Justice in the News
Archived 4/1/99   Justice For All board
member Rick Lemmon and his wife Renee have lost their beloved son Ricky,
age 9, in a car crash that injured Rick and three other passengers.
The dual cab truck that Rick and Ricky were riding in was struck by a small
pick-up whose driver ran a stop sign with a flashing warning light.
Rick is an invaluable member of Justice For All, whose tireless efforts
have resulted in projects such as Operation Kidsafe, highlighted above,
and the new victim card that is distributed to victims of violent crime
by all police departments in the Houston area. This is not the first
time Rick's life has been touched by tragedy as Rick's twin brother Ron
Lemmon was brutally murdered in his home on March 12, 1996. Ricky
is survived by many loving family members, including his three-year-old
sister Jenny. Rick is now lobbying the Texas state legislature to
enact a bill that will require a drug and alcohol screening test to be
done on drivers involved in a fatality accident. The driver of the
truck that killed little Ricky was not tested for drug or alcohol impairment.
At last word, he is being charged with negligent homicide.
Archived 2/25/99 Removed from Death Row & Sentenced to Life Now Parole Eligible Taken in part from The Commercial Appeal After 20 years on Tennessee's death row, William Groseclose and Ronald Rickman were given life sentences that will place them in the main prison population and give them a chance for parole as early as next year. The decision was made by the six-man, six-woman Criminal Court jury that convicted them - for a second time - in the 1977 contract killing of Groseclose's 24-year-old wife, Deborah. Groseclose, 51, and Rickman, 46, whose 1978 convictions and death penalties were overturned last year on appeal, smiled and hugged their attorneys when the sentences were read by Criminal Court Judge James Beasley Jr. The jurors, who had been sequestered 18 days, deliberated 3 1/2 hours and left without comment. But through trial testimony, they were aware that a life sentence includes the possibility for parole and Groseclose and Rickman have more than 21 years of prison credit. Groseclose's attorney Gerald Skahan said that his client has a right to apply for parole next year. The Deborah Groseclose murder was one of the most notorious killings in the city's history - she was raped, strangled, stabbed and left to bake to death in the trunk of her car - which then garnered still more publicity as it highlighted a lengthy appeals process and became a rallying point for victim's rights organizations. While the jury deliberated on the sentence, Dorris Porch, an aunt of Deborah Groseclose, said, ``We're just waiting to see who we'll have to fight next. The appeals courts or the parole board.'' As he left the courtroom, Nathan Davis, 22, the Grosecloses' son who was not yet a year old when his mother was killed, angrily berated the father he has never met as an adult. Davis, who had hoped for a death sentence for both defendants, heard many of the details of the murder for the first time during the trial. ``They're not going to get parole,'' he vowed. Of the four men convicted in the murder of Deborah Groseclose, only her husband has never acknowleged his participation, although Rickman, Britt and Barton Wayne Mount all told authorities Groseclose arranged the murder. Mount pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 1978, served half of a 10-year sentence and died of a drug overdose in 1993 at age 36. Five other men testified that Groseclose solicited them to kill his wife, though most brushed it off as a joke or simply ignored him. Groseclose, witnesses said, wanted out of a deteriorating marriage and stood to gain $32,788 as the beneficiary on his wife's life insurance policy. Prosecutor Bobby Carter Jr.
later held up a picture of Deborah Groseclose and then a picture of her
body as it was found in the trunk of her car. ``We know what they
did in `our' general population,'' he told jurors. Prosecutor Eddie
Peterson said Groseclose never acknowledged or showed remorse for arranging
the murder of his wife, a mother of two young children. He then showed
jurors a picture of a smiling Groseclose posing with a minister and his
daughter, who visited him on death row. And then a smiling Groseclose posing
with his wife and two young children in a 1977 photo taken only months
before she was murdered. ``It's the same smile, the same mask,''
Peterson told the jury. ``Does that tell you something
about this man? He knows how to say things people want to hear, but they
do not really know his true colors.''
Archived 2/2/99
It will benefit the convicted killer's legal fund.
TRENTON NJ -- Gov. Whitman and the state police blasted a benefit rock concert planned in New Jersey today for Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted of killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner 17 years ago. But they said the First Amendment prevented them from stopping the event. The fund-raising nature of the concert was not announced until after the tickets were sold. The governor, attorney general and state police superintendent each urged people not to attend Thursday's concert, organized by the rock group Rage Against the Machine, longtime supporters of Abu-Jamal, along with a phalanx of Hollywood celebrities and academics. The concert is sold-out but refunds were available until 6:00 pm Wednesday evening. Over 2000 refunds were requested. Shock-Jock Howard Stern publicly blasted his radio station for the promotion of this event, resulting in an online apology from the station manager. Daniel Faulkner's widow Maureen has received more than 800 emails of support from fans of the bands. Justice For Daniel Faulkner.
