Law & Order

Two FBI Agents Killed In Virginia Beach Training Accident

Paul Szoldra — Sun, 19 May 2013 19:42:00 GMT

Two agents with the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team have been killed in a training accident Friday, AP reports.

An FBI spokesperson told AP the accident occurred off the Virginia Beach coast and they are still investigating.

ABC affiliate WJLA reports the Quantico, Va.-based agents were participating in a training exercise involving "at least one military helicopter."

After the accident, the two agents were brought to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, according to WVEC:

It remains unclear when the agents were brought in, or if the hospital had been alerted prior to their arrival.

The Norfolk Medical Examiner’s office has not released a cause of death for the two agents, and further information will likely be unavailable until Monday morning.

The FBI's Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) was established in 1983 as a federal counter-terrorist unit, similar in structure to law enforcement SWAT teams. They are often deployed to hostage crises and other high-threat law enforcement situations within the U.S.

This post will be updated as more details come in.

Please follow Law & Order on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

How One Overworked IRS Worker Ignited The Tea-Party Targeting Scandal

Philip Bump — Sun, 19 May 2013 19:14:00 GMT

The IRS' office of Exempt Organizations sounds like a terrible place to work. Piling on to the critical report from a Treasury Inspector General, at least four sweeping media assessments this weekend show a department that is overwhelmed, underfunded, and poorly managed.

The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and ProPublica all researched the evolution of the small group of Cincinnati-based employees that unethically (and perhaps illegally) isolated the tax-exempt applications of Tea Party groups for additional scrutiny. What they found doesn't appear to be the image of big government run amuck, as charged by Senator Mike Lee earlier this week; instead, it's an organization trying to do politically tricky work while it struggled to cut costs — and failing.

The scandal unfolded in four parts.

Part 1: Tax-exempt work is moved to Cincinnati to save money.

The ProPublica story provides the best explanation for why the group was located in Cincinnati at all.

The city had a history of being able to hire people at low federal grades, which in 1995 paid between $19,704 and $38,814 a year — almost the same as those federal grades paid in New York City or Chicago. (Adjusted for inflation, that's between $30,064 and $59,222 now.) …

So in 1995, the Exempt Organizations division started to centralize. Instead of field offices evaluating applications for nonprofits in each region, those applications would all be sent to one mailing address, a post-office box in Covington, Ky. Then a central office in Cincinnati would review all the applications.

Nor did the IRS splurge on a fancy office for the team. The Post describes a fourth-floor office with an "open, L-shaped layout of small, plain cubicles. (Office norms discourage the decoration of cubicle walls.)" The Times also reports that the group was the least popular assignment in an unpleasant place.

Inside the agency, the unit was considered particularly unglamorous. “Nobody wants to be a determination agent,” said Jack Reilly, a former lawyer in the Washington office that oversaw exempt organizations. “It’s a job that just about everybody would be anxious to get out of it.”

Part 2: Tax-exempt applications increase, while resources to deal with applications keep shrinking.

By 2010, when the group began flagging applications that included the words "Tea Party," the group was only a tiny part of the massive IRS tasked with a big job. The Post:

Nationwide, about 900 of the IRS’s nearly 100,000 employees deal with tax-exempt organizations. Cincinnati’s determinations unit handled about 61,000 applications last year. In recent years, office culture in Cincinnati has been defined by constant reorganization to offset a voluminous workload: Regulations in the Pension Protection Act of 2006 triggered a wave of reapplications, and between 2009 and 2012, the annual number of 501(c)(4) aspirants nearly doubled, to 3,357. Many had a political tinge that complicated the determinations process.

The Times points out that the change in tax code that threatened the existence of hundred of thousands of groups, spurred "tens of thousands" to reapply. This is a key point: these employees handled every applicant for tax exempt status, and applicants for 501(c)(3) status, which results in the ability to accept tax-exempt donations, comprised a larger, more sensitive pool.

At the same time that the office was being flooded, both a key training tool — a series of explanatory articles called Continuing Professional Education — and a spot-check of performance had already ended, in an effort to be more "efficient." ProPublica:

In 2003, the saturation reviews and post reviews ended, and the public list of criteria that would get an application referred to headquarters disappeared, Owens said. Instead, agents in Cincinnati could ask to have cases reviewed, if they wanted. But they didn't very often. … By the end of 2004, the Continuing Professional Education articles stopped.

The Treasury Inspector General's reported detailed one consequence of the lack of training for staff. For a period of about a year, all processing of questionable applications stopped while the group waited for a determination of what levels of political advocacy were permitted for (c)(4) applicants. That's the sort of training that the CPE articles were meant to provide.

In the end, the easiest thing to do was approve them all. ProPublica notes that, of 24,196 501(c)(4) applications between 1998 and 2009, 77 were denied. Until someone decided to start paying closer attention.

Part 3: An employee starts streamlining applications.

The Times notes that the process began in 2010 with a single person.

For months, the Tea Party cases sat on the desk of a lone specialist, who used “political sounding” criteria — words like “patriots,” “we the people” — as a way to search efficiently through the flood of applications for groups that might not qualify for exemptions, according to the I.R.S. inspector general. “Triage,” the agency’s acting chief described it.

The Los Angeles Times agrees, blaming "one specialist."

The crux of the investigation by Congress and the administration will be why that employee started to flag those applications — and why, as the inspector general notes, it soon became an office-wide practice. Was it an attempt to streamline the workflow? Or was it politically motivated behavior meant to target Tea Party groups? So far, it appears to be the former; the Los Angeles Times points out that "[n]o evidence yet suggests that the IRS agents in Cincinnati had a political agenda." The Times spoke with a former IRS supervisor, who said that "[t]he specialists, hunched over laptops on the office’s fourth floor, rarely discussed politics."

Part 4: Management in Washington is slow to catch and correct the mistake.

It wan't until July 2011 that Lois Lerner, the group's Washington-based director, learned of the problem. As The Times and the inspector general's report indicate, management revised the criteria triggering closer inspection of applications. But:

… a midlevel official in Washington temporarily overseeing the Cincinnati office told a supervisor there that the guidance was “too lawyerly.” The guidelines were revised several times, as new specialists and lawyers joined the effort.

By January 2012, employees in Cincinnati, apparently without consulting senior officials, chose new keywords, including “educating on the Constitution” and “social economic reform/movement.” That month, the specialists in Cincinnati and elsewhere began sending out increasingly exhaustive, sometimes intrusive questionnaires.

By the time Lerner curtails the practice, it's too late. The questionnaires are for many groups the first time they've heard about their applications in months. It triggers blowback from conservative organizations which ultimately and indirectly prompts the inspector general's report. For months, upper-level managers obscure the problem — including in testimony before Congress — until Lerner spoke at a conference two weeks ago, shortly before the inspector general's report was released.

More from The Atlantic Wire:

Click here to follow The Atlantic Wire.

Please follow Politics on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Maximum Security Prison Guard Shares The Most Disturbing Parts Of His Job

Paul Szoldra — Sun, 19 May 2013 18:15:00 GMT

Life behind bars is a challenge for prisoners serving time, but they aren't the only ones in maximum security prisons dealing with stress.

