Nancy Lockhart, M.J.

What Happened to Trayvon Martin? Slain Teen’s Family Demands Answers

2012-03-08T22:57:00.000-05:00

What Happened to Trayvon Martin? Slain Teen’s Family Demands Answers

THURSDAY MAR 8, 2012 – BY BRITNI DANIELLE

It’s been over a week since 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was murderedoutside of his father’s Sanford, Florida home, but his family is still looking for answers.

According to his father and stepmother, the teen was visiting from Miami when he walked to the store. Upon returning to their gated community he was confronted by George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch leader, and ended up shot to death just steps from his father’s home.

Police officials say Zimmerman turned himself in after the incident, but have yet to charge him in the teen’s death. They claim they are still investigating the slaying, but Trayvon’s family wants answers.

Man shot and killed in neighborhood altercation: MyFoxORLANDO.com

“My son left Sanford, Florida in a body bag George Zimmerman went home to sleep in his own bed. Its senseless and the police in Sanford Florida isn’t giving any answers,” Trayvon’s father Tracy Martintold the local Fox News affiliate.

The Martins have hired Ben Crump, an attorney, and are pressuring Sanford police to release the 911 tapes that may lead to more answers.

“We are here to demand that the state attorney charge this home owner’s association loose cannon with murder,” said Crump. “We all deserve answers. The police department simply has to release those 911 tapes so we won’t have to speculate further.”

Change.org|Start an Online Petition »

2012-03-07T16:54:00.001-05:00

OCCUPY FOR JUSTICE: OCCUPY THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT -- April 24, 11AM950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC -- at the Dept of Justice (DOJ)
Pledge to Occupy the DOJ

ENDORSED BY:
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu Jamal : Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal : New York Coalition to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal : Occupy Philly : Occupy DC Now : Occupy DC Criminal Injustice Committee : Occupy the Hood : Decarcerate PA : Supporting Prisoners and Acting for Radical Change [SPARC] : Millions for Mumia : Dead Prez (Sticman and M1) : Talib Kweli : Immortal Technique : Angela Davis : Danny Glover : Alice Walker : Francis Pixen : Amiri Baraka : Marc Lamont Hill : Cornell West : Vijay Prashad : Norman Finkelstein
Spread the Word: Bring 2, 5 or 10 Friends
To download, right-click on a link and click "Save as..."

Download Flyer (Web Version and 8.5 x 11 Print out)
Download Flyer (Poster Size Print Out)
Top 5 Ways to Get to DC (Web Version and 8.5 x 11 Print out)
Top 5 Ways to Get to DC (Poster Size Print Out)Stay tuned for pre-event "Teach-Ins" in Philadelphia and Washington, DC.

For more info on A24
email: info at occupythejusticedepartment dot com
call: 215-600-6626

To get on the bus:
Philadelphia: 215-600-6626
Occupy the Hood, NY: 718-600-5857
New York Coalition to Free Mumia: 212-330-8029
www.megabus.com
www.boltbus.com

next stop -Mumia's Freedom
Now that the celebrated, radical journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, is off death row, many dare to imagine the next step--his release from prison. On December 9, 2011 at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, where over 1,100 people gathered to mark the 30th anniversary of Mumia's incarceration, Archbishop Desmond Tutu asked our nation to "rise to the challenge of reconciliation, human rights, and justice" and called for Mumia's "immediate release." And when Frances Goldin--Mumia's literary agent--called on the audience to OCCUPY the Justice Department, the call was met with a roar of excitement.

On April 24, 2012, Mumia's 58th birthday, we will gather at the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Washington, DC. A large-scale, vibrant and colorful rally will amplify our formal request that Eric Holder immediately meet with a delegation to discuss police corruption and civil rights violations in Mumia's case and in the cases of hundreds of other defendants in Philadelphia. Some demonstrators will engage in acts of civil disobedience to draw greater attention to these injustices.

I pledge to occupy the DOJ
On April 24, consider joining a group of renowned citizens in an act of civil disobedience, among themDanny Glover, Frances Fox Piven, Norman Finkelstein, and M1 of Dead Prez. Your pledge to engage in an act of civil disobedience will be critical to reaching our goals of enlisting the participation of other activists and ensuring news coverage of the case and of our broader demands. If you cannot commit to civil disobedience, you can pledge to be at the demonstration.

Because Mumia's removal from death row coincides with the dramatic shift in consciousness brought by the Occupy Wall Street movement and the execution of Troy Davis, we now have a unique window of opportunity to fulfill one of the most important moral assignments of our time: to build a movement that will link all of the violations in Mumia's case and his fraudulent trial to the crisis of mass incarceration, so as to win this innocent man's freedom. Short term goal: release Mumia. Long term goal: end mass incarceration.

Attorneys will be available to answer questions and to support this important demonstration.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE PLEDGE AND SIGN-UP!

"there is something in the soul...
...that cries for freedom!" Twenty-first century social movements around the world are illuminating the root causes of social crises, class inequality, bigotry, human rights violations, and environmental degradation. Here in the U.S. we have seen how, in the face of the growing OCCUPY movements, the state has intensified its campaign to restrain people and silence dissent. From the incarceration of state critics and whistle blowers (Bradley Manning), the pepper spraying of peacefully protesting students in California and the passage of repressive legislation (HR 347 & NDAA) to the warehousing of millions of poor Black and Latino people in American prisons and the increased scapegoating and detention of immigrants -- the state is ramping up repressive measures.

On April 24, we will breath life into the old labor slogan: "an injury to one, is an injury to all." On that day we will say that we are all Mumia, we are all immigrants, we are all Bradley Manning, we are all poor, we are all Palestinian, and we are all Troy Davis.

For 30 years, in a death row cell, Mumia has offered a radical critique of power and injustice through his regular radio commentaries and seven published books. His defiant voice in the face of state repression has taught us all something about courage and the human spirit's inclination toward freedom. His message articulates our highest aspirations as a society. On April 24, make a placard and write on it all of your grievances. They will be welcomed. Above all, on that day, bring your fighting spirit and your desire to live in and create a decent and different world.

why the DOJ
The police who shot, brutalized, and arrested Mumia Abu-Jamal in 1980 -- for the shooting death of Officer Daniel Faulkner -- were under scrutiny by a Department of Justice investigation of the Philadelphia Police Department. The probe, which began in 1979, marked the first time in United States’ history that the federal government sued a police department for civil rights violations and charged an entire police department, rather than individual officers, with police brutality. The DOJ suit maintained that the Philadelphia police’s practices of “shooting nonviolent suspects, abusing handcuffed prisoners, suppressing dissension within its ranks, and engaging in a pattern of brutal behavior ‘shocks the conscience.’” Only days after the end of Mumia’s fraudulent trial and conviction, 15 of the 35 police officers involved in collecting evidence in his case would be convicted and jailed, as a result of this federal investigation, on charges which included graft, corruption, and tampering with evidence to obtain a conviction. Chief among these officers was Alfonzo Giordano, the police inspector who led the crime scene investigation in Mumia’s case. The DOJ investigation remains unfinished: it did not provide relief for defendants like Mumia who were convicted by the testimonies and work of these corrupt and convicted cops.

our demands

Release Mumia Abu-Jamal
End mass incarceration
Jobs, Education, & Health Care. NOT JAILS!
End solitary confinement & stop torture
End the racist death penalty
Hands off immigrants
Free all political prisoners

For more info on the case:
http://www.freemumia.com
http://www.emajonline.com/category/mumia-faqs/
http://www.bignoisefilms.com/films/tactical-media/114-justice-on-trial
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/001/2000
Dave Lindorff, Killing Time: An Investigation into the Death Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal (Common Courage Press, 2002)
Patrick J. O’connor, The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal (Lawrence Hill Books, 2008)

To donate:
Mail tax-deductible checks to National Lawyers Guild Foundation, 922 Nassau Street #922, New York, NY 10009 (write A24 in subject line)

From The Atlanta Journal and Constitution: Man gets life plus 2 years after impregnating 13-year-old

2012-03-05T22:12:00.000-05:00

A 34-year-old man was sentenced to life plus two years in prison after being convicted of charges related to sexual assaulting a 13-year-old girl whom he impregnated, the Fulton County District Attorney's office announced Monday.

A jury found Stephen Troy Kendrick guilty Thursday of statutory rape, aggravated child molestation, child molestation, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and criminal trespassing.

College Park police found Kendrick sleeping with the 13-year-old, whom he first claimed was his 18-year-old cousin, in a vacant unit of the Cypress Glen Apartments on Godby Road last February, authorities said. The two are not related.

Investigators discovered that Kendrick met the girl while he was a boarder in her family's home. The girl's parents became worried about Kendrick's closeness with their daughter and asked him to leave, but he continued to sneak into the house to visit her, authorities said.

The girl ran away from home and lived on the streets with Kendrick. After police found the pair, the girl was reunited with her parents, who had reported her missing two months earlier, the DA's office said.

The girl was pregnant with Kendrick's child, investigators later discovered.

"The injury and pain of child birth associated with the young girl’s pregnancy" led to the aggravated child molestation charge, the DA's office said.

