‘A man said he broke into an apartment with a cavalry sword because he thought he heard a woman being raped, but the sound actually was from a pornographic movie his upstairs neighbor was watching.
“Now I feel stupid,” said James Van Iveren, who has been charged in the case. “This really is nothing, nothing but a mistake.”
According to a criminal complaint, the neighbor told police that Van Iveren pounded on the door and kicked it open without warning Feb. 12, damaging the frame and lock.
“Where is she?” Van Iveren demanded, thrusting the sword at the neighbor, the complaint said. “Where is she?” [..]
The neighbor later played for police the part of the DVD he believed Van Iveren heard downstairs.’
‘Two circus clowns have been shot dead during a performance in the eastern Colombian city of Cucuta, police say.
The attacker jumped into the arena and fired before fleeing, police chief Jose Humberto Henao told Efe news agency.
Local reports say the audience of about 20 people, mostly children, thought the shooting was part of the show before realising both men had been killed.’
‘A southeast Queensland man has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly putting a woman in a car with a hose from the exhaust pipe feeding into the vehicle, and then raping her.
Police said the 60-year-old woman fell asleep in her home in Bundaberg between 6pm (AEST) on Sunday and 3am yesterday after feeling odd following a meal.
She was woken by a man who allegedly put her in a car where a hose had been fed into the vehicle from the exhaust pipe.
It’s alleged the woman was raped before being able to leave the vehicle.
A 62-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder [..]’
‘Masayuki Suo had an international hit a decade ago with the original “Shall We Dance?” Now the director is offering much more serious fare: a film that challenges Japan’s secretive, lethargic justice system.
“I Just Didn’t Do It” is about the legal battle of a man mistakenly accused of groping a woman on a jam-packed commuter train in Tokyo, taking aim at a court system with a suspiciously high 99 percent conviction rate.’
‘Pensacola evangelist Kent Hovind was sentenced Friday afternoon to 10 years in prison on charges of tax fraud. [..]
Hovind, founder of Creation Science Evangelism and Dinosaur Adventure Land in Pensacola, was found guilty in November of 58 federal counts, including failure to pay $845,000 in employee-related taxes. He faced a maximum of 288 years in prison.
Jo Hovind was charged and convicted in 44 of the counts involving evading bank-reporting requirements and faces a maximum of 225 years in prison.’
‘In cold bureaucratic language, the official reports describe lurid acts: High-ranking officials at an isolated state juvenile prison were molesting young male inmates.
Many prison staffers at the West Texas State School complained about the abuse to their immediate bosses and to officials in Austin, the reports say. But, for more than a year, no one in charge did anything to stop it. Evidence was ignored or covered up. Two years after a Texas Rangers investigation concluded, no one has been prosecuted.
Some former employees say similar problems afflict many prisons run by the Texas Youth Commission, whose official mission is to “fix broken children.”‘
‘To the locals, it’s the “McMissile” case.
And like the name, the details of it spill forth like a bad joke: A woman is driving north on Interstate 95. Three kids squirm in the back seat, and her sister, six months pregnant and having early contractions, sits in the front. The stress starts to simmer. Traffic slows, then crawls, then creeps. More stress. A car cuts in front of her, then scoots away. A short time later, it darts in again. She can no longer take it. She veers onto the shoulder and speeds up. Wham! She tosses a large McDonald’s cup filled with ice into the other car. [..]
The jury sentenced her to two years in prison, the minimum, and a judge will formally impose a sentence Wednesday. Under state law, the judge can only decrease the jury’s sentence.
“We didn’t think it would go this far,” Hall said in an interview at the Rappahannock Regional Jail. “Two years! What did I do?”‘
‘A Romanian priest has been jailed for 14 years for conducting an exorcism that led to the death of a nun who he believed was possessed by devils.
Irina Cornici, 23, died after being starved and chained to a cross at a secluded convent in the north-east.
The ritual in 2005 was led by Daniel Petru Corogeanu, 31, the priest at the Holy Trinity convent in Tanacu village.
He and four nuns were convicted of manslaughter. The nuns got jail terms ranging from five to eight years. [..]
In 1999, when the Vatican issued its first new guidelines since 1614 for driving out devils, it urged priests to take modern psychiatry into account in deciding who should be exorcised.’
‘It’s still going to be legal in Arizona for trucks to have splash guards with racist terms and silhouettes of naked women.
The state House on Thursday rejected a Democratic amendment that would have banned splash guards with images that are “obscene or hateful.” [..]
“I personally am tired of explaining to my 11-year-old son why they (women) are depicted on mudflaps , but not all women are 36Ds. He’s very confused by that,” Ulmer said. “But seriously, this is about family values — what are we going to send out as a message to our children.”‘
‘A bill modifying Hungary’s penal code could allow pornographic material involving 14- to 17-year-olds to be made and kept for personal use.