Corrections officers (CO) responsible for overseeing prisons work in one of the most stressful and hazardous jobs in the U.S. — topping the list of occupations with some of the highest nonfatal on-the-job injuries.

One Ohio corrections officer took to the popular Reddit networking site to answer questions in an "Ask-Me-Anything" (AmA) format, offering a very interesting (and somewhat disturbing) look at the life of a prison gatekeeper (Some answers edited for clarity).

On whether he has ever been afraid for his life while on the job:

I once denied access to chow 5 minutes too early and had 70 irate inmates standing in front of me pounding their fists. I called for backup, but at that moment I feared for my life due to their sheer strength in numbers.

I once was clocking out and was told by my supervisor that there was a riot planned in the block I was working that day and they planned to take a CO hostage. Thanks a lot, boss.

On the dangers that officers face outside of work:

My wife and I have a code phrase. If we are out and about and I say "time to find socks", and quickly walk away--that means I've spotted a former inmate that could possibly wish harm on me and my family. The life of my family and my life are threatened everyday, followed by "I get out in xxx days." It only takes one to follow up.

He went on to say he's run into former inmates twice, but they ended "without incident." He also noted that "time to find socks" was not the actual code he uses.

On some of the unique weapons prisoners are able to create:

I see a lot of straightened, sharpened bed springs. A razor blade melted into a toothbrush handle. Tightly rolled paper and elastic band from a pair of underwear can be used to make a lethal bow and arrow.

On what was the most disturbing contraband item ever discovered at his facility:

Cell phones are HORRIBLE. Gang leaders can quickly communicate and coordinate with other inmates at other institutions. Riots, murders... Things like that. I've found steroids. Freakishly strong, insubordinate inmates that refuse to anything you ask are dangerous. Especially when it becomes physical.

On how prisoners can possibly get such an item:

Staff bring in phones and in return are paid on the street by inmate's families.

I've heard [smugglers can be paid] $1500 for a smart phone. But I've never fully investigated. I value my career and livelihood of my family to do something impulsive like that.

On the importance of respect in prison:

The older gang leaders are respected by staff if they give the respect. They don't have to lift a finger on the compound. Their soldiers get them food, clothes, press their clothing, do all their work really. Older inmates that are respectable are called "convicts". A young gang banger is an "inmate".

On how prisoners find out about convicted child molesters and rapists:

When they call their families, they have the family member look up the inmate by name or number on the state offender search Web page where charges are listed. Child molesters normally have a very distinguishing look to them.

He agreed that inmates generally despise rapists and child molesters, saying "they are preyed upon and extorted very much."

On how to survive your first day in the joint:

Mean what you say and say what you mean. If you tell a guy you will get him something, get it for him. If you tell a guy you're gonna slam him if he doesn't go back to his cell, well..... Get busy.

On whether he ever feels pity towards any of the inmates:

It does break my heart when I see an inmate holding his kids in the visit room. Those children did nothing to have their father taken away. A father is a protector and a mentor. Those children are missing all of that.

You can read the full AmA here >

Please follow Law & Order on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

AP: Sources Aren't Talking To Us Out Of Fear The US Government Will Spy On Them

Dominic Rushe, The Guardian — Sun, 19 May 2013 17:38:00 GMT

The Obama administration's decision to seize phone records from the Associated Press was "unconstitutional" and sends a message that "if you talk to the press, we are going to go after you", the news agency's boss Gary Pruitt said Sunday.

AP revealed last week that the Justice Department had obtained two months' worth of phone records of calls made by reporters and editors without informing the organisation in advance. The move was an apparent effort by US officials to identify the source of a story about the CIA foiling an alleged terrorist plot by an al Qaida terrorist affiliate in Yemen.

News of the seizure has caused a political firestorm and comes amid a widening scandal into the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of Tea Party groups over their tax exemptions and the White House's handling of the Benghazi terrorist attack last year.

Speaking on CBS's Face the Nation, Pruitt, AP's president and chief executive officer, said the government's seizure of the phone records was "unconstitutional" and was already clearly harming the press's ability to do its job.

"We don't question their right to conduct these sort of investigations. We just think they went about it the wrong way. So sweeping, so secretly, so abusively and harassingly and over-broad that it constitutes, that it is, an unconstitutional act," he said.

"We are already seeing some impact. Already officials that would normally talk to us and people we talk to in the normal course of newsgathering are already saying to us that they are a little reluctant to talk to us. They fear that they will be monitored by the government. We are already seeing that. It's not hypothetical," said Pruitt.

The government investigation was seemingly triggered by an AP exclusive about a joint US-Saudi spy operation that had foiled a plot involving an improved version of the "underwear" bomb that failed to detonate properly on a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day 2009. AP agreed to delay publication after officials cited national security concerns.

Pruitt said he would normally expect dialogue with government officials ahead of any decision to ask for or demand records relating to the news organisation's activities. Those requests would usually be subject to negotiation and if an agreement could not be reached, they would be put before a judge, he said.

In this case, the Justice Department has claimed it made every reasonable effort to obtain the information through alternative means, as is required by law. "Because we value the freedom of the press, we are always careful and deliberative in seeking to strike the right balance between the public interest in the free flow of information and the public interest in the fair and effective administration of our criminal laws," it said in a statement.

Pruitt said he had not received any explanation as to why AP had not been consulted ahead of the seizure. "I really do not know what their motive is. I know what the message being sent is, it's that if you talk to the press, we are going to go after you," he said.

Pruitt said the Justice Department had acted "as judge jury and executioner, in secret".

If the government restricts the "news gathering apparatus" then "the people of the United States will only know what the government wants them to know. And that's not what the framers of constitution had in mind when they wrote the first amendment," Pruitt said.

The White House has denied knowledge of the Justice Department's move. It comes as officials face mounting criticism over an IRS investigation into Tea Party groups. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell told NBC's Meet the Press Sunday that the IRS controversy demonstrated a "culture of intimidation" by the administration.

This article originally appeared on guardian.co.uk

Please follow Law & Order on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Kuwait Is Deporting People For Minor Traffic Violations

Agence France Presse — Sun, 19 May 2013 16:10:00 GMT

Kuwait has deported hundreds of expats for traffic offences in the past month, a report said on Sunday, drawing condemnation from a human rights group.

The Al-Anbaa newspaper cited a senior interior ministry official as saying that as many as 1,258 foreigners have been deported for traffic violations since a crackdown began about a month ago.

Foreign residents caught driving without a licence, using their cars to carry paying passengers, jumping a red light for a second time, or breaking the speed limit by more than 40 kilometres per hour (25 miles per hour), can be deported without a court order.

The Kuwait Society for Human Rights called on the government to halt the deportations describing them as "oppressive".

"The oppressive measure against expatriates... violates the basic principles of human rights," it said.

The group warned that the measure could tarnish the Gulf state's image abroad at a time when its human rights record is under scrutiny.

Kuwait is home to 2.6 million expatriates who form 68 percent of the country's 3.8 million population.

Kuwaiti nationals who commit similar offences have their vehicles seized and can be sent to court.