Archived 1/22/99
Melissa Trotter Found Dead
Archived 1/15/99 The crime he was convicted of and sentenced for was First Degree Burglary. However, there's a lot more to this felon than meets the eye. Just ask Mardy Sitzer. In 1993, Ryan Randolph broke into her Manhattan apartment. Sneaking up on her in the kitchen, he began slamming her face into the kitchen floor. He would have raped her, too, if Mardy hadn't pulled a surprise of her own. "I reared up, and swung around, grabbed the kitchen knife which I'd just cut the oranges with," she recalls. "We battled in all three rooms of my apartment. He bit me. I slashed him and cut a major artery, but he still managed to get the knife away from me. I grabbed it back from him by grabbing the blade side." Losing blood, Randolph finally relented and fled the apartment. The police caught him at Lenox Hill Hospital, being treated for his wounds. They charged him with assault, sexual abuse, burglary and robbery. Randolph had 12 prior convictions. His latest crime might have sent him away for 25 years. But he was allowed to plead guilty to a single charge -- burglary -- for a total sentence of six to 12 years. He comes up for parole January 1999. Please visit Parole Watch for more information about how you can help to keep this man where he belongs, behind bars. Archived 12/27/98 I've heard of some pretty horrific crimes since I became involved with Justice For All but nothing like this. Who could think this man deserves to continue living? From an article at the beginning of his trial: In Eugene Oregon, a man accused in the child-abuse death of a 3-year-old girl was portrayed as a brutal torturer by a prosecutor, but a defense attorney said the girl's death was a result of "inappropriate, misguided medical care." The lawyer for Jesse Caleb Compton, 21, said Monday that the death of Tesslynn O'Cull should not constitute aggravated murder. Compton could face the death penalty for the June 14, 1997 killing. Tesslynn's battered body was found in a shallow grave in some woods near Sweet Home. It was 5 days after her 3rd birthday. Compton is charged with aggravated murder, murder by abuse, 2 counts of 1st-degree penetration and abuse of a corpse. The girl's mother, Stella Kiser, 22, goes on trial next month. Prosecutors say Compton inflicted most of the injuries, and that Kiser knew about the abuse and occasionally tied up the child. Compton sat motionless in Lane County Circuit Court as Assistant District Attorney Robert Gorham accused him of a series of horrific acts in the girl's death. In his opening statements, Gorham apologized to the 6-man, 6-woman jury for the grisly facts he said the testimony and exhibits will show. "I'm sorry that I have to tell you about these things," he said. "You must face the reality of this case." Gorham said Compton and Kiser met and quickly moved in to a Springfield apartment, where they used methamphetamine daily. Compton assumed therole of disciplinarian for Tesslynn and abused the child for months, Gorham said. Gorham then described some of the injuries the child suffered, including a broken back, ruptured liver, rope burns around her wrists and ankles, sexual abuse, stab wounds and bruises. "There are 64 different talking points I have written down on the autopsy report," he said. "There are more injuries than that. She has an injury on every part of her body." Compton reportedly identified round burns on the child's lower back and buttocks, as well as her vagina and rectum, as chemical burns. He said that an overzealous spanking he had given Tesslyn had broken her skin, and that when he and Kiser determined that the sores had become infected, they poured a large amount of rubbing alcohol on the area, Gorham said. Gorham told jurors he would prove that the burns came instead from a hand-held propane torch that Compton kept in the apartment to smoke methamphetamine. Mullen, the defense attorney, argued in his opening statements that Compton should have been charged only with murder by abuse instead of aggravated murder. A murder by abuse conviction carries a minimum prison sentence of 25 years without parole. Both defendants acknowledged in statements to police that they sought no medical help for the child, even though Compton's mother is a nurse and the couple's apartment was near a fire station that has medics on duty around-the-clock. Mullen said Compton and Kiser "were not equipped emotionally or otherwise to care for a child." Gorham said the child likely died from septic shock, internal bleeding from a ruptured kidney, or a combination of effects from trauma. But Mullen said medical examiners had not been able to determine a cause of death. From an article at the end of his trial, read how a juror broke down and had to be excused from the horror: In Eugene, convicted child killer Jesse Caleb Compton has been sentenced to death for the torture slaying of 3-year-old Tesslynn O'Cull. Compton did not react as Lane County Circuit Judge Lyle Velure read the ruling by a jury that deliberated just 4 hours Thursday in the penalty phase of Compton's aggravated murder trial. Compton, 21, shook hands with defense lawyer Rich Mullen before being handcuffed by deputies and led from the courtroom. "This is exactly what we came to Oregon for," said Ken O'Cull, a Californian and the little girl's grandfather. Tesslynn died in June 1997 in a Springfield apartment where she lived with her mother, Stella Ann Kiser, and Compton. Kiser, 23, is scheduled for trial Nov. 17 on charges including aggravated murder. The murder was described by Springfield police investigators as the worst case of child abuse they had ever seen. Tesslynn suffered scores of injuries from head to foot over a period of up to 8 weeks before she died. Trial testimony indicated she died of shock caused by a combination of injuries, including fluid loss from 3rd-degree burns and from internal bleeding. Evidence indicated burns were caused by a propane torch Compton used to smoke methamphetamine. The internal bleeding came from a heavy blow or from being stomped within a day of her death. Deputy District Attorney Bob Gorham called Compton "merciless." After the verdict, Gorham acknowledged the extreme brutality of the crime and the impact the testimony and graphic photographs of the child's injuries had on jurors. "The injuries to this child were never completely described in the media. I'm happy the community was not subjected to what was done to her," Gorham said. One of the women on the jury was excused from service during the final argument when she began to weep uncontrollably and to say repeatedly, "God, that poor baby." A man who was one of four alternates selected for the trial took her place. Ken O'Cull thanked the 7-man, 5-woman jury, saying, "They had the hardest job in the world. They just took somebody's life. But he deserved it."
