TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Category: Crime

  • Henderson Hopes for Hell

    Henderson Hopes for Hell

    Henderson hopes for death in letter:

    Richard Henderson Jr. is currently awaiting trial in Florida for bludgeoning his family to death on Thanksgiving Day 2005. Before that, he was in trouble for plotting to shoot up his school. He wrote the following letter to the Bradenton Herald…

    As for my case im happy to be closing in on the day i’ll know where my future lies. As for if I get the Death instead of life or possibly something else, Great, ill be happy. Id rather get Death then life so I don’t have to witness the schemes and abuse of Authority the State lives by. As for my so called Family, let me make this clear. I don’t give a damn what they think, they say they know me how can that be if I only saw them 7 times in my life, to hell with them, I want them to know if I do get the death penality I will haunt their dreams and forever taint the blood of our Family. The way I see it, it’s their fault, if someone could of got me help instead of gossiping maybe my family be alive, maybe I could of had a normal life,” he wrote. “But no, everyone wants to talk, to judge. Find a way to live my life, to do all I did, to fell all my pain then you can judge me. How many Virginia tech massacers, how many columbines, how many Ross’s, Davis’s, Henderson’s is it gonna take to show kid’s are not being properly raised/helped/counsaled like they need to be. The Guilt of the crimes lies in the so called innocent, we were just the puppets that released the evil society breeds. You want Justice, you want us to feel pain, our whole lives have been pain. Me being in here with no friends, no family, just guilt, that’s pain. Just keep gossiping, keep . . . cause pain is coming to a place called home. Let’s see how you handle it.

    First off, if he wants death, I say no problem. To me, it sounds like he’s trying to pull a Susan Smith. She begged for a death sentence, and they gave her a life sentence. Personally, I don’t think Henderson wants any part of a death sentence. I think he’s bluffing, and I hope the jury calls him on that bluff.

    Secondly, I love how Henderson pulls the old “blame society” crap. Society didn’t cause him to kill his family. Only Henderson caused that. No one in this society is owed anything. The only thing that, I hope, is owed to Henderson is a quick trial and a death sentence.

  • Marlee Johnston’s dad helps write law for blended sentencing

    Victim’s dad helps craft bill requiring blended sentences:

    Ted Johnston is the father of Marlee Johnston. When Marlee was 14, she was bludgeoned to death with an aluminum baseball bat by 14-year-old Patrick Armstrong.

    Armstrong allegedly admitted to cellmates that he enjoyed every minute of it. So it comes as something of a surprise that Ted Johnston has helped write legislation that would allow juveniles convicted as adults to spend part of their sentence in a juvenile facility prior to turning 18.

    Ted Johnston said it’s wrong for juveniles who have committed even the most despicable crimes to be placed in adult prisons. He has been working on legislation drafted by the Attorney General’s Office that would require blended sentences for the youngest offenders.

    Remembering his daughter Marlee as kind and compassionate, Johnston said he is trying to pay homage to that part of her through his own actions.

    “We don’t need to be abandoning people _ even when they did something as horrible as Patrick (Armstrong) did,” Johnston said, referring to Marlee’s killer.

    “I don’t think that’s right,” Johnston said. “I know Marlee wouldn’t either, so to honor her memory we had to make a change.”

    Under the bill that Johnston helped develop, those under 16 who are tried and convicted as adults would be placed in juvenile facilities until they turn 18, and only then be transferred to adult prisons to complete their sentences.

    Deputy Attorney General William Stokes said the legislation addresses the rare circumstance of someone very young committing a very serious offense.

    “The dilemma we faced with Armstrong was we had a very young victim, and very young suspect who was also 14, who committed a horrendous act and very serious crime,” Stokes said.

    Maybe in Maine, it’s rare, but just by reading this site you can see that it’s not so rare in other places.

    Anyway, I have no problem with juveniles spending part of their sentences in a juvenile facility until they turn 18. However, don’t confuse compassion for weakness. I still fully endorse that juveniles that commit such horrendous acts like the brutal murder of Marlee Johnston still need to be tried as adults.