Last month, Minister of Social Affairs and Labour Thekra al-Rasheedi said the emirate plans to deport around 100,000 expatriates every year for the next decade to reduce the number of foreigners living in the Gulf state by one million.

She did not say what measures she would adopt to carry out the plan.

Foreigners need to hold a university degree, earn 400 dinars ($1,400) a month and have lived in Kuwait for at least two years to be eligible to apply for a driver's licence, under a decision issued nearly a decade ago.

Please follow International on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Here's What You Need To Do Today If You're A Victim Of Revenge Porn

Dylan Love — Sun, 19 May 2013 14:22:33 GMT

The anonymous person behind EndRevengePorn.com was recently revealed to be a woman named Holly Jacobs.

Jacobs herself was a victim of revenge porn, the act of posting sexual or otherwise intimate photographs online. Sometimes these pictures are accompanied by people's addresses, links to social networking profiles, and other identifying details.

After living through what we can safely assume was a trying experience, Jacobs has filled her site with resources and advice. Some of the more pertinent tips appear below.

1. Check out federal and state cyber-stalking laws to see if there's anything you can act on.

Take some action! Read your state's cyberstalking laws here and the federal laws here. If they describe anything that happened to you, you may have some legal recourse.

2. Find a lawyer who is actively looking to help revenge porn victims.

There are many lawyers around the country well-versed in the minutiae of the laws surrounding revenge porn. If your situation merits going to court, they'll be your biggest advocates. Browse this list and see if any of them are near you,

3. If the situation is especially troubling you, get professional help.

As explained on Without My Consent, "it may be wise to seek a clinician who has experience working with trauma, harassment, or abuse. But what is most important is that you are able to find someone with whom you feel safe enough to you for you to be able to talk about what has happened." Find a counselor or therapist near you if you think you need it.

As a last-minute added thought, you may want to lock down your Facebook account and other social media profiles. Your privacy has already been abused enough. You should lay low online and set up your social networking profiles such that your information is visible only to people you know.

Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Holocaust Documentary Shows Bogus Town Set Up By Nazis And Run By Jews

Agence France Presse — Sun, 19 May 2013 13:51:00 GMT

When your enemy is sworn to exterminate every one of you, is it worth trying to cut a deal with him to save at least some lives?

The question lies at the heart of a new documentary by Claude Lanzmann, author of "Shoah," the hugely-acclaimed tableau of the Holocaust.

"The Last of the Unjust," premiering at Cannes on Sunday, explores a moral dilemma that Lanzmann briefly touches on his 1985 masterpiece.

For three and a half hours, the viewer is taken through an exploration of Benjamin Murmelstein, the last president of the Jewish Council in the "model ghetto" of Theresienstadt in Nazi-annexed Czechoslovakia.

Set up by SS colonel Adolf Eichmann as a bogus town run by Jews themselves -- a Potemkin village designed to dupe the world -- Theresienstadt was one of the grimmest chapters in the long record of Nazi atrocities.

It housed 50,000 Jews at its peak periods. Over four years, more than 150,000 inhabitants were killed, many of them shipped to the gas chambers of Auschwitz.

"It was the peak of Nazi cruelty and perversity... a unique combination of lies and naked violence," Lanzmann, 87, said in an interview with AFP in February.

To run Theresienstadt, the Nazis formed a Jewish Council, comprising 12 members and a leader, "the Elder of the Jews," or Judenaeltester in German. Those who refused the appointment were killed.

The first Elder was sent to Auschwitz in 1943 and killed six months later; the second was executed in Theresienstadt in 1944.

The documentary describes the extraordinary and controversial tale of Benjamin Murmelstein, a former Grand Rabbi of Vienna who became the third and final Elder in Theresienstadt and the only one in all of eastern Europe to survive the war.

Survival meant that he became a target. In the early 1960s, Murmelstein was bitterly attacked by some Holocaust survivors, who accused him of collaboration. There were even calls for him to be hanged, like Eichmann, whom Murmelstein knew intimately from Vienna.

The documentary is based on hours of filmed interviews that Lanzmann had with Murmelstein in 1975, 14 years before his death.

In it, Murmelstein comes across as hugely compelling, a man fiercely intelligent, courageous and ironic, harsh with others but also with himself.

Every day, he faced demands from the Nazis that he was obliged to comply with -- but he did his utmost to delay or subvert them, and in the process enabled some to avoid the death marches ordered by Hitler, yet knowing that others were doomed.

He is far from being a stooge or power-mesmerised monster, as other Elders in the eastern European ghettos were and as he himself was later portrayed.

"By taking huge risks (in Vienna), he managed to get 120,000 Austrian Jews out of the clutches of their persecutors, and what he recounts is a magisterial lesson in history," said Lanzmann.

"(...) One of the lessons of 'The Last of the Unjust,' in my view, is that at a certain point you no longer have any other choice than to comply and obey, that all resistance becomes impossible.

"That said, Benjamin Murmelstein fought tirelessly right to the end against the killers. As he said, the Nazis wanted to make him into a puppet, but the puppet had learned to pull the strings."

As the holder of a diplomatic passport issued by the Red Cross, Murmelstein could have fled abroad after the war.

Instead, he voluntarily put himself forward for arrest by the Czechoslovak authorities after a number of Jews accused him of collaborating with the enemy.

He spent 18 months in prison before being acquitted of all charges. He went into exile in Rome, where he found life tough, but he never went to Israel.

Murmelstein's recollections, said Lanzmann, are doubly precious, as they prompt a new interpretation of Eichmann, who was kidnapped by Mossad agents in Argentina and hauled to Israel for trial, culminating in his execution in 1962.

German philosopher Hannah Arendt, in her account of the trial, described Eichmann as the stereotypical bureaucrat, embodying "the banality of evil".

But Murmelstein portrays Eichmann as a "demon," fanatical in his anti-Semitism, violent and corrupt.

Please follow Military & Defense on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Saudi Man Escapes Punishment Of Full Paralysis For Stabbing His Friend

Michael Kelley — Sun, 19 May 2013 12:59:04 GMT

A Saudi man escaped a sentence of paralysis for stabbing and paralyzing his friend when they were kids, AFP reports.

The family of Ali Al-Khawahir, 24, will instead pay the family of Mohammed al-Hazim, 26, one million riyals ($270,000) in compensation, Kuwait's Al-Watan daily reported.

In 2003 a 14-year-old Ali Al-Khawahir stabbed his friend in the backbone. The victim has been "completely paralyzed ever since and has not been able to lead a normal life and has been deprived of being a father," according to Ali's mother.

Saudi authorities denied issuing the paralysis punishment. Amnesty International says a Saudi court passed another sentence of paralysis in 2010, but it's unclear if or how it was carried out.

Khawahir, who has spent 10 years in jail, will now be released after al-Hazim's family entered a waiver that avoided the eye-for-an-eye punishment.

The sentence, called Qisas or retribution, draws from the code of Hammurabi, a legendary Mesopotamian king who ruled the Babylonian Empire from 1792-1750 B.C.E.

"An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" was one of 282 laws inscribed on a stone pillar.

