On Tuesday, a federal official blamed New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for the murder of a 92-year-old Queens woman by an illegal immigrant, citing New York City’s “sanctuary policies” triggered the immigrant’s release after he had already been arrested on assault and weapon charges.
Thomas Decker, New York field-office director of enforcement and removal operations for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, <a href="https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-lodges-detainer-against-guyanese-national-arrested-murder-92-year-old-new-york">stated</a>:
<blockquote>It is made clear that New York City’s stance against honoring detainers is dangerously flawed. It was a deadly choice to release a man on an active ICE detainer back onto the streets after his first arrest included assault and weapon charges, and he now faces new charges, including murder. New York City’s sanctuary policies continue to threaten the safety of all residents of the five boroughs, as they repeatedly protect criminal aliens who show little regard for the laws of this nation.
In New York City alone, hundreds of arrestees are released each month with pending charges and/or convictions to return back into the communities where they committed their crimes, instead of being transferred into the custody of ICE. Clearly the politicians care more about criminal illegal aliens than the citizens they are elected to serve and protect.</blockquote>
On November 27, Reeaz Khan, 21, an illegal immigrant from Guyana, was arrested for allegedly slashing his father with a broken ceramic mug, prompting ICE to initiate a detainer request; Khan was charged with misdemeanor assault, criminal possession of a weapon and harassment, and released without bail after being slapped with a temporary order of protection for his dad, as <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/01/14/feds-blame-de-blasio-for-murder-sex-assault-of-92-year-old-woman/">The New York Post</a> reported.
On January 10, Khan was arrested for the sexual abuse and murder of Maria Fuertes, 92; Fuertes was found near death on a Richmond Hill sidewalk in the early morning of Jan. 6. The Post noted, “Fuertes had been lying in the 32-degree weather for about two hours after being sexually assaulted and strangled, law-enforcement sources have said.” Fuertes later died at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, having suffered a broken spine and rib fractures. Khan was charged with murder, sexual abuse, contact by forcible compulsion, and sexual abuse against a person incapable of consent.
The Post added that Fuertes “allegedly implicated himself before being arrested last Friday.” Before he was charged with the murder of Fuertes, Khan informed police he was only trying to help Fuertes on the ground when he “fell down, his belt broke, his pants fell down and his penis fell near her vagina,” but Assistant District Attorney Joseph Grasso said at Khan’s arraignment, “Defendant then stated that he did lift up her skirt and tried to put his penis inside of her.”
&#8220;The city’s detainer law and policy mandates that officials turn over to ICE only those who are convicted of violent and serious offenses, and only when ICE has met legal and due process requirements, according to a city official,&#8221; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/14/nyregion/92-year-old-woman-queens-murder.html">The New York Times</a> noted. The NYPD said it “did not receive an ICE detainer” regarding Khan, but ICE spokeswoman Rachael Yong Yow noted a fax confirmation receipt of a detainer request sent to the NYPD’s Queens Central Booking unit at 7:41 a.m. on Nov. 27.
ICE stated:
<blockquote>ICE lodges detainers on individuals who have been arrested on criminal charges and who ICE has probable cause to believe are removable aliens. The detainer asks the other law enforcement agency to notify ICE in advance of release and to maintain custody of the alien for a brief period of time so that ICE can take custody of that person in a safe and secure setting upon release from that agency’s custody. When law enforcement agencies fail to honor immigration detainers and release serious criminal offenders onto the streets, it undermines ICE’s ability to protect public safety and carry out its mission.</blockquote>
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

Security Around New York City Increased After U.S. Missile Strike In Baghdad Kills Iranian Top General Qasem Soleimani

Feds Blame De Blasio For Murder Of 92-Year-Old Woman By Illegal Immigrant

Bill de Blasio

Illegal Immigration

Murder

New York City

Baltimore has registered a grim new record in its crime statistics. Over the holiday weekend, the city suffered its 343rd homicide of the year, surpassing its previous high of 342 and setting a new record for killings per capita.
After seeing declining numbers, homicides began to increase dramatically in 2015 following the infamous case of Freddie Gray, which some blame for encouraging a more &#8220;hands off&#8221; approach by law enforcement.
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&#8220;Baltimore police recorded the 343rd homicide of the year Saturday with the fatal shooting of a 32-year-old man in the Belair-Edison neighborhood,&#8221; <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-md-ci-cr-12-29-20191229-d2mxtvzxance7gwo2rre3lbteq-story.html">The Baltimore Sun</a> reports. &#8220;Shortly before 11 p.m., city officers found the man lying in the 4300 block of Dudley Ave. in an area south of Belair Road and two blocks from Herring Run Park. The man had been shot multiple times and later died in an area hospital.&#8221;
The outlet notes that the murder followed just two days without a fatal shooting in the city. The previous murder took place Thursday night.
As <a href="https://wtop.com/baltimore/2019/12/baltimore-breaks-city-record-for-killings-per-capita-in-2019/">The Associated Press</a> details, with its 343rd fatal shooting of the year, the city has now officially reached &#8220;a historically high homicide rate.&#8221;
&#8220;With just over 600,000 residents, the city hit a historically high homicide rate of about 57 per 100,000 people after recent relentless gunfire saw eight people shot — three fatally — in one day and nine others — one fatally — another day,&#8221; AP reported Friday. &#8220;The new rate eclipses that of 1993, when the city had a record 353 killings but was much more populous before years of population exodus.&#8221;
To highlight how dire the situation is in Baltimore, AP notes that New York City, which has a population of over 8 million compared to Baltimore&#8217;s 600,000 residents, had recorded 306 homicides through Dec. 15.
Baltimore&#8217;s previous record for the number of homicides in a year was 342, the number fatally shot in the city in both 2017 and 2015. Beginning in 2015, the city has recorded at least 300 homicides per year.
After seeing a decline in the murder rate, killings spiked dramatically in 2015, the same year that Freddie Gray, an African American Baltimore resident, died while in police custody. Gray&#8217;s death caused a massive uproar in the city, sparking protests and riots, in which police were reportedly told by the mayor to &#8220;stand down.&#8221; <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/source-baltimore-mayor-ordered-police-to-stand-down">Fox News</a> reported at the time:
<blockquote>
Despite a firm denial by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, a senior law enforcement source charges that she gave an order for police to stand down as riots broke out Monday night, raising more questions about whether some of the violence and looting could have been prevented.
The source, who is involved in the enforcement efforts, confirmed to Fox News there was a direct order from the mayor to her police chief Monday night, effectively tying the hands of officers as they were pelted with rocks and bottles.
Asked directly if the mayor was the one who gave that order, the source said: &#8220;You are God damn right it was.&#8221;</blockquote>
Many have blamed the fallout of the case for the increase in crime in the city, maintaining that the backlash against the police and the pressure from elected officials has resulted in a more &#8220;hands off&#8221; approach by officers.
Others, as AP explains, have blamed the spike in crime as the result of a confluence of factors, including access to illegal guns, the opioid epidemic, social inequalities, lack of jobs, and political incompetence.
H/T J<a href="https://hotair.com/archives/jazz-shaw/2019/12/29/baltimore-succeeds-breaking-murder-record-century/">azz Shaw</a>
</div>
</div>

Ceasfire Baltimore rally to stop gun violence

Baltimore Surpasses Highest Murder Rate Ever

Baltimore

The oh-so-very conscientious Middle East historians at Vox, who once landed themselves in hot water barely three months after website launch with the <a href="https://freebeacon.com/blog/in-praise-of-vox-media-max-fisher-and-zack-beauchamp/">dissemination of laughable fake news</a> about a purported <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2014/07/17/voxs-motto-should-be-explaining-the-news-incorrectly-repeatedly/">land bridge</a> connecting the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-israel-must-destroy-hamas-once-and-all-josh-hammer">Hamas</a>-controlled Gaza Strip with the biblical Jewish heartland of Judea and Samaria (i.e., the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-yes-palestinian-state-far-more-dangerous-josh-hammer">&#8220;West Bank&#8221;</a>), are apparently <a href="https://twitchy.com/sarahd-313035/2019/12/24/rashida-tlaib-would-no-doubt-be-very-pleased-with-voxs-inexcusably-dishonest-reporting-on-israel-and-israeli-jews/">up to it again</a>.
As highlighted by <a href="https://twitchy.com/sarahd-313035/2019/12/24/rashida-tlaib-would-no-doubt-be-very-pleased-with-voxs-inexcusably-dishonest-reporting-on-israel-and-israeli-jews/">Twitchy</a>, Vox has written a piece about the post-Oslo Accords modern history of the city of Bethlehem that is, in the words of one venerable pro-Israel Twitter user, &#8220;<a href="https://twitter.com/AG_Conservative/status/1209497608122703872">inexcusably dishonest</a>.&#8221; And it is.
Seven years following 1993&#8217;s <a href="https://honestreporting.com/the-second-intifada-israeli-society-terrorized/">fateful</a> signing of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oslo_I_Accord">Oslo I</a> between the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the late Palestinian-Arab unrepentant jihadist Yasser Arafat, Vox informs its readers, &#8220;tourism in Bethlehem &#8230; took a nosedive when the Israeli military invaded many of the West Bank’s major cities that were under Palestinian jurisdiction.&#8221; Vox continues: &#8220;As a political stalemate and expanding Israeli settlements led to the bloody Second Intifada, or uprising, the devastation and Israeli curfews kept tourists away; hotels closed and restaurants went out of business.&#8221;
This is not merely historical revisionism or tendentious distortion. It is an outright lie.
In reality, it was the terrorist Arafat who was singularly responsible for commencing the bloody Second Intifada — a four-plus-year sustained jihad during which over a thousand Israelis paid the ultimate price and thousands more were also wounded.
Although Arafat strategically waited to launch the Second Intifada until after then-Likud party prime minister candidate Ariel Sharon had the oh-so-shocking temerity to visit the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, in September 2000, it is now commonly known that Arafat had been planning the civilizational jihad at least since he rejected then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak&#8217;s <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/bill-clinton-palestinians-were-offered-temple-mount-in-2000/">exceedingly generous</a> &#8220;two-state solution&#8221; offer (96% of Judea and Samaria) at the U.S.-hosted Camp David Summit two months prior. The U.S. government&#8217;s own <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-mitchell-report-may-2001">Mitchell Report</a> on the subject, overseen by former Sen. George Mitchell (D-ME), made this quite clear (emphasis added):
<blockquote>&#8230; [T]he immediate catalyst for the violence was the breakdown of the Camp David negotiations on July 25, 2000 and the &#8220;widespread appreciation in the international community of Palestinian responsibility for the impasse.&#8221; In this view, Palestinian violence was planned by the PA leadership, and was aimed at &#8220;provoking and incurring Palestinian casualties as a means of regaining the diplomatic initiative.&#8221; &#8230; The Sharon visit [to the Temple Mount] did not cause the &#8220;[Second] Intifada.&#8221;</blockquote>
Lest there be any doubt as to which party was to blame for the negotiation breakdown at Camp David in 2000, furthermore, let us defer to then-U.S. President <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/23/israel3">Bill Clinton</a>: &#8220;[Arafat] did not negotiate in good faith; indeed, he did not negotiate at all. He just kept saying no to every offer, never making any counterproposals of his own.&#8221;
In short, the unrepentant terrorist Arafat deliberately tanked the Camp David negotiations and used his own destruction of the possibility for a sustained peace as an excuse for launching a years-long bloody jihad to murder as many Israeli Jews as possible. Contra Vox&#8217;s despicable lying, all subsequent Israel Defense Forces (IDF) incursions into Palestinian-Arab strongholds in Judea and Samaria were in direct response to Arafat&#8217;s preplanned war. In short, it was Arafat&#8217;s deliberately beginning to kill Israeli civilians en masse that prompted the IDF&#8217;s military response.
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Vox apparently wants readers to think Israel invaded Bethlehem out of nowhere, and suggests the second intifada *followed* the invasion. 
Of course, that &quot;uprising&quot;—ie the murdering of Israeli civilians in cafes, buses, and markets—prompted the invasion of West Bank cities. <a href="https://t.co/lkMCaEvUho">pic.twitter.com/lkMCaEvUho</a>
&mdash; Gilead Ini (@GileadIni) <a href="https://twitter.com/GileadIni/status/1209496422778900480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 24, 2019</a></blockquote>
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The Second Intifada was a uniquely harrowing time to live in Israel. Here is how Matti Friedman, who lived in Israel during part of the jihad, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/09/opinion/israel-election-netanyahu.html">described</a> it at The New York Times in September:
<blockquote>No single episode has shaped Israel’s population and politics like the wave of suicide bombings perpetrated by Palestinians in the first years of the 21st century. Much of what you see here in 2019 is the aftermath of that time, and every election since has been held in its shadow. The attacks, which killed hundreds of Israeli civilians, ended hopes for a negotiated peace and destroyed the left, which was in power when the wave began. Any sympathy that the Israeli majority had toward Palestinians evaporated. &#8230;
I remember standing at a bus stop when I heard a suicide bomber blow himself up and murder 11 people one street over, at Café Moment. My mother passed through the Nahariya train station right before a suicide bomber struck there, and my sister was in a cafeteria at the Hebrew University campus when Palestinians blew up a different cafeteria. I’ve got many more memories like that, all of them standard for the time.</blockquote>
There are a <a href="https://twitchy.com/sarahd-313035/2019/12/24/rashida-tlaib-would-no-doubt-be-very-pleased-with-voxs-inexcusably-dishonest-reporting-on-israel-and-israeli-jews/">myriad other problems</a> with Vox&#8217;s duplicitous holiday season smear job about Israel and Bethlehem. But outright lying about how the Second Intifada started — in contravention of the U.S. government&#8217;s own review of the facts, no less — stands atop the sordid list of Vox&#8217;s falsehoods.
Of course, what else might we expect from the folks who once claimed Israel restricted Palestinian-Arab &#8220;traffic&#8221; on a &#8220;land bridge&#8221; connecting Gaza to Judea and Samaria? &#8220;Fake news&#8221; is very, very real.

