant destroyed those dreams.” 

Just before sentencing, Judge Neafsey berated the defendant, saying about the dismemberment, "Even in death you did not give dignity to Amy Giordano...The time to show remorse and regret was after you killed her, not on your judgment day.”

Garcia said afterwards, "Justice was served, because he came into court and pled guilty. Usually they don't come in and plead guilty for 25 years.''

Marsha Kaller-Apter sent a latter to the court describing how the killing of her sister affected her life. Part of the letter stated  "There is a spot in my life that can't be filled...That was Amy's spot...I don't know what you were thinking and to tell you the truth I don't really care. You killed my sister and left my nephew for dead. HOW CAN YOU DO THAT!!!??? ... How can you even think of hurting someone so small and sweet.''

Jerome Ballarotto stated that before the internet search evidence, his client intended to go to trial, but now he'll appeal. "But considering that the judge was going to allow the jury to see that evidence, my client made a decision not to take the risk of a jury finding him guilty of planning to kill her.”

[Assistant Prosecutor Thomas]Meidt said the sentence marks the closure of one of the longest investigations in the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

“It’s very satisfying,” Meidt said. “Sometimes you work a case for a long time and never solve it. This is a case where all the hard work paid off and we got a good disposition on it.”

Michael Girolamo was adopted by a relative on his father's side in 2008.

Wife gets too light sentence for running over and killing husband during drunken argument

A wife who ran over her husband during a drunken argument, killing him, was sentenced to 1 to 3 years in prison by Rockland County County Court Judge Charles Apotheker on January 3, 2011. 33 year old Kelly McElroy of Stony Point, NY, faced a maximum of 7 years for 2nd degree vehicular manslaughter, a sentence that the victim's family wanted. After last October's guilty plea to the vehicular manslaughter charge and a DWI, Judge Apotheker promised a maximum of three years.

In the early morning of January 24, 2010, Kelly McElroy and her husband, Glenn, 26, left a pub and drove home. During a heated argument, the husband got out of the car and Mrs. McElroy, who had a blood alcohol level of 0.16 percent, struck Glenn.

Emergency responded found him unconscious with severe head injuries. He died on January 30 at Nyack Hospital when he was removed from life support.

Rockland District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said his office “ believe[s] that the ends of justice have been served.”

However, local opinion suggested that McElroy's sentence was too light.

Stony Point Mom asked,  How can the judge "promise" three years and consider less? That doesn't sound like a promise - it sounds like no justice for Glenn and his family...It's hard to understand how you can be drunk, kill someone's son (and the father of your children) and get away with a slap on the wrist.

Another local said,

What is a human life worth these days? For Rockland County Court Judge Charles Apotheker the answer is 1 to 3 years in prison. Apotheker said that Kelly McElroy, a woman who ran over her husband while driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.16, will have to, one day, answer to a "higher authority." That's all well and good but Judge Apotheker represents a higher authority in this life. McElroy pleaded guilty in October to second-degree vehicular manslaughter and driving while intoxicated.

Apotheker should be held accountable for this absurd sentence that does not in any way equate to the loss of a young man's life.

Frank DeGennaro


Nanuet

DNA database hit leads to Minneapolis rape suspect, two trials, acquittal

(Original Post 5-9-08)
A Brooklyn Park man was arrested after a DNA hit linked him to the kidnapping and rape of a woman from a Minneapolis nightclub last summer. Duncan Nyanaro Osoro, 24, has been charged with 1st degree criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday.

The woman told police she was at the Karma nightclub on August 26, 2007 in Minneapolis when a friend became sick and threw up after only two drinks at a nightclub. This friend had never became sick after drinking before.

Between 2 & 10 AM, the victim was unconscious in a grassy area near I-94. When she came to, blood was on her white shirt, hands and knees, and a subsequent sexual assault exam at the Hennepin County Medical Center revealed the rape. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s DNA database matched osoro to the evidence at the scene.

(1-7-11 Acquittal) After two trials, Osoro was acquitted of kidnapping and rape charges against him. The final acquittal came December 23 after a three week trial and an hour of deliberation. Osoro was held in jail for 16 months, according to his attorney, Joseph Fru, who suspects race played a role. Despite the acquittal, Hennipin County Prosecutor Mike Freeman maintained the peosecution was just. "The jury made its decision, we believe in the system, and we accept the decision. We're moving forward."