Wingham Funeral Home Denounces Leaking Whitney Houston Photo

2012-03-02T11:22:00.001-05:00

From WXYZ.com Former DPD lieutenant charged with running a criminal enterprise

2012-02-27T15:41:00.000-05:00

Posted: 02/16/2012

By: Scott Lewis

DETROIT (WXYZ) - A former Detroit top cop is charged with drugs, fraud and running a criminal enterprise.

Bill Rice has been hit with 16 criminal charges.

Rice is a former lieutenant who ran the homicide section before his retirement. He was arraigned on these serious criminal charges Wednesday.

His girlfriend Cheryl Sanford was also charged.

The 16 charges lodged by the Wayne County Prosecutor include mortgage fraud, running a criminal enterprise, and possession of drugs with the intent to deliver.

The mortgage fraud charges involve three homes in Detroit and Taylor.

Rice and Sanford allegedly gave false information to get federal funds for mortgages on the homes.

Rice's Detroit home was raided Wednesday morning. He was with the Detroit Police Department for decades.

Investigators have some heavy muscle in this case. It involves the state police, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Wayne County Sheriff's Department.

7 Action News spoke with Rice by phone. He confirmed the raid on his home but says he has been advised by his lawyer not to talk about the case.

From Pop Crush.com ROBIN THICKE COVERS WHITNEY HOUSTON CLASSIC ‘EXHALE (SHOOP SHOOP)’

2012-02-20T18:49:00.000-05:00

Robin Thicke - Whitney Houston Tribute by cessemi

From Uptown Magazine - Chaka Khan Blasts Clive Davis’ Party

2012-02-16T21:44:00.001-05:00

Chaka Khan Blasts Clive Davis’ Party [VIDEO]

Posted by Camille Travis on Feb 14, 2012

Chaka Khan is finally speaking out about her thoughts on Clive Davis’annual pre-Grammy gala, put on just hours after Whitney Houston’s body was found in the same Beverly Hilton hotel. She sat down with CNN’s Piers Morgan Monday night to express her disapproval.

Related: Celebs React To Whitney Houston’s Death

Chaka said she flew out from Miami Saturday afternoon to make the party in Los Angeles, but learned of Houston’s death after exiting the plane. She said she couldn’t put on makeup or get dressed, let alone attend the event where her close friend’s lifeless body was lying several floors up.

“I don’t know what could motivate a person to have a party, in a building where the person whose life he had influenced so enormously, and whose life had been affected by her,” she said. “I don’t understand how that party went on.”

From The Chicago Tribune

2012-02-14T12:03:00.000-05:00

Whitney Houston to be laid to rest Saturday in N.J.

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Tribune News Services

10:13 a.m. CST, February 14, 2012

NEWARK, N.J.—

Whitney Houston's funeral will be held Saturday in the church where she first showcased her singing talents as a child.

The owner of the Whigham Funeral Home in Newark said Tuesday that the funeral will be held at noon at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark.

The funeral home said that no wake would be held and that there would be no public memorial at Newark's Prudential Center, the sports arena that the family had discussed as a possible venue.

The funeral service will be by invitation only, Carolyn Whigham said, reflecting the family's desire to keep the memorial more personal.

"They have shared her for 30 some years with the city, with the state, with the world. This is their time now for their farewell," she said.

"The family thanks all the fans, the friends and the media, but this time is their private time," she said.

After an autopsy Sunday, authorities said there were no indications of foul play and no obvious signs of trauma on Houston. It could be weeks, however, before the coroner's office completes toxicology tests to establish the cause of death.

Los Angeles County coroner's assistant chief Ed Winter said there were bottles of prescription medicine in the room. He would not give details except to say: "There weren't a lot of prescription bottles. You probably have just as many prescription bottles in your medicine cabinet."

Her body was returned to New Jersey late Monday. A plane owned by actor-producerTyler Perry landed at an airport in Teterboro, New Jersey, where security was tight. A gold hearse left the airport and arrived just before midnight at the Whigham funeral home in Newark, the city where Houston was born. A crowd of about 50 fans had gathered outside.

Houston was born in Newark and was raised in nearby East Orange. She began singing as a child at New Hope Baptist Church, where her mother, Grammy-winning gospel singer Cissy Houston, led the music program for many years. Her cousin singer Dionne Warwick also sang in its choir.

An impromptu memorial for Houston was held Sunday during a sadness-tinged Grammys, with Jennifer Hudson saluting her memory with a performance of "I Will Always Love You." Viewership for the awards show soared over last year by 50 percent, with about 40 million viewers tuning in to the program on CBS.

On Monday, mourners left flowers, balloons and candles for Houston at the wrought-iron fence around the tall brick church, which sits near the edge of an abandoned housing project near the train line leading to New York City.

"She was an inspiration to everybody," said Gregory Hanks, an actor who grew up in the neighborhood and who dropped off a bouquet. He saw Houston perform in New Jersey years ago.

"I grew up listening to her as a little boy, and to hear her sing, you knew she was special," he said.

A sensation from her first album, Houston was one of the world's best-selling artists from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, turning out such hits as "I Wanna Dance With Somebody," ''How Will I Know," ''The Greatest Love of All" and "I Will Always Love You." But as she struggled with drugs, her majestic voice became raspy, and she couldn't hit the high notes.

She won six Grammys and more than 400 other awards in a 25-year career that also saw her star in such blockbuster films as "The Bodyguard." She was best known for her 1992 hit single "I Will Always Love You."

But Houston's success was eclipsed later in life by problems with drinking and drugs. She had a long history of addiction to alcohol, cocaine and marijuana, admitting so on television talk shows. She was in rehab as recently as May 2011.

Houston died in a Beverly Hills hotel room Saturday on the eve of the music industry'sGrammy Awards, and because of her drug battles, speculation arose that she might have died of a drug overdose.

Houston left behind one child, daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, 18, from her marriage to singer Bobby Brown.

Wendy Williams Whitney Houston Interview 2003

2012-02-13T22:09:00.001-05:00

Wendy Williams Talks About Her Personal Addiction To Crack and Whitney Houston

2012-02-13T15:07:00.003-05:00

Wendy Williams shares her thoughts and feelings about the passing of Whitney Houston and reveals why she always felt a strong personal connection to the music icon and legend.

2012-02-13T10:11:00.000-05:00

9:00 a.m. Monday, February 13, 2012

Report: Whitney Houston's body to be flown to Atlanta

By Staff reports

For the AJC

The body of famed songstress Whitney Houston will be flown to Atlanta, according to TMZ.com.

Today on accessAtlanta

The celebrity gossip site reports Houston, 48, allegedly died from a drug overdose, not drowning.
L.A. County Coroner officials allegedly have told Houston's family that she died from a combination of Xanax and other prescription drugs mixed with alcohol.
Houston was found unresponsive in a bathtub Saturday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in California.
Houston, whose powerful voice fueled multiple No. 1 hits in the '80s and '90s, lived in Atlanta for many years with then-husband Bobby Brown.

Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown's Daughter, Bobbi Kristina, Rushed to the Hospital

2012-02-12T16:06:00.001-05:00

Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown's Daughter, Bobbi Kristina, Rushed to the Hospital

Today 12:42 PM PST by Brandi Fowler

Jason Merritt/Getty Images

Bobbi Kristina Brown has been rushed to the hospital, following the shocking death of her mother Whitney Houston.

The 18-year-old only child of the late star and Bobby Brown was transported from the Beverly Hilton Hotel to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles Sunday and treated for stress, a source close to the family confirmed to E! News.

MORE: Whitney Houston Death: Bobby Brown "Deeply Saddened," Mom Cissy Houston Calls It "Unimaginable Tragedy"

While the Beverly Hills Police Department confirmed that they responded to a medical emergency at the Beverly Hilton today, they refused to comment on whether the person in question was Bobbi Kristina. But the Beverly Hills Fire Department told E! News that it was indeed Bobbi Kristina who was taken from the hotel at 10:28 a.m.

No further information was immediately available on her condition.

People, meanwhile, reported that Bobbi was also taken to the hospital Saturday evening after suffering "complete breakdown" after Whitney's death. Neither Beverly Hills authorities nor sources close to the family could confirm that account, however.

Saturday night, during his New Edition reunion concert in Southaven, Miss., a choked-up Bobby told the crowd, "Just say a prayer for my daughter, say a prayer for her mother, and if you find the time please say a prayer for me because I am going to need it."

In a new statement today, Brown requested that everyone respect his and Bobbi's privacy during this difficult time.

Whitney Houston dead at 48

2012-02-11T20:36:00.002-05:00

Whitney Houston dead at 48

5:16 p.m. | AP

Mark J. Terrill/AP

Whitney Houston performs at a pre-Grammy gala in February 2011 in Beverly Hills.

Whitney Houston, who reigned as pop music's queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, has died. She was 48.
Publicist Kristen Foster said Saturday that the singer had died, but the cause and the location of her death were unknown.
At her peak, Houston the golden girl of the music industry. From the middle 1980s to the late 1990s, she was one of the world's best-selling artists. She wowed audiences with effortless, powerful, and peerless vocals that were rooted in the black church but made palatable to the masses with a pop sheen.

