Feb. 11
FLORIDA:
Jury votes in favor of death in double murder
A jury has recommended that a former MacDill Air Force Base sergeant should be
put to death for murdering his former lover and their 15-month-old son.
Pinellas County jurors voted 7-5 Friday in favor of the death penalty for
44-year-old Ralph Wright Jr. The panel found him guilty Thursday of 1st-degree
murder. A judge will make the final decision.
Prosecutors say Wright strangled 37-year-old Paula O'Conner at her St.
Petersburg home and smothered baby Alijah in his crib in July 2007.
O'Conner had been pressuring the married man to pay child support and help out
with Alijah's medical bills. She hired a private investigator, who tracked
Wright down and served him with a paternity suit a month before the murders.
Defense attorneys claimed DNA collected from a glove at the crime scene was
inconclusive.
(source: Bradenton Herald)
***************
Effort To Abolish Florida's Death Penalty Fails On Committee Vote
An effort to abolish the death penalty in Florida finally got a hearing last
week in a House committee after a three-year effort, but then quickly went down
to defeat.
The House Criminal Justice Subcommittee voted 9-4 against a bill (HB 4005) that
would have statutorily abolished the death penalty in the state.
But the rare vote to kill a bill in committee, rather than just bottling it up
never to be heard, gave death penalty opponents their 1st chance to extensively
argue for a repeal, following several years in which the measure's sponsor,
Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, has been unable to persuade Republican
leaders to put the bill before a committee.
Rehwinkel Vasilinda, D-Tallahassee, offered extensive praise for committee
chairman Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, for being willing to allow the
debate on the often divisive and emotional issue. Gaetz also had the committee
take testimony from a number of death penalty opponents, including a rabbi, a
university criminology professor and a woman whose daughter and grandson were
murdered but who has advocated against the death penalty.
The debate and vote on the bill preceded another discussion on potential flaws
in application of the death penalty, the beginning of a discussion that may
result in legislation later this year.
But Gaetz said that before debating whether to make the death penalty law
better, it only made sense to take up the "threshold question...of whether
Florida should even have the death penalty."
Rehwinkel Vasilinda said she was passionate about the notion that it should
not, citing the too high chance of executing someone who is innocent -
considering that 24 death row inmates have been exonerated. She also cited her
own personal beliefs that arise out of her Catholic faith. She also said the
United States is increasingly out of step with other modern democracies, most
of which have banned capital punishment.
Most of those who spoke in favor of abolishing the death penalty said it was
because it was unfairly applied, and the state's track record on wrongful
convictions doesn't seem to be very good.
Rep. Kionne McGhee, a former prosecutor who also experienced the justice system
from the perspective of someone whose father and brother were murdered, said
regardless of whether it's right, the system doesn't work.
"1 innocent life taken on death row is enough to question the system," said
McGhee, D-Miami.
Rehwinkel and others also told the committee that there's a growing sense that
even if it were the right thing to do philosophically, that the expense of
carrying out the death penalty is depriving communities of money that could go
for other criminal justice needs.
Gaetz said he, too, was passionate about the issue, but on the other side, and
believes above all else, that it serves as a deterrent in particular
situations, if not more broadly.
"I like knowing today that in Florida everybody knows that if you kill a cop
you will be executed," Gaetz said. "I want everybody in prison to know that if
a corrections officer is killed by your hand, you will die."
The committee also heard a plea in favor of keeping the death penalty from
another perspective. State Attorney Brad King, a central Florida prosecutor,
laid out gruesome details of some of the state's most notorious murders of
children, arguing that some crimes are simply so atrocious that death for the
murderer is the only option that makes any sense.
He reminded the panel about the case of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, for
example, and how after being abducted and raped, she was buried alive, and
investigators noted the marks on her finger nails from trying to claw her way
out of a plastic bag.
Murderers chose to end those lives without due process, he said.
"By their choice, by their decision, they should be judged," King said.
And King asked the panel what he should say to the families of the children he
mentioned, who may wonder why their loved ones died but a brutal killer might
be allowed to live.
"It is right to say their life is not more valuable than the little lives that
they took," King said.
Gaetz said the committee will continue to listen to death penalty opponents as
it takes a broader look at fairness issues with the application of capital
punishment.
(source: NorthEscambia.com)
INDIANA:
Officials talk death penalty
Prosecutors say the decision not to seek the death penalty against 3 suspects
charged in last year's south side explosion involved many factors. I-Team 8
took an in-depth look at the decision-making process.
