The SoapBoxers

Last week, Connie Gates of Cedar Rapids (Iowa) went on trial for vehicular manslaughter regarding an incident that occurred in March of this year.  The case began on Monday, the prosecution and defense both rested on Tuesday, and the jury reached a guilty verdict on Wednesday, after less than three hours of deliberation.

Rarely have I seen a case that gave the prosecution such a strong chance to win.  When they told the story on the news, you kept thinking “this can’t get any worse” – but then it would.

On the night in question, Connie Gates was driving a vehicle that struck a taxi driven by 76 year old  Richard Dankert.  Dankert died from his injuries.  Gates was apprehended at the scene, quashing any doubt about who was behind the wheel.

At the time of the accident, Ms. Gates was attempting to elude police when she ran a red light and struck Mr. Dankert’s taxi.

Why, exactly, was she trying to elude the police?  Probably because the Dodge Neon she was driving was a stolen vehicle.  Or perhaps it was the fact that she was under the influence of crack cocaine at the time.

How do we know that Ms. Gates was under the influence of crack at the time?  Well, perhaps the most damning evidence to support the allegation is her videotaped admission of that fact.  Then, of course, were the results of the drug screen.  Although, to be fair, the drug screen was unable to determine the concentration of crack in Ms. Gates’ system.  They were only able to determine that it was beyond the maximum that could be measured by the machine.

How, exactly, did the defense attorney react to this evidence?  Well, after the prosecution rested its case on Tuesday, the defense also rested its case – without calling a single witness.

The defense hung its hopes on the allegation that the collision was an accident that was nobody’s fault.

Not surprising, the prosecution (as well as the jury and most reasonable people) disagreed.  To suggest that this was simply an unfortunate accident seemed ludicrous, considering that Gates was under the influence of drugs, was attempting to elude police, and also ran a red light immediately before the accident.  If you assign blame for Mr. Dankert’s death, clearly Ms. Gates is at fault.  If Dankert had been the one to run the red light, this argument would have held a bit more water – but with Gates making poor decisions at nearly every possible opportunity, the blame lands squarely on her shoulders.

The strength of the evidence, coupled with the  minimal defense, makes me wonder if Gates was forced to roll the dice with a trial because of the prosecutor’s unwillingness to offer a plea deal.  After all, the prosecution had very little to gain, and a plea deal in this case could have been unpopular with the citizens.  Perhaps Gates could have lessened her possible sentence by immediately taking blame, reaching out to Dankert’s family, and pleading guilty to the crime – throwing herself on the mercy of the court.

Gates will be sentenced on August 13.  She faces 25 years for the charge of vehicular homicide involving a controlled substance and 10 years for a charge of eluding police.  Gates also faces prison time for the lesser charges of operating a vehicle without consent and possession of a controlled substance.

There are a couple of non-fiction subjects that I study in great detail.  One of them, not surprisingly, is baseball.  The other is true crime and forensics.  This might seem like an odd combination, but the great baseball historian and analyst Bill James also has a fascination with crime.  Today, I’ll begin a multi-part series where I introduce you to some serial killers from the past.

Ted Bundy

Ted Bundy had a confusing childhood.  He was raised by his maternal grandparents, not realizing until later that his “sister” was actually his mother.  Bundy studied psychology at the University of Washington.  At one point, he worked on a suicide hotline.  Bundy was eventually accepted into law school, although he eventually dropped out.

From the late 1960s through the mid 1970s, Ted Bundy murdered dozens of young, attractive females.  In 1975, Bundy was arrested for an attack that he had committed in 1974 (the victim fought back and survived).  In 1977, Bundy managed to escape from custody twice in a span of six months.  After the second escape, he traveled from Colorado to Florida.  On January 15, 1978, Bundy killed two women and injured two others in a sorority house at Florida State University, using a wooden club as a weapon.  Unfortunately for Bundy, he left behind a bite mark on the buttock of one of the women, Lisa Levy.  A month, Bundy was arrested for driving a stolen car.  A search warrant was obtained allowing authorities to obtain an impression of Bundy’s teeth.  Experts were able to match the impression to the bite mark left of Levy’s body.  Bundy was found guilty of murder in 1978 and died in Florida’s electric chair in 1989.

