Steff

QUOTE(juddling @ Dec 12, 2005 -> 12:10 PM) Just curious, since i knew someone would bring up this argument...how many people have been excuted in the US in the last 50 years and how many times has facts turned up afterwards to prove innocence??? you make it sound like they are excuting innocent people all the time. I'm not saying it doesn't happen but i doubt the CSI teams across the country are getting innocent people out of jail on a weekly basis. This Georgia man is the 164th person to be freed from prison. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10384331/from/RS.4/ DNA tests clear Georgia inmate of rape charges Judge frees him after nearly 25 years in prison spent denying his guilt Updated: 5:03 p.m. ET Dec. 8, 2005 ATLANTA - A judge Thursday freed an inmate whose claims of innocence in a kidnapping and rape went unheeded for nearly a quarter of a century, until DNA evidence proved him right. At the end of the 15-minute hearing where Robert Clark was finally granted his freedom, his attorney Peter Neufeld patted him on the back and said, “You’re free to go, fella.” A smiling Clark hugged and kissed family members, repeatedly saying, “I told you. I told you.” Clark’s mother died and his children grew up and had families of their own while he sat in prison for a 1981 attack on an Atlanta woman. His lawyers said DNA from another man matches not only that rape, but two others that were committed later. “This is a truly horrific case,” said Vanessa Potkin, an attorney for the Innocence Project, a legal clinic co-directed by Neufeld. “While Robert Clark was wrongfully convicted, it appears the true perpetrator of this crime was out there harming women and children.” Mistaken identity Clark, 45, was convicted and sentenced to life plus 20 years after a woman identified him as the man who carjacked her at gunpoint from outside an Atlanta Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant and raped her repeatedly. But recent DNA tests showed that Clark did not commit the crime. Tests against state and federal DNA databases of convicts matched samples from the rape to Clark’s friend Floyd Antonio “Tony” Arnold. Cobb County prosecutors, who originally convicted Clark, are looking into whether to seek charges against Arnold, spokeswoman Kathy Watkins said. Arnold had convictions for sodomy and illegal gun possession when the rape took place. He is in prison for cruelty to children and is scheduled to be released Jan. 31. A search by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation revealed that Arnold’s DNA matched two other unsolved Atlanta area rape cases in 2003, Potkin said. Arnold has not been charged with either crime. Clark became the 164th person in the nation and the fifth in Georgia to be freed through post-conviction DNA testing, according to Potkin. Neufeld said an Atlanta law firm has volunteered to look into financial compensation for Clark. Earlier this year, the Georgia Legislature approved $1 million for Clarence Harrison, who spent nearly 18 years in prison before DNA evidence cleared him of rape. A family Christmas Clark’s son, Rodrickus, said he and other family members looked forward to celebrating his father’s freedom. “He always told me he was innocent. I believed in what he said,” he said. “We can’t make up for lost time. I guess we’ve just got to go on. We want to go fishing together, take a nice fishing trip.” Clark said he is not sure what his long-term plans are, but he is looking forward to his first family Christmas in years. “I won’t be able to give them any gifts or anything, but I don’t think they’re worried about that,” he said. “They just want to have me home.”