Her success carried her beyond music to movies, where she starred in hits like "The Bodyguard" and "Waiting to Exhale."

She had the he perfect voice, and the perfect image: a gorgeous singer who had sex appeal but was never overtly sexual, who maintained perfect poise.
She influenced a generation of younger singers, from Christina Aguilera to Mariah Carey, who when she first came out sounded so much like Houston that many thought it was Houston.

But by the end of her career, Houston became a stunning cautionary tale of the toll of drug use. Her album sales plummeted and the hits stopped coming; her once serene image was shattered by a wild demeanor and bizarre public appearances. She confessed to abusing cocaine, marijuana and pills, and her once pristine voice became raspy and hoarse, unable to hit the high notes as she had during her prime.
"The biggest devil is me. I'm either my best friend or my worst enemy," Houston told ABC's Diane Sawyer in an infamous 2002 interview with then-husband Brown by her side.
It was a tragic fall for a superstar who was one of the top-selling artists in pop music history, with more than 55 million records sold in the United States alone.
She seemed to be born into greatness. She was the daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston, the cousin of 1960s pop diva Dionne Warwick and the goddaughter of Aretha Franklin.
Houston first started singing in the church as a child. In her teens, she sang backup for Chaka Khan, Jermaine Jackson and others, in addition to modeling. It was around that time when music mogul Clive Davis first heard Houston perform.
"The time that I first saw her singing in her mother's act in a club ... it was such a stunning impact," Davis told "Good Morning America."

"To hear this young girl breathe such fire into this song. I mean, it really sent the proverbial tingles up my spine," he added.

Before long, the rest of the country would feel it, too. Houston made her album debut in 1985 with "Whitney Houston," which sold millions and spawned hit after hit. "Saving All My Love for You" brought her her first Grammy, for best female pop vocal. "How Will I Know," ''You Give Good Love" and "The Greatest Love of All" also became hit singles.
Another multiplatinum album, "Whitney," came out in 1987 and included hits like "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" and "I Wanna Dance With Somebody."

The New York Times wrote that Houston "possesses one of her generation's most powerful gospel-trained voices, but she eschews many of the churchier mannerisms of her forerunners. She uses ornamental gospel phrasing only sparingly, and instead of projecting an earthy, tearful vulnerability, communicates cool self-assurance and strength, building pop ballads to majestic, sustained peaks of intensity."

Her decision not to follow the more soulful inflections of singers like Franklin drew criticism by some who saw her as playing down her black roots to go pop and reach white audiences. The criticism would become a constant refrain through much of her career. She was even booed during the "Soul Train Awards" in 1989.

"Sometimes it gets down to that, you know?" she told Katie Couric in 1996. "You're not black enough for them. I don't know. You're not R&B enough. You're very pop. The white audience has taken you away from them."

Some saw her 1992 marriage to former New Edition member and soul crooner Bobby Brown as an attempt to refute those critics. It seemed to be an odd union; she was seen as pop's pure princess while he had a bad-boy image, and already had children of his own. (The couple had a daughter, Bobbi Kristina, in 1993.) Over the years, he would be arrested several times, on charges ranging from DUI to failure to pay child support.
But Houston said their true personalities were not as far apart as people may have believed.
"When you love, you love. I mean, do you stop loving somebody because you have different images? You know, Bobby and I basically come from the same place," she told Rolling Stone in 1993. "You see somebody, and you deal with their image, that's their image. It's part of them, it's not the whole picture. I am not always in a sequined gown. I am nobody's angel. I can get down and dirty. I can get raunchy."

It would take several years, however, for the public to see that side of Houston. Her moving 1991 rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" at the Super Bowl, amid the first Gulf War, set a new standard and once again reaffirmed her as America's sweetheart.
In 1992, she became a star in the acting world with "The Bodyguard." Despite mixed reviews, the story of a singer (Houston) guarded by a former Secret Service agent (Kevin Costner) was an international success.
It also gave her perhaps her most memorable hit: a searing, stunning rendition of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You," which sat atop the charts for weeks. It was Grammy's record of the year and best female pop vocal, and the "Bodyguard" soundtrack was named album of the year.
She returned to the big screen in 1995-96 with "Waiting to Exhale" and "The Preacher's Wife." Both spawned soundtrack albums, and another hit studio album, "My Love Is Your Love," in 1998, brought her a Grammy for best female R&B vocal for the cut "It's Not Right But It's Okay."
But during these career and personal highs, Houston was using drugs. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2010, she said by the time "The Preacher's Wife" was released, "(doing drugs) was an everyday thing. ... I would do my work, but after I did my work, for a whole year or two, it was every day. ... I wasn't happy by that point in time. I was losing myself."
In the interview, Houston blamed her rocky marriage to Brown, which included a charge of domestic abuse against Brown in 1993. They divorced in 2007.

Houston would go to rehab twice before she would declare herself drug-free to Winfrey in 2010. But in the interim, there were missed concert dates, a stop at an airport due to drugs, and public meltdowns.

She was so startlingly thin during a 2001 Michael Jackson tribute concert that rumors spread she had died the next day. Her crude behavior and jittery appearance on Brown's reality show, "Being Bobby Brown," was an example of her sad decline. Her Sawyer interview, where she declared "crack is whack," was often parodied. She dropped out of the spotlight for a few years.

Houston staged what seemed to be a successful comeback with the 2009 album "I Look To You." The album debuted on the top of the charts, and would eventually go platinum.
Things soon fell apart. A concert to promote the album on "Good Morning America" went awry as Houston's voice sounded ragged and off-key. She blamed an interview with Winfrey for straining her voice.

A world tour launched overseas, however, only confirmed suspicions that Houston had lost her treasured gift, as she failed to hit notes and left many fans unimpressed; some walked out. Canceled concert dates raised speculation that she may have been abusing drugs, but she denied those claims and said she was in great shape, blaming illness for cancellations.

2012-02-11T11:08:00.001-05:00

Blood found on comforter in Josh Powell's storage unit

By the CNN Wire Staff

updated 11:40 PM EST, Fri February 10, 2012

A surveillance photo shows Josh Powell at a Puyallup bank the day before the alleged murder-suicide.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Washington authorities search a storage unit belonging to Josh Powell
A "presumptive test" of a comforter found inside the unit detected blood
Powell's wife has been missing since December 2009
Police say Josh Powell killed his two sons and himself last Sunday

(CNN) -- Initial tests detected blood on a comforter found in a storage unit in Washington state belonging to Josh Powell, the man who police say killed his two sons and himself, according to a document filed Friday.
It was not immediately clear who the blood belonged to or how much investigators found on the comforter, which was among the items inside a unit at Western Self Storage in Sumner, Washington. The property report from authorities indicated succinctly that a "presumptive test" of the comforter had tested positive for blood.
Prior to setting a deadly fire Sunday at his Puyallup, Washington, home, Josh Powell was the only person identified by law enforcement authorities in West Valley City, Utah, as someone they were investigating in the disappearance of his wife, Susan Cox-Powell.
According to a search warrant request by Pierce County, Washington, Sheriff's Detective Ryan Salmon, last Sunday "several people began calling 911 saying they had received e-mails from Joshua Powell, telling them goodbye, that he could not live without his kids, and to take care of several things related to his finances."
Before authorities arrived, Powell is accused of snatching his young sons from a social worker who was delivering them for a supervised visit, locking the door, hacking the kids with a hatchet and starting an explosive fire in the home.

Social worker: Powell 'just shrugged'

Inside the minds of parents who kill

Powell children were 'fun loving' boys

Susan Powell's parents speak out

The search warrant request noted that the medical examiner's office found "sharp impact wounds ... on the back of the head of the two children," that a hatchet was recovered near their bodies, and that "accelerant was apparently used on the bodies."
According to the detective, Powell last visited the storage unit on the day before he was accused of committing the double murder-suicide. That same day, he withdrew $6,500 in cash from a bank -- money that is "unaccounted for," the document said.
In addition to the comforter, authorities took two plastic bins with miscellaneous items, a box with blocks, a white garbage bag filled with children's clothes and linens, another bag with toys and framed photos from the storage unit. Most of those items were handed over to relatives of Cox-Powell, the property report states.
Funeral services for the two slain boys -- Charlie, 7, and Braden Powell, 5 -- will be held Saturday.
Josh Powell had said that he last saw Susan in December 2009, after he and his two sons left after midnight to go camping in below-freezing weather in a desert area in Tooele County, Utah. Cox-Powell's sister eventually reported the mother, who would now be 29 years old, as missing.
A month later, Powell and his children moved from Utah to Washington.

L.A. NOW - Marine Fatally Shot By Orange County Deputy Sheriff

2012-02-10T15:59:00.002-05:00

L.A. NOW

Southern California -- this just in

« Previous Post | L.A. NOW Home | Next Post »

Marine fatally shot by O.C. deputy had young daughters nearby

A decorated Marine who was fatally shot by an Orange County sheriff's deputy in a high school parking lot was described as a deeply religious man who regularly went to the campus track with his young daughters for early-morning prayer walks.

