Deliberations May Begin Monday In Cheshire Invasion Trial

Jury begins deliberations in Conn. home invasion killings
N EW HAVEN, Conn. — A Connecticut jury has completed its first day of deliberations in the trial of a man charged with killing a woman and her two daughters in a 2007 Home Invasion. The jury in New Haven Superior Court met for about two hours this afternoon after receiving instructions from the judge. The panel will return Tuesday to continue deliberations. Steven Hayes faces 17 charges including capital felony, Murder and Sexual Assault in connection with the deaths of Jennifer...

Jury begins deliberation in Connecticut home invasion case
Jurors began deliberations Monday in the trial of Steven Hayes, the man accused of killing three members of a Connecticut family in a 2007 Home Invasion. Hayes, 47, who has pleaded Not Guilty, is on trial in New Haven, Connecticut, for the Murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters. The killings took place in the New Haven suburb of Cheshire early July 23, 2007. The Home of William Petit, his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and two daughters was invaded in the middle of the night by...

Conn. prison inmates have choice of violent books
Inmates in Connecticut Prisons have access to true crime books and works of fiction that depict Murder and graphic violence, with no apparent restrictions based on a reader's criminal history, according to a review of the Prison library system by The Associated Press. "In Cold Blood," about a 1959 killing in Kansas, is available in at least two Connecticut Prisons, including one where a man on trial for a similar 2007 Home Invasion in Cheshire had served time. Prisons spokesman Brian Garnett...

OUTRAGEOUS! "15-year-old raped in court: Rapist gets probation, teen gets 12 months"..
"In 2005, 15-year-old Ashley was facing trial in Manhattan Family Court for lying to police after she told officers she didn't know who had assaulted her on the way to school. As she waited in the Court's holding area for her Court appearance, juvenile counselor Tony "Tyson" Simmons came up to the handcuffed girl, took her in an elevator to the building's basement, and raped her. Moments later, Ashley -- who's withholding her last name for fear of reprisal -- was in the courtroom being sentenced...

15-year-old raped in court: Rapist gets probation, teen gets 12 months
"This was an egregious breach of the public's trust," Cy Vance Jr. said, as quoted at DNAInfo . He called Simmons' sentence -- the lightest possible under New York law -- "outrageously lenient." Tony Simmons was a juvenile counselor with New York City's Department of Juvenile Justice for 16 years before he was brought up on multiple sex assault charges in 2008. He pleaded guilty to raping Ashley, as well as raping a 16-year-old in a pantry, and assaulting a 15-year-old in a waiting area....

Illinois death penalty gains traction as Bill Brady surges, voters approve
(Chicago, IL) October 4, 2010 . With a growing likelihood that Illinois GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Bill Brady , a death penalty proponent who favors lifting the existing Moratorium, will win the November General Election over rival Governor Pat Quinn and that a recent poll shows that a majority of Illinois voters favor of maintaining Capital Punishment, the issue has been thrust into the electoral scrum. Jeremy Schroeder , Executive Director of the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the...

North Dakota U.S. Attorney Recused from Death Penalty Case
The new U.S. Attorney for North Dakota will not handle appeals arising out of a high-profile federal death penalty case in his district, the Associated Press reported . Timothy Purdon will recuse himself from the appeals of convicted murdered Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. because of the involvement of his former Law Firm, Vogel Law Firm , in the case. Rodriguez was convicted in 2006 of the Murder of University of North Dakota Student Dru Sjodin . He was sentenced to death — the first death...

54% in Illinois Say No To Abolishing Death Penalty
Most Illinois Voters (54%) are against abolishing the death penalty in their state, according to a new Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Voters. One-in-three Illinois Voters (32%) is in favor of abolishing the death penalty, however. Another 15% are Undecided. On the national level, 62% of Americans favor the death penalty , while 26% are opposed to it. In 2000, then-Governor George Ryan issued a Moratorium on executions in Illinois to prevent the possibility of innocent...

Capital Punishment: The One Vote Justice Stevens Would Have Changed
Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images Justice Stevens says that his vote to uphold Capital Punishment in 1976, which overthrew a four-year "de facto Moratorium" on the death penalty, was "the one vote I would change" in his 35-year tenure. "I thought at the time ... that if the universe of defendants eligible for the death penalty is sufficiently narrow so that you can be confident that the defendant really merits that severe Punishment, that the death penalty was appropriate," he says. But as...

Justice Stevens says he only regrets vote to uphold death penalty
Former Supreme Court j ustice John Paul Stevens , who was not on the bench this morning for the new term for the first time in 35 years, says the only vote he would change from all his years on the High Court was the one to uphold the death penalty. In a wide-ranging interview with NPR's Nina Totenberg, the 90-year-old Stevens says he thought at the time that the universe of defendants eligible for Capital Punishment was so narrow that "you can be confident that the death penalty was...

L.A. Times Endorses
Cali paper's ed board backs Dems in Guv, Senate races. Details after the jump. On Brown: Brown is not the ideal Candidate for California, but what he does bring is the reality-based, seen-it-all-before wisdom of a political Veteran, and of the two Candidates before voters in November, The Times endorses him without hesitation. On Boxer: We have differences with Boxer on some matters, including her votes against some Free-trade agreements and her support for the death penalty. We hope her...

