George Ryan Jr. found guilty of DUI

George Ryan Jr. found guilty of DUI

George "Homer" Ryan Jr., son of former Gov. George Ryan, was found guilty Wednesday of drunk driving following his November 2012 arrest in Bradley.

Police found Ryan, 49, sleeping in his vehicle late one night in the parking lot of a White Castle restaurant. The engine was running and the truck was parked across several spots. Ryan failed a field sobriety test and declined chemical testing.

At several points throughout his arrest, Ryan is described as being "angry or in despair."

He will be sentenced Nov. 7 and faces up to a year in jail, a $2,500 fine and a one-year suspension of his license. But Ryan, who has no criminal record, can also receive court supervision, which would give him a chance to avoid a DUI conviction.

In her bench trial ruling, Kankakee County Circuit Court Judge Susan Tungate acknowledged that other courts have asked that drunk drivers who voluntary pull over in attempt to sleep off their intoxication should be given special consideration.

View the original article here

Fla. "hiccup girl" guilty of 1st degree murder

CLEARWATER, Fla. A Florida woman who became famous for her uncontrollable hiccupping was found guilty of first-degree murder Friday night and will serve life in prison without parole.

A Pinellas County jury deliberated for four hours before delivering the verdict against 22-year-old Jennifer Mee.

Mee wept in the Clearwater courtroom as the verdict was read. Minutes later, Judge Nancy Moate Ley explained that the only possible sentence for the charge was life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The verdict and five-day trial was a sad end to a chapter in Mee's short and sad life. Her attorneys said she suffered from schizophrenia and Tourette's Syndrome, and a court psychiatrist said Mee's intelligence was "low normal."

As a 15-year-old, Mee developed a case of the hiccups that wouldn't go away. She appeared on several TV shows and while on the "Today" show, was hugged by fellow guest and country music star Keith Urban. She tried home remedies and consulted medical specialists, a hypnotist and an acupuncturist, until the hiccups finally stopped on their own, though not for good.

Her attorney, John Trevena, said his client was on medication to control the hiccupping, and even then, she occasionally had bouts.

She hiccupped briefly during one day of her murder trial.

In 2010, Mee lured Shannon Griffin, a 22-year-old Wal-Mart worker, to an abandoned home under the pretense of buying marijuana. Once there, two of Mee's friends robbed Griffin at gunpoint — but he struggled and was shot four times.

Mee's co-defendant, LaRon Raiford, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in August. Lamont Newton, the other co-defendant who was also Mee's boyfriend at the time of the crime, has not yet gone to trial.

Trevena said his client did not orchestrate the robbery and that there wasn't enough evidence to convict her. But prosecutors said Mee did set everything up, and used police interviews and a taped jailhouse phone call between Mee and her mother as evidence.

During the call, she told her mother that she did not pull the trigger of the gun that killed Griffin, but that she was charged with murder.

"Because I set everything up," Mee explained during the call that was played for the jury. "It all went wrong, Mom. It just went downhill."

View the original article here

Fla. "hiccup girl" guilty of 1st degree murder

CLEARWATER, Fla. A Florida woman who became famous for her uncontrollable hiccupping was found guilty of first-degree murder Friday night and will serve life in prison without parole.

A Pinellas County jury deliberated for four hours before delivering the verdict against 22-year-old Jennifer Mee.

Mee wept in the Clearwater courtroom as the verdict was read. Minutes later, Judge Nancy Moate Ley explained that the only possible sentence for the charge was life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The verdict and five-day trial was a sad end to a chapter in Mee's short and sad life. Her attorneys said she suffered from schizophrenia and Tourette's Syndrome, and a court psychiatrist said Mee's intelligence was "low normal."

As a 15-year-old, Mee developed a case of the hiccups that wouldn't go away. She appeared on several TV shows and while on the "Today" show, was hugged by fellow guest and country music star Keith Urban. She tried home remedies and consulted medical specialists, a hypnotist and an acupuncturist, until the hiccups finally stopped on their own, though not for good.

Her attorney, John Trevena, said his client was on medication to control the hiccupping, and even then, she occasionally had bouts.

She hiccupped briefly during one day of her murder trial.

In 2010, Mee lured Shannon Griffin, a 22-year-old Wal-Mart worker, to an abandoned home under the pretense of buying marijuana. Once there, two of Mee's friends robbed Griffin at gunpoint — but he struggled and was shot four times.