Sgt. Manuel Loggins Jr.was shot to death during the predawn hours Tuesday under largely unexplained circumstances in a parking lot at San Clemente High School. Loggins' daughters, 9 and 14, were sitting nearby in the family SUV at the time of the shooting.

Loggins, who was based at Camp Pendleton, was driving "at a high rate of speed" when he crashed his Yukon SUV through a gate at the parking lot about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, said sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino.

A nearby deputy who'd been doing paperwork in his patrol car pulled up behind the Yukon. Loggins emerged from the SUV and headed toward the athletic field, apparently ignoring the deputy's orders to stop, Amormino said.

When Loggins turned and headed back to the Yukon, the deputy suddenly felt threatened and opened fire, Amormino said. Amormino said he did not know why the deputy felt threatened, or how many shots were fired, or whether Loggins was armed.

Marine sources said Loggins was not in possession of a weapon. Loggins was taken to Mission Hospital, where he died. Major Christopher Cox said Loggins had been scheduled to work at 7:30 that morning at the base, where he managed the inbound and outbound cargo.

Cox, who was Loggins' supervisor, said the 31-year-old Marine was a devout Christian who often took his daughters to the San Clemente High track for what he called "prayer walks."

"They would take their Bibles and walk around the track in the morning," Cox said.
He said Loggins' wife usually accompanied them but is pregnant and was unable to go.
Cox said Loggins volunteered with a Big Brothers group and at nursing homes, and was close to earning a bachelor's degree in nursing.

The deputy who shot him was placed on administrative leave, which is routine. His name has not been released. The Orange County district attorney's office, which is investigating the shooting, declined to comment.

2012-02-09T10:23:00.000-05:00

9:56 a.m. Thursday, February 9, 2012

Suspect in attempted Wal-Mart kidnapping on probation for manslaughter

By Alexis Stevens

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The man charged with trying to kidnap a 7-year-old girl Wednesday from a west Georgia Wal-Mart was on probation at the time after serving a sentence for a voluntary manslaughter conviction in DeKalb County, according to police.

Enlarge photo

Channel 2 Action NewsA man tries to take a child from a Wal-Mart in west Georgia.

Enlarge photo

Channel 2 Action News, Channel 2 Action NewsA man tries to take a child from a Wal-Mart in west Georgia.

Enlarge photo

Channel 2 Action NewsBrittney Baxter, 7, was not injured in an attempted abduction at a west Georgia Walmart.

Georgia Dept. of CorrectionsThomas Andrew Woods, 25, was released from state prison in October after serving more than four years for a voluntary manslaughter conviction.

More Atlanta area news »

Thomas Andrew Woods, 25, of Austell, was taken into custody and questioned before being arrested Wednesday afternoon, Bremen Police Chief Keith Pesnell told the AJC.
"We're pretty confident we've got the right guy," Pesnell said.
But as Woods was being led in handcuffs from the police department to a patrol car, he told reporters that the police had the wrong man.
"I was never there," Woods said.
According to police, Woods started talking to Brittney Baxter in the toy aisle of the Wal-Mart and then grabbed her and put his hand around her mouth.
But Brittney kicked and screamed, and the man let her go, police said. Neither she nor her mother, who was nearby in the store, was injured.
"When she told me someone had tried to get her, I just couldn't believe it," Brittney's mother, Georgeann Baxter, told Channel 2 Action News.
Store surveillance cameras captured the incident, and based on the description of the suspect's vehicle, police located Woods a few miles away in Tallapoosa, Pesnell said.
Woods was charged with attempted kidnapping, and additional charges are likely, Pesnell said. The suspect was being held in the Haralson County Jail. GBI agents are assisting with the investigation.
Woods was released in October from the Wheeler Correctional Facility, where he had been since April 2007 following his manslaughter conviction in DeKalb, according to the state Department of Corrections. He was placed on probation after serving out his sentence.
According to DeKalb County jail records, Woods, previously of Tucker, was arrested in October 2004, three months after the crime for which he was convicted. He was 17 years old at the time.
The Bremen police chief praised Brittney's actions.
"She did exactly what we teach the little ones to do at a time like that," Pesnell told Channel 2.

From Voice of Detroit - Detroit Hit Man Says Davontae Sanford Is Innocent

2012-02-08T12:36:00.000-05:00

AP NEWSBREAK: DETROIT HIT MAN SAYS DAVONTAE SANFORD IS INNOCENT, WILL TESTIFY

Posted on 02/07/2012 by Diane Bukowski

Taminko Sanford center, mother of Davontae Sanford, with his family outside court July 29, 2010 Photo by Diane Bukowski

By ED WHITE

http://www.twitter.com/edwhiteAP
January 30, 2012
IONIA, Mich. — A Detroit hit man in prison for eight murders said he’s willing to publicly take responsibility for four more to help clear a young man who claims he’s innocent of the slayings and confessed at age 14 only to satisfy police.

Vincent Smothers

Vincent Smothers’ testimony would be the most crucial evidence yet to try to persuade a judge to throw out Davontae Sanford’s guilty plea and free him from a nearly 40-year prison sentence. In an interview with The Associated Press, Smothers declared: “He’s not guilty. He didn’t do it.”
Smothers said he never used a 14-year-old accomplice – blind in one eye and learning disabled – to carry out his paid hits, mostly victims tied to Detroit’s drug trade. Ironically, there’s no dispute that Smothers confessed to the so-called Runyon Street slayings when he was captured in 2008, but prosecutors have never charged him and never explained why.
“I understand what prison life is like; it’s miserable. To be here and be innocent – I don’t know what it’s like,” Smothers said of Sanford, who is now 19. “He’s a kid, and I hate for him to do the kind of time they’re giving him.”
Told about the AP interview, Sanford’s attorney said she soon would ask a judge to bring Smothers to court.

Wayne Co. Prosecutor Kym Worthy has adamantly refused to drop charges against Davontae Sanford

“If we can get Mr. Smothers up on the stand, it would be awesome for Davontae,” Kim McGinnis said Monday.
Smothers, 30, spoke over a phone Saturday at the Michigan Reformatory with a glass window separating him from an AP reporter. He’s 130 miles west of Detroit where he unflinchingly killed people on streets, inside homes and even while he talked on a cell phone. He finally was arrested in an alley in 2008 while holding his daughter.
Smothers quickly confessed to a series of murders, including the execution-style shooting of a Detroit officer’s estranged wife for $50. He says he was paid $60,000 over a two-year period. He eventually pleaded guilty to eight slayings and was sentenced to at least 52 years in prison.

Davontae Sanford in court three years after his conviction

Sanford, meanwhile, has been fighting to get out of prison. A Wayne County judge soon is expected to decide whether to throw out his guilty plea to four killings on Runyon Street in 2007. McGinnis has worked to discredit the police investigation. She discovered major holes, including Smothers’ confession and the fact that a gun used in the murders was found at the home of an accomplice who, like Smothers, hasn’t been charged.
Prosecutors, however, have refused to back away from Sanford’s guilty plea. At times, they have acknowledged that Smothers may have been involved but they won’t rule out a role for the younger man.
“There is no link between me and him,” Smothers told the AP. “I never knew him.”
McGinnis has been desperate to get Smothers on the witness stand. He invoked his right against self-incrimination last year but was willing to allow his attorney, Gabi Silver, to testify about what he told her about Runyon Street. The prosecutor, however, objected and courts said no.
Listen to Nancy Lockhart’s interview with Davontae’s mother Taminko Sanford and his attorney Kim McGinnis by clicking on link below:

Listen to internet radio with TheNancyLockhartShow on Blog Talk Radio

“I’ll testify if possible and answer all questions truthfully. Anything I will say will be the truth,” Smothers told the AP. “I don’t lie.”
The prosecutor’s office had no comment Monday about Smothers’ willingness to testify. Silver said Smothers has “always wanted to right this wrong.”
“It’s too bad that a kid who didn’t have anything to do with this crime is sitting in prison. That to me is a tragedy,” Silver said.
With short hair, clear face and a thin build, Smothers looks much younger than his 30 years. He smiled often during the interview and expressed dry humor, especially when he described odd jobs – drywall, plumbing, roofing – while a student at Detroit’s Kettering High School and later a factory job in Warren.
“You sound surprised,” Smothers said of his resume.
He declined to talk about why he became a hit man but said, “I understand people think I’m a monster.”
“Over the course of my young adulthood, I developed a hard heart where people didn’t matter … When you grow up in the city there’s just certain facts of life,” Smothers said.
Ed White can be reached on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/edwhiteAP
Read more here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2012/01/30/1807085/apnewsbreak-detroit-hit-man-says.html#storylink=cpy
Click on http://www.change.org/petitions/new-trial-for-davontae-sanford to sign petition for a new trial for Davontae.