Man sentenced to life in disappearence, murder, of mother of two - chief defendant's mom sentenced for mutilating corpse

(Original Post 7-16-09)
A Brookfield, WI man who allegedly strangled, then hired his friend and mother to burn a suburban Milwaukee mother's body was charged with first-degree intentional homicide and mutilating a corpse. Brandon J. Mueller, 36, was charged in the Jaunary death of his "girlfriend," 28 year old Renee Redmer, who he had been "dating" for a month.

Redmer was strangled around January 5, just after she appered in court for a misdemeanor cocaine posession charge, in Mueller's mother's apartment. Her family did not report her missing until January 13. Nancy J. Pinno, 53, Mueller's mother, of Fond Du Lac, WI and Donald R. Worth, 48, of the Town of Friendship in Fond Du Lac County, WI were charged with mutilating a corpse and aiding in a felony, and a misdemeanor of obstructing an officer after burning Redmer's body in a burn barrel, which was later emptied out into the middle of frozen Lake Winnebago. The burn barrel was later found on Worth's property.

The relationship between Mueller and Redmer was violent, according to the victim's family. Mueller has a history of domestic violence.

According to court records:
• Mueller was convicted in 2008 of disorderly conduct, with a domestic violence enhancement, and served 20 days in jail.

• In 2002, Mueller was sentenced to 60 days in jail and two years' probation after he was convicted of disorderly conduct, with enhancement penalties of domestic abuse, being a habitual criminal and using a dangerous weapon.

• In 1998, Mueller was convicted of intimidating a victim with a domestic abuse enhancement penalty and served four months in jail.

• Also in 1998, Mueller was sentenced to three years' probation for criminal damage to property with an enhanced penalty of domestic violence.

Mueller faces a mandatory life sentence with the possibility of parole if convicted as charged. He is being held on $1 million bail. The others face 16 3/4 years for their roles in the crime. Pinno is being held on $250,000 bail, and Worth on $150,000 bail.

(Update 12-25-09) Two days ago, Pinno was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison and 9 months in jail for being party to the crime of mutilating a corpse and resisting and obstructing an officer.

On Dec. 18, a jury found Pinno guilty after five days of testimony, including watching hours of footage in which Pinno confessed her involvement to detectives.

Nuss compared Pinno — whose criminal history includes crimes of theft and possession of THC — to Kevin Moore, a seemingly mild-mannered man who used a cinder block to kill his wife outside of their Ripon home during the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2006.

Pinno told Judge Nuss that "I am sorry for any involvement I had with Renee.I still don't know how Renee got there. I should have looked in my bedroom. For that, I am so sorry." The victim's twin sister, Amber Donath, explained how she tried to tell her niece that "I find it impossible to explain to a 12-year-old girl that her mother was mutilated, violated and destroyed beyond the darkest imagination… All I can do is hold her and tell her I love her."

Fond du Lac County District Attorney Dan Kaminsky said that the "disgusting" and "callous" crime warranted 7 years in prison. "I believe it was a maximum-sentence case. It was just a question of how we were going to get there. I'm very pleased with the sentence. I think it's appropriate. In this case, it is justice."  

Defense Attorney Catherine Block told The Reporter there may have been too much focus on the connection between the mother and son, noting that Pinno put Mueller up for adoption 36 years ago and only had contact with him the past 1½ years.

"It was a very manipulative relationship," said Block, who requested probation for her client. "… There was a lot of focus on her son being Brandon Mueller. I think that had a lot less to do with it than Ms. Pinno's own mental condition and depression."

Judge Nuss said that Worth, a defendant who took a plea deal and will be sentenced later, might never have gotten involved if Pinno was not party to the crime, and that Pinno should have guided her son. "But for your actions, this may have never had happened. You were there at a critical time in this woman's life and your son's life when you could have stepped up and been the person you would like me to believe you are. You didn't."

(Update 1-2-11) Brandon Mueller was sentenced to life without parole Tuesday, December 28, 2010. Judge Robert Wirtz handed down this sentence for the 1st degree intentional homicide for strangling Redmer and 7 1/2 years for mutilation of a corpse. The victim's father, Mark Redmer said that "I'm asking please protect us and other fathers such as me. Don't let him out for any reason whatsoever. He's shown over and over what kind of individual he is."

