2009: Crime In Review

 by Robin Sax 

It’s that time again — the very end of the year.  In addition to looking to the future (charting goals and resolutions), this is a chance for us to reflect upon 2009 and learn.  Blogs, TV shows, newspapers and magazines are looking at the year: the good and the bad, the trends and the hook-ups, the births and the deaths. From my perspective, this is an opportune time to examine the top crime stories of 2009.  After perusing dozens of media outlets, I’d like to remind you specifically of 12 crime stories -- one for every juror on a panel -- from 2009, in no particular order. Some represent justice, truth, and closure; others illustrate injustice, missed opportunities, and evil. These stories affected us all, directly or indirectly:

1.     Roman Polanski reignited: This case is about more than just the facts of Polanski’s offenses (which are indeed major). Polanski stole time, resources, and energy from the State of California for years, actually, decades. He accepted no responsibility for his actions, nor for the deal he chose to strike.  The best case would be for Polanski to come back and face a California judge, take his medicine, and receive the same sentence he bargained for in the first place (assuming the LA District Attorney). We're all fascinated by a man who lived freely for three decades, suffering no consequences for leaving the country to escape the law. So, man up Polanski!  Not just privately; teach your Hollywood buddies a lesson too!  Teach them not to blame the victim, not to minimize the damages caused by sexual assault; and not to deny the realities of the crime.  Tell Whoopi that you committed real rape, and you are finally going to take real responsibility! Once you do, we can all move on in 2010.

2.     Jaycee Duggard found:  Don’t get me wrong; this case represents one of the great outcomes in the criminal justice system!  And a big fat shout-out to Berkeley Events Manager Lisa Campbell and Berkeley Police Officer Ally Jacobs for not missing opportunities as the California Department of Corrections and the Contra Costa Police had done so many times before. This case may be the first time we heard law enforcement actually call it like it was -- a case of “missed opportunities.”  Missed opportunities no longer!  Nancy Garrido, wife of Phillip Garrido, may be the real monster in the 1991 abduction of 11-year-old Jaycee Duggard. True, her husband, Phillip Garrido, is a horrific figure who kidnapped Jaycee and held her captive for 18 years. Garrido, a registered sex offender, kept Jaycee (and her two kids, fathered by him) in a tent in the backyard. But Nancy Garrido knew and said nothing. Jaycee was returned to her family in September. What did we learn? We need to take a closer look at the way we use registered sex-offender lists and, perhaps more importantly, how we monitor sex offenders all the way around. 

3.     Balloon Boy takes off:  I hate to give this case any more attention, but it represents so much of the decade that I have to mention it. The balloon boy case illustrates the worst of media and the most pathetic things people will do to exploit it. I was shocked that so many news stations (almost all of them!) covered this loose-balloon chase with such intensity.  I mean, it was surreal -- a giant Chef Boyardee cap sweeping the skies and Wolf Blitzer in The Situation Room tracking trajectories of falling balloons.  Why was it so popular? Because TMZ rules the media these days, and our society can't get enough of this type of buzz. It looked like traditional news outlets were trying, for once, to trump TMZ. (Get over it, TMZ rules!) The silver lining: at least mom and dad Heene pled guilty and were sentenced expeditiously.  I have never seen justice take off so fast…. a lot faster than it would have taken to get a real television show made.  

4.     Two tragic massacres -- Fort Hood and The Tacoma police murders: Nidal Malik Hasan and Maurice Clemmons both committed terrible acts of violence when they carried out their (unrelated) massacres. One similarity: both Hasan and Clemmons targeted official personnel in their shooting rampages, Hasan on a military base and Clemmons at police officers. Hasan, a 39-year-old military psychiatrist, was never suspected as being capable of massacre. Similarly, Clemmons, a 37-year-old parolee, got a second chance to live out in society precisely because he wasn’t seen as a threat. Clemmons was granted clemency by then-Gov. Mike Huckabee – putting forth the case (successfully) that he was rehabilitated.  Obviously, those around both Hasan and Clemmons got it wrong; they didn't see that either man was a violent sociopath. What can we learn from these tragedies? I honestly don’t think there is an answer here. This type of senseless violence occurs more often than any of us care to review. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the victims. We also pray and hope that this type of crime doesn’t make the list in 2010. 

