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.

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."

Man gets 12-25 years, woman gets 5 2/3 to 15 years for three way with developmentally disabled daughter

A Fruitland Township, MI man was sentenced to 12-25 years in prison Tuesday, April 12, 2011 after pleading to three counts of 1st degree criminal sexual conduct. He and a Manistee, MI woman were originally charged with three counts of 1st degree and 3rd degree criminal sexual conduct, respectively by Muskegon County officials.

The sexual assault charge stem from both perpetrators having sex with the woman's 21 year old developmentally disabled daughter, described as needing 9 to 16 hours of supervision a day by her case manager and as a girl with the mental capacity of a 10 to 13 year old. Both perpetrators were sentenced by Muskegon County 14th Circuit Judge William C. Marietti.

The victimization of the daughter by then 51 year old Mark Wayne Barnhard and her then 46 year old mother took place over several months in 2008, with the victim undergoing a sexual assault examination April 23, 2009. Both offenders were originally arraigned in May 2009.

According to a Muskegon County Sheriff's report, Barnhard -- using the alias "Mike Bradford" -- met the woman in an online chatroom more than a year and a half ago. He told police that the two later met in person and began having sex on numerous occasions at his Fruitland Township home.

At some point, Barnhard and the woman -- both married to other people -- decided they wanted to have a "three way" and the woman brought her 21-year-old mentally impaired daughter to Barnhard's house to participate, the report said.

Authorities were alerted to the alleged sexual abuse after the 21-year-old victim told her aunt that she might be pregnant by Barnhard. It turns out she was not, according to the report. Barnhard told investigators that both he and the victim's mother performed sex acts on the daughter.
"It was a secret life I had," he told investigators.

The mother was sentenced to 5 2/3 to 15 years imprisonment by Judge Marietti on September 15, 2009. The victim's aunt, now her guardian, said "when she gets dressed, there's not enough layers of shirts and sweaters."

When the young woman first arrived in her aunt and uncle's home, she barely spoke, and her family could see "fear in this young girl's eyes."

The victim's impact statement, read during the first sentencing by a family friend, said, "You did a very bad thing to me and let bad things happen to me...Why did you do this?" When the victim wanted the abuse to stop, instead of stopping,"you yelled at me and told me not to be a baby...You made me feel dirty and told many lies. I never want to be anything like you, Mom...I will never forgive or forget you, Mom... I hope you'll be gone for a long time."

Judge Marietti said that "this is probably the most outrageous and disgusting scenario that I have ever come across. It actually is beyond belief." Robert Hedges, a 22 year prosecutor in the Muskegon County court system, said "It's just awful. Even in the animal world, mothers care for their children."

Barnhard plead guilty to his three counts of 1st degree CSC on March 2, 2011, and was able to stay out on bond until his sentencing. At the sentencing, the family friend read another letter from the victim, this time directed at Barnhard. “Auntie wakes me up and I'm afraid to open my eyes, because I'm afraid it will be you. I scrub my skin until it's red and I can't feel clean. … Auntie and I moved far away and I still can't feel safe.” The aunt asked Barnhard, "Does it make you feel like a big man that this little girl's afraid of you? Calling you a monster is too good for you.”

Nurse guilty of sexually assaulting women and girls at medical offices in suburban Atlanta

A nurse who sexually assaulted women and girls under anesthesia was found guilty as charged in a Cobb County, GA courtroom on Monday April 11 and is expected to be sentenced to a lengthy prison term by Superior Court Judge Reuben Green during sentencing which is scheduled to take place within the next month or so.

48 year old Paul Serdula, a nurse anesthesiologist who practiced in metro Atlanta, was found guilty by Judge Green in a "stipulated facts" bench trial in which 20 pages of still sealed facts were agreed to and entered into evidence. Judge Green reviewed multiple images, presumably of women and girls being victimized. According to Cobb County investigators, this evidence shows victims from around the county and not just the victim Serdula was convicted of videotaping.

Serdula's defense attorney Jimmy Berry said that the images were the reason his client did not plead guilty, citing police misconduct in obtaining the evidence. "The pictures are what they are, they show what they show...We didn’t have a lot to fight about. Just the procedure of how they got them, and whether they got a valid search warrant.”

