Philip Markoff — alleged “Craigslist Killer” — has killed himself –

– one year and one day after he was supposed to be married (August 14, 2009). Or you could look at it as one day after what would have been his first wedding anniversary. Reports say he scrawled his fiancee’s name — Megan — in his own blood on his cell wall before he died.  He also is supposed to have written “pocket” as well, but no one is sure (at least not yet) what he meant by that.

Apparently Markoff put a plastic bag over his head, and then gouged himself several times with an ink pen, severing an artery in his leg.  Markoff, you may recall, was a 24-year old medical student at Boston University and from all appearances the “boy next door” type.  Reports are that his fiancee initially stood by him, but as the evidence kept piling up she eventually changed her mind.  She broke it off with him on April 29 of this year.

I’d say it’s a shame, but I’d be fibbing about that — besides, it happened in Massachusetts, so he would’ve gotten life in prison at the worst.  Way I see it, he did society a favor when he took the chickenshit way out.

Boston.com | MyFox Boston | Google It!

The other 365 days are for having failed to register

Victor Jones (41) was arrested in Indiana in May of 2006 and charged with solicitation of a minor. As part of his punishment, he was required to register as a sex offender for ten years. In 2007, he decided to move to Michigan. He didn’t register as a sex offender. In March of 2008, he failed to show up at a custody hearing. He instead went to the school, picked up his daughter and fled to Fairborn, Ohio.

Indiana authorities issued an arrest warrant for Jones for violating conditions of his release. Michigan authorities issued an arrest warrant for Jones for failure to register as a sex offender and for kidnapping. Based on the Indiana warrant, deputy U.S. Marshals arrested Jones at his Fairborn residence on June 25. He has been in custody since his arrest.

Jones was charged federally on July 7, 2009 with traveling in interstate commerce and failing to register as a sex offender. [Dayton Daily News]

Despite what he apparently believed to be a compelling argument as to why he had failed to register as a sex offender, Jones was sentenced on Friday to one year and one day. His argument? He did not register as a sex offender because he did not want to be found by law enforcement. I shit you not.

In answer to a comment …

Earlier today, “Kievan Rus” left this comment on a thread about global warming:

OFF TOPIC NOTE TO BLOGGIST:

I notice you don’t bother to mention anything about the gun toting wingnut that went off at the Pentagon the other day.

If it had been a liberal who did the shooting you would be all over it, though.

I’m surprised. Not.

This is my response to “Kievan Rus” which is far too long for a comment window.

Read the rest of this entry »

Someone needs to slap all four of these morons

There’s a lesson in this:

Alleging a plot to wiretap Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office in the Hale Boggs Federal Building in downtown New Orleans, the FBI arrested four people Monday, including James O’Keefe, a conservative filmmaker whose undercover videos at ACORN field offices severely damaged the advocacy group’s credibility.

Also arrested were Joseph Basel, Stan Dai and Robert Flanagan, all 24. Flanagan is the son of William Flanagan, who is the acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, the office confirmed. All four were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony.

According to the FBI affidavit, Flanagan and Basel entered the federal building at 500 Poydras Street about 11 a.m. Monday, dressed as telephone company employees, wearing jeans, fluorescent green vests, tool belts, and hard hats. When they arrived at Landrieu’s 10th floor office, O’Keefe was already in the office and had told a staffer he was waiting for someone to arrive.

When Flanagan and Basel entered the office, they told the staffer they were there to fix phone problems. At that time, the staffer, referred to only as Witness 1 in the affadavit, observed O’Keefe positioning his cell phone in his hand to videotape the operation. O’Keefe later admitted to agents that he recorded the event.

After being asked, the staffer gave Basel access to the main phone at the reception desk. The staffer told investigators that Basel manipulated the handset. He also tried to call the main office phone using his cell phone, and said the main line wasn’t working. Flanagan did the same.

They then told the staffer they needed to perform repair work on the main phone system and asked where the telephone closet was located. The staffer showed the men to the main General Services Administration office on the 10th floor, and both went in. There, a GSA employee asked for the men’s credentials, after which they stated they left them in their vehicle.

The U.S. Marshal’s Service apprehended all four men shortly thereafter.

