CA- Suspect arrested in connection with homicide at Atascadero State Hospital

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

NJ- Horrors of killing revealed

7-10-2005 New Jersey:

A mentally ill inmate begged for mercy, was sexually assaulted and stomped for more than 30 minutes before guards at the Camden County Jail discovered the January 2004 killing, according to a prisoner's eyewitness account, revealed for the first time in court papers filed Friday.

Joel Seidel, 65, a frail retired stockbroker, was placed in the same cell with Marvin Lister, then 35, early on the morning of Jan. 27, 2004. Lister had a violent history and was in jail on charges he had raped another psychiatric patient. Seidel had violated a restraining order to stay away from his family and was known in his Cherry Hill neighborhood as a nuisance who sang along with Broadway show tunes played on a boom box.

Investigators questioned inmate Wylie Evans about three hours after Seidel's death. He told investigators he had a clear view into Seidel's cell. He also said he had been taking medication and was in the same mental health unit with Seidel and Lister.

"Marvin ripped his clothes off . . . I was looking at Joel's face, and he was screaming, hollering, please don't do this, and it sounded like he said don't rape me," Evans told investigators. "Marvin must have raped him for about, for about 15 minutes."

Lister stomped Seidel with his feet for more than 30 minutes, Evans told investigators. A videotape shows at least 25 minutes passed before guards discovered the body, according to attorneys for Seidel's family.

The transcript of the interview with Evans was included in a 102-page motion filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Camden by attorneys representing Seidel's estate. The Courier-Post obtained the filing through PACER, an online service that provides access to federal court records.

The motion requested the release of personnel files of the guards on duty that morning.

Lister has been charged in Seidel's killing. He is not charged with sexual assault. A spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office said he could not discuss Evans' credibility.

"I'm not going to comment on whether it's accurate or not," said Mike Cantner, a deputy chief at the prosecutor's office. "That case is still pending grand jury. Additional charges could always be lodged at grand jury."

Evans was sentenced to five years for two counts of attempted burglary, state records show. He is now at the South Woods state prison in Bridgeton.

Other inmates told the prosecutor's office that Lister had previously threatened Seidel, according to a prosecutor's report by investigator Randall C. MacNair included in the motion filed Friday.

Camden County spokesman Ken Shuttleworth declined to comment on Evans' statement or why the information was not previously released.

"We're not going to comment on anything related to those court papers," Shuttleworth said Saturday. "The truth will come out in the legal process, and that's as far as we're going to go."

But Ed Martone, a prisoners' rights advocate, said the county should have revealed what it knew about Seidel's death earlier.

"It was all part of a crime committed in a public institution. All that information should have been divulged as they had it. It's one of the reasons why people live in such jeopardy in these institutions. So much that is destructive and dangerous is kept from public view," said Martone, of the N.J. Association on Correction.

Tom Kline, attorney for Seidel's family, said Evans' statement sheds fresh insight into what Seidel suffered while in jail.

"Evans graphically depicts the horror and terror that Joel Seidel experienced in the last minutes of his life. It demonstrates the results of deliberate indifference by the authorities to his safety and the disregard of him as a human being," said Kline.

"The brutality and the obscene nature of what Evans observed clearly has a ring of authenticity, which to our understanding is corroborated by video surveillance," he said.

Kline said an attorney in his firm had viewed a videotape that showed that at least 25 minutes passed before the body was discovered.

At one point, the tape shows a guard entering the mental health unit briefly but the guard did not look into any of the cells, Kline said.

His law firm has a history of trying to work to improve conditions as part of any settlement, Kline said. In 1999, he won a $50 million settlement from SEPTA after a young boy's foot was mangled in an escalator.

"Camden County should look internally . . . (toward) shaping a jail which will truly act in the best interest of the community, to protect the most vulnerable people who came through the gates of the jail," said Kline.

In previous interviews, county officials have said they have taken steps to prevent future violence at the jail, which remains one of the most crowded in the state.

Inmates with varying criminal histories are now housed in different-colored uniforms so that guards won't place mismatched inmates in the same cells. Steps have been taken, Warden Eric Taylor has said, to improve security.

Records show that more than 1,800 prisoners are housed at the facility. It is designed to hold about 1,250.