  • Culture of death

    Culture of death

    Kids submerged in culture of death games:

    I don’t know if this is a letter to the editor or not, but this may just be one of the most misinformed opinions about video games I’ve ever heard. It’s basically a commentary about how the media is to blame for crimes like Virginia Tech and blah blah blah…

    What is appalling is what most consider to be mass murder is now being exploited as a profitable venture. The video game entitled “Super Columbine Massacre” allows the gamer to play the part of murderers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold as they randomly shot their Columbine High School classmates in the halls, classrooms, library and cafeteria. This real-life portrayal of a murderous rampage that took the lives of 11, ending with the double suicide of the killers, has been turned into a marketable source of entertainment.

    Other games put the participant in the role of Lee Harvey Oswald during his assassination of President Kennedy. Another allows a shooter to take aim on Mexicans crossing the border. And yet another provides vivid instructions as to how to assassinate the president. All are presented in explicit and bloody detail. What is next: Terrorist-in- training videos?

    What does this say about our society when “entertainment” vehicles are available to anyone that wishes to become a murderer at the click of his or her mouse? What possesses someone who seeks enjoyment from killing in cyber space? And what stops a person from acting out these fantasies in real life? Sometimes these people are not stopped and what took place at Virginia Tech is the result.

    I can’t believe I’m defending games like SCMRPG and JFK Reloaded, but these games are niche games that you can’t just go out and buy at your local video game store. And SCMRPG is not presented in explicit and bloody detail. It’s cartoony at best, even though its message is disturbing.

    Also, to make the leap from video games to “Terrorist-in- training videos” is absolutely ludicrous. Let’s not forget the age-old classic of parental responsibility, either.

    If kids under the age of 17 are playing M-Rated games, it’s more than likely that the parents are letting their kids play it. But it’s much easier just to blame video games, isn’t it?

  • Asperger’s as a criminal defense

    Asperger’s as a criminal defense

    I first heard of Asperger Syndrome when I was blogging about the case of William Freund. Freund was a 19-year-old from Aliso Viejo, California who donned a paintball mask and a cape, armed himself with a shotgun, and went on a neighborhood shooting spree. He entered the unlocked home of Vernon Smith and shot and killed Smith and his 22-year-old daughter Christina before turning the gun on himself.

    Now before we go any further, I’ll give you just the briefest of rundowns on Asperger’s. There are many who argue about the precise definition of Asperger’s, but it is believed to be a mild form of autism in which the afflicted have an extremely hard time with social interaction. For example, an AS patient may have a difficult time detecting sarcasm or reading a person’s body language and may take everything as fact. AS patients may also have an obsession with one particular subject or pastime. I realize this is just barely scratching the surface of Asperger’s, but it will do for now.

    William Freund’s obsession was more than likely guns. On the Asperger’s forum, WrongPlanet.net, Freund often spoke of wanting a real friend, being suicidal, and threatening to start a terror campaign. On the site SomethingAwful.com, he asked what kind of buckshot was the best for home protection. He stated that on Halloween, he was going to wait out on his porch with his shotgun and shoot anybody who tries to vandalize his pumpkins. That was possibly the worst site that he could have posted that on. The Something Awful community is not known to be kind to any user who posts such outrageous statements, and I’m sure his Asperger’s didn’t help.

    The moderators of WrongPlanet tried to reach his family to tell them of the terror plot he was allegedly planning, but they could not. Since Freund took his own life, no trial was ever held, but at the time I commented that Asperger’s would be eventually used as a murder defense. At the time, not knowing that it already had been tried.

    The next time I heard about Asperger’s was from the case of John Odgren. He is the 15-year-old student from Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School in Massachusetts who stabbed and killed another student by the name of James Alenson in a school bathroom.

    Alenson was stabbed in the heart and abdomen and slashed across his face and neck with a 13-inch kitchen carving knife. Odgren is alleged to have two obsessions, forensics, and his knife collection. He had a penchant of bragging to classmates that he could pull off the perfect murder. After the murder took place, Odgren ran into the school hallway and admitted what he had done to school officials and police. By all accounts, he didn’t act like someone who had just committed a murder. Some reports say that he was joking with police and when Crime Scene Services arrived he excitedly offered to assist them.

    While the case has not yet gone to trial, his defense attorney was quick to offer up Asperger’s as a defense to the media.