AFP notes that Saudi courts impose several forms of corporal punishment attributed to Islamic sharia law, ranging from flogging to amputation and beheading.

Please follow Law & Order on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

College Student Accidentally Killed By Police During Home Invasion

Frank Eltman — Sun, 19 May 2013 11:46:00 GMT

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — In what police are describing as a crime of opportunity, a wanted man with a criminal history dating nearly 15 years entered a front door that had been left open at a New York home near Hofstra University.

A short time later, the intruder, Dalton Smith, and a 21-year-old college junior, Andrea Rebello, were both dead. The two were killed early Friday by a Nassau County police officer who fired eight shots at the masked man, hitting him seven times but also accidentally hitting Rebello once in the head, Nassau County homicide squad Lt. John Azzata said Saturday.

Smith was holding Rebello in a headlock and pointing a gun at her head before he turned his gun at the officer, Azzata said, prompting the shooting.

"He kept saying, 'I'm going to kill her,' and then he pointed the gun at the police officer," Azzata said.

A loaded 9 mm handgun with a serial number scratched off was found at the scene, police said.

Nassau County Police Commissioner Thomas Dale said he had traveled to Rebello's Tarrytown, N.Y., home to explain to Rebello's parents what happened.

"I felt obligated as a police commissioner and as a parent to inform them as soon as all the forensic results were completed," Dale said.

The veteran police officer, who was not identified, has about 12 years of experience on the Nassau County police force and previously spent several years as a New York City police officer, Dale said.

The officer is currently out on sick leave. He will be the focus of an internal police investigation once the criminal investigation is completed, which is standard police procedure in any officer-involved shooting, the commissioner said.

The shooting came just days before the school's commencement ceremonies, which are scheduled for Sunday.

A university spokeswoman said students will be handed white ribbons to wear in memory of Rebello. The shooting, which took place just steps from campus, has cast a pall over the university community as it geared up for commencement.

Earlier Saturday, police announced that Smith, 30, had been wanted on a parole violation related to a first-degree robbery conviction. A warrant was issued for Smith on April 25 for absconding from parole, police said.

Smith had what police described as "an extensive criminal history," which included arrests for robbery in the first degree in 1999, promoting prison contraband in the second degree in 2000, robbery in the first degree in 2003, assault in the second degree in 2003 and robbery in the second degree in 2003.

Rebello was in the two-story home in Uniondale, N.Y., with her twin sister Jessica, a third woman and a man when Smith, wearing a ski mask, walked into the house through an open front door, Azzata said.

The door was left open after someone had moved a car that was blocking a driveway, Azzata said.

When Smith entered, he demanded valuables and was told they were upstairs, Azzata said.

Smith, apparently unsatisfied with the valuables upstairs, asked if any of the four had a bank account and could withdraw money, Azzata said. The intruder then allowed the unidentified woman to leave and collect money from an ATM, telling her she had only eight minutes to come back with cash before he killed one of her friends, Azzata said.

The woman left for the bank and called 911, according to Azzata.

Minutes later, two police officers arrived at the home and found Rebello's twin sister Jessica running out of the front door and the male guest hiding behind a couch on the first floor, Azzata said.

One of the officers entered the home and encountered Smith holding onto Rebello in a headlock, coming down the stairs, Azzata said. Smith pulled Rebello closer and started moving backward toward a rear door of the house, pointing the gun at her head before eventually threatening the officer, Azzata said.

The Rev. Osvaldo Franklin, who gave Rebello and her twin their first communions, on Saturday night told The Associated Press their mother, Nella, couldn't even speak to him earlier in the day.

"She was so devastated," said Franklin. "She's just crying. We have to pray for Andrea, to pray for Jessica because she needs help."

Franklin said a funeral is scheduled for Wednesday at Teresa of Avila Church in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., and will be in Portuguese.

"The family's a very good family, they have very good values," he said. "They are a very good, very devoted family."

___

Associated Press writer Jake Pearson in New York contributed to this report.

Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use. Users may not download or reproduce a substantial portion of the AP material found on this web site. AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing.

Please follow Law & Order on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

How A Successful Lawyer Knew She Was A Sociopath

Law & Order — Sun, 19 May 2013 02:52:00 GMT

A law professor and attorney has written a new book about what it's like to be a diagnosed sociopath who's never killed anybody and excels at her job.

"Confessions of A Sociopath" by M.E. Thomas, a pseudonym, reveals its author is a Mormon Sunday school teacher who's well liked by her law school students. She also has a cold stare and fantasizes about killing people.

Sociopaths, otherwise known as psychopaths, generally lack empathy and have a lot of charm.

Thomas's book includes the diagnosis that confirmed her suspicions that she falls into this category. We've excerpted that section with permission from its publisher, Crown:

Psychological Evaluation Excerpt

Ms. Thomas is a 30-year-old Caucasian female seeking an assessment of her personality, particularly in regards to the presence or absence of psychopathic traits. Across multiple self-report inventories tapping both normal-range and pathological personality characteristics, Ms. Thomas scored beyond the 99th percentile of the community normative data. Her presentation in many regards could be considered that of a prototypical psychopathic personality.

Additionally, the results of the PCL:SV assessment largely converge with this description, particularly in regards to the affective and interpersonal features displayed by Ms. Thomas, such as a pronounced lack of empathy, a ruthless and calculating attitude towards social and interpersonal relationships, and a relative immunity to experiencing negative emotions.

Most notable in Ms. Thomas’s clinical presentation … were pronounced elevations on scales tapping antisocial and psychopathic traits (particularly egocentricism and sensation-seeking characteristics), interpersonal dominance, verbal aggression, and excessive self-esteem, as well as very low scores on measures tapping negative affective experiences (e.g., phobias, traumatic stressors, depressive symptoms), interpersonal nurturance and stressful life events.

Here again, her overall profile reflected a constellation of personality characteristics and interpersonal style highly consistent with current conceptualizations of psychopathy.

Although cognizant that she is “different” from most people she knows in terms of her personality structure, Ms. Thomas does not view herself as “disordered” in the sense of suffering from a form of mental illness per se. Quite the contrary, she seems content with her lifestyle and its current trajectory and rather blasé about many issues and concerns that might cause others some degree of uncertainty or distress. Of course, such attitudes are emblematic of individuals who are highly psychopathic. By all accounts Ms. Thomas has thus far experienced relatively few objective (or subjective) negative consequences associated with being highly psychopathic— and in many regards appears to have excelled across various life domains (e.g., academic, occupational). This suggests that one might describe her as a “socialized” or “successful” psychopath, or at least a relatively non-maladaptive variant of this personality pattern.

—JOHN F. EDENS, PhD, Professor, Department of Psychology, Texas A& M University

Excerpted from Confessions of a Sociopath by M.E. Thomas. Copyright © 2013 by M.E. Thomas. Excerpted by permission of Crown Publishers, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Please follow Law & Order on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Up to 60 People Injured After Car Plows Into Virginia Parade

Debra McCown — Sat, 18 May 2013 22:21:00 GMT

DAMASCUS, Va. (AP) — About 50 to 60 people were injured Saturday when a driver described by witnesses as an elderly man drove his car into a group of hikers marching in a parade in a small Virginia mountain town.