Mee's co-defendant, LaRon Raiford, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in August. Lamont Newton, the other co-defendant who was also Mee's boyfriend at the time of the crime, has not yet gone to trial.

Trevena said his client did not orchestrate the robbery and that there wasn't enough evidence to convict her. But prosecutors said Mee did set everything up, and used police interviews and a taped jailhouse phone call between Mee and her mother as evidence.

During the call, she told her mother that she did not pull the trigger of the gun that killed Griffin, but that she was charged with murder.

"Because I set everything up," Mee explained during the call that was played for the jury. "It all went wrong, Mom. It just went downhill."

View the original article here

Fla. "hiccup girl" guilty of 1st degree murder

CLEARWATER, Fla. A Florida woman who became famous for her uncontrollable hiccupping was found guilty of first-degree murder Friday night and will serve life in prison without parole.

A Pinellas County jury deliberated for four hours before delivering the verdict against 22-year-old Jennifer Mee.

Mee wept in the Clearwater courtroom as the verdict was read. Minutes later, Judge Nancy Moate Ley explained that the only possible sentence for the charge was life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The verdict and five-day trial was a sad end to a chapter in Mee's short and sad life. Her attorneys said she suffered from schizophrenia and Tourette's Syndrome, and a court psychiatrist said Mee's intelligence was "low normal."

As a 15-year-old, Mee developed a case of the hiccups that wouldn't go away. She appeared on several TV shows and while on the "Today" show, was hugged by fellow guest and country music star Keith Urban. She tried home remedies and consulted medical specialists, a hypnotist and an acupuncturist, until the hiccups finally stopped on their own, though not for good.

Her attorney, John Trevena, said his client was on medication to control the hiccupping, and even then, she occasionally had bouts.

She hiccupped briefly during one day of her murder trial.

In 2010, Mee lured Shannon Griffin, a 22-year-old Wal-Mart worker, to an abandoned home under the pretense of buying marijuana. Once there, two of Mee's friends robbed Griffin at gunpoint — but he struggled and was shot four times.

Mee's co-defendant, LaRon Raiford, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in August. Lamont Newton, the other co-defendant who was also Mee's boyfriend at the time of the crime, has not yet gone to trial.

Trevena said his client did not orchestrate the robbery and that there wasn't enough evidence to convict her. But prosecutors said Mee did set everything up, and used police interviews and a taped jailhouse phone call between Mee and her mother as evidence.

During the call, she told her mother that she did not pull the trigger of the gun that killed Griffin, but that she was charged with murder.

"Because I set everything up," Mee explained during the call that was played for the jury. "It all went wrong, Mom. It just went downhill."

View the original article here

Video: Nidal Hasan guilty on all 13 counts of premeditated murder

Nidal Hasan guilty on all 13 counts of premeditated murder 1:42 August 23, 2013

Nidal Hasan guilty on all 13 counts of premeditated murderThe CBS News Roundup: Jury convicts Fort Hood shooter, Obama proposes two-year law school and British company makes electronic tails for humans -- all this and more. Alexander Trowbridge reports on the news you need to know.

View the original article here

Joseph Naso trial: Man, 79, guilty of killing 4 women dating back to 1977

Joseph Naso, 79, was found guilty of slaying four women.

(AP) SAN FRANCISCO -- A former photographer was convicted Tuesday of murdering four young California women decades ago after a two-month trial in which prosecutors called him a remorseless serial killer who preyed on young prostitutes.

Jurors deliberated for about eight hours over two days in Marin County Superior Court before finding Joseph Naso, 79, guilty of slaying the four women with alliterative names: Roxene Roggasch in 1977, Carmen Colon in 1978, Pamela Parsons in 1993 and Tracy Tafoya in 1994.

The jury of six men and six women will reconvene Sept. 4 to determine if Naso gets the death penalty.

Even if Naso is sentenced to death, it is unlikely he will be executed. There are 725 inmates already on California's Death Row and executions have been on hold since 2006, when a federal judge ordered an overhaul of California's execution protocol. It will take at least another year for prison officials to properly adopt the state's new single-drug execution method and have it cleared by the judge.