Wirtz noted Mueller's criminal history started at the age of 15. His past includes six juvenile convictions, 22 adult convictions and three domestic abuse-related restraining orders. Redmer's father, Mark Redmer, said Mueller threatened to kill Renee's sister, Amber Donath, and Renee's children as a means to keep the victim close to him.

[ District Attorney Dan] Kaminsky noted motivation for murder may have been fueled by a disdain Mueller had for Redmer not telling him where she was going and who she was spending time with.

During the trial, Mueller claimed that while he strangled Redmer, it was unintentional, the result of a fight between them over her heroin use. While Mueller claimed he only took a few seconds strangling Redmer, Fond du Lac County Medical Examiner Douglas Kelley said strangling someone to death can take minutes.

Mueller himself said, "I want to apologize and just say that the lifestyle I was living was very sinful and not appropriate." He told Kaminsky, "I wasn't just going to throw her body somewhere. I considered it cremating it. I said a prayer when I spread her ashes into the lake. So I guess, yeah, technically, it could be an act of love."

Judge Wirtz told him, "You have caused a lot of sorrow and anguish. Renee's children are motherless. "Her whereabouts for quite some time were unknown. It is not comforting, I'm sure, for the parents, children, family members or friends to find out ultimately what happened."

Donald Worth's sentence handed down earlier this year was 6 years.

Man who slept with, pimped grown daughter out sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, 15 years sex offender probation - daughter sentenced to probation

(Original Post 5-2-10)

A Palm Coast, FL man who prostituted and had sex with his grown daughter was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment and 15 years of sex offender probation Friday, April 30. Alton Smith, 47, was sentenced after pleading guilty to two counts of incest, one count of living off the earnings of prostitution and 52 counts of possession of child pornography. After completion of prison, Smith will be subject to lifetime monitoring under Jessica's Law and civil commitment under Florida's Jimmy Ryce Act.

The incest and prostitution counts were due to his pimping (and having sex with) his daughter Kristilyn. The incest led to a 3 year old son who is now in state custody. Because the incest happened in the presence of their son at their former business, Hot Shots A1A Models and Photography, one of the charges Smith plead guilty to was lewd and lascivious exhibition in the presence of a minor under 16.

A suspicious advertisement for an escort service led investigators to arrest Kristilyn Smith for prostitution on Dec. 12 [2008]. Alton Smith also was charged with being a principal to prostitution and was given a notice to appear in court.  According to a police report, Smith admitted his daughter occasionally worked as a paid escort and he told police that those who answered his Internet ads usually would photograph or film his daughter in the nude.

When Flagler investigators returned to the Smiths' Palm Coast home with a search warrant later in December, they said they found photos of "hundreds" of children posed nude or engaged in sex acts.

Officials also arrested Smith's wife, Tina Marie Smith, 44, who is his daughter's stepmother. Tina Marie Smith had been jailed for 15 months until last month when she struck a deal, pleading guilty to aggravated child abuse in exchange for prosecutors dropping 37 counts of possession of child pornography against her. She was sentenced to 10 years sex offender probation and will not be listed as a sex offender.

Kristilyn will be sentenced at a later date for 3 counts of incest, prostitution, and child neglect.

(Update 11-23-10) Last Monday, November 16, Kristilyn was sentenced to 5 years probation in a Daytona Beach courtroom for a single charge of incest.  Flagler County, FL Circuit Judge Kim C. Hammond dropped a second incest charge and a child neglect charge. Volusia County sentenced Kristilyn to 15 years probation for another incest charge. This concludes the criminal proceedings against her.

Passaic, NJ man gets LWOP for ax murder of wife

A Passaic, New Jersey man was sentenced to life without parole Tuesday, October 12 for the ax murder of his wife as she ran from her own home onto a street. What made the attack worse was that the victim, Luisa Emilia Chireno, was killed as her children cowered in terror in their room. Police were able to follow a trail of hair and blood, left as the murdered struck the victi in the back with an ax and pulled out her hair.

[34-year-old Fernando] Chireno was convicted of murder in June, after jurors rejected his insanity defense. The victim, who was 26 when she died, had a restraining order against him because of past domestic violence. She ran for her life from her Myrtle Avenue home on April 18, 2008, after Chireno broke in. The couple's children were left in the bedroom as Mrs. Chireno was stabbed 15 times and left in a pool of blood on the street. She died a short time later in surgery.