New details on tragic murder-suicide The sons of missing mom - Susan Powell

2012-02-07T15:00:00.000-05:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The sons of missing mom Susan Powell suffered neck and head injuries at the hands of their father, Josh Powell, before dying in the house he set on fire. NBC’s Miguel Almaguer reports.

>>details in the double murder-suicide of josh powell and his two young sons. we should warn you these details are disturbing. we will talk to susan powell's parents in a moment, but first nbc's miguel almaguer joins us from washington with the latest on the story. miguel, good morning.
>> reporter: ann, good morning. police are working to retrace josh powell's steps in the days leading up to the fire. they say when a social worker brought his kids here he certainly had a plan -- to kill his children. the house went up in flames moments after powell's two young sons arrived with a social worker for their scheduled visit. a neighbor captured the aftermath in this home video.
>>oh, my god.
>> reporter: firefighters put out the blaze but had no chance to save 7-year-old charlie and 5-year-old braden, the powells' young boys.
>>we believe this was intentionally planned. it looks like there was accelerants used.

>> reporter: police say powell opened the front door, let the boys inside and blocked the social worker from entering, slamming the door in her face. she called the supervisor, said she smelled gas in the home. moments later an intense, fast-burning fire raged.
>>it was definitely a gas boom.
>> reporter: neighbors didn't know josh powell was living here.
>>why couldn't he just do that to himself, you know? why would he have to take those babies with him?
>> reporter: in september powell lost custody of his sons a month after arrest of his father steven on charges of voyeurism and child pornography. in steven's home they also found illicit pictures of susan cox powell, photos taken years earlier without her knowledge.
>>i am a fit and qualified father. i have had nothing to do with any kind of illegal pornography.
>> reporter: despite powell's emotional appeal to a judge the boys were placed in the care of his missing wife's parents -- chuck and judy cox. too distraught to be interviewed sunday in a statement they said words cannot adequately express the grief. first susan and now charlie and braden. josh powell always denied any involvement in his wife's disappearance. utah police called him a person of interest but never charged him with a crime. susan cox powell vanished in december 2009, the same night josh told police he took his boys on a late night camping trip in freezing temperatures. her body has never been found.
>>i could never hurt susan or my sons.
>> reporter: according to police, powell did exactly that, killing his children -- two innocent boys whose short lives had already been filled with incredible loss.
>>this was something evil. this was not a tragedy. this was a horrible murder of two little kids.
>> reporter: and police say this murder-suicide was certainly well planned out. they say they found a hatchet on the scene, that it appeared josh powell injured his boys first before they ultimately died of smoke inhalation. they say they found ten gallons of gasoline in the home used to fuel the fire and powell sent out several e-mails, not only to family members but to a pastor to take care of some loose ends he apparently had left behind. ann?

List of Pardons Included Many Tied to Power

2012-01-27T21:46:00.001-05:00

The New York Times

January 27, 2012

By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON and STEPHANIE SAUL

James Patterson For The New York Times

Wayne Harris, and his bulldog, Hotty Toddy,

outside of Harris' service station on Main Street

in Calhoun City in January. Mr. Harris who served

time on a marijuana conviction was recently pardoned

by outgoing Governor Haley Barbour.

JACKSON, Miss. — On a Saturday night in October 1995, a blue Toyota came hurtling down the wrong side of a county road in North Mississippi and crashed head-on into a pickup truck. Scotty Plunk, the driver of the truck, was killed. The driver of the Toyota, 19-year-old Joel Vann, had been drinking so much that he did not remember the accident.

Mr. Vann pleaded guilty to “D.U.I.-death,” and in lieu of jail attended a residential treatment program. This month he was one of 198 people pardoned by Mississippi’s governor, Haley Barbour, as he left office.

It is unclear what persuaded the governor to pardon Mr. Vann; his clemency application contains glowing references and a case study. But the letter to the governor from Mr. Vann’s father, the brother-in-law of a former Republican state committee member and contributor to Mr. Barbour, had a familiar tone.

“All is well in Corinth, and as you may know, we have two new Republican aldermen,” the letter said. It traced Mr. Vann’s path from rehabilitation through college, marriage and fatherhood before asking for “your consideration to grant Joel a pardon at the most appropriate time.”

Amy Plunk, meanwhile, said that her family had never recovered from her brother’s death. Of the mercy shown Mr. Vann, she added: “The Vanns are real prominent in the Corinth community. That’s what I suspect.”

In the furor over Mr. Barbour’s pardons — he issued 10 times as many as his four predecessors combined — beneficiaries like Mr. Vann have been overshadowed by others with higher profiles. Among them were four murderers who worked at the Governor’s Mansion and Brett Favre’s brother, who killed a friend in a drunken-driving accident.

A close look at some of the clemency applications of the nearly 200 others who were pardoned reveals that a significant share contained appeals from members of prominent Mississippi families, major Republican donors or others from the higher social strata of Mississippi life.

The governor erased records or suspended the sentences of at least 10 felons who had been students at the University of Mississippi or Mississippi State when they were arrested, including at least three who killed people while driving drunk and several others charged with selling cocaine, ecstasy and other drugs. Another pardon went to the grandson of a couple who once lived near Mr. Barbour’s family in his hometown, Yazoo City.

One beneficiary, Burton Waldon, killed an 8-month-old boy in an alcohol-induced crash in 2001. Mr. Waldon, a high school senior at the time, pleaded guilty and received a suspended sentence. He is a member of the prominent Hill Brothers Construction Company family, big-money political donors who give mostly to Republicans, including Mr. Barbour. An uncle of Mr. Waldon, Kenneth W. Hill Sr., sought and received a pardon from President George W. Bush in 2006, erasing a federal income tax conviction.

Mr. Barbour declined to comment on the pardons, but a spokeswoman said that every application had been treated alike. “If you were poor or rich, you were told to go through the parole board process,” said the spokeswoman, Laura Hipp.

Ms. Hipp said that in roughly 95 percent of the cases, the governor went along with the majority recommendation of the five-member parole board he had appointed to review the requests. In some cases, the governor granted pardons that the board unanimously opposed. Grants of clemency are solely at the governor’s discretion, and he is not obligated to give his reasoning.

Many of those pardoned appear to have no special connections. Others with political ties made persuasive cases that they had led chastened lives and earned a second chance. Applications contained letters from pastors, teachers and counselors attesting to genuine redemption.

Yet in a state with the highest poverty rate in the nation, where nearly 70 percent of convicts are black, official redemption appears to have been attained disproportionately by white people and the well connected.

In some of the appeals for clemency, personal connections to Mr. Barbour were unabashedly made. “Maggi and I wanted to begin by thanking you and Marsha for a lovely and special lunch at the Mansion last Tuesday,” began a letter to the governor by a family friend of Doug Hindman, one pardon applicant. “It was very interesting to see the historical quilt upstairs.”

Mr. Hindman, the son of a cardiologist from Jackson, was arrested in 2006 after exchanging hundreds of sexually explicit messages with an undercover officer posing as an under-age girl.

The historical inequities in Mississippi justice have been chronicled by journalists and fictionalized by novelists from Faulkner to Grisham. Even today, prison terms for the same crime can vary significantly from one part of the state to another.

Mississippi’s pardon system, like those in other states, rewards applicants who have both the financial means and the connections to seek reprieves aggressively. According to the parole board, the board reviewed slightly more than 500 pardon applications during Mr. Barbour’s two terms in office, and he granted some form of clemency more than 40 percent of the time.

Many of the applications contain the type of recommendations that a poor person could be hard-pressed to collect: character references from state legislators or local elected officials.

In impoverished Tallahatchie County, Kenneth Byars provides a case in point. He is serving 33 years in prison for growing eight pounds of marijuana. Mr. Byars has been in custody for 14 years, and his earliest possible release date is 2018.

He filed for a pardon a decade ago, but said he never received a reply. The cost — nearly $1,000 and paid by his mother — kept him from reapplying this time. “My momma doesn’t get nothing but a little Social Security check,” Mr. Byars said. “I wasn’t going to put that on her again.”

Sheriff William Brewer of Tallahatchie County, who supports Mr. Byars’s release, said that Mr. Byars lacked an advocate.

The pardon application itself is simple, according to Hiram Eastland Jr., a lawyer in Greenwood, Miss., who said that everyone had access to the system. Even so, Mr. Eastland said that it was preferable to have a lawyer.

Mr. Eastland, a cousin of James O. Eastland, the powerful Democrat who served as a United States senator for 36 years until his retirement in 1978, handled three petitions, including that of Wayne Harris, a convenience store owner from Calhoun City who said he had difficulty coming up with the money to pay Mr. Eastland’s fee, which he said was $10,000. Like Mr. Byars, Mr. Harris was sentenced on a marijuana charge. Mr. Harris received letters from both the sheriff-elect and the mayor, and his petition proved successful.

Mr. Eastland’s two other clients — both serving time on murder charges — did not receive pardons, a fact that Mr. Eastland said proved that Mr. Barbour was not playing favorites.

“I know his heart,” Mr. Eastland said. “He’s really sincere when he says people deserve second chances. He granted one and denied two, as close as we are.”

