UK- British Child Molester Priest Stabbed 24 Times in a Tripoli Apartment

7-25-2009 United Kingdom:

The British Anglican priest John Mountford who was found dead in his apartment in ‎Tripoli, Libya on 18 July was stabbed 24 times by a 15-year old boy, sources told The ‎Tripoli Post on Thursday 23 July.‎

The British priest used to contact Libyan children by chatting with them on the internet ‎telling them he would teach them English, the sources added. He would also give them ‎his local phone number in order to set up appointments for meetings.‎

The child abuser was found lying dead, in the kitchen at his apartment at Zawit Al-‎Dahhmani area by his Libyan friend who went to check on him in his apartment when ‎Mountford did not answer the repeated phone calls.‎

This Libyan friend opened the door with a key previously given to him by the dead man, ‎he later informed the police of the incident.‎

Two kids, brothers, aged between 13 and 15 were arrested when the Libyan police found ‎their phone number in the British priest’s cell phone, the sources said. They later were ‎released.‎

A number of other Libyans have also been interviewed by the police and were released. ‎The investigation is still ongoing.‎

The two brothers knew Mountford before he left to England this summer. ‎

A relative of the two brothers told The Tripoli Post that Mountford tried to approach ‎them sexually after which they decided not to meet him anymore. ‎

However, their relative also said that after his return from Britain, Muntford had ‎contacted them again via the internet and got their phone number that he seemed to have ‎lost after he earlier lost his old CIM card.‎

According to The Times, Mountford’s employers reported him missing to the British ‎Embassy in Tripoli on Thursday 19 July soon after he returned from visiting relatives in ‎Britain. The British Foreign Office was informed on Saturday night 20 July that child-‎abuser’s had been found.‎

The former St Peter's College chaplain escaped justice in the courts in Australia in 2007 ‎after child-sex charges against him were dropped.‎ ..Source.. by The Tripoli Post

Parole appeal denied for Alberta woman who helped kill suspected child molester

7-20-2009 Canada:

EDMONTON - The appeal division of the National Parole Board has upheld a decision to deny extended parole to a woman who helped rape, torture and strangle a central Alberta man.

Yvonne Johnson appealed the board's decision that she must return to a halfway house every night.

She argued they should not have ordered a psychological assessment and said she wished to visit her ailing mother, according to the decision.

But the appeal division ruled the board was right to consider the violence of the crime, alcohol abuse and the short length of time Johnson has been on day parole.

"The board was appropriately concerned with the potential risks associated with your successful reintegration into the community and the safety of the public," reads the decision.

Johnson was convicted of first-degree murder for her part in the death of Leonard (Chuck) Skwarok in a basement in Wetaskiwin, Alta., in 1989.

She and three others had been drinking when they killed Skwarok, who they mistakenly believed was a child molester.

Johnson was initially sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years, but was granted day parole in January 2008 after getting permission to apply early under the Criminal Code's faint-hope clause.

While in prison, she co-wrote the best-selling novel "Stolen Life" with Edmonton author Rudy Wiebe about her abusive childhood, the murder and her time behind bars. ..Source.. by THE CANADIAN PRESS

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Convicted killer Thatcher can profit from memoir

4-20-2009 Canada:

SASKATOON — Convicted killer Colin Thatcher is in luck he lives in Saskatchewan.

If he had moved to Alberta or Manitoba, he likely wouldn’t be able to make money from the sale of his new book.

The neighbouring provinces have laws in place preventing convicted criminals from pocketing profits on the sale of their crime stories.

Victims’ rights advocate Shelley Marshall says there needs to be a law that applies across the country.

Thatcher “should not get a dime,” says Marshall, president of the Manitoba Organization for Victim Assistance.

“He was found guilty of murdering the mother of his children.”

Marshall’s son was slain in Winnipeg in 2001. Although she agrees with freedom of speech, it pains her to think his two killers could earn money if they were to write a book about the crime.

“For people who have lost a loved one to homicide, they would find what (Thatcher) wishes to do at the least disappointing and at the worst reprehensible.”

Word leaked last week that Thatcher has penned a 440-page memoir titled “Final Appeal: Anatomy of a Frame.” The book argues his innocence and details the 22 years he spent behind bars.

ECW Press, an independent publishing company in Toronto, plans to have the book on store shelves Sept. 1.

Publisher Jack David says Thatcher researched the issue of whether a law prevents him from accepting royalties on the book and found none exists in Saskatchewan.

Laur’Lei Silzer, a spokeswoman for Saskatchewan Justice, confirms the province doesn’t have a law in place.

Thatcher, now 70, lives on his family ranch near Moose Jaw.

He has maintained his innocence since his ex-wife, JoAnn Wilson, was bludgeoned and shot to death in the garage of her Regina home in 1983. A year later, Thatcher was convicted of first-degree murder.