AT SAN LUIS OBISPO STUDENT MISSING
If you can assist with any information regarding Rachel's disappearance, you are urged to call 1-800-225-0300. Anonymous tips can be phoned in to Crime Stoppers at 1-805-549-STOP (7867). The family is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to Rachel's whereabouts. An additional reward of $50,000 is being offered by Anaheim Angels center fielder Jim Edmonds and his agent, Dwight Manley, for information leading to Newhouse's safe return and to her abductor. http://www.soconline.org/ONLINE/missing.html http://www.sas.calpoly.edu/rachel/ http://www.sanluisobispo.com/html/newhousearchive.htm Archived 11/29/98 Six City of Houston police officers were fired after a raid of Pedro Oregon's apartment resulted in Oregon's shooting death. The officers did not have a warrant on July 12, 1998 and entered his apartment looking for drugs because of a tip from an "unregistered" informant. After entering his apartment, they shot Oregon to death. He was shot 12 times, nine times in the back. Thirty-three rounds were fired. The officers said they began shooting because they thought Oregon, who had a gun, had fired at them. However, Oregon's gun was never fired. What they apparently heard was one of the officers shooting another who was not wounded because he was wearing a bullet-proof vest. The six also said they had intended to seek consent for a search, but internal affairs officers determined the officers intended all along to simply burst in and surprise Oregon. There were no drugs found inside. Houston Police Chief Clarence Bradford fired all six officers Monday. "I have not seen, in my opinion, a case as egregious as this case," Bradford said. "My heart goes out to the family. My plea to the family is to keep your faith. Most officers in Houston do a good job." The fired officers declined a request to meet with the chief. Oregon was a father of two from Mexico and had lived in the U.S. for eight years. Oregon's death provoked an outcry in Houston and from the Mexican government. A grand jury decided against indicting the officers on murder charges, indicting only one on trespassing charges. Since then, federal prosecutors and the FBI began investigating to determine if Oregon's civil rights were violated. Archived 11/22/98 What happens to a man who is convicted of three counts of capital murder? One who helped to plan and participated in the murders of a 14 month-old baby boy and his parents? One who arranged the murder of the baby's grandmother, for profit? He serves less than 10 years in prison. He somehow qualifies for "postcard parole", having to report to his parole officer only once per year, via postcard. He gets a judge to let him legally change his name, effectively erasing his disgusting life story. Unable to legally obtain a Texas drivers' license with his new name, he opens a P.O. Box in Louisiana, takes the test in Louisiana and gets a license there, then returns to Texas and gets a Texas driver's license as a new resident. He moves to Arizona and enrolls in law school. He moves to Dallas and marries. He becomes the vice-president of a business, buying out the insurance policies of terminally ill policyholders, like a vulture, hovering over the nearly-dead, scavenging his profit from their desperate need for quick cash. Two other men were sentenced to death for the murders. Walt Waldhauser walked away a new man. Visit the online version of the Houston Press and read a very disturbing article by Steve McVicker that outlines what one man can get away with.  Tommy Burks, a popular Tennessee state senator known for his pro-victims'
rights stand, was shot to death on October 19. Burks' political opponent,
Byron Looper was arrested on 10/23/98 and charged with first-degree murder.
Looper had been missing since Burks was found shot to death on Monday morning.
Burks was 58 years old, a well-liked and respected conservative Democrat who served in the General Assembly for 28 years. He was shot dead in his pickup truck as he was preparing for a school group to visit a pumpkin patch at his farm in nearby Monterey. Like the widow of Sonny Bono, Burks' widow stepped in and ran for his seat. She won the election.  Archived 11/22/98 William David Kelley, the man who attacked Pam Lychner, was denied parole at a recent hearing. In addition, he was given a three-year "set-off", which means that he will not be eligible for parole review for the next three years, instead of the normal one year. Thanks to all who sent protest letters. Bodies of three of his victims found
During his wasted life, Kenneth McDuff has received four different sentences of death and has committed untold numbers of murders that he was not tried for. He is currently on Texas' death row for two of those murders, the 1991 murder of Colleen Reed, 28, of Austin, and the 1992 murder of pregnant Melissa Northrup, 22, of Waco. Thanks to information provided by an informant, the body of Reginia Moore, 21, a woman that McDuff has long been suspected of murdering, was found recently. Regenia was last seen in McDuff's truck. Then, the body of Brenda Thompson, believed to have been the woman seen screaming and trying to kick out the windshield of his truck as McDuff blew through a roadblock, was found two days later. Finally, the body of Colleen Reed, who was missing for 7 years, was identified as the third body. McDuff dodged a death date for the 1966 shooting murders of 17 year old Robert Brand and 15 year old Marcus Dunnam and the brutal rape-strangulation of their 16 year old friend, Louise Sullivan when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the death penalty in 1972, allowing McDuff to be released on parole in 1989. He was returned to prison for a parole violation in 1990, but was paroled again two months later. Will
all of these families ever see justice? Perhaps on November 17, when
a new date for his execution has been set.
Archived 9/12/98 Protest Letters Needed
Raven Kazen
Entire family murdered; she is still missing. Felicia Ann Elliott is missing from her home in Dalton, Arkansas.
Her mother, father and six-year-old brother all were found murdered.
On the morning of July 30, 1998, Virginia Miller of Dalton, Arkansas, woke
shortly before seven to find her neighbor Lisa Elliott dead from a severe
beating on her front porch. She immediately called police, who searched
the Elliott home and made another gruesome discovery. Lisa's son, six-year-old
Gregory Elliott, had also been beaten to death. Missing were Lisa's husband,
Carl Allen Elliott, and their 7-year-old daughter, Felicia Ann Elliott.
Felicia's grandmother had called the sheriff's office at 1:15 a.m. to report
"a lot of hollering going on" at her daughter and son-in-law's house. But
when deputies arrived, the house was dark and no one answered the door.
After putting together the pieces, they concluded that Lisa had crawled
to her neighbors house for help, but instead died pitifully on the porch.
Later that day, police discovered Carl's 1994 maroon Ford Thunderbird by
the Eleven Point River near the Highway 93 bridge. But it was days later
that Carl's body was found downstream. Authorities say he had been murdered
as well. There was no sign of Felicia.
