Say it ain’t so.
Luckily, there are enough discrepancies in Mr. Porpora’s story to keep the legend going a little while longer.
I may have to get serious about going to Baltimore this January.
Blog
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Henderson defense rests
Henderson’s lawyers rest their case; rebuttal witness to testify:
Short story, even shorter.
The defense rested yesterday.
Henderson will not be taking the stand.
The prosecution will be calling a rebuttal witness. One Dr. Wade Myers, a psychiatrist who will counter yesterday’s testimony by Dr. McClain.
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Slo-N-Low
Man faces felonies for sex with girl:
36-year-old Daniel Dietz has been arrested for having sex with a 13-year-old girl. What makes it worse is that they were introduced by the girl’s mom.
The girl’s mother told police she introduced her teenage daughter to Dietz at a support-group meeting she had been attending and through which the mother had become acquainted with Dietz, the documents said.
“According to statements received from members of the support group, they observed (the girl) and Dietz playing ‘footsies’ along with other flirtatious behavior and on multiple occasions these members indicated to Dietz the behavior was not appropriate,” the documents state.
After meeting the girl, Dietz allegedly began talking with her via the Internet.
Dietz delivered to police his two laptop computers, which he gave the detectives permission to search. Upon reviewing Dietz’s MySpace account on which he uses the moniker “Slo-N-Low,” detectives found an Internet chat conversation between Dietz and the girl.
In a MySpace chat on March 25, according to court documents, Dietz spoke with the teen about “sexually explicit matters.” During the conversation, Dietz allegedly asked for a photo of the teen and she complied by sending him a photo of herself with her bare chest exposed, the documents said.
Dietz also allegedly used one of his computers to transmit a photo of his genitalia to the 13-year-old’s e-mail account, court documents allege.
According to MySpace account records, Dietz and the teen discussed meeting and carrying out plans to engage in the sexual activity they had discussed in Internet chat conversations, court documents said.
“During one Internet chat the two noted that they knew sexual contact between them was illegal because (the girl) was only 13 years old,” court documents state.
Dietz spent the night at the girl’s home after fixing her computer, according to court documents, and while the teen’s mother slept, the girl performed a sex act on Dietz in the family’s kitchen.
Court documents state the girl said she also engaged in sex acts with Dietz on other occasions at her home and at his residence.
I bet when he’s in prison, he’s going to regret using the moniker of “Slo-N-Low”.
Links via Metal Sludge.
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Another shrink testifies for Henderson
Witness: Henderson insane when he killed family members:
More psycho-babble from the defense in the trial of Richard Henderson Jr. This time from forensic psychologist Dr. Valerie McClain.
“At the time, he had a break in reality,” she testified.
McClain, whose studies include the science of brain and behavior relationship, said it is possible for a person to be insane over a period of time.
At some point, she said Henderson “comes back into reality,” possibly on the weekend after the deaths.
“I think he’s becoming aware of what occurred … coming back into reality. But it does not suggest he is avoiding detection.”
She also said Henderson did not flee, but stayed in house overnight, sleeping in his parents’ bed near his mother’s body.
Isn’t that convenient? Not for his family, though.
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Rocori lawsuit settled
Latest news: Rocori settles shooting lawsuit:
The Rocori school district in Minnesota and the parents of Rocori gunman John Jason McLaughlin have settled the lawsuit against them filed by the parents of McLaughlin’s victims, Aaron Rollins and Seth Bartell.
The settlements, approved Monday night by the school board, call for the district’s insurance and the insurance of McLaughlin’s parents to pay $200,000 to the families of Aaron Rollins and Seth Bartell. The district, which is self-insured, will pay $133,333 of that amount, said Shamus O’Meara, the attorney representing the school district. None of the district’s portion of the settlement will come from district general funds, he said.
The rest of the money will be paid by the McLaughlin’s insurer, O’Meara said.
The civil lawsuits had been dismissed by a judge earlier this year, and the case had been appealed to the Minnesota Court of Appeals. The continuing expense of ongoing litigation led to the decision to settle with the families, O’Meara said.
I doubt the Rollinses and the Bartells will find solace in the settlement.
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Scars
Scars shown to jury at Henderson trial:
Yesterday was the day for courtroom theatrics in the Henderson trial.
It started with his emo scars.
Accused killer Richard Henderson Jr. rose from his seat Monday, walked to the jury box and stood directly in front the jury whose members will decide his fate.
The 22-year-old, on trial for allegedly bludgeoning four family members to death on Thanksgiving Day 2005, rolled up his sleeves and exposed scarred forearms.
Some jurors leaned in towards him and closely observed dozens of marks on the defendant’s arms – the result of self-mutilation, according to Henderson’s lead defense attorney, Carolyn Schlemmer.
Earlier in the day, Nicholas Roberts – a defense witness who said he previously worked for Henderson’s parents doing lawn service – testified that he had seen Henderson cut himself when they were younger.
“He pretty much always had cuts on him,” Roberts said during the sixth day of testimony in Henderson’s capital murder trial.
Staples, razors, knives, “anything with a point on it,” are among some of the objects that Henderson used to hurt himself, said Roberts, who has known Henderson since eighth grade. Henderson also frequently talked about suicide, he said.