Washington County director of emergency management Pokey Harris said no fatalities had been reported.

The injuries ranged from critical to superficial, he said. Three of the victims were flown by helicopters to regional hospitals. Another 12 to 15 were taken by ambulance. The rest were treated at the scene.

The status of the driver wasn't released. Multiple witnesses described him as an elderly man.

Authorities are still investigating, but Harris said they believe the man might have suffered a medical emergency before the accident.

It happened around 2:30 p.m. during the Hikers Parade at the Trail Days festival, an annual celebration of the Appalachian Trail in Damascus, near the Tennessee state line about a half-hour drive east of Bristol.

What caused the car to drive into the crowd wasn't immediately known. It appeared to come from a side street, and a thud could be heard. People yelled stop, and at some point, the car finally stopped.

Witnesses said the car had a handicapped parking sticker and it went more than 100 feet before coming to a stop.

"He was hitting hikers," said Vickie Harmon, a witness from Damascus. "I saw hikers just go everywhere."

Damascus resident Amanda Puckett, who was watching the parade with her children, ran to the car, where she and others lifted the car off those pinned underneath.

"Everybody just threw our hands up on the car and we just lifted the car up," she said.

Keith Neumann, a hiker from South Carolina, said he was part of the group that scrambled around the car. They pushed the car backward to free a woman trapped underneath and lifted it off the ground to make sure no one else was trapped. Another person jumped inside to put it in park.

"There's no single heroes. We're talking about a group effort of everybody jumping in," he said.

There were ambulances in the parade ahead of the hikers and paramedics on board immediately responded to the crash.

Please follow Business Insider on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

NYPD Say Fatal West Village Shooting A 'Hate Crime'

Adam Taylor — Sat, 18 May 2013 18:42:00 GMT

The New York Police Department say that the fatal shooting of a man in Manhattan's West Village early Saturday morning is being classified as a hate crime, NY1 reports.

The shooting took place shortly after midnight at West 8th Street and 6th Avenue near Gray's Papaya. The 32-year-old victim was shot in the face at point blank range and pronounced dead at Beth Israel Hospital.

“This fully looks to be a hate crime; a bias crime,” Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters today. “There were no words that would aggravate the situation that were spoken by the victims. They did not know the confronter. There was no previous relationship.”

According to the New York Post, the victim and a friend were walking on Sixth Avenue when they were approached by three Hispanic men. These men apparently asked the victim and his friend if they were "gay wrestlers" and made other homophobic slurs.

The victim and his friend were followed by two of these men, before one pulled out a gun and shot the victim in the cheek.

The shooter then ran downtown before being caught by police at MacDougal and West Third streets, the Post reports. The gunman has not been identified yet as he had phony ID on him.

The Post also reports that the shooter had earlier got into a confrontation after urinating outside a bar on Barrow and West Fourth streets. In that confrontation, the shooter had allegedly told a member of staff at the bar that he would shoot him, and that he was behind last year's school shooting in Sandy Hook.

There have been a spate of attacks on homosexuals in New York in recent weeks — Gothamist reports that there have been four such hate crimes in the past two weeks. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters today that there had been 22 bias attacks in the city so far this year, significantly higher than the 13 that had occurred at this point last year.

In a sad coincidence, Friday was the International Day Against Homophobia.

Please follow Law & Order on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Chicago Gun Violence Claims 11 More Victims Overnight

Peter Nickeas and Carlos Sadovi — Sat, 18 May 2013 11:24:00 GMT

A teenaged boy and two men were shot and killed in three separate shootings Friday night and Saturday morning, according to authorities.

At least eight others were also shot overnight on the South and West Sides.

The first shooting happened at 7:24 p.m. on the 7800 block of South Langley Avenue, said Chicago police news affairs officer Daniel O'Brien.

The victim was shot in the chest and pronounced dead at the scene, O'Brien said. The Cook County medical examiner's office said the victim was in his late teens.

No one was in custody as Area South detectives investigate the fatal shooting, O'Brien said.

At about 8:05 p.m., another shooting happened in the South Austin neighborhood. The shooting happened on the 200 block of North Mayfield Avenue, said O'Brien.

A 40-year-old man was shot in the head and was taken in critical condition to Loyola University Hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later, O'Brien said. Someone ran up to the man and shot him before fleeing on foot, police said.

The third homicide of the night happened about 3:50 a.m. in the 4800 block of West Iowa Street, police said. A man was found dead there with a gunshot wound.

A 16-year-old boy was shot in the leg and is in stable condition at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Amina Greer said. Someone shot him in the 5400 block of West Wrightwood Avenue about 9 p.m., Greer said. The boy was walking with a few other people in the Cragin neighborhood when someone approached on foot and shot him.

In addition to those shootings, two 18-year-old men were shot in the Englewood neighborhood, police said.

The shootings happened on the 5800 block of South Laflin Street at 10:20 p.m., according to Police news affairs officer Hector Alfaro. One of the men sustained a gunshot wound to his left calf and the other was shot in the hip, Alfaro said. Both were taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, where their conditions had stabilized.

At about 10:50 p.m., a 34-year-old man was shot on the 12000 block of South Perry in the West Pullman neighborhood on the Far South Side, police said. The man was standing outside when a light-colored SUV drove up and shot the man in the back and abdomen, police said. The man was taken in critical condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said.

Then in the Lawndale neighborhood three people were shot on the 1200 block of South Kolin Avenue, police said. The shooting happened at 11:25 p.m., police said. No other details were immediately available.

Police found three guns near a garbage can in an alley near the crime scene: two described by police as Tec-9 or similar-styled handguns and one AK-47-styled gun with wood components.

Residents nearby described the gunfire as rapid and loud.

A 38-year-old man, 38-year-old woman and 27-year-old woman were shot outside. A van, still running, sat in the alley west of Kolin Avenue and south of Roosevelt Road.

About 3:35 a.m., a 20-year-old man showed up at Mount Sinai Hospital with a gunshot wound to his left shoulder. Greer said he was a passenger in a car near Division Street and Pulaski Road when another car pulled up and its occupants threw gang signs and shouted gang slogans before someone fired at the 20-year-old. He's in stable condition at the hospital.

Check back for more information.

chicagobreaking@tribune.com

Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking ___

Visit the Chicago Tribune at www.chicagotribune.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services

Please follow Law & Order on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

ENDING SOON: Enter To Win A Kindle Fire From Business Insider

Business Insider — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:04:00 GMT

We're giving you a chance to win a Kindle Fire HD. Become a newsletter subscriber now to enter. If you're the lucky winner you will have a host of features at your fingertips.

Entry deadline is May 31.

As a newsletter subscriber, you'll get daily updates and alerts on topics that matter most to you. You must subscribe to at least one newsletter to be eligible, so if you haven't already, be sure to choose one or more before submitting your entry.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER >

On or after May 31, 2013, we'll announce the lucky winner.

You must be a legal resident of the U.S. and a newsletter subscriber to win.