The Justice Ministry said the draft proposal, presented last month by Hungarian Justice Minister Jozsef Petretei, was in line with European Union norms which give members states the right to regulate the issue at national level.
But Opposition lawmakers attacked the proposal as “legalized pedophilia” and a family welfare group described it as “the waiting room of prostitution.”‘
‘Women who claim to be victims of ‘date-rape’ drugs such as Rohypnol have in fact been rendered helpless by binge-drinking, says a study by doctors.
They found no evidence that any woman seeking help from emergency doctors because their drinks were allegedly spiked had actually been given these drugs. [..]
Around one in five tested positive for recreational drugs while two-thirds had been drinking heavily.
The findings further erode the theory that there is widespread use of Rohypnol and GHB, another drug said to be favoured by predatory rapists.’
‘For 17 months, Jimmy Earl Adams battled heart problems as he prepared his defense on a charge of sexually assaulting a client at the cosmetic procedures center he owns in North Richland Hills, his attorney said.
On Friday morning, moments after a Tarrant County jury acquitted the 59-year-old, Adams was rushed to a local hospital, suffering what he said was a heart attack.
“My comment … my comment is that I’m in the emergency room,” Adams said in a telephone interview a few hours after the verdict. A woman who took the telephone from him said the family declined to make any additional comments.’
‘An 18-year-old Lyle High School student is facing two felony charges for allegedly lacing brownies with laxatives and distributing them at school, making staff and students sick. [..]
The principal said that on Feb. 6, the defendant had brought a pan of 16 brownies to school and gave them to staff and students. He said Orth admitted on Feb. 7 that he and two other 18-year-old males baked the brownies at one of their homes. The principal claimed the defendant had admitted to purchasing the laxatives and other ingredients.
The complaint stated that the other two males said they were “just watching” while the defendant made them.’
‘Actor Sylvester Stallone says the seizure of several items of his luggage at Sydney Airport on Friday night was the result of a misunderstanding.
Customs officers are investigating the prohibited items, which were confiscated from Stallone and five others in his entourage when he arrived during a routine luggage check.
The actor and his party were held for several hours after X-rays showed up the banned items.
Customs are yet to confirm what the seized items are.’
‘Police arrested eight Chippendales dancers and three others during the first of three sold out performances Friday, accusing them of violating the city’s adult entertainment ordinance.
Officers raided Jake’s Sports Cafe about 30 minutes after the show started and the venue was closed. They arrested the venue’s manager, the show’s promoter and the dancers’ manager along with the dancers in front of a disgruntled crowd of women.
Shortly after, several hundred women began chanting, “Bring them back, bring them back” and “the City Council sucks, the City Council sucks.”‘
‘An 84-year-old woman accused of attempted rape involving an 11-year-old boy in her foster care has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge after confessing to having sex with the child, prosecutors said Thursday.
Georgie Audean Buoy, of The Dalles, a Columbia River town about 90 miles east of Portland, will serve 36 months in prison, said Leslie Wolf, chief deputy district attorney for Wasco County. [..]
Buoy also must pay $5,000 to the victim, as well as up to $7,500 in restitution for counseling.
Buoy will be the oldest female inmate in the Oregon corrections system, according to the Oregon Department of Corrections.’
‘Early on the morning of Dec. 13, police officers responding to a 911 call arrived at a house in Hull, Mass., a seaside town near Boston, and found a 4-year-old girl on the floor of her parents’ bedroom, dead.
She was lying on her side, in a pink diaper, the police said, sprawled across some discarded magazines and a stuffed brown bear.
Last week, prosecutors in Plymouth County charged the parents, Michael and Carolyn Riley, with deliberately poisoning their daughter Rebecca by giving her overdoses of prescription drugs to sedate her.
The police said the girl had been taking a potent cocktail of psychiatric drugs since age 2, when she was given a diagnosis of attention deficit disorder and bipolar disorder, which is characterized by mood swings.
The parents have pleaded not guilty, with their lawyers questioning whether the child should have been prescribed such powerful drugs.’
‘My friend, all I can say is that you are clearly insane. We’ve recieved word from him since that he has been suspended from school for 30 days as well as being charged with sexual harrassment by the teacher in the photo above. I’m actually speechless. I don’t know what to say. Let this be a lesson to all, kids- the C&H world and reality do not mix well. Our poor friend here found that out the hard way. Unlucky, soldier!’
‘The state troopers in Rhinebeck realized that they were dealing with a specialist. The burglar left no fingerprints or clues. There wasn’t much to do except alert the antiques publications, the auction houses, and the Times, which ran a brief article about the burglaries. [..]
Mason and Abruzzini had warned me that Nordahl always talked about changing his ways. “Blane couldn’t go straight if you snapped a chalk line for him,” Abruzzini said. Luanne, his ex-girlfriend, had also told me that he would never stop. “He’ll be seventy-eight with a goddam cane, walking down the street stealing silver,” she said.’