Archived 9/11/98 Henry Lee Lucas Parole Eligible in 2004!! When Governor George Bush commuted the death sentence of Henry Lee Lucas to a life sentence, he stated that Lucas has six other life sentences and 210 years in prison for three other murders. The new life sentence would begin after all of Lucas' other life sentences are served. Carl Reynolds, general counsel for the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, said he doesn't believe Lucas ever will be released from prison. "There is no possibility he would get out, in my opinion," Reynolds said. Justice For All disagreed, and asked for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's opinion as to Lucas' parole eligibility date. One article announcing the commutation stated "Bush's decision in no way gives any chance of freedom to the infamous one-eyed drifter once considered among the nation's most prolific serial killers before recanting confessions to some 600 killings nationwide. He still faces six other life sentences and 210 years in prison for nine other murders." As we predicted, Henry Lucas does not have 210 years of prison time to serve before being parole eligible, he has just over six years. According to a letter we received from the TDCJ office that calculates parole eligibility dates, Lucas will be parole eligible in September, 2004. Governor Bush is not a judge and does not have the power to stack a sentence, or to impose a sentence greater than that in effect at the time of the crime. Additionally, the state cannot "take away" the thirteen years that Lucas served on death row. It must be applied to all of his sentences, and his sentences were set to run concurently, not consecutively. At the time of the murders Lucas was convicted of, a life sentence was considered to be sixty years and convicted murderers were eligible for Mandatory Release. Our questions are:
Why didn't the news media have any interest in pursuing this question, instead of blindly believing that the letter of the law would not apply to Lucas because the Governor said it wouldn't and that mandatory release wouldn't apply? Does Ben & Jerry's Support Cop Murderer Mumia Abu Jamal? Decide for yourself. For the last two months, our paper newsletter, The Voice of Justice, has carried an article about the ice cream company Ben & Jerry's and their alleged support of Mumia Abu Jamal, convicted murderer of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel J. Faulkner. We have known about the case of Daniel Faulkner for several years now. Our founder, Pam Lychner, attended a rally in Philadelphia that was intended to focus attention back on the victim in this case, instead of the murderer. We have done much research into the case, and found it to be very much like the case of Gary Graham, convicted of murdering Bobby Lambert. Graham attracted much attention from Hollywood personalities, some of whom publicly withdrew their support after learning more about the case. Below is an exchange of emails between a Justice For All member, a spokesperson for Ben & Jerry's, and Justice For All. ----Original Message-----
JFA Member
There is continued confusion regarding Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc and an individual by the name of Mumia Abu-Jamal. This is based upon incorrect information circulating through various channels, primarily the internet. To be clear, Ben & Jerry's, the company, has never considered any matter regarding Mumia Abu-Jamal. We have never considered a flavor. We have never considered a retrial. Simply put, we've never considered any matter regarding this individual. The confusion stems from a petition which Ben Cohen, as a private citizen, signed. He did this independently and privately. His comments regarding this are below. It's understandable that people have difficulty separating in their minds that when Ben Cohen makes a private choice to do something, he does not represent Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc. As a company, we respect each individual's inalienable right to make those choices. When Ben made his decision to sign the petition in question, he did so as a private citizen and not as an officer of Ben & Jerry's. His decision does not represent nor reflect the company's position on this whatsoever. The bottom line is that the company has never considered any matter regarding Mumia Abu-Jamal and does not intend to do so. Any communication to the contrary is false and misleading. We hope that this clears up any confusion. Statement from Ben Cohen Scores of American legal scholars, including former United States Attorney General Ramsey Clark, have reviewed the trial of Mumia Abu-Jamal and concluded that he did not receive a fair trial. In the interests of justice, these scholars have called for a new and impartial trial. I am in no position to judge his guilt or innocence. For all I know, a new and impartial trial could find him guilty again. But the American system of justice must be fair and must be perceived as fair. So I have supported the former U.S. Attorney General in calling for a new trial to properly establish Jamal's guilt or innocence. I take this position as a concerned citizen, not as an officer of any
company or organization.
A member of ours forwarded to me your response regarding the Mumia Abu Jamal case. I was disturbed to read that you dismiss the comments of a co-founder of your company as not related to your company. Ben Cohen's support of the murderer of Daniel Faulkner, Mumia Abu Jamal, may be an "independent" matter in your mind, but is not so in the real world. You choose the word "private" to describe a public statement, - "He did this independently and privately." The problem is not that people have difficulty separating in their minds an individual and a company; it is that the individual has difficulty understanding that his actions reflect on and affect his company. The statement signed by Ben Cohen says he takes this position as a private citizen and not as the officer of any company, yet he obviously knew the potential backlash his comments could create or he would not have felt the need to say this. It appears that Mr. Cohen will support Jamal until it might hurt him financially. If you "privately" support someone, you can do so without lending your name to a very public campaign. The decision to allow his name to be used publicly, attaches Mr. Cohen's company to this case and cannot be done with impunity. Mr. Cohen's support of a man who was fairly tried, sentenced and whose case has been denied at every level of appeal would not be news if Mr. Cohen were NOT the co-founder of Ben & Jerry's. The "value" of Mr. Cohen's endorsement of Jamal exists solely because of his position as a co-founder and officer of the company that BEARS HIS NAME, therefore, the company can not draw a line in the sand and separate itself from his comments. We stand behind our decision to ask our members to communicate to Ben & Jerry's their opinions of this position. Charlene Hall -------------------- To learn more about the case against Jamal, please visit the web site for Justice For Daniel Faulkner where you can read the entire trial transcript. Robert Everett Nash, a FOUR TIME convicted child molester, is again up for early release after having served ONE YEAR of a TWENTY YEAR SENTENCE!! He was first charged with child molestation in January of 1990, but not convicted until June of that year, after having molested another child earlier that month. He was given a 10 year probated sentence and was ordered not to have contact with children under 16. In the fall, just a few months after receiving this sentence, he began working with children as a cycling coach. Nash committed the molestation of another young girl in June of 1991, was arrested and pled guilty to two counts of indecency with a child. He was sentenced to two CONCURRENT 12 year sentences, (meaning to be served at the same time) plus an additional 10 (concurrent) years for the probation violation. In December of 1991, he pled guilty in another case and received an additional 12 year sentence, to be served concurrently with the already imposed sentences. After serving less than 5 years of these sentences, Nash was released on Mandatory Release. In June of 1997, Nash was convicted on a charge that had arisen from a victim who had been molested years ago but had only recently come forward. He was sentenced to twenty years in prison, but is now eligible for parole, with a possible release date of October, 1998. Even if public outcry is enough to keep him in prison for now, the crime Nash is currently serving time for was committed when Mandatory Release was still in effect and he can not serve any time beyond October 1, 2005. We owe it to our children to make sure he stays in prison until then. Send protest letters to Victims' Services Division, TDCJ, PO Box 13401, Austin, TX 78711 and Victor Rodriguez, Chairman of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, Price Daniel Building, 209 W. 14th St #500, Austin, TX 78701. You must include the name of the inmate, Robert Everett Nash, and his TDCJ #, 00798200 and his SID# 04599915. A letter from Rebecca Easley, sister of murder victim Deborah Groseclose:
Deborah's son who turned one-year-old the day after her funeral is now 22. Her six year-old daughter is now twenty-seven, three years older than her mother was allowed to live, and yet we must start this all again as if the murder just occurred. Our family is expected to travel back into time to continuously re-live the torment. Will this litigation ever be over in our lifetime? Deborah's brother, father and all her grandparents have passed on since her murder. Will anyone survive to see a conclusion? I am feeling extremely cynical of the judicial process at this point. I feel like, "What's the point!" Just give everyone a gun and let them fend for themselves. To top it all off, Larry Woods, Groseclose's attorney, has asked Judge
Nixon to RELEASE Groseclose from custody, while Memphis (Shelby Co) prepares
to re-
Distraught
Archived 5/3/98 
Please visit a memorial web site for the victims of the Jonesboro, Arkansas shootings at http://www.fastdata.net/~nebulus/memorial.html. Those killed were Natalie Brooks, 12; Brittany Varner, 11; Paige Ann Herring, 12; Stephanie Johnson, 12 and Shannon Wright, 32 a teacher. Those injured were Christina Amer, 12; Amanda Barnes, 13; Ashlee Betts, 12; Jenna Brooks, 12; Whitney Irving, 11; Jennifer Jacobs, 12; Brittney Lambie, 13; Tristian McGowan, 13; Candace Porter, 11; Sara Thetford, 42. Archived 4/23/98 Justice Delayed....