5.     Annie Le found dead: We were all horrified when Annie Le was found dead inside the wall of a research lab on the day she was supposed to be married. Lab technician Raymond Clark was arrested and charged with her murder. Investigators zeroed in on Clark early in the investigation after he failed a lie detector test and was found to have defensive wounds on his body, scratches on his arms and back and a bruised eye. In addition, his attempts to clean up the crime scene (where Le was last) and DNA evidence led to his arrest.  We were reminded, yet again, that even the guy-next-door-type can be capable of murder.

6.     Cherish Lewis still in jail: The case of Cherish hasn't made headline news. It stands for all such worthy cases that don't get national media attention. Cherish is the mother of five-year-old Jaelyn Rice. An Ohio judge ordered Cherish to hand her child over to an abusive father. When Cherish refused, she was jailed. Her child is in hiding with relatives, and the predator-father is free. This is a case of true injustice where the system got it totally wrong. I highlight these types of unknown important cases as a co-host on radio show "Justice Interrupted" (with Stacy Dittrich), which will be relaunching next month. Find out more at www.justiceinterrupted.com

7.     Amanda Knox convicted of murder: The conviction of this American student for the murder of her British roommate sent ripples of shock and scrutiny across the U.S. media waves. I can't say Amanda didn't do it, based on what I saw of the evidence presented; none of us can say for sure what happened that night. I can say this though: I don't think Amanda would have been convicted of murder if she were tried for the same crime in the United States. I believe this case raises a very important issue: American students traveling abroad for international education should be afforded some protections. There was clearly some questionable prosecutorial conduct in this case. But since the U.S. lacked jurisdiction, diplomats could do nothing once the sentence was handed down. I don't believe that's fair. We should learn from this case to help prevent further miscarriages of justice in future international trials. 

8.     Shaniya Davis sold for sex: Little Shaniya was sold by her mother and ended up dead. I applaud the prosecutors in the Davis case for calling this crime what it is: human trafficking, and not labeling it just another case of sexual assault and murder. There is true evil out there, unfortunately, and this case is an example of what an evil, desperate mother can do to her own child. We need to get the word out that human trafficking for sex is a problem not just in Thailand or Cambodia, but right here at home in North Carolina and other states. 

9.     Chris Brown’s attack: Rihanna’s battered face hitting TMZ was a huge moment this year. Many people in this country still believe that domestic violence isn’t prevalent anymore. Well, this case reminded us all that it's still around and can and does affect everyone. I believe that while Brown got special treatment as a rap-music superstar, he was forthright in taking responsibility for his crime and at least reminded us that we need to pay attention to domestic violence. Brown pled to a felony, and he suffered some public humiliation. I think Brown got a little better deal than what he would have if the case had gone to trial -- but that's the nature of a plea deal. The real big shocker was when Rihanna went back to him! She really let down thousands of female fans who counted on her to behave as a role model after the attack. While the crimes de jour may change from year to year, we must remember that we still have a long way to go to stem violence against our loved ones.  

10.  Michael Jackson’s death: Dr. Conrad Murray is the sideshow to this final Michael Jackson explosive controversy.  It seemed as though the world stopped for a bit when news of Jackson’s death hit the airwaves in June.  Jackson’s Facebook page jumped from 800,000 fans to 7 million the week following the self-proclaimed King of Pop’s passing.  But the controversy over Jackson's doctor still rages. I know we'll be hearing a lot more about this one in 2010. Murray probably will be charged early next year after prosecutors present their case to a grand jury. I don’t think L.A. wants to lose another celebrity trial. Dr. Murray will probably be charged with involuntary manslaughter. Right now Jackson's death is being treated as a homicide investigation (simply because homicide investigators handle cases in which the victim died in the presence of another person – in this case Conrad Murray).  Thousands of media outlets will continue to follow this case. Get ready L.A.!