‘A man who allegedly faked his own kidnapping to keep his wife from finding out he crashed her new car could face criminal charges, police said.
Jorge Alberto Mejia, 35, told police two kidnappers held him up at gunpoint at a San Rafael bar Saturday and ordered him to drive to Santa Rosa, California, where he purposely crashed the car into a wall to escape. Under questioning Monday, Mejia admitted to investigators he made the story up, including detailed descriptions of the nonexistent kidnappers.’
‘Anni Sheriffius said she was trying to wash off what she thought was dirt on her dog Jasmine’s ear when the ear fell off.
Sheriffius rushed her dog to the veterinarian to learn that the dog’s ear had been cut off by a dog groomer and super-glued back on.
“And I saw the ear float away, and it freaked me out,” Sheriffius said.’
see it here »
‘In a unanimous opinion, a three-judge panel for the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an Alabama statute banning the commercial distribution of sex toys, saying that there is no fundamental right to privacy raised by the plaintiff’s case against the law.
According to the statute, it is “unlawful for any person to knowingly distribute any obscene material or any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs.”’
‘A Russian court has thrown out a case against a village headmaster from the Ural mountains region who allegedly used pirated Windows software. [..]
But Mr Ponosov said he did not know that the software was pirated and his campaign attracted high-profile support, including from Russian officials and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. [..]
The case was closed “due to the minimal damage inflicted” on Microsoft, Elvira Mosheva, a judge at the court in the Perm region of the Urals.
Asked about the case at a press conference earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said: “Catching someone just because he bought a computer and threatening him with prison – that’s crap.”‘
‘A Chinese man has been sentenced to death for conning people out of 3 billion yuan ($387 million) in a giant scam to breed ants, local media said on Thursday.
Wang Zhendong, from the northeastern province of Liaoning, fabricated a business purported to be making wine, tea and medical elixirs using mature ants, the Beijing News said. [..]
More than 10,000 people, lured by the promise of returns of up to 60 percent, signed 100,000 contracts with Wang’s bogus company before the case came under investigation in June 2005. [..]
In his defense, Wang said he did not know the first thing about raising ants and was “quite unclear” about the costs, the Beijing News said.’
‘An Italian judge has ordered 26 Americans and five Italians to stand trial for the kidnapping of a terror suspect in Milan in 2003, in what will be the first criminal court case over the CIA’s extraordinary rendition programme.
The decision, which indicts a number of senior intelligence officials from the US and Italy, concerns the abduction of a radical imam known as Abu Omar, who was flown to Egypt where he claims he was tortured under questioning on February 17 2003. Prosecutors say that five Italian intelligence officials worked with the CIA to abduct the Egyptian cleric.
All but one of the American suspects have been identified as CIA agents. [..]’
‘Two women are accused of soaking a homeless, drug-addicted prostitute with gasoline and burning her to death after she reported that one of them had robbed her.
Leslie “Jill” May, 49, was abducted from the street and killed at Candlestick Park the day she told the police that Mia Sagote, 30, robbed and beat her over a debt May’s boyfriend owed, authorities said.
Sagote and Leslie Siliga, 29, have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and kidnapping.’
‘Drivers on their way to breakfast in northern Virginia on Saturday found it all over the road after nearly 165,000 eggs spilled out of an overturned tractor-trailer on the Capital Beltway.
“It looked like a large omelet,” said Michael Karbonski, of the Virginia Department of Transportation. [..]
The truck driver fled the scene before police arrived and had not been located by Saturday afternoon, said state police spokesman Sgt. Terry Licklider. [..]’
‘Tennessee’s procedure manual for executing prisoners is a jumble of conflicting instructions that mixes new lethal injection instructions with those for the old electric chair, an Associated Press review found. [..]
The manual’s minute-by-minute guidelines for lethal injections includes the instruction: “The Executioner will engage the automatic rheostat.” A rheostat controls the voltage flowing to an electric chair.
The guidelines also tell the facility manager to disconnect the electrical cables in the rear of the chair before a doctor checks whether the lethal injection was successful.’
‘A New Zealand lawyer who took to wearing an Alice in Wonderland costume in court to highlight an alleged cover-up by the army has been found guilty of contempt.
But the conviction had nothing to do with Rob Moodie’s decision to use fashion as a form of protest.
Instead, he was convicted for publicly releasing a court-suppressed report about the fatal 1994 collapse of an army-built bridge on a property owned by his elderly clients.’
‘Tanning salon owners will be subject to background checks and police inspections under stricter licensing rules adopted after one operator was charged with secretly videotaping female patrons undressing.
The new rules, which require an annual license for tanning salons, were approved by the City Council on Monday and will take effect in two months.
Salon owners will have to submit detailed background information and be subject to routine police inspections for hidden surveillance devices.’