AP: Ohio Asks Feds to Investigate Chase Foreclosures
OLDER POST North Dakota U.S. Attorney Recused from Death Penalty Case NEWER POST

Next stop Supreme Court for Rush appeal
AAP Bali Nine drug mule Scott Rush has another anxious wait ahead of him, with the Court documents that will help decide whether he faces the Firing Squad ready to be sent to Indonesia's Supreme Court. During a 10-minute session in Denpasar District Court on Monday, the prosecutor, one of Rush's lawyers and the chief judge all signed the dossier documenting the previous hearings, which will be sent to the Supreme Court for consideration in his final appeal, known as a judicial review. Chief...

Sullivan's defense of presidential assassinations
(updated below) During the Bush-era Torture Debates, I was never able to get past my initial incredulity that we were even having a "debate" over whether the President has the authority to Torture people .  Andrew Sullivan has responded to some of the questions I posed about his defense of Obama's Assassination program, and I realize now that throughout this whole Assassination debate, specific legal and factual issues aside, my overarching reaction is quite...

Lawless Nation - the Executive Branch
We have laws that require investigations, indictments, and trials prior to applying any sentence, let alone the death penalty. Those laws were cast aside, replaced by executive fiat. Who spoke out against this assumption of executive prerogative? Very few . What is the next step? Will Terrorists designated by the executive branch be targeted for execution in what is now referred to as the homeland? This open proclamation of lawlessness by the president was asserted and accepted without...

Justice Stevens: An Open Mind On A Changed Court
The U.S. Supreme Court opens its new term Monday, with new Justice Elena Kagan sitting in the junior justice's seat at the far end of the bench. For the First time in its history, a third of the nine-member Court is female, and all of its justices are either Catholic or Jewish — no Protestants. Also, for the First time in 35 years, Justice John Paul Stevens is not there. The 90-year-old justice retired in June; this summer, he sat for an interview in his chambers. During a lengthy and...

Amendment 62 and Cory Gardner's Assault on Women's Rights
Republican Senate Candidate, Ken Buck, has garnered a great deal of state and national media attention for his unusually rigid view of what rights a woman has to an Abortion.  His contention that even in instances of Rape and Incest, Abortion is still morally repugnant and should not recognized as legally permissible has even been fodder for campaign ads against the Weld County District Attorney. With all of this negative attention focused on Buck, it has gone largely unnoticed that CD-4...

WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Accused of Rape [UPDATED]
Update: Swedish authorities have withdrawn their warrant for Julian Assange, according to the Associated Press . “I don’t think there is reason to suspect that he has committed Rape,” chief prosecutor Eva Finne said in a short statement. —

Annie Gets Her Gun
Well, here's an interesting image and Q and A from the lifestyle section of Marie Claire . If Self-defense expert Paxton Quigley had her way, every woman would be toting a gun around like the latest It bag or iThing. Why? Handguns are the best way for women to protect themselves from violence and Rape, says Quigley, who has taught more than 7,000 women how to pull the trigger. For her new book, Armed & Female: Taking Control, she talked to dozens of female Victims of Violent Crime,...

New Donovan ad skewers Schneiderman for Sharpton 'access' (Updated)
Here is the first ad from GOP Attorney General hopeful Dan Donovan, directly featuring video of rival Eric Schneiderman's pledge to give the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network "an annex" in Albany if he's elected. It also describes Schneiderman as a "radical." It's one of the toughest ads of the cycle so far, and was produced by their General and media consultant, Bradley Tusk. I asked Campaign Manager Marcus Reese about what they're hoping to accomplish with this...

GM genes 'jump species barrier'
A leading zoologist has found evidence that genes used to modify crops can jump the species barrier and cause Bacteria to mutate, prompting fears that GM technology could pose serious health risks. A four-year study by Professor Hans-Hinrich Kaatz, a respected German zoologist, found that the alien gene used to modify oilseed Rape had transferred to Bacteria living inside the guts of honey bees. The research - which has yet to be published and has not been reviewed by fellow scientists - is...

Life for UK man who raped, killed niece
A man obsessed with violent Child Porn and "snuff" videos was yesterday told he will spend the rest of his life behind bars after admitting the horrific Torture, Rape and Murder of his niece. Unemployed John Maden, 38, lured 12-year-old Tia Rigg to his home on the pretext of her babysitting for the father-of-one. But Maden, who hoarded extreme Internet Porn depicting the abduction, Sexual Torture, Rape and killing of Children, drugged and bound his unsuspecting niece before acting out his sick...

Guest Post: People Of The Lie: The Psychopathology Of The "Public Servant" And The Sociopathology Of The State
.   Which is why attempting to shoot the messenger – by imprisoning the Whistleblower and/or slandering the publisher – makes perfect sense for an arm – indeed, the very arms – of the United States government.   So if we are to understand its logic (as all of its actions, however insane, are perfectly logical to it), we must understand the pathology that lies at its core.   For unless and until we do, we cannot understand why government per se ...

Colo. Senate hopeful trips over abortion measure
Denver – A conservative Republican trying to unseat a rookie Democratic senator in Colorado is scrambling to explain his position on Abortion in light of a ballot proposal to outlaw the procedure. Ken Buck, a Tea Party favorite challenging Sen. Michael Bennet, leads the Incumbent in several polls and has drawn the support of Abortion opponents for saying it should be illegal even in cases of Rape and Incest. Earlier this year, he endorsed a proposed amendment to the state constitution to...

Sexting Wisconsin prosecutor resigns
An embattled Wisconsin prosecutor who tried to spark an affair with a Domestic Violence Victim resigned in disgrace today. Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz said in a statement to the media that he has lost the confidence of the people he represents, "primarily due to personal issues which have now affected my professional career." Kratz said he is receiving treatment for "these conditions" outside Wisconsin, but did not elaborate. He said he hopes to repair his reputation and practice...