11.   Anthony Sowell’s rampage: This Cleveland rapist, if convicted, is the perpetrator of one of the most gruesome series of crimes in recent history. He lived in a townhouse duplex filled with the rotting bodies of women he had raped and strangled to death. Police found bodies in upstairs bedrooms, the living room, a crawl space, a shallow grave in the backyard and another grave in the basement. There were at least 11 victims.  The real question in this unspeakable case: neighbors and officials who did nothing about the horrendous smell wafting from the home. Neighbors knew something was off about Sowell. Some said he reeked so terribly himself that their eyes would water. City officials who inspected the street blamed the smell on backed up sewers or Ray's Sausage Company, housed in an adjacent building. Had the signs been heeded earlier -- among them Sowell’s strange behavior and the stench coming from his house -- perhaps some of the women might have been saved and more deaths prevented. This is a cautionary tale (a gruesome one) for us all to pay attention to our surroundings, follow our instincts, and report and pursue strange things -- even odors -- that seem out-of-place.

12.  Bernie Madoff’s scheme exposed: Madoff ran the largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history. He cheated thousands of investors of some $50 billion. The federal government exposed the scheme in December ’08. Madoff pled guilty to 11 felony counts in March of  ’09, making him the highest profile white-collar criminal in recent memory. Madoff's scheme wiped out dozens of charities and the life savings of entire families; he totally ruined many innocent lives. Madoff wants everyone to believe he was the only one who knew of the fraud. That's hard to believe, since his brother, two sons, niece, and other family members held high-level positions in the firm. Now the 70-year-old will spend the rest of his life in prison. The Madoff scandal seemed to be at the epicenter of the economic meltdown and will undoubtedly shake the financial community for years to come. 

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Apology Not Accepted

by WCI Intern Cassie Nelson

For those of you who have been hiding under a rock or perhaps just returned from a space shuttle voyage, here's the latest Hollywood News: Chris Brown has issued a very public apology for abusing Rihanna in February 2008. He issued the apology in a video released via the Internet. Although he seemed sincere and aware his acts were wrong, I don’t believe he should be forgiven, and if forgiven, not so easily.

As a 17-year-old high school student in a frightening world of ceaseless dangers, I don’t believe individuals should be so easily forgiven solely because they apologized. Once upon a time, heroes were doctors, firefighters, soldiers, and police who lived and worked to save others. It's amazing how so much has changed in so little time. Now our heroes are performers, athletes, and models, who contribute nothing to the world besides exposing talents they were born with, such as outstanding voices, physical strength, height or agility, or beautiful faces and bodies.

An apology issued five months after the incident and coincidentally near the time of Brown’s sentencing makes me curious. Was Brown's apology spurred by true regret for his actions or to gain sympathy in hopes of reducing his sentence?

Everyday I watch as my friends obsess and fantasize about celebrities. It makes me angry that they are so blind-sided by looks and talent that they don’t see that they are praising celebrities who have done horrible things.

I don’t doubt Brown is sorry for what he has done, nor that he wishes each and every day that he hadn’t done it. But that doesn’t make physical abuse OK. Another example of the public's willingness to ignore or forget celebrity misdeeds: the incredible outpouring of love and admiration for Michael Jackson after his death, with few mentions of the many allegations of child abuse directed at the pop star during his life.

While interning with Robin Sax, a former prosecutor of sex crimes, I noticed that when she appeared on top news shows, ranging from the Today Show and ABC News to TV Guide News, she was asked who could be responsible for Michael Jackson’s death. She wasn't asked about the past allegations of sexual abuse. This makes me wonder if death or an apology makes wrongdoing too easily forgiven. People in the pubic eye apologize for all sorts of acts, crimes, and even accidents. An apology is a first step, only that. It doesn’t mean that Chris Brown will never abuse Rihanna or anyone else again.

Our society places too much emphasis on apologies and gives celebrities too much leeway. Saying one is sorry doesn’t make abuse ok, and dying shouldn’t erase allegations of sexual assault. Chris Brown should not be forgiven and his career should not be advanced because of a mere apology.

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Lies and No Consequences

by Pat Brown

I know most of us are pretty sick of Chris Brown from his previous denial of "I didn't hit the bitch" (paraphrased) to his full confession "I am so sorry I didn't act quite right with that lovely lady" (paraphrased). "I know I lied to you and the courts when I said I didn't do it, but, now that I got my plea deal sealed and don't have to pay for my sins (hehe...community service is a pretty fine publicity gig for me), now I will tell you the truth and you will go out and by my records again." (paraphrased).

