April 26 FLORIDA: Prosecutors: Weston man killed wife over debts and lust She shopped at Publix, lunched at Pita King and ran her daughter to the doctor's office. In between, she talked on the telephone with relatives and visited an ATM machine to withdraw $20. But Maria Noguera's typical suburban day had one notable difference. It was her last. Prosecutors neared the end of their 1st-degree murder case against Noguera's husband, Maxwell McCord, with a detailed recount of her final hours on Aug 2, 2001. While Monday's testimony didn't link McCord directly to the killing, prosecutors and a detective worked hard to make it clear Noguera wasn't murdered by a stranger. Broward County Sheriff's Detective David Nicholson testified there were no signs of a struggle at the couple's Weston home where she was killed. He also said the house wasn't in disarray and it appeared nothing had been stolen. Prosecutors tried unsuccessfully to submit a chart showing someone staged the murder scene to make it look like a sexual assault. McCord is charged with strangling his wife. He is being held on bail and faces the death penalty if convicted. A popular Spanish teacher at Hollywood Hills High School, Noguera, 31, spent most of her final day on the telephone with relatives in Puerto Rico and running errands with her daughter, Andrea, then 3. McCord has said he, Noguera and Andrea went shopping that evening at the Broward Mall and got separated. When he couldn't find his wife or their car, McCord said he and Andrea returned home by taxi and found Noguera's body. Prosecutors argue that McCord killed his wife to dig out of mounting debts and to pursue his lust for other women. Nicholson testified McCord made several calls to illegal massage parlors two days before the killings, and Assistant State Attorney Brian Cavanaugh said 3 prostitutes have identified McCord as a customer. One self-described prostitute already has testified about McCord's frequent visits. During cross-examination, defense attorney Jeanne Baker and Nicholson clashed over the condition of the house. While Nicholson testified it was relatively untouched, Baker showed crime scene photos she said portrayed the house as ransacked. She contended that detectives deliberately downplayed the possibility the house was burglarized to build their case against McCord. But Nicholson countered, "I don't think that looks like any burglary that I've investigated. I would expect for the drawers to be pulled out and turned over if someone was really trying to find things [to steal]." The case is scheduled to continue this morning, with defense attorneys expected to call their 1st witnesses. (source: South Florida Sun Sentinel) LOUISIANA: Man faces execution in death of son Jurors in the trial of a man accused of killing his son in 2001 got their first details Monday about the tragic life and death of Kendrick Johnson. Shortly after Kendrick turned 3, his mother, Monica Johnson, allowed him to spend the Christmas holidays with his father, Elliot Joseph. Monica Johnson testified that her son left with Joseph 2 or 3 days before Christmas. The next time she saw her son, Johnson testified, he was on life support at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center. Joseph is on trial for first-degree murder in Kendricks death. If convicted as charged, he faces death by lethal injection or life in prison. Prosecutor Wick Cooper told jurors that Joseph committed 1st-degree murder because the victim was under the age of 12, which makes his killing punishable by the death penalty. Cooper said during his opening statement that Joseph beat Kendrick because the child, who was being potty trained at the time, had soiled himself. Cooper said that when doctors examined the boy on Jan. 4, 2001, he had bruises on his face, head, back, buttocks, arms, legs and hands. The child also had bruises to his brain and a brain stem hernia, he said. Cooper said Joseph has given inconsistent statements to police, and at one time, he tried to blame his 14-year-old brother-in-law for Kendricks injuries. The prosecutor told jurors that some of the wounds were less than two days old and all were less then 10 days old. Monica Johnson testified that Kendrick had no bruises when he left her to spend time with his father. The injuries that led to the childs death were not the first. About nine months earlier, Monica Johnson's boyfriend, Leico Cole, dumped Kendrick in a scalding tub of bathwater because he had soiled himself, Monica Johnson testified. Cole was convicted of cruelty to a juvenile and spent some time in Parish Prison, she said. Under questioning by defense attorney John Martin, Monica Johnson testified that, at the time she let her son leave with his father for the holidays, she had allowed Cole to live at her apartment after his release from prison. Cole was never alone with any of her children after his release, Monica Johnson testified, and said that her mother was staying with her and kept the children away from Cole. Much of what Monica Johnson told jurors conflicted with the testimony of Joseph's ex-wife, Latonya Joseph, who divorced her former husband last year. Latonya Joseph, who married Elliot Joseph about three months before Kendricks death, testified that she saw her husband discipline children, but never to the point of being abusive. She said that that on the day Kendrick was injured she was at work and went home after her husband called. She tried to revive the child, Latonya Joseph testified, but called 911 