Of course the four are innocent until proven guilty, but it sure looks bad and I certainly can’t think of a legitimate reason for the activities as outlined, so let’s take their guilt on assumption. I predict that the media, who largely did their best to ignore the ACORN scandal, is going to be all over this like the proverbial flies on feces. Plus it adds more fuel to the ACORN fire and probably expands the “entrapment” bandwagon some of the ACORN staffers are trying to board:

ACORN spokesman Kevin Whelan said the arrest calls O’Keefe’s credibility into question, and used the opportunity to point out that he “edited (ACORN videos) to make things look as bad as possible.”

So, what’s the lesson? Don’t break the law and become what you’re targeting.

NOLA.com

Held for five days for possession of … candy

Perhaps the candy looked suspicious, but that’s why cops carry field test kits. Even if, for some bizarre reason, the cops didn’t have a field test kit between ‘em (and there were several cruisers that responded so I’d find that really hard to believe, but whatever) it should have been tested the minute they got it back to the station. The five days that these guys spent behind bars are most likely going to cost the city a fortune — one that’s deserved, IMHO.

Here’s what happened:

A pair of buddies were on their way to a party on January 15. They stopped at a bodega in NY and when they came out, police officers asked to search their van. The owner of the vehicle, 33-year old Cesar Rodriguez said “sure” and even opened the door of the van for them. Neither Rodriguez nor his friend, 48-year old José Pena, were concerned about the search because they knew they didn’t have anything illegal.

After a few minutes of searching, one of the officers emerged from the van holding a “Hello Kitty” sandwich baggie and said “Bingo!” Rodriguez was confused — “it’s only candy!” he said, asking the officers “can you test it? Can you taste it?” he was promptly told to shut up. Several additional cars responded and both men were handcuffed and taken to the precinct where they were sure things would soon be straightened out.

Five days later, when someone finally got around to testing the substance in the baggie, it was determined to be just what Rodriguez had claimed all along — a fifty-cent bag of a hard coconut candy called “Coco Candy” that crumbles easily, which is why Rodriguez had it in a baggie.

The men’s lawyer, Neal Wallerstein, said the cops should have realized their mistake quickly. “That’s the reason why they have a field-test kit.” Wallerstein added that cops really only needed their noses in this case: “it smells like sugar.”

Personally, I’m curious why the cops wanted to search the van in the first place. If I’m doing nothing wrong and I come out to get in my parked vehicle and some cop asks to search it, I’m not sure I’m going to agree to the search even though I don’t have anything illegal in it. Seems to me the constitution protects me from that sort of thing.

I hope the officers involved are subjected to serious disciplinary action — I’d even say termination is warranted for the arresting officers at least. Police procedures need to be changed. You can’t let someone sit in jail for five days when they haven’t done anything wrong. That candy should have been tested the night they were arrested. It should have been tested BEFORE the arrest, but certainly afterward.

FOX News, NY Post

Well, they might get the death penalty, but it won’t happen

According to the Wikipedia, while the state of New Hampshire technically has the death penalty, they haven’t actually executed anyone since 1939. There’s presently one person on death row and the state doesn’t even have an execution chamber, so the odds of someone being executed in New Hampshire are slim. And that’s a real shame, because if anyone deserves it, this bastard does.

The bastard in question is Christopher Gribble and along with him they need to also execute at least one of his four buddies. In the early morning hours of October 9, they went to a house in Mont Vernon, New Hampshire, which was chosen purely because it was somewhat isolated. Recently released documents tell the story of what happened that morning.

Gribble’s account provides a graphic description of what happened after he and three others entered the Cates home and found [42-year old] Kimberly Cates in her bed. Jaimie Cates [her 11-year old daughter] was sleeping in the same room, although it was unclear if they were sleeping in the same bed. Kimberly Cates’ husband, David, was traveling.

Gribble, 20, told police he and longtime friend Steven Spader, 18, agreed they would break into the house and that if anyone was home “they would just kill the people in the home for fun,” the documents said. They shut off the electricity and lit their way through the home with an iPod.

Gribble and Spader and two others — William Marks and Quinn Glover, both 18 and of Amherst — found their way to the master bedroom, where Cates woke up, asking “Jaimie, is that you?” Gribble told police.