The Nightstalker

In 1984, the Nightstalker began to terrorize Los Angeles.  The Nightstalker would cut phone lines, break into he house, and immeditately kill any adult males.  He would then rape any women and children (boy and girls).  At one murder scene in 1985, he used lipstick to draw a pentagram on the thigh on one victim, as well as on the wall.  This led police to believe that the killer may believe that Satan was telling him to kill.

The police caught a break when one of the Nightstalker’s victims was able get the license plate number from his getaway car.  The car was stolen, of course, but police were able to lift a partial fingerprint.  Unfortunately, Los Angeles had only begun to  computerize their fingerprint records.  The fingerprint records for most criminals were still on paper.  Only criminals born in 1960 or later were in the computerized system.  The computer found a hit – Richard Ramirez, born in February 1960 – just making the cutoff to have his prints in the computerized system.

The photo of Ramirez was soon all over the television.  Unfortunately for him, he was out of town.  When he came back into town and stopped at a convenience store, the other  customers immediately recognized him.  They were in a predominantly hispanic area, and the hispanic population was very upset at the negative publicity that Ramirez was bring upon their community.  Several citizens attempted to stop Ramirez as he tried to flee, eventually inflicting a pretty decent beating upon Ramirez.

Ramirez ended up going to trial three times.  During the first trial, a juror fell asleep.  During the second trial, a juror was murder – in a completely unrelated crime.  Finally, Ramirez was convicted during his third trial, which was interrupted by frequent bursts of satanic comments from the accused.

It wasn’t all bad news for Ramirez, though.  Ramirez exchanged leters with many people after his capture.  One of them ended up marrying him.

Wikipedia and The Casebook of Forensic Detection (Colin Evans) were sources for this article.

Alleged Nazi deported

The story:

89 year old Cleveland resident John Demjanjuk, a Ukrainian immigrant and retired auto worker, was deported from the United States to Germany to face charges of accessory to murder for 29,000 deaths at the Sobibor concentration camp in Poland.

Demjanjuk moved to the United States in 1951.  His legal troubles began in 1977, when he was indentified in a photo lineup by holocaust suriviors.

In 1986, he was deported to Israel to face charges that he was the infamous “Ivan The Terrible” of the Treblinka camp.  He was convicted in 1988 and sentenced to death, but his conviction was overturned by an Israeli court in 1993 on the basis of reasonable doubt that he was actually Ivan The Terrible.

The newest charges against Demjanjuk originated in 2003.

Demjanjuk’s attorneys claim that he was a POW at the camp – and essentially a pawn of the Nazis.  They also argued that  his poor health had the impact of making the deportation torture.  Initially, Demjanjuk will be held at a prison hospital.

Kosmo’s opinion:

Truly, it is sad to see an 89 year old man separated from his family.  The charge of accessory to murder carries of penalty of up to 15 years, meaning that a conviction will likely result in him dying in prison.  However, if the charges against him are true, Demjanjuk must pay the penalty for his crimes.  It is refreshing to see that the wheels of justice never stop turning, even 65 years after the crime.

Solider kills others

The story:

Army sergeant  John Russell is a veteran of three tours of duty in Iraq, as well as previous deployments to Bosnia and Kosovo.  Recently, Russell felt that some people were trying to force him out of the military.  His commander had referred him to counseling and ordered that his weapon be taken away.  Russell had an altercation at the stress clinic on Monday.  He later took a weapon from another soldier, returned to the clinic and opened fire, killing five.  Russell has been charged with five counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault.

Kosmo’s opinion:

Russell seems to have a solid foundation for a defense related to insanity or stress.  His commander actually clearly indicate that there were some concerns about Russell’s mental and emotional states.  This may make it difficult for the prosecutor to discredit similar claims by the defense team.

Foxy Knoxy

The story:

In Italy, 21 year old Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito are charged with sexual assault and murder in the death of Knox’s roommate, Meredith Kercher.  Prosecutors maintain that Kercher was killed when she refused to participate in sex games.  Knox and Kercher were college students in Italy.  Knox was from Washington state and Kercher from Britain.  Knox’s good looks (and perhaps the incredibly long trial) have made her a tabloid celebrity in Italy (hence the nickname “Foxy Knoxy”), where she has been referred to as the “devil with an angel’s face”.

The case against Knox appears to be strong.  Perhaps most damning so far was the evidence of bloody footprints introduced into evidence last week.  Expert witnesses claim that these prints were left by Knox and Sollecito.  An alleged collaborator was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The prosecutor in the Knox case is facing charges of abuse of power, unrelated to the Knox case.