Before sentencing, Chireno "apologized " to the victim's mother, Carlita Pozo. “From the deepness of my heart, I am sorry. I lost my mind. I was having problems and no one was helping me. I know nothing is going to give you your daughter back, but I, too, lost her. Please, I ask from my heart that you forgive me.”

Judge Reddin issued this statement while handing down the LWOP sentence. “It boggles my mind to think that a human being could do to another human being what he did to Luisa Chireno This was not a spur-of-the-moment attack. He went out and bought the ax. He goes to her house at 2 in the morning. He ripped the hair right out of her head. That’s the savagery of this crime, He buried that ax in her back, and he walked away from the scene.”

Pozo fainted after the sentencing and had to be led out of the courtroom.

Jealous northern England man sentenced to life without parole for at least 30 years for murder of nurse

By Peter Magill [Burnley chief reporter]

FORMER ambulance technician who murdered his ex-girlfriend while on bail for her rape was jailed for a minimum of 30 years today. Ambulance technician and bouncer Jonathan Vass, 30, launched a frenzied knife attack on nurse and mother-of-one Jane Clough, 26, as she arrived for work at Blackpool Victoria Hospital in July. She was admitted to the hospital’s accident and emergency unit where she worked as colleagues tried in vain to save her.

Vass, described as “manipulative and controlling”, was freed to kill after being given bail while awaiting trial over allegations that he had repeatedly raped her. The rape charges were dropped after the murder. John and Penny Clough, her parents, were angered by both decisions - first to free him and then to let the rape charges lie on file. They sat in the public gallery just yards from Vass in the dock as he was jailed for life at Preston Crown Court after pleading guilty to murder at an earlier hearing.

Judge Anthony Russell QC handed down the mandatory life sentence before telling Vass he will serve a minimum of 30 years before he can be considered for release. Vass wept uncontrollably, covering his face his hands as he was told he would only be eligible for parole in 2040.

The victim’s parents and family wept and hugged each other as the court heard for the first time that, after stabbing and slashing Miss Clough with a 3in (7.6cm) blade, he walked away momentarily, then went back seconds later to finish her off.

”As she lay bleeding you walked away but then returned and slowly, deliberately and cold-bloodedly slit her throat,” Judge Russell said as he passed sentence. ”It is difficult to imagine a more horrific crime than this murder. Furthermore it was a crime motivated by real hatred and revenge. This was a deliberate, brutal and callous murder for which you have shown no remorse and no care for your own daughter. Jane Clough was a nurse who devoted her life to the care of others. She had the misfortune to become involved with you. She bore your child and then you murdered her, leaving your infant child without a mother and with the prospect of growing up to learn one day that her father murdered her mother.”

The court heard that Miss Clough kept a diary, detailing her abuse and fears of Vass and what he might do.

She and her family, who held a protest outside court before the case began this morning, were “rocked and devastated” when he was bailed on the rape charges, leaving Miss Clough “extremely concerned for her safety”.  She left home to live with her parents and recorded in her diary that she was worried “Johnny was going to do something stupid”.

He had been relying on her to drop the charges.

Another entry read of fears he would “get his revenge”, adding: “What’s he going to do?”

Dennis Watson QC, prosecuting, said it was clear the motive for the murder was to prevent Miss Clough giving evidence. Mr Watson said the couple met while both working at the hospital but their relationship was troubled because of Vass.

”He was a jealous man who wished to dominate and have complete control over Jane despite the fact that, unknown to her, he was carrying on a relationship with two other women at the same time,” Mr Watson told the court. By early 2009 Miss Clough was pregnant but Vass had become controlling and “sexually demanding”.

In November that year she plucked up courage to report him to police, telling officers of the months of physical and sexual abuse and the repeated rapes even when she was seven months pregnant.

Text messages between the pair were read out.

Miss Clough sent him a message saying: “You have hurt, raped and reduced me to tears on countless occasions... and you want to get engaged and have more kids? Why?” He replied: “We are staying together regardless of our problems.” A second text read: “Why should you come back? To push me about, grab me, rip my clothes off, make me cry...” Another said: “You physically and sexually abuse me. You threatened to kill me the other night.”

