TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

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  • Cop Killer Convicted

    Cop Killer Convicted

    Video Game Player Guilty in Ala. Slaying:

    I originally told you about this story back in February about Devin Moore. He’s the 18-year-old kid who shot and killed three police officers, and when he was arrested, he said: “Life is a video game; everybody has to die sometime.” Of course, the games in question were GTA games. Which in turn prompted a lawsuit against Rockstar Games by Moore’s family, prompted by everyone’s favorite assclown Jack Thompson.

    Anyway, Devin Moore was convicted of capital murder. That means he’s eligible for the death penalty. In Alabama, that’s a very likely possibility.

    Tip to CB.

  • Insanity Plea for Jonathan Zarate?

    Insanity Plea for Jonathan Zarate?

    The other day I told you about the case of Jonathan Zarate who killed and dismembered 16-year-old Jennifer Parks, then hid her body in the back of his dad’s jeep for a day. Well, now the defense attorney says that he might be going for an insanity defense. That seems to be all the rage lately.

    “From what I’ve heard, he was in an uncontrolled rage,” Fusco told The New York Times. “There was nothing going on that you can point to and say they were fighting or something happened between the two of them.”

    That’s just more reason to lock him up. Better yet, stuff his ass into a steamer trunk then dump him into the Hudson in February.

    He’s not insane. He carried out a very precise and well-thought-out crime. Sadistic psychopath? Yes. Insane? Hardly.

  • Eric Schorling

    Eric Schorling

    Refusing deal, teen will stand trial in attack:

    This is a very unusual story. I don’t normally deal with this kind of school violence, but someone sent it to me, and who am I to deny my readers?

    Anyway, back in September, 17-year-old Eric Schorling was charged with attempted murder after stabbing his ex-girlfriend, Nicole Lambert, in the back with an 8-inch kitchen knife in the halls of Romeo High School. Check out these chilling details…

    Authorities said that jealousy motivated Schorling to arrive at the high school that autumn morning with an 8-inch kitchen knife hidden in his right shirtsleeve. The weekend before, Schorling bragged about his plans to friends, Kaplan said.

    At school, a female acquaintance asked Schorling what he was doing there. He flashed his knife and stated, “I’m going to stab my old girlfriend.”

    As they talked, Nicole Lambert walked to her first-period class and Schorling stabbed her in the back, Kaplan said, missing her heart by one-third of a centimeter.

    As Schorling fled the school, another teen questioned his presence there, Kaplan said. “Eric laughed and exclaimed, ‘I just stabbed Nicole in the back,’ ” he said.

    Emphasis mine.

    Back in the Spring, a plea was agreed to that Schorling would serve at least six years and nine months. But then he escaped from the Macomb County Juvenile Justice Center. Now the deal is off and Schorling wants to take his case to trial. If found guilty, he would be looking at a minimum of 10 years. And here’s the best part. Apparently, all the criminal defense attorneys in Macomb County must have attended the same clown college because Schorling’s attorney is just as funny as Andrew Osantowski’s attorney was…

    Defense lawyer Arthur Garton said he will present a “solid defense” for his client.

    I’m dying to hear this defense. The mind boggles at the possibilities.

    TOF to James of MWP.

  • Marshfield trial not until Fall

    Marshfield trial not until Fall

    Kerns, Nee trials won’t start until fall:

    This just basically an article about the Marshfield incident that says that neither Toby Kerns nor Joe Nee will be going to trial until the fall. What was interesting about this article was this…

    Kerns was in Plymouth Juvenile Court last week where his attorney William McElligott argued the search warrant Marshfield Police procured to search Kerns’ home and computer was invalid because they obtained it based on information from three confidential informants who did not meet accepted court standards. Court documents have since revealed that Nee was one of those informants, as were two other Marshfield teens, Dan Farley and Joe Sullivan.

    McElligott argued that police had no reason to believe the three teens since they had not proven themselves as reliable informants in the past.

    Judge Louis Coffin said he would rule on the motion on September 12th. Hopefully, he will rule in favor of Kerns. To refresh yourself on the Marshfield case, go here.

  • Bully Protest

    Bully Protest

    Teens Protest ‘Columbine-Like’ Video Game:

    Thank you very much, Jack Thompson. Now everyone who is not a gamer is referring to Bully as “The Columbine Game”. Apparently, a group of teenage busybodies known as the Peaceaholics protested at Rockstar Games’ New York office…

    “A lot of youth are playing these games and there’s a lot of violence that people are copying,” said Cordero Sellers, 16. “I’m trying to do my best to stop this release.”

    “It’s important that we’re here today because violent images seen on games are copied by kids,” said Anthony Ford, 17.

    “We’re trying to stop people getting hurt before it’s too late.”

    Oh, and guess who accompanied them…

    Florida lawyer and anti-violence activist John Thompson accompanied the kids.

    “Columbine changed the face of America but you [Rockstar] are about to come out with a game that celebrates, glamorizes and trains kids to do what [Columbine killers] Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris did,” said Thompson.

    “Bullying is not a subject for a video game. We are not asking Rockstar to stop making this game, we are demanding they stop.”

    Again with the Columbine comparison.