Early Monday morning, Prosecutor Terry Curry filed formal requests to seek
"life without the possibility of parole" against Mark Leonard, Monserrate
Shirley, and Bob Leonard, Jr.
All 3 are accused of taking part in a plot to blow up Shirley's house in order
to collect insurance money . An explosion inside the home leveled much of the
Richmond Hill subdivision, and led to the deaths of Jennifer and Dion
Longworth.
Each now faces at least 45 murder and arson related felony charges.
For months, speculation grew surrounding whether Curry would seek the death
penalty. While it did, I-Team 8 sought opinions from experts to help explain
what went into the decision.
INDIANA'S OTHER LOTTERY
"In the last 10 years there are hundreds of Marion County cases where the death
penalty could have been sought, and it was sought in very few of those cases,"
said IUPUI McKinney School of Law Professor Joel Schuum. "I think most people
agree that they should be the very worst people [on death row]. And, that's not
the way it ends up being."
Research by I-Team 8 instead showed the death penalty as an increasingly rare
tool used by prosecutors across the state.
"There are now fewer than two death penalty cases filed in the entire state per
year," said Indiana Public Defender Council Assistant Executive Director Paula
Sites, who has studied extensively on capital cases in Indiana. "Right now,
there are just 4 cases pending."
In Marion County, no death penalty case has gone to trial in more than a
decade.
In 2007, Schuum chaired a study by the American Bar Association that found
"only a few of Indiana's murder cases result in a prosecutor seeking a death
sentences, fewer still result in the imposition by a death sentence by a jury
or judges, and only a handful over the past 3 decades have resulted in the
execution of a defendant."
"The rationalization that the proponents give is that: we need the death
penalty for the worst of the worst. But, if you look at all the people who have
been charged and the people who get the death penalty, no rational person can
say--that's the worst of the worst," said Indiana Public Defender Council
Executive Director Larry Landis.
"It's Indiana's other lottery, because it's hard to decide," Schuum said. "You
have all these horrible murder cases. Who is the worst person? If only 1 % of
these people are going to get the death penalty, what makes someone especially
deserving of that?"
THE INTENT FACTOR
"This is clearly the most important decision we have to make here in the
prosecutor's office, not only in this case, but in any case where circumstances
justify consideration of capital punishment or life without parole," Curry
said. "But, at the end of the day, I think the conclusion we have to reach is:
if we go through this process and we are to seek capital punishment, given all
the circumstances in any given case, what's the likelihood that the jury would
agree with that request?"
In Indiana, Schuum argues, the answer is increasingly hard to predict.
"Blowing up a neighborhood is a horrible thing. But, in terms of the
intentionality of these defendants based on at least what's been in the media,
it's not the kind of case where someone has held a gun to someone's head while
they begged for their life and shot them repeatedly, or brutally murdered them
like some of the death penalty cases you see."
Both death penalty cases and life without parole cases must have "aggravating
factors." This case qualifies, Curry wrote in his filing Monday, because of
allegations that the murders were committed "by the unlawful detonation of an
explosive device, that there were multiple deaths and that John "Dion"
Longworth died as a result of direct contact with the fire."
"The prosecutor should make the decision based on the evidence, what the crime
is, what they know about the defendant and that person's background," Schuum
said. "But, the jury recommends [the penalty]. Although it's called a
recommendation, if the jury recommends that someone not get the death penalty,
the judge can't impose that now. If the jury recommends they do, then the judge
has to impose that."
EXPENSIVE PROSECUTIONS
There are also stark cost differences between a death penalty case and a life
in prison case.
"As soon as they file that notice that they're seeking death, that defendant is
going to get 2 lawyers paid at taxpayer expense at over $100 per hour. They're
going to get unlimited experts. If there is a jury, it's going to have to be
sequestered. There's going to be all sorts of added costs to that," Schuum
said.
A 2010 fiscal impact report by Indiana's non-partisan Legislative Services
Agency found the average cost of a death penalty trial involving one direct
appeal in Indiana was around $450,000. Some previous cases have cost more than
$1 million, Sites said.
By comparison, the study found the average trial and appeal cost of a life
without the possibility of parole case to be $42,658.
"That's 10 times higher," Landis said. "That's a significant increase."
Add in the cost of lifetime incarceration, and taxpayers still pay, on average,
5 times more per death penalty case than per life in prison case, the study
found.
"Another part of it is: even with a death sentence, they're going to spend [an
average of]16 years in prison on death row. You have to add in that cost,"
Landis said.
Those costs have crossed over to other county business as well, Landis said.
