Society's ChildS


Handcuffs

Man charged for having explosives at the airport

An Army Private is accused of trying to board a plane with an explosive material at the Yuma International Airport. TSA detected the explosive material during a security check. U.S. Army Private First Class Christopher Eric Wey was detained for investigation before boarding a flight to Los Angeles from Yuma yesterday. TSA found one-half ounce of C4 explosive hidden in a tobacco can inside one of Wey's bags.

"He was taking part in a 7 week explosives training course in yuma, in which they were using and learning how to detonate explosives, including c4," explained Robert Sherwood with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona.

He said Wey was leaving Yuma after being released early from the program for poor performance.

"He was terminated from that course for failure to meet core standards," Sherwood said.

And allegedly, he tried to take home a souvenir. "He said that he found a small quantity of C4 in an area after a demonstration, and he picked it up, put it in his pocket and I quote, 'I was going to take it home and show my family and then dispose of it,'" Sherwood stated.

Handcuffs

California, US: James Mitchell Verdict: Heir To Porn Empire Convicted Of Murder

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© Marin County Sheriff Records
A Marin County jury convicted James Mitchell, heir to a San Francisco porn empire, of first-degree murder Tuesday for the beating death of his ex-girlfriend and mother of his child in Novato two years ago.

According to SFGate, the jury considered the case for less than two days before reaching their verdict, read on the two-year anniversary of his arrest:
It also convicted Mitchell, 29, of kidnapping, child endangerment, child abduction, domestic violence and stalking. He faces a potential sentence of life in prison.

The jury acquitted him of murder during a kidnapping, a special circumstance that would have made him ineligible for parole.
Authorities arrested Mitchell in 2009 just hours after he allegedly attacked Danielle Keller, 29, with a baseball bat. According to witnesses, their daughter, Samantha, cried as she watched the ordeal. Mitchell then fled the scene with Samantha in the car. It was her first birthday.

Heart - Black

US: Court upholds murder conviction for Iowa mom who slit her kids' throats, killed her son

The Iowa Court of Appeals has upheld the murder conviction of a woman who drove her two young sons to a pond and cut their throats, killing one of them.

Michelle Kehoe of Coralville is serving a life sentence for the Oct. 26, 2008 death of her 2-year-old son, Seth. She also is serving a 25 year sentence for the attack on her son Sean, who was 7 years old at the time. Kehoe initially told investigators she and her children were attacked by someone else.

Kehoe appealed her conviction, claiming her lawyer was ineffective and failed to object to jury instructions and to challenge constitutional issues related to her case.

The appeals court rejected Kehoe's arguments Wednesday.

Telephone messages left for attorneys in the case were not immediately returned.

Source: The Associated Press

Info

UK: 'I want to make you pregnant... I prefer virgins': What Wikileaks boss Julian Assange told victim, rape extradition court hears

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© Getty ImagesWikileaks founder Julian Assange is said to have told his alleged victim in Stockholm: 'Sweden is a good country to have kids in'
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange told a woman he stands accused of raping that he wanted to impregnate her and other 'virgins', a court heard yesterday.

The 40-year-old is said to have told his alleged victim in Stockholm: 'Sweden is a good country to have kids in.'

The High Court in London heard yesterday that Assange had a 'strange' discussion with the museum worker and she later awoke to find him having unprotected sex with her.

The Australian is accused of saying he 'wanted to impregnate women' and that he 'preferred virgins because he would be the first to impregnate them'.

The former computer hacker is also accused of 'violently' forcing himself on another woman in Stockholm.

He is now appealing against a district judge's decision to extradite him to Sweden where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of rape and sexual molestation relating to two women.

Yesterday the Court of Appeal heard that the women did not consent to sex with Assange, which happened in August 2010 after he visited Sweden to give a lecture.

Clare Montgomery QC, prosecuting, acting for the Swedish authorities, said of the women: 'They describe circumstances in which they do not freely consent without coercion... either by physical force or by a sense of having already been in a position whereby they felt they had no choice.'

Arrow Down

US: Cardiologist's License Revoked Over Accusations of Placing Unneeded Stents

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Dr. Mark G. Midei can no longer practice in Maryland

The Maryland Board of Physicians revoked the medical license of Dr. Mark G. Midei on Wednesday, finding that the Towson cardiologist falsified patient records in order to justify unnecessary and expensive cardiac stent procedures.

"Dr. Midei's violations were repeated and serious," board members wrote in an 11-page order. "They unnecessarily exposed his patients to the risk of harm. They increased the cost of the patients' medical care."