Vass’s replies read: “Please can I come home... best behaviour promise”, and “I do love you Janey. Either get pregnant or engaged. Your choice.”

Vass was charged with nine rapes and assault in November 2009 and told a work colleague, an ex-boyfriend of Miss Clough, if he was found guilty he would kill her - but the threat was dismissed as “bravado”. When it became clear she was prepared to give evidence in court Vass decided to take “retribution”, the court heard.

Female swim coach charged with sexual abuse of 17 year old girl pleads guilty, sentenced to year in jail

(Original Post 12-6-09)
Sarah Blessing, a 27 year old South Plainfield, NJ woman who is a 5th grade teacher and Edison, NJ swim coach, was charged Wednesday, December 2 with sexually exploiting a 17 year old swim student at Bishop George Ahr High School. Blessing was formally charged with sexual assault, criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a girl, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan and Edison police chief Thomas Bryan.

The relationship lasted for 6 months, from June to her arrest, according to officials, and was found out when Diocese of Metuchen officials notified Edison police. The Metuchen Dioscese fired Blessing from her swim coach job, a job she held for four years. "The Diocese and Bishop Ahr High School is shocked and saddened to learn of these allegations," officials said in a statement [December 1, 2009]. We, of course, take matters of this nature very seriously."

Blessing , a 5th grade teacher at Park Middle School in Scotch Plains, was suspended from that job pending the outcome of her case. She is being held on $150,000 bond without a cash option at the Middlesex County Jail in North Brunswick. Superior Court Judge James Mulvihill has ordered that Blessing not contact her victim.

Authorities ask that anybody with information about Blessing call Investigator Raj Chopra of the prosecutor’s office at (732) 745-3600, or Edison police detectives Michael Michalski or Tim Farrell at (732) 248-7525.

(Update 8-6-10) Blessing plead guilty yesterday to criminal sexual contact and witness tampering in front of MIddlesex County Judge Judge Joseph Paone, according to prosecutors. She must forfeit her teaching certificate and the right to hold public sector jobs in New Jersey. Blessing must also undergo mental health treatment and have no contact with the victim or girls under 18 without supervision.

She is expected to be sentenced to a year in jail when Judge Paone formally sentences Blessing on September 30.

(Update 10-2-10) Blessing was sentenced to 364 days in jail and 5 years probation September 30, 2010 by Judge Paone. At the sentencing hearing,  Assistant Middlesex County Prosecutor Christie Bevacqua said that Blessing met the victim during a troubled period for the girl. The victim's mother asked Blessing to "watch out for her," but instead Blessing "took my daughter's innocence away." ""The betrayal of trust is a huge thing here," said Bevacqua.

Before the sentencing Blessing read a statement saying "I wasn't manipulative. It wasn't predatory. I had feelings for this person."

Blessing will not be allowed to have any contact with the victim or any unsupervised contact with females under the age of 18 and must undergo mental health counseling. Under the sentence, she can no longer teach and will be barred from holding public employment in New Jersey.

Blessing faced a maximum sentence of a decade behind bars. Criminal sexual contact is a felony which lands one on the sex offender list for life under New Jersey's Megan's Law.

Taken from a New Jersey lawyer's site:

Criminal sexual contact is a third degree charge and if a person is convicted of this crime they will face 3 to 5 years in prison, and serious fines. Additionally, the person will be required to register under New Jersey's Megan's law which is a lifelong notification system in which the local community where the offender lives is provided with his personal information and details about the crime for which he was convicted.

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)

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.

"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.

Woman who allegedly staged shotgun murder of husband charged

A Minnesota woman who claimed that intruders killed her husband was charged with 2nd degree murder in Blue Earth County, MN on September 10. 26 year old James Nibbe was found shot to death early the morning of August 31 in his Lake Crystal, MN home. Jennifer claimed a masked intruder took James' shotgun, killed him, then fled on foot. Police poked holes in the story after learning that there were no footprints out of the house and that the Labrador the couple owned had stayed asleep during the killing.

Charges cite journal entries by Jennifer Nibbe that chronicle her dissatisfaction with her two-year marriage, her interest in another man and how "Sometimes I wish I could go back to just [my son, who is 17] and I plugging along."

The complaint describes Jennifer Nibbe, a nurse, as addicted to painkillers and deeply in debt. Just two months before he was killed with a single shotgun blast to the head, James Nibbe, 26, had taken out a $250,000 life insurance policy, naming his wife as the beneficiary.

