Tag Archives: #HoldThemAccountable

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Court-ordered idiocy

So far, 11:30 AM EDT, the Lexington Herald-Leader has nothing on this story, but if they do publish it, watch them not publish the offender’s mugshot, not try to help the police catch the malefactor.

    Lexington Police search for missing inmate

    By: Web Staff | Posted at 10:50 AM, Nov 07, 2021 and last updated 10:50 AM, Nov 07, 2021

    Alan Tatman. Photo by: Division of Community Corrections.

    LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Lexington Police are searching for a missing inmate named Alan Tatman.

    According to the Division of Community Corrections, Tatman did not return to jail on Saturday after a court-ordered pass.

    In a press release, Lieutenant Richard Frans said Tatman was released at 9 a.m. and was supposed to return at 5 p.m. but failed to do so.

    Frans said Tatman is being held on two counts of theft by unlawful taking and one count of failure to appear for a charge of burglary in the third degree.

    He is also being held on two warrants for probation violations out of Jessamine County.

    Tatman is 47-years-old, 5-foot-7, and weighs 185 pounds, has brown hair and hazel eyes.

Mr Tatman is already a convicted criminal, as the fact he was being held for probation violations attests. But, more incredibly, why would any judge issue a “court-ordered pass” to someone being held on a failure to appear warrant? Isn’t that pretty much the definition of a flight risk?

Any items he steals, any damage he causes, and any expenses he incurs in the police locating and apprehending him should be borne by whichever oh-so-wise judge ordered a day pass for him. Hold the judge accountable!

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Update: 5:53 PM EDT

As predicted, when the Herald-Leader did finally cover the story, in an article by reporter Jeremy Chisenhall time stamped at 4:45 PM, the fugitive’s mugshot, which was freely available to it, did not appear in the article, as screen captured on the right; you can click on the image to enlarge it.

Mr Tatman is not someone who has simply been charged but not convicted; he has previous criminal convictions. Now he’s a fugitive from justice, and if WLEX-TV, Channel 18, the NBC affiliate in Lexington could show his mugshot, and perhaps have some random citizen spot the fugitive and recognize him as such, why couldn’t what my best friend used to call the Herald-Liberal? Perhaps, just perhaps, a reader of the newspaper’s website might be the one top spot the man and call the cops.

The Herald-Leader is more concerned with protecting the anonymity of convicted criminals and fugitives from justice than with the safety of its readership.

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Hold them accountable! Joana Peca of St Petersburg was murdered allegedly by a man who should have been behind bars at the time

Former Washington Times reporter and current blogger Robert Stacy McCain has another article up about the foolish decisions some people take, decisions which can send them unexpectedly to their eternal rewards:

Mr McCain’s focus is a bit different than mine. He focuses on the utter stupidity of women who choose to ‘date’, and have babies with, convicted felons and obvious criminals, along with the failure of feminist organizations to call out ‘violence against women’ when the (alleged) perpetrators are not evil white men. Much further down, he gets to the case at hand:

    So, having made that 1,000-word digression, we now return to the main topic, Joana Peca of St. Petersburg, Florida.

    The tattoo on her (remarkably abundant) cleavage could be cited as evidence of Joana Peca’s defective judgment. The “rationalization hamster” must have run itself silly attempting to justify such a choice. And I’m sure that David Futrelle and Laura Bates would accuse me of misogyny merely for calling attention to this, because any criticism of any woman for any reason is always misogyny, according to feminist logic. “Equality” seems to require that women go through life without ever encountering negative feedback, no matter how foolish or harmful their actions may be, so the effect of feminism in public discourse is to make women off-limits to criticism (unless they vote Republican).

    The problem with this, you see, is that without feedback — including the kind of feedback that might persuade a woman not to get tattoos on her breasts — all sorts of foolish behavior are likely to proliferate because, without critical feedback, bad judgment tends to become generalized.

    Say hello to Benjamin Robert “Bambi” Williams, age 38:

      Williams has a Pinellas County arrest record that spans about 20 years. He has been arrested in cases ranging from grand theft auto, possession of drugs with intent to sell, robbery and fleeing police. He was most recently arrested on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm in January 2020. The state attorney’s office did not seek a prosecution.

      In 2007, Williams was arrested on charges of principle to attempted murder and strong-arm robbery, but those charges were dismissed, court records show.

    Now, if you had a daughter, wouldn’t you advise her to avoid associating with anyone who had such an extensive criminal record? Yes, but then again, if she’s got already tattoos on her cleavage . . .

      Detectives have identified Benjamin Robert Williams aka “Bambi” (DOB 12/31/1982) as the suspect in Saturday’s (July 31, 2021) shooting death of Joana Peca.

      Williams and Peca were involved in a romantic relationship and had a baby together. Peca was holding the infant when Williams shot her multiple times in the face. Her older child was sitting in the backseat during the shooting.

      A warrant has been issued for William’s arrest and SPPD is actively searching for him. Crime Stoppers is offering up to $5000 for information that leads to an arrest.

      Benjamin Williams is deemed to be armed and dangerous.

      He is linked to several open homicide investigations.

The part onto which I focused was different.

    He was most recently arrested on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm in January 2020. The state attorney’s office did not seek a prosecution.
    The obvious question is: why didn’t the state’s attorney seek a prosecution?

Convicted felons in possession of a firearm are about the simplest cases around:

  1. The suspect is a convicted felon, a matter of record; and
  2. The suspect was arrested in possession of a firearm.

Just how much more open-and-shut does it get?