Ontario became the first province to pass its Victim’s Right to Proceeds of Crime Act in 1994.

It was modelled on “Son of Sam” laws in the United States. New York led the movement after rumours circulated that publishers were offering large amounts of money to serial killer David Berkowitz for his story. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, struck down the New York law in 1991.

The same statute was also struck down in California, spurring O.J. Simpson to write the book “If I Did It,” a hypothetical account of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman — crimes of which Simpson was acquitted. A Florida bankruptcy court later awarded rights to the book to Goldman’s family to satisfy an unpaid civil judgment against Simpson.

An attempt at a Canada-wide law preventing criminals from profiting from the commercialization of their crimes through books, movies and other media was first made in 1995. Supported by victims’ organizations but criticized by writers’ groups, the bill died in the Senate three years later.

In the past few years, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Alberta have each passed their own criminal notoriety legislation.

Each law is somewhat different, but they generally allow governments to seize profits and forward them to either the victims of the crimes in question or general victims’ support funds. The laws also allow for fines of up to $50,000 to be imposed on offenders, publishers and movie makers.

The laws only apply to people who live in those provinces, although Manitoba’s law goes one step further. In an attempt to cover convicts transferred to prisons outside the province, the law also applies to people whose crimes took place in Manitoba.

The Manitoba law has dissuaded at least one killer there from inking a book. A jury heard evidence last year that Sydney Teerhuis-Moar planned to write a book with a freelance writer detailing how he stabbed and dismembered Robin Greene at a Winnipeg hotel.

When Teerhuis-Moar learned there was a law preventing him from earning money, he changed his mind.

Before Alberta passed its law, convicted killer Yvonne Johnson co-wrote the book “Stolen Life: that Journey of a Cree Woman” with author Rudy Wiebe. Johnson was convicted of first-degree murder for the brutal, drunken killing of Leonard Skwarok in 1989. Johnson mistakenly believed the man was a child molester.

The book was nominated for a Governor General’s Award, but Skwarok’s family has publicly expressed their anger over the fame and profits Johnson gained from telling her story.

In 2005, when Karla Homolka was released from prison in Quebec, justice officials in Ontario worried they would no longer be able to enforce the parts of her infamous plea-bargain that banned her from telling her story through a book or movie.

Homolka served a 12-year manslaughter sentence for her part in the sex-slayings of teens Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French.

Lawyer and author Garrett Wilson of Regina says he’s sure Thatcher isn’t writing the book to make money.

“He’s doing this for the publicity and the personal satisfaction,” says Wilson.

Wilson, who wrote the 1985 best-seller “Deny, Deny, Deny” about the rise and fall of Thatcher, is surprised a respected publishing company like ECW Press would take on his memoir.

Wilson says Western Producer Prairie Books was criticized by the publishing industry after it put out Thatcher’s first book, “Backrooms: A Story of Politics,” that he wrote while he was in prison.

Still behind bars, Thatcher claimed to have written a sequel focusing on his ex-wife’s murder, says Wilson.

“Because of the criticism of the first book, Western Producer wouldn’t touch it and no one else would.” ..Source.. by Chris Purdy, THE CANADIAN PRESS

FL- Raymond Wigley Murdered in Prison

7-18-2009 Florida:

The account of Raymond Wigley's murder in prison is put together from multiple sources.

Starting with the June 17, 2009 news article below "Date Set Again For Marek Execution" we find these two comments:

"In 1983, Marek and Wigley were convicted of kidnapping, raping and strangling Adella Marie Simmons after her car broke down on Florida's Turnpike. Marek and Wigley stopped and persuaded Simmons to ride with them to a service station. They instead took her to a beach about 60 miles away where she was strangled with a bandana after being sexually assaulted. Her body was found in a lifeguard shack on Dania Beach."

"Wigley was sentenced to life in prison and Marek received the death penalty. Marek has been on death row for 25 years. Wigley, meantime, died in prison in 2000. Ironically, he was strangled by a fellow inmate."

So we have, Raymond Wigley -a convicted rapist & murderer- was himself murdered by a fellow inmate in 2000.

Searching the Internet we then find the appellate court case of JOHN RICHARD MAREK, Appellant, -vs.- STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee. (No. SC09-765 5-8-2009)

On page 2 is this footnote:

1. Marek’s codefendant, Raymond Wigley, was tried separately and sentenced to life in prison for his role in the kidnapping and murder of Simmons. Wigley was later murdered in prison by John Blackwelder. See Blackwelder v. State, 851 So. 2d 650 (Fla. 2003) (affirming Blackwelder’s conviction for first-degree murder and his sentence of death).

From pp10-11:
The prosecutor related the factual basis for the plea, and the defense agreed that the State could establish a prima facie case:

MR. DEKLE: Basically, the state stands ready to prove that the defendant, in his cell at Columbia Correctional Institution here in Columbia County, tied inmate Raymond Wigley in a four-point restraints into -- on the bottom bunk that was in that cell, that he then took a ligature and tied it around the neck of Mr. Wigley and compressed that ligature to the point that he killed Mr. Wigley by strangulation.