Serdula, who appeared in court Monday shackled at the waist, was charged in two separate indictments of assaulting 19 victims, including two girls under the age of 16, at a local hospital, surgery center, and a dentist’s office.

He was first arrested in November 2009, after a woman found the camera hidden beneath a bathroom sink at the Goldstein Garber & Salama dental office at 600 Galleria Parkway and called 911. He was later released on $50,000 bond, but was re-arrested about a week later on child molestation charges, after one victim was identified as a child [The 15 year old victim was victimized at the same dental office Serdula was arrested before].

In July 2010, he was again released, this time on $250,000 bond, before being arrested a third time, in December 2010 on additional charges of unlawful surveillance, aggravated sodomy and sexual assault. He has been held without bond at Cobb County Jail since that time.

A lawsuit filed by five female patients against WellStar Cobb Hospital was setteld out of court for an undisclosed amount.

According to the original lawsuit, four of the women were at the hospital to deliver babies via cesarean section, and a minor was undergoing an emergency appendectomy. The suit claimed that Serdula administered some drugs without medical need, and gave excessive doses, leaving the new mothers unable to recall their babies’ births. Other operating room staff were in the room at the time of the assaults but unaware of what was happening.

Serdula faces a mandatory minimum of 25 years in prison when he is sentenced.

Tracy, CA physician settles for millions in patient molestation cases - sentenced to 3 years imprisonment

(Original Post 2-7-10)
Peter Chi, a Livermore, CA plastic suregeon who practiced in Tracy, CA, has settled a lawsuit for $1.8 million filed by 37 female patients who alleged that they were groped and fondled by him at his practice, according to Stewart Tabak, the attorney for some of the victims. Tabak said that he and other attorneys reached the settlement because "It would be better to resolve it now." Chi's insurance company, Evaston Insurance, is trying to revoke his policy for criminal acts, not covered under the policy.

Chi, a Livermore resident, was the medical director of Beauty Renewed Laser Skin Center at 1770 N. Tracy Blvd. He was first charged in February 2009 after eight women filed reports with Tracy police. More women came forward after the investigation became public. The incidents are alleged to have occurred from May 2007 to January 2008.

The criminal case against Chi, 46, is still ongoing. He has pleaded not guilty to 51 counts of sexual battery, 15 counts of sexual penetration with a foreign object while the victim was unconscious and one count of committing a lewd act upon a child. One of Chi's accusers was 15 at the time of the alleged molestation.

Chi's trial is scheduled to start October 25. He's currently free on $500,000 bail and has surrendered his passport and medical license to authorities.

(Update 4-13-11) Chi was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment and a lifetime on the sex offender registry on April 4, 2011. The disgraced physician pled guilty to 36 counts of sexual battery and one dozen of the victims were present in the courtroom. "Renee" said that Chi botched her plastic surgery as well as groped her. "I feel like I was in a major car accident... He mutilated not only my body but my spirit. Today is judgment day."

As for Chi himself, he said just before sentencing,"I accept complete responsibility for my actions, and I am very sorry for the pain and suffering I have caused the victims and their families."   San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Xapuri Villapudua chastized him for "taking advantage of mothers, daughters, and sisters."

Diana Koron, Chi's marketing director between 2004 and 2006 until she said Chi sexually assaulted her, attended Chi's sentencing. “I’m glad it’s over. I wish the sentence would be longer. But I am glad it’s over. I’ve been waiting since 2006 for him to be sentenced. Being in the courtroom yesterday was so emotionally draining....He showed absolutely no remorse whatsoever. He wouldn’t even look at anyone,”she said. Koron was not represented in any of Chi's civil lawsuits or criminal charges.

Wife gets life without parole for at least 20 years for son's murder of husband

A woman who conspired along with her 20 year old son to kill the woman's husband was sentenced to life without parole for at least 20 years in a Topeka, KS courtroom Thursday, February 17.

44 year old Michelle Eberhardt was convicted of felony 1st degree murder for the murder by her son of 51-year-old Gerald “Jerry” Eberhardt. Judge Debenham said to the perpetrator, "You have violated the trust between a husband and a wife.[The family's] pain and suffering won't end today. It will continue for the rest of their lives." The shooting death rook place on October 25, 2009. Michelle's plea to felony 1st degree murder spared her a trial on premeditated first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and solicitation to commit murder.

Scott M. Mosher, 20, the alleged triggerman in his stepfather's murder, is scheduled to go on trial June 13 for premeditated first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit premeditated first-degree murder

According to facts presented in Eberhardt's plea, Michelle Eberhardt and Mosher had talked about killing her husband, a used car dealer in Topeka. Mosher said he knew someone who would kill Jerry Eberhardt for $2,000. Michelle paid the money, but Jerry Eberhardt wasn't shot. She negotiated with the man who had taken the $2,000, but the man wanted more money and a car from the lot.

Mosher told Michelle he had a pistol and would take care of the slaying. Michelle Eberhardt said the house at 2538 S.E. Shawnee Heights Road would be empty Oct. 25, 2009, after 12:30 a.m., and at 1:30 a.m., she heard a gunshot. When she found her husband, he was sitting up in bed in the master bedroom of the family home.

A third defendant, Derrick Dwayne Haase, now 21, of Topeka, pleaded no contest April 26 to a reduced charge of reckless second-degree murder. On July 22, Haase was sentenced to 10 years and 11 months in prison.

The victim's father, Duane Eberhardt, said that the Eberhardts tried to welcome Michelle and her two children, but that she was "unberable" and a "rat." Like good parents do, Duane tried to convince his son to divorce her, but Jerry claimed to still be in "love" with her. "Dad, I know you're right, but I love her," Jerry told his dad. "You’ve stolen part of my future. The father said he intended to live long enough "to urinate on you and your son's graves because neither one of you will survive your prison sentences."

The victim's mother Mary said that her son would protect his wife after Mosher would beat her when she refused to give him money for drugs. However, she repaid that concern with betrayal when after the murder, Michelle told Shawnee County deputies her husband was responsible for his murder. “Why? Why did you do it? Jerry loved you. We loved your family. Why did you betray us...“You killed Jerry. Scott just pulled the trigger. What mother would encourage her son to kill? You threw your son under the bus.”

At least one Topeka Capital-Journal commenter said that Jerry should have listened to his father instead of his heart regarding Michelle.

pleasurestud said,

Too bad the guy stayed with that wicked woman. He should have listened to his family to dump her sorry ass. In the end he loses his wife over "love"............whatever. It wasn't love.

Quebec man sentenced to 25 to life for luring woman he met online to death

A Quebec City man has been found guilty of first-degree murder in the slaying of a woman he met over the Internet and whose body has never been found. An emotionless Alain Perreault, 48, was sentenced Friday [February 11, 2011]morning to life in prison without possibility for parole for 25 years for the death of Lyne Massicotte.

A jury came back with the guilty verdict after three days of deliberation. Perreault met Massicotte in a chat room on the Internet and arranged a date in Quebec City in July 2003. Massicotte, a single mother, travelled there from her home in Chambly, Que., and vanished after the encounter.

Despite numerous searches, Massicotte's body was never found. The jury heard that Perreault admitted on video during a police sting operation he had killed Massicotte.The operation involved a fictitious criminal organization with an undercover officer posing as a crime boss.

During his trial, Perreault denied any involvement in Massicotte's slaying.

Long term substitute teacher charged with misconduct with three boys

A British literature teacher who allegedly had sexual relationships with three Bay City Central High School students is free on $100,000 bond. 41 year old Heidi Lewis was charged with 6 counts of 3rd degree criminal sexual conduct, punishable by up to 15 years imprisonment.

While the AOC in Michigan is normally 16, Michigan state law raises the AOC to 18 when dealing with teacher student sex under normal circumstances The same law raises it to 26 when dealing with Michigan special needs students. Lewis was arrested after the "girlfriend" of one of the alleged victims told Assistant Principal Joseph Buggs that her beau had had sex with the teacher. The teacher was a long term substitute, who taught between January and June 2010.  This led to an interview with Buggs and a Bay City police officer.