If Mr Williams is actually the one who murdered Miss Peca, then is not the state’s attorney who declined to prosecute Mr Williams, leaving him out on the streets, just as responsible for Miss Peca’s death?

How many murders could have been prevented if prosecutors and parole boards did their f(ornicating) jobs and locked up these criminals for the maximum allowable time under the law?

Look at the record:

    Williams has a Pinellas County arrest record that spans about 20 years. He has been arrested in cases ranging from grand theft auto, possession of drugs with intent to sell, robbery and fleeing police.

Why would any, any! prosecutor decline to prosecute someone like Mr Williams for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon? Someone like Mr Williams is not just some misunderstood young lad, drawn into bad decisions by older boys; he’s 38 years old, and has been ‘involved’ in the criminal justice system for two decades. This is the kind of case that any responsible prosecutor ought to pursue as hard as he could, to get this man male off the streets.

Sadly, none of the media accounts I have been able to find have told us why the unnamed state’s attorney declined to prosecute Mr Williams 19 months ago, nor do we know why some other previous charges were dropped.

Miss Peca was, in part, the victim of her own poor decisions, but she did not somehow deserve to die. If Mr Williams is the person who killed her, then it has to be asked: why do the prosecutors who declined to pursue felony charges against Mr Williams in January of 2020 not bear some responsibility for Miss Peca’s murder?

Under Florida statute Title XLVI Chapter 790 §790.23, someone in illegal possession of a firearm commits a felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in §775.082, for which the punishment is incarceration in the state penitentiary for up to 15 years.

In other words, on the day that Mr Williams allegedly murdered Miss Peca, he could have been behind bars, looking at not getting out until 2035!

It is at least possible that the arresting officers somehow fouled up, making the charge non-prosecutable, but someone, somewhere in law enforcement, needs to be held accountable.

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Hold them accountable! If Brandon Dockery is the killer of Raymar Webb, then the Kentucky Parole Board which released him early, are also responsible for Mr Webb's death

We have previously noted how the Lexington Herald-Leader hid the available mugshot of accused murderer Brandon Dockery, even when he was on the loose and considered to be “armed and dangerous.” Mr Dockery was a previously convicted felon — that’s how the Lexington Police Department had a mugshot of him in the first place — and the Herald-Leader has not been at all afraid to post the photos of convicted felons, even after the implementation of the McClatchy Mugshot Policy, at least not as long as the accused criminals or convicted felons were white.

Robert Stacy McCain noted that it took a name like Leif Halvorsen to get the newspaper to publish his mugshot! 🙂

The Herald-Leader’s Karla Ward did some actual journalism in ferreting out Mr Dockery’s name, after police did not release it during the Kentucky State Police’s investigation of the officer-involved shooting which led to Mr Dockery’s capture, so the paper has to be congratulated for that. And now, reporter Jeremy Chisenhall has done so more investigative work, for which he deserves credit. Hey, I’ve criticized the journolism[1]The spelling ‘journolist’ comes from JournoList, an email list of 400 influential and politically liberal journalists, the exposure of which called into question their objectivity. I use the term … Continue reading of the paper often enough that it behooves me to give credit when credit is due!

    Lexington homicide suspect was on parole after setting an apartment building ablaze

    By Jeremy Chisenhall | August 4, 2021 4:34 PM

    A Lexington man sentenced in 2012 to 45 years in state prison has been charged in a homicide that occurred earlier this year, not long after he was released on parole, according to court records.

    Brandon Dockery, 32, was sentenced in 2012 to 45 years in prison after he admitted to lighting a Lexington apartment building on fire. The fire was set after he got into a fight with people in one of the apartments. He destroyed several apartments, killed pets and forced residents to flee the building. One jumped off a third-floor balcony.

    Now Dockery has been charged with murder in a 2021 shooting after getting into a standoff with law enforcement that ended with him being shot, according to police and court records. He pleaded not guilty to the homicide, which happened about eight months after Dockery was released on parole.

Now I would add my usual “There’s more at the original” blurb, but, Alas! you cannot access it unless you are a Herald-Leader subscriber! Briefly, Mr Chisenhall’s article describes how Mr Dockery had his sexual advances toward a woman in an apartment building rebuffed, and was thrown out by her two brothers after he became aggressive; Mr Dockery, they stated, appeared to be intoxicated. Mr Dockery then threatened to kill them and burn down their building. He later returned with 95¢ worth of gasoline in a can, and set the building alight. An overhead photo in the Herald-Leader story shows the building as completely destroyed. Though Mr Dockery wrote a whining letter to Judge Pamela Goodwine, telling her that he had gone nuts temporarily insane when he torched the building, she was apparently unmoved, and sentenced him to 45 years in the state penitentiary.

And this is where things went bad. In the Bluegrass State, a felon becomes eligible for parole after serving only 20% of his sentence.

Mr Dockery, who should have been locked up until November 19, 2055, was turned loose after serving just 10 years, 8 months. He was, according to the Herald-Leader, released on October 23, 2020, which was a week before his parole eligibility date, as stated in the parole information I screen captured.

I will ask the question I have been asking all along: why shouldn’t the state Parole Board, which released Mr Dockery after serving just 23.7% of his sentence, be held accountable for Mr Dockery’s (alleged) murder of 30-year-old Raymar Webb? If the Parole Board had the option of keeping Mr Dockery locked up — an option they exercised following his first parole hearing — they should have done so. Because they did not, and if Mr Dockery really is Mr Webb’s killer, the Parole Board is in part responsible for Mr Webb being dead, stone-cold graveyard dead. If Mr Dockery is the actual killer, then Mr Webb would (probably) still be alive, if only the Parole Board had kept the accused behind bars, where he belonged.