In other cases, applicants relied on someone who had the connections they lacked. The file of one man, who had participated in the gang rape of a 17-year-old in 1976 , included a reference letter from his employer, a large donor to Mr. Barbour and other Republicans.

The applicant received a pardon, as did two young men who robbed a grocery store at gunpoint in 1997. While their post-prison lives appear to be commendable — one is studying for a degree in mechanical engineering at Ole Miss — their petition was reinforced by a letter from Bob Dunlap, a major donor to the Republican Party.

“Please tell Uncle Haley that one of my few talents is my ability to judge people,” read the letter on their behalf, sent to one of Mr. Barbour’s nephews at his lobbying firm in Jackson.

The victims of the crimes are unmoved by these interventions.

“As for my family,” wrote one woman in a hand-written letter to the parole board, “we as a family say no forgiveness.”

She was referring to Eldridge Bonds, known as Bubba, who in 2003 pleaded no contest to forcible sexual battery of her 14-year-old daughter in the field house of South Panola High School, where he was a popular assistant coach.

Mr. Bonds, who said in an interview that he regretted agreeing to the plea deal, included in his clemency application dozens of letters praising his character. Some were from family friends, others from former colleagues at South Panola and one, dated 2003, from the dean of the University of Mississippi’s School of Education, who said “anybody who knows Bubba does not believe that he would have ever done what the student said he did.”

Mr. Bonds pointed out in his own letter that he was the nephew of “one of the largest cotton farmers in Mississippi,” Don Waller, who also wrote a letter on his behalf. Mr. Waller is the brother of William L. Waller, a former governor who died in November.

John Champion, the district attorney, said that knowing Mr. Bonds’s family, “I suspected all along that they were going to attempt to get him a pardon.” He added, “I know that he has political connections.”

The parole board voted unanimously against his pardon, but Mr. Bonds was granted one nonetheless. “She don’t want to talk about it,” said the father of the girl at the center of the case.

Of all the pardons issued by Mr. Barbour, the case involving Harry R. Bostick, first disclosed by a blogger in Oxford, Miss., Tom Freeland, may be the most confounding.

Mr. Bostick, a former criminal investigator for the I.R.S., was sentenced in May 2010 for his third drunken driving offense — a felony — and ordered into treatment.

Several former government lawyers and law enforcement officers who worked with him on federal tax prosecutions submitted letters on his behalf. In one, a former United States attorney, Jim Greenlee, argued that Mr. Bostick had reversed his destructive course of conduct. “He now fits the criteria and meets the human factors that make his pardon a wise decision,” Mr. Greenlee wrote.

In October, Mr. Bostick, 55, was arrested again for drunken driving, this time in an accident that left an 18-year-old waitress dead. The waitress, Charity Smith, was working at Cracker Barrel to save money for college. On a Friday night, her Buick collided with Mr. Bostick’s truck.

Mr. Bostick was charged with his fourth D.U.I. On Jan. 10, he was pardoned for his prior felony D.U.I. by Mr. Barbour.

“What Haley Barbour has done has just killed us,” said Mary Ruth Ellis, 83, a neighbor and surrogate grandmother to Ms. Smith, a painter and writer. “Why was that man on the road? This is the failure of our law enforcement, in my opinion.”

Alain Delaquérière and Lisa Schwartz contributed research.

My Personal Position on Former Governor Haley Barbour, Pardons and The Scott Sisters

2012-01-13T18:06:00.000-05:00

On March 2011 the Associated Press reported that Mississippi Gov Haley Barbour told The Associated Press on Thursday he doesn't plan to pardon two sisters he released from prison earlier this year on the condition that one donates a kidney to the other.

Barbour, a potential 2012 presidential candidate, was asked what he'll say to a pardon request that the attorney for Jamie and Gladys Scott plans to file Friday.

"I wouldn't hold my breath," Barbour responded.

Asked to elaborate on the possibility of a pardon, Barbour told the AP: "Tell `em don't save any space in the newspaper for that to be announced." Click below for entire story -

"Tell `em don't save any space in the newspaper for that to be announced."

Governor ' Haley Barbour Of Mississippi Calls Himself A Big Fat Red Neck

With all of this being said - I'm not understanding why anyone would have assumed that Governor Barbour would pardon the sisters. Additionally, I cannot understand why any legal professional would have encouraged their hopes. It saddens me to constantly hear that Gladys cried when she learned that they did not make the list.

It's ludicrous - Barbour said time and time again that he would NOT grant The Scott Sisters A Pardon. The former governor is a Republican for God's sake - he means what he says. I totally understand the sister's personal feelings and I hold deep sympathy for the situation, however; they have been bamboozled.

Mrs. Evelyn Rasco - the mother of Jamie and Gladys Scott contacted me for assistance in gaining freedom for her daughters. Mrs. Rasco and I created a global movement for the sisters. In other words we gained support from around the world.

In 2011, after years of working on the case, a group of prominent attorneys came forth to take their cases back to court for an exoneration. This group did not include the attorney representing them currently and the sisters opted NOT to seek this path. They seemed very assured and very reassured that they would receive a pardon.

The results unfortunately, are an indefinite suspension which is Life On Parole, Parole for Life or Paper Until They Die.

While on parole for life - fees must be paid every month. They are at VERY HIGH RISK of being thrown back into the penitentiary. One has to stop and wonder how they will survive with felonious criminal records? What employers hire felons during these oppressed economic times? Very few employers are hiring non felons. Furthermore; the sisters are Innocent!!!

At this juncture a team of well known, seasoned attorneys with experience in pardons - Hollywood actors and actresses - may gain the attention that is needed for a Pardon Based On Innocence. If this team is assembled now - there may be success in 8 years. A Pardon Based on Innocence is Very different from a full pardon. A full pardon as currently requested, claims guilt. The sisters are innocent.

The New Governor Phil Bryant has stated the following

Bryant's spokesman Mick Bullock said in an email that, "Governor Bryant has no intentions to pardon anyone." Click the link below for the entire story.

Governor Phil Bryant has no intentions to pardon anyone

Copyright © 2012 Nancy Lockhart

From Black Agenda Report - What to Do When Your AZZ Gets Locked Up: A Review

2012-01-05T13:31:00.000-05:00

What to Do When Your AZZ Gets Locked Up: A Review

Wed, 01/04/2012 - 01:42 — The G-Man

by The G-ManWith the U.S. in its fifth decade of mass Black incarceration, and preventive detention for American citizens now codified into law, it’s way past time for every person of color or political dissident to get prepared to “meet The Man.” A crusading legal analyst and activist has written a book that could serve as a first line of defense. Her advice: “Never feel that you can negotiate with the police. Keep your mouth shut!”

What to Do When Your AZZ Gets Locked Up: A Reviewby the G-ManThis article originally appeared in From The G Man.“I am an advocate for lowering the bar on mass incarceration and raising the bar on legal education in our communities.”

An exclusive interview by The G-ManNancy Lockhart, M.J., is a non-attorney legal analyst with a sincere passion for researching and publicizing grave issues of injustice and wrongful convictions. Lockhart is most notably recognized for her work in the Scott Sisters case. Her relentless petitioning and long-term involvement in the controversial case played a major role in having Gladys and Jamie Scott released.Lockhart created and spearheaded a grass-roots campaign along with Evelyn Rasco, the mother of the Scott sisters, in her quest for justice. The movement became a viral, global phenomenon via social networking and field organizing -- combining creative planning with online and off-line strategies.

Additionally, Lockhart launched the Compassionate Medical Release petition on behalf of Patricia Wright and others, as well as assisted in negotiating structured plea bargains. Wright, who was incarcerated in 1998 after being convicted of killing her husband, with no evidence or motive linking her to the crime, was diagnosed with fourth-stage terminal cancer while serving her sentence.

Lockhart holds a Masters of Jurisprudence from Loyola University Chicago School of Law. While attending, she supported herself by working as a consultant for the RainbowPUSH Coalition. It was at PUSH that she initially began championing the cause of the Scott Sisters.Upon graduating from the university and leaving PUSH, Lockhart continued to seek justice on behalf of the Scott Sisters. Her efforts proved successful when Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour suspended their life sentence with the stipulation that Gladys, then 36, give Jamie, who was 38, one of her kidneys. The sisters were released in January of 2011.

From The G-Man recently conducted an exclusive interview with Lockhart to discuss her new book "Locked Up - What to Do When Your AZZ Gets Locked Up", a book that she believes will be crucially important to every American in the future.

G-Man:You were instrumental in the Scott Sisters case. Could you elaborate on why you decided to become a legal advocate for the sisters and their family?

Lockhart: Allow me to state this, emphatically. Advocating for the Scott Sisters was simply the right thing to do. I championed their cause because no one else had done so and apparently, no one else would. Mrs. Rasco – the mother of The Scott Sisters – was actually my first contact with the case. She fought tirelessly for 11 years (at that time) and after researching everything that she shared with me, I found that she told the truth about the trumped up charges. I realized that she was poor financially but, very rich in spirit and determination. Mrs. Rasco cared for their children when she could have easily placed them in foster care, all of which motivated me to research the case of her daughters.