Israeli flag Old City Jerusalem

HAMMER: Vox Lies About Israel. AGAIN.

Bill Clinton

Fake News

Foreign Policy

Israel

Israel Defense Forces (IDF)

Judaism

Media

Media Bias

Middle East

Last week a female student from Barnard College was found murdered in a New York City park. Shortly after, several young teenage boys – including a 13-year-old – were arrested for her murder.
On Sunday, Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association – a police union – made a comment on a radio program that the victim, Tessa Majors, was in the park to buy marijuana.
“An 18-year-old college student at one of the most prestigious universities is murdered in a park, and what I’m understanding, she was in the park to buy marijuana,” Mullins said on John Catsimatidis’ radio show.
“And you think about that, we don’t enforce marijuana laws anymore. We’re basically hands-off on the enforcement of marijuana,” Mullins add. &#8220;So here we have a student murdered by a 13-year-old and we have a common denominator of marijuana. You know, my question to the people of New York City is, ‘Why is this happening?’”
The New York Daily News reported that police have not confirmed if what Mullins said was true. The outlet reported that Majors’ boyfriend said she was jogging in the park. The 13-year-old arrested for his role in the murder said he and his friends chose to rob Majors as she jogged down the steps of Morningside Park.
Even if what Mullins said was true, it had no bearing on Majors’ murder. Her reason for being in the park did not cause her murder – the three young men who killed her were responsible.
In a statement published Monday <a href="https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/murdered-barnard-freshmans-family-blasts-police-union-chief-over-marijuana-comment/2242512/">by NBC New York</a>, Majors’ family slammed Mullins for his remarks about Tessa.
&#8220;The remarks by Sergeants Benevolent Association president Ed Mullins we find deeply inappropriate, as they intentionally or unintentionally direct blame onto Tess, a young woman, for her own murder,&#8221; the Majors family said Monday. &#8220;We would ask Mr. Mullins not to engage in such irresponsible public speculation, just as the NYPD asked our family not to comment as it conducts the investigation.&#8221;
The family went on to say that they still want to know “what exactly happened to Tess and who committed her murder.”
“We believe, for the immediate safety of the community and the surrounding schools, that should be everyone’s top priority and we are grateful to the men and women of the NYPD for all of their efforts,&#8221; the family continued.
Majors had moved to New York this year to attend Barnard College as a freshman. She was interested in music and “sang and played guitar in a band called Patient 0, which recently played its first concert in New York,” The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/11/nyregion/barnard-student-fatal-stabbing.html">reported</a>.
On Friday night, the 13-year-old charged in Majors’ murder said during a court hearing that he and his friends put Majors in a chokehold and started robbing her. The young woman fought back and was able to bite one of the attackers on their finger. The teens then stabbed her and left her for dead.
NBC reported that Majors was able to find a security guard outside the park and ask for help. She was taken to a hospital but died soon after.

Site of Tessa Majors homicide

SERIOUSLY? Police Union President Releases Irrelevant Information That Victim-Blames Tessa Majors; Family Responds

Crime

On Wednesday afternoon, an 18-year-old female Barnard College student from Virginia was stabbed to death in a Manhattan park allegedly by a group of young men who mugged her, then killed her.
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Barnard College student Tessa Majors, 18, was found dead with multiple stab wounds in Morningside Park last night in what police say was a brutal robbery. <a href="https://t.co/2JLizJxAUr">https://t.co/2JLizJxAUr</a> <a href="https://t.co/0vuSeQTM72">pic.twitter.com/0vuSeQTM72</a>
&mdash; NBC New York (@NBCNewYork) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCNewYork/status/1205102524153372672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Tessa Majors, from Charlottesville, Virginia, was walking down a flight of steps into Morningside Park on West 116th Street at roughly 5:30 p.m. when the assailants attacked her, according to <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7783885/College-student-18-stabbed-death-group-thugs-walking-park.html">The Daily Mail</a>, which added, “According to police sources, they demanded money from her and stabbed her multiple times in the stomach before fleeing.&#8221; After Majors was transported to Mount Sinai St. Luke’s hospital she was pronounced dead, as <a href="https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2019/12/12/barnard-student-18-dead-following-stabbing-in-morningside-park/">The Columbia Spectator</a> reported.
The Daily Mail reported that police sources stated a 16-year-old boy, who is a known robbery suspect, was taken into custody from a nearby housing project; a group of young men in their teens were also interrogated. The Daily Mail added that the 16-year-old taken into custody was wearing a green jacket similar to one described by a witness to the attack; a trail of blood was found that led to an apartment the teen was known to frequent.
Majors’ grandmother, Martha Burton, told <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-stabbing-near-columbia-morningside-heights-20191212-ewofwz5e6jdshjl52dlbyqmyci-story.html">The New York Daily News</a>, &#8220;I guess being from a smaller town she was too naive to think about walking alone in New York City. She just shouldn’t have been there.&#8221;
One 20-year-old female student told The New York Times, “My friend is throwing up in the bathroom. She&#8217;s so scared.”
Barnard College president Sian Leah Beilock released a statement saying, “Tessa was just beginning her journey at Barnard and in life. We mourn this devastating murder of an extraordinary young woman and member of our community. This is an unthinkable tragedy that has shaken us to our core.” Ms. Beilock said she and Barnard College dean Leslie Grinage had communicated with Majors’ parents, who were traveling to New York.
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/11/nyregion/barnard-student-fatal-stabbing.html">The New York Times</a> reported, “Ms. Majors’s Instagram account shows a young woman new to the city and eager to develop her music. She sang and played guitar in a band called Patient 0, which recently played its first concert in New York. &#8216;Safe to say the first NYC show went well ;)&#8217; <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B3fWwF1g34M/">she wrote on Instagram on Oct. 11.</a> A month earlier, the band released an album called &#8216;Girl Problems.&#8217;”
The Columbia Spectator added, “Barnard’s Furman Counseling Center will remain open all night and during the day tomorrow, and Columbia University Counseling and Psychological Services will open until 2:15 a.m. on the fifth floor of Lerner. Kromm and several staff members from Columbia Residential Life will be in Wallach’s first floor Lounge until 4 a.m. to speak to students.”
The New York Times noted, “Major crime was down about 1 percent this year through Dec. 1 compared with the same period last year, but murder was up about 8 percent, according to Police Department statistics. There had been 298 murders by Dec. 1, compared with 275 to that point in 2018, police data showed.”
Update: an earlier version of this story based on news reports incorrectly stated that  the security booth was unattended. A Columbia university spokesperson has corrected those reports, stating: “The public safety officer assigned to 116th Street and Morningside Drive was at his post last night when the victim emerged from the park, and he came to her aid immediately upon recognizing that she was injured. Reports to the contrary are inaccurate. Officers stationed at this location do not make rounds that cause them to leave their post.&#8221;