Really, I don't care much what Chris Brown says. He's not my man, never going to be my man, and any woman who considers making him her man can't say she wasn't aware of his violent nature and his attitude toward women. But, I am quite appalled by the multitude of defense lawyers who came forth and publicly stated that Chris Brown waited so long to fess up because telling the truth earlier would have damaged his defense. He might have gone to jail if he admitted his guilt.

Now, I know this is apparently how the criminal justice system presently functions in the United States. But, it sickens me. These attorneys are saying they are telling their clients to blatantly lie, commit perjury in my book, by saying they are not guilty when, in fact, they are. If that lawyer gets up in court and says, "My client is not guilty," when he knows damn well he is because he client has told him exactly what he has done, than that lawyer is committing perjury as well. Oh I know it's the way the game is legally played but legal doesn't make it right.

Whatever happened to the concept in this country that guilty people ought to man up and accept responsibility for their crimes? What happened to the idea that they should do their time because they deserve to do their time? The legal defense system was put in place to prevent innocent people from being railroaded by an overzealous government or to stop one group of people from persecuting an innocent person of another group just because they don't like their skin color, sex, lifestyle, or religion. The criminal justice system was not intended to provide the guilty with a thousand avenues to get off unpunished. The justice system is supposed to provide a responsible and fair way to punish the guilty and protect the innocent. It was not intended to pervert justice and exempt the Chris Browns of the world from doing time for a crime any fool with an IQ over 50 knows they committed.

So there we have Chris Brown caught red-handed and he says, "Not guilty."

We give him a break and he gets a slap on the wrist. Now he says, "Guilty," but don't call me a big, fat liar just because I pleaded not guilty in court and then guilty a little later when I got my sweet deal" (paraphrased).

Telling the truth seems to now be a situational behavior, especially for defendants and their lawyers. Perjury is rampant so I guess lying to the court is no longer a crime. If lying to a court of law isn't a crime, how can lying to the public be a crime? Why should cheating in school be a crime? (It hardly is any more either). Why should lying to your constituents be a crime? (Bill did it; Mark did it). Why should lying to your mate be wrong? (Bill did it; Mark did it). Why should the truth matter at all? Maybe it doesn't any more.

I have read arguments for our bizarre system of pleading guilty or not guilty. The legal explanation is that pleading "not guilty" actually doesn't mean you are saying you are not guilty or that you are innocent; it simply means you are requesting a trial. For most of us who have had little experience inside a court and only have dealt with speeding tickets, we think that pleading guilty means we did do it and we will pay the fine, pleading not guilty means we think the cop was wrong, and pleading guilty with explanation means we understand that technically we committed the act but there was a valid and excusable reason why we did so (like running a red light because one is racing a heart attack victim to the emergency room). These three pleas are pretty clear and any honorable citizen shouldn't be saying "Not Guilty" just because he hopes the police officer won't make it to court that day so he can get out of the fine he deserves.

But, outside of traffic court, pleading guilty is hardly ever done because most criminals won't do so unless they get a good plea deal. Most people who plead not guilty are, in fact, guilty as hell. But, this doesn't matter because pleading not guilty is said to be a code phrase for "I want a trial and I want the court to prove me guilty."

What does this truly mean? The guilty get all the advantages and the innocent all the disadvantages. Here is how it works:

Guilty guy gets the option of pleading not guilty and going to trial or accepting a plea deal. The worst he can get is what he deserves (if found guilty in court) and the best he can get is to get off scot free (if the prosecution fails to provide enough evidence of his guilt or the defense can confuse the jury enough to let him off.) If guilty guy doesn't want to roll the dice in court, he can accept a plea deal and get less than he deserves.

The innocent guy, on the other hand is screwed. He can go to trial and be found guilty in spite of his innocence or he can accept a plea deal if he is too afraid of leaving his fate in the hands of an uneducated jury and get a lesser punishment for a crime he never committed (and a criminal record to boot).

And what of the matter of asking people to be liars? Is there not any ethical and moral concern about this? I don't care how many times lawyers and judges insist that pleading not guilty does not mean you are saying you are not guilty...the words are "Not guilty" and they mean "Not guilty." Why can't the court change the verbiage to "Request for trial"? Why do they insist on using specific words and then telling us to pretend they don't mean what they mean?

