[quaist]

So some people still have a conscience after all

[sunnykerr]

Thirty-five years later.

But, hey, I suppose Mr Soffel still very much appreciated the apology.

[quaist]

I don't think he'd ever have imagined hearing from Mr Goodman again... ever.

It's just not something you'd expect people to do, isn't it? After all this time.

[sunnykerr]

In a slightly more twisted frame of reference:

Florida man kills self after fatally shooting wife, son with crossbow WESTON, Fla. -- A South Florida man used a crossbow to kill his wife and teenage son in their townhouse, tried to kill a second son who is a student at Florida State University and wound up dead in a motel bathroom, authorities said Wednesday. Broward Sheriff's Office deputies said the body of Pedro Jose Maldonado, 53, of Weston was found inside the motel room near Lake City. He apparently died by slitting his own throat, investigators said. Before that, deputies said Maldonado called a friend to say he had killed his wife, 47-year-old Monica Narvaez-Maldonado, and younger son Pedro Jose Maldonado Jr., 17. Both had been shot with what deputies described as a handheld crossbow that fires small darts. Authorities believe they were killed sometime Monday. After that, they said, Maldonado drove to Tallahassee and rented a motel room. Just after 7 a.m. Tuesday, he apparently attacked his older son, 21-year-old Jose Maldonado, with the crossbow but the dart just grazed the son's ear. Deputies say the father tried to choke the son, but the younger Maldonado managed to escape. Authorities had responded to the Maldonado home Tuesday with a SWAT team after the man's friend telephoned about his confession to the killings. After finding the bodies, they learned through unspecified means that Maldonado was staying at a motel near Lake City, east of Tallahassee and hundreds of miles north of the original crime scene. Columbia County Sheriff's Office deputies found Maldonado dead about 2 a.m. Wednesday. No information was provided about a possible motive for the rampage.

I'll never understand why anyone would ever think murder-suicide is a possible answer to any problem they may have.

I mean, short of the kind of severe mental illness that completely skews your view of the world....

[sunnykerr]

Talk about a fall from grace:

Former Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva charged with murder Former Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has been formally charged with murder in connection with a crackdown on demonstrators in 2010. More than 90 people died in clashes during the 2010 protests. Mr Abhisit, who leads the opposition Democrat Party, denied the charges and was granted bail. The indictment came as protests against current Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra continued, and protesters briefly entered Government House. Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, who was Mr Abhisit's deputy in 2010, also faces charges but has asked the court to postpone his hearing. Mr Abhisit and Mr Suthep were in power when thousands of supporters of ousted former leader Thaksin Shinawatra occupied parts of Bangkok. They authorised the army to clear the protesters. The charges relate to the shooting deaths of a 43-year-old taxi driver and a 14-year-old during the crackdown. Meanwhile, on Thursday, protesters briefly broke into Government House, and later cut off the office's power supply, reports said. Anti-government protesters want Ms Yingluck to resign and for her government to be replaced with an unelected "People's Council". They say that Mr Thaksin, who is also Ms Yingluck's brother, controls the ruling Pheu Thai party. Mr Abhisit and other Democrat Party lawmakers resigned from parliament on Sunday so that they could join the protesters. On Monday, Ms Yingluck dissolved parliament and announced general elections for 2 February, as 150,000 protesters surrounded Government House. However, she has refused to resign before the elections. Ms Yingluck's Pheu Thai party has a majority in parliament, and draws significant support from Thailand's rural areas. The party is seen as well-placed to win February's election. However, protesters accuse it of using public funds irresponsibly to secure votes, including on a controversial rice subsidy scheme which hurt Thailand's exports. Mr Thaksin, a polarising politician, is in self-imposed exile after he was overthrown in a military coup in 2006 and convicted of corruption.

I really like that they're making the former PM accountable for actions he may have had a direct hand in.

These sort of things always fall under "accidents of fate," or something.

But when people die in these protests... someone should be held accountable.