On September 13, a judge set bail at $600,000 in front of a courtroom packed with both the suspect and the victim's family.

Iraq vet who killed wife gets 14 1/3 years in prison

A wife-killing Iraq veteran was sentenced to 14 1/3 years for the February 18 strangulation murder of mother-of-one Winter Plummer.  Sheldon Plummer, 28 was sentenced Friday, August 20 in accordance with a plea agreement which capped his sentenced at 14 years 4 months. According to the July 21 plea agreement, Sheldon strangled his wife to death in their Lacey, WA apartment. The supposed reason for the murder was in self-defense after the victim attacked him with a knife.

Thurston County sheriff’s detectives began investigating Winter Plummer’s disappearance April 18, after one of Sheldon Plummer’s friends, also an Army soldier, called the sheriff’s office to say Sheldon Plummer had called him and “wanted advice on how to dispose of a body,” court papers state.

When detectives spoke to Sheldon Plummer, he said that about a month earlier, his wife had packed three suitcases and left after an argument.But Thurston County Sheriff’s Lt. Chris Mealy has said that Plummer’s timeline of when his wife left was inconsistent.

Detectives later found that Plummer had pawned his wife’s jewelry. Detectives also thought it was suspicious that Winter Plummer’s car still was parked at the apartment complex at The Villages at Nisqually Ridge Apartments. And they found it odd that she would abandon her daughter.

A prosecutor later said Plummer had disposed of some of his wife’s belongings to make it appear as though she had left. Sheldon Plummer even sent text messages from her cell phone to her family members in Arizona in an effort to make them think she was alive.

After detectives initially interviewed Sheldon Plummer, he removed his wife’s body from a storage unit and placed it in his garage, court papers state. Soon thereafter, he admitted to killing his wife. He told detectives he acted in self-defense after she attacked him with a knife during an argument, court papers state. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jodilyn Erikson-Muldrew said in court Friday that the medical evidence contradicted that claim.

The 14 year, 4 month sentence is in the middle of the standard sentencing range for 2nd degree murder without any priors in Washington State. In Florida, 2nd degree murder can carry up to a life without parole sentence. Certain female teachers have been sentenced to more prison time for raping their students, even in Washington.

During an emotional hearing before Thurston County Superior Court Judge Carol Murphy, Winter Plummer’s family members, including her father, Carlos Goseyun, spoke of the loss of their loved one, who grew up on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona and joined the Army to better her life.

Winter Plummer’s grandmother, Andrea Goseyun, broke into tears in court, describing how she taught Winter the Apache language and traditions. She spoke about how Winter was a great athlete, excelling at volleyball, basketball and softball. She also said her granddaughter was an outstanding soldier. “I loved her as much as my own daughter, and today I miss her,” Andrea Goseyun said. “I know that I will never be able to speak to her again.”

Sheldon's attorney, James Dixon, tried to explain his client's murder of Winter Plummer by invoking post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. According to Dixon, his client had done three tours of Iraq, saw many friends become casualties and suffered a concussion in his 1st Iraq tour.  Dixon hired Dr. April Gerlock to write a report on his client. 
 
Dixon noted that Gerlock’s report says people who suffer from PTSD can experience a “heightened sense of arousal to an actual or perceived threat,” and that they “may respond with aggression in response to that threat.”

In a phone interview Friday, Gerlock cautioned that Plummer’s case is complex. She added that she thinks PTSD contributed to Plummer’s actions. Not all soldiers coming back from Iraq or Afghanistan suffer from PTSD, and most who do never commit violent crimes, Gerlock said. It’s difficult for soldiers to shift from that “hyperawareness of ongoing danger” during combat tours to day-to-day civilian life, she said.

Gerlock also said that soldiers she sees every day minimize their PTSD to continue on with their lives, including careers and families. "We’re doing a lot for the recently deployed, but they have a lot on their plates. It’s tough. It’s so hard on these folks. They’re young, they want to get a family going and they just keep getting deployed.”