References

References
↑1 The spelling ‘journolist’ comes from JournoList, an email list of 400 influential and politically liberal journalists, the exposure of which called into question their objectivity. I use the term ‘journolism’ frequently when writing about media bias.
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Hold them accountable!

The very title of “Judge” implies that we expect the holder of such a title to actually have good judgement, but there are times it seems that such an expectation is silly. We have recently reported on Delaware’s Superior Court Judge Vivian L. Medinilla, the utterly idiotic distinguished jurist who turned Keith Gibson loose on a probation violation which could have put him away for 6½ years, even though she was aware that he was a suspect in a murder investigation in Philadelphia, but would not consider that in her deliberations. Mr Gibson is now accused of having committed several additional murders after he was released, when he could have been safely behind bars.

Judge Medinilla didn’t even do Mr Gibson a favor. Instead of looking forward to being released after 6½ more years behind bars, Mr Gibson is now going to, if convicted, spend the rest of his miserable life in prison.

Judge Michael McLaughlin, from Cobb County government page.

Now we come to Cobb County, Georgia, Magistrate Judge Michael McLaughlin.

Judge Michael McLaughlin is the Dean of the Cobb County Magistrate Court bench. After first being appointed in 1985, he has served continuously with six different Chief Magistrates. Judge McLaughlin has heard every type of case filed in Magistrate Court and routinely handles the Court’s busy civil calendars.

In addition to his service on the bench, Judge McLaughlin ran a successful law firm for over 35 years. He has extensive experience in criminal law, and before taking the bench full-time, his practice most recently focused on family law and representing injured people. Judge McLaughlin is the co-author of Admissibility of Evidence in Civil Cases—a Manual for Georgia Trial Lawyers, which is updated and published annually. He has taught other judges through the Institute of Continuing Judicial Education and aspiring paralegals at Kennesaw State University.

Judge McLaughlin is a member of the Cobb County Bar Association and the Council of Magistrate Court Judges. He is a graduate of Florida State University and John Marshall Law School. He has resided in East Cobb with his wife Michelle for over 30 years. The McLaughlins have two adult children and attend Johnson Ferry Baptist Church and the Catholic Church of St. Ann.

Sounds like a very serious man, right? We turn to our good friend Robert Stacy McCain:

Austin William Lanz

Crazy people are dangerous

Robert Stacy McCain | August 4, 2021

This is a mugshot of Austin William Lanz, when he was arrested in April in Cobb County, Georgia, after breaking into a neighbor’s home. Lanz, who lived with his parents in Acworth, about 30 miles north of Atlanta, had spent months harassing the neighbor and the neighbor’s fiancée:

He was recorded on video by the security system roaming the house for 13 minutes and turned on all the lights, which police said indicated that he’d been “searching through the residence for something or someone.” He left without taking anything, according to arrest reports and court filings.

Lanz was arrested and booked on charges of burglary and trespassing charges. When informed he was being charged, Lanz objected, saying, “but I didn’t take anything,” the arrest report said. He then made statements to a police officer about how planes had been flying over the neighborhood and tracking his cellphone.

(What part of “crazy” do I need to explain here?)

While being processed at the county jail, Lanz . . . attacked two sheriff’s deputies in the intake area without provocation, including one who sustained a chipped bone and torn ligament in her knee. After he was restrained, Lanz reportedly accused the officers of being “gay” for teaming up on him and asked to be uncuffed so he could fight them one-on-one.

A judge reduced his bond in May to $30,000 and released him, imposing some conditions, including that he not take illegal drugs, that he undergo a mental health evaluation and that he not possess a firearm. . . .

(“Hey, this psycho attacked two deputies, but I’m going to turn him loose, on condition he get some help with his mental health.”)

There’s more at Mr McCain’s original, making his point that crazy people are dangerous. Mr McCain’s article title, Crazy People Are Dangerous is on its 27th usage.

I look at it differently. Mr Lanz, you see, took a bus to our nation’s capitol and killed a police officer.

The man who killed a Pentagon police officer at a nearby transit center Tuesday got off a bus, immediately stabbed the officer and then shot himself with the officer’s gun, the FBI says.

Officer George Gonzalez was killed in the line of duty after a burst of violence on a bus platform outside the headquarters of the U.S. military. The Pentagon was temporarily locked down.

The FBI said in new information Wednesday that Austin William Lanz, 27, of Georgia, is the suspect. Lanz died at the scene. A “civilian bystander” was wounded and had non-life-threatening injuries.

According to the FBI, Lanz got off a bus at the Pentagon Transit Center in Arlington at about 10:40 a.m. Tuesday and “immediately, without provocation, attacked Officer George Gonzalez with a knife, severely wounding him.”

A “struggle ensued” and Lanz mortally wounded Gonzalez.

Lanz then shot himself with Gonzalez’ gun.

Which brings me back to Judge McLaughlin. He was the judge who looked at the evidence, evidence of an obviously crazy man, and turned him loose! As Mr McCain noted, he attacked two deputies, and had been threatening his previous victims with a firearm, but Judge Mclaughlin thought that telling him that he:

  1. Could not possess a firearm;
  2. Could not take illegal drugs; and
  3. Must undergo a mental health examination

would persuade him to be a good little boy, would actually keep him from possession weapons or taking drugs.