At that point he then left the cell, leaving the body in the cell, went and reported his conduct to a correctional officer. The FDLE and the Office of the Inspector General were summoned to the scene. Since that time Mr. Blackwelder has given a full and complete taped statement in which he admitted to premeditating the murder of Mr. Wigley and describing how he committed that murder. That complete taped statement was made after a full and complete advisal of his Miranda rights. A transcript of that statement is in the court file.

Since that time Mr. Blackwelder has written a number of letters which contain what the State contends to be admissions to the -- to the -- to the homicide.

And that’s basically the evidence that the state stands ready to prove to prove the premeditated homicide. When we get to the penalty phase, we’ll be offering a tremendous amount of additional evidence as it relates to the circumstances of the homicide. But that’s enough to prove the premeditated murder.

This documents the death of Raymond Wigley.

eAdvocate

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Date Set Again For Marek Execution

7-17-2009 Florida:

Florida Can Execute John Marek After State Supreme Court Ruling

Justices Stayed Execution In May In Order To Hear New Evidence

Marek Was Convicted Of Kidnapping, Raping & Strangling A Woman In 1993.

FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) --A date has been set, for the second time, for convicted killer Richard Marek's execution for the murder of a South Florida woman two decades ago.

Marek is to be executed by lethal injection on Friday, August 21.

Marek was supposed to be executed May 13 for the 1983 kidnapping, rape and murder of Adella Marie Simmons in Broward County.

The Supreme Court put the execution on hold May 11, allowing Marek time to argue his accomplice, Raymond Wigley, was the actual killer. A Broward Circuit Court was told to review the appeal, which it denied.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court agreed with the decision and lifted the stay.

In 1983, Marek and Wigley were convicted of kidnapping, raping and strangling Adella Marie Simmons after her car broke down on Florida's Turnpike. Marek and Wigley stopped and persuaded Simmons to ride with them to a service station. They instead took her to a beach about 60 miles away where she was strangled with a bandana after being sexually assaulted. Her body was found in a lifeguard shack on Dania Beach.

Three prison inmates testified in court in June that Wigley confessed to being the actual killer. All three inmates were previous cellmates of Wigley's.

When they were caught by police, Wigley confessed, but said it was Marek who strangled Simmons.

Wigley was sentenced to life in prison and Marek received the death penalty. Marek has been on death row for 25 years. Wigley, meantime, died in prison in 2000. Ironically, he was strangled by a fellow inmate. ..Source.. by



Article: Florida inmate who wanted state to kill him is executed

5-27-2004 Florida:

A man who said he killed a fellow prison inmate so the state of Florida would give him the death penalty has been executed.

John Blackwelder, 49, received an injection of chemicals at Florida State Prison on Wednesday, a spokesman for Gov. Jeb Bush said.

Blackwelder was convicted in the May 2000 strangling of Raymond Wigley, 39, who was serving a life term for murder.

At the time, Blackwelder faced life without parole for a series of sex convictions. He said he killed Wigley and pleaded guilty to first-degree murder because he wanted to die but couldn't bring himself to … ..Source.. by AP

Murdered man ‘vigilante victim’

7-18-2009 Australia:

An alleged paedophile murdered as he slept in his Mandurah home in January was the victim of a vigilante attack, friends said yesterday.

They said Robert George Dalliston, 69, who was to face 25 charges of indecent dealings and sexual penetration involving several girls aged under 13, was a gentle and kind man who was killed as retribution for the alleged sex abuse.

Police believe Mr Dalliston, a widowed pensioner who lived alone, was attacked on January 8 while he slept at his Ward Street home. His body was found seven days later by a friend who went to check on him.

The charges against him were formally dropped in the District Court on Thursday after the Director of Public Prosecutions presented a death certificate.

Raelene Phillips, who lived across the street from Mr Dalliston, said he used to visit several times a week to socialise with her and her husband Jeffrey.

She did not believe he was a paedophile but believed the allegations led to his murder.

“He was a lovely, funny man and when people around here started saying he was a paedophile I just thought, ‘What? Where has that come from’,” Mrs Phillips said.

“I never believed he was that type of person. I had my grandchildren around him many times and he was more interested in us than the kids. But I think that (the allegations) is why they murdered him. Somebody’s sneaked in there and killed him because of that. It is just so sad that he has been killed because of allegations that were never even proved.”

She feared the police investigation into his death could be hindered because of the abuse allegations.

“I just hope that anyone who knows what happened to him wouldn’t hold back from telling the police because they thought he was a paedophile,” Mrs Phillips said.

Another former neighbour, who did not want her name published, said Mr Dalliston had been a good friend who regularly helped her with handyman work.

