Rich’s Cup of Tea

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A longtime sex offender was sentenced to death Wednesday for the 2005 kidnapping, torture and murder of a 9-year-old northern Idaho boy after federal jurors who watched video of some of the brutality deliberated just three hours.

The jurors’ recommendation was binding on U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge, who thanked them, dismissed them and then sentenced Joseph Edward Duncan III.

Relatives of the victim, Dylan Groene, remained somber as the jury’s decision was announced. Duncan murdered Dylan’s mother, older brother and his mother’s fiance to kidnap him and his younger sister, who was sexually abused along with her brother but survived.

“The jury speaks the mind of the community,” U.S. Attorney Tom Moss said. “By the verdict today, they have given voice to the victims.”

Duncan showed no reaction other than smiling as the verdict was passed to the judge.

He took Dylan and the boy’s then-8-year-old sister, Shasta, to a remote western Montana campsite where he raped, tortured and threatened them before shooting Dylan in the head and burning his body. Jurors viewed horrifying video Duncan made of him sexually abusing, torturing and hanging Dylan until the boy lost consciousness.

“This defendant is dangerous. He is a predator who takes pride in his work,” prosecutor Traci Whelan said. “He earned this day. His actions … call out for the death penalty.”

Duncan acted as his own attorney but had offered no response to prosecutors’ closing argument.

“I have no argument,” he told the court.

With an eye toward kidnapping the two children, Duncan stalked their family. In 2005 he entered their Coeur d’Alene-area home and used a hammer to fatally bludgeon their 13-year-old brother, Slade Groene, his mother, Brenda Groene, and her fiance, Mark McKenzie.

Duncan was arrested and Shasta rescued weeks after the kidnappings when a waitress at a Denny’s in Coeur d’Alene called police after recognizing the two as they ate.

Duncan pleaded guilty in December to 10 federal charges involving the kidnappings and the murder of Dylan. He pleaded guilty to the other three murders in state court, where he also could be sentenced to death.

“I am so glad this is over. Justice has been served,” said Darlene Torres, Brenda Groene’s mother. “It’s been very painful.”

She said that when she saw Duncan in court, “I seen nothing but an evil, empty, coldhearted shell.”

In closing arguments, Whelan reminded the jury of Duncan’s lifelong “pattern of violence,” including a conviction for raping a boy at gunpoint in 1980. Duncan has told investigators he killed two half-sisters from Seattle in 1996, and he is charged with killing a young boy in Riverside County, California, in 1997.

Duncan may now be brought to Riverside County to stand trial in the death of Anthony Martinez.

Whelan told the jury that Duncan would pose a risk even to prison guards and fellow inmates.

“This defendant uses the time that he has to think out these plans and he is dangerous,” she said. “He is adaptable and he is dangerous.”

The heinousness of the evidence in Dylan’s murder made it particularly difficult for the jurors to remain impartial as they deliberate, said Art Patterson, a jury consultant and senior vice president of the trial consulting firm DecisionQuest.

“Generally, for human beings, it’s pretty hard to maintain impartiality when confronted with such horror,” Patterson said.

“How could any juror not want to see this person removed from our list of living human beings? How could you live with yourself as a juror if there’s any chance this human being could escape from jail and do something like this again?” Patterson said.

Rich’s Note: Bye bye monster, now just waive all of your appeals.  I have nothing further to say.

Source:  CNN.com, Wednesday, August 27, 2008.

Tags: Crime and Punishment by Rich
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The average Briton is filmed by over 300 CCTV security cameras per day. Over four million CCTV cameras cover Great Britain in schools, bus stations, train stations, parks, offices, and airports. Would we benefit from a CCTV system like that in the United States?

“I think so,” says Sarasota, Florida resident Tommy Shaughnessy. “CCTV is a powerful tool against crime. But Americans are too paranoid about Big Brother to ever be truly comfortable with the idea of CCTV.”

How has CCTV Worked Out in the UK?