Can anyone tell me why Cobb County Magistrate Court Judge Michael E. McLaughlin should not be held accountable for the crimes, for the murder, that an obviously crazy defendant that he released committed? Like Judge Medinilla, Judge McLaughlin did the defendant no favor. Instead of perhaps getting some mental health treatment, instead of perhaps spending a couple of years locked up, Mr Lanz is now stone-cold graveyard dead . . . and he took Officer Gonzalez with him.

If we held judges and parole boards accountable for the crimes of people they let go easily or early, that bovine feces would stop. Criminals would be sentenced to the maximum allowable time under the law, and parole boards wouldn’t release anyone before he had served every last day of his sentence. Keeping criminals off the streets might not be very sympathetic to them, but it would be a whole lot safer for the public.

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Hold them accountable! Judge Vivian L Medinilla should be held responsible for the murders of innocent people by a thug she let loose

We have noted the murder of Christine Lugo, the Dunkin’ Donuts manager senselessly murdered on June 5th, after having given the robber the cash drawer for which he asked.

The alleged killer, Keith Gibson, also spelled Gibbson, is now facing multiple homicide and other felony charges. From the Delaware News-Journal:

After ‘brutal crime spree,’ Keith Gibson indicted on 41 felonies including multiple murder charges

Esteban Parra | Delaware News Journal | July 6, 2021 | 4:58 PM EDT | Updated: 8:32 PM EDT

A 39-year-old man linked to multiple killings in Delaware and Philadelphia has been indicted on 41 felony charges in connection with multiple slayings, assaults and robberies, the Delaware Attorney General’s Office said on Tuesday.

Keith Gibson went on a “brutal crime spree” in Delaware, killing two people and hurting four others over the course of about three weeks, prosecutors say. Gibson is also a suspect in multiple slayings committed in Pennsylvania earlier this year, including that of his 54-year-old mother.

“This indictment lays out one of the most vicious, staggering crime sprees I’ve seen in my career,” Attorney General Kathy Jennings said in a statement. “It is even more disturbing to think, based on what investigators have revealed in Pennsylvania, that this may just be the tip of the iceberg.

“We have assigned some of the DOJ’s most experienced prosecutors to this case,” she added, “and we will ensure that this man faces justice for the senseless carnage that he has caused.”

Gibson, who was previously convicted of manslaughter and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, was released from prison on Dec. 20 after 13 years of incarceration. He violated the terms of his probation and was briefly held before being released again on April 27 – even after probation officers disclosed he was suspected in his mother’s killing.

Delaware prosecutors say Gibson shot and killed 28-year-old Leslie Ruiz-Basilio on May 15 during a robbery at a Metro by T-Mobile store in Elsmere. He also stole her vehicle, according to prosecutors.

There’s more at the original, which unfortunately includes this:

For subscribers: How a man wanted in 3 recent killings in Philadelphia, Delaware was out on the street

I did telephone the News-Journal reporter, to see if he’d bend the rules and e-mail that story to me, but, alas!, he wouldn’t.

Which brings us to WHYY’s version version:

How a Delaware man now suspected in four murders avoided prison after violating probation

By Cris Barrish | June 16, 2021

When Keith Gibson faced a judge in Delaware in April for violating his probation by being out of state, authorities knew Philadelphia police suspected him in the murder of his mother in February.

Gibson’s probation officer had initially wanted him back behind bars for six-and-a-half years. That’s the time left on the 20-year sentence he received in 2010 for manslaughter and a weapons count before being put on probation in 2020.

But after a debate in court this spring, Gibson was released from custody on April 27.

Since regaining his freedom, Gibson is suspected of committing three more killings, according to Philadelphia police. And on Wednesday, Philadelphia authorities approved a murder charge against Gibson in the death of his mother, 54-year-old Christine Gibson, at her home.

The story of how Gibson escaped a lengthy prison term two months ago is revealed in documents obtained by WHYY News, including his probation report and transcripts of two hearings before Superior Court Judge Vivian L. Medinilla.

Superior Court Judge Vivian L Medinilla, formerly Vivian Rapposelli. Click to enlarge.

Remember that name: Superior Court Judge Vivian L. Medinilla.

Delaware probation officials initially asked for Mr Gibson to be returned to prison to serve out the remainder of his sentence, which would have been 6½ years. Had Judge Medinilla ordered that, Mr Gibson would have been where he belonged, behind bars, on the morning Miss Lugo was murdered.

Instead, at a second hearing, state probation officials changed their recommendation to thirty days.

Asked why the recommendation was lowered, Department of Correction Commissioner Claire DeMatteis told WHYY the case is yet another in a troubling “pattern” of judges and defense attorneys pushing back on probation officers who seek “hard jail time” for violent offenders who violate the terms of their release.

I get it: defense attorneys are always going to be “pushing back” on probation officers trying to put their clients back behind bars; that’s what defense attorneys do, they try to defend their clients.

But judges pushing back? Judges should look at every case impartially, and not be “pushing back” against incarcerating violent offenders. Here’s a kicker:

Medinilla told the parties she would not consider the Philadelphia murder investigation in her deliberations. She also said she could sentence Gibson that day but was going to “defer” to give (Meghan) Crist (Mr Gibson’s public defender) and (Larry S) Charles (Mr Gibson’s probation officer) time to speak about “a proper consideration of the sentence.”

Mr Charles had prepared a report on Mr Gibson, trying to get him put back behind bars. WHYY said that his report included:

  • Philadelphia police had told him Gibson was the “prime suspect” in his mother’s killing. Charles wrote that “early reports suggest Mr. Gibson’s mother informed numerous friends and family members if something were to happen to me, her son would be the one responsible.”
  • Gibson’s “extensive history of violence’’ and “documented anger issues,” including 64 previous criminal charges, with nine convictions for felonies and 15 for misdemeanors. Besides the manslaughter/weapons conviction, which had been pleaded down from a first-degree murder count, his other offenses included assault and terroristic threatening.
  • He had also violated probation 14 times over the years.

