TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

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  • Michigan teen raped by Facebook friend

    Police: Man Met, Assaulted Girl On Facebook:

    Police in Clinton Township, Michigan have arrested a man who raped a 16-year-old girl he met on Facebook.

    The suspect claimed that he just moved to the Detroit area. She invited him to her home once while her family was home. The man returned a different time when she was home alone. She didn’t let him in but he broke into the house through a basement window and raped the girl. A family member came home and chased him off.

    The suspect is 18-year-old Michael Thomas Robinson of Eastpointe, MI. He’s alleged to have had four different Facebook profiles, one using the name of ‘Michael Jones’.

    He’s looking at a life sentence for the rape.

    Thanks to my wife Jade for the tip.

  • Zarate trial wraps up

    Zarate murder trial jury to deliberate Monday:

    The trial of Jonathan Zarate for the 2005 murder of Jennifer Parks wrapped up yesterday and the jury will begin to deliberate on Monday.

    Both attorneys gave their closing arguments yesterday.

    Defense attorney Richard Mazawey argued that only mental illness could explain the brutal way in which Zarate killed Jennifer Parks.

    The diminished capacity defense “is not a gimmick…not a get-out-of-jail-free card,” Mazawey said. “There’s nobody that can look at those pictures and the evidence and not see sickness.

    Morris County Executive Assistant Prosecutor Robert Lane said to the jury that the verdict should be a no-brainer.

    Lane said the “viciousness and brutality” of what Zarate did “can only be defined by one word…and that’s murder.”

    I was going to say with any luck the jury will return a guilty verdict but we shouldn’t be relying on luck. The jury has to return a guilty verdict so the Parks family can know justice.

  • Craig to Obama: Crack the Whip

    Craigslist Founder: Next Tech Czar Must ‘Crack The Whip’:

    Here’s a quote from Craig himself about his suggestions for the country’s CTO under Barack Obama.

    Craig Newmark, the founder of classifieds giant craigslist, has some advice for President-elect Barack Obama as he searches for a chief technology officer: Find someone who can foster public-private sector partnerships and “crack the whip” to bring about necessary reforms in tech policy.

    First off isn’t it politically incorrect to use the phrase ‘crack the whip’ when speaking about President-elect Obama. For shame Mr. Newmark.

    Secondly, when you talk about bringing about reforms does that include sites where crime is abundant and do nothing to stop it? Just curious.

     

  • Teah Wimberly charged as adult

    Report Shows Text Messages Before Dillard Murder:

    Teah Wimberly has been charged as an adult in the shooting death of classmate Amanda Collete at Dillard High School.

    Court documents have revealed the text messages that Wimberly sent to Amanda prior to the shooting.

    “Tomorrow I will shoot myself in the heart.”

    “I just might get arrested tomorrow.”

    “U gon come visit me in jail”

    “Ima shoot somebody”

    “Ima bust a cap in somebody”

    According to the documents Wimberly admitted to the shooting saying that it was because Amanda ended their friendship without reason. However, some students say it may be because Wimberly had romantic feelings for Amanda but the feeling was not mutual.

    Again I have to reiterate kids that there is no boy or girl that’s worth killing over while you’re in high school. Now there are two lives ruined.

  • Goth girl charged with arranging hit on dad

    15-year-old Danielle Black of Hagerstown, Md. has been charged with soliciting a hit on her father by a classmate. Now the Washington Post article claims that she’s suspected of being part of a clique that likes to drink each other’s blood. The WJLA article just states she’s goth. Most of you know how I feel about The Post so I’m more inclined to believe WJLA.

    Anyway, prosecutors say she enlisted the aid of a classmate to kill her father. However, it wasn’t the kid she asked but another classmate, 19-year-old Alec S. Eger that killed Mr. Black.

    She allegedly told her classmate that her father leaves at 5am every day and where he parks his truck. To make the story more convincing it’s alleged that she told the classmate that her father was abusing her and Eger believed it.

    On the morning of Halloween Eger confronted Mr. Black about the supposed abuse. A scuffle ensued which ended up with Eger stabbing Black to death according to police.

    Police say that there was no evidence that Danielle Black was being abused. Police also say, according to The Post, that the only problem Mr. Black had with anyone was with the goth clique that his daughter hung out with claiming they were cutters and drank each other’s blood. To me, that sounds like a motive.