Please follow Business Insider on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Here Is The Topshop Tank Top That Rihanna Doesn't Want You To See

Ashley Lutz — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:09:00 GMT

Rihanna is suing British fast-fashion brand Topshop for $5 million for allegedly using her face on a tank top without her permission.

An anonymous source told The New York Post that Rihanna's team tried to negotiate with Topshop's owners for eight months "but they offered her $5,000 and didn't care," reports the Post.

“Rihanna’s management asked Topshop a number of times to stop selling her image and were told, ‘We do what we want.’ They buy the pictures from a photographer, but they do not pay the artist licensing fees. Unfortunately, UK law does not protect the artist," the source told The Post.

Here's the tank top in question:

Until now, Rihanna has often been photographed wearing the affordable brand's clothing.

Please follow Retail on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

WITNESS: Showgirls Dressed Up As Obama At Berlusconi's 'Bunga Bunga' Parties

Adam Taylor — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:35:00 GMT

Silvio Berlusconi's legal woes continue, as a key witness in a sex-for-money trial against him told a court that dancers dressed as nuns and President Barack Obama at the former Italian premier's notorious "bunga bunga" party.

Karima El Mahroug, better known as "Ruby the heartstealer", had appeared in a Milan court today as a witness in the trial against talent scout Lele Mora, television anchor Emilio Fede and former showgirl and regional councilor Nicole Minetti, Reuters reports, all of whom are accused of organizing prostitutes for Berlusconi's "bunga bunga" parties.

It was the first time Mahroug has testified in court.

While Mahroug, now 21-years-old, wasn't testifying against Berlusconi, and she repeated her denial of ever sleeping with Berlusconi, other comments in the court today were damning.

The Morroco-born dancer confirmed previous rumors that Berlusconi's "bunga bunga" parties had featured girls dressed up as nuns, and that Dominican-native showgirl Marysthell Polanco dressed up "as Obama" at one party.

Mahroug also said she saw 20 girls stripping for Berlusconi, then still the Prime Minister of Italy.

This flies in the face of how Berlusconi describes his "bunga bunga" parties — he has specifically denied the accusation that girls dressed up as nuns, and prefers to portray the parties as elegant soirees.

Mahroug is already a big problem for Berlusconi. The former Italian Prime Minister is accused of paying for sex with the dancer when she was just 17-years-old. Paying for sex with anyone under 18 is illegal in Italy (prostitution itself is not), and Mahroug is the center of a separate trial against Berlusconi.

The underage prostitution trial is just one of Berlusconi's current legal problems — an appeals court recently upheld tax fraud conviction against him and sentenced him to four years in prison.

Please follow Business Insider on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

This Is The Most Brutal Gun Control Ad Directly Targeted At A Senator Who Opposed The Background Check Bill

Brett LoGiurato — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:32:00 GMT

Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG), the pro-gun control group backed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, released an ad targeting Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), one of the opponents of the Senate's high-profile background check amendment that failed last month.

The ad features Caren Teves, whose son, Alex, was killed protecting his fiancee in last summer's theater shooting in Aurora, Colo. In April, Teves told the New York Daily News that Flake had lied to her about supporting background checks after he wrote a letter to her claiming he agreed with her on the issue.

Flake voted against the bipartisan amendment sponsored by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), instead voting for a Republican alternative sponsored by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

"The issue isn't just background checks — it's keeping your promise. And Senator Flake didn't," Teves says in the 30-second ad.

The ad will run in the Phoenix and Tucson markets beginning on May 30, the group said in a statement. It will run for two weeks. A spokesperson said it's a six-figure ad buy.

Flake has been one of a few Senators whose poll numbers have plunged after opposing the background check amendment, which would have expanded background checks on gun purchases to online sales and sales at gun shows.

Flake acknowledged the poll drop, lamenting that a Public Policy Polling survey labeled him as the most unpopular senator, which he said put him "somewhere just below pond scum."

The Arizona senator is considered a potential swing vote if the measure comes before Congress again. On Friday, he defended himself on Facebook by saying he supported the Grassley amendment.

"Mayor Bloomberg can spend millions trying to get me to support his view of background checks," Flake wrote. "That’s his call. But we Arizonans aren’t easily bullied. The legislation that would have done the most to keep guns out of the hands of those who shouldn’t have them was the Grassley Amendment. And that’s the amendment I supported."

Here's the ad:

Please follow Politics on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

New Yorkers Are Livid Over Photos Taken Through Their Apartment Windows

Jake Pearson — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:16:00 GMT

Rear Window? NYC residents livid over artist's photos taken through apartment windows

NEW YORK (AP) — In one photo, a woman is on all fours, presumably picking something up, her posterior pressed against a glass window.

Another photo shows a couple in bathrobes, their feet touching beneath a table. And there is one of a man, in jeans and a T-shirt, lying on his side as he takes a nap.

In all the photos, taken by New York City artist Arne Svenson from his second-floor apartment, the faces are obscured or not shown. The people are unidentifiable.

But the residents of a glass-walled luxury residential building across the street had no idea they were being photographed and they never consented to being subjects for the works of art that are now on display — and for sale — in a Manhattan gallery.

"I don't feel it's a violation in a legal sense but in a New York, personal sense there was a line crossed," said Michelle Sylvester, who lives in the residential building called the Zinc Building, which stands out with its floor-to-ceiling windows in a neighborhood of cobblestone streets and old, brick warehouse buildings.

Svenson's apartment is directly across the street, just to the south, giving him a clear view of his neighbors by simply looking out his window.

"I think there's an understanding that when you live here with glass windows, there will be straying eyes but it feels different with someone who has a camera," Sylvester said.

Svenson's show, "The Neighbors," opened last Saturday at the Julie Saul Gallery in Chelsea, where about a dozen large prints are on sale for up to $7,500. His exhibit is drawing a lot of attention, not for the quality of the work, but for the manner in which it was made.

Svenson did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press, but says in material accompanying the exhibit that the idea for it came when he inherited a telephoto lens from a friend, a birdwatcher who recently died.

"For my subjects there is no question of privacy; they are performing behind a transparent scrim on a stage of their own creation with the curtain raised high," Svenson says in the gallery notes. "The Neighbors don't know they are being photographed; I carefully shoot from the shadows of my home into theirs."

That explanation has done little to satisfy some residents of the Zinc Building, where a penthouse was once listed at nearly $6 million. In an email circulating among the building's owners and renters this week, a resident whose apartment was depicted in Svenson's photographs suggested legal recourse against the artist.

"I am not an expert in this area of the law, but I do think we may have some rights and the ability to stop this," the email reads. "I love art, but find this to be an outrageous invasion of privacy."

Civil rights lawyer Norman Siegel said that according to New York civil rights law, there may be a way for Svenson's subjects to challenge him in court but the case will depend entirely on context.

"The question for the person who's suing is, if you're not identifiable, then where's the loss of privacy?" he said. "These issues are a sign of the times. How do you balance the right of privacy vis-à-vis the right of artistic expression?"

Linda Darcia, an exchange student from Colombia living with a family on the sixth floor facing Svenson's studio, said she had no idea whether or not she was depicted in any of the pieces but she was anxious to go to the gallery and find out.