Then he should have killed himself, not his entire family.
Now let’s hear from the doctors…
Dr. Dilip Chaparala, a psychiatrist at Manatee Glens who testified for the defense, confirmed Henderson’s self-mutilating and “superficial cuts.” He said he learned of the injuries because he said Henderson was admitted to the mental health facility on two occasions in 2001 and 2002 after getting in trouble for a group suicide plot involving three juveniles at Lakewood Ranch High School.
Let me stop Dr. Chalupa right there for a second. Since Henderson’s cuts were superficial, it sounds like to me, he was just an attention whore. Real cutters hide their cuts. And the group suicide plot was more than that, it was also a plan to attack a high school. Which is how I got interested in this case. But let’s get back to Dr. Chpotle…
Chaparala also said Henderson was diagnosed with major depression and that he was on and off of anti-psychotic and anti-depressant medications in the years prior to the killings. Some of the medicine included Lithium, Paxil and Zoloft.
This becomes important later.
Another psychologist, Dr. Richard Droz, testified he met with Henderson seven times from July 2001 through April 2003, after Henderson Jr. was referred to him following the group suicide plot.
The doctor described Henderson as a misfit, and said Henderson told him he was constantly picked on at school and felt like an outcast.
If you’re cutting yourself for attention and talking about suicide all the time, you may just get picked on at school. But again, he didn’t kill his alleged bullies, did he?
Dr. Droz continues…
Droz said Henderson’s parents didn’t take his mental health problems seriously. He described them as hardworking, but unsophisticated and simple people.
If Henderson was on Lithium, Paxil, and Zoloft, it sounds like his family did take his mental problems seriously. And from what I’ve heard from friends of the family, Henderson’s parents did everything in their power to help him.
Now let’s sprinkle in a dash of junk science.
Also on Monday, Psychiatrist Joseph Wu, with the Brain Imaging Center at the University of California at Irvine College of Medicine, took the stand and showed jurors a scan of Henderson’s brain taken in August 2006.
“It’s clearly abnormal in my opinion,” said Wu, an expert witness for the defense.
Using a Power Point presentation, Wu compared the scan to a “normal” brain and said Henderson’s brain indicated an abnormality consistent with problems including schizophrenia, manic-depressive disorder, a brain injury or a combination of all of them.
Well, it must be legit if he’s using PowerPoint. My point being is that it does not excuse murder. I don’t care if his brain was nothing but sawdust.
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New Jersey AG eyes MySpace and others
New Jersey asks 12 Web sites to check for sex offenders:
New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram has not only asked MySpace for sex offender information, she’s also asked eleven other sites to do the same.
Attorney General Anne Milgram has asked for information from Xanga.com, Facebook, Community Connect, TagWorld, Bebo, MyYearbook.com, Tagged, Friendster, LiveJournal, Imeem, Hi5 and Gaia Online.
I’ll give her this much, she’s thorough. Some of those sites I hadn’t even heard of. But like other states Attorneys General, she’s picking on MySpace…
The Attorney General’s Office has issued three subpoenas to MySpace, but the 12 other sites will soon be getting letters from Milgram asking for help.
And also, like the other state Attorneys General, there’s no mention of parents doing a better job of monitoring their children.
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No Cho rehearsal
Police doubt Virginia massacre was rehearsed:
While various other sources are claiming that Cho Seung-Hui practiced his assault prior to the Virginia Tech massacre, police are saying different.
“It would be speculation to suggest that he was practicing locking the doors,” State Police Superintendent Col. Steve Flaherty said in the first update on the investigation in months.
“Why West Ambler-Johnston? Why Emily Hilscher? We don’t know,” Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said. Hilscher was one of Cho’s first victims, shot to death in her West Ambler-Johnston dormitory.
Since the dormitory was locked early that morning, “we believe Cho waited for some unsuspecting individual to walk in or out of West Ambler-Johnston and then took the opportunity to enter the dorm,” Flinchum said.
Investigators have not found the hard drive to Cho’s computers, Flaherty said. Video Watch new details on shooting investigation »
“That’s a piece of evidence we would love to find, along with his cell phone and possibly some other documents,” he said.
This is why I think the state panel looking into what happened at Virginia Tech is a joke. At the end of the investigation, they’ll have as many answers as the rest of us. None.
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MySpace used to lure girl into prostitution
Man charged with using MySpace to lure girl into prostitution:
32-year-old Melvin Charles Parker Jr. of Richmond, California was arrested for using MySpace to lure a 16-year-old girl into prostitution.
Once the girl arrived in town, police stopped her on the street for questioning when it appeared she was trying to find customers. She told police Parker threatened her into prostitution.
“He told her that he wanted her to prostitute herself, or his friends would look up her family and hurt them,” said Margo Rohrbacher, a spokeswoman for the San Rafael police.
Police said they told the girl to call Parker, and listened in as he gave her instructions on where to meet him to deliver her earnings. He was arrested when he arrived.
I couldn’t find a MySpace for Parker. But if you needed another reason why kids should not be posting their personal info online, this is it.