"It has much more impact on the county level--especially for the smaller ones.
Some counties have even had to have a property tax increase because of it.
That's a political decision," Landis said.
"People are looking for value from their tax dollars. And, this isn't where you
find it," Sites said.
POLITICAL PRESSURE
Curry says political pressure was not a factor in this, or any other charging
decision.
"We reviewed the facts thoroughly. We reviewed the applicable law. We met with
the parents of John and Jennifer Longworth, and had--as we always do--pretty
spirited discussion to reach a decision," he said.
But, others aren't so sure.
"You have to say politics enters the decision making strategy," Landis said.
"Ultimately, capital punishment is a political decision, because it can only be
abolished by the legislature."
"Every 4 years they're going to have to seek re-election," Schuum said. "There
can be pressure. Some prosecutors are conscious of that. Some, maybe not."
PLEADING OUT
Many death penalty defendants never make it to death row. In many cases, it's
not their guilt that's in question.
"80 % of the cases that are filed result in something less than death, and
generally by plea agreement or some other type of agreement," Sites said.
Since taking office 2 years ago, Curry has only filed death penalty charges
once. Thomas Hardy was convicted of killing Indianapolis Metropolitan Police
Department officer David Moore in January 2011.
But, the case never made it to trial.
Hardy agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of life in prison
without the possibility of parole.
"That came about because of the willingness of the defendant to enter into that
plea, and correspondingly, the wishes of Officer Moore's family," Curry said.
"But, that went on for over a year with a lot of expense in preparing for that
trial, where a discussion could have been had earlier on that there wouldn't
have been a need to pursue the death penalty and then a year later have taken
it off the table," Schuum said.
Asked if the potential of a plea deal entered into his decision in the
Leonard/Shirley case, Curry shook his head.
"I absolutely believe it's inappropriate to file a charge of seeking death
penalty or to seek life without parole merely to leverage a plea," he said. "If
they're not going to recommend death and that may be the outcome anyway, why do
we go through this whole process of death penalty, when you can guarantee
public safety and that the person will never walk the streets again?"
But, Curry says the death penalty can be an effective tool for a prosecutor. In
this case, it simply wasn???t the right one.
"If, in our judgment, it's very possible that the jury could never get to that
conclusion [to recommend the death penalty], then clearly we don't want to put
the family through that protracted process and incur that cost if we feel it's
going to be a futile pursuit," he said. "Everything we do is taken on a case by
case basis. That's what we'll continue to do."
(source: WISH TV News)
MONTANA:
Should Montana have the death penalty?
to vote, see:
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/opinions/poll_890d0d90-73f6-11e2-8124-0019bb2963f4.html
(source: Boxeman Daily Chronicle)
************************************
Death penalty bill set for Feb. 14 hearing
Feb. 14 is the hearing date for House Bill 370, which proposed to abolish the
death penalty in Montana. An incorrect date was listed on Thursday's opinion
page. The hearing begins at 8 a.m. in Room 137 of the Capitol before the House
Judiciary Committee.
(source: Billings Gazette)
IDAHO:
Former jurors still haunted by Joseph Duncan murder trial
Trauma brought them together. Stories of murder, kidnapping and child rape
invaded their lives for 3 weeks in 2008, and the terror still lives on in their
minds. It could be a little boy at a grocery store who triggers it. Or a girl
and her father holding hands.
Is that really her dad?
Before these Treasure Valley residents heard the story of Joseph Edward Duncan
III, such a question never would have crossed their minds.
But more than 4 years after a federal jury of 12 sentenced Duncan to death, 4
of the people who served told the Idaho Statesman that they're still haunted by
the case and horrified that other citizens might be subjected to what they had
to sit through if Duncan gets a new trial.
They share a bond that leads them to meet regularly for dinner or other
activities.
"We liken it to somebody who's gone to war," said Susan, a bookkeeper in her
50s. "You don't have to talk about it. You just know where you've been."
The jurors, who all live in Ada or Canyon counties, invited a Statesman
reporter to their regular dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Nampa last month.
They asked not to be identified by their full names because they fear being
scrutinized by anti-death penalty advocates, and because some of their own
friends and co-workers don't know about their involvement in the case.
*****
'CAN'T GET OVER IT'
The 4 jurors consider themselves close friends. Others sometimes join them, but
a couple of jurors haven't been heard from since the verdict.
"It really affected some of us a lot," said Tommy, a cable company employee in
his 40s.