On July 7, 2005, four al-Qaeda operatives carried out suicide bombings on the London tube and bus line that killed 52 people. The CCTV system in London captured footage of the four men. The CCTV footage gave police detailed forensic evidence of the crime. One picture shows a bombing suspect running through an Underground station after his explosives failed to detonate. Another captured a second suspect standing on the upper floor of a double-decker bus.

In a matter of hours, the CCTV images of the bombers were plastered over UK TV stations. The CCTV evidence helped lead to the identification of the four men, which led to arrests and the discovery of a bomb factory and terrorist cell in Leeds.

CCTV in the US

Though it is not as popular in the US as it is in the UK, CCTV has been proven to be an effective tool in crime fighting, detection, and prosecution here as well. On February 1, 2004, CCTV security cameras captured footage of 11-year-old Florida girl Carlie Brucia being kidnapped by a stranger in a carwash parking lot while she was on her way home from a friend’s house. The stranger was identified at 37-year-old Joseph P. Smith. The tape shows him approaching Brucia, engaging her in a short conversation, then grabbing her by the arm and dragging her away. He later raped and murdered Carlie.

When the CCTV footage of the abduction was shown on the news, two of Smith’s friends recognized him and called the police. Smith was already in custody at the time, arrested on a parole violation, but the identification led to his subsequent trial and conviction for murder, first-degree kidnapping, and sexual battery. He eventually told his brother where he had hidden her body. Smith was sentenced to the death penalty on March 15, 2006, what would have been Carlie’s 14th birthday.

Without CCTV, Carlie’s killer may have never been identified, and perhaps her body might never have been found. The Carlie Brucia murder is a strong case for more CCTV across the United States. Though we Americans may be apprehensive about CCTV’s perceived intrusions, we have seen evidence both in the UK and here in our own country that CCTV can prove to be extremely beneficial. The debate may go on, but the evidence mounts in support of some form of CCTV security in the United States.

This is the back of Evie’s Car Wash, where Carlie was kidnapped. The small black dot on the upper right corner of the building (closest to the photographer) is the CCTV camera that recorded her abduction.

Rich’s Note: I know there is a fine line between feeling more safe and secure, and feeling spied upon, but I am in favor of more cameras. As long as they can’t see into my house, then I don’t mind them.

Source: cctv-ir.blogspot.com, August 16, 2008. Car wash photo by Ted Mase/Getty Images.

Tags: Miscellany by Rich
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TAMPA, Florida (AP) — A man already in prison for burglary and stealing a car was charged Tuesday in the rape and slaying of a 6-year-old southwest Florida girl nearly two years ago, police said.

Investigators used DNA evidence to link Patrick Murphy, 27, to the September 2006 killing of Coralrose Fullwood, North Port Police Chief Terry Lewis said.

Murphy has been charged with first-degree murder, sexual assault on a victim under 12 and kidnapping.

In 2006, Murphy lived in the same neighborhood as the girl. Her body was found a couple of blocks from her home.

Murphy has refused to speak with authorities and requested an attorney, Capt. Robert Estrada said. The jail said no attorney has been listed for him.

“He’ll be given one, then hopefully through his attorney we’ll be able to talk to him,” Estrada said.

Murphy began serving a two-year prison sentence in Florida in February. His DNA profile was entered into a state computer database, and investigators got a match.

Lewis described the investigation as “very active” and said investigators are looking for others who may have been involved. He asked for help from the public in trying to determine Murphy’s movements around that time.

“I don’t understand how anybody can hurt a child in any way, especially this way,” said the girl’s mother, Ellen-Beth Fullwood. “I’m grateful we’ve gotten this far finally, but my daughter is not coming back.”

Coralrose was last seen by her father early September 17, 2006, when he checked her room after he got home from his bartending job. The family noticed she was missing later that Sunday morning.

A neighbor walking his dog found the first-grader’s body near a construction site two blocks from the family’s home, in a newer subdivision of ranch houses surrounded by woods and pine scrub.

The little girl’s slaying unsettled the community of about 43,000 residents about 65 miles south of Tampa.

Suspicion fell to Coralrose’s father, Dale, after authorities searching the family’s home found child pornography on a computer. He was convicted of possessing child pornography and served a year in jail. He was sent to prison in June after authorities said he violated his probation by having unauthorized contact with a child relative.