Dwight and Lola Stapley took a front-row seat in the courtroom Friday
and settled in for their 64th hearing since their son died in one of the
most macabre and mysterious mass murder cases in state history. Nearly
13 years of legal battles have eaten up more than $9 million in state funds,
and Charles Ng, the man charged with killing the Stapleys' son, still hasn't
stood trial on charges he tortured and murdered 12 people in Calaveras
County. Since 1985, the Garden Grove couple has waited in one courtroom
after another, their presence a silent testament to their demand for justice.
"Our son was killed, and now we feel like we are being killed by the justice
system," Lola Stapley, a 69-year-old retired computer worker, said. "Going
back to that old cliche, justice delayed is justice denied."
Already, 2 key witnesses have died, evidence in a related murder case has
been lost and prosecutors worry that witnesses' memories are fading with
each passing year. Ng has had at least 10 court-appointed attorneys --
all at taxpayers' expense -- with each needing more time to get familiar
with more than 70,000 pages of court documents and 2 portable trailers
full of evidence. But on Friday, Ng, now 38, once again asked to
get rid of his current lawyers and represent himself. The judge postponed
that decision until after a mental competency hearing on Monday. "It is
a sad and sick situation," Sharon Sellito,sister of one of the other murder
victims, said. "You want to throw yourself across the bar (in the courtroom).
But you don't know which one to choke first." Among those on her
list are the lawyers, the judges and the entire judicial system -- even
the Canadian one. Over the years, each has shared some blame for the delays.
Canada became part of the problem after Ng, the only son of a middle-class
Hong Kong family, fled there to escape arrest after police picked up the
man they consider his accomplice, Leonard Lake, on June 2, 1985.
Lake, a burly survivalist who had vowed he'd never be taken alive, swallowed
a cyanide pill while in custody in San Francisco. In his dying gasps, he
identified Ng as his accomplice. Investigators then searched the
cabin in Calaveras County where Lake had been living and made a horrifying
discovery: several skeletons, shallow graves, a cinder-block torture chamber,
funeral pyres and 45 pounds of charred bone chips. They found two
videotapes of Lake and Ng taunting people who were killed, and a diary
in which Lake described his desire to fulfill his sexual fantasies by imprisoning
young women in his 16-by-14-foot bunker. Police initially linked
the 2 men to the deaths of 25 people. But they later charged Ng with the
murders of 12: 7 men, 3 women and 2 infants. They launched an international
manhunt for Ng -- a short, stocky man with thick glasses. He was arrested
in Canada on July 6, 1985, and later sentenced to prison for shoplifting
and assault. For the next 6 years, the ex-Marine was kept in Canada,
which has no death penalty, because officials were reluctant to return
him to the United States to face execution if convicted. In 1991, on a
4-3 vote, the Canadian Supreme Court decided to return him to this country.
After his arrival in California, Ng and his lawyers began fighting on almost
every possible issue -- from where Ng is confined to the temperature of
his food. There was even a dispute over whether he could practice origami,
the Japanese art of folding paper, in his Orange County jail cell. The
judge decided he could not. On at least 9 occasions, the defense
lawyers took their disputes all the way to the state Supreme Court. The
high court usually refused to hear them, but the appeals caused further
delays. The attorneys also opposed the judges, leading to the disqualification
of 2 of them. Another one stepped aside after prosecutors challenged him.
The battle over Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert Fitzgerald raged
for nearly 2 years before the 4th District Court of Appeal removed him
for being biased against the defense. Each change on the bench caused
more postponements, as did the debate over where to hold the trial. Both
sides agreed to move it from Calaveras County, but Ng's attorneys wanted
it in San Francisco. After a Supreme Court appeal, it wound up in Orange
County. Over the years, though, the biggest source of delay has been
Ng's constant feuding with his attorneys. At 1 point, during his 1992 preliminary
hearing, he filed a $1 million malpractice suit against them. On
at least 7 other occasions, Ng moved to dismiss his court-appointed lawyers.
Some of the motions took months to be decided. Only 2 of the requests for
a new lawyer were granted, and as a result, Ng has asked to represent himself.