In many cases, four prisoners sleep in cells originally designed to hold one. In those cases, two prisoners sleep in bunks and two on the floor - one near the toilet.

There were three prisoners in Seidel's cell in the mental health unit.

The court papers filed Friday also revealed details about other incidents previously reported in the Courier-Post.

The court papers included:

· A copy of a letter from a mental health worker, Ellen Green, who said the jail received a phone call that Seidel had been beaten and appeared in court with black eyes two weeks before he was killed.

· Mental health workers' intake sheets that evaluated both Seidel and Lister. Seidel had low scores for violence and instability. Lister had high scores for potential violence.

· A sworn deposition in which Deputy Warden Marilyn Berry told Seidel's attorneys that corrections officers could not routinely check the histories of inmates.

"Most of them are not cleared to get that information," she said. "Just certain people are."

· In another sworn deposition, James McIntyre, a shift supervisor in the jail, told attorneys that Lister "had a history of violent behavior towards other inmates and staff." ..more.. by Alan Guenther

Murdered prisoner should have been moved: lawyer

6-11-2003 Canada:

The lawyer for a murdered pedophile says his jailers failed to protect him.

On Monday, guards found 46-year-old Richard Hatton dead in his cell at the Regional Detention Centre.

His cellmate, 29-year-old Daniel Labelle, is charged with second-degree murder.

Richard Hatton had been in the Regional Detention Centre since his arrest for violating the terms of a long-term supervision order.

Carol Sparling, a spokeswoman for the National Parole Board, says Hatton was being held awaiting a hearing to see if he should go back to federal prison.

"The breach had to do with being in an area where he was not supposed to be," says Sparling. "It had to do with a breach of an alcohol condition that he admitted to doing. There wasn't anything of involvement with children."

But Hatton did have a long history of criminal involvement with children. He had been convicted seven times for sexual offences against children.

That history made Hatton a target for other inmates, and officials at the detention centre should have known that, says his lawyer, Joshua Zambrowski of Kingston.

"There is a legal onus on any detention centre, prison or penitentiary to take reasonable care to protect all prisoners. And the fact that he was sharing a cell with some other offender is in my view irresponsible and negligent," says Zambrowski.

Hatton had spent about a month at the provincial detention facility, according to Zambrowski. He says his client, a federal inmate, should have been moved much sooner to a federal prison where he would have been safer. ..more.. by CBC News

---

Inquest probes pedophile's slaying by cellmate
6-19-2007 Canada:

Mentally ill inmates should be housed separately from other prisoners, a schizophrenic man who killed his cellmate four years ago told a coroner's inquest.

Daniel Labelle was testifying Monday via videoconference at the inquest in Ottawa into the death of 46-year-old Robert Hatton in 2003.

Hatton was intellectually disabled and had been convicted seven times for sexual offences against children, but was being held in the Ottawa Carleton Regional Detention Centre for a parole violation.

Labelle strangled Hatton in June 2003 and was later convicted of manslaughter. He's now serving an eight-year sentence at Penetanguishene Psychiatric Hospital.

Labelle, speaking from the hospital, said that before the slaying, he was scared that his cellmate, who weighed about 300 pounds, would try to rape him.

He said he asked repeatedly to be moved to another cell, but his request was denied.

Labelle apologized for what happened, and wanted the inquest to recommend that people with mental illness be housed separately.

Sister backs separate housing idea

As part of the inquest, Hatton's sister, Beverley Poste, spoke from Ottawa to Labelle during the videoconference Monday.

She agreed that people with mental illness should be housed separately, and said so should people who have been convicted of sex crimes.

"Both of those types of individuals are ill in one way or another and really need to be segregated from the rest of the population," Poste told the CBC following the day's testimony.

Pedophiles, in particular, are often targets of violence by other prisoners.

Poste said the inquest was useful, allowing her and Labelle to tell their sides of the story.

"I've explained to him … my brother that I knew and grew up with," she said after testifying.

She described Hatton as being "like a monster bird in a little wee nest."

Despite his enormous size, she said, "he didn't have a mean bone in his body. He couldn't be riled, he couldn't be angered and he certainly would have fallen over if Daniel had even pushed him."

