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Sunday, January 24, 2010

Inmate killed at Pendleton facility

1-24-2010 Indiana:

PENDLETON – The Pendleton Correctional Facility was put on lockdown Saturday afternoon after an inmate fatally stabbed another inmate, according to authorities.

The prison said in a press release that Charles L. Jackson, 52, was stabbed at about 1:30 p.m. Saturday, when inmates were released for recreation time. He was transported to the Health Care Center Emergency Room at the facility, where he was pronounced dead.

One suspect has been separated from the other inmates, authorities said, while the prison and state police continue an investigation.

Jackson, who the prison said lived in Marion, had served almost 13 years of an 80-year sentence for rape in Grant County.

The press release said Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie would perform an autopsy. ..Source.. Christina M. Wright, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer

Saturday, January 16, 2010

N.B. teen says she killed senior because of abuse

1-16-2010 Canada:

SAINT JOHN - Four women will testify that they were assaulted sexually by Frank Tonge when they were little girls, defence lawyer David Lutz told a jury in his opening statement of a murder trial yesterday.

"One occasion involved a broomstick. On another occasion, an animal," Lutz said in court.

"Frank Tonge is dead because on the day he died, he attempted to rape his last little girl."

Lutz represents a 16-year-old girl who is on trial for first-degree murder in the death of 78-year-old Tonge, who died in his Saint John home last June.

The girl can't be identified because of age provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

The Crown closed its case yesterday -- the third day of the Court of Queen's Bench trial.

Prosecutors had earlier played a videotaped questioning of the accused by police, during which she said she stabbed Tonge in the neck and ran because she was scared and "fed up" with being fondled.

Lutz maintains the accused, who was 15 at the time, was defending herself.

"Frank Tonge was pulling this 15-year-old, to whom he had given drugs and alcohol for some time, into his bedroom."

Lutz said if the jurors believe what the accused told police, they would know she was addicted to drugs and kept going to Tonge's home because he gave them to her and, in exchange, fondled her.

Lutz said the teenage girl had done crack, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and Dilaudid, and had taken drugs intravenously.

"Who helped her down that drug path?" Lutz said to the court. "Frank Tonge."

Lutz said two of Tonge's alleged victims, who will testify, had previously complained to the RCMP that Tonge had sexually assaulted them. He said two other witnesses called him after reading about Tonge's death in the newspaper.

The jury heard testimony yesterday from a 14-year-old friend of the accused, who said the accused talked about killing the elderly man.

She said she went to the accused girl's home and they packed two bags, one with a knife they got from a block in the kitchen, gloves and a belt. She said they walked to Tonge's home and she waited in the bushes while the accused went inside.

Under cross-examination by Lutz, the 14-year-old witness said she knew Tonge was a "bad man" when she went to his home that day. The girl testified that she knew Tonge supplied drugs to her friend and kissed and touched her inappropriately. ..Source.. by Times & Transcript

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Judge suppresses ‘devastating' testimony in death-penalty case

1-14-2010 Georgia:

A judge has suppressed "devastating evidence" in Atlanta's only federal death-penalty case -- a chilling interview with Brian Richardson boasting about killing his cellmate and vowing to kill again.

Richardson, 46, is serving more than 60 years in prison for bank robbery. He is charged with stabbing and strangling Steven Obara at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta in July 2007. Obara, of Madison, Conn., was serving a 1o-year federal sentence for possessing child pornography and had pleaded guilty to sexual assault in state court.

During an April 7, 2008 interview with FBI agents and federal prosecutors, Richardson described how he stabbed Obara with a metal pin for being a pedophile. He says he also strangled him by stepping on his throat and wrapping a sock around his neck "real, real tight."

He slapped Obara a couple of times to revive him before finally killing him, Richardson said.

During the interview, Richardson lamented over conditions in the federal prison system and said he hoped Obara's killing would land him on death row or in the maximum security prison known as Supermax in Florence, Colo.

If not, he said coldly, he would kill again -- a fellow inmate or a guard. "Somebody else is gonna get skinned up bad," Richardson said. "First chance I get, I'm gonna kill somebody else. I promise you that."


In his Jan. 4 ruling, U.S. Magistrate Christopher Hagy suppressed the statements because Richardson had initially asked how he could get a lawyer. Richardson previously confessed to killing Obara, but video of the interview, Hagy noted, could be "devastating evidence" in Richardson's yet to be scheduled death-penalty trial.

Richardson "admits on the videotape to stabbing others, threatens to kill again if that's what it takes to get a more desirable prison placement and shows no remorse for killing Obara," Hagy noted.

At the outset of the interview, Richardson told the agents and prosecutors, "I want to talk about how I get a lawyer."

FBI Special Agent Joseph Fonseca replied by telling Richardson they would talk about that. Then Fonseca read Richardson his rights and secured his agreement to answer questions without a lawyer present. Minutes later, the agent was asking Richardson about Obara's murder.

Even though Richardson did not make an unequivocal request for a lawyer, what he said was enough for a reasonable official to consider the statement a request for counsel, Hagy wrote, citing a number or U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

For this reason, Hagy said, any answers Richardson gave after asking about a lawyer must be suppressed. Hagy's recommendation now goes to Senior U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper, who is to preside over Richardson's trial.

Richardson, a former Marine who was raised in Alabama, has numerous tattoos -- a swastika, skulls, a meth monster, a gargoyle and the initials CWA. ("Cracker with attitude," Richardson told agents.) He had recently been transferred to the penitentiary in Atlanta for stabbing an inmate at a Florida prison.

In the interview, Richardson said he wouldn't hesitate to kill another child molester. "If I get a chance to get one, I'm gonna get ‘em," he said, according to a transcript.

One of Richardson's lawyers, federal defender Stephanie Kearns, said her client's initial discussions with agents show he killed Obara because he was a child molester, not because he wanted better placement in the prison system.

"According to the Bureau of Prisons psychiatrist who testified at the [suppression] hearing, Mr. Richardson suffers from paranoid schizophrenia," Kearns said. "At the time the FBI agents and assistant U.S. attorneys interrogated him, Mr. Richardson was not medicated. He is now properly medicated and is much more rational." ..Source.. Bill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Local Man Pleads Guilty To Child Porn Charge

7-22-2006 Connecticut:

MADISON -- — A town man pleaded guilty Friday to a charge of possession of child pornography that traveled in interstate commerce, federal law enforcement authorities reported.

Steven Obara, 59, faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 when he is sentenced Oct. 18, U.S. Attorney Kevin J. O'Connor said.

Obara, a former Durham Road resident, has been detained without bail since he was arrested by federal agents Dec. 15. ..Source..

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UPDATE: Judge decides inmate's chilling interview is admissible

4-19-2010 Georgia:

A judge has decided that a chilling interview of a prison inmate, who boasts of killing his cellmate and vows to kill again, can be used against him in an upcoming federal death-penalty trial.

Senior U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper reversed a ruling by a magistrate judge who recommended the interview with inmate Brian Richardson be suppressed. During the interview with federal agents and prosecutors, Richardson boasts about how he stabbed and strangled his cellmate, Steven Obara, at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta because Obara was a pedophile.

At issue was whether agents should have halted the April 2008 interview at the outset when Richardson said, "I wanna talk to you about how to get a lawyer." Cooper, in an order signed April 15, found the comment "did not rise to the level of a clear, unequivocal, actual request for counsel to assist him in dealing with custodial interrogation."

Richardson, serving time for bank robbery, is charged with stabbing and strangling Obara in July 2007. Obara, of Madison, Conn., was serving a 10-year federal sentence for possessing child pornography and had pleaded guilty to sexual assault in state court.

During the interview, Richardson lamented over conditions in the federal prison system and said he hoped Obara's killing would land him on death row or in the maximum security prison known as Supermax in Florence, Colo.

If not, he said coldly, he would kill again -- a fellow inmate or a guard. "Somebody else is gonna get skinned up bad, " Richardson said. "First chance I get, I'm gonna kill somebody else. I promise you that." ..Source.. Bill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Jurors weigh fate of inmate who killed molester

3-20-2012 Georgia:

Authorities say Brian Richardson admitted stabbing and strangling his cellmate at the federal prison in Atlanta because the cellmate was a convicted child molester. Now a jury is deliberating whether Richardson could face the death penalty for the killing.

Jurors on Tuesday began considering whether Brian Richardson was guilty of first-degree murder for the July 2007 killing of Steven Obara, a 60-year-old who was serving 10 years for possessing child pornography and child molestation. Richardson could be sentenced to death if he's found guilty of the killing.

The rare federal death penalty case — Richardson could be the first person sentenced to death in federal court this year if he's found guilty — featured competing arguments about why Richardson tortured and killed his cellmate after just three days of sharing a cell.

To prosecutors, it's a case of cold-blooded murder. But defense attorneys argue that Richardson should be charged with lesser crimes, such as manslaughter, that wouldn't subject him to the death penalty.

Richardson and Obara were brought together by happenstance when they were put in the same temporary cell at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta as they awaited transfers to other facilities. But prosecutors said Richardson carefully began plotting the murder after discovering his new cellmate's past.

First, they say, Richardson lulled Obara into believing they were friends by sitting next to him at lunch and doing him favors, such as fetching him stamps. Then, on the evening of July 8, 2007, he attacked Obara with a fire extinguisher pin that another inmate had flattened into a shiv.

He stabbed Obara nine times, according to court testimony. He then choked his cellmate, let him regain consciousness, and choked him again, avoiding checks by guards patrolling the prison, prosecutors said. He finally killed Obara by strangling him with a sock.

As his cellmate's dead body lay crumpled on the floor, prosecutors say, Richardson calmly shaved and then alerted authorities that he had killed Obara. He admitted the killing to FBI agents who interviewed him, then vowed to kill again if he wasn't punished for the crime, according to court records.

"You are here because Brian Richardson decided that Steven Obara had to die. Had to die. You're here because Brian Richardson thought he was God. That he had the right to decide that Mr. Obara did not have the right to be on the Earth," prosecutor Richard Moultrie told jurors during closing arguments.

"It ain't complicated. It's a straightforward case," Moultrie told jurors. "He said, 'I killed the man because he was a child molester. And I hate child molesters.'"

Defense attorneys countered that it wasn't so simple. Richardson may have fought Obara because he was tired of hearing him talk about his crime. And, they said, he was following a "prison code" that requires inmates to rough up child molesters, but just took it too far.

"They are violent places that have rules of their own imposed by inmates on other inmates," said defense attorney Stephanie Kearns. "You have to try to step in the world Mr. Richardson lived in. And there's a rule in prison that child molesters aren't to be tolerated."

There's enough evidence on the table to convict her client of manslaughter, Kearns said, but prosecutors failed to prove he was guilty of the more serious crime of capital murder. She said her client never intended to kill Obara, but then tried to turn his mistake into an advantage by boasting of the killing to authorities.

"You take a responsibility and maybe get a little more respect from your homeboys," she said.

If the jury convicts Richardson, a lengthy sentencing phase will begin. Prosecutors will argue that Richardson deserves a death sentence and defense attorneys are set to argue that he should face a lesser punishment.

Some 69 federal defendants have been sentenced to death since 1988 and three have been executed, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. One federal convict was sentenced to death in 2011 and none have been sentenced this year, according to the center's data. ..Source.. by Greg Bluestein

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Federal inmate convicted in cellmate slaying

3-22-2012:

A federal inmate could face the death penalty after he was convicted Thursday of murdering his cellmate at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta.

The jury found Brian Richardson guilty of first-degree murder for the July 2007 killing of Steven Obara, who prosecutors say was targeted because he was a child molester. The verdict allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Richardson, who could be the first person sentenced to death in federal court this year.

The case spawned competing arguments about what led to Obara's death. Prosecutors contended it was a case of cold-blooded murder while defense attorneys say he should have been charged with a lesser crime.

Richardson and Obara were brought together by happenstance when they were put in the same temporary cell at the Atlanta prison as they awaited transfers to other facilities. Richardson was in the middle of a 65-year sentence for armed bank robberies while Obara was serving 10 years for possessing child pornography and child molestation.

After Richardson learned of Obara's past, prosecutors said, he began plotting the murder by lulling Obara into believing they were friends. He sat next to him at lunch and did him favors, like getting him stamps, and the two talked frequently in their cells.

That all changed on the evening of July 8, 2007, when Richardson attacked Obara. First, he stabbed his cellmate nine times with a fire extinguisher pin that another inmate had flattened into a shiv, according to testimony. Then he choked him repeatedly, avoiding routine security patrols, before finally strangling him with a sock.

After killing his cellmate, prosecutors say Richardson calmly shaved and then called guards to the cell. In interviews with federal investigators, he admitted to the killing and said he deserved to be punished for his crime by being sent to a maximum security prison or to death row.

"Take him at his word. He hated child molesters," prosecutor Richard Moultrie told jurors during closing arguments on Tuesday. "And you have the opportunity to hold him accountable."

Richardson's lawyers acknowledged he killed his cellmate, but they said circumstances surrounding his death were murky. Defense attorney Stephanie Kearns suggested her client may have been following a "prison code" that requires inmates to rough up child molesters, and the attack quickly spun out of control.

"They are violent places that have rules of their own imposed by inmates on other inmates," she said. "You have to try to step in the world Mr. Richardson lived in. And there's a rule in prison that child molesters aren't to be tolerated."

The guilty verdict means that a lengthy sentencing phase will begin next week. Prosecutors are preparing to argue that Richardson deserves a death sentence for his crime and defense attorneys will counter that he should face a lesser punishment.

Some 69 federal defendants have been sentenced to death since 1988 and three have been executed, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. One federal convict was sentenced to death in 2011 and none have been sentenced this year, according to the center's data. ..Source.. by Greg Bluestein

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Death penalty sought in inmate killing at US Penitentiary

4-24-2012 Georgia:

A prisoner who murdered his cellmate because he was a child molester is "a stone-cold killer" who deserves the death penalty, a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday.

In closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill McKinnon described Brian Richardson as a violent predator who appointed himself judge and jury to carry out Steven Obara's execution at the U.S. Penitentiary in July 2007. "The only way to deter him from committing other crimes is to sentence him to death," McKinnon said.

Federal defender Brian Mendelsohn pleaded for mercy. He said Richardson was abused by a mother who left him covered with bruises and welts and is a mentally ill man now responding to proper medication.

"He was sorely damaged by the abuse he suffered as a child, the turning points in his life and a history none of us would want for our children," Mendelsohn said. "How we treat the mentally ill speaks volumes about our humanity. Brian is certainly among the most damaged and mentally ill."

In an unusual capital trial in federal court, the jury convicted Richardson last month of Obara's murder. Richardson, whose shaved head is covered with tattoos, stabbed Obara nine times with a shank fashioned from the pin of a fire extinguisher before strangling him. He then shaved and called for guards to take Obara's body away.

Richardson said he killed Obara after learning the 60-year-old man was serving time for child molestation. Richardson, 48, is serving 65 years for armed robberies.

The jury adjourned Tuesday without reaching a verdict. The last federal death sentence was handed down in June by a Connecticut jury against a gang leader who killed rival drug dealers. Since 1997, federal juries in Atlanta have imposed two death sentences -- one against an inmate who killed a prison guard, the other against a man who raped and killed a nurse practitioner.

Because Richardson is already serving the equivalent of a life sentence, a sentence of life in prison without the chance of being released "is simply no punishment," McKinnon told jurors.

In past years Richardson had splashed bleach on a prison guard's face, stabbed one inmate 30 times and stabbed another cellmate in the back of the neck, McKinnon said. After Richardson killed Obara, he talked a troubled inmate across the hallway into committing suicide by hanging himself with a bed sheet, the prosecutor said.

"Has this defendant done anything in his entire life to deserve mercy from any of you?" McKinnon asked. "He certainly didn't show Steven Obara any mercy when he decided to execute him."

But Mendolsohn called allegations that Richardson is an evil predator "distorted reality" based on grandiose statements from the defendant himself and inmate snitches who told lies to get their own sentences reduced.

"Brian Richardson is not a stone-cold predatory killer," Mendelsohn said. "There is a huge chance for rehabilitation for Brian Richardson. He is finally on medicine that makes him calm."

Richardson's case has had its share of controversy. Its first two prosecutors were removed and are now being investigated by the Justice Department. This includes one prosecutor who jokingly suggested to an inmate that he would be rewarded if he were to stab one of Richardson's lawyers. This month, Senior U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper forbade the government from calling its own expert witnesses who conducted a mental health evaluation on Richardson after finding prosecutors misled him as to how the evaluation was to be conducted. ..source.. by Bill Rankin

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Ga. inmate avoids death for prison murder

4-27-2012 Georgia:

A federal prisoner who killed his cellmate because he was a child molester was spared the death penalty Thursday when a jury hearing the case could not reach a unanimous verdict.

After deliberating two days, a federal jury in Atlanta could not arrive at a verdict as to whether Brian Richardson should live or die. Without unanimity on death, the sentence of life without the possibility of being released is automatic in federal court.

The jury had convicted Richardson of murdering 60-year-old Steven Obara in July 2007 by stabbing him nine times and then strangling him at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta. Richardson said he killed Obara because Obara was serving time for child molestation.

Richardson, 48, was serving a 65-year sentence for armed robberies. For that reason, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill McKinnon told jurors in closing arguments, another life sentence would be "simply no punishment."

McKinnon noted that Richardson had previously attacked a guard by throwing bleach in his face, stabbed other inmates and talked an inmate into committing suicide. "The only way to deter him from committing other crimes is to sentence him to death," he said.

But federal defender Brian Mendelsohn, pleading for mercy, said Richardson was abused as a child and suffers from schizophrenia, which is under control now that he's getting proper medications.

Richardson will be sent to the "Supermax" prison in Florence, Colo., where inmates are locked in their cells 23 hours a day and have little, if any, contact with other inmates or guards, Mendelsohn told jurors. That prison houses terrorists, murderous gang leaders and violent drug kingpins, and there have been no killings there, he said.

After the verdict, Mendelsohn said,"The jury saw that, in spite of the tragic death of Mr. Obara, that Brian's life still had meaning and value. We are grateful that they reached this just result."

In a statement, U.S. Attorney Sally Yates said, "Serving as a juror on a death penalty case is a weighty responsibility. We respect the seriousness with which the jury took this responsibility and appreciate the difficulty of reaching a unanimous verdict on such a momentous decision." ..Source.. by Bill Rankin

Monday, January 11, 2010

Man arraigned for 2008 Toledo murder had killed before

1-5-2010 Ohio:

TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) – The suspect arraigned in a violent Toledo murder that took place two in 2008 has been convicted of murder before.

52-year-old Willie Washington faced a judge Tuesday morning for the 2008 murder of 24-year-old Gordon Wright.

Wright, a sex offender released from prison a year earlier, was found dead while firefighters were putting out a house fire on Marmion.

The Lucas County coroner says Wright died from blunt force trauma to the head, but someone had cut open Wright's stomach after he died.

Washington reportedly lived at the Marmion address
and also had Wright's ID after the crime.

The murder happened 30 years after Washington was convicted in the brutal murders of his Michigan girlfriend and her mother. However, he was released from prison after only serving eight years. ..Source.. Nick Dutton

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Man sentenced in death of Gordon Wright

TOLEDO, OH -- A former Toledo man was sentenced to 14 years behind bars today.

Willie Washington entered a plea to involuntary manslaughter for the 2008 death of Gordon Wright. He was accused in the beating death of Wright whose body was found hidden in the attic of a burnt duplex 2 years ago. He also entered a similar plea for having a homemade knife in the jail last month. Washington will spend 14 years in prison: 10 years for manslaughter and 4 years for the weapon conviction. ..Source.. by ABC News

Father accused of murdering man who allegedly sexually abused his child

1-2-2010 North Carolina:

CONCORD, N.C. -- A father is behind bars, accused of shooting a man to death.

Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Deputies say the case could be related to the alleged sexual assault of his child.

Sheriff’s Deputies say 46 year old William Ballance once lived with a family just outside of Concord.

He moved out once the father in that home accused Ballance of sexually abusing his child. For the sake of that child we’re not reporting the family’s name, address, or picture.

Deputies gathered enough to take out a warrant against Ballance on December 31 for those sexual abuse charges, but on January first, deputies found Ballance dead at his mobile home from apparent gun-shot wounds.

“I heard three dense fires,” explains one neighbor who did not want to be identified.

He says the noises that came from Ballance's home early New Year's morning sounded, “more like a weapon than it did anything else. It was two shots then another one.”

Deputies arrested the father of the child Ballance is accused of sexually assaulting.

They charged that father with Ballance’s murder.

Neighbors say the allegations make it sound like a revenge killing, and have a tough time faulting the father. “I just hope that they get to the truth of it.”

But they don’t like to see justice handled outside of the courtroom. “You can’t take action into your own hands, you have to let the courts take care of it.”

Deputies say the father was aware that Ballance was a registered sex offender. He was convicted of taking indecent liberties with a minor in 1998 in Guilford County. That was a surprise to neighbors.

By law registered sex offenders are not allowed to be left alone with minors, but they are not prohibited from living in the same house with them.

Deputies say they had explained the laws to Ballance when he first moved in with the family.

The father accused of shooting Ballance is being held without bond in the Cabarrus County Jail. ..Source.. ALEX REED / NewsChannel 36

Suspected child molester murdered

1-3-2010 North Carolina:

CABARRUS COUNTY, NC (WBTV) - A man is charged with murdering a suspected child molester who preyed on his family.

Cabarrus County officials say Chris Hartsell,32, shot and killed William Ballance,47.

It happened Friday inside Ballance's home inside the Oakland Glen Mobile Home Park.

Arrest records show Ballance was a registered sex offender. He was convicted in 1998 of taking indecent liberties with a child and served five years probation. Most of his neighbors were aware of the prior conviction.

"Everybody pretty much kept an eye on the kids around here," said neighbor Robert Holmes.

Neighbors say Hartsell moved out of Ballance's house about a week ago. Around that time, allegations surfaced of Ballance allegedly molesting Hartsell's young relative.

"He seemed like a pretty nice guy, the sex offender thing just don't fit," said neighbor Clarence Williams.

Sheriff's deputies issued warrants for Ballance Thursday for sex-related charges, including 1st degree rape of a child. But before they could arrest him, they say Hartsell got his revenge.

"I guess you can only take so much and then you react," said Holmes.

Neighbor Clarence Williams says he never felt threatened by Ballance and even let his grandchildren visit.

He was shocked to hear about the shooting.

"I really don't know what to think at this point, it just don't fit what I knew of him," said Williams.

The Cabarrus County Sheriff's office verified Ballance's address in October.

According to the law, sex offenders can be around children, just not by themselves.

WBTV has chosen not release certain details of this story, because it is our policy not to identify sexual assault victims.

Hartsell is now being held without bond in the Cabarrus County Jail. He's charged with murder. ..Source.. by Sarah Batista

Suspected child molester slain in Cabarrus County

1-3-2010 North Carolina:

Concord, N.C. — The Cabarrus County Sheriff's Office says that a man charged with murder sought revenge on a man suspected of molesting a child.

WBTV, a CBS affiliate in Charlotte, reports that Christopher Michael Hartsell, 32, shot and killed William Lee Ballance, 47, in his residence in a small mobile home park early Friday.

Neighbors told WBTV that Hartsell had lived with Ballance, a convicted sex offender, until about a week ago. Around the same time that Hartsell moved out, rumors started that Ballance had molested a child.

On Thursday, the Cabarrus County Sheriff's Office issued warrants for Ballance's arrest on sex-related charges, including first-degree rape of a child. Ballance was slain before they could be served.

More details of the case aren't being reported to protect the victim's identity.

Hartsell was being held in the Cabarrus County Jail Saturday without bond.

Ballance was sentenced to 20 months' probation for a 1998 conviction for taking indecent liberties with a minor in Guilford County, according to state Department of Correction records. DOC records show he also got probation in 2007 for possession of a firearm by a felon. ..Source.. by WRAL.com

Huntington man found stabbed to death

12-22-2009 Texas:

A registered sex offender was found apparently stabbed to death outside his mother's Huntington home Monday afternoon, law enforcement said.

Gary Lynn DeFratus' mother discovered his body around 2:20 p.m. and alerted the Angelina County Sheriff's Office, according to Lt. Bryan Holley. The 47-year-old lived next door to her on Shadowood Drive off U.S. Hwy. 69 north.

DeFratus was convicted of molesting a six-year-old girl in 1993 when he was 20 years old, according to the sex offender registry. It is unclear whether the conviction played a role in his death, Sheriff Kent Henson said.

The murder was a violent crime, according to Holley.

It did not appear DeFratus' home had been burglarized.

Blood splatters throughout the front yard lead investigators to believe the man was chased from his home to the carport, where the body was discovered between his mother's vehicle and her home, Henson said.

"It looks like he was trying to get away," Henson said. "He lived by himself and kept to himself from what family told us."

This murder makes the fourth in Angelina County in two weeks.

The case is under investigation by the Angelina County Sheriff's Office and the Texas Rangers, Henson said. ..Source.. by JESSICA COOLEY, The Lufkin Daily News

Stabbing death is Angelina County's 4th murder in 2 weeks

12-22-2009 Texas:

ANGELINA COUNTY - by Steve Stewart/KJAS -Officials in Angelina County are investigating their fourth murder case in the last two weeks.

The Lufkin Daily News is reporting that 47-year-old Gary Lynn DeFratus was discovered stabbed to death on Monday afternoon by his mother. Officials say his body was under the carport of her home, located on Shadowood Drive, just south of U.S. Highway 69.

According to the report, Defratus lived alone next door to his mother.

Angelina County Sheriff Kent Henson said a trail of blood is leading investigators to believed that Defratus was attacked at his own home, and he tried to reach his mother's house before he collapsed and died.

According to the Texas Department of Public Safety Sex Offender Registry, Defratus was convicted in 1993 of aggravated sexual assault of a 6-year-old girl. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and was currently out on parole. The database did not indicate when Defratus was released from prison.

Sheriff Henson said it is not clear if Defratus' sex offender status played a role in the crime.

Investigators pointed out that it appeared to be a violent murder, and yet there were no signs of forced entry into the house.

The Texas Rangers are assisting the Angelina County Sheriff's Department in the investigation.

Officials in Angelina County are investigating their fourth murder case in the last two weeks.

The Lufkin Daily News is reporting that 47-year-old Gary Lynn DeFratus was discovered stabbed to death on Monday afternoon by his mother. Officials say his body was under the carport of her home, located on Shadowood Drive, just south of U.S. Highway 69.

According to the report, Defratus lived alone next door to his mother.

Angelina County Sheriff Kent Henson said a trail of blood is leading investigators to believed that Defratus was attacked at his own home, and he tried to reach his mother's house before he collapsed and died.

According to the Texas Department of Public Safety Sex Offender Registry, Defratus was convicted in 1993 of aggravated sexual assault of a 6-year-old girl. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and was currently out on parole. The database did not indicate when Defratus was released from prison.

Sheriff Henson said it is not clear if Defratus' sex offender status played a role in the crime.

Investigators pointed out that it appeared to be a violent murder, and yet there were no signs of forced entry into the house.

The Texas Rangers are assisting the Angelina County Sheriff's Department in the investigation. ..Source.. by Scott Lawrence

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Taken from the appeal of the person who killed Gary Lynn DeFratus:
Gary Lynn Defratus, the victim, lived at his mother’s home. Defratus’s friend, Jay Hines, frequently visited Defratus to play guitars with him. In December 2009, Hines visited Defratus, and when he arrived, Appellant, his girlfriend (Mindy Wood), and their child were already at Defratus’s residence.

When they all left, Appellant told Hines that he was upset and that he was going to return and confront Defratus because he flirted with Wood. Hines later received several text messages from Wood stating that she was concerned that Appellant returned to Defratus’s home to confront him. Hines then went back to Defratus’s home after midnight and saw Appellant there.

Appellant was frantic and told Hines that there had been an altercation and that he needed to leave before the police arrived. Hines believed there had been a simple fight and left. He thought Defratus had gone to call the police, and that, as a result, Appellant made a hasty escape. Hines did not realize that a more serious crime had occurred. Later, the police discovered that Defratus had died from a vicious knife attack.

After conducting an investigation, the police arrested Appellant. He claimed that what started out as a simple fistfight escalated and that Defratus struck him with a large metal flashlight and charged him with a knife. According to Appellant, he fought back in self-defense. Appellant was indicted and tried by a jury for murder. The jury found him guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment. This appeal followed.

DISPOSITION
We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Update: 2 arrested in slayings of missing men

Posted in Related Deaths
12-18-2009 Alabama:

GADSDEN, AL (WAFF) – Etowah County Sheriff's Department will hold a press conference Thursday morning to discuss information on the human remains found believed to be those of two missing men and the Attalla couple arrested in connection with the slayings.

Investigators said Robert Wayne Kelley, 35, has been charged with two counts of capital murder in the deaths of James Bachelor, 38, and Rocky Morgan, 55. His estranged wife, Margie Morgan Kelley, 35, was charged with first-degree hindering a criminal investigation.

Etowah County officials did not disclose a motive in the deaths, but said that the Kelley's knew the two men.

According to the Etowah County Sheriff's Department, the bodies thought to be those of Bachelor and Morgan were found near Center Road in Attalla. That location was pinpointed by evidence recovered during their investigation, authorities said.

Bachelor and Morgan had not been seen for a week. Both men were last seen heading to Marshall County for a fishing trip.

"After they have been missing for several days, a family member came concerned and brought it to the attention of the sheriff's office," said Etowah County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Natalie Barton.

Investigators said the location where the remains were found is believed to be a random disposal site for the bodies.

Bachelor was a registered sex offender, but investigators said the deaths don't appear to be related to his sex offender status.

"It was pertinent information, we first believed, when they were just missing, but we don't believe it has anything to do with them being deceased," Barton said.

Investigators with Alabama's Department of Forensic Science will examine the pieces of remains to try to conclusively identify the bodies. ..Source..

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Burned bodies double murder in Etowah County: Cadaver dogs to help search

12-18-2009 Alabama:

ETOWAH COUNTY, Ala. -- Cadaver dogs are expected to help search a field where burned remains of two men have been found south of Attalla in Etowah County, investigators tell the Gadsden Times.

The biggest piece of bone found so far is about 4 inches, Sheriff Todd Entrekin said in a news conference Thursday. The burned remains are believed to be those of Rocky Morgan, 55, and his nephew, James Bachelor, 38, Entrekin said.


Morgan's daughter, Margie Morgan Kelley, 35, is charged with hindering prosecution, and her husband, Robert Wayne Kelley, 35, is charged with 2 counts of capital murder, Etowah County District Attorney Jimmie Harp told the Gadsden Times.

Robert Wayne Kelley was arrested by sheriff's investigators late Wednesday at a local hospital after he went there earlier in the week.

The men were reported missing on Dec. 11 and were last seen on Dec. 2 where they lived at Rocky Morgan's home on Rocky Hollow Road, Entrekin said.

It is believed the men were shot and killed at the Rocky Hollow Road home, left there for several days, then taken in a van during a period of a few days about three miles to the field on Center Road, just off U.S. Highway 11, Entrekin said.

..Source.. by Press-Register staff

GA- Murder case, Leo Frank (1915) lynching

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WV- Murder Trial Set for WV Man Accused of Killing Fellow Inmate

10-31-2009 West Virginia:

A man accused of killing a fellow inmate at the Preston County Jail in 2005 will stand trial next year.

Leonard Wotring III has pleaded not guilty in the first-degree murder of Timothy Daft, of Independence, who had been in the Kingwood jail on charges of sexually abusing a toddler.

Wotring was indicted last week, and his trial is set for January 12.

He is now an inmate at the Mount Olive Correctional Center, serving 3 to 15 years for the attempted murder of his grandfather.

Daft's family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit, claiming Daft was attacked by Wotring and other inmates. It claims then-Sheriff Ron Crites knew about the attack and did nothing, then concealed information from Daft's family.

The death was initially labeled a suicide. ..Source.. by WSHV.com

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Inmate indicted in jail hanging: Wotring charged with murder for '05 Preston crime

The last of three 2005 hangings that occurred in the Preston County Jail was not a suicide.

Timothy Daft, of Independence, was found hanging in a cell at the jail Aug. 3, 2005, and died at Ruby Memorial Hospital the next day. At the time, his death was ruled a suicide.

But Tuesday, a Preston County grand jury indicted Leonard Earl Wotring III, 25, for first degree murder in Daft's death.

"Mr. Wotring was charged with the murder of another inmate while both were incarcerated in the Preston County Jail," Preston County Prosecuting Attorney Mel Snyder said. "Timothy Daft's death at the time appeared to be a suicide, but evidence discovered later has now shown it to be a murder."

Wotring is serving time for attempted murder in the first degree. A resident of Terra Alta at the time, he entered his grandfather's bedroom, pointed a rifle at him and fired twice, according to the criminal complaint from November 2004.

In October 2005, he was sentenced to serve not less than three nor more than 15 years in prison. He was eligible for parole in August. That parole was denied, according to Snyder.

A correctional officer making rounds at the jail found Daft, who had been hanged with a pillowcase. He had been incarcerated in lieu of $50,000 bond, accused of sexually abusing a toddler.

An attorney representing Daft's brother, Russell Stuyvesant, filed a wrongful death suit against the Preston County Commission in October 2007. But Preston Circuit Court Judge Lawrance Miller ruled that a two-year statute of limitations had passed when the suit was filed. Stuyvesant's attorney appealed that decision to the West Virginia Supreme Court. The court upheld Miller's ruling. Daft's was the last of three hangings that occurred in the course of three weeks at the Preston County Jail. The jail was closed Aug. 5, 2005, when the Tygart Valley Regional Jail opened. ..Source.. by Michelle Wolford

WI- Slain man, Kenneth Irving, was set for residency hearing before sex offender board

10-26-2009 Wisconsin:

The Green Bay Sex Offender Residency Board recently was called upon to consider an appeal from a sex offender who allegedly was murdered before his appeals hearing was scheduled.

Kenneth Erving, 51, appealed to move to 617 Bodart St. from his home on Newhall Street. But before the residency board was scheduled to meet earlier this month, Erving died of a stab wound to the heart. Nawanna Polk, 41, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in Erving's death. The balance of her preliminary hearing in Brown County Circuit Court is scheduled for Nov. 13.

Erving's appeal to the residency board was administratively withdrawn because of his death. He had appeared before the board three times previously.

The first time was in April 2008, when the board granted him permission to move from one apartment into another in the same building on Main Street. The following February, the board denied his appeal to move to Day Street, because four other sex offenders already were living nearby. Erving came before the board again in June, when he was granted permission to move to 517 Newhall St.

Police say he was fatally stabbed Oct. 11 at Polk's Velp Avenue apartment. The sex offender board met three days later to hear his appeal.

He had been convicted in 1987 of having sex with a 16-year-old girl. ..Source.. by Paul Srubas

Nawanna Polk, Green Bay, charged with fatal stabbing of boyfriend, Kenneth Erving, at Velp Avenue apartment

10-13-2009 Wisconsin:

Less than a month after asking a judge to lift a no-contact order against his on-again off-again girlfriend, Kenneth Erving was fatally stabbed in the chest in the woman's Green Bay apartment.

Nawanna Polk, 41, was charged Monday with first-degree intentional homicide in Erving's death. She is being held in the Brown County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.

Erving, 51, was found dead on the floor of Polk's upper apartment at 947 Velp Ave. at about 12:15 a.m. Sunday. He was stabbed several times in the chest; a 9½-inch knife was found under his body as well as two other utensils. Police officials said Monday it is unclear which item was used in the stabbing. An autopsy is set for today.

Detectives found blood smeared around Polk's apartment, on her clothing and hands when she was arrested a short time after Erving's body was found.

Erving's sister said Polk and her brother had a two-year "abusive relationship."

"He was beating on her and she was beating on him," Alfreda Erving of Green Bay said outside of intake court on Monday. "I wish he would have stayed away from her when I asked him to."

Polk was charged with misdemeanors three times this year for disturbances involving Erving. Two of the cases are still pending. On Sept. 15, Erving asked Brown County Circuit Court Judge Mark Warpinski to cancel a bond restriction that kept Polk from having contact with him. Warpinski granted the request the same day.

Police arrested Polk at a South Chestnut Avenue home about 12:45 a.m. Sunday.

Police learned of Erving's death when Polk's brother told officers that his sister called him and said the two got into a fight and she thought she had stabbed or cut him and that he might be dead.

Antonio Polk said his sister told him that "he jumped on me, I think I might have killed him" and "she didn't mean to do it," according to the complaint.

Polk is due back in Brown County intake court Wednesday. If convicted on the homicide charge, she faces life in prison.

Erving's death is the first intentional homicide in Green Bay this year, police said. ..source.. by Andy Nelesen

FL- Sheriff: Prisoner Used Shoestring To Strangle Cellmate

10-14-2009 Florida:

Detectives Say Victim's Cellmate Called Him 'Pervert'

INDIANTOWN, Fla. -- A 29-year-old prisoner at the Martin Correctional Institution used a shoestring to strangle his cellmate because he was "a pervert," according to an arrest affidavit.

Martin County sheriff's detectives said Ricky Silva killed Terry Bell, 45, in their cell early Wednesday morning.

Bell's body was discovered at about 2:40 a.m. while a corrections officer was conducting his hourly cell checks. A shoestring was tied tightly around his neck.

According to the affidavit, another prisoner told detectives Silva had stated to him in the last few days that he was "going to kill (Bell) with a noose made from a shoestring." Silva told the prisoner he was upset because Bell was "a pervert."

Prison records show that Bell was serving a life sentence for sexual battery on a victim under the age of 12.

A prison nurse who checked on both cellmates told detectives that Silva's right hand was swollen from the "rope tied around his hand."

Silva was taken to the Martin County Jail and charged with first-degree murder. ..Source.. by WPBF.com

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Inmate: Cellmate 'needed to be killed'

1-29-2010 Florida:

STUART, FL — Prison inmate Ricky Silva thinks the death penalty is too severe a punishment for strangling his cellmate with a shoestring. In fact, he’s proud of what he did.

And he wants you to be proud of him, too.

“It’s not like I killed an innocent citizen or somebody who was undeserving,” said Silva, 29, of Terry Bell’s Oct. 14 homicide at the Martin Correctional Institution, where both men were serving life prison terms.

“Under my belief system, there’s still some people in the world that need killing and he was one of them,” he said. “I don’t believe I should pay for killing somebody that needed to be killed.”

Bell, 45, was convicted for raping a young Marion County girl after entering her bedroom through a window while her parents slept down the hall, said to Jerry Burford, a former state prosecutor who tried the 1999 crime. Bell left behind a palm print on a windowsill, he said, and Bell’s DNA was found on the victim.

Silva told several investigators he caught Bell committing an inappropriate act while holding a photo of Silva’s young niece. Silva said that prompted the attack.

But a fellow inmate has said Silva’s attack on Bell was racially motivated, and he’s threatened to kill again, said Assistant State Attorney Nita Denton, who said putting him on death row might be the only way to prevent Silva from harming anyone.

Silva, a former Fort Lauderdale laborer and landscaper serving life in prison, was no stranger to violence after twice brandishing a knife during a 2007 crime spree in Broward County. He has been convicted of armed-robbery, armed-carjacking kidnapping and other crimes.

During an interview at the Martin County jail, Silva recited details of Bell’s death.

“I stepped off the bed, I hit him, when he hit the door he fell to the ground,” he recalled, his voice flat. “I continued to hit him a couple of more times and then I wrapped a noose around his neck and I strangled him.”

A guard found Bell on a bottom bunk lying on his stomach with a black shoestring wrapped around his neck — the other end attached to a metal bed frame. , He was reported dead at 2:40 a.m.

“If you had kids, you would understand,” Silva later told a prison nurse treating wounds to his right hand. “You should thank me for it.”

Despite confessing to the grisly crime, Silva has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. He said it’s wrong for state prosecutors to seek the death penalty against him.

“I don’t believe I should be punished,” he insisted. “I believe people should be celebrating and clapping their hands.”

Denton couldn’t disagree more.

“He has no respect for human life,” she said.

She said based on a stack of confession letters he’s written to her office, she alerted jail authorities that he’d threatened to kill again.

“He was asking for the death penalty,” Denton said, “and that he would continue to kill not only inmates, but the people he came around if he in fact did not get the death penalty.”

Silva in his letters, she said, railed on the prison system and claimed he killed Bell as a message to prison officials.

“I’m tired of the system,” Silva wrote. “They feed us like little kids, they won’t pay us for work ... there is no reason for me not to kill again.”

He’d keep killing, he wrote, until correction officials “give back everything they took from us: packages, weights, hobby crafts, paying jobs and three decent meals a day, or until I am dead.”

“I suggest (Bell) be taken as a warning,” Silva threatened, “because next time it will not be a black inmate who is killed.”

Silva, too, was accused by another inmate of killing Bell, an African-American, because of ties to a white supremacist group.

“He stated he’s made it his mission — from now on — to murder any blacks he gets access to inside the prison system,” George Warner wrote to prosecutors. “That was his chief motive for strangling his black roommate.”

But in a letter Silva wrote to Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers, the New York native presented himself as a struggling drug addict who was abused by an alcoholic mother until at age 3, he and his sister were separated and bounced from one foster family to another. By age 16, he was alone and often in trouble.

“I had no family,” he wrote, “I started using drugs and by 19 I was an addict.”

By age 27, he was sentenced to life in prison for a series of crimes including breaking into a Fort Lauderdale man’s apartment, forcing him at knifepoint to drive to an ATM to withdraw cash before returning $20 to the victim and stealing his SUV. He was arrested shortly after committing an armed carjacking at a 7-Eleven.

Then, while in prison and suicidal, Silva reconnected with his long-lost sister.

“She sent me a picture of my niece and two nephews,” Silva said. “Here is the family I craved, but never had.”

He kept the photo at the edge of his bed. On Oct. 14, he woke up, saw Bell holding it and went into a rage.

“Here was someone violating the only people I have in my life,” Silva said. “I am not trying to justify murder but if people could see it through my eyes they might understand and hopefully agree I don’t deserve the death penalty.”

Meanwhile, Denton’s not buying it.

“If he had such a hatred of Bell because of the crime he committed, he could have asked to be moved,” she said. “He could have asked to be transferred to another prison.” ..Source.. by Melissa E. Holsman Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers

NY- Cops fatally shoot molester from New Hyde Park

10-10-2009 New York:

Nassau cops fatally shot a New Hyde Park man who was struggling with an officer, moments after the suspect sexually molested a young woman whom he had abducted, police said.

Police killed Frank Hernandez Thursday night as he struggled with an officer over a gun, police said Friday. Commissioner Lawrence W. Mulvey called the shooting "completely justified."

Police say Hernandez, whose pants were at his ankles when two officers responding to a 911 call approached him, had what turned out to be a "simulated handgun" in his lap and was still wearing the ski mask he had used to hide his face when he abducted the woman and then sexually assaulted her, police said.

One officer attempted to get Hernandez out of the car when they struggled over both the officer's gun and the fake gun, police said.

The other officer fired several rounds, one striking Hernandez in the wrist and abdomen, the other in his chest, and he was pronounced dead at 11:28 p.m., police said.

"He's really shook up about the whole thing," a source familiar with the investigation said of the officer who shot Hernandez. Mulvey said that officer, who he credited with saving the 22-year-old's life and his own partner's, had been on the job between 4 1/2 and 5 years.

Nassau police said Friday that they are beginning to look into the possibility that Hernandez may be connected to a brutal attack on a teenage girl earlier this week in Great Neck.

The Great Neck assailant also wore a mask. Hernandez is Hispanic and the Great Neck suspect spoke with a Hispanic accent, police said. Police stressed that at this point, they are merely examining parallels between the cases and said Hernandez isn't necessarily a suspect.

In the New Hyde Park incident, Hernandez followed the woman to her Honda sedan after lurking in a Stop & Shop supermarket parking lot, Mulvey said.

Two people outside the supermarket, which is on Hillside Avenue in New Hyde Park, saw Hernandez, witnessed the abduction and called 911 about 10:50 p.m., police said.

The woman had gone to the market to buy ginger ale for an ailing family member, police said.

Hernandez, who lived a few blocks away, drove with the victim in the passenger seat to the back of the store, the witnesses told police. There, he forced her to perform a sex act then drove to a traffic light at Hillside Avenue, where the officers spotted the car and ordered the occupants out.

They took the victim out of the car, but Hernandez refused to get out and told the officer on the driver's side, "Be prepared to die," the source said. Hernandez struggled with the officer, whose gun fell, police said. They then struggled for the officer's gun and Hernandez's fake gun.

The victim was treated and released from a hospital.

A woman who answered the door at Hernandez's home on North Sixth Street said the family was in shock.

"He was the nicest guy in the world," she said.

Hernandez's friend Anthony Marengo, who came to the crime scene Friday morning, was incredulous that Hernandez - a pizza delivery man - was dead.

"He was a kindhearted person who never had a bad word to say about anybody," Marengo said. "He stayed out of trouble most of the time." ..Source.. by MATTHEW CHAYES


Police kill sex assault suspect on Long Island

NEW HYDE PARK (WABC) -- There's little sign of the horror one woman endured here late Thursday night.

But news of the violent crime has sent shockwaves through a place many thought was safe.

It happened around 11:00 pm. Police say Frank Hernandez, 26, was wearing a mask, lurking in the shadows waiting for his prey.

When the 22 year old woman left the supermarket after getting ginger ale for a sick family member, investigators say Hernandez followed her right to her car.

"Taking what appeared to be a shooting type stance, with something held pointing directly at the back of her head, she was pushed into the vehicle in the passenger side," police said

Detectives say he drove her to a dark corner of the parking lot, where he forced her into a sex act and then started to drive away with the victim as a hostage.

He didn't get far.

"He was leaving the scene with her. We'll never really know what the final outcome would have been. The officers very well may have saved her life," investigators said.

Two good Samaritans happened to witness the abduction and called 911. Two officers arrived just in time to box the car in.

When they tried to get Hernandez out, they say he grabbed for an officer's weapon and then pulled out a b-b gun, which looks identical to a police issue Sig Sauer.

When he raised it at one officer, the other opened fire. Hernandez died at hospital.

Hernandez lived just a few blocks away from the stop and shop, where family members denied he'd done anything wrong. ..Source..

AL- Convicted sex offender killed by police

9-24-2009 Alabama:

MILLRY, Ala. - Convicted sex offender Marion Scott was killed by Millry Police late Wednesday night.

Police were called to a home regarding a domestic disturbance. When they arrived police say they saw Scott outside the home with a firearm.

Officer's tell Fox10 News they told Scott to put the gun down and lie on the ground. He did what he was told to do but as authorities approached him they say he jumped up and tried to go for his gun.

One officer shot at Scott killing him.

Scott had previously been arrested for failure to notify as a sex offender. In December of 2008, he was wanted by Mobile Police for allegedly exposing himself to young children in two local stores. ..Source.. by Linda Jones

*Marion L. Scott, 21, of Millry was arrested March 18 and charged with failure to register. He was ordered to see the judge.