Canadian immigration judge sentenced to 1 1/2 years for sexual extortion of immigrant

A Canadian immigration judge was sentenced to 1 1/2 years imprisonment Thursday, July 29 for coercing a sexual relationship with a South Korean refugee. 51 year old Steve Ellis, immigration judge, lawyer, and former Toronto City Counselor, was found guilty of breach of trust and bribery after his guilty verdict on April 21. Ellis heard the case of a then 25 year old South Korean woman in July 2006, and during a meeting rigged by the victim's boyfriend on September 26, 2006 in a Toronto coffee house, said that “I really like you, and I really want to be friends with you.” After dumping his Filipina mistress, he promised the woman, “Don’t worry. I’m not going to be demanding. I’m not going to ask you to move in with me or anything like that. . . . I’m not going to fall in love with you.” The Crown proved that Ellis' "indecision" on the woman's refugee status would become a "yes" if she slept with him.

Ellis' 1 1/2 year sentence was a compromise between the Crown's insistence of a 3 to 3 1/2 year sentence and the defense's wish for probation. Superior Court Justice Thea Herman said that Ellis' sexual extortion “breached the significant trust placed in him and undermined public confidence in Canada’s immigration and refugee system." Herman also said that the principles of denunciation and deterrence are the major factors in breach of trust cases and said that he took advantage of his power over her as a male judge versus a female immigrant who had already been abused by men.

During the guilty verdict, she said, “There is no doubt that Mr. Ellis intended to use his public office — in particular, his considerable power over Ms. Kim — for his own benefit, that is, for an intimate relationship with Ms. Kim. Mr. Ellis literally held Ms. Kim’s life in his hands. He toyed with her right up to the end.”

Herman said the defence established Ellis suffers from bipolar disorder that may have impaired his judgment but “he knew what he was doing was wrong. . . . This was not an impulsive act.” However, the judge said Ellis had an “otherwise unblemished career” and this was “not a pattern of conduct.”

The victim, Ji Hye Kim, appeared at sentencing with her husband Brad Tripp, and said afterwards that they wish to move on with their lives.

Hmong immigrant receives 8 years out of 40 max for raping wife

A Wisconsin man was sentenced to 8 out of a possible 40 years imprisonment Monday, June 28 for raping his wife, the first rape being when his victim was 12. Thaying Lor, 43, was convicted of 6 counts of sexual and attempted sexual assault by Judge Kevin Martens last December. The first four counts are before Wisconsin's truth-in-sentencing law, passed in 1999.

The case began when a bailiff overheard the victim testify in her divorce early last year about how she was kidnapped, raped and essentially sold into marriage at age 12. The victim never wanted to involve police out of respect for the Hmong culture, but the bailiff alerted law enforcement and Lor was charged 10 days later. The victim testified at trial that she came here from Laos in 1989.

Two years later, when she was 12, Lor used the promise of a trip to the mall to lure her to a house where she was essentially kidnapped and raped. Later, they were wed at a Hmong marriage ceremony after negotiations among their family members. Her mother testified at Lor's trial that the girl's parents accepted a $3,000 dowry.

It was that initial kidnapping of the then 12 year old girl which led to the longest sentence, 8 years. Three other rapes which led to the birth of children received a sentence of probation, which in my opinion, is much too light a sentence.  Judge Martens sentenced Lor to 4 years in prison with 8 years of supervision for 2nd degree sexual assault of his wife in 2005, and 2 years imprisonment with 4 years extended supervision for attempted rape in 2007. All of these prison terms are consecutive, with Lor being credited for 466 days in custody.

[The case] drew nationwide attention among Hmong-Americans, who feared it could lead to unfair judgment of their culture and an upsurge in Hmong wives making similar claims years after their weddings.  Prosecutors and advocates for victims of domestic violence sought much tougher punishment, while Lor's counsel and Hmong-American groups and individuals who sent dozens of letters recommended probation.

Before sentencing, Judge Martens said that this was a difficult case, "given the number of issues I'm asked to consider on both sides." Martens also said that the trial focused on Lor's conduct, and that "It would be wrong for anyone to take this as an indictment of the Hmong community as a whole."

The victim, who is raising the couple's 6 children, did not appear for her rapist's sentencing because of death threats she received from some in her community. "They have threatened to hunt me down like a squirrel in the woods," she said. She hoped that Judge Martens would send her husband to prison to send a message to other domestic violence and marital rape victims. Judge Martens message would have been that much stronger if he had sentenced Lor to 30 years and fully taken into account the pattern of abuse which had started with a 12 year old girl.