G-Man: Did the case, ultimately, play a role in your decision to write the book?

Lockhart: Ultimately, the case did play a large role in my decision to write the book. I consistently receive numerous requests from individuals nationwide who unfortunately have criminal, legal issues. I was inspired by those numerous requests.

G-Man: What was the most difficult aspect of writing "Locked Up"?

Lockhart: The most difficult aspect of writing this volume was narrowing the information. What To Do When Your AZZ Gets Locked Up is the first in a Locked Up series. I will continue to address those issues affecting poor people, and minorities. Justice is expensive – I am an advocate for lowering the bar on mass incarceration and raising the bar on legal education in our communities. With the appropriate education, negative statistics decrease.

G-Man: Without giving too much away, can you discuss one thing people should do immediately if they're jailed?

Lockhart: Never feel that you can negotiate with the police. Keep your mouth shut! Talk only when your lawyer is present. This starts with being arrested and when jailed.

G-Man: Having spent many years as a legal analyst, what have you found to be the most disturbing and shocking element of the court system?

Lockhart: One case in particular. A young man (juvenile) was offered a plea deal to avoid a life sentence. No one was murdered. The bargain was 125 years. He is currently incarcerated. The shocking and disturbing elements for me currently are the egregious plea deals and excessive sentences.

G-Man: Do you address this issue in your book?

Lockhart: This issue is addressed, but will be elaborated on fully in the third volume of the series.

G-Man: To date, what experience or case would you cite as an absolute travesty of justice and why?

Lockhart: The Troy Davis case. There was absolutely too much doubt in Troy's case to murder him.

G-Man: Based on your knowledge and observations, regarding the rate of incarceration, do Black males or Black females face the greatest danger?

Lockhart: I believe that Black males face the greatest danger of mass incarceration although; there is a steady increase in Black women and both males and females of Hispanic decent.

G-Man: As you may be well aware, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide if juveniles should be prosecuted as adults. What is your view, particularly where heinous acts are concerned?

Lockhart: I believe that most juveniles (and adults) can be rehabilitated. On the other hand, I do not believe that proper rehabilitation exists in our country.

G-Man: The U.S. House of Representatives just passed a bill, S. 1867, which grants the president and U.S. military complete authority to arrest and indefinitely detain anyone suspected of being a terrorist or having links to terrorist organizations, including U.S. citizens, without due process. If this bill is signed into law by President Obama, would the information in your book still be applicable under the new law?

Lockhart: The information in the Locked Up series will be needed more than ever to assist in preventing wrongful convictions.

Sign Petition For Patricia Spottedcrow

2012-01-02T11:35:00.001-05:00

Change.org|Start an Online Petition »

A Very Sad And Foolish Death - One Of The Many Reasons Our Youth Should Read Locked Up - What To Do When Your AZZ Get's Locked Up By Nancy Lockhart

2011-12-20T09:57:00.010-05:00

Younger Brother Eats Cocaine In Police Car So That Older Brother Wouldn't Have To Take The Charge And Go To Prison

Video Credits - Channel 4 Charleston, South Carolina

Grassroots Organizing In The Trenches: From The G-Man: "Locked Up" The Book

2011-12-16T00:29:00.000-05:00

Grassroots Organizing In The Trenches: From The G-Man: "Locked Up" The Book

From The G-Man: "Locked Up" The Book

2011-12-16T00:02:00.005-05:00

Thursday, December 15, 2011
'Locked Up': The Book Every American Must Read

Lockhart: "The Information in the Book is Needed More Than Ever to Assist in Preventing Wrongful Convictions"

A FROM THE G-MAN EXCLUSIVE

Nancy Lockhart, M.J., is a non-attorney legal analyst with a sincere passion for researching and publicizing grave issues of injustice and wrongful convictions. Lockhart is most notably recognized for her work in the Scott Sisters case. Her relentless petitioning and long-term involvement in the controversial case played a major role in having Gladys and Jamie Scott released.
Lockhart created and spearheaded a grass-roots campaign along with Evelyn Rasco, the mother of the Scott sisters, in her quest for justice. The movement became a viral, global phenomenon via social networking and field organizing -- combining creative planning with online and off-line strategies.

Additionally, Lockhart launched the Compassionate Medical Release petition on behalf of Patricia Wright and others, as well as assisted in negotiating structured plea bargains. Wright, who was incarcerated in 1998 after being convicted of killing her husband, with no evidence or motive linking her to the crime, was diagnosed with fourth-stage terminal cancer while serving her sentence.

Lockhart holds a Masters of Jurisprudence from Loyola University Chicago School of Law. While attending, she supported herself by working as a consultant for the RainbowPUSH Coalition. It was at PUSH that she initially began championing the cause of the Scott Sisters.

Upon graduating from the university and leaving PUSH, Lockhart continued to seek justice on behalf of the Scott Sisters. Her efforts proved successful when Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour suspended their life sentence with the stipulation that Gladys, then 36, give Jamie, who was 38, one of her kidneys. The sisters were released in January of 2011.
From The G-Man recently conducted an exclusive interview with Lockhart to discuss her new book "Locked Up - What to Do When Your AZZ Gets Locked Up", a book that she believes will be crucially important to every American in the future.

G-Man: You were instrumental in the Scott Sisters case. Could you elaborate on why you decided to become a legal advocate for the sisters and their family?
Lockhart: Allow me to state this, emphatically. Advocating for the Scott Sisters was simply the right thing to do. I championed their cause because no one else had done so and apparently, no one else would. Mrs. Rasco - the mother of The Scott Sisters - was actually my first contact with the case. She fought tirelessly for 11 years (at that time) and after researching everything that she shared with me, I found that she told the truth about the trumped up charges. I realized that she was poor financially but, very rich in spirit and determination. Mrs. Rasco cared for their children when she could have easily placed them in foster care, all of which motivated me to research the case of her daughters.

G-Man: Did the case, ultimately, play a role in your decision to write the book?

Lockhart: Ultimately, the case did play a large role in my decision to write the book. I consistently receive numerous requests from individuals nationwide who unfortunately have criminal, legal issues. I was inspired by those numerous requests.

Sarah Kruzan - Please Sign

2011-12-03T00:15:00.000-05:00

Change.org|Start an Online Petition »

Christine Persaud

2011-12-01T19:44:00.001-05:00

Show your support and attend the hearing of Christine Persuad on December 16th at 9am. 271 Cadman Plaza East. Brooklyn NY 11201, Judge Elizabeth Stong, 3rd Floor.

Persaud needs to have her day in court. She won the appeal. The court of appeals agrees that Persaud should have her day in court but the trustee does not.
The trustee fraudulently entered Liberty Home Care on November 30th 2011 and demanded the account password to see the account balance.

Black Star News States that - Persaud points to the history of the case and contends there is no need to even place the businesses, Caring Home Care and Liberty Care under the care of a Trustee. Caring Home Care currently generates about $35 million in revenue, Persaud, who founded the business, contends.

On February 8 this year, an intruder entered Persaud's residential building and kicked on her door in an apparent bid, she says, to harm her or intimidate her. Persaud believes the invasion, caught on the building's security camera is connected to her case and describes the person as a possible "hitman." She reported the matter to police. She has offered a $5,000 reward for information about the intruder.
http://www.blackstarnews.com/news/135/ARTICLE/7802/2011-11-21.html

Please Attend New York Hearing November 28th, 2011

2011-11-27T18:12:00.002-05:00

Attention New York: Please Attend the hearing of Christine Persaud and show your support.
The case will be heard at 9AM at 360 Adams Street, in Brooklyn, on the 3rd floor before Elizabeth S. Stong, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of New York. "On this day the judge will make a decision whether to send the case to a lower court or to have a Trustee run the business," says the business woman, Christine Persaud. "The best thing would be for the judge to return the business to me."

Listen to internet radio with TheNancyLockhartShow on Blog Talk Radio

Dying Woman's Family Fights To Free Her From Prison

2011-11-01T13:39:00.006-04:00

Dying woman's family fights to free her from prison
By Charlene Muhammad -National Correspondent- | Last updated: Nov 1, 2011 - 12:47:54 PM

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (FinalCall.com) - The family of a dying woman serving her 14th year of a life without the possibility of parole sentence continues its struggle to free her, hoping for clemency by Gov. Jerry Brown or an appeals court decision.

The case is an example of how the state's Three Strikes law fails defendants and the legally blind woman never received a fair hearing, according to family and supporters.

Patricia Wright has terminal cancer. Her family's efforts, support from national and state advocates, and recommendations for release by the prison warden and medical director have not resulted in release from the Central California Women's Facility. She was jailed on a felony conviction for murder and had two prior felony theft convictions. She has maintained her innocence.

The murder conviction was the result of prosecution for the death of her husband, and makes her ineligible for medical release. The family says they were told the three felonies prohibit her release on humanitarian grounds.

Two felony charges were lodged against her after her then seven-year-old son walked out of a model home with two toys. That incident resulted in two felony theft convictions—one for each of the cheap toys, said her sister.