= a slap on the hand. :headshake That judge is an idiot. http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/13375720.htm Child-molesting priest gets probation By THERESA CONROY [email protected] The sins of the father were forgiven - and almost forgotten - yesterday. The Rev. James Behan, the area's only Catholic priest convicted in the church's sex scandal, had faced up to 25 years in a state penitentiary for repeatedly abusing a North Catholic High School student for two years in the late 1970s. He was sentenced to just 12 years' probation. The prosecutor asked that the molesting priest be sent to prison for 11 to 22 years. The defense attorney wanted him set free to return to his duties of changing "soiled diapers" and cleaning bathrooms for elderly priests. The family of victim Martin Donohoe accused the judge of basing her ruling on emotion, not law. District Attorney Lynne Abraham said she was "appalled and disappointed" by the light sentence. "This is a sad day for Mr. Donohoe and for all victims of sexual abuse," Abraham said in a statement. Common Pleas Judge Pamela Dembe - who cried openly during the hearing - apologized several times because, "I cannot tell you I am doing the right thing." She explained that she determined the priest's punishment by weighing the bad he did against the good. The good won out. "Where I get stuck in this case is that I don't know how to balance one very terrible violation... against 30 years that followed," Dembe said. "At the bottom, it comes down to, on the one hand, a man who has done something terrible... against someone who is universally described as gentle, humorous, humble, thoughtful, Godly, attentive," she said. Dembe said she had read more than 325 letters written by supporters who cited example after example of compassionate, good works performed by Behan in the years since he abused 15-year-old Donohoe. Many of the priest's supporters, former parishioners from Wilmington, N.C., rode through a snowstorm to attend the hearing. Some of them also wept throughout the proceeding. Several addressed the judge by listing ways Behan had supported them during family deaths, miscarriages, illnesses, divorces and parenting problems. One woman said he even guided her back to the church. They all begged for leniency. "He touched many lives in a positive way," former parishioner Carol Cholette reasoned. But he touched one life in a horrifying way. In a moving statement, Donohoe, now 42, detailed the gut-wrenching effects Behan's abuse has had on his life. "As a result of Jim Behan's abuse of me, I put up an invisible barrier with my nieces and nephews," he said. "I wanted to prove that I'm not a child molester due to my own molestation. "This is how I am with teens and kids: stern, strict," he continued. "I am severely inhibited regarding my own sexuality. I wanted to become a priest at one time in my life... then I entered North Catholic High School and my optimism was shattered." Still, Donohoe was able to forgive Behan. "I just hope that someday you're going to have a new life and this is starting new now, and I wish you the best and I have to tell you something: I do forgive you for what you admitted here," he said. "I do forgive you." Behan, 60, and a member of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, pleaded guilty in February to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and corrupting the morals of a minor. He admitted to performing oral sex on Donohoe inside his rectory and abusing him inside a Germantown church. Yesterday, the sex offender turned to face his victim and - finally - apologized. "I say it to Marty today, and I say it daily before the Lord as I pray for Marty: I am sorry," Behan said. Donohoe was too upset to talk to reporters after the sentencing, but his brother, Gene Donohoe, delivered the family's blunt message: "I think the judge ruled with her heart and not by the law," he said. "We're surprised by the decision."

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Dec 12, 2005 -> 11:48 AM) Dont even get me started on those guys. A lot of these clowns should be right next to Tookie. You meant to say all...

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Dec 12, 2005 -> 11:43 AM) I agree with what you're saying about trying to help out these communities economically. Maybe if the money we wasted on the failure that is the welfare state in this country had been better spent we wouldn't have these problems. The person that figures this out will truly be worthy of the NPP.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Dec 12, 2005 -> 11:25 AM) Save rehabilitation for people who commit less serious crimes who actually have a chance to be productive. Yea.. like child molesting Priests.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Dec 12, 2005 -> 11:01 AM) I will fully agree with you on that point. But here's the question...does the fact that the government has screwed up in places before (Illinois and Texas obviously come to mind) mean that it is enevitable that the government will screw up no matter what safeguards are in place, or is it possible for the government to actually design a system that actually does "Get it right"? No. Did I imply that? If I did, that was not my intent.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Dec 12, 2005 -> 10:56 AM) she probably did. but i don't know for sure, i just like making fun of her. And yes, there are a lot of people claiming he is innocent and that "Tookie" was the victim of a racist conspiracy. For some reason, I doubt she used that word. Anyhoo.. is anyone familiar enough with the case to know if there are questions of his guilt?

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Dec 12, 2005 -> 10:54 AM) Let me cite for you a powerful statistic to support this fact: No need. Right now I don't give a s*** about this bs. Just stating a fact that the g'ment has effed up in the past.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Dec 12, 2005 -> 10:49 AM) c'mon guys, Bett Midler says he's innocent... thats enough for me. FREE TOOKIE! Quickly, if possible, is there any doubt of his guilt/innocence? Secondly.. did she say innocent...?

HB Mike.

QUOTE(LowerCaseRepublican @ Dec 12, 2005 -> 10:15 AM) Occassionally the state just misses and executes an innocent person. Or, by some miracle, retests the evidence and finds that the wrong person has been in jail for years and years.. The system is not free from errors. I don't know enough on this case to have an opinion from that view.

I would give Joey perfect health.

First.. thank you to those of you that sent me emails and text messages over the weekend. I'm sorry I didn't get to them faster. Joey was mainly stable all weekend. The bleeding stopped from the silo, and most of his "guts" have fallen back into his body. There's about an inch and a half still out.. from about 7 inches, that is a miracle. He's been off the ECMO machine for almost 24 hours. They had to take him off to get the Heperan (sp?), a blood thinner, out of his system because today he has to have another surgery to put the perm patch on the hernia tear, and attempt to place the rest of his "guts" in his belly and close the hole in his body. There is a risk of him "bleeding out" on the thinner. Hopefully he's been off of it long enough. They say he has.. but I can't help but question. Not much else to do but pray and ask questions. He is also still being assisted with his breathing. They say he'll continue to be for a few more weeks. Surgery is at 1pm today.