She described his death as tragic and said she, too, believed the murder might have been prompted by the sexual abuse allegations.

“He was going to court the next day (on sex charges), so my first thought was that someone’s got to him before he could talk,” she said.

Mr Dalliston was last seen alive at 8.22am on January 8. He was filmed on a CCTV camera at the post office at Silver Sands shopping centre in Mandurah. Detectives believe he went to Perth that day to volunteer at a bike shop before going home.

A week after his body was found, police raided a home in Elizabeth Street, three streets from the murder scene, and questioned an acquaintance of Mr Dalliston in his 40s. Detectives said they took clothes for forensic tests from that and other houses. ..Source.. by RONAN O’CONNELL

CA- Carmichael Couple Charged In Man's Death

7-14-2009 California:

Missing 66-Year-Old's Body Found In El Dorado County

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Investigators have recovered evidence they said connects a married couple to the death of a missing 66-year-old man.

On Saturday, deputies arrested Charles Francis Gaskin, 44, and his wife, Sandra Sheaves, 40, both of Carmichael, charging them with murder, according to a statement issued Sunday by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.

The arrests stem from an investigation into the disappearance of a man whom KCRA 3 sources identified on Monday as Neil Hayes. Acting on a tip that Hayes stayed at the couple's house in the 4900 block of Whitney Avenue, homicide detectives executed a search warrant and discovered evidence that they said indicates he was murdered there.

The investigation led authorities to a site in rural El Dorado County, where authorities from Sacramento and El Dorado counties found a man's body. The Sacramento County Coroner’s Office was scheduled to perform an autopsy to determine an exact cause of death.

Sacramento County detectives said Gaskin and Sheaves killed Hayes in their home and dumped him in rural El Corado County.

Hayes and Gaskin had spent time in prison together. Sources told KCRA 3 that Hayes was a sex offender, which may contribute to a possible motive.

Authorities arrested Gaskin without incident late Saturday night at a friend's house in San Francisco, and detectives arrested Sheaves at her home shortly before midnight. Both have arraignments scheduled for Tuesday.

If you have information regarding this investigation, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department asks you to contact homicide detectives by dialing 916-874-5115. ..Source.. by KCRA3.com

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Officials identify man, 66, found dead in rural El Dorado County

7-13-2009 California:

Sacramento County coroner's officials have identified the 66-year-old man found dead on Saturday in rural El Dorado County.

He was Neil Lee Hayes of Sacramento. A deputy coroner said he did not have a permanent address.

Authorities have arrested a Carmichael couple, Charles Francis Gaskin, 44, and his wife, Sandra Sheaves, 40, in connection with Hayes' death.

Hayes was first reported missing Friday and his body discovered about 8 p.m. Saturday on Newtown Road near Placerville, authorities said.

Sacramento County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Tim Curran said the victim is believed to have been killed in the couple's residence in the 4900 block of Whitney Avenue sometimes between June 29 and July 1.

Curran said the victim and Gaskin met in prison. Sacramento County online court records show that Gaskin had a misdemeanor theft case in 1997 that was dismissed and Hayes had court records dating back to 1989.

His last record showed he pleaded no contest to a felony sex-related offense in 2005. The records showed no filings on Sheaves. Curran said that the victim had been staying at the couple's residence for the past several months. ..Source.. by Chelsea Phua

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Supremacist convicted of killing child molester sentenced to 26 years to life in prison

5-4-2013:

A Northern California white supremacist convicted of killing a child molester has been sentenced to 26 years to life in prison, while his wife — convicted of being an accessory — will be released from jail in about two months, The Sacramento Bee reported (http://bit.ly/17D3Y4l ) Saturday.

Charles Francis Gaskins, 48, was sentenced Friday after pleading no contest in March for the killing of Neil Hayes in 2009. A probation report said Gaskins was a member of a supremacist group that required its members to attack anyone with a history of child molestation.

Gaskins and his wife — Sandra Sheaves — was living in a home she owned in Carmichael, a community outside of Sacramento, when they allowed the 66-year-old Hayes to move in. Gaskins had met Hayes while they were both serving time in prison, The Bee said.

When Sheaves discovered on the Megan’s Law website that Hayes was a registered sex offender, she told Gaskins.

Gaskins and Sheaves confronted Hayes in the garage of the home, with Gaskins killing him by repeatedly hitting him in the head with a large rock, prosecutors said.

Hayes’ body was later found dumped along the side of a rural road about 35 miles away in Placerville.

As part of his no-contest plea, Gaskins insisted authorities go easy on Sheaves, who also was charged with Hayes’ murder.

Prosecutors agreed, allowing her to plead no contest to accessory to murder. Sheaves, 43, was sentenced to eight years in prison.

“In a way, you almost instigated this, by showing the information from Megan’s Law to Mr. Gaskins,” Sacramento Superior Court Judge Sharon Lueras said in sentencing Sheaves.