It is clear to me that honesty is not the policy of the court and obfuscating is acceptable.

I took my son to traffic court with me once to show him how our court system works. He sure got a lesson that day. I had gotten nailed in a very unfair speed trap. On a six lane road with no residential areas to the sides, I came down a steep hill. From where I turned onto the road I had seen no speed limits. Common sense would tell you the speed limit should be forty or fifty miles an hour. As I had just pulled onto the road out of a parking lot, I wasn't even going that fast. But as I came down the hill the car automatically picked up speed. Right at the bottom of the hill was the cop car with the radar. I was pulled over and charged with reckless driving, going fifty in a twenty-five mile zone! I was floored.

So, I went to court where I was going to plead guilty with explanation and protest what was clearly an unfair trap. When I arrived at the courthouse, there was a huge line of people; this county in Virginia - Arlington County - was known for its speed traps. We were told not to go into the courtroom but stay in the line. The line snaked into a side room where a table of district attorneys sat. Each person was to show the ticket to the lawyer and then he would make recommendations.

I stepped up to the attorney and presented the ticket. He laughed and said, "Yeah, that is the worst trap in the county! You can't get down to twenty-five on that hill unless you know beforehand the radar is at the bottom and you stand on your brake the whole way down." Then he offered me a plea deal. Plead guilty to going forty miles an hour, pay the lower fine, and I would not get points on my record.

"But I wasn't going forty," I told him. "I was going fifty. Are you telling me to lie to the court? Isn't that perjury?"

He became annoyed with me, rolling his eyes. "Take your pick, lady. Plead to forty or go piss off the judge."

I took my seat in the courtroom. I pissed off the judge. I got the higher fine and points.

What kind of court actually tells a citizen to commit perjury? An American court. Honest people get punished and Chris Brown goes on a holiday. Truth is mocked and lies are honored. This is a criminal justice system? It may be but it needs desperately to be fixed

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Dating Violence That Doesn't Have To Happen

by Diane Dimond

Since when is it okay for your date to scream at you, punch you with a closed fist, bite you, or pull out clumps of your hair? Whoever said it was acceptable to obsessively harangue a date via the Internet or cell phone texting? I'm thinking it is, like, NEVER, EVER okay for anyone to do that to another human being, but apparently not all young people agree with me.

Headlines about a pair of dynamic young singers, Chris Brown and his girlfriend Rihanna (pictured above), and their out-of-control behavior sent shivers down my spine. It seems that every day we learn a little bit more about what happened to leave the beautiful Rihanna bruised and bloodied.

Both these young stars were supposed to appear at the recent Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. Neither made it. On the night before the ceremony Rihanna was found by police in an expensive sports car outside a pre-Grammy party. By all reports she was crying, bruised all over her face, bleeding from her nose and a split lip and she had bite marks on several areas of her body. It wasn’t long before her 19-year-old boyfriend, Chris Brown, had lawyered up and turned himself in to local police.

We now learn this celebrity couple had been fighting for many days leading up to the Grammy telecast. They’d been seen at a nightclub furiously screaming expletives at each other while a gaggle of record executives (read: Adults) stood around and did nothing.

As a postscript: Chris Brown issued a mealy mouthed, semi-apology a couple of days later saying he was "saddened" by what happened, but without ever even mentioning Rihanna's name. Did he think the matter should just go away because he apologized? If so, Brown is no better than the serial batterer who keeps telling the spouse, "Gee, honey, I love you. That will never happen again!" Frankly, I was glad to see that two of Brown's big-time endorsement deals (Wrigley's gum and the "Got Milk?" campaign) were pulled after his arrest on assault charges. The investigation, by the way, continues. I wonder if we'll ever see the famous (infamous) Chris Brown in court?

According to battered women's groups that follow such things, reports of dating violence are up nationwide these days. The New York Times reports that serious and permanent injuries, sometimes even death, have been the result more and more often. I wonder if adults are doing enough to counter-balance the explosive celebrity antics our young people see and read about nearly every day. Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Courtney Love, Christian Bale, Dennis Rodman, Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston–all involved in tabloid scream fests and physical confrontations. Do our young people think these kinds of relationships are cool? They can’t possibly mistake violent and abusive behavior for true love, can they?