    Do these people do any research at all? I have yet to see any gameplay details from the game outside of Rockstar’s official description…

    Rockstar is keeping details of the plot a closely guarded secret but describes it as “humorous” and “tongue in cheek.”

    The company states on its Web site: “As a troublesome schoolboy, you’ll stand up to bullies, get picked on by teachers, play pranks on malicious kids, win or lose the girl and ultimately learn to navigate the obstacles of the fictitious reform school Bullworth Academy.”

    So, as far as I know, there has been no mention of shooting and killing your other classmates. So these people are just assuming. And we know what happens when you assume. Jack Thompson makes an even bigger assclown out of himself.

  • Kentucky Zombie Unleashed

    Kentucky Zombie Unleashed

    Student charged in alleged plot has case dismissed:

    The Kentucky Zombie Kid himself, William Poole, had his case dismissed. Attorneys and judges both agreed that it would be impossible to prosecute Poole for criminal attempt to commit terroristic threatening. The judge even said she never saw the charge successfully prosecuted. However, Judge Brandy O. Brown had a message for Poole…

    “That doesn’t mean you need to walk out of here thinking you didn’t necessarily do anything wrong,” Brown told Poole in court.

    And this is foreboding…

    Brown asked Poole’s grandfather, Kenneth Craft, if Poole had given him any trouble before the school incident.

    “Trouble? William didn’t like to follow rules. He doesn’t like authority,” he said. “William is an angry young man.”

    And now he’s out.

  • M’Naghten Rule Questioned

    M’Naghten Rule Questioned

    McLaughlin trial puts focus on insanity defense:

    It seems that some people have their panties in a wad over Minnesota’s insanity defense law, known as the M’Naghten Rule. Especially after John Jason McLaughlin was ruled sane after being found guilty of shooting and killing two of his classmates. Which is all well and good except for one thing. McLaughlin was more than likely faking it.

    The similarities between his “symptoms” and movies and TV shows that are documented that he saw are too strong to ignore. Yet, the article declares that he had multiple diagnoses of schizophrenia. What they forget to mention is that he wasn’t diagnosed until after the killings. How convenient. But I’ve been over this before.

    The bottom line is if you relax the M’Naghten Rule, you’re just giving cold-blooded killers one more chance to walk.

  • Jonathan Zarate

    Jonathan Zarate

    New Jersey

    Invited her to watch TV, then stuffed cut-up body in trunk:

    Reason to Blow Up The World: The fact that this scumbag, Jonathan A. Zarate, invited the victim over to his house then stabbed her, dismembered her body, stashed in a steamer trunk, then left the trunk in his dad’s jeep for a day while a freaking birthday party was being held at the house. Too bad New Jersey is unlikely to execute. This guy was made for the death sentence.

    My condolences and prayers go out to the family and friends of Jennifer Parks.

  • McLaughlin Plea Rejected

    McLaughlin Plea Rejected

    Father of Rocori victim says McLaughlin rejected plea deal:

    It seems that John Jason McLaughlin was offered a plea that would have kept him out of jail…

    Tom Rollins, the father of 17-year-old victim Aaron Rollins, first told KNSI-FM in St. Cloud on Friday that some six months ago, prosecutors offered the deal to McLaughlin’s attorney, Dan Eller.

    Rollins said both his family and the family of the other victim, Seth Bartell, 14, didn’t oppose the prosecution’s offer.

    Under the plea deal, Rollins said, McLaughlin would have plead guilty to all six charges against him, including first-degree murder for shooting Bartell.

    In exchange, he would have been sentenced to 30 years, but could have served it at a mental institution until such time that he was declared mentally healthy – after which he would have served out the balance in prison, Rollins said.

    I wonder why it was rejected. It seems that McLaughlin or his lawyer took a gamble that didn’t pay off. I have a feeling, though, that this will be used in an appeal argument.

  • The Actual Victim

    The Actual Victim

    Survivor of Red Lake shootings looking forward to school:

    Read about what’s happened to one of the Red Lake survivors…

    Steven Cobenais, 15, lost an eye and suffered a severe brain injury but didn’t lose his sense of humor. Doctors predicted he’d face a life of paralysis and severe mental incapacity, but he has beaten the odds. He’s walking and hopes to learn to drive, though doctors aren’t sure how far he’ll progress and his parents say he has changed.

    Cobenais told the station he remembered gunman Jeff Weise as a “goth” and “weird,” but didn’t know the 16-year-old well and had no idea why Weise targeted him.

    “He asked me if I believe in God, and I said ‘Yeah,’ and he shot me,” he recalled.

    Cobenais’ parents never left his bedside at MeritCare Hospital in Fargo, N.D. When they made it back home to the Red Lake Indian Reservation, they found their home had been vandalized and many of his most treasured possessions had been stolen.

    “All my games, and clothes,” he said.

    His father lost his summer job after Cobenais had a seizure in June. Because of the vandalism and expenses the family gave up their home and moved in with Steven’s grandmother.

    Cobenais still faces two more major reconstructive operations: one to put a metal plate in his head and one to put in a prosthetic eye.

    And some people have the nerve to say Jeff Weise is a victim.

    A fund has been set up to help the Cobenais family with their expenses. Donations can be mailed to: Steven Cobenais Fund, Deerwood Bank, P.O. Box 1278, Bemidji, MN 56607