Barnard

18-Year-Old Female Student From Virginia Mugged, Stabbed To Death In NYC Park

A newly released <a href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/case_docs/4096.pdf">affidavit</a> provides significant new details about an unsolved 2011 murder connected to Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev. And it offers incriminating new information about Tsarnaev’s friend, a man killed after attacking an FBI agent during a 2013 interrogation, whose case has been championed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
CAIR continues to represent the estate of Ibragim Todashev, claiming law enforcement conspired to violate his civil rights and that his shooting death was unlawful. A federal judge in Florida tossed the case out last year, but an appeal is pending.
Before he was killed by an FBI agent’s bullet in 2013, and affidavit asserts that <a href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/case_docs/4096.pdf#page=15">Todashev admitted</a> he and Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev were responsible for the grisly 2011 murder of three men in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Tsarnaev died in a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/us/autopsy-says-boston-bombing-suspect-died-of-gunshot-wounds-and-blunt-trauma.html">shootout with police</a> early on April 19, 2013, four days after two pressure cooker bombs blew up near the Boston Marathon’s finish line, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/06/03/us/boston-marathon-terror-attack-fast-facts/index.html">killing</a> three people and injuring 264. His brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, also was wounded, but was arrested days later. He was <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/boston-bombing-trial/dzhokhar-tsarnaev-sentencing-boston-victims-address-bomber-directly-n380906">sentenced to death</a> in 2015 after being <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/jury-weighs-verdict-for-second-day-in-boston-marathon-bombing-trial/2015/04/08/11755a56-ddf0-11e4-a500-1c5bb1d8ff6a_story.html">convicted</a> on 30 counts, including use of a weapon of mass destruction related to the bombings.
Investigators quickly were drawn to Orlando after the bombings, where Todashev was living. Federal agents wanted to know about his friendship with Tamerlan Tsarnaev, while local police wanted to talk to him about an unsolved murder.
After several earlier contacts, they spent four hours interviewing Todashev inside his apartment the night of May 22, 2013. According to an affidavit unsealed last week, <a href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/case_docs/4096.pdf#page=15">Todashev said</a> he and Tsarnaev originally planned to rob the three men, whom they believed had money because they sold pot. But Tsarnaev, who was armed with a gun, changed plans, saying “they should eliminate any witnesses to the crime,” the affidavit said. The two tied up Raphael Teken, 37, Erik Weissman, 31, and Brendan Mess, 25, before slashing their throats.
“In addition, the victims were covered with marijuana,” the affidavit said. Tsarnaev and Todashev split “several thousand dollars” they took from inside. Todashev said that he and Tsarnaev then <a href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/case_docs/4096.pdf#page=16">spent about an hour</a> trying “to clean the crime scene in order to remove traces of their fingerprints and other identifying details,” the affidavit said.
The disclosure was one of few passages not redacted in a 27-page search warrant affidavit from 2013 used to search a Honda CR-V the two rode in that night. It was unsealed in connection with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s <a href="https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/11/15/affidavit-pins-grisly-2011-triple-murder-on-tamerlan-tsarnaev/">appeal</a> of his death sentence.
Todashev’s confession was known before, but the unsealed affidavit adds significant details about what he admitted.
The new information also sheds light on the FBI shooting that killed Todashev. Investigators say, and <a href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/4328/cair-criticizes-independent-investigation-it">two investigations confirmed</a>, that an FBI agent fired only after Todashev threw a coffee table at him, cutting the agent’s head, and then continued to attack.
“Todashev acknowledged his involvement in the Waltham murders and agreed to write a statement,” U.S. District Court Judge Carlos Mendoza <a href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/1079.pdf#page=16">wrote</a> in an August 2018 order, dismissing a lawsuit by Todashev’s estate against the government.
The law enforcement agents present thought his behavior was becoming increasingly erratic. One sent a text to his colleagues, <a href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/1079.pdf#page=17">warning</a>, “Be on guard. He is in [a] vulnerable position to do something bad. Be on guard now. I see him looking around at times.”
Moments later, Todashev attacked. The FBI agent later needed nine staples in his head to close the wound from the coffee table. He said Todashev ignored repeated warnings to back off and show his hands. The investigators’ fear for their safety was reasonable, Mendoza <a href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/1079.pdf#page=25">ruled</a>, and the FBI agent “was not required to wait and see what Todashev might do next.”
CAIR-Florida Executive Director Hassan Shibly, who filed the civil suit as “as the personal representative for the Estate of Ibragim Todashev and Todashev’s survivors,” has made no public comment about the new disclosure about Todashev. In 2014, after separate state and federal investigations also cleared the FBI agent, Shibly <a href="https://twitter.com/HassanShibly/status/447052578397126656">wrote</a> that the FBI’s credibility was being damaged.
An appeal on Mendoza’s order granting summary judgment to the defendants is pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
But if the original lawsuit record is any indication, the appeal won’t go far.
The federal district court repeatedly found that CAIR attorneys <a href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/1079.pdf#page=8">failed to state a claim</a> to support the various counts in the civil suit. Other claims were called “threadbare” and “<a href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/1079.pdf#page=13">woefully deficient</a>.&#8221;
At one point, CAIR attorneys even moved to disqualify Mendoza, claiming he could not be partial because he worked on a terrorism task force as a prosecutor before being appointed to the bench. In fact, it was the magistrate judge who acknowledged that work. In a separate motion to disqualify U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel C. Irick, CAIR attorney Tark Aouadi wrote that Irick’s experience “is disturbing to the [p]laintiff as it appears to evidences [sic] bias and partiality which leads the [p]laintiff to seek disqualification.”
Irick <a href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/1078.pdf#page=4">called</a> the “generalized argument” “so entirely without merit that it defies logic. Indeed, the bald assertion that the undersigned’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned because this case involves allegations of ‘terrorism’ and the undersigned, as an [a]ssistant United States [a]ttorney, worked with a joint terrorism task force is meritless. The fact that the undersigned worked with a joint terrorism task force is not evidence of bias against any person, and no reasonable person would question the impartiality of the undersigned, or anyone else, on that basis.”
Irick did recuse himself “in an abundance of caution,” however, <a href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/1078.pdf#page=5">noting</a> that he had worked with one of the defendants during his days as a prosecutor. He did this even though “this was not a basis for recusal argued in [p]laintiff’s motion.”
A lawyer for the Todashev estate also claimed the law enforcement officials “were being deceitful,” prosecutors <a href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/1083.pdf#page=16">wrote</a>, “though he offered no evidence to support this claim.”
Steven Emerson is Executive Director of The investigative Project on Terrorism (<a href="http://www.investigativeproject.org/">www.investigativeproject.org</a>) and the author of six books on national security and Islamic terrorism. On Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveEmersonIPT">@SteveEmersonIPT</a>.

Boston Marathon 2014

Boston Marathon Bomber’s Friend Confessed To 2011 Triple Murder Before Being Killed, Affidavit States

Boston

Boston Bomber

CAIR

Lawsuit

Radical Islam

Radical Islamic Terror

Baltimore Mayor Bernard &#8220;Jack&#8221; Young suggested on Thursday that the city&#8217;s leadership should not be held responsible for Baltimore&#8217;s consistently high murder rate because none of the leadership members personally committed any murders.
&#8220;There is not a lack of any leadership on my part. I have been moving this city forward &#8230; you know, because I&#8217;m not committing the murders and that&#8217;s what people need to understand,&#8221; Young told reporters during a press conference. &#8220;I&#8217;m not committing the murders, the police commissioner is not committing it, the council is not committing it. So, how can you fault leadership?&#8221;
Young&#8217;s remarks were in response to an <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed/bs-ed-op-1112-jordan-taylor-20191111-yl3v2zq4pvdktaffv7urcd34oa-story.html">opinion piece</a> written by Y in Central Maryland President John Hoey, who blamed the city&#8217;s skyrocketing murder rate on the local government lack of initiative. Hoey penned the op-ed after a 31-year-old Y coach was killed during a home invasion while in his Baltimore residence.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Mayor Jack Young on Baltimore homicides: &quot;I&#39;m not committing the murders. The police commissioner has not committed it. The council&#39;s not committing it. So how can you fault leadership?&quot; <a href="https://t.co/Yg9MMRnUTE">https://t.co/Yg9MMRnUTE</a> <a href="https://t.co/5XExpSMGA2">pic.twitter.com/5XExpSMGA2</a>
&mdash; FOX Baltimore (@FOXBaltimore) <a href="https://twitter.com/FOXBaltimore/status/1194729498194989057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 13, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;The truth is that we are in the midst of an existential crisis in the City of Baltimore. Our homicide rate is among the highest in the country, and the pace of violence and victims this year is exceeding last year’s already high pace,&#8221; Hoey wrote. &#8220;The reasons for this level of violence are complex and interlocking.&#8221;
&#8220;There is no one thing to be done to fix it, but there are definitely a set of laws, practices and actions at both the local and state level (with federal assistance) that could be used to significantly reduce the rate of violent crime if we had the will and focus to do it,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;Other cities have successfully reduced their violent crime rate significantly, but in Baltimore we have had not just a crisis of confidence but, in my view, a crisis of leadership.&#8221;
City Council President Brandon Scott, who is challenging Young for Baltimore mayor, slammed Young for his response in a statement, according to <a href="https://foxbaltimore.com/news/city-in-crisis/mayor-young-says-leadership-isnt-to-blame-for-baltimore-murders">Fox 45 News</a>.
&#8220;Mr. Mayor, respectfully, this can&#8217;t be our response to violence as elected leaders in Baltimore,&#8221; Scott said. &#8220;Our residents deserve to know their leaders have a vision to coordinate our precious resources in the fight against violent crime effectively and urgently, not passing the buck.&#8221;
The city of Baltimore is already bracing to surpass the 300 homicides mark for the fifth year in a row — as of mid-November, 296 individuals have been killed in the city.
Baltimore had the worst homicide rate among the 50 largest cities in the country, as well as the second-highest violent crime rate overall, according to<a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-md-ci-fbi-data-20180924-story.html"> FBI data</a> released in 2018. At the time, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan called the news &#8220;shocking and disappointing,&#8221; but further noted that &#8220;it doesn&#8217;t come as a complete surprise.&#8221;
Young became the mayor of Baltimore in May 2019 after his Democratic colleague, former mayor Catherine Pugh, stepped down amid investigations into corrupt business dealings. He had previously served for nearly a decade as the president of the Baltimore City Council.
Young&#8217;s campaign manager later issued a statement trying to clarifying his initial comments.
&#8220;While no leaders in our city are personally responsible for these crimes, ALL of us have a role to play in stopping them. And, as mayor, I take and will continue to take responsibility for making our city safer and cleaner,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;But the City leadership can&#8217;t do it alone. We need community leaders, stakeholders, and everyday Baltimoreans to come together and work to reduce gun violence.&#8221;

WATCH: Baltimore Mayor Dodges Responsibility For Skyrocketing Murder Rate: ‘I’m Not Committing The Murders’