when he did not respond. While she was on the phone with a paramedic, Latonya Joseph said her husband left the house, but she's not sure where he went. She talked to her Elliot Joseph next when she called him while giving a statement to police. Latonya Joseph also testified that when Kendrick visited during the Christmas holidays, he already had scratches and bruises on his face, as well as bruises on his neck and legs. She also said that Kendrick didn't go to her house until after Christmas, and not before as Monica Johnson testified. Another defense attorney, Author Joiner, urged jurors in his opening statement not to decide the case based on sympathy because the victim was a child. Joiner told jurors that the defenses theory is that Kendrick died from injuries he suffered when he slipped while taking a bath. The trial is scheduled to continue today in state District Judge Lou Daniels court. (source: The Advocate) NORTH CAROLINA----television program THE RULES OF WAR Should a United States Marine face the death penalty for killings he committed in Iraq during wartime? Is the military making an example out of one of its own to show the world that it can police itself following the humiliations of Abu Ghraib? These 2 questions frame tonight's program -- a hard look at the rules of war. These facts are not in question: Marine 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano killed 2 unarmed Iraqis last April. The Marines are calling the killings premeditated murder, and today at Camp Lejeune, N.C., military prosecutors began presenting their case against Pantano. Pantano says his actions were done in self-defense. If he is found guilty in a court-martial, Pantano could face the death penalty. Many of us wonder what warfare is like -- killing, fear, life-and-death decisions. The accounts we read in newspapers or those we see on television never really show the depths or realities of war. Despite its ferocity, war has rules. Our military imposes rules on its soldiers; international laws and treaties outline how warring parties should behave. Pantano is one who knows Marine rules well. He served in the 1st Gulf War and re-enlisted as an officer following 9/11. He is well educated, well spoken, and capable. His defenders worry that if someone like him can run afoul of the rules of engagement, then average soldiers and Marines may run a greater risk of hesitating in life-and-death situations -- perhaps endangering themselves and fellow troops. Correspondent Mike Cerre, himself a former Marine and veteran of the Vietnam war, examines this complicated case. We hope you'll join us. (source: Phil Maravilla & the "Nightline" staff, Producer, ABC News New York Bureau) **************************** Colonel Testifies at Sergeant's Hearing An officer testifying in the court-martial of a sergeant who attacked his fellow soldiers with a rifle and grenades in Kuwait said he never dreamed his first casualties in the war would come at the hands of a comrade. Army Col. Ben Hodges testified Monday at a sentencing hearing for Sgt. Hasan Akbar, who was convicted last week in an attack at the start of the Iraq war, that left two soldiers dead and 14 wounded. Hodges commanded the 101st Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team and was among those wounded in Akbar's attack. He testified for the prosecution, which is seeking a death sentence for Akbar, 34. ''I never dreamed my first casualties would occur inside Camp Pennsylvania and they would be caused by one of my own soldiers," he said. After the prosecution and defense call their witnesses, the jury will then retire to its deliberation room a second time to ponder Akbar's sentence. He could face either life in prison or death. Hodges said Akbar's attack took out of action key personnel responsible for planning troop movements. He said that resulted in the brigade being slow to isolate the city of Najaf, allowing some Iraqi fighters to escape. "I lost 3 or 4 positions that were the worst possible ones we could have lost," Hodges said. 15 soldiers testified about their wounds -- physical and emotional -- in the March 2003 attack in Kuwait. The troops were getting ready to join in the invasion of Iraq, launched just days earlier. A wounded lieutenant colonel sobbed on the witness stand as he spoke of accompanying the 1-year-old son of a slain colleague, Capt. Christopher Seifert, on what is normally a father-son rite of passage. "I took Benjamin (Seifert) to get his hair cut," said Lt. Col. Kenneth Romaine, who was wounded in the hands and thigh by rifle bullets. Seifert, 27, and Air Force Maj. Gregory Stone, 40, were killed in the attack. 14 soldiers were wounded. Capt. Gregory Holden said he had shrapnel wounds in at least 13 parts of his body, including a bone-mangling wound to his left leg that required him to wear a brace for months. "There's not a day that goes by that I don't put my foot down without some sort of pain," he said. If he is sentenced to die, Akbar would become the sixth person on the military's death row. Capt. Mark Wisher, an Air Force liaison officer whose liver was lacerated and who still had shrapnel in an eye and near his heart, recalled looking at one victim and seeing "the fear in his eyes and the realization that he wasn't going to see his family again." Capt. Tony Jones said the attack made it harder for him to trust others in his own unit. "You expect stuff to come out of left field when you go to war, but nothing like this," Jones said. (source: Associated Press)