    Here’s the thing, Danielle Black has been charged as a juvenile. Meanwhile, Eger is looking at first-degree murder charges. As far as I’m concerned she should be charged as an adult since she instigated it. I’m not saying that Eger should be let go but she’s as equally culpable as he is.

    She doesn’t even seem the least bit remorseful for what happened…

    The girl says on her MySpace page that she now lives with her mother: “I used 2 live with my father until he was killed on halloween of this ’08.” A more recent posting says: “wats gonna happen now that everything is settling down? everything is becoming clear nd i got the best ppl in the world. i luv you guys. don’t stop bein u. nd don’t give up on ur self or me.”

    If any of this sounds vaguely familiar to you it should because it sounds almost identical to the case of Kyle Hulbert. Hulbert was duped into killing a girl’s father because of claims of abuse and Kyle is serving a much harsher sentence than the girl also in an area near D.C.

    Washington Post

    WJLA

  • Teen in DC area plot may be charged as adult

    Prosecutors Want Teen Tried as Adult in Bomb Case:

    Prosecutors in Maryland want to charge the 17-year-old cohort of Colin McKenzie-Gude as an adult.

    If you’ll recall McKenzie-Gude was found to be in possession of guns, explosives, fake CIA identification, a list of addresses of his former teachers from St. John’s College High School, and a map of the motorcade that President Bush takes to Camp David.

    The 17-year-old’s attorney said that they hope they can reach a resolution that will allow him to move on with his life. I’m sure they will if they mean life in the federal pen.

  • Finnish cop could be charged over Kauhajoki shooting

    Finnish policeman faces charges over Kauhajoki shooting:

    The Finnish police officer who gave Matti Saari back his guns is likely to be facing charges. The officer returned Sarri’s guns to him the day before the massacre at the Kauhajoki school even after the officer saw Saari’s YouTube videos.

    The officer denies any wrongdoing. Of course, he does. I do not see this going well. He’d probably do better just to apologize and admit what he did was wrong.

  • Jonesboro shooter denied permit

    Westside killer seeks handgun permit:

    Drew Douglas Grant of Evening Shade, Arkansas had applied for a conceal and carry permit but was denied by Arkansas State Police. So why is this newsworthy? It turns out that Drew Douglas Grant is the new legal name of the former Andrew Golden. The same Andrew Golden who participated in the Jonesboro massacre.

    What made him think that request would be approved? I have a gut feeling that he wanted to conceal and carry for his own protection but he had to know that request would never be approved. At least he seems to be taking the legal route rather than just going out and carrying a gun like his cohort Mitchell Johnson.

    The problem now becomes that Golden/Grant’s new identity has been made public which could lead to harassment or even worse vigilantism. Which I would imagine would be his reason for wanting the permit.

    While I believe that Golden/Grant should at least be in prison for life for what he and Johnson did this may just be a case of someone who has actually been rehabilitated. But again in my opinion rehabilitation is the exception and not the rule.

  • Ernesto Gonzalez indicted

    Father of missing Lynn boy indicted for parental kidnapping:

    Ernesto Gonzalez, the father of missing boy Giovanni Gonzalez, has been indicted by a grand jury on charges of parental kidnapping and willfully misleading a person in the furtherance of a continuing investigation. That last charge is more commonly known as obstruction.

    What I find maddening is that the obstruction charge carries a 10-year sentence while parental kidnapping is only a one year sentence. Considering what he’s possibly done to Giovanni it should be inverse.

  • South Carolina couple violate safe haven law

    Parents of abandoned newborn taken into custody:

    21-year-old Harold Vermal O’Neal and an unidentified 17-year-old mother were arrested for leaving their newborn at a fire station. The problem was they left the newborn outside wrapped in a towel inside of a diaper box. When the baby was discovered its body temperature was at 88 degrees.

    South Carolina’s safe haven law states that a baby can be left at a fire station but someone has to take physical custody of the baby.

    I do lay partial blame on the parents for not being smart enough to realize that the baby could have died due to exposure but the safe haven laws from state to state are so varying it’s hard for anyone to that wants to safely give their baby to a safe haven to know what their states procedure is.

    A federal safe haven law is needed and needed badly.