    While blogging about the Lincoln-Sudbury murder, I asked some blogging doctors I know what they thought about using Asperger’s as a medical defense.

    One medical doctor explained to me that Asperger’s patients can sometimes have explosive episodes and that AS patients can have a lack of impulse control. A surgeon told me that since the explosive outbursts are a part of the disease, he doesn’t think the suspect should be sent to prison but should be under constant supervision and a controlled environment. I asked a Ph.D. who has a son with autism what her opinion was, but I’ll get into that a little later.

    Both crimes that I’ve mentioned so far do not seem like explosive episodes. Freund had been threatening to go on a rampage for a while. In my opinion, John Odgren had his crime planned out very far in advance, as he had the day of the murder circled on his calendar.

    Yesterday I read about the story of Robert Derderian. He’s an 18-year-old who is accused of sexually molesting a 12-year-old girl and videotaping what basically amounts to rape.

    He has also been charged with sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl several times over the course of last summer. According to his defense attorney, he may not be competent to stand trial because he has Asperger’s and autism and will not speak to his attorney.

    I find this claim hard to believe. One of the symptoms of autism and Asperger’s for many sufferers is an extreme dislike of physical contact. That’s not to say that is the case for all AS and autism patients, but it is rather prevalent among them. My point is this. Any criminal defense attorney who has an iota of integrity should not use Asperger’s as a criminal defense.

    The Ph.D. whose opinion I asked about this told me the following. Using autism/Asperger’s as a criminal defense is seen as having a very negative effect on the public perception and understanding of autism and Asperger’s as it suggests a direct link between autism/Asperger’s and violence.

    If this becomes standard practice among defense attorneys, it could lead to a sort of witch hunt against Asperger’s patients.

    AS patients are probably having a hard enough time as it is without this kind of social condemnation. A few bad apples, so to speak, should not let society cast a bad light on a group of people who are already misunderstood.

  • Accused cop killer’s lawyer steps down

    Accused cop killer’s lawyer steps down

    Montgomery Appointed New Attorney:

    The public defender assigned to alleged cop killer Demeatrius Montgomery has stepped down citing a conflict of interest…

    Jean Lawson, an attorney from the Mecklenburg County Public Defenders Office, was assigned to the case just days after Montgomery was charged.

    Jail records show Lawson spoke with her client at the Mecklenburg County jail several times, and even had a conversation that lasted more than an hour. But Lawson’s request to withdraw cites two North Carolina state rules about lawyer conduct, including one that says a lawyer should not represent a client if that representation will hurt another client.

    I wonder if her client’s testimony would hurt Montgomery or the other way around.

  • Jack Thompson, Dr. Phil, and Rush Limbaugh

    Jack Thompson, Dr. Phil, and Rush Limbaugh

    What do those three names have in common besides the fact that they’re overpaid talking heads? Well, two of them have placed the blame for the Virginia Tech massacre squarely on video games while one of them dismissed the idea, and it may not be the ones that you think.

    Ok, Jack Thompson is the one that you think. That should have come as no surprise.

    What did come as a surprise was TV quack, Dr. Phil. I was never a big fan of his to begin with, but I thought he had more smarts than this…

    Well, Larry, every situation is different. The question really is can we spot them. And the problem is we are programming these people as a society. You cannot tell me – common sense tells you that if these kids are playing video games, where they’re on a mass killing spree in a video game, it’s glamorized on the big screen, it’s become part of the fiber of our society. You take that and mix it with a psychopath, a sociopath or someone suffering from mental illness and add in a dose of rage, the suggestibility is too high.

    What came as even more of a surprise was radio blowhard Rush Limbaugh coming to the defense of gamers.

    Not every video gamer goes out and murders 33 people on the college campus though. There’s more to this than that, it may desensitize people, but it doesn’t turn everybody into mass murderers?

    People have a tough time accepting a relatively simple explanation for something of this scale. But how many people are playing video games out there? How many millions of people play video games, and how many millions of people have guns?

    As they say, politics makes strange bedfellows.

  • CMPD instructed to stay quiet

    CMPD instructed to stay quiet

    Officers Ordered To Remain Mum On Investigation Into Deadly CMPD Shootings:

    The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has been instructed to not release any information regarding the investigation of the shooting deaths of officers Jeffrey Shelton and Sean Clark.