Chris, who works as a waitress in Boise, was 1 of 3 alternate jurors who sat
through the case but didn't participate in deliberations. Instead, she and the
other alternates sat in a room while jurors deliberated. They were prohibited
from talking about the case.
"Some of my friends that I had before can't understand why I can't get over
it," said Chris, who is in her 40s.
But Susan and Shannon, a nurse in her 30s, know exactly what she's been
through. Chris considers them 2 of her closest friends.
"These girls are so good to me," she said. "It's like we just pick up right
where we left off."
It started with a barbecue a few weeks after the trial. Soon, they were meeting
regularly for dinner, drinks or just to chat. None had ever experienced such a
bond before.
They had stopped talking about the case long ago, but news of Duncan's new
hearing rekindled the conversation.
Susan said she has a message for Duncan's attorneys.
"Shame on you," she said. "You're valuing his life over the people who sat on
that jury."
*****
BURDEN FOR LAWYERS, TOO
Former Attorney General David Leroy said a lawyer who accepts a case like
Duncan's "literally lives that defendant's life in segments for days or weeks
or months."
"It invokes a heavy personal toll to represent people with dreadful problems,"
Leroy said. "Far from being condemned, lawyers who do that should be commended,
because it's important and painful work."
The jurors have never heard about Duncan's life, including the abuse he
suffered as a boy.
Hearing his sister recount childhood beatings prompted Duncan to do something
he's never before done in court: Cry. His face reddened when Cheri Cox took the
stand, and he wept as she choked back sobs recounting abuse she said she'd long
tried to forget.
Duncan appeared interested but more stoic as mitigation experts recalled him
telling them about being sexually abused as a child and being shown sadistic
photos of children being sexually tortured, according to testimony. He told a
psychiatrist that he thought of those photos when he raped a boy at gunpoint
when he was 16. The assault earned Duncan 20 years in prison, and he was placed
in sex offender treatment with adults, something experts say wouldn't happen
now.
Duncan was repeatedly abused in prison and told investigators that he began
plotting revenge on society by studying kidnapping and murder. He also suffered
2 head injuries - 1 when he was hit with a shovel as a boy and another at age
15 when he was in a car crash.
Mark Larranaga, Duncan's former lawyer, testified last week that even if a new
jury hears all the details of Duncan's childhood, it's unlikely they would
spare his life. "It would have been difficult, not impossible," Larranaga said.
But the jurors who spent 3 weeks listening to testimony about Duncan???s
horrific crimes say nothing could sway them from imposing death.
"Lots of people are abused as kids" but don't abuse others, said Tommy.
*****
NEVER THE SAME
Susan served on a jury for a civil case years ago, but the experience was
unremarkable. "I couldn't even tell you the names of other jurors," she said.
But a case like Duncan's? "I just know none of us will ever be the same after
seeing something like that," Shannon said. "You can never go back."
Learning the details of Duncan's crimes and his meticulous planning altered
their everyday activities. Even activities such as camping bring reminders of
Duncan's crimes and the weeks he held children captive in the Lolo National
Forest outside St. Regis.
"I can't even go camping without locking up my trailer," Shannon said.
Susan spends more time at home and constantly questions her safety in public.
"I don't go out at night unless I'm with my husband," she said.
The trial lasted 3 weeks but the process took much longer. Potential jurors 1st
reported to the federal courthouse in April 2008 and were told not to take
vacations until a jury was selected, which didn't occur until August because
the court accommodated Duncan's request to represent himself.
All jurors were promised counseling but the 6 to 8 sessions went quickly. And
the counselors were hit or miss, the jurors said. Once they found a counselor
who seemed like a good match, their sessions were almost up. They sought more
through the federal court system but got nowhere.
"They should be paying for my counseling until I die," Susan said. "It just
sickens me that another group of people might have to go through this."
(source: The Missoulian)
ARIZONA:
Jodi Arias' Testimony Analyzed By Experts
There is no mistaking that Jodi Arias' defense team faces an uphill battle as
it fights to save her life in her murder trial. The prosecution's mountain of
evidence against her in the killing or her ex-boyfriend cannot be denied.
The evidence left the defense little choice but to call Arias to the stand this
week. Whether or not Arias' testimony will ultimately help her is yet to be
seen, but experts The Huffington Post spoke with have their own opinions on how
it has sat with the jury.
"Her [testimony] seems staged and rehearsed, she seems unnatural and plastic,"
Dr. Scott Bonn, a crime expert and assistant professor of sociology at Drew
University told The Huffington Post. "Her demeanor and emotions on the witness
stand do not match the shocking nature of what she is discussing."