But Judge Medinilla told Mr Charles that she would not consider the Philadelphia Police Department’s concerns that Mr Gibson was a murder suspect in Pennsylvania. Is it any wonder that, two weeks later, when the Judge was to consider putting Mr Gibson back behind bars, Mr Charles recommendation changed? He already knew that the judge was going to be soft-hearted and soft-headed. Why else would she have released a man who could legitimately be locked up on probation violations when that man was suspected of murder, the murder of his own mother?

She noted that while Charles was seeking “a significant amount” of prison time, “I’ll give you an opportunity to consider that and look to determine whether that’s an appropriate sanction in light of the finding that Mr. Gibson was in violation only to the extent that he was in Pennsylvania instead of here in Delaware.”

There’s a lot more at the original, but one thing stands out to me: Judge Medinilla handcuffed Mr Charles by refusing to consider the report from Philadelphia, and she released Mr Gibson that day — he was sentenced to 30 days, but, by the time of the second hearing, he had already served that — and while the probation officer might have done more, the blame for this belongs squarely on Judge Medinilla. Assuming that Mr Gibson is the man person who murdered Miss Lugo, and the others he is suspected of killing, Judge Medinilla is just as responsible for those killings as Mr Gibson.

Will Judge Medinilla be held accountable for her actions? No, of course not, she is legally immune from the consequences of her decisions.

There was no need for Judge Medinilla to let Mr Gibson loose. He was already guilty of violating his probation, and she could have ordered him back to jail without the state having to prove anything else; no trial was required. With the Philly police already pointing to him as a murder suspect, why would any judge in his right mind turn him loose when it was not necessary?

It wasn’t even necessary to lock up Mr Gibson for the 6½ years Mr Charles originally sought. She could have ordered him back to prison for six months, or a year, to give Philadelphia Police more time to make their case against him for the killing of his mother. Even just that much, and several people who are now stone-cold graveyard dead would (allegedly) be alive today.

But no, she couldn’t do even that much. I know, I know: we cannot prosecute Judge Medinilla for her incredibly poor judgement, but at least she can be publicly shamed for it. How else can she be held accountable?

 

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Hold them accountable! Why was Keith Gibbson treated leniently by authorities in Delaware?

After all of the stories about the murder of Christine Lupo, you’d think that The Philadelphia Inquirer would make a bigger deal about the capture of Keith Gibbson,[1]According to the Delaware News-Journal, his name is spelled with two Gibbson, but the Inquirer has it as Gibson, which is the more common spelling. her suspected killer.

Suspect in Dunkin’ killing is also being investigated in at least five other homicides in Philly and Delaware, police say

Keith Gibson, 39, was expected to be charged in the murder of Christine Lugo, 40, and was being investigated for several other similar killings in recent months.

by Chris Palmer | June 9, 2021

The man suspected of fatally shooting the manager of a Dunkin’ doughnuts store during a robbery in Fairhill on Saturday is also a person of interest in at least five other homicides in Pennsylvania and Delaware, police said Wednesday.

Keith Gibson, 39 — who was arrested in Wilmington on Tuesday — was expected to be charged in the murder of Christine Lugo, 40, Chief Inspector Frank Vanore said Wednesday at a virtual news conference. Police said Lugo was shot in the head inside the Dunkin’ she managed on the 500 block of Lehigh Avenue after she gave Gibson $300 while being threatened at gunpoint.

In addition to that crime, Vanore said, detectives in Philadelphia and Delaware were investigating Gibson’s possible links to several other killings: Two men found shot to death in a North Philadelphia store in January, the slaying of Gibson’s mother at her East Falls workplace in February, the robbery and fatal shooting of an employee at a cellphone store in Elsmere, Del., last month, and the killing of a man during a street robbery in Delaware early Sunday.

Vanore said Gibson — who was paroled in 2020 after being imprisoned for a previous killing in Delaware — was also suspected of committing two robberies there before he was arrested Tuesday.

There’s more at the original.

I wrote, four days ago:

I’m still betting a case of Mountain Dew that, when we find out who the (alleged) killer is, we’ll find out that he has a long rap sheet, and that, had he been treated seriously by the District Attorney, could and should have been behind bars at 5:51 AM last Saturday morning. That’s hardly a risky bet: that’s what we always seem to find out about these killers.

From the Delaware News-Journal:

This is not the first time Gibbson has been arrested for violent crimes.

In 2008, Gibbson was one of three men charged in the robbery and fatal shooting of Stanley “Savon” Jones.

According to Delaware Online/The News Journal archives, Gibbson, along with Wilmington residents James Hinson and Kelly Gibbs, robbed Jones in the early hours of July 6, 2008.

Gibbson then shot Jones and the three fled the scene.

Jones’ body was found on North Rodney Drive in Edgemoor Gardens with an apparent gunshot wound to the upper body.

The three were charged with murder, but the charge was changed to manslaughter after the men took a plea.

Gibbson was sentenced to eight years in prison, followed by two years of probation.

Superior Court documents show that Gibson has violated his probation repeatedly.

So, after murdering a man in 2008, why was Mr Gibbson allowed to plead down to manslaughter in Delaware? Was the evidence against him shaky enough that prosecutors were afraid that he might be acquitted at trial? Or is it that accepting a reduced charge plea bargain was the quick, easy and less expensive path to follow.