But she said she was not angry at Labelle, as she recognized he was a sick man.

"He expressed horrendous anxiety about being celled with my brother and he didn't feel that the powers that be listened to him," she said. "He didn't anticipate murdering, and I honestly believe that."

The inquest is expected to end Friday. ..more.. by CBC News

TX- Harris Co. deputies shoot, kill convicted sex offender while serving warrant

3-23-2008 Texas:

HOUSTON -- Harris County Sheriff’s deputies shot and killed a convicted sex offender while attempting to serve a warrant for Aggravated Sexual Assault late Saturday night.

According to the sheriff’s department, deputies arrived at the Timbers of Inwood Apartments just after 11 p.m. on a tip that Brian Keith Dunkle, 47, was there at his girlfriend’s home.

Dunkle had been sentenced to ten years in prison for sexual assault in Alaska.

The deputies found him in the apartment, hiding in the bathroom. But as they attempted to serve the warrant, Dunkle pulled out a gun.

The deputies opened fire, and Dunkle died at the scene.

Witnesses said when the deputies knocked on the door, Dunkle grabbed a pistol and said he would not go back to prison.

The incident is being investigated by the Sheriff’s Homicide and Internal Affairs Divisions, as well as the Harris County District Attorney’s Police Integrity Unit. ..more.. by KHOU.com staff report

IN- Montgomery Co. inmate dies from apparent strangulation

3-21-2008 Indiana:

CARLISLE, Ind. - A man convicted of sexual misconduct with a minor died after being attacked in his cell at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility.

Robert Crane, 27, who appeared to have been strangled, died while being treated at a hospital about 1:30 p.m. Friday, two hours after the attack, prison spokesman Rich Larsen said.

Indiana State Police and prison investigators named Crane's cellmate, Michael Gibson, 33, as a suspect in the attack, Larsen said.

Gibson is serving a 119-year sentence for two attempted murders, battery, burglary and possessing a weapon, with an earliest possible release date of 2063, Larsen said. His crimes occurred in Morgan and Madison Counties.

The two prisoners were being held in protective custody, Larsen said.

Following the attack, guards immediately tried to resuscitate Crane, Larsen said. He was rushed to Sullivan County Community Hospital.

Crane, who also had been convicted of attempted escape, was serving a 14-year term.

The Wabash Valley Correctional Facility houses more than 2,100 prisons in maximum and minimum security. It's located about 35 miles south of Terre Haute. ..more.. by AP

FL- Naked sex offender, Tasered by deputies, dies

3-21-2008 Florida:

A naked and belligerent Deerfield Beach man, who Broward sheriff's deputies Tasered when he resisted arrest, died in BSO custody early Friday.

James Garland, 41, was unconscious when he arrived at Imperial Point Hospital in a BSO cruiser some time after 4 a.m., BSO said. He was later pronounced dead.

The Broward County Medical Examiner's Office conducted an autopsy Friday to determine Garland's cause of death. BSO has directed the office not to release its findings at this time, said Wendy Crane, a medical investigator.

According to a BSO release, here's what happened:

At about 4:15 Friday, deputies responded to a 911 call at the Hillsboro Boulevard bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway of a man walking in traffic, waving his shirt.

When they arrived, they found Garland strolling naked past the Ocean Boulevard Condominium at 191 SE 20 Ave.

Deputies tried to detain him, but he became angry, and refused to comply. Deputies hit him with a stun gun, and were able to take Garland, who became violent, into custody.

Garland continued to rage. Paramedics, fearful of his behavior, refused to transport him to the hospital, and so he was taken by a marked patrol car.

At some point, Garland lost consciousness, and later died.

He has had 10 arrests in Broward County in the last six years, mostly for drug-related offenses. Garland spent six months in prison from late 2002 through early 2003 following a possession of cocaine conviction.

It is not known if cocaine was in his system at the time of his death, said Jim Leljedal, a BSO spokesman.

The police use of Tasers has drawn national scrutiny, as the practice has led to dozens of deaths in recent years. In many instances, those killed were high on cocaine, a stimulant, at the time that 50,000 volts are sent through their body.

In January, a Coral Gables man died after he was Tasered. Police say Xavier Jones, 29, was causing a commotion and resisting arrest at a Coral Gables hotel when he was Tasered.