A week after he made his 1st request in 1992, Ng changed his mind. But
he seemed more determined after the judge's decision Friday to postpone
a ruling on his latest request to act as his own attorney. "I object
to being forced to proceed with (current lawyer) Mr. (William) Kelley,"
Ng said in a statement Kelley read to the judge. Ng said they have "irreconcilable
conflicts" and that he has an "inability to trust" Kelley. The families
of Ng's alleged victims said the fights with his lawyers are all part of
Ng's strategy to delay as long as he can. "He's just manipulated and manipulated
and manipulated the system," Lola Stapley said. "I keep waiting for somebody,
somewhere to say enough is enough." Ephraim Margolin, a San Francisco
attorney who has aided Ng in his attorney battles, said these delays could
have been avoided if the courts had granted Ng's requests, dating to 1991,
to be represented by Michael Burt and Garrick Lew. "What happened
is a person who has all kinds of serious problems bonded with the attorneys
who represented him, then these lawyers were thrown off the job," Margolin
said. That was in October 1991, when the judge at the time decided
Burt, a San Francisco deputy public defender, couldn't be ready in time
for the scheduled preliminary hearing. But even with new attorneys, another
year passed before the preliminary hearing actually began. In March, Burt,
who began representing Ng last October, resigned, saying he could not be
ready to begin the trial on Sept. 1, a deadline set by the judge.
He is still representing Ng in another case, the murder of a San Francisco
taxi driver, that can't be tried until after the Calaveras County murder
case is tried. But Ng has asked so many times for Burt to represent
him on the Calaveras County case that Ng's current lawyers contend he has
an "irrational obsession" with the San Francisco lawyer. This obsession
is the basis of the claim they plan to make Monday in a hearing to determine
if Ng is mentally competent to stand trial. If he is found to be incompetent,
he would be sent to a secure mental institution for treatment rather than
go to trial. But Ng claims he is sane, and his latest effort to become
his own attorney was designed, in part, to halt the mental competency hearing.
The judge's decision to postpone a ruling on that bid sets the stage for
yet another proceeding that won't decide Ng's guilt or innocence.
Archived 4/21/98 Delaware To ID Sex Offenders on License Sex offenders in Delaware must be identified with a special note on their driver's licenses under a new statute that takes Megan's Law further than any other state. The new law will ensure that other states know the offender's status when a new driver's license is sought and the old one turned in, said Rep. Roger Roy, the bill's sponsor. Gov. Thomas Carper signed the law Monday. Megan's Law, passed in 48 states, requires sex offenders to register with law enforcement officials so the community can be notified. ``I believe it (the designation as a sex offender) follows you forever,'' Roy said. ``This is another tool in the toolbox for police.'' Under the legislation, anyone convicted of a sex offense would be required to get a new driver's license after his or her release from prison. On that license, there would be a letter ``Y'' designation, indicating the person was a sex offender. The designation would be explained on the back of the license, with the usual explanations of driving restrictions, such as the need to wear glasses. Judith Mellon of the American Civil Liberties Union chapter in Wilmington said the group doesn't object to the license designation as strongly as it did Megan's Laws. ``I guess it's an extension of it. But driving is a privilege, not a right. Someone could choose not to have a license,'' Ms. Mellon said. Megan's Law was named after a New Jersey girl who was raped and killed by a sex offender who lived near her home. Source - AP
Archived 4/7/98 
Shannon Prock can never bring back the innocence shattered in her childhood -- or her best friend and cousin, Danny, whom she watched die in the dirt at the hands of self-professed madman 14 years ago. But there's one thing she thinks she can find: peace. The way she wants to get it is to watch Horace Kelly, the man who shot her cousin point-blank in the face as he begged for his life, die as unpleasantly as possible in San Quentin's lethal injection chamber next week. "I want the last thing he sees in this world to be my face," Prock, now 26, said tersely at her home in San Bernardino County. "If he could somehow die more painfully, that would be better. Because it would be more like the way Danny died. But I'll take what I can get." Maybe then the nightmares that lurch her awake can stop, she said. Maybe then she can ease up, however slightly, on her obsession with never letting her children out of her sight for a moment, or on her habit of always checking behind her when a man passes on the street. "Maybe then I can just rest a little in my heart about this," Prock said. "I'm so tired of even thinking about what happened, about that man Kelly still being alive." There is a lot to remember. It is mostly horrible. Prock was 13 on that chilly Thanksgiving Day in 1984 when she and her 11-year-old cousin, Danny Osentowski, left the dinner table for a stroll. Danny and his family had driven from Rancho Cucamonga to be at Prock's family home in Riverside for the holiday, and the children were bored by being inside all day. Before heading out around dusk, they stopped in Prock's room for a moment. They put on a Prince pop album. The last song they heard as they went out the door was "I Would Die 4 U." "Danny turned to me and said, `I dedicate that song to you,' and I just laughed," Prock said in almost a whisper. "But he was very serious. I only remembered how serious he was much later." Within an hour, Danny was dead -- shot while saving his cousin. Kelly, off shift as a security guard at a nearby construction site and emboldened from having sexually assaulted and killed two women just a few days before, stalked the children from their front door. He intended to kidnap them in his van and sexually torture them -- in his winter coat, Danny looked like a little girl -- before killing them, investigators later concluded from his confession and the evidence. He waited to make his move until the kids had bought sunflower seeds and bubble gum at a corner store and headed down a dimly lit street. "Kelly walked by us first, looking kind of nervous, and we thought he was a cop because he had a uniform on," Prock said. "Then after a little bit we heard footsteps from behind. We turned around and he was coming up on us like a maniac, and Danny yelled, `Run!'" The 25-year-old killer was quicker, though, and soon was dragging Prock toward the van he had left idling nearby, all the while shoving a gun into her