Spader attacked Kimberly Cates with a machete, Gribble said. Jaimie then jumped over her mother and Gribble stabbed her in the face and in the chest, trying to puncture her heart to kill her, he said. He said he then threw her against a door and assumed she had died. She later told police she pretended to be dead.

After the attack, the four searched the house for valuables, Gribble told police. They removed their clothing and wiped the knives on a Burger King bag, the documents said.

When a police officer arrived at the house, he saw Jaimie bleeding profusely. She said, “They killed my mommy,” the documents said. He carried her outside and went back in. He found Kimberly Cates lying on the bed, naked from the waist down with extreme trauma to her head, the documents said.

Gribble and Spader have been charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder.

Spader is accused of driving the group to Kimberly Cates’ neighborhood and cutting her with a machete in the head, torso, arms and legs. Gribble is accused of stabbing her with a knife. Both are accused of attacking Jaimie, who was hospitalized for more than two weeks.

Spader denied any involvement in the attack when interviewed by police. He said he did not know who did it and “that whoever did it should get the death penalty,” according to the affidavit.

Marks and Glover are charged with burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary and robbery.

Marks admitted he took part in the burglary, according to the documents. Glover said he walked around houses on a dirt road in Mont Vernon that night, the documents said.

Prosecutors said the group picked the home at random and because it was on an isolated road, but all knew of the plan to kill whoever was home.

In November, a fifth man, 20-year-old Autumn Savoy of Hollis, was charged with coming up with the plan to toss clothing and other items from the crime scene into the Nashua River. He also was charged with telling police that Gribble and Spader spent the night at his home.

Savoy later agreed to show police where the items were thrown in the river. Police recovered two floating wooden jewelry boxes, sneakers and a partially submerged wallet with a military dog tag with David Cates’ name, as well as clothing that belonged to Spader and Gribble, the documents said.

Prosecutors said Gribble and Spader came to Savoy’s home after the attack, believing both mother and daughter were dead. The three men went on the Internet to search for news of the attack and discovered that Jaimie Cates had survived, prosecutors said.

And now for the coup de grâce … if you had any doubts whatsoever that Gribble should die for what he’s done, let me dispel them for you. Let me show you why Christopher Gribble is the poster child for the death penalty. Christopher Gribble told police after his arrest he had wanted to kill someone for a long time and was disappointed he didn’t feel any emotion afterward. Gribble said that he had only one regret about the crime: He regrets that he did not also kill 11-year old Jaimie. Had he realized she was not dead, he said he would have killed her as well.

FOX News

He looks like such a fine, upstanding citizen

You know, if you’re going to do this kind of crap to yourself, don’t you think you should find a better hobby than crime? There is like NO chance of mistaken identity when you look like this. Even eyewitness testimony would satisfy me if I was on the jury, and normally I don’t like it.

lo-o-ser

This guy was born in 1981. According to the Dayton Daily News, he is now being …

Held in custody of Montgomery County, Ohio, Sheriff on 12/11/09 at 8:42 PM. Fifth Degree Felony – Obstructing Justice (Pending); Second Degree Misdemeanor – Resisting Arrest (Pending); Third Degree Felony – Robbery (Pending); Third Degree Felony – Abduction (Pending).

I wouldn’t want to be this woman …

However, I’d rather be her than be helpless and sitting there waiting for the police to show up. After hearing this, I can’t imagine anyone still having a problem with the right of law abiding citizens to own guns.

Thank God the prosecutor isn’t an asshole. She’s been through enough, she doesn’t need to deal with charges for defending herself.

Cheated the Hangman, but the job’s still done

Remember Jessica Lunsford?   [Previously, on OM]

John Couey — the miserable bastard that kidnapped, raped and then buried Jessica alive right across the street from her house back in 2005 — is dead. He died in prison “not unexpectedly” of unspecified “natural causes” at the age of 51.

Jessica’s grandma, Ruth Lunsford (77), said in a telephone interview with AP that she couldn’t feel bad about Couey’s death.

“He murdered my granddaughter. He didn’t show any mercy to my granddaughter,” she said. “God took control of it. He took him out of this world. … I’m not crying, honey. If my legs and feet would hold up, I’d go out and shout all over Citrus County.”

Right there with you, Ruth. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

FOX News