With time served and other factors, Sheaves is expected to be released in 66 days, according to her attorney, James Warden. ..Source.. by Washington Post

OH- Coroner: Suspected Rapist Died From Gunshot Wounds

7-10-2009 Ohio:

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A suspected serial rapist from Los Angeles died after being shot several times by police officers along Interstate 70 earlier this week, the Fairfield County Coroner ruled Thursday.

According to the coroner, Abram Bynum died after suffering gunshot wounds to his head, trunk and extremities, 10TV's Lindsey Seavert reported.

The autopsy was performed in Fairfield County because Bynum, 35, died along a stretch of freeway there.

Six officers opened fire on Bynum, 35, as they approached his wrecked Cadillac on I-70, near state Route 256, on Tuesday afternoon. Bynum crashed the car into a tanker truck as he attempted to elude police in a chase that began earlier in the day on the city's east side.

Authorities have yet to say whether or not Bynum had a weapon with him, but police said at some point the officers approaching the car feared for their lives, Seavert reported.

The coroner said Bynum only suffered minor injuries in the crash.

Bynum was suspected in at least five sexual assaults in Los Angeles County.

According to detectives, DNA evidence had linked Bynum to five sexual assaults that occurred in Los Angeles County between 2004 and 2007, 10TV News reported.

Prosecutors in California had filed 19 charges against Bynum in connection with the crimes.

Before Tuesday's pursuit, Columbus police were conducting surveillance on Bynum at the request of California authorities.

Investigators are looking into the possibility that Bynum was involved in similar crimes in Columbus, 10TV News reported.

"I'd say probably six to eight cases in Columbus," said Columbus police Commander Michael Manley.

Manley said he suspects Bynum attacked women on the city's northeast side, snatching them off the street, forcing them into his car and beating and raping them.

"When we got the info from L.A. on their cases and we talked about it and said let's go back and look, and that series was strikingly similar, I mean almost exact," Manley said.

Investigators planned to reopen those cases.

"We're going to have to find the victims again," Manley said. "It may not be that easy. And you're going to handle it like a fresh case." ..Source.. by 10TV News

ME- In Maine, Prison Crowding Leaves Grisly Legacy

This is one case where I have pieced together bits of articles that reference what happened to this man back in 1991-1992:

2-21-1992 Maine:

1992 Maine:

It's business as usual in the Maine state prison system these days - too many inmates, no money for new cells, no money for programs. Were Larry Richardson still there, he'd recognize it all too well.

Richardson was serving eight years for child molestation at the Maine State Prison when his body was found against the bars of his cell, hanging by a twisted sheet. He had been tortured for four nights by his cellmate, who pounded out one of his teeth against a toilet bowl and kicked him in the groin until the bruises reached from Richardson's thighs to his waistline.

Prisoners up and down a dark corridor orchestrated Richardson's punishment, but although they shouted and sang and acted out ... ..Source.. by Sharon LaFraniere


See the article copied from below quote:

The old state prison building in Thomaston was the scene of some high-profile crimes, including the slaying of inmate Larry L. Richardson in 1990. Richardson was convicted of child molestation and was “unspeakably tortured” and finally murdered by his cellmate after a three-day “kangaroo court” conducted by inmates, according to a 1993 report from the Maine Attorney General’s Office.

Police: Child molester’s death ruled a homicide

6-10-2009 Maine:

WARREN, Maine — Just four days after his April 16 transfer to the Maine State Prison in Warren, Sheldon Weinstein suffered the blunt force injuries that would kill him.

On Wednesday morning, the Maine State Police said Weinstein’s April 24 death was a homicide.

Weinstein, 64, of New Hartford, N.Y., was serving a two-year sentence for gross sexual assault on a child in Berwick. Details of his death were scanty, and police said the investigation is continuing.

“These things unfold, and they don’t always unfold immediately,” Lt. Gary Wright of the Maine State Police said Wednesday.

After an autopsy conducted on April 26, the state medical examiner’s office confirmed Wednesday that the cause of death was blunt force trauma.

Wright said authorities had interviewed corrections officers, staff and other inmates. No one has yet been charged with the crime, and Wright said it isn’t the policy of the state police to discuss suspects, the weapon or the circumstances around the blunt force assault.

“We’re not concerned that it’s anything outside the facility,” he said. “We’re getting a pretty good grip on things.”

Three employees of the Maine State Prison were placed on administrative leave after the April 20 incident, said Denise Lord, associate commissioner of the Department Of Corrections.

“The decision to place employees on administrative leave [is] a result of a personnel investigation, not as a result of the Maine State Police homicide investigation,” Lord said.

Weinstein, who once owned a condominium at Samoset Resort in Rockport, was arrested last summer in New Hartford. He confessed to the sexual assault and was extradited to Maine, according to Berwick police Capt. Jerry Locke.