Bonn is one of hundreds of thousands of people nationwide who are glued to the
sensational 1st-degree murder trial of Arias, a 32-year-old photographer who
stands accused of shooting her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, in the face,
stabbing him 27 times and slitting his throat from ear to ear in the shower of
his Mesa, Ariz., apartment on June 4, 2008.
The trial, now in its 7th week, began with prosecutors asserting Arias was a
jealous and vengeful ex-girlfriend who murdered Alexander in cold blood.
Prosecution witnesses have detailed for jurors Arias' web of lies -- including
3 different versions of the murder that she has given throughout her
incarceration.
Arias initially told police she was not there when Alexander was killed. She
later admitted she was there, but said Alexander was killed by intruders and
she escaped. Her 3rd story was that she killed an abusive Alexander in
self-defense. The latter of the 3 stories is the one her defense team is
presenting as her defense.
Similar to Bonn, Dr. Maurice Godwin, a criminal forensic psychologist from
Fayetteville, NC, said he sees little emotion in Arias' testimony.
"Jodi clearly has salient signs of psychopathy," said Godwin, who has not
professionally treated Arias. "She has no affect during the trial or while
testifying. The lack of affect is beyond being coached by her defense team.
There is a disconnect between the violent nature of her actions, the crime
itself and the normal empathy that she should be displaying, especially if it
was really self-defense."
Arias has offered testimony indicating she felt used by Alexander. The defense
has been attempting to show he was selfish, obsessed with sex and saw Arias as
a means to achieve sexual gratification.
Godwin and Anne Bremner, a Seattle lawyer and legal analyst who has been
closely following the case, acknowledge Alexander did likely use Arias, based
on text messages and other evidence presented at trial.
"I do believe that Travis Alexander used her sexually and he felt empowered by
[her lack of] sexual boundaries," Godwin said.
That lack of boundaries included, according to Arias' testimony, oral, vaginal
and anal sex.
"She loved him, she did what he wanted [and] he humiliated her in sex and
[through] text. He wouldn't hold her hand or acknowledge her in public,"
Bremner explained.
However, even if Arias felt, as she said in court, "like used toilet paper,"
she still aggressively pursued Alexander and continued to have sexual liaisons
with him, based on evidence presented in court.
"She claims to be abused and humiliated, and yet she demonstrates almost no
emotional reaction while describing the incidents," Bonn said. "Where [are] the
agony, humiliation and rage that led her to stab Travis 27 times, slit his
throat and shoot him in the head for good measure? Instead, Jodi gives every
sign of being a sociopath who can lie easily and be detached while describing
her feelings, and then snap and strike out with extreme rage as she clearly did
in murdering Travis."
The 32-year-old photographer is accused of shooting her lover, Travis
Alexander, in the face, stabbing him 27 times and slitting his throat from ear
to ear in the shower of his Mesa, Ariz., apartment.
The case, which has been more than 4 years in the making, has routinely
captured headlines around the world, especially as the details became public.
Godwin believes it was Alexander's rejection of Arias that led her to take his
life in such brutal fashion.
"The narcissistic side [of] Jodi's personality exploded when it became evident
that her sexually [sic] and emotional tricks had indeed failed when she found
out that Travis was dating other women," Godwin said. "To a narcissistic
psychopathic person like Jodi, who sold her soul performing forbidden intimate
sex acts, her perceived rejection by Travis dealt a blow to her entire reason
for living. The only option was to hurt the person who harmed her so much."
If convicted, Arias faces the possibility of the death penalty. Bremner
acknowledges she believes Arias is guilty of killing Alexander, but said she
believes the jury may find Arias on the stand to be smart and engaging.
"Her story is mesmerizing, as we have all been jilted and humiliated...I think
she may have saved her own life, but not her freedom," Bremner said.
The veteran attorney added, "I can't imagine how she will fare on cross
examination."
Though the prosecution has rested and there are likely weeks to go in the
trial, the prosecution will ultimately have an opportunity to further
strengthen the case against Arias.
According to Jose Baez, the attorney who represented Casey Anthony and achieved
not-guilty verdicts for 1st-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child
and aggravated child abuse in the death of Anthony's daughter, Caylee, the
prosecution will ultimately have the final say.
"Remember, the state has the ability to put on a rebuttal case," Baez told
HuffPost.
(source: Huffington Post)
CALIFORNIA:
Dorner could face death penalty as criminal charges filed
As a massive manhunt for Christopher Jordan Dorner continued Monday afternoon,
prosecutors with the Riverside County district attorney's office filed murder
and attempted murder charges against the ex-cop suspected of killing 3 people,
including a Riverside police officer.
Dist. Atty. Paul Zellerbach said Dorner has been charged with one count of
murder, with special circumstance allegations in the killing of a peace officer
and the discharge of a firearm from a vehicle, in the death of Riverside police
Officer Michael Crain, 34, a married father who served 2 tours in Kuwait as a
rifleman in the U.S. Marines.
The special circumstances allegation makes Dorner eligible for the death
penalty.
The former police officer also faces 3 additional counts of attempted murder of
a peace officer for allegedly shooting and critically injuring Crain's partner
and firing at 2 Los Angeles police officers who were in Corona to provide
protection to one of Dorner's alleged targets. One of the LAPD officers was
grazed on the head by a bullet.
The surviving officer, whose name has not been released, was "in a lot of pain"
and will probably need several surgeries, Riverside Police Chief Sergio Diaz
told reporters Monday. It was not yet known if he will be able to return to
duty, Diaz said.
Shortly after the press conference, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
ordered all city flags to be flown at half-staff effective Monday afternoon to
honor Crain, a spokesman said.
Funeral services for Crain are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Grove
Community Church in Riverside. The flags will remain at half-staff until after
the services.
Meanwhile, the full-court-press search continued, though beyond several false
sightings there has been little success so far in the hunt.
Investigators have received at least 700 tips about the fugitive ex-officer,
and police are continuing to dangle a $1-million reward in the hope that
someone will step forward.
There have been no confirmed sightings of Dorner since the manhunt began last
Wednesday, and the last known evidence pointing to his whereabouts was his
burning pickup truck discovered Thursday on a forest road in Big Bear,
officials said.
Hundreds of investigators are continuing to follow up on potential leads, Los
Angeles Police Department Lt. Andy Neiman said at a media briefing in downtown
Los Angeles. The tips are being prioritized based on the information they
contain.
Neiman also stressed that the ongoing search at Big Bear, although scaled back,
remains a "critical piece of the investigation," saying authorities would
remain on the mountain "until we've looked in every nook and cranny."
Neiman said he does not know how much the multiagency manhunt has cost thus far
but described it as a "substantial cost to the city and taxpayers."
Investigators have also been in contact with Dorner's family, Neiman said, and
are hopeful that a huge reward announced Sunday would lead to Dorner's arrest.
His mother and sister cooperated with Irvine police on Friday when they
searched the La Palma residence believed to be his last known address.
Authorities also continued to keep an eye on border crossings and airfields.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa ports
of entry said they are monitoring all southbound lanes into Mexico, creating
hours-long delays during peak crossing times. Agents were also stationed at all
pedestrian crossings into Tijuana, said Angelica De Cima, a customs
spokeswoman.
Mexican authorities have also bolstered security at the ports of entry and
notified local, state and federal police to be on the lookout for Dorner,
though there's no evidence he has crossed the border.
The Transportation Security Administration is also urging pilots and aircraft
operators to be alert and to watch for stolen planes or suspicious passengers.
The TSA said Dorner received flight training in the military, but the level of
his expertise was unclear.
An Arcadia church school connected to Dorner's LAPD training officer canceled
classes Monday as a precaution, officials said, while Big Bear schools reopened
after the search there was scaled back.
The shootings attributed to Dorner began Feb. 3 with the deaths of Monica Quan,
a Cal State Fullerton assistant basketball coach, and her fiance, Keith
Lawrence, a USC public safety officer.The two had recently become engaged and
were sitting in a car in Irvine when they were shot numerous times in the head.
Quan was the daughter of a retired LAPD captain whom Dorner apparently accused
online of not representing him fairly at a hearing that led to his firing. In
what police said was his posting to Facebook, Dorner allegedly threatened the
retired captain and others he blamed for his termination.
Members of the USC community have also set up a memorial in front of the public
safety department on campus that will stay in place until Lawrence is buried.
Those who knew Lawrence recall him as a young law enforcement officer with a
bright future.
More that 50 LAPD families remained under police guard Monday.
"Our commitment is to finding Mr. Dorner and making this city safe again,"
LAPD's Neiman said.
(source: Los Angeles Times)
_______________________________________________
DeathPenalty mailing list
DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu
http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty
Search the Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/deathpenalty@lists.washlaw.edu/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A free service of WashLaw
http://washlaw.edu
(785)670.1088
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