[sunnykerr]

Jury finds 2 men guilty of slaying U.K. soldier Lee Rigby LONDON -- Two British-born, al Qaeda-inspired extremists who considered themselves "soldiers of Allah" were convicted Thursday of murdering an off-duty serviceman who was run down with a car and stabbed to death in a frenzied attack on a London street. The jury of eight women and four men deliberated for just 90 minutes before finding Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale guilty of murdering Fusilier Lee Rigby. They were acquitted of attempting to murder a police officer. The two men will be sentenced early next year. Neither defendant reacted as the jury foreman announced the verdicts. Adebolajo, at 29 the elder of the two, smiled and kissed a copy of the Qur'an as he was led down to the cells. Members of Rigby's family stood in tears outside London's Central Criminal Court as a police officer read out a statement on their behalf. "We are satisfied that justice has been done," the statement said. "But unfortunately no amount of justice will bring Lee back." Adebolajo and 22-year-old Adebowale had pleaded not guilty to murder, though neither denied taking part in the May 22 attack. The 25-year-old Rigby, a member of the Royal Fusiliers who had served in Afghanistan, was returning on foot to his barracks in south London when he was hit by the car being driven by Adebolajo. As the soldier lay on the ground, Adebowale repeatedly stabbed him and Adebolajo attempted to cut off his head. One witness described the attack, which took place on a busy street near a primary school, as looking "like a butcher attacking a joint of meat." Adebolajo was filmed by a passer-by moments later, covered in blood and holding a cleaver and a knife, justifying the attack "because Muslims are dying daily by British soldiers." "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," he said repeatedly on the video. Adebolajo later told the police, in an interview played in court, that he and Adebowale had decided to kill a British soldier, and Rigby had been targeted because "he was the soldier that was spotted first." Adebowale, who has suffered mental health issues since his arrest, chose to present no evidence in his defence during the three-week trial. His lawyer, Abbas Lakha, told the jury that his client agreed with Adebolajo's description of the attack as a "military operation" and the two men as soldiers. After the attack the two killers waited at the scene, and then charged at a police car waving a machete and a gun. Both men had denied trying to kill a police officer, saying they hoped to provoke police into shooting them. Lakha said Adebowale had brandished a 90-year-old unloaded pistol so he "would achieve martyrdom." Armed officers shot the two men several times -- blowing off Adebowale's thumb as he raised the gun -- then gave them first aid. The savagery of the crime, Adebolajo's bloodthirsty rhetoric -- delivered in a London accent -- and the ordinary working-day surroundings all helped make the killing a crime that inflamed fears of Islamic extremist terrorism in Britain. It was followed by a spate of attacks on mosques and Islamic centres, and by protests from far-right groups. Police contrasted the savagery of the attack with the bravery and compassion of passers-by. One woman tried to comfort Rigby as he lay in the street. Another tried to persuade Adebolajo to put down his weapons. Farooq Murad, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, called the murder a "barbaric act." "Muslim communities then, as now, were united in their condemnation of this crime," he said. Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed the guilty verdicts and said the crime "shows we have to redouble our efforts to confront the poisonous narrative of extremism and violence that lay behind this and make sure we do everything to beat it in our country." The attack raised questions about whether Britain's intelligence services could have done more to prevent Rigby's killing, as both suspects had been known to them from earlier inquiries. Adebolajo, who comes from a Christian family and converted to Islam in his teens, was arrested in November 2010 near the Kenya-Somalia border and eventually returned to Britain. Kenyan officials said he intended to join an Islamic militant group in Somalia. The pair had been radicalized, in part through exposure to firebrand preachers like U.S.-born al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in 2011. Sermons by al-Awlaki and other extremist material were found at Adebolajo's father's house. The men were not accused of being linked to a wider conspiracy. Adebolajo told the court he had never met anyone from al Qaeda but admired the terrorist group and considered its members his "brothers in Islam." Rigby is survived by a widow, a two-year-old son and a fiancee. The judge praised the dignity of Rigby's family "throughout what must have been the most harrowing of evidence." He thanked jurors, who sat through graphic footage of the murder, for their service. The judge said he would sentence the defendants next year, after a January Court of Appeal ruling on the use of life sentences without parole. The Crown Prosecution Service said it would ask the court to find that the murder was motivated by terrorism, which could add to the length of the sentences.

I have zero problem with this verdict. None.

One of the defendants sounds like a right sociopath and, the other, like a deeply troubled person who needs to be removed from society.

Whatever happens next, I hope these two young men are made to see that there is no God that will reward their actions here. There is no martyrdom for them.

Just real consequences to their actions.

[quaist]

I still remember the footage of this Adebolajo with his bloody knife very vividly... Obviously, the verdict's agreeable.

[sunnykerr]

Whatever they do, I hope they don't give him the death sentence.

I don't think they have the death sentence anymore in Britain, but now's not the time to make an exception.