side. Danny dashed into the street, crying and trying to flag down a car. "He was hitting his hand on the hoods of the cars, screaming for them to stop, but nobody would," Prock said. "I hope every last one of them feels ashamed to this day." Kelly ordered Prock to "get your brother over here," and almost as if in a dream, Prock found herself shouting, "He's not my brother, he's my cousin!" Danny came back and kicked Kelly in the shin, and as he loosened his grip Prock darted away. While she ran, Prock heard Kelly's first shot: it punched a hole in Danny's chest and knocked him to the ground. Kelly leaned over the boy and aimed again, but his second round went wild as Danny knocked the gun aside, police later found. Prock turned around just in time to see Kelly plant the barrel of his .357 Magnum pistol on Danny's pinkie fingers as the terrified boy covered his face, sobbing and pleading, "Don't shoot me again. I'll die this way." Then she heard the 3rd and final shot, a bullet between the boy's eyes. She saw blood spray and Danny's body go limp. "I thought, there's no way he could survive that, so I ran and with one hand I vaulted a wall as tall as my head," Prock remembered. "I was crying, I was terrified, I just ran and ran to find someone who could help." A woman opened her door to Prock's furious poundings, and in short order the police came and searched the neighborhood. Before the evening was out, Kelly's brief and vicious reign as a serial rapist-killer was over and he was sitting in a police car on the 1st leg on his eventual trip to death row. Whether that journey will end with his demise April 14 may be decided this week when a Marin County Superior Court jury considers whether Kelly is too mentally unbalanced to be executed. State law prohibits the execution of inmates who are not sane enough to understand why they are being put to death. Jury selection begins tomorrow. Kelly, now 38, was convicted in 1986 of kidnapping Prock and murdering Danny and sentenced to die. 2 more death sentences were tacked on in 1988 when he was convicted of sexually assaulting and killing 25-year-old Sonia Reed and 43-year-old Ursula Houser in San Bernardino less than a week before shooting Danny. The man who prosecuted Kelly for Danny's murder will be arguing in Marin that the killer didn't seem insane during his Riverside trial and that he should still die. "When we tried him, he looked like Joe College, quiet and well put together," said Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Kevin Ruddy. "Then when he showed up in his San Bernardino trial after that, he looked like a wild man. That seems kind of curious to me." Kelly pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the Reed and Houser killings, but he didn't use the mental defense in Danny's case. At both trials, however, his lawyers presented evidence that as a child he was so badly beaten by his father that he suffered probable brain damage, and that he was of low intelligence at best. His lawyers are now arguing that he is so "floridly psychotic" from schizophrenia and other complications that he thinks his date with death by lethal injection is actually an appointment for "processing payrolls." None of that matters to Prock -- though she does say she feels sorry for Kelly's wife, 2 children and other relatives -- or to Danny's mother, Diana Pogue. "I don't care if he's sane or insane, I want it over with,' Prock said. "All that stuff about his bad childhood is just a poor excuse as far as I'm concerned. How much choice did Danny have? None. And neither should Kelly." Pogue declined to be interviewed, but she has previously advocated death for Kelly. "Danny was such a lively, bubbly boy -- my best friend," Prock said. He was a sixth-grader when he died, and liked to play Little League baseball. He also liked to tinker with his home computer and to listen to pop records with his cousin. Because his life ended so soon, Danny's family will never know what he could have made of himself, Prock said, "and we'll never feel OK about that." His mother expressed it on his tombstone, which reads: "I love you so much it hurts me." The families of Reed and Houser did not want to speak to reporters. "It's still very painful for them, but they are watching this case closely," said Diana Soren, a victim coordinator for the San Bernardino County district attorney's office. Prock said that though she is happy, the trauma of the attack destroyed much of her childhood. "It erased my innocence," she said. "But you can either be a victim your whole life or you can become stronger. I became stronger." She graduated, married her high school sweetheart, worked as a bank teller and has 3 children, yet the emotional scars are ever-present. "I startle easily, I always get nervous when a man walks by, and I have nightmares," Prock said. "I can hardly remember what the nightmares are about when they wake me up, but I know they're bad. I need to know that Kelly is dead, need to see it happen and know that it is him," she said. "Maybe then I'll feel a little safer." Prock wrote a letter last month to Governor Pete Wilson, who has the power to commute Kelly's sentence to life imprisonment. In it, she was blunt. "It is in your power to give me the peace I earned that night," Prock wrote to Wilson. "I can't have all that I lost back, and I can't put it behind me until Horace Kelly's sentence is followed through." (source: San Francisco Chronicle)
Archived 3/28/98 Man receives 70-year prison sentence in pastor's slaying 
HOUSTON - A man has been sentenced to 70 years in prison for killing
an associate pastor who refused to get off a pay phone. Thomas Palermo,
a 59-year-old security guard, will have to serve at least 30 years before
he becomes eligible for parole. Palermo also was assessed a $10,000 fine.
Palermo was convicted of fatally shooting Walter Kyle Berry Jr., 32, in
December 1996. Berry was using a pay phone when Palermo approached him
and said, ``I need to use the phone. Get off the phone.'' Berry
replied that there was another pay phone across the street that Palermo
could use. Berry also said he would call the police if Palermo did not
stop harassing him. Palermo then pulled out a .357-caliber pistol
from his pants pocket and shot Berry in the face. The woman who was talking
with Berry on the telephone heard the entire altercation and called 911.
After his arrest, Palermo told police he had been drinking beer and wine
for two days and did not recall the shooting. The victim's father, Walter
Berry Sr., pastor at the McGee Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, said he
and his family were satisfied with the sentence. ``It was the
closest we could get to a death sentence,'' he said. ``This satisfied the
court of this land, but the crime committed against me, my son, my wife
and my son's wife will be taken up in a higher court.''
