PER REPORTER: Sam's mother is deceased and his brother recently died. He has no one. Three weeks ago, Genia got drunk and threw empty whiskey bottles at Sam. It was about 25 bottles and some of them hit him in the head and face. He did have knots and bruises on his forehead and cheek. He didn't need medical attention. Per reporter, Genia made Sam leave and told him not to come back. Genia is an alcoholic and drinks bad. It is unknown where Sam is. Sam has been in the Panola county area. He came and asked for money and food. Reporter contacted the police and asked them to do a wellness check at the home. It is unknown if Sam has returned to the home. Genia told the reporter she will not quit being Sam's…
Facts: After spending a morning and afternoon drinking beer and injecting cocaine, Pervis Tyrone Payne entered the apartment of 28-year-old Charisse Christopher and her two children, Lacie, age two and Nicholas, age three at approximately 3:00 p.m. on June 27th, 1987. Payne made sexual advances toward Charisse Christopher. She resisted, which lead Payne to kill both Charisse and Lacie. Nicholas was found with several severe stab wounds that completely penetrated him front to back, but he managed to survive. Payne was apprehended later that day hiding in the attic of a former girlfriend’s house. Payne was convicted by a jury of two counts of murder. At sentencing, Payne presented the testimony of his mother, father, Bobbie Thomas and a clinical psychologist. These testimonies’ showed Payne was of good character, he attended church and he was of low intelligence and mentally handicapped. The State presented the testimony of Ms. Christopher’s mother, who spoke of the negative impact of the murders on Nicholas. Furthermore, the prosecutor presented argument regarding Nicholas’ experience. The jury sentenced the Payne to death on each count of murder.…
Deryl Dedmon Jr. pleaded guilty to capital murder and hate crime charges and was given two life sentences and will be serving a total of 55 years in prison. Anderson’s family asked that Dedmon not receive the death penalty. John Aaron Rice, another teenager involved was charged with simple assault and received an 18 year sentence. The third teenager, William Montgomery pleaded guilty in the death of Anderson and received a 19 ½ year prison sentence. Two other men who were not present the night of the Anderson murder but involved in previous hate crimes were Joseph Paul Dominick and Jonathan Kyle Gaskamp. They each pleaded guilty to hate crimes and received a 4 year prison sentence.…
A young adult was in love with the movie Fight Club. Kyle and his friends made movies, fought, and acted like they were the actors from the famous movie. “‘I thought that he thought he was Tyler Durden,’” (Gendar, Burke, and McShane 2). One of Kyle’s friends reported that statement towards the media saying how much Kyle idolized the main character of Fight Club. Kyle had threatened classmates with knifes and was an extremely violent teenager. He plotted his plan accordingly to the famous 1999 movie Fight Club. This incident happened on Memorial Day in New York. Kyle’s homemade explosive device damaged a sidewalk bench and shattered windows at the coffee shop. Shaw was charged with “felony charges of arson and criminal possession of a weapon” (Gendar, Burke, and McShane 2). Shaw should obtain his charges, do his time in jail, and pay his fines that he is required instead of blaming Fight…
October 21, 1982, a Black male constrained his way into the home of a 28-year-old Caucasian woman in a neighborhood of St. Louis, by threating her with a knife, he robbed her of her jewelry and other expensive items and also sexually assaulted the woman numerous times (Briscoe, n.d.). In between the sexual acts, three cigarettes were smoked between the two (Briscoe, n.d.). The victimizer engaged in a conversation with the victim and asked her for her name. She gained confidence and followed by asking him for his name. He lied to her and said he was Johnny Briscoe. Prior to the attacker leaving, he shared that he would call her at a future time and soon after he left the woman called the police (Briscoe, n.d.).…
Michael MacDonald – 16 years old, unable to find parent’s, state issued a child advocate, with the warrant they found the stolen bat. Thomas MacDonald’s nephew, child advocate is Cynthia Perkins he has been scared since the bat was found in his home. Admits that he obtained the bat from his uncle after the uncle stole it from some rich guys house, and was told to hide it. After his uncle shot the rich guy and his wife at their house. Admits to have helped uncle in the past, but this time he didn’t tell him what was going on until some guy named Jonathan picked us up in his car. (Silver car Toyota). After they were picked up they went to the house the kid was told to stand at the door and look out for anyone coming, couple showed up out of nowhere, and then tommy pulled out the gun and shot them. Tommy had Jonathon take him to the bat, they grabbed it and left. Got in the car his uncle gave him the bat and told him to stash it at his house…
Greg was trained to survive on the streets as well as in jail. He became vicious and hunted weak prey by dawning a ski mask and robbing drug spots armed with a shotgun. He would bark orders, knocking heads and collect all the valuables. His drug addiction called for this and he followed, faithfully. His brother Dan convinced him to enter a 90-day program in the heart of skid row in downtown LA. In the first 30-days of his stay in the program he walked the streets while out on a “pass” and saw many people I knew and have known. His skid row life-changing experience taught, and he learned. Greg began to slow down and started becoming more “regular” doing more “normal” things with a new circle of people also in recovery. He soon got married…