"I'm not really upset about it because that's his job," she said. "But maybe he should have asked before the gallery opens. Everybody's talking about it."

Please follow The Life on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Toronto Mayor Accused Of Smoking Crack Has A Long Record Of Bad Behavior

Pamela Engel — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:12:00 GMT

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is at the center of another controversy after Gawker and The Toronto Star reported on a video of Ford allegedly smoking crack out of a glass pipe.

Ford's lawyer, Dennis Morris, told a Canadian radio station that he doesn't know "whether or not such a video exists" but that "it would be fair for the public to see such a video and make their own conclusions."

Morris also said that Ford denies the allegations.

This is far from the first time Ford has been caught up in controversy.

In March, The Toronto Star reported that Ford was asked to leave a military gala because organizers were concerned that he was intoxicated. One member of the organizing committee told the newspaper that Ford "seemed either drunk, high or had a medical condition." People who attended the event said he was "nervous, excited, sweaty, out of it."

The Star also claimed that some of Ford's staff members have repeatedly tried to persuade the mayor to get help for an alcohol problem.

Ford responded by calling The Star "pathological liars."

Earlier that month, one of Ford's former mayoral opponents accused him of grabbing her ass and hitting on her at an event for young Jewish professionals. Ford denied the allegations.

In November, Ford was nearly forced out of office for violating conflict of interest rules. Using city letterhead, he solicited donations from lobbyists for his football charity. The court granted Ford's appeal of their decision to remove him from office.

Earlier in 2012, he said that he wanted to ban anyone convicted of a gun crime from Toronto. He said on a radio show: "Once they’re charged and they go to jail the most important thing is when they get out of jail, I don’t want them living in this city. They can go anywhere else, but I don’t want them in the city.....whatever I can do to get them out of the city I’m going to, regardless of whether they have family or friends."

He also made headlines when he was caught on camera eating KFC during a citywide weightloss campaign.

In 2011, Keith Olbermann called Ford the "worst person in the world" after Ford called 911 when a well-known actress posing as a reporter showed up at his house to do a mock interview with him for a satirical TV show. Ford was reportedly swearing at the 911 operators.

Also in 2011, reports of domestic disputes involving Ford and his wife surfaced. Police responded to a "verbal altercation" at his home in October and his wife's mother called police on Christmas morning after Ford took the couple's children to the airport, saying he was going to Florida.

He was also charged in Florida once for drunk driving and possession of marijuana.

The alleged video of Ford smoking crack has not yet surfaced online. Reporters for Gawker and The Star say they've seen it, but the people in possession of the video are asking for a six-figure sum of money to purchase it. There's already a crowdsourcing effort on Indiegogo for anyone who wants to contribute to buying the video.

Please follow Business Insider on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Texas Woman Accused Of Trying To Put Her Baby Up For Adoption On Craigslist

Amy Silverstein — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:02:00 GMT

A Houston woman placed an ad on Craigslist asking the internet to adopt her son. Attention, parents of children who were conceived during a Craigslist casual encounter: don't get any ideas from this! The woman has been arrested on misdemeanor charges.

Police found a well-intentioned but disturbing Craigslist ad seeking a better life for a three-year-old. “Hi. I’m trying to adopt out my 3yr old son. I’m not in a good place in my life and don’t feel like I can care for him properly but I don’t know where to start," the ad said. "If you or know anyone who is interested in caring for him please let me know. I’m a single mom and can’t do this. Thanks, Desperate.”

Craigslist was served a subpoena ordering the identity of the poster, KHOU reported, and the court documents traced it to 29-year-old Stephanie Christine Redus. She has been charged with advertising for placement of a child.

Houston police told CBS Houston that Redus claims to have never intended to go through with the adoption. She allegedly told police that she made the post because she had forgotten to take the medication she needs for her "mental ailments."

Internet adoptions are a common problem across the world--and in many cases, it is not the actual parents doing the adopting, but kidnappers. In India, thousands of children are sold on Facebook and other social media sites, and 90,000 children went missing in 2011 alone. GlobalPost's Jason Overdorf recently visited the homes of parents of the missing children and found that poor families are often duped into surrendering their child with the promise that he or she will be given a better life in a different city.

Please follow Law & Order on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Jodi Arias Victim's Brother: 'I Don't Want To See My Brother's Murderer Anymore'

Brian Skoloff — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:30:00 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Steven Alexander stood before the jury, looked up at a family picture and grimaced and cried as he ticked off the list of problems that have befallen him in the five years since his brother was murdered: ulcers, depression, a separation from his wife, nightmares.

The dreams consist of someone coming at him with a knife then going after his wife and daughter. Other times, he has nightmares about his brother, "curled up in a shower, thrown in there, left to rot for days, all alone." He feels like a child, unable to sleep alone in the dark.

"I don't want these nightmares anymore. I don't want to see my brother's murderer anymore," he said.

The gut-wrenching comments came as jurors began considering whether Jodi Arias should get a life sentence or be executed for the 2008 stabbing death of Travis Alexander. Jurors became visibly shaken as Steven Alexander and his sister spoke on deeply emotional levels in arguing for the death penalty. Arias sobbed throughout the hearing, with tears streaming down her face and landing on her black shirt.

Alexander's two siblings were the only witnesses for the prosecution. Trial will resume Monday with statements from an ex-boyfriend of Arias and the defendant herself, among others.

The same jury listening to the statements convicted Arias of first-degree murder last week after about 15 hours of deliberations.

In opening statements Thursday, prosecutor Juan Martinez said there are no factors that should cause the jury to even consider a sentence other than death. The judge had instructed jurors that they could take into account certain things that might help them make a decision, such as Arias' lack of a prior criminal record and assertions that she was a good friend, had an abusive childhood and is a talented artist.

Martinez said none of that matters in regard to the brutal killing.

"The only appropriate sentence ... is death."

Defense attorney Kirk Nurmi explained to jurors that their decision ultimately would be the final one, telling them that they each had to make their own "moral assessment on what verdict is correct."

"Your verdict, ladies and gentleman, will determine whether or not Jodi Arias spends the rest of her life in prison or if she is sentenced to be executed," Nurmi said.

He then told the panel they would later hear directly from Arias.

"When you understand who Ms. Arias is, you will understand that life is the appropriate sentence," Nurmi said.

Alexander's sister Samantha later described for the panel how their grandmother, who raised the victim, saw her health fail after the killing and died around the time of jury selection.

"Travis was our strength, our beacon of hope, our motivation," she said through tears. "Our lives will never be the same. ... We would give anything to have him back."

Steven Alexander recalled seeing his brother for the last time over the Christmas holiday in 2007.

"Now when I want to talk to or see my brother, I have to go to a ... 6-foot-deep hole in the ground," he said.

The trial was inexplicably delayed Thursday afternoon after the judge and attorneys met privately. It is set to resume Monday morning when other witnesses will include Arias' friends and an ex-boyfriend who lived with her for several years in California.

Earlier this week, Arias' attorneys asked to be allowed to step down from the case, but a judge denied the request.