Archived 3/19/98  Judge Grants
Stay of Execution
to Inmate Who Doesn't Want It An inmate who was to be the first person executed in Ohio since 1963 has received a stay from a federal judge. Judge Algenon Marbley granted a stay of execution on Friday for Wilford Berry, who has requested that all appeals be dropped. The judge says the state's Supreme Court did not properly determine whether Berry was mentally competent to volunteer to die. "The United States Supreme Court has demonstrated that caution is required when mental capacity is at issue in a capital case,'' Marbley wrote. The state appealed the stay Friday night and asked to proceed with the execution, which had been scheduled for Tuesday, March 3. Berry, who is now 35, was convicted for killing his boss 3 days after he was hired at a bakery in late 1989. Charles Mitroff Jr. died after Berry shot him while robbing the Cleveland bakery. Berry has said that he would rather die than spend the rest of his life in prison. Regardless of his wishes, the Ohio public defender's office filed the federal appeals on behalf of his mother and sister. The public defenders argue that Berry is too "mentally ill" to decide his fate, saying he has a history of hallucinations and suicide attempts. Gov. George Voinovich has the power to grant Berry clemency at any time. Archived 3/18/98
Archived 2/19/98 "Creative Sentencing" - Also known as "Shaming Penalties" From "Mother Jones" Magazine
Archived 3/18/98 Sex Offenders Released We stopped their release a year and a half ago but we can't do it this time. Obviously it doesn't matter what the intent of the law was, obviously it doesn't matter why the law was passed, obviously it doesn't matter that the lives and psyches of countless children are at stake. In January, state officials began the early release of hundreds of child molesters from prison because of a legislative oversight. Eventually, 1300 prisoners will fall under this provision! Since January, over 100 prisoners have been released to locations across Texas. Lawmakers in 1993 failed to make felony sex offenders ineligible for early release through "mandatory supervision." When these offenders originally came up for release, Justice For All took action and had the releases delayed until the legislation could be ruled on. Immediately upon hearing about the impending releases, we contacted numerous state officials including State Senator John Whitmire; Allan Polunsky, Chairman of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice; Victor Rodriguez, Chairman of the Board of Pardons and Paroles. They contacted Attorney General Dan Morales' office and requested an opinion regarding the eligibilty of these offenders. The AG's office requested that TDCJ stay the release of the offenders in question pending review by their office. The AG's opinon was that these inmates were not eligible for release based on legislative intent, which is a recognized element of law. However, the state now says they must be released after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled the law could not be changed retroactively, which the last Legislature tried to do. The ruling applies to all indecency-with-a-child offenses and at least three second-degree murders committed between Sept. 1, 1993, and May 23, 1997, when those two crime categories, through oversight, were left off the mandatory-supervision ineligibility list.
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On
January 12, 1999, exactly seven months after she was abducted, thirteen-year
old Christina Williams was found dead, three miles from her home.
An ecological surveyor found Christina's remains while working on a small
University of California nature reserve three miles from the Williams'
home at the former Ft. Ord Army Base. Christina left her home to walk her
dog Greg, and did not return although the dog did. The cause of death
remains unclear and investigators said they are unsure as to how long Christina
has been dead. Please visit the family's 
Nineteen-year-old
Melissa Trotter's body was found on January 2, 1999. The medical
examiner has ruled her death a homicide and she appeared to have been strangled.
Melissa's body was found in a secluded area of Sam Houston National Forest.
Montgomery County Sheriff's investigators have been questioning a man who
was seen talking to Melissa on the day she disappeared. The man is
an ex-convict in the Montgomery County Jail on an unrelated aggravated
kidnapping charge. 
CALIFORNIA-Rachel
Newhouse, 20, a junior at Cal Poly State University at San Luis Obispo,
California has been missing since the night of Thursday, November 12, 1998.
Friends reported Newhouse missing after she failed to return home or attend
classes, and did not show up at her hostess job at SLO Brewing Co. the
next day.
William
David Kelley, (TDCJ # 00584294) was convicted in 1991 of aggravated kidnapping
with intent to commit sexual assault and is currently serving a 20-year
sentence. His victim was Pam Lychner, JFA's co-founder and first
president. Pam narrowly escaped the attack when her husband arrived
at the scene. Kelley received a 20-year sentence after pleading guilty
to aggravated kidnapping in the attack on Pam and later was convicted for
assault in the same case and another year was added to his sentence.
Kelley was a welder working for a cleaning company at a house the Lychners
were preparing to sell in August 1990. Kelley later posed on the
phone as a potential buyer and arranged to meet Pam at the house.
Pam felt something was strange and Joe decided to accompany her.
Joe's presence was unknown to Kelley and while Joe was checking out another
part of the house, Kelley ambushed Pam from a closet. He knocked her down
and held his hand over her mouth. The noise brought Joe Lychner from
another part of the house. He fought Kelley and held him in a closet for
police. Officers found a knife, plastic tarps and duct tape that Kelley
apparently intended to use on Pam Lychner. After the attack, Pam
felt unable to safely leave her house for two years. In the same month
in 1993, she got notices that Kelley was up for parole and that he was
suing her and her husband for mental anguish caused when he was held in
their closet for twenty minutes. The two events sparked Pam Lychner
to establish Justice for All and fight for crime victims' rights.
Kelley had an extensive criminal record and had been convicted of aggravated
kidnapping, indecency with a child and sexual assault before the attack
on Pam. He also had convictions for burglarizing a vehicle and a home,
driving while intoxicated and evading arrest. He received a probated
sentence in the 1982 aggravated kidnapping case but was returned to prison
on a violation. He was released on Mandatory Release, the scourge we have
been fighting for so long, on both sex offenses. Joe Lychner cited
Kelley's recidivism as a reason the convict should not be freed early again.
Kelley is up for parole review again and requested a meeting with a district
attorney and a representative of Justice For All. We of course refused
his request, and our understanding of his motive was that he believes that
since Pam died in the crash of TWA Flight 800, somehow that entitles him
to a "Get out of jail free" card. He apparently was going to insist
that he is rehabilitated and that we agree to not protest his release.
Please send protest letters to help prevent his release and ask for a three-year
set-off so that he will not be reviewed again for three years. Letters
must include Kelley's TDCJ number and should be sent to:
She was raped, stabbed, strangled and hurled in the trunk of her car which
they parked at the Memphis Main Library, where she literally cooked to
death.
Kareen Jabbar
Wilson was found guilty of the murder of Raquel Crouch, daughter of JFA
member John Crouch, and sentenced to life in prison. He will not be eligible
for parole until 2028. Wilson had met Raquel briefly, five years previous
to her murder and had fixated on her. He was sent to prison for an unrelated
conviction on indecency with a child. While in prison he had told a cellmate
that if he couldn't have her, no one could. After serving only 3½
years of two eight-year prison terms, he was released on Mandatory Release.
Upon his release, he returned to Houston instead of his home state of Louisiana
and he sought out Raquel. Within four months of his release, Raquel turned
up missing one night after leaving her job at a K-Mart. Her body was not
found for nearly a month. Please visit a page for