Evil Rays

Lawmakers Blast TSA for Airport Security Measures

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© The Associated Press
Lawmakers blasted the Transportation Security Administration on Wednesday for ineffective security at the expense of taxpayer dollars, after the Department of Homeland Security released documents showing there have been 25,000 security breaches since 2001.

Although the breaches represent a tiny fraction of the 5.5 billion passengers since 2001, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, reminded the committee that terrorists only need to slip through security once to cause serious damage, while reprimanding the TSA for doing more to appear secure than actually be secure.

"A lot of what we have been participating in here, in my opinion, has been security theater," Chaffetz said, "and has not truly done the job to secure the airports to the degree we need to."

Another report from the Government Accountability Office said that only 17 percent of the nation's airports have received joint vulnerability assessments, which Chaffetz said was "not acceptable."

The TSA has come under heavy criticism in recent months for using pat downs and body scanning machines which some passengers say makes them feel uncomfortable and violates their privacy.

Briefcase

Cyprus leader vows 'thorough' probe of deadly explosion

cyprus protest
© Associated PressProtesters shouts slogans as they run from tear gas during a protest over a fatal blast at a naval base that killed 12, outside of Presidential palace in Nicosia, Cyprus
The Cypriot president promised on Thursday a thorough investigation into the explosion of munitions at a naval base that killed 12 people and knocked out the country's major power plant

In his first public address since the Monday morning blast, which also injured 62 people and damaged hundreds of homes, The Cypriot president, Demetris Christofias said "the demand of everyone is to find those responsible and apportion responsibility, even if this is from the lowest to the highest level."

"I assure you responsibility will be apportioned and taken," he said in a televised speech, announcing that he had appointed lawyer Polis Polyviou to head the investigation.

Polyviou's remit will be to expedite the police investigation into "every aspect and all the circumstances of this tragedy." Only a "thorough investigation," in which people are made accountable, will suffice "to restore the public's trust in the state and its institutions," he said.

Binoculars

Hawaii: Tourists Saw California Man Fall Into Maui Blow Hole

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© AP Photo/Rocco PiganelliIn this Saturday, July 9, 2011 photo provided and shot by Rocco Piganelli, Piper Piganelli, Marley Meyer, and Maddie Meyer, lower left, pose for a photo Piganelli says was taken moments before a man, in the spray at right, fell to his apparent death in a blow hole at Nakalele Point in Maui, Hawaii. Piganelli, of La Jolla, Calif., told The Associated Press that he watched the man spiral down the blowhole, pop up briefly before disappearing when the next wave hit. The 44-year-old man, identified as David Potts of San Anselmo, Calif., has not been found since Saturday afternoon.
Witnesses who watched a Northern California man get sucked into a Maui blow hole to his apparent death say that the tourist was dancing around and frolicking in the sprays of water moments before a wave knocked him down.

Rocco Piganelli, of La Jolla, Calif., said he stared in horror as he watched a large wave push the tourist into the hole off Nakalele Point on Saturday afternoon. The man popped up briefly with the next wave, then disappeared.

Life Preserver

Russian boat disaster death toll rises

Russian boat accident
© Reuters/Roman KruchininExpanding search: 29 people are still unaccounted for.
Divers widened their search for 29 remaining missing boat passengers after the death toll in Russia's worst river disaster in three decades reached 100, the country's Emergencies Ministry said overnight.

Officials say 79 of 208 passengers survived the sinking of an ageing, overcrowded tourist boat in the Volga River on Sunday.

The 29 people still unaccounted for are feared dead.

The Bulgaria, a 79-metre river cruiser built in 1955, listed onto its right side during a thunderstorm and sank in minutes in a broad stretch of the Volga in the Tatarstan region, trapping many passengers inside as the vessel sank to the riverbed.

"The bodies of 100 people killed have been extracted," said regional Emergency Situations Ministry official Igor Panshin.

Heart - Black

US: New York man accused of killing, dismembering boy is "hearing voices"

Murder suspect Levi Aron
© Reuters/Brendan McDermidMurder suspect Levi Aron is escorted out of a New York Police Department precinct in Brooklyn, New York, July 14, 2011.

A Brooklyn man who confessed to smothering and dismembering an 8-year-old boy lost on his first walk home alone was ordered on Thursday to undergo a psychiatric evaluation after complaining of "hearing voices."

Levi Aron, 35, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and kidnapping in state Supreme Court in Brooklyn.

At the request of defense lawyer Pierre Bazile, Judge William Miller place Aron on a suicide watch and ordered him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.