Violent crime in America, despite experiencing an overall <a href="https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-2012/tables/1tabledatadecoverviewpdf/table_1_crime_in_the_united_states_by_volume_and_rate_per_100000_inhabitants_1993-2012.xls">dramatic decline</a> since the 1990s, has started to <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/25-years-crime-wave-back-republicans-refuse-talk/">surge back</a> over the past few years. Amidst this distressing social trend, alas, America&#8217;s <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/rnc-blasts-kamala-harris-not-pro-criminal-enough/">erstwhile</a> &#8220;law-and-order&#8221;/tough-on-crime political party has been ideologically and financially captured by pro-criminal libertarians who ally with the Left to spout hackneyed, outmoded orthodoxies like the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-dont-let-kim-kardashian-fool-you-america-josh-hammer">alleged (non-)issue</a> of &#8220;mass incarceration.&#8221; The most tangible result of this unholy alliance was the bipartisan 2018 passage of the harrowing First Step Act jailbreak law — a law enactment which President Donald Trump, viewing the <a href="https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20191004/he-was-released-early-from-prison-in-february-now-hes-wanted-for-murder-on-federal-hill">murderous early results</a>, apparently already <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/trump-reportedly-regrets-passage-jailbreak-first-step-act-gullible-conservatives-supported/">regrets</a>.
Alas, the leftist/libertarian alliance on &#8220;criminal justice&#8221; issues, just highlighted during last night&#8217;s Democratic Party presidential primary debate when Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) touted her work with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on the crime-abetting issue of &#8220;<a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/jailbreak-epidemic-gang-member-released-6k-bail-now-accused-raping-12-year-old-girl/">bail reform</a>,&#8221;continues unabated. Which brings us to prominent libertarian lawyer/legal commentator <a href="https://www.cato.org/people/clark-neily">Clark Neily</a>, who has been on a roll, of late. Neily, who spent years with the rabidly <a href="https://ij.org/center-for-judicial-engagement/">pro-judicial power</a> libertarian legal group <a href="https://ij.org">Institute for Justice,</a> now works for the equally <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/proper-judging-means-principled-engagement-not-judicial-deference">pro-judicial power</a> libertarian Cato Institute. Neily&#8217;s title at Cato is &#8220;Vice President for Criminal Justice&#8221; and, based on his recent musings, he appears to embody the zealous leftist/libertarian jailbreak alliance.
The precise target of Neily&#8217;s recent ire is the prosecutor. More specifically, Neily is convinced that far too many prosecutors become federal judges — and that not nearly enough criminal defense attorneys become federal judges. In a highly revealing but nonetheless sober-minded recognition of his core readership for such anti-prosecutorial musings, Neily has published on the subject at both <a href="https://www.cato.org/publications/studies/are-disproportionate-number-federal-judges-former-government-advocates">Cato</a> and, just this week, at left-wing <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/10/too-many-prosecutors-federal-judiciary.html">Slate</a>. The latter piece goes so far as to call for an outright &#8220;moratorium&#8221; on the nomination of former prosecutors to the federal bench.
I am not a former prosecutor. But I do have the benefit of education at a top law school and the experience of serving as a law clerk for a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. And I believe Neily is severely misguided in his anti-prosecutor crusade.
Crucially, Neily&#8217;s Cato <a href="https://www.cato.org/publications/studies/are-disproportionate-number-federal-judges-former-government-advocates#summary-previous-studies">study</a> makes no attempt whatsoever to control for education, intellect, or legal credentials. To many lay observers, this may seem anodyne — after all, can&#8217;t former prosecutors and defense attorneys/public defenders, as classes of attorneys, be presumed to have roughly equivalent legal acumens and credentials? Well, no. For generations, gifted law students of all political stripes have seen the prosecutorial career path — be it via the Department of Justice (DOJ), local U.S. attorney&#8217;s offices, state attorneys general offices, or even local district attorneys — as a prominent avenue for vocational success. The DOJ <a href="https://www.justice.gov/legal-careers/entry-level-attorneys">Honors Program</a> has long been viewed as one of the most prestigious entry-level attorney tracks in the nation, and scores of lawyers hoping to one day be considered for a federal judgeship have routinely sought U.S. attorney&#8217;s office experience as a means of padding their resumes and evincing a demonstrable commitment to public service. Again, this holds true for lawyers and judges of all political persuasions and partisan affiliations: As but two prominent examples for those on the Left, 2016 failed Barack Obama U.S. Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland is a former federal prosecutor and current presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) is a former California attorney general.
This is simply not nearly as broadly true for those who pursue careers in the criminal defense bar — be they in private practice or working as public defenders. Leftists and libertarians can gnash their teeth and wail all they&#8217;d like, but the reality, as I <a href="https://twitter.com/josh_hammer/status/1176324820771819520">tweeted</a> last month, is that in no sane world is the median defense lawyer of the same acumen and credentials as the median prosecutor. Representing drug traffickers, gangbangers, and felons in possession of firearms is not a dream job. Again, my claim is that this holds true for prosecutors and the defense bar, viewed as a class — obviously, there will be innumerable individual dispensations to such a broad rule, when comparing class sizes of this magnitude. But anecdotally, based on (1) my own personal experience knowing many individuals who have become prosecutors and defense lawyers, (2) my own law clerk experience and thinking back to a comparison of the median prosecutor&#8217;s brief and oral argument versus the median defense attorney&#8217;s brief and oral argument, and (3) discussing the issue with other former federal appellate law clerk friends, I feel eminently comfortable making such a claim. We should feel comfortable establishing a rebuttable presumption that prosecutors, considered as a class, have superior legal credentials to defense attorneys. Based purely on my own experience, I cannot even begin to count the volume of public defender&#8217;s office legal briefs I read that were of an immensely shoddy quality.
At a bare minimum, libertarians and leftists who would seek to place a moratorium on nominating prosecutors to federal judgeships ought to be asked how they can be so sure that they are not sacrificing legal acumen or credentials. I understand that such logic is arguably circular — anti-prosecutor libertarians and leftists could respond that such a moratorium may prophylactically disincentivize smart law school graduates who may aspire for judgeships from pursuing prosecutorial careers. But the salient point is that the general prestige of many prosecutorial career paths is so deeply ingrained in our legal culture. That is not something that can be easily reversed, and I highly suspect the criminal defense bar and its apologists have no particularly compelling argument to offer for how they might be able to do so.
Prosecutors do not write our nation&#8217;s criminal statutes — they merely enforce them. To the extent leftists and libertarians — hooked as they are on the anachronistic talking points of &#8220;mass incarceration&#8221; and &#8220;low-level non-violent offenders&#8221; — have substantive issues with our criminal statutes, they ought to lobby policymakers. By all accounts, considering both <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/needs-leftists-gop-texas-gov-greg-abbott-endorses-radical-ban-box-pro-criminal-mandate-employers/">state-level initiatives</a> and the aforementioned First Step Act, the pro-jailbreak cabal is quite successful in its lobbying efforts. Pro-jailbreak forces are wrong, on the policy merits, but that is an issue that can be debated in the political space. But it would be dangerous for justice and the rule of law, absent pro-jailbreak forces&#8217; ability to overcome the rebuttable presumption about the credentials of disparate vocational classes, for such forces to also take out their frustrations as part of the judicial nominations process.

Judge gavel with Justice lawyers, Businesswoman in suit or lawyer, Advice and Legal services Concept.

HAMMER: In Defense Of Prosecutors

Constitution

Department of Justice

Drugs

Federal Government

Guns

Homicide

Judicial Branch

Judiciary

Kamala Harris

Jodi Arias became infamous over the past decade for murdering her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander. She was arrested in 2008 for his murder, convicted in 2013, and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole in 2015.
Now, four years later, attorneys for Arias are seeking a new trial, claiming Maricopa County prosecutor Juan Martinez acted improperly during the investigation and trial. Arizona Central <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2019/10/03/jodi-arias-trial-court-of-appeals-overturn-prosecutor-juan-martinez-misconduct/3857752002/">reported</a> that the Arizona Court of Appeals agreed to consider “numerous allegations of misconduct” against Martinez. The outlet included a list of issues the Court of Appeals will look into:
<ul>
<li>
<blockquote>Which Arizona Supreme Court cases accurately describe the standard of review for addressing prosecutorial misconduct?</blockquote>
</li>
<li>
<blockquote>Is Arias is entitled to a new trial if there was intentional prosecutorial misconduct, and would double jeopardy play a role?</blockquote>
</li>
<li>
<blockquote>What factors are relevant in determining whether Arias was denied a fair trial based on prosecutorial misconduct? Does publicity around the trial affect the decision?</blockquote>
</li>
<li>
<blockquote>Was she deprived of the ability to present her defense to the jury?</blockquote>
</li>
<li>
<blockquote>If there was prosecutorial misconduct, did it contribute to her guilty verdict?</blockquote>
</li>
<li>
<blockquote>What authority supports reversing a conviction based on prosecutorial misconduct when there is overwhelming evidence of guilt?</blockquote>
</li>
<li>
<blockquote>What authority supports a conviction when there has been a pervasive intentional prosecutorial misconduct?</blockquote>
</li>
<li>
<blockquote>What steps can the court take to constrain a prosecutor&#8217;s conduct inside the courtroom during the proceedings? Does the court have authority to control the prosecutor outside the courtroom if it impacts the proceedings?</blockquote>
</li>
<li>
<blockquote>Should the publicity outside the courtroom be considered when deciding if the atmosphere of the trial was &#8220;circus-like?&#8221; Can publicity outside the courtroom grant a reversal?</blockquote>
</li>
</ul>
Martinez is also facing ethics complaints from the Arizona State Bar, which Maricopa County Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Amanda Steele said was a completely separate issue.
&#8220;We want to ensure our community’s understanding that there are two separate proceedings,&#8221; she said in a statement. &#8220;In one, there is the criminal conviction and life sentence in the Arias case that &#8230; is currently being considered by the Court of Appeals. This also involves claims of prosecutorial misconduct that allegedly occurred during the Arias trial. These separately are being reviewed as part of complaints submitted to the Arizona State Bar.&#8221;
In the Arias case, Martinez has been accused of having flirtatious or sexual relationship with two female bloggers and attempting to get them to dig up dirt on jurors during the trial. One of the bloggers allegedly “bragged to at least two others that she helped Martinez dig up negative information about a juror who refused to vote for a death sentence,” AZ Central reported.
The outlet also reported that a juror’s name was posted online just minutes after a mistrial was declared in the case.
Martinez also allegedly asked a removed juror what other jurors were thinking about the case. That juror also allegedly sent Martinez photos of her “naked breasts to Martinez after he told her he was ‘a breast man,’” the outlet reported.
None of this changes the evidence against Arias found in her car, home, rental car, and at the crime scene.