All the victims were found dumped in rural Northern California locations. Roggasch's body was found in Marin County and was the reason Naso's trial was held in the historical Marin Civic Center designed by noted architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Colon was found in Contra Costa County and the other two victims in Yuba County. Investigators believe Naso could be responsible for as many as six more murders and authorities are exploring Naso's connections to several unsolved murders.

Naso was arrested in 2010 after probation officers visiting his Reno, Nev., home in connection with an unrelated gun conviction discovered a macabre dwelling with incriminating evidence.

Investigators found numerous photographs of nude women posed in unnatural positions who appeared dead or unconscious with mannequin parts and lingerie strewn about nearby. Investigators said they also found a "List of 10" that Naso had scrawled with descriptions of 10 women, including references prosecutors believe described the four victims he was charged with killing.

Prosecutors said Naso drugged and photographed his unconscious victims then strangled them and disposed of their naked bodies.

Naso acted as his own attorney and told jurors during his closing arguments that he often hired prostitutes to photograph in exotic poses and enjoyed off-beat art. But he insisted he was no killer.

Nonetheless, the balding Naso, who often seemed befuddled and repeated himself during his rambling closing arguments, struggled to explain away some of the most persuasive evidence against him.

Naso's DNA was found on the pantyhose Roggasch was wearing when her body was found. His ex-wife's DNA was found on pantyhose wrapped around Roggasch's neck.

Naso told the jury that the evidence only showed he had had sex with Roggasch. He said there was no proof that he killed her and that prosecutors had no way of knowing who put the pantyhose around her neck.

Legal analysts said that Naso made a mistake representing himself, even if he boasted at one point that "I think I'm doing quite well" during his closing arguments, which consumed all day Friday and half of Monday.

"He's bright," said attorney Brian Kanel, who watched some of the trial. "But not that bright."

Another legal observer agreed.

Steven Clark, a former prosecutor now in private practice, said a good defense attorney would have hired a DNA expert to at least try to throw some doubt on how the evidence was gathered, stored and processed to undermine the prosecution's strongest argument.

"The prosecution did have a challenging case because it happened so long ago," Clark said. "Why Mr. Naso chose to focus on the things he focused on is beyond me. I'm not sure what his plan was."

Complete coverage of Joseph Naso on Crimesider

View the original article here

Ex-MLB player Chad Curtis guilty in sex assault case

HASTINGS, Mich. Former major league outfielder Chad Curtis faces up to 15 years in prison after a jury in West Michigan found him guilty Friday on charges that he inappropriately touched three teenage girls.

Curtis, 44, was convicted of six counts of criminal sexual conduct and will be sentenced Sept. 26 in Barry County.

Curtis was accused of touching two 15-year-old girls last year when he was a volunteer weight-room strength trainer at an area high school. A 16-year-old girl later told authorities that he touched and fondled her in 2011.

"We give these young ladies so much credit for their courage," Barry County Prosecutor Julie Nakfoor-Pratt told MLive.com after the verdict. "It took a lot of courage to testify. This has been such a long road for them. This is a step in the healing process for them."

Curtis' attorney, David Dodge, did not immediately return email and phone messages from The Associated Press seeking comment Friday evening.

Between 1992 and 2001, Curtis played for the then-California Angels, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees and Texas Rangers. He won two World Series rings with the Yankees.

View the original article here

Ex-MLB player Chad Curtis guilty in sex assault case

HASTINGS, Mich. Former major league outfielder Chad Curtis faces up to 15 years in prison after a jury in West Michigan found him guilty Friday on charges that he inappropriately touched three teenage girls.

Curtis, 44, was convicted of six counts of criminal sexual conduct and will be sentenced Sept. 26 in Barry County.

Curtis was accused of touching two 15-year-old girls last year when he was a volunteer weight-room strength trainer at an area high school. A 16-year-old girl later told authorities that he touched and fondled her in 2011.

"We give these young ladies so much credit for their courage," Barry County Prosecutor Julie Nakfoor-Pratt told MLive.com after the verdict. "It took a lot of courage to testify. This has been such a long road for them. This is a step in the healing process for them."

Curtis' attorney, David Dodge, did not immediately return email and phone messages from The Associated Press seeking comment Friday evening.

Between 1992 and 2001, Curtis played for the then-California Angels, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees and Texas Rangers. He won two World Series rings with the Yankees.

View the original article here

Ex-Lakewood music teacher, who talked of cannibalizing boys, pleads guilty to luring minor

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here