In Delaware, second degree murder is a Class A felony, the punishment for which is, “not less than 15 years up to life imprisonment to be served at Level V except for conviction of first degree murder in which event § 4209 of this title shall apply.”[2]Delaware code, §4205(b)(1). Had Mr Gibbson been charged with, tried for, and convicted of second-degree murder in 2008, with a 15 year minimum sentence, none of which could be suspended,[3]Delaware Code, §4205(d), “Where a minimum, mandatory, mandatory minimum or minimum mandatory sentence is required by subsection (b) of this section, such sentence shall not be subject to … Continue reading Mr Gibbson would still have been behind bars on Saturday, June 5th, and Christine Lugo, and all of the others Mr Gibbson is suspected of killing would still be alive today, assuming, of course, that Mr Gibbson was their killer.

Will anyone in Delaware be held responsible for the decisions to allow him to plead down? Nope, sure won’t! But I can at least hope that every one of the people responsible for the decisions to treat Mr Gibbson so leniently will realize that he is partially responsible for the murders Mr Gibbson (allegedly) subsequently committed. Perhaps if we started holding such people accountable for the consequences of their decisions, prosecutors, judges and parole officials would start doing their duty and keep these miscreants behind bars for as long as legally possible.

Assuming that Mr Gibbson is indeed the killer, at least we have an answer as to why he murdered Miss Lupo after she had complied and given him the cash: he just plain enjoyed killing people! No sentence, no threat of prison, is a deterrent to someone like that.

Delaware has no death penalty, and while capital punishment is legally possible in Pennsylvania, District Attorney Larry Krasner never seeks it. Even if Mr Krasner sought a capital sentence, no prisoner in the Keystone State has been executed since the reimposition of capital punishment unless he ‘volunteered’ for it by voluntarily dropping his appeals. Assuming that he is convicted of these killings, Mr Gibbson will spend the rest of his miserable life behind bars.[4]Regular readers of The First Street Journal know that I am opposed to capital punishment. This past was informational only, and should not be read as a desire that he be sentenced to death. It’s just too bad he wasn’t sentenced to that in Delaware, when the First State had that chance; several innocent people who are in their graves today would still be alive.
______________________________
Also published on American Free News Network.

References

References
↑1 According to the Delaware News-Journal, his name is spelled with two Gibbson, but the Inquirer has it as Gibson, which is the more common spelling.
↑2 Delaware code, §4205(b)(1).
↑3 Delaware Code, §4205(d), “Where a minimum, mandatory, mandatory minimum or minimum mandatory sentence is required by subsection (b) of this section, such sentence shall not be subject to suspension by the court.”.
↑4 Regular readers of The First Street Journal know that I am opposed to capital punishment. This past was informational only, and should not be read as a desire that he be sentenced to death.
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Was it worth it?

Demond Goudy, 21, Photo released by Chicago Police Department.

We have thrice mentioned the killing of seven-year-old Jaslyn Adams in the Windy City. Chicago Police have now apprehended a second suspect in that shooting, as Demond Goudy, 21, was taken into custody Monday in the 1500 block of South Springfield following a SWAT standoff. Marion Lewis, 18, allegedly the driver, was previously apprehended.

Mr Goudy has been denied bail, because he was already out on bond awaiting trial on other charges. WGN noted that Mr Goudy’s life had been a long spiral of violence:

In recent years, violence has been a constant in the life of Demond Goudy, one of the men accused of taking part in the fatal shooting of 7-year-old Jaslyn Adams earlier this month.

Court records show that Goudy was shot and critically wounded on the West Side last October. That shooting occurred less than two weeks after Goudy’s brother was shot and killed in Humboldt Park. No one has been charged in either case.

Before he was charged in Jaslyn’s killing — a shooting that also left her father seriously injured — Goudy was already facing four separate criminal cases.

Court records show that, in addition to the murder charge, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office has accused Goudy of robbery, manufacturing/delivery of cocaine, possession of a controlled substance, possession of a gun with a defaced serial number and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. None of the charges against Goudy are more than 2 ½ years old.

According to court filings made by his attorney, Goudy was a participant in READI Chicago, “a job readiness program that provides cognitive behavioral therapy and work force training.”

Let’s face facts: young Mr Goudy was a waste case, and no ‘job training’ program was ever going to turn him into a decent and law-abiding member of society. Mr Goudy was already under electronic monitoring when he was shot in the back, just two weeks after his brother, Edward James, had been murdered. Cook County Judge Edward Maloney, asked by Mr Goudy’s attorney to loosen the conditions of Mr Goudy’s monitoring so he could go to medical appointments following his release from the hospital, instead dropped the monitoring altogether, after Cathryn Crawford of the Lawndale Christian Legal Center, Mr Goudy’s attorney, argued that, “Demond is not a threat to anyone given his condition.” Apparently neither the judge nor the defense attorney thought that, eventually, Mr Goudy would recover.

Naturally, I checked out the Lawndale Christian Legal Center’s website, and found this, on their main page:

THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM IN OUR COUNTRY IS BROKEN.

It’s costing too much and hurting us all. But we are standing at a pivotal moment where the conversation has begun in earnest about shifting power back to the community as a more effective way to ensure peace, make communities safer and provide equity for everyone.

Over a decade ago at Lawndale Christian Legal Center, we committed to providing legal defense for juvenile and emerging adult clients in North Lawndale, keeping them out of prison, surrounding each one with the right resources to address the systemic problems threatening their future, and involving the community in seeking justice. We believe it is – and always has been – the most effective way to build a system that is fair for everyone.