Locke said Wednesday that Weinstein sexually assaulted the child, a young girl, approximately between Jan. 1, 2000 and Dec. 31, 2004.

Weinstein pleaded guilty last fall to a Class A felony charge of gross sexual assault on a victim under the age of 16, according to the New Hampshire newspaper Foster’s Daily Democrat. He was sentenced on Oct. 24 at York County Superior Court to eight years in prison with all but two years suspended. He also was sentenced to four years probation once he was released from the Maine state prison system. He initially served time at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham but later was transferred to the maximum-security facility in Warren.

According to Lord, the number of prisoner assaults at the Maine State Prison has been declining. She said she is “fairly certain” that Weinstein’s slaying is the first homicide at the Maine State Prison’s new facility in Warren. The old state prison building in Thomaston was the scene of some high-profile crimes, including the slaying of inmate Larry L. Richardson in 1990. Richardson was convicted of child molestation and was “unspeakably tortured” and finally murdered by his cellmate after a three-day “kangaroo court” conducted by inmates, according to a 1993 report from the Maine Attorney General’s Office.

“Overall, it’s a relatively safe facility,” Lord said of the prison in Warren.

In accordance with department policy, officials have reviewed the incident that led to Weinstein’s death in case there were “lapses in practice or protocols,” Lord said.

“We do have a responsibility for prisoners who either believe, or ask, to be placed in what we call protective custody — a housing assignment that assures their safety,” she said. “Our policy is to afford protective custody to all prisoners who need it.”

Efforts to reach a Weinstein family spokesman or locate an obituary were unsuccessful. ..Source.. by Abigail Curtis

LA- JPSO investigating River Ridge murder

7-3-2009 Louisiana:

NEW ORLEANS ? Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Officers are investigating the early morning murder of a man in River Ridge after responding to a call of subject shot.

Sheriff Newell Normand said officers found Anthony E. Paul, 23, shot several times in the 500 block of Richard Street in River Ridge at about 1:30 a.m. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

Crime scene investigators found a “number of spent 9 mm shell casings” near Paul.

Paul has a history of arrests in his past, including narcotics violations, resisting arrest, parole violation. Additionally, he was a Code 6 sex offender.

Anyone with information related to the shooting should call Crimestoppers at 822-1111. ..Source.. by Bradley Handwerger / Eyewitness News

NV- Vegas Detective Kills Accused Child Molester

7-3-2009 Nevada:

Man Suspected Of Child Sex Abuse, Domestic Violence, Metro Says

LAS VEGAS -- A child-molestation suspect was shot and killed by a Las Vegas Metro detective on Wednesday.

The shooting occurred just before 1 p.m. near North Rancho Drive and West Alexander Road.

The foot pursuit happened about a half-mile back at a home on North Rancho and Duncan drives and ended with police killing the suspect.

"We (have) seen stuff happen before. It's always something happening but never like this," said neighbor Rebecca Ludington.

A normally quiet neighborhood was wrapped in crime scene tape, and neighbors were barricaded inside their homes after an attempt to arrest a suspect turned fatal.

“There came a time when detectives tried to put him in custody … broke away from officers, and a long foot pursuit ensued," said Capt. Randy Montandon.

Metro said the chase began after the suspect was questioned by two detectives at a neighboring business. The man was suspected of child sex abuse and domestic violence.

During the chase, the detectives attempted to use a Taser but were unsuccessful. A physical altercation ensued, and Metro said the detectives had no choice but to use deadly force.

“It was all about capturing the suspect and keeping the community safe from predators. These officers went way above and beyond to try and do that,” Montandon said.

The suspect was taken down in front of a home on West Alexander Road and Helen Avenue. Neighbors coming home to a crime scene said they were stunned.

Investigators wrapped up their work at the scene, and police have not released the suspect’s identity. Police said they do not believe he lived in this area.

This was the 10th officer-involved shooting in Metro's jurisdiction this year. ..Source.. by Fox5News

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OFFICER-INVOLVED SHOOTING: Police account is disputed

Woman says she didn't see 'physical altercation' before suspect was killed

An eyewitness account appears to contradict police statements about the Wednesday officer-involved shooting that left a sexual assault suspect dead.

The witness said she didn't see the "physical altercation" between two detectives and the suspect that was described by Las Vegas police.

"What we saw was there was no Taser. There was no fight," said the woman, who lives down the street from the scene of the shooting, in a residential neighborhood near Alexander Road and Rancho Drive.

"He was running. He was just (expletive) running," she said, adding that the suspect's back was facing detectives.

The woman spoke to the Review-Journal on condition that her name not be used, saying she doesn't want to "get in the middle of that." She said she hasn't spoken to police because police told her to go home when she approached them at the scene at two different times. Her husband, who was also a witness, was too ill to be interviewed Thursday.