Lady Justice Statue

Convicted Killer Jodi Arias May Get New Trial Due To Prosecutor Misconduct

Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal was conducting a routine traffic stop on Friday when he was shot in the head.
He had pulled over a vehicle in Harris County, Texas. Dashcam footage showed he and the driver talking with “no combat, no arguing,” sheriff Major Mike Lee told reporters Friday, according to <a href="https://abc13.com/suspect-given-no-bond-in-murder-of-harris-county-sheriffs-deputy/5575271/">CNN affiliate KTRK</a>. The driver’s door was open as the two men talked. Dhaliwal then shut the door before turning to walk back to his patrol car. At that time the suspect, 47-year-old Robert Solis, got out of his vehicle and “almost immediately running with a gun already out,” Lee added. Dhaliwal was shot in the back of the head and later died from his injuries, <a href="https://abc13.com/5573573/">reported KTRK</a>.
&#8220;In a cold-blooded manner, ambush style, (he) shot Deputy Dhaliwal from behind,&#8221; Sheriff Ed Gonzalez told reporters. “It&#8217;s the worst day, the worst nightmare for any police executive.&#8221;
CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/28/us/texas-sikh-deputy-shot-saturday/index.html">reported</a> that police used Dhaliwal’s dashcam to identify Solis and arrested him at a nearby ice cream parlor.
Gonzalez <a href="https://twitter.com/SheriffEd_HCSO/status/1177773283950960641">tweeted</a> that Solis “had an active Parole Violation Warrant for Aggravated Assault w/Deadly Weapon dating back to January 2017.”
Lee said Friday that Solis “probably knew he was going to go back to jail and did not want to go back to jail.&#8221;
Dhaliwal, CNN reported, gained national attention in 2015 after he was given permission to wear his turban and full beard as part of his religion. Dhaliwal, an observant Sikh, had owned his own trucking business before joining the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. When he heard the office was looking for someone who could connect with the local Sikh community, he sold his business and became a detention officer, eventually becoming a deputy.
Six years after joining the police department, an official policy change allowed him to wear his turban and beard while on duty.
&#8220;As a Sikh American, I felt the need to represent the Sikh community in law enforcement,&#8221; Dhaliwal said when the policy was issued. &#8220;It will give me the chance to open up the conversation.&#8221;
His coworkers remember him as a beloved member of the community. Harris County police commissioner Adrian Garcia said Dhaliwal had “a heart of gold.”
&#8220;This guy had a heart of gold. He treated his brothers and sisters in law enforcement as if they were just brothers and sisters. He thought of them before he thought of himself. He thought of the broader community before he thought of himself,&#8221; Garcia said.
Gonzalez said Dhaliwal “wore the turban, he represented his community with integrity, respect and pride and he was respected by all.”
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turn <a href="https://twitter.com/SylvesterTurner/status/1177731537149804544">tweeted</a> that Dhaliwal “represented the diversity and inclusiveness of our community and everything that is good. Evil you do not win here.”
Members of the community also sent footage of Dhaliwal interacting with residents. One woman sent a video of the deputy playing with her deaf son at a restaurant.
“A Harris County resident sent us a video of fallen Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal,” the sheriff’s office tweeted. “‘He laughed and joked with all of us, and left a bright impression on my son who is deaf,’ she said.  Deputy Dhaliwal is an incredible loss not only to our HCSO family but to the entire community.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
A Harris County resident sent us a video of fallen Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal.
“He laughed and joked with all of us, and left a bright impression on my son who is deaf,” she said.
Deputy Dhaliwal is an incredible loss not only to our HCSO family but to the entire community. <a href="https://t.co/EbsdFeeWXO">pic.twitter.com/EbsdFeeWXO</a>
— HCSOTexas (@HCSOTexas) <a href="https://twitter.com/HCSOTexas/status/1177796393349603328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 28, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Military funeral

Officer Dies After Being Shot During Traffic Stop, Dashcam Helps Identify Alleged Killer

Police

A 59-year-old man has died from injuries suffered during an attack by two teenage brothers prompted by the man&#8217;s refusal to give them a dollar.
John Weed was attending the Great Frederick Fair in Maryland on Friday with his family when he was approached by the teens, ages 15 and 16. According to the prosecution, the 15-year-old sucker-punched Weed after he refused to give them a dollar, knocking him unconscious. Video evidence of the attack shows chaos and laughter in moments after Weed hits the pavement; one of the boys even spits on his lifeless body.
Medics flew the victim to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Teenage-Brothers-Fatally-Attacked-Man-Who-Refused-to-Give-Them-Money-Maryland-Authorities-Say-561154601.html">4 NBC Washington</a> reported on Monday. Weed succumbed to his injuries on Saturday, according to the local sheriff’s office.
&#8220;I think it&#8217;s despicable, and it tells me a lot about how these young people view this person by the very fact after they had him on the ground they taunted and they spit on him,&#8221; Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins said, according to 4 NBC Washington. &#8220;That to me shows hatred and disgust and despise.&#8221;
The 15-year-old teen who landed the sucker punch has been charged with first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and reckless endangerment. His 16-year-old brother landed a second-degree assault charge, according to authorities.
The attackers are being charged as juveniles, but prosecution might push for the teens to be tried as adults, the NBC affiliate reported.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve been doing this for close to thirty years,&#8221; said Frederick County State’s Attorney Charlie Smith. &#8220;There’s plenty of times where good people make bad decisions, but when they result in somebody’s death, you get punished.&#8221;
When Sheriff Jenkins was asked by a reporter what the &#8220;appropriate punishment&#8221; should be for the boys &#8220;given their age,&#8221; he sternly replied, &#8220;The maximum.&#8221;
&#8220;They made an adult decision by doing what they did and ended up with a man losing his life, the sister losing a brother, whatever,&#8221; he said. &#8220;They deserve the maximum penalty.&#8221;
The video of the vicious attack picked up traffic online on Sunday. However, the account that initially posted the video erroneously framed the attack as black teens defending themselves from a &#8220;white supremacist.&#8221; The video post has been viewed over 230,000 times and garnered nearly 2,000 likes.
&#8220;A white supremacist tried to racially antagonize a group of Black kids at the Frederick Fair in MD. He started calling them the N-word, and one of the kids, fearing for his life, punched the racist man. The white supremacist later died and two innocent Black victims were charged,&#8221; the caption reads.
However, as reported by <a href="https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/crime_and_justice/man-dies-after-frederick-fair-assault-two-juveniles-charged/article_61d7ea30-c7f9-57ff-a94d-cfc02e34bd4a.html">The Frederick News-Post</a>, a sheriff&#8217;s office release revealed that &#8220;investigators who responded to the scene interviewed witnesses who indicated that the attack on the man was unprovoked.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">A white supremacist tried to racially antagonize a group of Black kids at the Frederick Fair in MD. He started calling them the N-word, and one of the kids, fearing for his life, punched the racist man. The white supremacist later died and two innocent Black victims were charged <a href="https://t.co/uw56d6Cn0V">pic.twitter.com/uw56d6Cn0V</a>
— Church Of Ogun (@ChurchofOgun) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChurchofOgun/status/1175939278271963138?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 23, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
The Great Frederick Fair released a <a href="https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/crime_and_justice/man-dies-after-frederick-fair-assault-two-juveniles-charged/article_61d7ea30-c7f9-57ff-a94d-cfc02e34bd4a.html">statement</a> following the brutal incident, emphasizing its commitment to safety and clarifying details of the fatal assault.
&#8220;The Great Frederick Fair’s number one priority is the safety and security of our guests,&#8221; the statement reads. &#8220;To dispel rumors of the events of last night, while there was an assault, there was NO shooting and NO stabbing. The team of security and law enforcement was able to respond rapidly to control and contain the incident. The investigation into this incident remains active and any further information regarding the assault will be released from the Sheriff’s Office.&#8221;
WATCH:
<div class="embed video fluid-video"></div>

State Fair in Maryland

Video: Teen Boys Sucker Punch Middle Aged Man At Fair, Spit On Lifeless Body

Maryland

Last week, Boston mother Maureen Maloney was booed while testifying about the death of her son Matthew Denice, who was killed in 2011 by a drunk-driving illegal with a criminal history. Maloney was testifying at the State House in opposition to a bill seeking to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.
&#8220;At the start of her testimony, Maloney held up a photo of Matthew and recalled how he was killed by an illegal immigrant drunk behind the wheel. About halfway into her 3 minutes of testimony, a man behind Maloney booed the grieving mother,&#8221; the <a href="https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/09/04/booing-wont-stop-this-mom/">Boston Herald</a> reported.
&#8220;It just made me more determined,&#8221; Maloney told the outlet. &#8220;I don’t want other people to lose their lives like Matthew did. I don’t want other families to go through the heartache that my family deals with. And that’s where I get the strength and the stamina to keep doing this.&#8221;
This was not the first time the &#8220;Angel Mom&#8221; has been booed while discussing the tragic death of her son. &#8220;A few years ago, Maloney spoke out against a similar proposal, and a senator had given her his additional three minutes to testify. When Maloney went over the three minutes, she said people in the audience began booing and hollering that her time was up,&#8221; the Herald reported.
&#8220;You get used to it over time,&#8221; the mother said.
Maloney spoke at a Bostonians Against Sanctuary Cities event in May 2017, where she <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDVYecEfuO4">detailed</a> the death of her son by illegal immigrant Nicolas Dutan Guaman.
<blockquote>“On August 20, 2011, my son Matthew Denice was tragically killed less than two miles form our home. Matthew was riding his motorcycle in a residential area with a 20 mile per hour speed limit. Nicolas Guaman, an illegal alien with a criminal record, ran a stop sign, colliding with Matthew’s motorcycle. Matthew landed on the hood and the windshield of Guaman’s truck and rolled off into the street. Witnesses saw Matthew getting up out of the road.
During the trial, the Boston medical examiner and the forensic experts testified that Matthew survived the initial collision with just scrapes and bruises. … By all accounts, he should have lived. 
But Nicolas Guaman, who was an illegal alien did not have a diver’s license and had spent his day drinking beer made a fatal decision. He ran over Matthew, causing Matthew to be lodged in the front, right wheel well. He dragged Matthew a quarter mile to this death while horrified witnesses yelled for him to stop and banged on his truck. Witnesses heard Matthew’s bloodcurdling screams as his body was torn apart over the course of that quarter of a mile. Matthew’s body was impeding the forward motion of that front wheel of the truck. Nicolas Guaman knew he was dragging my son but he continued to flee the police. Eventually Guaman was run off the road and Matthew’s body became dislodged. Guaman then backed up over Matthew, and then continued to flee. And he had his six-year-old son in the truck during all this.” </blockquote>
Maloney said she prayed to her son for strength before giving her testimony last week, the Herald noted. &#8220;I was just asking him to guide me with my testimony and help me to not have anger in my heart towards the other side,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Just do some work through me, use me to try to save other lives.&#8221;
&#8220;Going to hearings like this, talking about it, opens up the wounds and it’s painful,&#8221; Maloney added. &#8220;And hearing them talk about their fear of separation and I’m sitting there thinking, &#8216;I have been permanently separated. This is the ultimate permanent separation.&#8217; They’re afraid they’ll be deported but they can take their kids with them or their kids can go visit them. I don’t have that option.&#8221;
Guaman is currently serving out a 12 to 14-year sentence for the murder of Denice.