    District Attorney Peter Gilchrist confirmed that he has instructed Charlotte-Mecklenburg police to release no more information about the case against Montgomery and the investigation that surrounds it.

    Gilchrist says talking about whether the murder weapon has been found or whether police are still looking for it, or even whether Montgomery’s hands have been tested for gunshot residue, could hurt the investigation.

    I am personally very happy with this decision. If a conviction is eventually handed down, I don’t want there to be any doubt or causes for endless appeals. I’m sure the families, friends, and co-workers of officers Clark and Shelton do too.

  • Insanity defense for Zarate

    Insanity defense for Zarate

    Zarate to pursue insanity defense:

    I’m surprised it took this long. Anyway, Anthony Fusco, the attorney for accused killer Jonathan Zarate, will be pursuing an insanity defense for his client.

    Jonathan Zarate’s lawyer, Anthony Fusco, told Judge Salem Vincent Ahto in Morristown that he plans an insanity defense and is in the process of hiring a forensic psychiatrist to examine the high school dropout. Fusco, a privately-paid lawyer, also plans to make a petition to the state Office of the Public Defender to help finance the cost of the evaluation.

    Your tax dollars at work.

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t the insanity defense basically boil down to knowing the difference between right and wrong? If that’s the case, Zarate’s actions of dismembering Jennifer Parks’ body after killing her, hiding it in a trunk for 24 hours and then trying to dump the trunk in the Passaic River leads me to believe that he what he did was wrong.

  • Call had nothing to do with shooter

    Call had nothing to do with shooter

    Suspect in protective custody awaiting court appearance:

    The part of the article I want to talk about is not about Demeatrius Montgomery’s court appearance. It’s this…

    It was a domestic call, between a brother and sister arguing over a bill, that brought Officers Sean Clark and Jeff Shelton to the Timber Ridge Apartments.

    That call had nothing to do with Demetrius Montgomery. But, police say he’s the one who shot officers Clark and Shelton in the head.

    I wonder what the defense will be for this.

  • Demeatrius Montgomery’s criminal past

    Demeatrius Montgomery’s criminal past

    Police-shooting suspect had assault convictions:

    The suspect in the shooting deaths of Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers Jeffrey Melton and Sean Clark has a violent past criminal record. Demeatrius Antonio Montgomery has had past arrests for assaults against women and other police officers.

    Montgomery was sentenced to 120 days in the Mecklenburg County jail for a 2004 assault on a female. He was accused of striking a woman twice on the left side of her face.

    Montgomery was sentenced in 2004 to 45 days in jail for assault on a government official. The assault occurred after a police officer spotted Montgomery speeding out of an apartment complex and pulled him over.

    In an affidavit, the police officer said Montgomery started yelling out the window as he was pulled over and asked why the officer was harassing him.

    When the police officer asked for his driver’s license, Montgomery began yelling, got out of the car and rushed toward the officer, according to the affidavit. The officer wrote that Montgomery “came face to face” with him and bumped him in the chest.

    The officer told Montgomery to put his hands on the hood of the patrol car.

    He then recalled Montgomery’s words: “You are a small man and I am going to hurt you.”

    “I felt that he would carry out this threat.”

    Backup officers were called to the scene. The officer said Montgomery continued to be combative and had to be physically restrained.

    Montgomery pleaded guilty to the assault charge. The communicating threats and resisting arrest charges were dropped.

    Last year, Montgomery was convicted of having an open container of beer on a public street and resisting arrest. In an affidavit, the arresting officer wrote that he pulled up beside Montgomery after spotting him drinking a bottle of beer while walking. The officer said he told Montgomery that he could not have an open container in public and directed him to pour the rest of the beer out.

    Montgomery, the police officer said, drank the rest of the beer.

    The officer wrote that when he informed Montgomery he was under arrest, the suspect fled and refused to stop.

    The officer caught up to him a block away. Montgomery was charged with having an open container and resisting an officer. Montgomery pleaded guilty to both charges and was sentenced to three days in jail.

    So seeing this information going from assault to killing two police officers is not that much of a stretch.