Kosmo’s opinion:

Yikes – killing the woman because she refused to participate in a sex game?  That’s incredibly twisted.  Throw the book at them.  Kercher probably felt safe with her roommate, who was also a “foreigner” in Italy – only to have that trust betrayed in the worst imaginable way.

A couple of news stories grabbed my attention today.

GM was unable to negotiate concessions with some of its bondholders and will have to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy.  This is reorganization bankruptcy, not liquidation bankruptcy.  The prevailing thought is that GM will emerge from bankruptcy in the hands of Fiat and the UAW.  Chryler will halt vehicle production for (at least) 60 days.  Their leasing arm will be folded into GMAC finance.  They will receive and additional $8 billion in bailout funds, which hopefully the taxpapayers will see returned to them at some point.  I have not seen any word on how this may affect the money that Chryslers spends on manufacturer support of Dodge teams in NASCAR (Dodge is a Chrysler brand).

On the bright side for buyers, this might be a good time to buy a Chrysler vehicle.  Demand will likely sag on the news, but the warranties will now be guaranteed by the government.  With the recent news of GM “temporarily” closing 16 of its 21 plants and planning to buy ou 40% of its dealers, Ford looks to be in prime position to pick up some market share from the segment of the population that will only buy American vehicles.

The other story came out of Los Angeles.  A 72 year old sex offender gave his DNA sample, as required by state law.  The DNA got a match with a rape kit from murder victim Ethel Sokoloff, a 68 year old woman who was killed in 1972.  As a result,  John Thomas Jr. has been charged in two murders (Sokoloff’s and another crime in 1976).  Police believe that Thomas may be the “Southland Strangler” who may have killed more than 30 women (and raped many more) since 1955.

This has to be the mother of all cold cases.  Even if you were able to crack the case of a serial killer who began his reign of terror 54 years ago, the odds of the perpetrator still being alive are not very good.  I have an interest in crime, and I intend to write a bigger article on the story next week, after getting a chance to sesearch it a bit more.

CNN.com has a disturbing article about two 16 year old girls who pimped out other girls at their school (age 14 to 17). They rented an apartment for the sole purpose of setting up sexual liaisons – in essence, running a brothel.

The girls are being tried as adults – one girl faces thirteen felony counts and the other girl faces four felony counts. The grandma of one of the girls (the one facing four counts) is stunned that they are being tried as adults. Personally, I’m not surprised that they are being tried as adults. This was not some childish prank or someone unable to control their childish anger. There was a level of sophistication that you do not typically see in juvenile cases.

There are a lot of disturbing angles to this story. I’ll touch on just a few.

The girls that were recruited
These girls recruited 14 to 17 year old girls with the promise of lots of cash. They claimed that it would be a better environment for the girls, since they wouldn’t beat them up like a male pimp might.

Did any of these girls stop to think for a minute and realize that they were placing their lives in the hands of 16 year olds? Teenagers aren’t always known for having the best judgment. Who knows that sort of guys the prostitutes were being set up with. Then, of course, are the obvious dangers of STDs. Teenagers also occasionally overreact to perceived slights. What if one of the prostitutes has unknowingly insulted one of the girls – would they have intentionally put her into a dangerous situation?

These girls should have seen lots of red flags.

The customers
Granted, we’re not talking about model citizens here. And perhaps the 14 year olds really looked like they were 18. But at some point, people were finding out about this brothel by word of mouth, and this word of mouth likely originated at the high school. It’s possible that all of the customers were high school kids, but it seems likely that some older men were involved. Apparently, some of the kids who were spreading the news thought it would be a good idea to create a situation where the men would be committing statutory rape (note: the article does not mention anyone being charged with statutory rape). These men might want to reevaluate the people who are giving them advice.

The families
How did everyone overlook the warning signs that something odd was going on? At the very least, they were probably spending considerably more money than they had in the past . The one girl was staying with her grandma after leaving her mom’s house – perhaps this caused things to slip through the cracks a bit.

The school administrators
They were actively recruiting girls and the school administrators didn’t hear any gossip about this? At some point, you would think that a girl would have rebuffed their offer and reported it to the authorities.