Details about the motion were sealed, but legal experts said Arias complicated efforts for her defense when she gave an interview to Fox affiliate KSAZ minutes after her conviction, saying she preferred death over life in prison.

The interview prompted the judge to issue an order that the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office allow no more interviews with Arias. Less than a week later, Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Thursday gave reporters a tour of Arias' cinderblock jail cell. The messy cell had a mattress on a lower bunk and the upper bunk cluttered with files and papers.

During a closed-door meeting with the judge Tuesday, Nurmi and Jennifer Willmott sought permission to withdraw from the case, according to court minutes released Thursday. Legal experts say the decision was not a surprising one because the attorneys have a conflict of interest with their own efforts to try and save her life while Arias has said she'd rather die.

"It would be something I would do in my major felony cases if I found that a client was actually working against me and not working with her defense," Phoenix criminal defense lawyer Julio Laboy said.

Arias cannot choose the death penalty. It's up to the jury to determine a sentence. Her attorneys' motion to withdraw will have no impact on the penalty phase of the trial given jurors are not privy to the filing, and not even media have the details due to a court order sealing all such proceedings.

Arias, 32, acknowledged killing Alexander at his suburban Phoenix home after a day of sex on June 4, 2008. She initially denied any involvement and later blamed the attack on masked intruders. Two years after her arrest, Arias said she killed Alexander in self-defense.

The victim suffered nearly 30 knife wounds, had his throat slit from ear to ear and was shot in the forehead. Prosecutors say the attack was fueled by jealous rage after Alexander wanted to end his affair with Arias and prepared to take a trip to Mexico with another woman.

Please follow Law & Order on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

$1,000,000 In Jewels Were Stolen At The Cannes Film Festival

Michael Kelley — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:43:00 GMT

Jewels worth more than $1 million have been stolen from a hotel room during the Cannes Film Festival, according to Cannes police and reported by The Voice of Russia.

The jewels, made by Swiss luxury watchmaker and jeweler Chopard, were slated to be loaned to stars walking the red carpet at the international festival in the French Riviera town.

Police said the thieves broke into the room of a Chopard employee at the Novotel hotel, opened a safe, took the jewels, and escaped into the center of Cannes.

There's a even pun in the timing of the job.

From BBC:

The theft happened on the same day that the festival was shown The Bling Ring, a new film by director Sofia Coppola about some high-school students who find out when celebrities are attending red carpet events in order to break into their homes and steal their designer clothes, bags, and shoes.

Please follow Law & Order on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

A Diagnosed Sociopath Says Her Disorder Made Her A 'Great Lawyer'

Rebecca Baird-Remba and Erin Fuchs — Thu, 16 May 2013 23:00:00 GMT

There's at least one lawyer out there who's a diagnosed sociopath.

That lawyer has written a book called "Confessions of a Sociopath" with the byline M.E. Thomas, revealing how a person with homicidal impulses can thrive in the law.

Sociopaths generally have a lot of superficial charm and lack of remorse or shame, according to Psychology Today, which excerpted the book.

Thomas, whose real identity isn't clear, described what it was like to work as a prosecutor. From the excerpt:

"My sociopathic traits make me a particularly excellent trial lawyer. I'm cool under pressure. I feel no guilt or compunction, which is handy in such a dirty business. Misdemeanor prosecutors almost always have to walk into a trial with cases they've never worked on before. All you can do is bluff and hope that you'll be able to scramble through it. The thing with sociopaths is that we are largely unaffected by fear."

Her sociopathy — and the fearlessness that goes with it — runs deep. As an 8-year-old she nearly drowned in the ocean and laughed after she was rescued.

She also had homicidal fantasies as a child, including one about killing her dad:

"The first recurring dream I can remember was about killing him [my father] with my bare hands," she wrote. "There was something thrilling about the violence of it, smashing a door into his head repeatedly, smirking as he fell motionless to the floor."

Despite these early homicidal fantasies, Thomas grew up to be a successful law professor, lawyer, and even a Mormon Sunday school teacher. (She writes that the Mormon church is a "sociopath's dream" because everybody has had the "potential to be Godlike.")

She's never killed anyone, committed a serious crime, or been a victim of child-abuse. "Despite having imagined it many times," she writes, "I've never slit anyone's throat."

Head over to Psychology Today to read a longer excerpt of her book >

Please follow Law & Order on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Manager Of Army Sexual Harassment Program Arrested In Domestic Dispute

Adam Taylor — Thu, 16 May 2013 22:37:00 GMT

U.S. army officials have told the Associated Press that the manager of the sexual assault response program at Fort Campbell in Kentucky has been arrested on charges of violating an order of protection and stalking.

According to officials, Lt. Col. Darin Haas has also been removed from his position as manager of a program meant to prevent sexual harassment and assault.

Haas turned himself in Wednesday after his ex-wife complained that he had repeatedly contacted her Wednesday night despite orders of protection both have taken out against each other. A Twitter account that appears to belong to Haas referred to problems with his ex-wife in a tweet on the 21st of March.

The news of Haas's arrest comes just days after an allegedly inebriated Air Force Lt. Col. Jeff Krusinski — the Chief of Sexual Assault Prevention for the whole service — was arrested under suspicion of sexual battery for an incident that occurred in Arlington May 5.

A soldier in the program at Fort Hood was arrested this week for pandering, abusive sexual contact, assault and maltreatment of subordinates.

The mission of the military's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program is to "develop and implement innovative prevention and response programs." After the arrest of Krusinksi, the military announced it would be members of the program would be retrained, re-credentialed and rescreened.

The U.S. military has been under fire the last few years about the troubling rise of sexual assaults, and the glaring lack of disciplinary action in many of the assault cases.

Please follow Military & Defense on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Uzbek Man In Idaho Arrested On Federal Terrorism Charges

Pamela Engel — Thu, 16 May 2013 22:33:00 GMT

Federal authorities arrested a 30-year-old Uzbekistan national living in Boise, Idaho as part of a terrorism investigation, according to a news release from the City of Boise.

A grand jury has indicted Fazliddin Kurbanov for one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and one count of possessing an unregistered destructive device.

He was living in the U.S. legally at the time of his arrest.

A grand jury in Salt Lake City also indicted Kurbanov for one count of distribution of information relating to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction.

Authorities say that between August 2012 and May 2013, Kurbanov conspired to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization called the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. The resources included computer software and money.

Kurbanov knew the terrorists would use his support to carry out an attack with a weapon of mass destruction. In November, he possessed a hollow hand grenade, hobby fuse, aluminum powder, potassium nitrate and sulfur that could be used to make a "destructive device."

The Utah indictment says that in January, Kurbanov demonstrated how to make explosive devices and use a weapon of mass destruction. He allegedly showed videos from the Internet, conducted "instructional shopping trips" and provided written recipes for improvised explosive devices.

The FBI has been monitoring Kurbanov’s activities. He will appear in a Boise federal court Friday and will then be transferred to Utah.

Kurbanov faces up to 20 years in prison if he's convicted on the Utah charge and up to 15 years in prison for each Idaho conspiracy charge. The charge of possession of an unregistered destructive device carries a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Please follow Law & Order on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »