Category: Crime

Crime, Law and order, Murder

Indiana woman on death row at age 16 for murdering Bible school teacher will go free!

The ReadyWriter

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Paula Cooper, 43, (Pictured above) was convicted in the 1985 murder of Ruth Pelke, who was found stabbed 33 times across her chest as part of a home invasion. Cooper will be released today after her death penalty punishment nearly 30 years ago raised international attention.

Cooper, of Gary Ind., was 15 when she and three other teenage girls showed up at Ruth Pelke’s house on May 14, 1985, with plans of robbing the 78-year-old Bible school teacher. Pelke (in the photo below), let Cooper and two of the teen’s companions into her Gary home after they told her they were interested in Bible lessons.

Bill Pelke, Ruth Pelke's grandson, holds a picture of her.

The girls were on their lunch break from high school.

As the fourth teen waited outside as a lookout, Cooper stabbed Pelke 33 times with a 12-inch butcher knife across her chest. Then she and the other girls ransacked the house.

Authorities said Pelke was praying the Lord’s Prayer while she was being brutally murdered. The four girls fled with the woman’s car and $10.

Cooper’s three accomplices were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 25 to 60 years. But Cooper, who confessed to Pelke’s slaying, was convicted of murder and sentenced to die in the electric chair. At the time — in 1986 — she was the youngest death row inmate in the U.S.

Some people believed Cooper deserved to die, but the punishment enraged human rights activists and death penalty opponents around the world, including those who viewed the teen as a victim of a racist criminal justice system.

Pope John Paul II urged that Cooper be granted clemency in 1987, and in 1988 a priest brought a petition to Indianapolis with more than 2 million signatures protesting Cooper’s sentence.

The Indiana Supreme Court set Cooper’s death sentence aside in 1988 and ordered her to serve 60 years in prison instead.

Cooper told The Star newspaper in a jailhouse interview in 2004 that she was on the straight and narrow.

“Everybody has a responsibility to do right or wrong, and if you do wrong, you should be punished,” she said. “Rehabilitation comes from you. If you’re not ready to be rehabilitated, you won’t be.”

Crime, Law and order, Trayvon Martin, Wrongful death

Audio Expert: Trayvon Martin Cried “I’m Begging You” On 911 Tape

The ReadyWriter

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A hearing is currently underway in Sanford, Florida, to discuss audio experts testimony in the upcoming Trayvon Martin case.

According to a report in the Orlando Sentinel, key expert audio witnesses give conflicting testimony regarding what can be heard on the audio in a snippet from a call placed to 911 the night George Zimmerman shot unarmed teen Trayvon Martin.

Alan R. Reich, an audio expert says Trayvon can be heard screaming, “I’m begging you!” just before the shot rang out.

 At the start of the hearing, Zimmerman’s lawyer, Mark O’Mara filed a motion asking the court to prevent spectators from wearing clothes expressing support or sympathy for Trayvon, or which “transmit any messages to members of the jury.”

A beefy looking Zimmerman, 29, is pictured above entering the courtroom today.

From Orlando Sentinel:

Alan R. Reich, the most definitive and potentially impactful of the state experts, says it was Trayvon heard crying in the 911 call. Specifically, Reich says he hears Zimmerman make a “seemingly religious” proclamation while, simultaneously, Trayvon cries out “I’m begging you.” Reich also says the last cry before the shot was Trayvon, yelling the word “stop.”

Gainesville-based consultants Harry Hollien and James Harnsberger said the 911 audio quality was too poor for a definitive match, but who said some of the cries were more likely Trayvon, while others were more likely Zimmerman.

Tom Owen, a New Jersey based forensic consultant used biometric software to analyze the 911 call for the Orlando Sentinel in March 2012. He concluded “with reasonable scientific certainty” the cries did not match Zimmerman.

Crime, Malcolm X, Tragedy

Malcolm Shabazz, Grandson of Malcolm X, Dies

The ReadyWriter

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Malcolm Shabazz, the troubled grandson of civil rights icon Malcolm X, has been killed in Mexico, the U.S. Embassy there confirms.

The Amsterdam News reports that Shabazz, 28, was thrown off a rooftop after being shot during an attempted robbery on Thursday, May 9.

“I’m confirming, per U.S. Embassy, on behalf of family, the tragic death of Malcolm Shabazz, grandson of Malcolm X. Statement from family 2 come,” tweeted Shabazz family friend Terrie M. Williams on twitter earlier today.

Shabazz was the son of Qubilah Shabazz, the second daughter of Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz. He was 12 years old in 1997 when he torched Betty Shabazz’s New York apartment, killing her.

Shabazz pled guilty to arson and was sentenced to 18 months in a juvenile detention center. Shabazz’s sentence was extended due to discipline problems and he was released four years later.

Shabazz later claimed he didn’t set the fire that killed his grandmother.

At the time of his death Shabazz was studying Criminal Justice at John Jay College in New York. It isn’t known why Shabazz was in Mexico. He leaves behind 2 daughters.

Breaking News, Corruption, Crime, Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick, Law and order

Former Detroit Mayor going back to jail!!!

The ReadyWriter

Kwame Kilpatrick

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was found guilty of multiple counts of racketeering and extortion, a jury decided Monday. Kilpatrick was convicted of 24 charges, including racketeering, extortion, attempted extortion, bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud and filing false tax returns. Both Kilpatrick and contractor Bobby Ferguson were found guilty on most counts. Kilpatrick’s 71-year-old father, Bernard Kilpatrick, was only found guilty of one tax count.

Jurors deliberated for 15 days before announcing that they were ready to vote on a verdict. The 12 members of this jury have spent 79 hours total deliberating all the details from the five-month trial.

All three men maintained stoic exteriors as the verdicts were read over seven minutes’ time. The former Detroit mayor was convicted of 24 out of 30 total charges. Contractor Bobby Ferguson was convicted of nine out of 11 total counts. The jury reached a unanimous decision on 45 of 50 total felony charges levied by prosecutors.

A bond hearing for all three men will take place this afternoon. According to the Detroit Free Press, the U.S. Attorney’s Office will ask that the three men will be detained while the appeal process occurs. Sentencing will likely not occur for several months.

Crime, Hate, Law and order, Murder, News, Violence

Man who dismembered his mother and scattered her body parts throughout the Bronx took photos holding her decapitated head

The ReadyWriter

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A man who dismembered his mother and scattered her body parts around the Bronx, took pictures of himself holding her severed head before disposing of her body, the NY Post reports.

Bahsid McLean, 23, confessed to the gruesome murder of his own mother, Tanya Byrd, who was the only caretaker of her 6-year-old Down syndrome son.

Police say the grinning psycho used a power saw to cut up his mother, then posed with parts of her body in grisly photos that he wanted as keepsakes. McLean and a friend, William Harris, 26, then stuffed Byrd’s body into several black garbage bags and a suitcase. They drove around the Bronx dumping Byrd’s remains like trash.

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“He’s definitely sick,” a law enforcement source told the NY Post. Surveillance video from a hardware store shows McLean and his accomplice purchasing a brand new power saw and a refill blade with cash.

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The saw and the blade were later found in a  box in the home McLean shared with his mother and 6-year-old mentally disabled brother.

Friends described Byrd as a loving mother and caretaker to her Down syndrome son.

Police told the Post McLean killed his mother because she “wanted him to grow up and move out and be a man.”