The last thing we want to do is give this sociopath what he wants, which is to think himself a martyr to his cause.

But, otherwise, I have no issue whatsoever with this verdict.

[sunnykerr]

Texas man charged with hate crime for alleged 'knockout game' attack HOUSTON -- A white Houston-area man was arrested Thursday on federal hate crimes charges for allegedly shooting video of himself sucker-punching a 79-year-old black man in a "knockout game"-style attack. Conrad Alvin Barrett, 27, made a brief appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Frances Stacy, who scheduled a detention hearing for the man on Friday. According to prosecutors, the attack happened Nov. 24 in the town of Katy, but it wasn't until 12 days later that authorities connected the attack to the cellphone video of it. Authorities learned of the case because Barrett allegedly showed the video on the night of the attack to an off-duty arson investigator he had just met at a restaurant in nearby Folshear. According to the criminal complaint, Barrett asked the off-duty investigator and the woman with the investigator if they knew about the knockout game. He told them he played earlier that day, then showed them the video, prosecutors allege. The investigator then flagged down a uniformed officer across the street and led him to Barrett. The attack video doesn't show Barrett's face, but investigators matched his voice to the voice in the video and the couple at the restaurant told investigators that Barrett was wearing the same shorts and shoes at the person who shot the video. According to prosecutors, the video shows Barrett approach the victim and ask, "How's it going, man?" A "loud smack" is then heard, the victim falls to the ground, Barrett laughs and says, "Knockout." The assailant then flees in his vehicle. The victim lost three teeth and needed surgery to repair his jaw, which had been broken in two places. He was hospitalized for more than four days, authorities said. Investigators retrieved other videos from Barrett's phone, including some in which he uses racial epithets and talks about trying to work up the courage to play the knockout game, the complaint states. In one, Barrett says: "That plan is to see if I were to hit a black person, would this be nationally televised?" U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson said Thursday that such crimes won't be tolerated. "Evidence of hate crimes will be vigorously investigated and prosecuted with the assistance of all our partners to the fullest extent of the law," Magidson said. Barrett's attorney, George Parnham, said Barrett has bipolar disorder and has been prescribed heavy medications to treat it. He said Barrett's family "feels horribly sympathetic" for the person who was attacked. "When you start peeling back the layers of the onion and look at the mindset behind the action you soon realize there's a mental issue," said Parnham, who added that he's trying to gather as much information about Barrett's mental health as possible. If convicted of the hate crime charge, Barrett could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and fined up to $250,000.

You hear stories like this and you start thinking that today's youth is just... especially cruel or callous or something.

But then a short look at history shows that, on the whole, we're not very special today.

Still, I hope they give Barrett a stiff sentence. Bipolar disorder is not an excuse for elderly abuse.

[sunnykerr]

[Canadian] police seek public's assistance in solving death of B.C. hockey mom SURREY, B.C. - Police say they'll set up a command post at the same arena in Surrey, B.C., where a 53-year-old hockey mom was fatally attacked. The command post will be parked at the Newton Arena Thursday and Friday, and police say officers will also canvass the local community looking for tips into the death of Julie Paskall. Police say on Saturday auxiliary RCMP officers will put up posters around the community, asking for the public's help. Paskall was attacked Sunday night as she waited for her son outside the rink, and police suspect she was the victim of a random robbery. Her death in hospital was announced on Tuesday by police who say they have reviewed surveillance tape and believe the attack is similar to another in the same area on Dec. 16. Harry Bains who represents the riding of Surrey-Newton in the B.C. legislature says he and two other provincial politicians have met with the city's top police officer to discuss the death.

There's something really twisted about someone who would attack a mom outside of a hockey arena.

It's possibly the single most common activity across this country.

[quaist]

A scary reminder of how it can be over at any conceivable moment, basically anywhere...

[sunnykerr]

Yeah, it seems to have really shaken the country, let me tell you.