Angel Mom With President Trump

‘Angel Mom’ Booed While Testifying About Son Killed By Illegal Immigrant

Ohio state Rep. Candice Keller, a Republican, was hit with backlash for a Facebook post linking &#8220;drag queen advocates,&#8221; gay marriage, and the breakdown of the family, among other factors, to Sunday&#8217;s mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, which left nine innocents dead.
&#8220;After every mass shooting, the liberals start the blame game,&#8221; Keller wrote on Facebook in a post which has since been removed. &#8220;Why not place the blame where it belongs?&#8221;
&#8220;The breakdown of the traditional American family (thank you, transgender, homosexual marriage, and drag queen advocates); fatherlessness, a subject no one discusses or believes is relevant; the ignoring of violent video games; the relaxing of laws against criminals (open borders); the acceptance of recreational marijuana; failed school policies (hello, parents who defend misbehaving students): disrespect to law enforcement (thank you, Obama); hatred of our veterans (thank you professional athletes who hate our flag and National Anthem); the Dem Congress, many members whom are anti-Semitic; the culture, which totally ignores the importance of God and the church (until they elect a President); state officeholders, who have no interest whatsoever in learning about our Constitution and the Second Amendment; and snowflakes, who can&#8217;t accept a duly-elected President,&#8221; the post continued.
Keller added, &#8220;Did I forget anybody? The list is long. And the fury will continue.&#8221;
Ohio Republican Party leader Jane Timken called for Keller to resign for the &#8220;shocking&#8221; comments, USA Today <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/08/06/ohio-gop-leader-tells-lawmaker-resign-over-dayton-shooting-post/1930213001/">reported</a>.
&#8220;While our nation was in utter shock over the acts of violence in El Paso and Dayton, Republican State Representative Candice Keller took to social media to state why she thought these acts were happening,&#8221; Timken said in a statement, according to the outlet. &#8220;Candice Keller&#8217;s Facebook post was shocking and utterly unjustifiable. Our nation is reeling from these senseless acts of violence and public servants should be working to bring our communities together, not promoting divisiveness.&#8221;
&#8220;Establishment moderates have never been fans of mine because I ran against their endorsement and won,&#8221; Keller responded to the calls for her resignation. &#8220;As the only conservative in this race, I will be taking my Senate campaign to the voters to decide.&#8221;
Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones, too, said Keller should resign.
&#8220;It&#8217;s very embarrassing. She doesn&#8217;t represent the people in her community with those comments,&#8221; Jones said to The Enquirer. &#8220;She&#8217;s made a laughingstock out of Butler County, which is a shame.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/05/us/candice-keller-ohio.html">According</a> to The New York Times, Michael Ryan, the Republican vice mayor of the city of Hamilton, called Keller&#8217;s post &#8220;a ridiculous statement to make&#8221; via Twitter. &#8220;This isn&#8217;t a time for politics. This is a time for grieving, coming together and healing,&#8221; he said.
As noted by USA Today, &#8220;Keller is not obligated to resign from the Ohio House of Representatives. Ohio lawmakers can be voted out of office or removed from their position if they are convicted of a felony. Another less-used method in the Ohio Constitution allows for the removal of a lawmaker via a vote of two-thirds of the Ohio House of Representatives. Elected officials can also be removed for &#8216;any misconduct involving moral turpitude&#8217; after a complaint and hearing.&#8221;

Flowers

Republican Calls On GOP Rep. To Resign For Linking ‘Drag Queen Advocates,’ Family Breakdown To Mass Shooting. Here’s Her Response.

Ohio

Shooting

Texas

On Saturday, a gunman opened fire in a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, killing 21 innocents in cold blood and injuring dozens more. The horror was only compounded when the vicious attack was followed by a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio early Sunday morning, where nine more were fatally shot.
In the midst of the chaos and predictable political point-scoring by presidential candidates, pundits, and media figures, one man rightly caught the attention of the nation: Glendon Oakley, a soldier stationed at Fort Bliss who ran toward the sounds of gunfire in that El Paso-area Walmart and risked his own life to save countless lives.
“It was one child. He ran in and told us it was an active shooter in Walmart, but I didn’t pay any mind, because for one, he’s just a child, and for two, you’re inside the mall so how would you know it’s an active shooter?” Oakley <a href="https://kfoxtv.com/news/local/fort-bliss-soldier-helped-children-to-safety-when-shooting-started-in-el-paso">recalled</a> to KFox14 News. After realizing the attack was underway, the soldier ran toward the store and started grabbing as many children as he could.
“Some of [the kids] were jumping out of my hands. I couldn’t do much for them, but the ones that I could keep with me, I made sure we made it safe to where we needed to be,” he said.
At one point, Oakley broke down while speaking to media in the wake of the tragedy. “I’m looked at as a hero for it,” he started, becoming overwhelmed with emotion, “but that wasn’t the reason for me … I’m just focused on the kids that I could not get and the families that were lost, because, it hurts me, like I lost — like they were part of me.”
WATCH:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Pfc. Glendon Oakley, a soldier stationed at Fort Bliss, helped children to safety inside Cielo Vista Mall after a gunman opened fire at the nearby Walmart. 
Read more: <a href="https://t.co/qqbH92fTBC">https://t.co/qqbH92fTBC</a> <a href="https://t.co/sPV4zaGN0i">pic.twitter.com/sPV4zaGN0i</a>
— KFOX14 News (@KFOX14) <a href="https://twitter.com/KFOX14/status/1158149491926667267?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 4, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Oakley said he reacted how he would want any man to react if his loved one were in the building. “All I thought of was how I would want another man to react if I had a child and I wasn’t around my child at that time,” he said. “So, I just did what I would want another person to do for my children.”
Along with dismissing the notion that he is a hero, the solider said the media attention should be placed on the victims’ families — and not on him.
“I want to reach out to the families that were lost and the families that lost their children, because the focus should not be on me. It should be on the world and what happened in Ohio and Chicago and what happened yesterday,” said Oakley. “It should not be on me.”
WATCH:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">This is Glen Oakley.
He was in the <a href="https://twitter.com/footlocker?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FootLocker</a> when the El Paso shooting happened. When he ran to leave, he saw kids in the mall without their parents, scared and alone.
So he picked up as many as he could and carried them to safety.
Focus on the heroes.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ElPasoShooting?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ElPasoShooting</a> <a href="https://t.co/1NofPvegjL">pic.twitter.com/1NofPvegjL</a>
— Muhammad Lila (@MuhammadLila) <a href="https://twitter.com/MuhammadLila/status/1157740357997801473?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2019</a></blockquote>
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In a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/50216/breaking-shooting-el-paso-multiple-fatalities-frank-camp">statement</a> issued on Saturday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott condemned the “heinous and senseless act of violence.”
“Our hearts go out to the victims of this horrific shooting and to the entire community in this time of loss,” Abbott said. “While no words can provide the solace needed for those impacted by this event, I ask that all Texans join Cecilia and me in offering our prayers for the victims and their families.”
“The state of Texas and the Department of Public Safety are assisting the El Paso Police Department as they conduct their investigation,” the Republican added. “We have deployed troopers, special agents, Texas Rangers, tactical teams, and aircraft to the scene in a support role. The state of Texas will do everything it can to ensure justice is delivered to the perpetrators of this heinous act.”

Multiple Fatalities In Mass Shooting At Shopping Center In El Paso

El Paso Hero Gets Emotional Talking About Deadly Massacre: ‘I’m Just Focused On The Kids I Could Not Get’

El Paso Shooting

Imbecilic bigot Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/49887/ilhan-omar-americans-should-be-more-fearful-white-joseph-curl">claimed</a> in a recently resurfaced interview on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47456/hammer-al-jazeeras-disgraceful-holocaust-denying-josh-hammer">Qatari propaganda network</a> Al Jazeera that Americans should be &#8220;fearful&#8221; of white men who are &#8220;causing most of the deaths within this country.&#8221; These racist and blatantly false comments came in response to a question about Islamophobia. The interviewer asked if Islamophobia might be the result of a reasonable fear people have about Islamic terrorism. Omar could have responded that we shouldn&#8217;t fear anyone based on race, ethnicity, or religion, and that each person should be judged according to his or her own merits — but instead, she took the opportunity to fear monger about the dreaded white man.
&#8220;I would say our country should be more fearful of white men across our country because they are actually causing most of the deaths within this country,&#8221; Omar said. &#8220;And so if fear was the, the driving force of policies to keep America safe — Americans safe inside of this country — we should be profiling, monitoring, and creating policies to fight the radicalization of white men.&#8221;
It goes without saying that any white politician&#8217;s career would be over and his reputation destroyed (rightfully so) if he ever uttered a phrase like &#8220;we should be more fearful of brown men&#8221; or &#8220;we should be fearful of black men.&#8221; Even if Omar&#8217;s statistical claims were correct, she would still be an irresponsible, race-baiting bigot for advocating fear of an entire race. But, as it happens, her claims are not correct. They are not even close to correct. She is not only fear mongering — she is fear mongering with phony statistics.
I will be reasonable and assume that Omar didn&#8217;t intend to be taken completely literally. The leading causes of death in America are things like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Is she suggesting that these illnesses have been engineered by the evil white man? I wouldn&#8217;t put it past her, actually, but I&#8217;ll be more generous than that. Let&#8217;s read &#8220;causing death&#8221; as &#8220;murder.&#8221; Is is true in that case? Do white men do most of the murdering in this country?
Again, not close. According to the <a href="https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf">Department of Justice</a>, white people (not just men) commit about 45% of the murders in the U.S. That seems high until you consider that white people are over <a href="https://www.chicagoreporter.com/the-us-white-majority-will-soon-disappear-forever/">60%</a> of the population. Whites are therefore underrepresented in the homicide department by about 15%. Blacks commit a little over 50% of the murders in America, despite accounting for only <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045218">13%</a> of the total population. Those are the simple facts of the matter. Facts cannot be racist. Lies can be racist. Conclusions can also be racist. Ilhan Omar took a racist lie (that white men cause most of the deaths in America) and drew a racist conclusion (that we should therefore fear white men). It&#8217;s a racism double whammy, of sorts.
For my part, I do not think we should be fearful of any race, nor do I think that any individual person of any race should be judged based on crime statistics. I do think we should be honest about those statistics, in any event.
But maybe we could be even more generous to Omar. Maybe we could give her the benefit of the doubt, even though her own statements and history show that she does not warrant such charity. Maybe we could assume that she meant her &#8220;white men cause most of the deaths&#8221; assertion to apply only to terrorism. It is often claimed, and not just by Omar, that white people are responsible for most of the domestic terrorism in America. The most common source cited for this claim is a 2017 Government Accountability Office <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/690/683984.pdf">report</a> that found that more people have been killed by right-wing terrorists than by Islamic terrorists. How did they arrive at that conclusion? Here&#8217;s a relevant passage from the report:
<blockquote>&#8230;of the 85 violent extremist incidents that resulted in death since September 12, 2001, far-right politics violent extremist groups were responsible for 62 (73%) while radical Islamist violent extremists were responsible for 23 (27%). The total number of fatalities is 106 for far right violent extremists and 119 for radical Islamist violent extremists over the approximately 15-year period. However, 52% of the deaths attributable to radical Islamist violent extremists occurred in a single event — an attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida in 2016.</blockquote>
In order to make &#8220;far-right violent extremists&#8221; the deadliest, one has to compile his aggregate numbers beginning on September 12, 2001. That seems an oddly specific date. Why not start on January 1, 2001? How about January 1, 2000? Isn&#8217;t it easier and cleaner to look at the numbers over the past 20 years, since the beginning of the new century? Well, the reason for starting on September 12, 2001 is obvious — it excludes the deadliest terror attack in American history, which was carried out by Islamic extremists. In other words, if we arbitrarily ignore the 3,000 people radical Islamists killed in one day, then Muslim terrorists have recently killed fewer people than have right-wing extremists. This is a bit like tabulating the total number of people drowned in shipwrecks except for anyone who happened to drown on April 15, 1912.
If you want to know about shipwrecks, it seems the Titanic ought to be a prominent part of that analysis. Similarly, any analysis of terrorism in the United States must obviously include the most devastating terror attack this country has ever experienced. But here&#8217;s the kicker: Even if you did begin your tabulation on September 12, 2001, deaths by Islamic terrorism still dwarf all other categories because over <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/11/9-11-illnesses-death-toll">1,000 people have died</a> from illnesses tied to 9/11 in the intervening years. Or do they also not count?
Of course, if we expand our view and look at the problem on a global scale, the threat of far-right terrorism begins to look like Pluto compared to Islamic terrorism&#8217;s Jupiter. The Global Terrorism Index found <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2018-12-05/global-terrorism-deaths-down-globally-right-wing-terror-on-rise">66 deaths</a> caused by far-right groups worldwide between 2013 and 2017. It also found that <a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/global-terrorism-index-ranks-top-10-countries-with-highest-number-of-terror-attacks.html">18,000 </a>total people were killed by terrorists in just the year 2017 alone. Who do we imagine is carrying the bulk of that load? We know it&#8217;s not the far-right white men. They could only manage fewer than 70 deaths across both hemispheres in almost half a decade. Whoever is doing all this global killing, it&#8217;s not white people. Meanwhile, Rep. Omar prefers to live in a fantasy world of her own construction.