Last year, police cleared the girl’s mother and siblings in Coralrose’s slaying but refused to rule out the father’s involvement, even though DNA evidence indicated she was sexually assaulted by someone outside the family.

Estrada said Tuesday that the father’s involvement has not been ruled out, but he declined to elaborate.

Rich’s Note: Yes!! They finally caught him! Keep ‘em coming! So long, Mr. Murphy. Now we just need to find out who killed Taylor and Skyla…

Tags: Crime and Punishment by Rich
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Tampa, Florida — After three years in legal limbo, the murder trial of David Onstott is set to start Monday morning. Onstott is accused of killing 13-year-old Sarah Lunde in 2005, launching a search for the girl that lasted a week.

Prosecutors face an uphill struggle to get a conviction in the trial.

The judge has thrown out a confession Onstott made to detectives, and the state will build its case without any physical evidence linking him to the crime.

When Sarah Lunde disappeared, it hit the bay area hard. She was the third teenage girl to vanish in just a little over a year.

It was April 2005. Police and volunteers had searched for Carlie Brucia the previous year, and Jessica Lunsford just a month before. Again, they took to the woods near her home in Ruskin and fanned out through neighborhoods, looking and hoping.

The search lasted almost a week. A search dog finally found Sarah’s body in an abandoned fish farm. She was partially clothed and weighed down by concrete blocks.

Even before that discovery, detectives had gotten a confession from David Onstott, a convicted sex offender who used to date Sarah’s mother.

But jurors won’t hear about that.

The judge threw out the confession after Onstott’s lawyers argued that he’d been questioned even though he had demanded to speak to a lawyer.

That decision has delayed this trial dramatically. It has also forced prosecutors to drop their pursuit of the death penalty.

Without the confession, they’re going to be seeking life in prison and trying Onstott based on circumstantial evidence. The state has no physical evidence linking Onstott to the crime.

However, prosecutors do have testimony from Sarah’s brother that puts Onstott at Sarah’s house the day she disappeared. And, since he was arrested, Onstott has talked to loved ones about having a violent soul, and breaking all of the Ten Commandments.

After three years of motions and hearings, jury selection was scheduled to begin Monday morning.

As an example of how long these legal delays have gone on, consider this: Jessica Lunsford disappeared about a month before Sarah Lunde. Jessica’s killer, John Couey, has already been convicted and condemned and has now been sitting on death row for almost a year.

Rich’s Note: It is extremely unfortunate that the death penalty cannot be sought in this case. Obviously, I do not believe Onstott deserves anything other than death for his actions. I lay part of the blame on those who questioned him in spite of the fact he demanded to speak to a lawyer, but at this point whether it’s the DP or LWOP, justice needs to be served NOW. I will update the blog regularly as the trial progresses. RIP Sarah…

Source: TampaBays10.com, August 11, 2008.

Tags: Crime and Punishment by Rich
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — A death row inmate scheduled for execution in October said he’s so fat that Ohio executioners would have trouble finding his veins.

Lawyers for Richard Cooey argue in a federal lawsuit that Cooey had poor veins when he faced execution five years ago and that the problem has been worsened by weight gain. The lawsuit said Cooey is 5-feet, 7-inches tall and weighs about 270 pounds. The lawsuit also said a drug Cooey is taking for migraine headaches could diminish the effectiveness of the first of three drugs Ohio uses in its execution process. Cooey was sentenced to die for raping and murdering two female University of Akron students in 1986.

Rich’s Note: This reminds me of what Jeffrey Lundgren tried to argue when filing a lawsuit to stop his execution back in October of 2006. At the time, the lead prosecutor on the Lundgren case, Steve LaTourette, said the following: “The decision is ludicrous. The notion that someone can eat their way out of the death penalty and lethal injection is repugnant to decent Americans. If that’s the case, perhaps we should shoot him in the head execution-style like he did the five members of the Avery family”. That comment applies here as well. Here’s hoping the October execution is not delayed and justice is served!

Source: NewsNet5.com, August 4, 2008.

Tags: Crime and Punishment by Rich
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