Garland, of 167 NW 2nd St., is a registered sex offender. In 1991, a Grady, Ga., jury convicted him of molesting a child, according to Florida's sexual offenders database. ..more.. by

Teen stabs to death alleged molester

3-11-2008 Jamaica:

A man who allegedly fondled a 15-year-old boy is dead after the youth stabbed him with an ice pick in St. Elizabeth on Sunday.

Dead is Everton Ramoney, 47, of Leeds in St. Elizabeth.

His body was found at a house on School Street in Black River.

It is reported that the teenager was at Mr. Ramoney's house when he allegedly touched the youth in an inappropriate manner.

The teenager used an ice pick to stab Mr. Ramoney several times.

He then wrapped the body in a tarpaulin.

The boy later turned himself over to the Black River Police. ..more.. by RadioJamaica.com

MD- Sex Offender Fatally Shot At Apartment Building

2-29-2008 Maryland:

OXON HILL, Md. -- Police are investigating a fatal shooting near an elementary school in Prince George's County.

Authorities said 26-year-old Dominique Emanuel McFadden was shot by a private security guard at the Colonial Village Apartments in the 1000 block of Marcy Avenue in Oxon Hill just after 9 a.m. on Friday.

Police said McFadden was a registered sex offender who was on parole.

Police said the security guard tried to break up a fight between two men. During that confrontation, one of the men pulled out a gun, and the security guard pulled out his weapon and fired.

McFadden was struck. He was transported to a local hospital, where he later died.

Neighbor Deborah Simms said she was parking her car when the incident happened. She said the man who was shot did not have a gun. She said the guard shot the man in the back.

The other man fled the scene. Police said they are searching for him. Police also said they recovered a gun belonging to the suspect at the scene.

Nearby Glass Manor Elementary School was placed on lockdown temporarily. Students were putting on a play in honor of Black History Month at the time of the shooting, News4's Pat Collins reported.

The performance went on as scheduled. Crisis counselors were sent to assist students.

A man was shot and killed in the neighborhood on Sunday. Police said they are trying to determine if Friday's shooting is related.

"We do not have respect for one another, and a lot of times that spills over into violence," said neighbor Allen Nickens.

The investigation is ongoing. ..more.. by NBC4.com

TN- Brighton neighbor runs to women's aid, shoots and kills attacker

A special thanks to the commenter below and based on that input we have explained this case in our Overview and Tutorial

2-29-2008 Tennessee:

A Brighton man shot and killed a 44-year-old registered sex offender who attacked two women in their home early this morning, officials said.

According to Dist. Atty. Gen. Mike Dunavant, David Fleming charged into the home of two women at about 3 a.m.

Fleming bound the women but one escaped and ran to a nearby home. Dunavant said Fleming, who lived in Munford, intended to rape the women.

The woman who escaped went to the nearby home of Keith Ingram for help, Dunavant said.

Ingram, carrying a .40-caliber handgun, ran to the house and found Fleming attacking the other woman, officials said.

When Fleming tried to attack Ingram, Dunavant said Ingram shot Fleming once.

Tipton County Sheriff’s deputies and Brighton Police officers found Fleming dead on the front porch of the home.

Fleming had been convicted of attempted rape in Tipton County. He’s listed on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s sex-offender registry.

Dunavant said Ingram has no criminal record and has a permit to carry the handgun.

The women who were attacked were treated at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Tipton.

TBI officials are assisting with the case. The Shelby County Medical Examiner will conduct an autopsy. Investigators took statements from several witnesses today. The shooting is still under investigation. ..more.. by Sherri Drake

NC- Suspect dies following exchange with Forsyth deputies

2-29-2008 North Carolina:

CLEMMONS — A Mocksville man was shot and killed after trying to run over a Forsyth County Sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop Friday morning, authorities said.

At 9:54 a.m., deputies on patrol attempted to pull over a 2004 Toyota Camry at the intersection of Lewisville-Clemmons and Holder roads in Clemmons, Forsyth County Sheriff’s Maj. Brad Stanley said.

A deputy requested additional units to respond to the scene and at 10:10 a.m., radio traffic indicated that shots were fired in the area.