[sunnykerr]

Robert Pickton's brother denies knowing about serial killer's crimes VANCOUVER -- The brother of Robert William Pickton says he had no idea sex workers were being taken to his family's property near Vancouver and murdered, and he denies ever helping the serial killer cover up his crimes. The children of several women whose remains or DNA were found on Pickton's property in Port Coquitlam, east of Vancouver, filed lawsuits last year against Pickton, Pickton's brother David, and the police. David Pickton has now filed statements of defence, denying any knowledge of what his brother was doing and rejecting the families' claim that he should be held liable for the women's deaths. "William's criminal acts were not known to David, nor were they reasonably foreseeable to him," says one of seven identical statements of defence filed this week. "Any offences committed by William were on the property solely occupied by William Pickton." The families' lawsuits also allege David Pickton lied to police after Robert Pickton was accused of attempting to murder a sex worker in 1997. The case did not proceed to trial. "David Pickton did not aid or abet William Pickton's alleged attack in on the '1997 victim,"' says the statement of defence. "David Pickton did not assist William Pickton in 'getting away' with any offence." The families of nine women have filed lawsuits, but only seven of those cases name David Pickton as a plaintiff. He also filed a statement of defence this week in an unrelated lawsuit in which he is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the early 1990s. All of the court documents contain allegations that haven't been tested in court. David Pickton has always been on the periphery of his brother's case, but he has never been formally accused or charged with anything connected to Robert Pickton's crimes. The Pickton brothers and their sister, Linda Wright, own the infamous property in Port Coquitlam where Robert Pickton lived in a run-down trailer and where police found the remains or DNA of 33 women. The siblings inherited the property from their parents. David Pickton's name also surfaced several times during the public inquiry that began in late 2011 and stretched well into 2012. The inquiry heard evidence that when police attempted to interview Robert Pickton in September 1999, David Pickton asked investigators to wait until the rainy season was finished. The officers agreed and didn't interview Robert Pickton until January 2000.

It's not very surprising that David would try to distance himself from the horrendous actions of his brother.

But I do hope there will be a legitimate investigation into the matter.

Till then, it's just a case of hearsay.

[sunnykerr]

Florence court hears rebuttals in 3rd murder trial for Amanda Knox FLORENCE, Italy -- Defence lawyers for U.S. student Amanda Knox and her Italian former boyfriend get their final say in the defendants' third trial for the gruesome 2007 murder of Knox's British roommate. The prosecution will also make their final rebuttals Monday, the last hearing day scheduled in the trial ahead of the verdict later this month. Judge Alessandro Nencini specified each team will get 30 minutes for their last word so that deliberations can start as planned Jan. 30. Prosecutor Alessandro Crini has demanded 26 years for each defendant for the murder, and that the court increase to four years Knox's three-year sentence for slander. The two were freed on appeal in 2011, but Italy's highest court ordered a second appellate trial after blasting the acquittal.

I didn't realize Knox was also on trial for slander.

I suppose we'll find out soon what the verdict will be.

[sunnykerr]

Calgary woman accused of faking cancer to draw donations CALGARY -- The owner of a Calgary daycare says he feels betrayed after one of his employees was charged with lying about having heart problems and cancer so she could take in thousands of dollars in donations. Police allege that between December 2012 and June 2013 the woman told her co-workers she had a fatal heart condition and Stage 4 breast cancer. Investigators say the woman went as far as providing a fraudulent doctor's note to her employer. Police say her co-workers held fundraisers for her, which brought in $20,000. Some staff members even shaved their heads to support the cause, said Marc St. Germain, the owner of FunFlex Playcare Childcare Centre. "I'm really disappointed. We trusted her and the staff and I put forward a lot of programs to help her out. We had staff cooking meals, we had parents giving her gift cards and offering a lot of support," St. Germain said. The woman had worked at his daycare for the past three-and-a-half years said St. Germain. He said he had no complaints about her work. "I'll be honest with you -- in three-and-a-half years, she was probably one of my best employees. Parents loved her and it's unfortunate." Last summer, one of the parents went to police about the woman's claims. After that, St. Germain said the woman's claims started to fall apart. "Suddenly the stories don't make sense. Then all of a sudden you become a detective yourself and you find this doesn't make sense," he said. "She told us she was going for chemo on Sundays so we went to the Tom Baker Cancer Centre and realized there was never chemo on Sunday." Lana Rovang, who is 32, is charged with fraud and uttering a forged document. St. Germain said his staff are like a family. He said at this point he doubts that an apology would help. "You've got a lot of people who do have cancer and do really need help and people who are giving money, and because of these kind of scams sometimes people hesitate in giving more to people who really need the support."

You know, she is not the first person I've heard of who's done this.

And there's some creepy irony in it, because pretending to be sick to bilk money out of people who sympathize is, you know, a pretty sick thing to do.

I really hope there's at least a short jail sentence for her.