WALSH: Ilhan Omar Claims White Men ‘Cause Most Of The Deaths’ In America. She&#8217;s Wrong. Here Are The Facts.

Al Jazeera

Ilhan Omar

Race

An Oklahoma man has been freed from prison after a judge ruled Tuesday that he did not commit the crime.
Corey Atchison was sentenced to life in prison in 1991 for the 1990 murder of James Lane, ABC News <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/inmate-served-28-years-found-innocent-murder-64374389">reported</a>. Lane had been shot in the chest with a pistol. Atchison, then 20 years old, just happened to be in the area with his friends at the time of the shooting. He was arrested six months after Lane’s murder and said he was innocent.
On Tuesday, shortly after Tulsa County District Judge Sharon Holmes ruled Atchison was actually innocent of the crime, he was released from prison after spending 28 years behind bars.
Police said during Atchison’s original trial that Lane’s murder was part of a gang-related attempted robbery, but Judge Holmes said in her ruling that she believed a key prosecution witness was coerced. A witness, Benjamin King, even testified that he had been coerced by the prosecution into pointing the finger at Atchison, yet still the conviction was upheld in 1994.
ABC reported that prosecutors “immediately filed a notice of appeal of the ruling and former District Attorney Tim Harris, who prosecuted the case as an assistant district attorney, has filed an affidavit denying he ever coerced a witness.”
The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/07/17/two-brothers-were-wrongfully-convicted-separate-murders-now-they-are-reunited-free-men/">reported</a> that Atchison is the second man in his family to be wrongfully convicted of a crime. His younger brother, Malcolm Scott, had his own murder conviction overturned in 2016 by none other than Judge Holmes. That murder was unrelated to the crime for which Atchison was imprisoned.
“Corey was arrested three months before his daughter was born; this is the first time he’s been able to have some real contact with her and the same with his 10-year-old grandson,” Atchison’s attorney Joseph Norwood told the Post. “I’m very proud to have vindicated them and reunited them.”
Atchison’s mother, Ruth Scott, called it a “great day” when her son was released.
“I knew he didn’t do it. I knew he didn’t do it, I knew he didn’t do it when it happened,&#8221; she told reporters.
Atchison’s case was helped by private investigator Eric Cullen, who began looking into the case after helping Malcolm Scott. Cullen found transcripts of King testifying at a hearing that he was coerced into implicating Atchison, but the trial still moved forward, the Post reported. King did not testify to this at Atchison’s trial.
“I’ve done this a long time,” Cullen told the Post. “I’ve never heard of this or seen that. On the record, 1991, a 15-year-old standing up to an extremely aggressive DA who had just bullied him in the hallway.”
Tulsa World <a href="https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/i-can-t-hold-no-grudge-life-s-too-short/article_f618943c-270d-5aa4-8882-f8a60a643c29.html">reported</a> that Judge Holmes wrote in her ruling that the “court thinks the purported eyewitnesses who were used were coerced.”
“Without those witnesses, I don’t think a jury would have found Mr. Atchison guilty of this crime,” she added.
There was not just one witness who said they were bullied by prosecutors into blaming Atchison for the murder; there were two. Prosecutors’ star witness, Doane Thomas, said in an affidavit in 2017 that he was also pressured to name Atchison. Further, Tulsa World reported, other witnesses described someone other than Atchison as having committed the murder.
“Other witnesses, such as Stephenne Jacob, testified recently about seeing an assailant at the scene near Fourth Street and Atlanta Avenue who did not match Atchison’s physical description. Neither Jacob nor Leticia Nottingham, another witness who has since died, was called as a witness during Atchison’s trial,” the outlet reported.
Despite this experience, which has robbed Atchison of more than half his life so far, the wrongly convicted man holds no grudges.
“You fall and you gotta get back up before long because if you dwell on it, it’s gonna turn you down,” he said after getting released. “You just move on and keep going. It’s the only way you’re gonna make it. I can’t hold no grudge. Life’s too short.”
ABC reported that Judge Holmes’ finding of “actual innocence” would allow Atchison to receive up to $175,000 as compensation for his wrongful conviction.

Wrongly Convicted Man Says He Holds ‘No Grudge’ After Spending 28 Years In Prison For Murder He Didn’t Commit

Oklahoma

A truly bizarre and frightening moment happened Monday during a murder trial in Nebraska.
Aubrey Trail, on trial for the murder of 24-year-old Sydney Loofe, slashed his own throat after shouting: &#8220;Bailey is innocent and I curse you all.&#8221;
Let&#8217;s take a step back. Trail, 52, is accused of suffocating Loofe and then dismembering her body after she went on a Tinder date with another man &#8212; Bailey Boswell (presumably the &#8220;Bailey&#8221; from his outcry above). Boswell is accused of acting as Trail&#8217;s co-conspirator and will face trial later this year, The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/06/24/man-accused-of-murdering-tinder-date-slashes-his-own-throat-in-court/?utm_medium=SocialFlow&amp;utm_campaign=SocialFlow&amp;utm_source=NYPTwitter">reported</a>.
Boswell and Trail are accused of plotting Loofe&#8217;s abduction and murder. Both are charged with first-degree murder. Loofe went on a date with Boswell, 25, after meeting on the dating app Tinder. She disappeared after their date on November 15, 2017. The Post reported that Loofe&#8217;s &#8220;body was found 19 days later cut up and wrapped in trash bags.&#8221;
Fifteen days after her disappearance, on November 30, Trail and Boswell were found in a Branson, Missouri hotel and were brought back to Nebraska for a separate case of fraud, the Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2018/06/12/pair-charged-with-murder-of-missing-tinder-date/?">reported</a>.
In court, Trail&#8217;s attorneys argued that he had consensual sex with Loofe after her date with Boswell, but that he &#8220;accidentally asphyxiated Loofe during a consensual sex game,&#8221; the Post reported. He initially told the Lincoln Police Department that Boswell helped him cover up Loofe&#8217;s death and that he hid her body because he didn&#8217;t think anyone would believe him that her death was accidental. He did, however, plead guilty to the unlawful disposal of human remains. Boswell pleaded not guilty to that charge and the first-degree murder charge.
NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nebraska-murder-suspect-slashes-his-own-throat-court-n1021126">added</a> that Boswell is alleged to have used a fake name &#8211; Audrey &#8211; while communicating with Loofe on Tinder.
&#8220;Boswell was living with Trail at the time of Loofe&#8217;s disappearance and security footage revealed that the pair bought tools from Home Depot that were allegedly used to dismember Loofe, according to court documents,&#8221; NBC reported.
In addition, prosecutors alleged that Boswell reset Loofe&#8217;s phone to its factory settings two days after she disappeared.
Since his arrest, Trail has had a stroke and two heart attacks, KMTV <a href="https://www.3newsnow.com/news/local-news/breaking-aubrey-trail-slashes-throat-in-murder-trial">reported</a>. He appeared in court in a wheelchair on Monday when he suddenly grabbed something &#8212; possibly a pen &#8212; and slashed his own throat. KMTV provided footage of the aftermath of the incident. One can see the judge addressing the jury before turning toward the defense table as two policemen rush to Trail. His attorneys and others clear the area and Trail can be seen starting to slump over.
KMTV&#8217;s video then shows a shot of the sidewalk outside the court house and paramedics removing Trail on a stretcher with blood on his neck. He was put in the ambulance to receive medical treatment for his injury.
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&#8220;It&#8217;s unclear what Trails&#8217; injuries are,&#8221; KMTV reported.
The trial resumed Tuesday morning. Trail will be handcuffed going forward. Judge Vicky Johnson, seen in the video before Trail slashed his throat, told the jury to disregard his outburst.

In this photo illustration Tinder logo seen displayed on a

Man Accused Of Dismembering Tinder Date Slashes Own Throat In Court

Nebraska

Tinder

UPDATE: According to a <a href="https://www.aciprensa.com/noticias/pareja-de-lesbianas-asesina-a-golpes-a-nino-porque-se-negaba-a-vestirse-de-mujer-98858">correction</a> posted by ACI Prensa on Thursday, the Guanajuato Regional Prosecutor&#8217;s Office reportedly said there is &#8220;no evidence&#8221; that the motive for the child&#8217;s murder was due to his clothing, contradicting local reports. The motive remains unclear. 