Several states are stepping up to educate kids who are tethered to the Internet and cell phones in a way that makes harassment so much easier than when we were young and dating. In Texas, where two young girls were murdered by angry boyfriends—one by stabbing, the other by shooting—the school district was ordered to set a strict standard of what constitutes dating violence. In Rhode Island, after 23-year-old Lindsay Anne Burke (pictured left) had her throat slashed by her boyfriend with whom she’d had a “tumultuous two year long relationship,” the state passed a law mandating classes on dating violence for middle and high school students. Indianapolis now trains public school officials to recognize the early signs of abuse following the stabbing and dismemberment of Heather Norris by her boyfriend. In New York City, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene revealed dating violence (or the reports of it) has gone up 40% since 1999.

And its not just abuse by young men against young women. The bullying, verbal abuse, and physical violence works both ways. It happens when one of the people in a relationship has a fundamental lack of self-esteem, a feeling deep within that this is all they are ever going to get, all they deserve. As with an addiction they keep going back for more and more.

My husband and I once took into our home a woman and her two young sons who were fleeing constant domestic abuse. We helped this forty-something-year-old mother relocate, get a job, some state aid, and get her children into new schools. She was about to move from our place into her own apartment–a first for her. Then, one day we came home and she was gone, returned to the husband who’d beaten her for years. She left us a short note saying, in effect, she knew no other life.

Well, we can help make sure the new generation of young people never thinks like that. Our sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, our grandchildren need to know they are valued human beings who always deserve respect. THEY DON’T HAVE TO SETTLE FOR "LOVE" DISGUISED AS ABUSE. That's what Lindsay Anne Burke settled for, and the so-called "love of her life" murdered her.

The National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline cites a study that found 1 in 5 teenagers say they’ve been physically threatened by someone with whom they are in a serious relationship. At their Web site www.Loveisrespect.org there is a great teaching tool. It’s a list daters can reference to judge the health of their relationships. Sit down with the young person in your life and go over it with them. Does your boyfriend/girlfriend act jealous, put you down, text you excessively, threaten to kill or hurt you or themselves if you leave, try to stop you from talking to family and friends, force sex or hit, slap, or push you?

Whenever I see media coverage of some celebrity couple’s fight, first, I wonder if it’s really true. Maybe it’s a PR fabrication designed to get some media coverage. But isn't that a sick, twisted way to get some attention? In Rihanna's case, when you’re found outside in the dark, bleeding and bitten, that’s no game. For her it would seem its long past the time to learn some self respect and move on. I saw a headline on a supermarket tabloid the other day which supposedly quoted Rihanna: “But I Still Love Him!” Ugh. I hope that’s not true.

Violence at the hands of another is not cool, it never will be! It’s dangerous and self-destructive. Our kids should learn that—from us—before it’s too late.

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Rihanna and Chris Brown Find Women in Crime Ink

Women in Crime Ink’s Susan Murphy-Milano found herself in the thick of the Rihanna/Chris Brown fiasco when she was quoted in over a dozen news and media pieces, including Associated Press, People magazine, and TMZ.com, regarding the domestic violence incident involving the two high-profile entertainers. Murphy-Milano, a violence expert and victim’s advocate, was contacted extensively about her knowledge of domestic violence victims.

The night before the Grammy Awards, Chris Brown allegedly assaulted his long-time girlfriend, pop-star Rihanna, after a pre-Grammy award show at mega-producer Clive Davis’s party. According to news reports, Brown allegedly received a text message that escalated the verbal altercation into a physical assault. Photographs of the pummeled pop-star Rihanna appeared on numerous Web sites this past Thursday, prompting a public outcry and an LAPD internal investigation. Women in Crime Ink declines to publish this photograph due to the nature of the crime.

Although under scrutiny by law enforcement and public opinion, Murphy-Milano does see a positive side to the violent incident, as told to the Associated Press.

"I think she could be a very important voice and a tool for other people," she said of Rihanna. "She could turn this around," Murphy-Milano said, and tell others, " 'Don't be me.' "

This story and others simply show that the contributors of Women in Crime Ink are clearly the experts in the criminal justice field.

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