A family torn apart

“It's hard for me to see my sister when I know what she used to look like. She tries to laugh but when I see her, she's real weak and in a wheelchair. She asks me when I talk to her every day, ‘What has the governor said, now?'” stated Arletta Wright, a staunch advocate for her sister.

Arletta Wright says her sister was railroaded and failed by the criminal justice system. The governor says he would need recommendations from state high court justices to grant clemency, says the family spokesperson. The fight to free Patricia Wright, however, requires a more aggressive defense but the family can't afford a private attorney.Still their hope lies in an appeal at the Ninth Circuit Court level.

“What comes to mind when I think about it is this woman is ravaged by cancer.It's costing the prison a lot of money, and there are grounds for granting the release,” said Geri Silva, executive director of Families to Amend California's Three Strikes Law in Los Angeles.

The Innocence Project has taken on Patricia's case and is investigating whether she was wrongly convicted. Her plight has garnered support from Dr. Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, executive director of the Association In Defense of the Wrongfully Convicted; Alice Huffman, president of the California State Conference of the NAACP; Michelle Alexander, author and head of NAACP Legal Redress with the Madera, Calif. NAACP; and Pastor Sherman Mitchell of the Victorville, Calif. Branch of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

The advocacy groups believe Patricia Wright's constitutional and civil rights were violated.

All of the organizations have either written letters in support of her appeal or asked the Innocence Project to investigate the case.

Nancy Lockhart, activist and author of “A Guide to Grassroots Organizing in Support of the Wrongfully Convicted,” posted a petition to free Ms. Wright on change.org, an online advocacy platform. She usually does not get involved in cases without thoroughly researching them herself, but the Innocence Project's involvement prompted her support.

“What really caught my attention was that Patricia was in stage four cancer. I felt she was innocent of the charge of murder and I felt there was a greater urgency to have her released so she could die at home with her family or get better medical treatment,” Ms. Lockhart said.

Prosecutors have argued Patricia Wright received a fair trial, was convicted, and should remain in prison.

“I would prefer, instead of Gov. Brown giving us a cold shoulder and being evasive, that he comes out and tells us, ‘I don't want to do it,' ” Arletta Wright told The Final Call.

On Oct. 11, Riverside County Judge Becky Dugan denied a motion to reduce the theft convictions to misdemeanors, which would have made way for a medical pardon.

“My sister is dying of breast cancer.She has four tumors in her brain. She just wants to come home and die in peace with her children and grand kids,” pled an emotional Arletta Wright, before Judge Dugan ruled.

“In May 2010, doctors gave Patricia six months to live but thank God she has beaten the odds. They're saying any day now, she could be gone. They've given up on her but I can't think that way about my sister,” Arletta Wright told The Final Call.

The setbacks in Judge Dugan's ruling and Gov. Brown's position on clemency disappointed but have not deterred those who believe in Patricia Wright's innocence.

This ordeal is so outrageous that the truth must come out, Arletta Wright said.

‘Innocent people get convicted'

Judge Dugan said she was compelled to deny the release request because of multiple probation violations.

But according to Arletta Wright, the violations were actually police calls regarding a family dispute.

“They were never referred to the D.A.'s office. She never went to trial. She never was tried by a jury or convicted. As far as they went was to the police station as a report,” she said.

In a back and forth debate in open court, Ms. Silva shouted to Judge Dugan, from her seat in the last row of the public pews, “The New York Innocence Project took on Ms. Wright's case ... Innocent people get convicted, you know!”

“I'm sure you believe that ... but I have to assume these convictions are accurate,” Judge Dugan replied.

Arletta Wright told The Final Call she is awaiting documents from the Riverside District Attorney's Office she says will prove no charges for any such violations were ever filed.

“The D.A. only brought those incidents up as charges to make Patricia look bad and to feed the judge's denial of our request. Judge Dugan said herself that if it wasn't for those other charges, she would have considered dismissing it. It's wrong what they're doing to my sister,” Arletta Wright added.

Felony convictions for children's toys?

The two cases against Patricia Wright are inextricably linked and have left her dying alone in prison.

She received two felonies after pleading guilty to being involved in 2nd degree burglary at an open house in Moreno Valley in 1989. She received a third felony conviction in 1999 on conspiracy to murder her then-husband, Willie Scott.

According to her sister, Patricia Wright pled to the thefts only because the attorney said she would certainly face prison time if she went to trial.“But if she pled to misdemeanors, she could go back later, have them expunged and be at home with her children,” explained Arletta Wright.

The family insists the misdemeanor convictions were somehow changed to felonies after the fact.

Alfey, her 29-year-old son, was seven at the time of the open house. He testified that he took the toys and walked out without telling his mother.“It's been hard growing up without my mom and celebrating Mother's Day. I don't remember the last time I've celebrated Mother's Day and it's affected growing up as a man, dealing with relationships.It's taken a toll on me,” he said.

He never dreamed putting the toys in his pocket and playing in the back seat of a car could land his mother in prison.

Ms. Silva said the case is convoluted and while she is not condoning that toys were taken, she argues it wasn't theft.

Alfey did what children often do, pick things up that don't belong to them, she said.

It was a model home, not a residence; he was seven, and the toys were worth 99 cents, Ms. Silva adds.

“This is about Moreno Valley, an area which at that time was predominantly White, a Black woman, and her Black child, who were already being followed by the Caucasian realtor while they were inside the home,” Ms. Silva continued.

As for the murder, no physical or forensic evidence links Patricia Wright to the crime, according to her family, but police reopened the cold case and charged her 17 years afterward based on what her brother calls a forced, false statement, and written accounts from Patricia Wright's sister-in-law, who has since said she lied.

Larry Wright told The Final Call he was in a Connecticut prison at the time Los Angeles police detectives questioned him about his sister's case. It was his first time being incarcerated and he wanted out so when they told him that if he cooperated he would be released, he agreed.

Larry Wright said he never intended to testify against his sister and just wanted to get to L.A.

Once in L.A., he recanted his statement, and when police realized he wouldn't cooperate, Larry Wright said they kept him in a padded holding cell with no windows for 17 days. “They fed me the same thing, a hard burrito, twice a day, every day at Parker Center and they interrogated me and told me to kill myself ... When taking (recording) my testimony, they would cut the tape off and rehearse what they wanted me to say,” he continued.

Mr. Wright and Janet Carcelin, the sister-in-law, recanted their stories, saying the taped statements were coerced by police. The jury still convicted Patricia Wright of murder. “The crime that was committed was that in America if you're Black, laws apply very differently to you and you're going to be found guilty even if there wasn't a crime,” Ms. Silva said.

(Stay Granted) - Continue To Sign

2011-10-05T22:01:00.005-04:00

Change.org|Start an Online Petition »

Judge Mathis Weighs in on the execution of Troy Davis

2011-09-25T18:47:00.002-04:00

Troy Davis Painting By Chaz Guest

2011-09-13T13:50:00.006-04:00

Troy Davis Painting By Chaz Guest

Bobby Yates - Paris Texas

2011-03-17T23:27:00.004-04:00

Please Grant Compassionate Medical Release For Patricia Wright

2011-02-09T15:37:00.000-05:00

Petitions by Change.org|Start a Petition »

Nancy Lockhart Interview

2011-01-12T18:11:00.001-05:00

Tony Papa and Attorney Jaribu Hill - The Scott Sisters

2011-01-05T17:33:00.000-05:00

THE SCOTT SISTERS ~ JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL CNN NEWS

2010-03-08T09:42:00.000-05:00

Assisting Your Friends or Loved Ones With A Wrongful Conviction

2009-08-04T15:28:00.003-04:00

America turns its head to those who are incarcerated, especially those considered as brutal and thoughtless. The average American believes that the justice system is perfect and would never incarcerate those who are innocent. This line of logic is grossly inconsistent with reality, as thousands of formerly incarcerated inmates have been freed by DNA-evidence only. Our justice system is failing day by day, minute by minute. One wrongful conviction is one-too-many, and numbers are escalating well into the tens of thousands. Adequate legal representation is available to those who are able to pay; those who cannot, however, suffer. Consequently, inadequate legal representation mostly leads to an inevitable unjust verdict. ~ Excerpt ~ The Poor Are Enslaved In America's Prisons as published in Dissident Voice - By Nancy Lockhart, M.J.

Has your Loved One been convicted of a crime that he/she is not guilty of?
Snitch/Informants, Witness Coercion, Inadequate Lawyers, Police Misconduct are all a few causes of guilty verdicts in wrongful convictions.
Have you called and written letters until you've run out of places to request assistance?
Social Justice Agencies, News Papers, Membership Organizations and Mainstream Media, have probably not responded to your requests for assistance.
Have you applied to Innocence Projects for Assistance?
Innocence projects are overwhelmed with applications from inmates and many lack adequate funding. Oftentimes, DNA evidence is not available in wrongful convictions and applications are denied for that reason.

If you have answered yes, to one or more of the above questions, organizing in support of your wrongfully convicted friend or loved one is a MUST!

Contact: (641) 715-3900 Extension:49277
http://www.nancylockhart.net