A seven-year-old boy in Mexico, identified as Karol Rámon, was reportedly beaten to death by his mother after refusing requests to dress like a girl. The mother&#8217;s girlfriend is suspected to have been involved in other beatings of the minor.
<a href="https://noticiasya.com/hartford-springfield/2019/06/14/matan-a-su-hijo-a-golpes-porque-no-se-quiso-vestir-como-nina/">According</a> to Noticis Ya, Rámon was beaten to death last February at the hands of his mother in Guanajuato, a city in Mexico. The mother, identified as Margarita, brought her son to a community hospital following the beating, though he was dead on arrival.
Rámon&#8217;s body was full of bruises, old scars, cigarette burns, and the marks &#8220;made by some large object,&#8221; the outlet reported. The boy was determined to have been &#8220;beaten with a belt, a chair, a whip and even a hammer. In addition to the blows, they left him without food for days.&#8221;
The suspected mistreatment launched an investigation into Rámon&#8217;s death, uncovering alleged stories of abuse at the hands of the mother and her girlfriend.
Before the assault that took the child&#8217;s life, Rámon was reportedly abused by the two women when he would refuse to wear girls&#8217; clothing; he was brutally beaten &#8220;on the head and stomach, causing serious internal damage,&#8221; the outlet said.
The child&#8217;s grandmother reportedly attempted to gain custody of the child because of the abuse, but she was unsuccessful.
Margarita has been arrested and charged with the murder of her son; she will spend at least four months in pre-trial detention.
The brutal reports come on the heels of the murder of a nine-year-old boy in Brazil, who allegedly had his penis torn off and was beheaded by his mother and her female lover. The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/48475/mother-and-female-partner-rip-young-boys-penis-hank-berrien">reported</a>:
<blockquote>
A Brazilian woman with a nine-year-old son allegedly conspired with her female partner roughly a year ago to use &#8220;rudimentary tools&#8221; to tear the penis off the boy because he supposedly wanted to be a girl, then recently murdered him by reportedly stabbing him over a dozen times and removing all the skin from his face before they beheaded him.
</blockquote>
The Brazilian mother, Rosana Cândido, 27, and her partner Kacyla Pessoa, 28, &#8220;were said to have even used a knife to try to gouge out the boy&#8217;s eyeballs to prevent possible recognition,&#8221; The Sun <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9300395/mum-son-lesbian-lover-murder-killed-brazil/">reported</a>. Cândido and Pessoa allegedly attempted to barbecue the boy&#8217;s body, too. When that failed, parts of child&#8217;s body were packed into a suitcase and dumped in a sewer; other parts of the nine-year-old were recovered in backpacks at the women&#8217;s home.
&#8220;Cândido allegedly said the boy was a &#8216;burden&#8217; and interfered with the women&#8217;s relationship; she also reportedly said she &#8216;felt hatred and no love&#8217; for him because he resembled her father, whom she claimed had abused her. The boy&#8217;s father reportedly told police that Cândido absconded with the boy five years ago. He allegedly added Cândido went to live with Pessoa and her daughter, who is now nine and has been taken into care,&#8221; The Daily Wire noted.
&#8220;She killed her son, quartered, decapitated, plucked the skin and tried to get rid of the body. It was a very terrible case,&#8221; police chief Guilherme Melo reportedly <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7146517/Brazilian-mother-27-lesbian-lover-28-tore-nine-year-old-sons-penis.html">said</a>.

Boy, 7, Reportedly Beaten To Death By Mother For Refusing To Dress Like A Girl

Children

LGBT

Mexico

Acquitted suspected murderer O.J. Simpson allegedly threatened a man running a parody account of the disgraced football star, video evidence suggests. &#8220;I WILL FIND YOUR ASS AND CUT YOU,&#8221; Simpson&#8217;s official account allegedly posted in a direct message to the man running the mock account, @KillerOJSimpson. The account also sent 16 knife emojis and promised, &#8220;You next.&#8221;
&#8220;Man, you would never guess who the hell just messaged me on Twitter in a DM. Look at this s***. O.J. Simpson,&#8221; the parody account operator said in a video showcasing the ominous tweets.
&#8220;Delete this account of I will have my lawyer remove it for false missleading [sic] content,&#8221; a message allegedly from Simpson said.
&#8220;And if I don&#8217;t? You gonna stab me too? In reality I ain&#8217;t lying..You, me and millions know the truth. You Trippin&#8217; over a parody account lol Welcome to twitter bruh,&#8221; @KillerOJSimpson responded.
&#8220;Like I said, delete this &#8216;Parody&#8217; account as you call it or face serious consequences by me. I&#8217;ll find your a** one way or another so don&#8217;t mess with me. I got nothing to lose. Grow up!&#8221; a response allegedly from Simpson said.
After the parodist sent Simpson a thumbs-up and a knife emoji, Simpson, who was acquitted in 1994 of stabbing ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman to death, replied with a knife emoji of his own.
&#8220;Look what his ass sent me! Like, for real dude? That&#8217;s crazy!&#8221; the stunned parodist said on video.
In a subsequent video post showcasing more messages, Simpson&#8217;s account seemingly scolded and threatened @KillerOJSimpson for posting a video of Simpson&#8217;s with edited-in screams of &#8220;Police! Help!&#8221; in the background.
&#8220;Think I&#8217;m playing motherf***er &#8230; Seen that video you posted about me. You think I&#8217;m playing? Tired of all your bulls***. I WILL FIND YOUR ASS AND CUT YOU &#8212; Don&#8217;t believe me? Just watch and see b****,&#8221; the Simpson account allegedly said.
&#8220;Dude there are others that literally have more followers than me and more convincing than mine. LMAO You gonna cut me? Awesome. Is that what you said to Nicole?&#8221; asked the parodist.
The video shows a Simpson reply of 16 knife emojis and the words, &#8220;You next.&#8221;
&#8220;You just wait, I&#8217;m gonna blast your ass all over twitter,&#8221; a response said.
<div>WATCH:</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Um yeah, <a href="https://twitter.com/TheRealOJ32?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheRealOJ32</a> Just sent this scary ass DM treating me to delete my parody account. Watch the video. RT this <a href="https://twitter.com/WORLDSTAR?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WORLDSTAR</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TMZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TMZ</a> Funny stuff. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OJSimpson?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OJSimpson</a> <a href="https://t.co/3bXha7n47U">pic.twitter.com/3bXha7n47U</a>
&#8212; O.J. Simpson (@KillerOJSimpson) <a href="https://twitter.com/KillerOJSimpson/status/1140583711093788678?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
C&#8217;mon man lmao OJ playin&#8230;DM number 2. He about to &#8220;cut&#8221; me. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OJSimpson?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OJSimpson</a> <a href="https://t.co/UX6z3PfBny">pic.twitter.com/UX6z3PfBny</a>
&#8212; O.J. Simpson (@KillerOJSimpson) <a href="https://twitter.com/KillerOJSimpson/status/1140631621034553344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
In the videos, the parodist showed the messages and the corresponding account with the handle, @TheRealOJ32; you can see the account, on Monday, had some 600,000-plus followers. As of Wednesday, the Simpson account has 744,000-plus followers.
After the wild messages went viral, questions concerning their veracity popped up online. On Wednesday morning, the man running the parody account posted a video to &#8220;prove&#8221; his direct messages were from the official O.J. Simpson account (@TheRealOJ32) confirmed to be real by Simpson lawyer Malcolm LaVergne, last week:
WATCH:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Here&#8217;s a different shot of my direct messages that people have asked for. I plan to doing a live stream sometime later. Not sure why he&#8217;s paying sites to try and debunk this. It&#8217;s right there. <a href="https://t.co/WdCDnwbYtx">pic.twitter.com/WdCDnwbYtx</a>
&#8212; O.J. Simpson (@KillerOJSimpson) <a href="https://twitter.com/KillerOJSimpson/status/1141324733826445312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 19, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<a href="https://nypost.com/2019/06/17/o-j-simpsons-twitter-account-threatens-man-with-knife-emojis/">According</a> to the New York Post, Nevada Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Kim Smith said that the Division of Parole and Probation &#8220;takes threats or acts of violence against public safety very seriously and is looking into the alleged complaints,&#8221; noting that Simpson is still on parole for an armed robbery in a Las Vegas hotel room.
&#8220;If there is an alleged violation, an investigation will be conducted and appropriate actions will be taken by the Division and the Parole Board,&#8221; Smith added.

WATCH: Man Allegedly Threatened By O.J. Simpson With Knife Emojis Posts &#8216;Proof&#8217; Video To Confirm Authenticity

O.J. Simpson

Investigators in Alaska have pieced together the tragic murder of 19-year-old Cynthia Hoffman. The young woman was murdered by five other teenagers after one of them, 18-year-old Denali Brehmer, was allegedly offered millions of dollars for photos of the killing by a 21-year-old man in Indiana who was pretending to be a millionaire.
It all started when Brehmer met &#8220;Tyler&#8221; (real name, Darin Schilmiller) online and began a relationship. Tyler said he was from Kansas, but he was actually from New Salisbury, Indiana, and sent Brehmer a photograph of another man claiming it was him. Schilmiller looked nothing like the young man in the photo. Tyler claimed to be a millionaire, but he was not. This is known as &#8220;catfishing.&#8221;
Weeks before Hoffman was murdered, Brehmer and Schilmiller &#8220;began discussing a plan to rape and murder someone in Alaska,&#8221; <a href="https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/crime-courts/2019/06/15/indiana-man-offered-millions-of-dollars-to-teens-to-kill-cynthia-hoffman-new-charges-say/">court documents</a> posted by The Anchorage Daily News said. Schilmiller offered Brehmer $9 million or more to murder someone and send him photos and videos of the crime. Brehmer agreed.
Brehmer then recruited four of her friends &#8212; 19-year-old Caleb Leyland ,16-year-old Kayden McIntosh, and two others who are too young to name &#8212; to help commit the murder. Each was promised a share of the $9 million. Leyland, who allegedly lent his car for use in the killing, said he was offered $500,000.
The friends gathered in either May or early June 2019 to plan the murder of Hoffman, whom Brehmer had once described as her &#8220;best friend.&#8221; On June 2, 2019, Brehmer, McIntosh, and Hoffman traveled to Thunderbird Falls. Hoffman thought the three were going for a hike. Instead, Hoffman&#8217;s hands and feet were bound, and duct tape was wrapped around her head to cover her mouth. McIntosh allegedly shot Hoffman in the back of the head with Brehmer&#8217;s gun. Hoffman&#8217;s body was then pushed into the Eklutna River.
Brehmer sent photos and videos of the killing to Schilmiller over Snapchat, which were obtained by police. Brehmer and McIntosh then allegedly burned Hoffman&#8217;s belongings and sent texts to her parents saying she had been dropped off at Polar Bear Park in Anchorage.
Brehmer and McIntosh were questioned on June 4. At that time McIntosh confessed to the shooting. Brehmer at first claimed she didn&#8217;t know McIntosh was going to kill Hoffman.
After the Snapchat information was discovered, Brehmer confessed on June 7, 2019.
Brehmer did not realize she had been catfished until after the murder.
Schilmiller admitted to his role in the murder on June 9. He told police he chose Hoffman as the victim, planned the murder with Brehmer for three weeks, and that he had convinced Brehmer by promising to pay her millions of dollars for the crime. He also said he and Brehmer discussed another murder, but the pair didn&#8217;t follow through. Schilmiller also admitted to blackmailing Brehmer after the murder by having her sexually assault girls aged 8 to 15. Schilmiller was arrested on federal child pornography charges since he asked Brehmer to send him pictures of the assaults, according to the Daily News. &#8220;He is awaiting extradition to Alaska on a $1 million arrest warrant,&#8221; the outlet reported.
<a href="https://twitter.com/gabrielmalor/status/1141072511792230400?s=11">H/t Gabriel Malor</a>

Indiana Man ‘Catfished’ Alaska Woman, Promised Her Millions Of Dollars To Kill Her Friend, Police Say

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Indiana

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