The students, both 17, told Buggs and the officer they had been in Lewis’ class and that during the school year, their relationship had been of a typical teacher-student nature.

Near the end of the school year, Lewis and one of the students exchanged cell phone numbers, one of the teens said. A short while after school let out for the year, Lewis came over to the teen’s house and they had sex, the teen told investigators.

The second teen told investigators the first teen later told him of his relationship with Lewis while they were hanging out together. When the second teen said he did not believe his friend, the first teen called Lewis over to his house. Both teens then simultaneously had sex with Lewis, they said, according to court records.

Over time, the two teens told a third classmate about having sex with Lewis. Investigators interviewed the third teen, who claimed to have had sex with Lewis in the back of her silver Jeep Cherokee. This teen told his girlfriend what happened and she ended up passing the information to school authorities.

Lewis was arrested later that day. She was arraigned February 9, 2011 in Bay County District Judge Dawn A. Klida's courtroom.  Bay County Assistant Prosecutor Jordan E. Case asked that an additional stipulation prohibiting her from contact with minors be added to her release conditions. Defense attorney Richard Lee Jr objected, but Judge Klida granted the prosecution request.

Chief Master Sergeant sentenced to 20 months for sexual harassment of subordinates

A former Chief Master Sergeant for the US Air Force was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment and a dishonorable discharge for having "affairs" with ten subordinates. Chief Master Sgt. William Gurney was convicted of 15 counts after a 5 day court martial. Scott Air Force Base, Ill was the site of the court martial. According to the complaint, the sexual misconduct lasted between 2007 and 2009.

Gurney pleaded guilty to seven charges of dereliction of duty for failing to maintain a professional relationship with seven female subordinates, one violation of wrongful misuse of government property, one violation of indecent conduct with a female master sergeant and four violations of committing adultery with four female subordinates, according to a news release from the 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs team at Scott.

Gurney entered the blind plea because he was“derelict in misusing his position by consensually exchanging explicit pictures with female subordinates and by fondling or kissing them.” He also sexted, kissed, and fondled female subordinates, and had sex with his wife with a married subordinate present.

According to prosecutor Capt. Tania Bryant, “As a chief master sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, it was his responsibility to lead, mentor and guide his enlisted troops,” she said. “How did he do that? He abused his position, marred the reputation of AFMC and blackened the eye of the Air Force.”

Defense attorney Maj. Lance Wood said the misconduct was“almost exclusively about mutual affairs with adult women” and that Gurney took “moral and legal responsibility” for his crimes.

However, prosecuting Maj. Patricia Gruen showed photos of Gurney's penis, a photo he sent to a senior airman. Gruen said that that photo, and not his stripes, “was how Chief Gurney chose to represent himself and the U.S. Air Force..He was out there as one of the Air Force’s very, very, very, very best,” she said. “He was Superman. They were flattered and they couldn’t imagine a command chief paid any attention to them, much less directed attention to their careers. But this Superman charged for his services, and he ultimately charged a price they wouldn’t pay.”

During a speech just before sentencing, Gurney said “I essentially lived a double life in which my actions were not those of a senior leader at a majcom of the Air Force,” Gurney said, crying and pausing several times as he read from a statement. “I am not a bad person. I made some bad decisions. I got caught up in a cycle of sin.”

He also talked about how his two daughters were leery of entering a grocery store because of fear of being recognized. The oldest daughter, just 15, is taunted at school because of her father's actions.

Gurney’s confinement was scheduled to begin Friday night, but his case isn’t over. The convening authority, 18th Air Force commander Lt. Gen. Robert Allardice, will review the sentence and have the final say. And Gurney’s dishonorable discharge and his prison term trigger an automatic appeal to the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, D.C.

Gurney and lawyers for both sides declined to talk with reporters after sentencing. Air Force Materiel Command spokeswoman JoAnne Rumple released a statement on the case, but it did not say if commander Gen. Donald Hoffman has been following the case or he had any comment.

Michelle Lindo McCluer, the executive director of the National Institute Of Military Justice, said “A dishonorable discharge is the worst kind of punitive punishment you can give at a court-martial.  I’ve seen that given to people convicted of rape and murder and occasionally desertion. To give it in a case like this? That’s definitely sending a message.”

Besides the dishonorable discharge, Gurney was demoted to airman basic and will be stripped of his  $6,215.70 a month  pay and allowances while incarcerated.

"Blue Eyed Rapist" sentenced to 70 more years in prison - currently serving over 200 years total

David Hopper, 44, the "Blue Eyed Rapist" suspected in an many as 9 attacks on Cincinnati area women between 1992 and 2006, was sentenced to 40 more years in prison by Judge James Flannery. The Burlington, OH man was offered numerous plea deals on the pending charges, including deals to life sentences, which he turned down. He finally accepted a plea deal to a dozen counts regarding the latest victims for 40 years in prison. The victims in this case were raped at a model home showing in 2006.

"Forty years in prison will either cause you to die in prison, or you will be so old you will be harmless at that time you are released. I think society will be adequately protected."

The February 2006 attack on the two model-home attendants in a subdivision near Springboro led to Hopper's arrest in nine attacks since 1992 in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana.

He pawned two rings he took from one of the women at a Northern Kentucky pawnshop. Hopper was videotaped on security camera. He gave his name, address and Social Security number.
Police charged him in nine attacks on women, many of them store clerks working alone. DNA evidence linked the attacks to Hopper in five cases, authorities said.

That woman decided at Hopper's sentencing that she didn't want to be known as his victim anymore.

"After today, I want to be referred to as the woman who brought the blue-eyed rapist to justice. He has taken enough from me. I was just doing my job that day, and since then, my life has been turned upside down."

In the Warren County attack, prosecutors said Hopper walked into the model home in the Greycliff subdivision with a silver-colored handgun and demanded the women's purses and jewelry.

He forced them into the basement, removed their clothing, sexually assaulted one of them and made the women have sex. He bound and gagged them and barricaded them in the basement, leaving with their clothes and an ATM card.

They squeezed through a basement window and ran naked to a neighbor's house for help.


Prosecutor Rachel Hutzel said about the attacks that "This is about as horrible a crime as you can commit without murdering somebody." His latest 40 year sentence will be added to a 34 year sentence for federal gun charges and state charges related to his Kentucky attacks. The first 32 years of his sentence will be spent at the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, KY (FMC Lexington). Hopper faces more charges in Ohio and Indiana.

(Update 1-27-10) A week ago, on January 19, Hopper was sentenced by Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Pat Sheeran to serve another 23 years in the rape of a suburban Cincinnati GNC clerk which occurred on November 28, 2003. The victim, who attended his sentencing January 19, 2010, said that "I'm the one who has control now. I'm the one with all the freedom while you sit in jail."

Ohio prison sentences are served without chance of parole, and Hopper faces additional trials in Hamilton County, OH and Indiana.

(Update 1-17-11) Last month on December 14, 2010, Hopper was sentenced to 70 additional years imprisonment for the rape of a woman at a shoe store in 2004. The rape occured in Aurora, IN , and Hopper's guilty plea and sentence were handed down in Dearborn County (IN), with Judge James Humphrey presiding. Hopper's official charges he plead guilty to were criminal deviate conduct with a deadly weapon, robbery with a deadly weapon, and criminal confinement with a deadly weapon.

The criminal deviate conduct with a deadly weapon netted Hopper 50 years, and the robbery and criminal confinement counts added 20 more years to Hopper's sentence.

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.

Seattle serial rapist faces, gets mandatory life without parole sentence for rapes of homeless women

(Original Post 9-20-10)

A serial rapist who was convicted for attacks on two homeless women will be sentenced to life without parole after a Seattle jury convicted him of 2 counts of 2nd degree rape Thursday, September 16. The life sentence which 51 year old Frank Borders will serve upon his sentencing is a consequence of Washington State's three strikes law, which mandated the sentence for a third strike.

The first rape was reported in December 2007, when a 55-year-old woman said Borders, her boyfriend's brother, raped her in the restroom at a downtown Seattle park. The investigation stalled, however, when the victim, who was homeless, disappeared for several months.

After the woman agreed to be interviewed by police the next October, Seattle police began posting fliers with Borders' photo at several downtown homeless shelters in search of other possible victims, according to the court documents.

On March 17, 2009, the day after a flier was posted at a YWCA shelter downtown, police were called by a woman who claimed Borders lured her into the woods with the promise they would smoke crack and assaulted her, court papers said.

The second victim testified during both trials that she didn't come forward earlier because she was convinced that nobody would care about what happened to her because she was homeless during the summer of 2007. She is now 48, off drugs and living in an apartment.

Senior Deputy Prosecutor Julie Kays said that due to Borders' 1981 rape conviction of attacking a 18 year old woman for which he served a year in jail and 5 years probation, life without parole is mandatory. "These 12 people protected our community and our very vulnerable by finding him guilty. I have no doubt that if he were released he would re-offend. These 12 people got it that it doesn't matter if you're homeless and an addict you will still get justice."

Borders' attorney, Julie Gaisford, begged to differ, citing the fact that one of the victims was high on crack cocaine and that other did not reliably identify her client. "You glimpse truth over your shoulder, you never see it head on."

(Update 11-4-10) Borders was formally sentenced Friday, October 29, to life without parole by Superior Court Judge Helen Halpert. Before sentencing, Kays said that for targeting vulnerable women, "He preyed on vulnerable women and he banked on the fact no one would care if they came forward.He deserves, based on his conduct alone, to spend the rest of his life in prison."

One of Borders' victims said that the sentencing itself showed that at least in some cases, the justice system does work for vulnerable victims. That victim said that because of Borders' imprisonment,  "I do matter.It's a shame he's thrown away his life. I'm trying to rebuild mine." That victim is no longer homeless.

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

British man receives 15 to life for stabbing "girlfriend" during sex

By Jaya Narain [Daily Mail] Last updated at 8:00 AM [BST] on 8th September 2010

A man stabbed his girlfriend to death after she accidentally blurted out the name of another man as they made love. Gary Higgs, 44, flew into a rage when his girlfriend suddenly cried out: 'Chris!'. He stormed downstairs, grabbed a chef's knife and stabbed Joanne Kitchen once in the back and once in the chest.

As she was dying from her wounds, he throttled the 41-year-old to death with the electrical flex of their alarm clock. He later told police: 'I asked her why she said "Chris", but she said she must have been thinking about her daughter's boyfriend Chris.' Manchester Crown Court heard Chris had been at the house the day before.

But Higgs told officers: 'It didn't make any sense to me and I was getting more angry. Why was she thinking about her daughter's boyfriend when we were having sex?

'I couldn't get things out of my mind. I didn't know exactly what I was thinking. I picked the knife up and carried it upstairs to the bedroom. I don't remember thinking I wanted to harm Jo at this time.I was just so mad.' Higgs also said that after he stabbed her, Miss Kitchen told him: 'You've killed me.'

Higgs, who admitted murder, was yesterday jailed for life and told he must serve a minimum of 15 years.
The court heard the couple ditched their long-term partners and moved in together after talking on Facebook.

Paul Reid, QC, prosecuting, said they struggled financially and depended on Miss Kitchen's wage as a security officer at a college in Bury. Early one morning in April this year a woman waiting at a bus stop heard 'argumentative screams' from a woman coming from the couple's home and another witness saw Higgs standing bare - chested at the window.

The alarm was raised when Miss Kitchen failed to turn up for work and her daughters could not contact their mother by phone or text. The landlord of the house in Radcliffe, near Bury, let the two women in and he found her body in the upstairs room.

Sentencing Higgs, Judge Andrew Gilbart, QC, said the relationship had been overcome by financial tensions and arguments. He said: "Those tensions can lead to mistrust and sexual jealousy. It seems you were overcome by your view that she could still be interested sexually in others and be as readily welcoming to conduct an affair with others as she had been with you. There is no evidence of that whatsoever, but even if there were, it cannot justify what you did. In my judgment, this is a case of an unreasonably possessive man killing his lover in a rage."

Policeman in Oz sentenced to 33 years with 24 to serve in cliff murder of wife

Des Campbell, the former policeman who murdered his wife Janet by pushing her off a cliff, was jailed for a maximum of 33 years [Friday September 3]. Campbell, 52, dressed in a green prison tracksuit, did not react as the sentence was handed down.

"There can be no doubt that the circumstances under which Janet Campbell met her death demonstrate the offender's sustained callousness towards her for nothing more than monetary gain," the sentencing judge, Megan Latham, said.

Justice Latham, whose decision was shown live to the public via video link, sentenced him to a 24-year non-parole period in "recognition of the deliberate taking of a life". Justice Latham said the non-parole period would expire in May 2034.

Killer and victim met in the Riverina town of Deniliquin, where Janet Fisicaro worked as a hospital orderly.

Campbell, who had previously been a policeman in Victoria and England, was working as a paramedic.

Janet, 49, had been left well off when her first husband died. Prosecutors argued that Campbell was only ever after her money, with the Crown prosecutor, Mark Tedeschi, QC, comparing the murder to a contract killing.

On March 24, 2005 - six months after they secretly wed, and a week after Janet finally told her family of the marriage - Campbell took her camping in the Royal National Park. Just before nightfall Janet fell to her death from a 50-metre cliff near their campsite. ASupreme Court jury rejected Campbell's claims that she fell accidentally, convicting him in May of murder.

The trial heard that Campbell secretly carried on affairs with other women during his relationship with Janet.

He did not attend her funeral, and booked a holiday with one of his girlfriends the week after his wife plunged to her death.A few months later, the widower holidayed in the Philippines, where he met the woman who became his fourth wife.

Woman gets 6-15 years for blasting husband while sleeping

A 48 year old Michigan woman was sentenced on August 11, 2010 to 6-15 years in prison for shooting her husband, a Michigan State trooper, to death. 53 year old Sgt. Melvin Paul Holbrook was killed with gunshot blasts from his service revolver to his body on August 11, 2009. Both lived in the Michigan town of Beulah.

Joni Holbrook shot her husband multiple times as he slept in their Benzie County home, then called 911 and reported the incident. She pleaded guilty last month to second-degree murder after agreeing to a last-minute plea deal the day before her jury trial was set to begin.

Joni Holbrook told [Benzie Circuit Judge James]Batzer when she entered her plea that she killed her husband because he subjected her to years of mental, physical and sexual abuse. Batzer later told the Record-Eagle that Holbrook's attorneys had "considerable evidence" she had been sexually battered and abused, and he took that evidence into account for her sentence.

Joni's statement to her victim's family echoed those remarks. ""I am sorry that my actions have taken someone so special away from you," she said. "I don't look at myself as a killer. I look at myself as a survivor."

Joni's attorney Jesse Williams said that the sentenced for her husband's killing, "a matter of self defense," was better than he thought. "The outcome was better than people expected. I didn't know what to expect. This court and this judge gave her a fair shake down."

State police Lt. Bill Elliott, who worked with the victim at the Traverse City post for two decades, said "It's just a very difficult situation. I don't know what the right answer would have been, but I was surprised to hear how lenient the sentence was." The victim's sister, Meleen Froman, said "I just think it's a mockery. I just think it's sad. I'm a little angry now." Froman traveled from Oklahoma to MIchigan for the sentencing.

Judge Batner explained to the detractors of the plea deal why their was a 15 year maximum for Joni's sentencing. "The law is an imperfect vehicle, but it's what we have. I know this sentence is going to be unsatisfactory to parties aligned on both sides. There is nothing that this court can do ... that can make it satisfactory."

Eastpointe, MI woman's killer "boyfriend" sentenced to life without parole

A 48 year old man was sentenced to life without parole Tuesday, August 17 by Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Edward Servitto for bludgeoning then suffocating his baby's mama to death with a vacuum cleaner and trying to hide the body in his car trunk.  Latoya Lowery, 35, was murdered around January 11 after an argument in which 48 year old David Cook struck her in the head with the vacuum cleaner. After she stayed alive, Cook finished her off by suffocating her. Lowery was reported missing January 11, and her body was found January 14. Cook was convicted of  1st degree murder by a jury in July. Cook had two children with Lowery.