The landlord
These girls rented an apartment to use as their brothel. How, exactly, do two 16 year olds rent an apartment? I would think that their credit history (or lack thereof) would have raised some red flags. Perhaps they paid an older friend to rent the apartment for them. In this case, that “friend” should have been curious why they wanted to rent the apartment. Did they pay with cash every month? Again, this should have raised a red flag. Complaints from neighbors about strange men coming and going at all times of the night? Red flag.

Tax issues
Taxes are probably the least of their worries right now. However, income from illegal sources is fully taxable. If they don’t claim the income on their tax return, the IRS might also take a swing at them. Additionally, there is the question of whether or not the girls they recruited were independent contractors or employees. Does the fact that a brothel was used (as opposed to having the girls find their own accommodations) tip the scales toward employee? In that case, they would have been responsible for withholding income tax and FICA.

For years, I have been frustrated by the apparent lack of interest that banks have shown in security cameras. Any time video or photos were shown on TV, the images seemed to be grainy. This always seemed odd. If any business were going to invest in high quality cameras, wouldn’t it be the business that is trying to protect a vault full of cash?

In October, a local bank was robbed. The security photos were awesome. The images were crystal clear, and the robber was even nice even to turn to the side and give the camera a nice view of his profile. Someone actually correctly identified the robber within the comments section of the TV station’s web site. The guy was a local. (Hey, maybe consider robbing a bank more than 20 miles from your house?) Needless to say, it did not take long for the cops to arrest him. Just one day, in fact. They managed to find him in possession of they money, which tends to help the criminal case a bit.

Hopefully more banks will move to higher quality cameras.

In January, a bank robber in Ohio got a bit of a surprise when he tried to flee the scene. After he passed through the first door, the teller flipped a switch the locked both of the double doors, trapping the robber in the entryway. The glass doors were bulletproof, so the robber could only wait until policy arrived to arrest him (of course, this particular robber didn’t have a weapon, anyway).

Not only is this a cool way to stop the robber dead in his tracks, but the bank might even making a profit selling the video to COPS. The robber’s first few frantic minutes running around inside his cage could be quite entertaining.

I’m a fairly new subscriber to Archaeology, which is a pretty cool magazine. It cost $22 for a one year subscription (6 bi-monthly issues). Archaeology has stories various aspect of archaeological discoveries – the culture of the society that left the artifacts, the mechanics of the digs, and even stories about artifact trafficking. My interest in crime causes me to get sucked into the trafficking articles.

The March/April edition has a story about artifact thieves in the southwestern US. There is a lot of federal land in this part of the country. It is illegal to take artifacts from federal land, but much of this land is pretty remote, resulting in the agents from the Bureau of Land Management being stretched pretty thin in their efforts to catch thieves.

There is a new breed of artifact thieves who seem to enjoy the task of searching for artifacts – a process that involves digging holes, scanning the ground closely for artifacts, and repeating the process over and over. It is hard, tedious work.

These thieves are receiving some help, though. The are meth users, and the drug gives them a lot of energy (great when you need to dig a bunch of holes) and also the intense concentration to comb for the artifacts.

The users take the artifacts they find, and trade them to their dealer in exchange for more meth. The dealers then turn around and sell the artifacts for a nice profit. Essentially, the meth dealers in the southwest are financing (with meth) a massive theft of government property. Artifacts that could be in museums, educating everyone about the cultures of the past, end up in a private collection.

Subjects for upcoming blog articles will include:

Reviews of TV shows Monk and Psych

NASCAR brand disloyalty

The best baseball sites

Profile of author Lawrence Block

We had about six inches of snow on Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning, police in a nearby city were responded to a burglar alarm at a bar. The burglar was gone, but he left something behind – his footprints, very clear in the fresh snow. The cops followed the prints all the way to the guy’s house.

Perhaps, if you burglarize a place after a big snow storm, you should use a car for your exit.

I saw the report of an interesting crime in a newspaper this weekend. A grocery store reported the theft of a “pack of beer” around 3:30 PM. It was later recovered. [I’m assuming this was a 6 pack or 12 pack, since “pack” is used instead of “case”]

OK, so not only are you dumb enough to risk a criminal record by stealing 6-12 cans/bottles of beer, but you don’t even escape with the loot? There is no mention of a chase in the newspaper. I’m not sure if this was left out due to sloppy reporting or if the reporting is accurate and there was actually not a chase.