In September of 1993, Christopher Simmons broke into the suburban St. Louis home of Shirley Crook with the intention to rob and possibly kill her. Simmons and a friend tied the victim up with duct tape and drove her to a nearby state park. At the park, Simmons pushed the victim, who was still alive, off of a bridge and into the Meramec River where she drowned. Simmons was 17 years old at the time of the murder. Before the crime, he had told several of his friends of the plan to burglarize a home and kill the occupants, noting that they could do it and “get away with it” (not get charged for it) because they were juveniles. 1…
On February 12, 2010, around 11:58 pm I received a kidnap attempt leaving my wife's house, I was intercepted by two guys with guns approach me yelling at me and telling me "white boy" "you’re going to die”. The truck from behind crashed into me, I knew that I had to do something,I didn’t want to die like this, I proceeded to collide with the car pushing it off the road, which I managed to escape. With my car crashed I was able to get back home. We lived in a very conflicting area due to the war of cartels known as the "zetas" and the "the gulf cartels", which we have been targeted by them because my family had good work and belonged to a high social class. My brother-in-law Juan Bernardo Valdez, my wife's brother, was murdered, because this…
January 21, 1998 was the beginning of one of the most appalling police coercion cases, involving the murder of 12-year-old Stephanie Crowe, and the main suspect: her 14-year old brother, Michael. In the morning when Stephanie’s body was found and police called, they interviewed each and every family member, but focused on Michael and two of his closest friends. According to a 2003 New York Times Upfront article, Michael “was questioned for 27 hours over a three day period” (Bell, n.d.). Due to the police believing that Michael and his friends were the ones who committed this crime against his own sister, he wasn’t able to go to her funeral; instead he was being interrogated by authorities and preparing for trial.…
Society relies so vastly on media as a source of information, that in some cases there can be discrepancy on what is deemed as appropriate or not appropriate when covering a story. This is the case for the story of Russell Williams who is charged with two accounts of murder, sexual assault and countless occurrences of breaking and entering. Williams’ case has been highly covered by the media and a great magnitude of disturbing details as well as photos has been provided while documenting events. The amount of information provided to the public has caused a controversy as to what is appropriate and ethical to share in concern of the victims directly involved in the case. The information provided as well as the photos is a necessary approach in order to inform the public of the severity of the situation. There are however, certain unnecessary disturbing details that should be omitted.…
There is a boy in all of your high school advanced classes. You talk to him regularly, but not quite enough to spend time together outside of school. He is what your parents would call “a good kid”, attentive, friendly, and polite. You know about his friends and his family, his activities and his interests, his grades and his religion. And you know about the end of his previous relationship. But one day, you hear rumors going around that he was convicted of first degree murder of another classmate, his ex-girlfriend, to be exact. This could never happen, right? Well, in Baltimore, Maryland, this was a reality for many students attending Woodlawn High School in 1999. However, his trial did not provide sufficient evidence to incriminate him.…
On Friday, 57 year old Robert Lewis Dear killed 3 people at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The man brought duffle bags full of weapons to the clinic such as handguns, rifles, and propane tanks and proceeded to shoot at random at the people inside and surrounding the building. Their is no explanation behind why the Planned Parenthood clinic was targeted, but Dear had told investigators “no more baby parts” after his arrest. This leads investigators to believe he was acting on an anti-abortion agenda (Coffman). A policeman and two civilians were killed in the attack, and several more people were injured. Dear was taken in before a judge over video feed from the prison on Monday. Dear was wearing a protective vest to prevent him from harming himself when he appeared in front the court. Standing along with him in the video was public defender Daniel King who was representing him. King was also on the defense team for the Colorado movie shooter James Holmes. The only time Dear talked during the appearance was to answer questions the judge provided. They only things discussed were what charges were placed upon…
* A young man has been arrested and is serving jail time for drug possession, assault, and armed robbery. Throughout his childhood and adolescence he has been in and out of trouble at school and with the juvenile justice system.…
As community members, we have responsibilities. One of our most important responsibilities is social responsibility because it requires all of us to make a difference. The issue in the video is using the cell phone while driving. Using a cell phone while driving is an organizational issue because it disrupts the justice system and results in many victims. According to the No Phone Zone video an estimated 812,000 people use mobile devices while driving, one out of three teen drivers admit to texting while driving, 5,870 people were killed and 515,000 people were injured because of distracted drivers (2010). This growing ethical issue has compelled people to take a stand on April 30, 2010 to form an awareness day called No Phone Zone Day (No Phone Zone Day, 2010). Not only is driving while using a cell phone an ethical issue, it is currently a legal issue as well in many states.…