This is a restorative justice program supported by holistic social and legal services that walk juveniles and emerging adults through, and away from, the court system for good. Through our work, we’ve been helping transform young lives tangled in a deeply flawed system, and inspiring hope in places where hope has been hard to come by.

I get it. Everyone deserves a legal defense. But perhaps, just perhaps, Miss Crawford, their Director of Holistic Legal Services, may just have a bit too much goodness in her heart:

Cathryn is a graduate and former professor of Northwestern University’s School of Law. With a decades long legal career, she joined LCLC due to its unique community-based holistic legal representation model and the vision espoused by Cliff Nellis, Executive Director. Before coming to LCLC, Cathryn worked in Texas representing clients on death row. People like Cathryn’s mother, a single mom and tenants’ rights community activist, instilled in her a strong sense of social justice and work ethic from an early age. Cathryn hopes to reform the justice system by making it holistic instead of punitive and to eliminate the pernicious racism that characterizes it. She wants our clients to be seen as unique individuals with real strengths rather than simply the offense with which they have been charged. She is motivated by her team and by her clients.

Or perhaps she’s just an idiot. Those gang tats on Mr Goudy’s neck ought to have told her something, ought to have told her that perhaps, just perhaps, her “strong sense of social justice” was a bit misplaced when she told Judge Maloney that Mr Goudy wasn’t a threat to anyone. 

Does Miss Crawford even think about Jaslyn Adams, and how the client she helped to get released from monitoring shot her stone-cold graveyard dead?  Does she feel any responsibility, does she have any sense or remorse?

Miss Crawford did Mr Goudy no favors. If Mr Goudy was indeed one of the shooters — remember: he is innocent of that until proven guilty — at least the years he would spend behind bars for his previous crimes would have left him with some hope of eventually getting out of prison. Now, if he is convicted in the premeditated murder of a seven-year-old innocent girl, well, that’s it, he’ll spend the rest of his miserable life in prison.

How about Messrs Goudy and Lewis? The shooting was, apparently, some gang-related action. Yeah, they sure showed Jontae Adams, young Miss Adams’ father, what for, but now the 21 and 18 year olds are looking at never, ever, getting out of prison. Was it really worth it for them?

Well, assuming that Messrs Goudy and Lewis are the guilty parties, they will be held accountable by the criminal justice system.

But what about Judge Maloney, who freed Mr Goudy from monitoring, and Miss Crawford, who worked as hard as she could to see to it that Mr Goudy was out on the street, and able to (allegedly) shoot his victims? We know that, legally, they’ll never be held accountable, but morally and ethically, if Mr Goudy really was one of the men people who killed Miss Adams, Mr Maloney and Miss Crawford are at least in part responsible. This death should gnaw at their hearts forever.

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Hold them accountable!

I have an entire series entitles Hold them accountable, much of which is lost, or at least hidden, in a file containing whatever remains of this site prior to the reboot. However, before RedState closed itself to diarists, I had cross-posted nine of the Hold them accountable posts there, and they are still available. I have gone through the old RedState archives, and recovered those that I could, though the formatting may be poor.

My good friend — OK, OK, I’ve never actually met the man! — Robert Stacy McCain, formerly a real professional journalist, and now the site owner of The Other McCain has become quite the stupid crime blogger of late, and now he has another one:

Florida Woman Was in a Big Hurry to Reach Her Destination: Prison

by Robert Stacy McCain | April 28, 2021

The vehicle that Jennifer Carvajal destroyed, photo by Florida Highway Patrol.

Jennifer Carvajal was behind the wheel of a Hyundai Elantra clocked on radar at 111 mph headed west on I-4 by a Florida Highway Patrol trooper. It was 1:30 a.m., and three passengers were in the car with Carvajal, who did not have a driver’s license, because she had violated her probation.What was she on probation for? DUI manslaughter in 2014.

Yeah, that’s right — apparently you can kill somebody while driving drunk in Florida and you’re back on the streets in just a few years.

In 2016, Carvajal was sentenced to five years in prison, but was released in 2019. “According to Hillsborough Circuit Court Clerk records, she was then arrested in May [2020] for violating her probation with a drug-related charge and was sentenced to five more years probation.”

Did you get that? After killing somebody, then serving only three years in prison, she was arrested for drugs, a probation violation that could have sent her back to prison. But it’s Tampa, where all the judges are Democrats, so they just gave her more probation. Less than a year later, she was doing 111 mph on I-4 at 1:30 in the morning when the trooper caught her on radar. And when the trooper managed to catch up with her, Carvajal had a truly genius idea — right turn!

The result of Miss Carvajal’s right turn at 178½ KM/HR? She wasn’t driving on a banked NASCAR oval — where all of the turns are left turns anyway — but Interstate 4, so, as Mr McCain has the video, things did not go well. Miss Carvajal and twop of her passengers were seriously injured, and one was ejected and killed.

Mr McCain tends to write in a mocking and sarcastic vein when it comes to his stories on stupid criminals, and there’s more at his original, but, to me, this incident raises some obvious questions:

  • How did Miss Carvajal get just five years for killing someone? Was this the result of some cockamamie plea bargain? Was the judge just too lenient? In Florida, DUI Manslaughter is a class 2 felony, which can result in a sentence of up to fifteen years. The minimum sentence is four years.[1]Brian DeFreitas, 48, was sentenced to 12 years for the same offense.
  • How did Miss Carvajal get probation so soon, not quite four years, into her five year sentence? When she was considered for release, did no one think to ask, is she going to get drunk behind the wheel and kill someone else?
  • Who took the decision, and why, in May of 2020, to sentence Miss Carvajal to another five years of probation when she violated her existing probation rather than throwing her back in the clink?