Stanley said during the exchange, the suspect struck one of the deputies with his vehicle in an attempt to flee.

Deputies then opened fire as the vehicle sped off and it came to a stop about a tenth of a mile from the scene along Lewisville-Clemmons Road.

EMS responded and transported the suspect to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

The man was later identified as Jovon Antwan Evans, 27, of Mocksville.

Stanley said the five deputies who were involved in the incident have been placed on administrative leave while the State Bureau of Investigations conducts an investigation, which is standard for any officer-related shooting.

Stanley said deputies determined the vehicle Evans was driving had been reported stolen on Oct. 31 to Winston-Salem police from Flow Chevrolet on South Stratford Road in Winston-Salem.

Evans has an extensive criminal history including more than 20 felony convictions ranging from assault on a government official, felony speeding to elude arrest, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and sexual assault charges requiring him to register as a sex offender, Stanley said.

"He wasn’t unfamiliar with the criminal justice system and has been involved and convicted involving a lot of criminal activity," Stanley said.

"It’s unfortunate that Mr. Evans died as a result of these actions, but we are thankful these officers didn’t sustain any major injuries or anything worse." ..more.. by Ryan Seals

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Woman wants answers about husband's shooting by police
3-2-2008 North Carolina:

Keyanna Evans wants answers about the shooting death of her husband, Jovon Antwan Evans.

“I don’t know why the first shots were fired,” she said yesterday. “I still want to know where was he shot, what killed him.”

Jovon Evans died Friday after being shot by a Forsyth County sheriff’s deputy.

Evans was pulled over on Lewisville-Clemmons Road in Clemmons shortly before 10 a.m. Friday by a deputy. Authorities suspected that the car he was driving had been stolen.

After more deputies arrived, Jovon Evans tried to drive away and hit a deputy on his way onto Lewisville-Clemmons Road. At least one deputy fired at the car.

Deputies chased the car on foot until it stopped at Immanuel Baptist Church. Deputies opened the car door and pulled Jovon Evans out of the car. He was not moving. He died at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center later that day.

The five deputies who were on the scene are on paid administrative leave while the State Bureau of Investigation looks into the shooting, said Maj. Brad Stanley, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office. That is standard practice during an SBI investigation.

Stanley said that the sheriff’s office believes that the deputies acted correctly.

Stanley said that, because of the SBI investigation, he could not answer any questions about the shooting, such as why Jovon Evans was pulled over, why deputies fired at him or how many deputies fired their guns. The sheriff’s office is not releasing the deputies’ names at the request of the SBI.

Officials with the SBI could not be reached for comment.

Keyanna Evans said she is upset about the way that Jovon Evans has been portrayed in the media.

“Nobody knows him the way I do. I hate the way they portrayed him on television,” she said.

Authorities have said that Jovon Evans had a long criminal record, including convictions for possession of stolen goods and larceny of motor vehicle. He was also a registered sex offender.

Keyanna Evans said she did not know about all of the criminal convictions. To her, Jovon Evans was a loving husband and father, she said.

The two married in December 2007. A photo in their living room shows the couple standing together at an aquarium in Tennessee while on their honeymoon, beaming at the camera.

“He was loving,” Keyanna Evans said. “He took care of my daughter. She called him daddy.”

Jovon Evans helped around the house, and worked with her daughter and helped her get A’s on her report card for the first time, Keyanna Evans said.

“He worked with her tremendously on her spelling, her math. And I’m so mad that they made him out to be this person he was not,” she said.

Keyanna Evans saw her husband for the last time less than an hour before he died.

Jovon Evans worked for Healthy Homes Solutions, Keyanna Evans said. He came back to their apartment in Clemmons about 9:30 a.m., an hour after he started work, to pick something up.

“He gave me a kiss and said, ‘I have to drop this off, and then I’ll be home,’” she said.

But he never came home. When Keyanna Evans turned on the news at noon, she saw the story about the shooting.

“I didn’t know it was him until I saw his jacket and the shirt I ironed for him the night before,” she said.

Now she is waiting and hoping that the SBI investigation will yield some answers.

“I just want some answers, and I just want somebody to tell me why,” she said. ..more.. by Danielle Deaver