Joey's silo (the thing holding his "guts") started bleeding and he had to have another surgery. When they went in they found that they hernia repair had busted and had to redo that. The second repair was a success, but he's back in the coma state, but stable. 1 step forward... 3 steps back. Although it proves that he's got a lot more fight in him that we all thought. On my way back to the hospital. The longest 3 days of my life...

QUOTE(AddisonStSox @ Dec 8, 2005 -> 11:45 AM) If you'll remember, I started a thread asking to collect to upgrade Harris' plane ticket from coach to first class upon his being sent down to Charlotte. I'll pitch in a five spot. $20 from me..

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Dec 8, 2005 -> 08:51 AM) Having been through the expenses of a wedding, I am surprised no one has mentioned how much cheaper it is... The church would have been more expensive. The "mandatory donation" and all.. :rolly

QUOTE(sox4lifeinPA @ Dec 7, 2005 -> 06:18 PM) Why do people feel it's necessary to get married in a church? I know not everyone does, but i would expect the majority does. It's odd that some people don't go to church, but want to get married there. a little help? We didn't. Did it in a Country Club. Way easier in terms of planning and reception. It was "one stop" for the event. And cheaper then having 2 venues.

Some positives.. he's still on the ECMO machine (basically heart lung bypass) and will be for several weeks at early estimate. He had a quiet night and they lightened his dose of the medication that makes him coma like. After a few hours he opened his eyes to noise which was amazing. And he reacted to his foot being tickled. Important news in that it means his brain knows what to do in response to simple sitmuli. His "guts" have made progress "falling" back into his belly. About half has gone back in - they told us it could take as long as 5 to 7 days - so that was encouraging to see. Still a very long road, and being on the ECMO gives a very false sense of security since it's doing all the work. But that he's even responding at all after what's happened is definitely great news. Thank you guys for letting me share and Jim and I appreciate the well wishes and prayers greatly.

I'm sad, so very sad, to say thaty Joey has taken a giant step backwards. On the way into surgery he went into arrest. They think that his liver pushed up past the hernia and pushed on his poor little heart, stopping it. They were unable to revive him for near 20 minutes, packed in ice... fighting for his innocent little life. Finally they revived him and rushed him into the surgery. When they opened him they found that his stomach area was too small for the repair and he has a little "baggie" on the outside of his body housing the intestines. They hope as he grows they will "go back in where they belong". As of now he is on total life support, and sadly they are unable to tell at this point if he has suffered any brain damage. Why... I have said that a million times the past 24 hours. What did this little innocent boy do to deserve this. Rhetorical... but I can't stop asking. I'm picking up some things and heading back to the hospital. Thanks for "listening" to me. It helps to get it out.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/07/airplane.gunshot/index.html American Airlines Flight 924 was in Miami on a stopover during a flight from Medellin, Colombia, to Orlando, Florida, when the man, idenitified as Rigoberto Alpizar, said there was a bomb in his carry-on luggage Alpizar was confronted by a team of federal air marshals, who followed him down the boarding bridge and ordered him to get on the ground, the official said Alpizar had boarded the plane in Colombia, Air Marshal Service spokesman Dave Adams said. After he got off the plane in Miami and went through customs, he got back on the plane and said he had a bomb, Adams said. Air marshals asked him to get off the plane, which he did, but when they asked him to put his bag down, he refused, Adams said. Alpizar then approached the marshals in an aggressive manner, at which point two or three shots were fired, he said. Sounds like the guy had every opportunity to give up the bag.

QUOTE(Queen Prawn @ Dec 6, 2005 -> 08:46 PM) Combo of Johnny B and 93.9. Yesterday morning on Johnny B do you recall a caller claiming he was an "outfit" (mob) limo driver..?

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Dec 7, 2005 -> 03:35 PM) Even with it being called "the White House" Christmas card the RNC pays for it? Yep. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...5113002539.html "It's only Dec. 1, and George and Laura Bush already have mailed their Christmas cards, which are arriving in the homes of 1.4 million friends, friends of friends, non-friends who might become friends, friends from elections past and dignitaries in 200 countries. Artist Jamie Wyeth, son of Andrew, depicted a snow-covered White House South Portico with the Jackson magnolia tree and first pets Barney , Miss Beazley and India Bush on the grounds. The Republican National Committee is picking up the tab for the cards, but a spokesman wouldn't tell us the cost. We'll just have to wait for the Federal Election Commission filing, which spreads our Christmas cheer into the New Year."

CNN is reporting Federal Air Marshalls fired on a passenger. Edit... Not ON the place.. on the jetway.

QUOTE(spataro51 @ Dec 6, 2005 -> 04:15 PM) it should be about 24 hrs. Try 24 days..

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Dec 7, 2005 -> 01:37 PM) Oh Good God. I knew this was coming. Goose.. gander.