Crime

George Zimmerman Contradicts Himself on Stand

During the bond hearing today in his second-degree murder trial for the Feb. 26 death of Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman said something in his testimony that is clearly contradicted by his original call to police on the night of the shooting. After his attorney Mark O'Mara told the court that Zimmerman wanted to make a statement, Zimmerman took the stand and made brief comments directed at Martin's parents, Tracy Martin and Sabryna Fulton, who were present in the courtroom. He said: I wanted ... (read more)

2012/04/20

Glenn Beck Begs Listeners Not to Throw Bombs

On his talk radio program today, Glenn Beck begged his listeners not to use guns or bombs to respond to the passage of health care reform in Congress. In a long diatribe in which he claimed that today's Democratic leaders were violent radical Marxists in the '60s, Beck said, "They need you to pick up a gun or a bomb. They need you to break the law. They need you to become them in the 1960s." Beck claimed that the United States is "entering a very dangerous phase" by design of the Obama ... (read more)

2010/03/24

Boston Herald: Alabama Shooter Played D&D

A story I missed last month: After University of Alabama-Huntsville professor Amy Bishop was arrested for shooting up her faculty department, Boston Herald reporter Laurel J. Sweet blew the lid off a shocking angle of the crime: Bishop was an avid player of role-playing games. Accused campus killer Amy Bishop was a devotee of Dungeons & Dragons -- just like Michael "Mucko" McDermott, the lone gunman behind the devastating workplace killings at Edgewater Technology in Wakefield in 2000. Bishop, ... (read more)

2010/03/14

AP Keeps Accused Rapist's Name Secret

The Associated Press reported today on a 51-year-old New Jersey man facing trial for raping five of his daughters, three of whom allegedly bore his children from the assaults. He faces 27 charges including sexual assault, child endangerment and criminal sexual contact, but the wire service has decided not to name him in its coverage: The Associated Press generally doesn't identify victims of sexual crimes and is not reporting the names of the husband and wife to protect the identities of their ... (read more)

2010/03/11

ESPN Spikes Rob Neyer's Post about Mark Whicker

The web site for ESPN spiked a blog post today by acclaimed baseball writer Rob Neyer in which he appeared to call for Orange County Register sports columnist Mark Whicker to be fired for his widely criticized column making light of Jaycee Dugard's 17 years of captivity at the hands of a sexual predator. The blog post was submitted at 08:57:40 PST and had been deleted from ESPN's web site by the afternoon, but it was cached by several search engines and could be recreated, aside from some text ... (read more)

2009/09/12

Sportswriter Mark Whicker Makes Light of Dugard Kidnapping

On Tuesday, Orange County Register sportswriter Mark Whicker used Jaycee Dugard's 17 years of captivity at the hands of a sexual predator as a premise for a light-hearted sports column. The result may be the most astonishingly tasteless thing I've ever read in a newspaper. Here's how Whicker starts: It doesn't sound as if Jaycee Dugard got to see a sports page. Box scores were not available to her from June 10, 1991 until Aug. 31 of this year. She never saw a highlight. Never got to the ... (read more)

2009/09/09

KCRA Journalists Giddy After Child Kidnapper's Call

Phillip Garrido, the 58-year-old sex offender in California accused of kidnapping Jaycee Dugard as an 11-year-old in 1991 and being the father of her two children over the years she was held in captivity, called Sacramento TV reporter Walt Gray yesterday. During the call, Garrido urged Gray to pick up a document from the FBI that will explain his actions. "Wait until you hear the story of what took place at this house," he said. "If you take this a step at a time you're going to fall over ... (read more)

2009/08/28

Groups That Pursued Tiller Share Blame for His Murder

With the murder Sunday of George Tiller, a Wichita, Kansas, doctor who performed abortions, some anti-abortion groups that targeted Tiller's clinic, home and church for protest have moved swiftly to distance themselves from the killing. Jenn Giroux, the executive director of Women Influencing the Nation, posted this message on the group's web site: Women Influencing the Nation condemns all form of murder. The murder of George Tiller is in direct contradiction with the beliefs and morals ... (read more)

2009/06/01

Identity Thief Sends Purchase to My Address

I'm dealing with an identity theft situation today that I can't figure out. Last night, somebody ordered $259 poker jewelry from an online store using my business address, business phone, and email address along with their name. They paid for it with a VISA card. I've checked my credit card providers and the charge wasn't placed on my cards. It appears the identity thief has established a credit card using my business address, phone and email. I can't figure out what the thief hoped to ... (read more)

2009/05/15

Shooting Victim Ben Teague Reviewed Alleged Killer's Book

George Zinkhan, a University of Georgia marketing professor, is suspected of shooting to death his wife Marie Bruce and two others, Ben Teague and Tom Tanner, at a gathering of the Town and Gown Players theater group in Athens, Georgia, Saturday. On Teague's web site, he wrote about receiving Zinkhan's Consumers, a textbook he wrote on marketing: Consumers by Eric Arnould, Linda Price and George Zinkhan So George and I were talking about beer and he mentioned Pilsner Urquell. I told him my ... (read more)

2009/04/25

Read More Entries