Tag: murder

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Out singer Steve Grand raises over $200K and going on Kickstarter, plus more news you may have missed

Steve Grand

• Out singer/songwriter and current “It” boy Steve Grand’s Kickstarter campaign passes the $200K mark.  He was looking for $81K.  And he has two more weeks to go…

• Questions are raised about Lady Gaga’s  Born This Way Foundation as news comes that only $5K in grants were given out.  Gaga’s mom defends the Foundation saying it isn’t built to dole out money.

• A Houston man arrested in the murder of his daughter and her girlfriend was reportedly “not happy” about the couple’s lesbian relationship

• Looks like another “Obamacare victim” is going to save money under her new, improved health insurance, despite GOP spin.

• Sen. Rand Paul wants Kentucky to change the election laws so he can appear on the 2016 ballot twice

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Defense Attorney says victim was a prostitute so murderer shouldn’t get long sentence

Queens defense attorney John Scarpa tried to devalue the life of murder victim –  transgendered Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar – saying his client Rasheen Everett shouldn’t get a harsh sentence because Amanda’s life was “less than” in some way:

“A sentence of 25 years to life is an incredibly long period of time, judge. Shouldn’t that be reserved for people who are guilty of killing certain classes of individuals? Who is the victim in this case? Is the victim a person in the higher end of the community? Amanda was engaged in a life of prostitution, life of drug use, HIV exposure. She was having sex with other individuals knowing she had the chance of spreading diseases.”

The judge slammed Scarpa’s comments then sentenced Everett to 29 years in prison.

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George Zimmerman found NOT GUILTY in the murder of Trayvon Martin

BREAKING NEWS: George Zimmerman found NOT GUILTY  in the murder of Trayvon Martin.

So, kids, if you decide someone looks suspicious in your neighborhood, you can track them down, engage them and shoot them – and you can be found innocent of murder.

 That’s the civics lesson for today.

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NYC: Mark Carson’s accused killer indicted by grand jury for murder today

Mark Carson’s accused killer was formally indicted by a grand jury of murder as a hate crime today.  His lawyer entered a plea of “not guilty” even though Morales boasted of shooting Carson after being arrested.

From the New York Daily News:

An attorney for accused killer Elliot Morales briefly appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court to get notification of the grand jury vote Thursday morning.

Morales, 33, did not appear.

The lawyer, Kevin Michael Canfield, later said Morales is not guilty of the slaying and is “devastated by the charges.”

“He didn’t murder anybody,” Canfield said, suggesting there were other factors at play.

“He was sexually abused as a child by a male authority figure which led to a lifetime of alcoholism and drug abuse,” Canfield told the Daily News, adding, “It’s a terrible tragedy.”

Morales was arrested for murder in the second degree as a hate crime and other related charges after the shocking incident on Sixth Ave. near W. Eighth St. around midnight Saturday.

“Look at you faggots, you look like gay wrestlers,” Morales allegedly told victim Mark Carson and his friend minutes before policed say he shot Mark Carson, 32, in the head.

Authorities said he callously laughed as he confessed to the random killing. His gleeful expression came as he allegedly told investigators, “I shot him in the face.”

(source)

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George Zimmerman defense team waives right to “Stand Your Ground” hearing

Trayvon Martin (L) George Zimmerman (R)
 
Wow. The “Stand Your Ground” approach is thought to be Zimmerman’s big ‘safety’ in this  mess.  This move surprised a lot of people:
George Zimmerman‘s attorneys stunned court observers Tuesday when they waived their client’s right to a “Stand Your Ground” hearing slated for April that might have led to a dismissal of the charges in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin a year ago. 

However, the defense lawyers didn’t say whether they would waive the immunity hearing outright. They left open the possibility for that hearing to be rolled into Zimmerman’s second degree murder trial. Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch captain in his Florida subdivision, shot and killed the teen, who was visiting a house in the area.

The move allows the defense more time to prepare for the trial this summer, but also raises the stakes.
Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law entitles a person to use deadly force if he believes his life is threatened, and absolves them of an obligation to retreat from a confrontation, even if retreat is possible. 

Read more here.

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Without a word, Georgia man guns down 22 year old who arrived at wrong address

Phillip Walker Sailors, a 69-year-old war veteran and former missionary was arrested over the weekend on the suspicion of killing Rodrigo Abad Diaz, a 22-year-old Cuban immigrant, who mistakenly arrived in his driveway because of faulty GPS directions.

Friends who were in the car with Diaz told WSB-TV that they were trying to pick up a friend on the way to ice skating on Saturday but their GPS directed them to the wrong address. The friends said that they waited in the driveway for a few minutes before Sailors emerged from the house and fired a gun into the air.

Gandy Cardenas, who was in the car, recalled to WAGA that the homeowner made no effort to speak to the group before opening fire.

“He didn’t talk to them, he just started shooting,” Cardenas explained. “The first shot was in the air.”

At that point, Diaz tried to turn the car around to leave, but Sailors fired another shot, striking the immigrant on the left side of the head. The group, which included a 15 and an 18 year old, said that Sailors held them at gunpoint until police arrived.

The arrest warrant suggested that Sailors had shot Diaz with a .22 caliber pistol. He was charged with malice murder.

WSB-TV’s Tony Thomas reported that Sailors was a war veteran and a former church missionary.

Ah, God’s gentle children.

(via Raw Story)

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McInerney Pleads Guilty to Second-Degree Murder

Brandon McInerney has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the shooting death of Lawrence King and will be sentenced to 21 years in prison, reports Los Angeles’s ABC 7 news.

In September, Ventura County, Calif., Superior Court judge Charles Campbell declared a mistrial in the two-month-long case against the 17-year-old after a jury was unable to decide between charges of first-degree murder with a hate-crime enhancement or voluntary manslaughter. The former charge would have netted McInerney at least 53 years in prison, the latter only about 20.

The prosecution claimed the killing was premeditated and that McInerney had planned to kill his classmate after King made unwanted sexual advances, while the defense argued that McInerney, who had been the subject of repeated abuse in his home, had snapped over some comments King had made.

McInerney will be officially sentenced December 19.
(via the Advocate)