Well, that’s the answer, of course: May of 2020. Our legal system was releasing everybody it could — and I’m surprised that Pennsylvania didn’t release Wesley Cook, the scumbag cop-killer who goes by the faux name of Mumia Abu-Jamal — due to the huge overreaction to COVID-19. In effect, the legal system in Tampa, Florida bet that it was wiser to protect Miss Carvajal from the virus than it was to protect other people from her drunken driving. The result of that bet? A 22-year-old man will never see 23, as he’s lying on the slab, stone-cold graveyard dead.

Jennifer Carvajal

As we have noted previously, some media organizations have become reluctant to post photos of criminals, for what I have come to assume are the ‘social justice’ reasons of not making it seem as though non-whites commit crimes. One of Mr McCain’s commenters, who styles himself Buffalobob, wrote:

ABC action news, “we choose not to show her mug shot because she is no longer a threat to the community. Will they show it when she is released again on probation?

Another news organization did choose to show Miss Carvajal’s photo, which Mr McCain found.

The sad story of Miss Carvajal, who has now sent two people to their eternal rewards, did not just happen. At several points, people who have sought public office and are responsible for law enforcement and trying to keep the public safe, took decisions which enabled Miss Carvajal’s deadly actions. Will the judge who sentenced Miss Carvajal to such a short sentence be held accountable? Will the probation and parole officials who decided to let her out early be held accountable? Will the prosecutors who decided, in May of 2020, not to send her back to prison for probation violations, be held accountable?

The sad, answer, of course, is that no, they won’t be held accountable. Her entire five year sentence, had it been served, would have expired before this crash, so the probation officials don’t bear any real responsibility here, but the judge, who sentenced her so leniently, and quite probably the prosecutors who arranged such a lenient sentence, do bear responsibility. The officials who decided to add another five more years probation, rather than send her to jail, bear responsibility. Everyone who played a part in Miss Carvajal not being sentenced to the maximum amount of prison time allowable under the law, and everyone who played a part in not keeping her locked up for as long as the law allowed, bear responsibility for the death of that 22-year-old man.

Until we start holding such officials accountable — which I suspect will never happen — we will continue to have stories along these lines, of how someone who could, and should, have still been in jail on a previous conviction, has murdered, mugged, raped or molested another innocent victim.

References

References
↑1 Brian DeFreitas, 48, was sentenced to 12 years for the same offense.
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Hold them accountable!

It’s a very good thing that prosecutors let Jeffrey Epstein skate on charges in 2008. Well, that good thing comes at a cost, the cost being an unknown number of other teenaged girls being sexually abused, but maybe, just maybe, some real good can come of this. From The Miami Herald:

BY Julie K Brown and Jay Weaver | August 8, 2019 07:38 PM | Updated August 9, 2019 2:48 PM

A. Marie Villafaña, the lead federal prosecutor who helped negotiate a controversial plea deal for accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, has submitted her resignation to the Justice Department, the Miami Herald has learned.

Her departure comes amid a federal probe into the role she and other federal prosecutors, including her former boss, Alexander Acosta, had in sidelining a 53-page indictment against the wealthy New York investor in favor of a state plea to minor prostitution charges in 2008. Epstein, 66, was accused of molesting dozens of underage girls, most of them 14 to 16 years old, at his Palm Beach mansion more than a decade ago. He is now facing federal sex trafficking charges involving minors brought against him last month by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York.

The Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) is examining whether Acosta, who resigned his cabinet post as secretary of labor last month — and other U.S. prosecutors involved in the 2007-2008 case — committed misconduct in negotiating the secret pact with Epstein. A federal judge in February ruled that the prior deal was illegally negotiated because Epstein and federal prosecutors concealed it from his victims in violation of the Crime Victims’ Rights Act.

The Herald has learned that several people involved in the Epstein case have been questioned by the Justice Department in recent weeks as part of its ongoing OPR investigation.

There’s more at the original, but Mrs Villafaña is the last member of the federal investigation team who is still employed by the Department of Justice.

Mr Epstein was given special treatment during his incarceration in 2009, being allowed to work in his office on work release, being chauffeured, and allowed to sleep with his cell door open when he was in jail. While the story says nothing about money changing hands, the mollycoddled treatment he received certainly raises questions about it. Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL):

ordered a criminal investigation into the state’s handling of the Epstein case, from his sentencing in 2008 to his incarceration and probation in 2009. In 2006, former Palm Beach State Attorney Barry Krischer declined to prosecute Epstein on serious sex charges, which led to the U.S. Attorney and FBI taking over the case in 2007.

My website, The First Street Journal, has a long series called Hold Them Accountable, in which we have urged that government officials who treat criminals too leniently or release them too soon be held responsible for the crimes that those criminals commit at times when they should have still been locked up. If these investigations concerning the lenient treatment Mr Epstein received result in criminal convictions and prison time, it will send a message to other law enforcement officials: if you don’t do your jobs right, you, too, can go to jail.

And I’m guessing that prosecutors, policemen and sheriffs who wind up in jail will not have a pleasant experience therein.

If Mr Epstein is convicted, he’ll spend the rest of his miserable life locked up. Of course, that could have been the case starting in 2008, but some people didn’t do their jobs. They need to be held accountable for the injuries done to Mr Epstein’s (alleged) victims during that time.