In a brief Wednesday news conference and in a news release issued Thursday, police produced few details about the shooting.

Police said that two detectives with the department's sexual assault unit were investigating a sexual assault case involving a child under 14 years of age.

They were interviewing a "person of interest" at his work, at the El Jen Convalescent Hospital and Retirement Center at 5538 Duncan Drive, less than a quarter-mile down the street from where the shooting took place.

After interviewing the man, the detectives determined he was a suspect and placed him under arrest. During the arrest, the man fled. Detectives chased him on foot.

At some point a detective deployed a Taser, which police said wasn't effective in stopping the man. The chase lasted about a half-mile and ended in front of a vacant home on the northeast corner of Alexander Road and Helen Avenue.

That's where police said one of the detectives and the suspect became involved in a "physical altercation." During the altercation, police said the detective fired his handgun twice, killing the suspect.

The unidentified man was pronounced dead at the scene. His name was not released as of Thursday.

The witness said she was driving north on Helen, approaching Alexander with her husband, who was in the passenger's seat of their pickup. They were stopped at the stop sign when they saw the detectives, a man and a woman, chasing the suspect in front of the vacant house.

The suspect had very short hair and a tan complexion. The detectives were in plainclothes and she didn't know they were police.

"It looked like a married couple was chasing him," the woman said. "I was thinking, 'What the hell did he do to piss them off?' "

She saw the detectives lunge at the suspect. It appeared the male detective might have grabbed the suspect or touched him, she said, because the suspect stumbled forward but kept running.

The female detective fell to the ground and began gasping for air. She saw the male detective stumble, raise a firearm and shoot the suspect. She estimated the suspect was about seven or eight feet away from the detective. The suspect was about to round the southwest corner of the house and head north on Helen, she said.

She heard one shot, although police reported two shots were fired. The suspect fell to the ground, flailed around for a few moments, and lay still.

Her husband rolled down the truck's passenger-side window and said, "What the (expletive) is going on here?" she said.

The male detective pulled his badge and said they were with the police and that the couple needed to leave, the woman said.

She and her husband went home, parked their truck and walked back to the scene before other officers arrived. When they returned to the scene, "They told us, 'You need to leave,' " she said.

The couple left without giving a statement to police. She said the detectives knew they were witnesses to the shooting.

The department on Thursday would not release additional details about the suspect or the event. The names of the detectives will be released 48 hours after the shooting, per department policy. They have been placed on routine paid administrative leave, also per department policy.

"As with all officer-involved shootings resulting in death, there will be an inquest convened and the details of this officer-involved shooting will come out in this process," Metropolitan Police Department Sgt. John Loretto said.

He said he couldn't comment on the witness's account but encouraged her and her husband to come forward to give their accounts to police.

"I certainly couldn't speculate, but the agency definitely needs to speak to them," Loretto said.

The woman said she isn't going to seek the police out again but will talk to them if they come to her.

According to state law, a police officer can, after giving a warning, use deadly force to prevent an escape if there is probable cause to believe that the person "has committed a felony which involves the infliction or threat of serious bodily harm or the use of deadly force" or "poses a threat of serious bodily harm to the officer or to others."

That justification was used in 2006 when police shot handcuffed 17-year-old Swuave Lopez, a suspect in a murder case, as the teen was running away.

Loretto would not speculate on whether that was the justification for Wednesday's shooting. Capt. Randy Montandon said Wednesday that the suspect was wanted in "separate instances with multiple victims, one in a domestic violence-type situation and the other a sex with a child under 14 situation."

Details of those cases have not been released.

Other witnesses were at the scene and have spoken to police, Montandon and Loretto said. The witness said she saw one other person at the scene, stopped at the intersection in a small car.

She said she has little sympathy for the suspect.

"He's a child molester. He deserves what he got." ..Source.. by Lawrence Mower

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Suspect Stunned By Taser Before Being Shot

7-1-2009 Nevada:

Metro Says Man Took Off When They Tried To Arrest Him

LAS VEGAS -- A Metro police officer has shot and killed a child-molestation suspect on North Rancho Drive and West Alexander Road.

The incident began in the 5000 block of Duncan Drive, Metro said. Police officers said they were interviewing 32-year-old John Hambleton, and when they tried to place him under arrest, he ran from them.

Police said they ran after Hambleton, but he kept running, so they used a Taser on him.

When the stun gun did not work, they shot him, and he died, police said.

Police said they are looking for a possible witness in a gold Ford Crown Victoria. ..Source..

MI- Ypsilanti Township man shot by deputy had threatened parents, was facing trial on rape charge

7-1-2009 Michigan:

When Uvon Bevins petitioned a Washtenaw County court for a personal protection order against her adult son in late 2000, she feared for her life.

"Last night he yelled all night that he was going to kill me today," Bevins, who also used the name Yvonne, wrote in a hand-written note attached to a court filing seeking a personal protection order for herself and her husband. "He said that when he decides to shoot himself again, he's going to take us with him."

That fear expressed more than eight years ago came true this past weekend when Ira Bevins Jr. shot his mother dead in her Ypsilanti Township home and set it on fire. He was killed minutes later by Washtenaw County Sheriff's deputies in a confrontation less than a half-mile from the house.

When he died early Sunday morning, Bevins was out on bond, awaiting a July 20 jury trial on a rape charge.

Bevins, who had a history of alcohol problems, was anxious about the case, which was fast approaching trial after nearly a year of delays and legal wrangling since the alleged assault occurred, a police investigator said.

"He was upset about his case and had been out drinking that day," said Detective Sgt. JIm Bundshuh of the Michigan State Police, who is investigating both shootings. "He eventually ended up at his mother's, but we're still trying to understand everything that occurred."

The shootings came one month after Washtenaw Circuit Judge David Swartz discontinued required alcohol testing of Bevins at the request of Bevins' public defense attorney, who argued that he had passed all the tests in the months after his arrest on the rape charge.

Bevins was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, stemming from an incident that occurred on the late night and early morning of Aug. 4 and 5, 2008.

According to testimony from the victim, she and Bevins had become reacquainted at Alcoholics Anonymous events. On Aug. 4, she and her 4-year-old daughter visited her deceased mother's house, located around the corner from Bevins' house.

The victim testified that over the course of the evening she and Bevins drank. She said she doesn't remember much more about the night, other than that she woke up without her shorts or underwear on. She went to the hospital and had a rape examination.

Bevins was free after posting 10 percent of a $15,000 bond. As part of the bond conditions, he was required to undergo regular alcohol testing. Court records show he passed all those tests and that Swartz discontinued that condition of his bond at the end of May.

In arguing for a higher bond, Washtenaw County Assistant Prosecutor Samuel Holtz had described Bevins as someone who had a long history with police.

"He is what is known as a nasty drunk," Holtz said. "(That) manifests itself into assaultive behavior ..."

In her Dec. 29, 2000, request for a personal protection order, Yvonne Bevins said her son had a long battle with mental illness and had been sent to various mental hospitals for treatment.

She wrote that in the previous six months he had become "very uncontrollable," and she described his threats against her and her now-deceased husband, who was Ira Bevins' father, including kicking down their bedroom door at one point. She also noted that he had shot and wounded himself in January 1994.

A judge granted that PPO.

On April 28, 2001, Bevins pleaded guilty to violating that PPO and was sentenced to 45 days in the county jail, with 30 days suspended, court records show.

Then on July 2, 2001, Yvonne Bevins wrote the court again, asking for the personal protection order to be lifted.

"I don't think a PPO is a good idea. Since I got the PPO on him, he has made a very big improvement."

A judge terminated the PPO on July 5, 2001. ..Source.. by David Jesse | The Ann Arbor News

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Ypsilanti Township man killed by police suspected of killing his mother

6-29-2009 Michiugan:

A 43-year-old Ypsilanti Township man shot his mother to death and then set her home ablaze before being killed himself minutes later by police responding to the scene, authorities said.

Ira Bevins was shot and killed early Sunday morning by a Washtenaw County Sheriff's deputy near the corner of Wendell and Redleaf streets, just a few blocks from where firefighters battled a blaze at the Bevins family home on Pageant Street.

Inside the home, firefighters found the body of Uvon Bevins, 66, who had been shot, said Detective Sgt. Jim Bundshuh of the Michigan State Police. ..Source..

Saudis Behead, Crucify Convicted Child Molester, Murderer

5-30-2009 Saudi Arabia:

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi authorities beheaded and crucified a man convicted of brutally slaying an 11-year-old boy and his father, the Interior Ministry announced.

According to the statement issued by the ministry Friday, shop owner Ahmed al-Anzi molested the boy and then strangled him with a length of rope. He then stabbed the boy's father to death when the man came looking for his son.

He hid both the bodies in his shop, the statement said, adding that al-Anzi threatened police with a knife when they came to arrest him.

Al-Anzi had previously been convicted of sodomy and owning pornographic films, a crime in conservative Saudi Arabia.

Crucifying the headless body in a public place is a way to set an example, according to the kingdom's strict interpretation of Islam. Normally those convicted of rape, murder and drug trafficking in Saudi Arabia are just beheaded.

London-based rights group Amnesty International criticized al-Anzi's execution and crucifixion.

"It is horrific that beheading and crucifixions still happen," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui of Amnesty International in a statement Friday.

"King Abdullah should show true leadership and commute all death sentences if Saudi Arabia is to have any role to play as a global leader or member of the G20," said Sahraoui.

According to an Associated Press count, Friday's execution brought the number to 35 beheading this year in the kingdom. In 2008, 102 people were beheaded. ..Source.. by AP