Tag: homicide
Popstar Nadine Samuels, 27, who toured with Little Mix, sobs as she’s jailed for killing mum-of-three cyclist in roundabout crash
NADINE Samuels, who toured with Little Mix wept as she was caged for eight months for killing a mum in a horror crash.
The singer – member of girl group M.O – failed to look while at a roundabout and smashed into Debbie Mills as she cycled in Hemel Hempstead, Herts.
The mum-of-three, 54, suffered traumatic brain injuries after being flung on to the windscreen and road and died in hospital shortly after.
Samuels was sentenced at St Albans Crown Court after she pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving.
The 27-year-old, who is good friends with Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock, wept as Debbie’s son paid tribute to his mum, who ran a cake shop.
Josh said his mum was a valued member of the community who had taken up cycling as a hobby. He added: “We will miss her dearly”.
Read more via TheSun
Trial begins Monday for Chicago officer accused of murdering black teen
CHICAGO (Reuters) – The trial of white Chicago policeman Jason Van Dyke, accused of murder in the 2014 shooting of a black teen, was set to begin on Monday in a decisive case for race relations and policing in the United States’ third-largest city.
A soundless dashboard camera video released in 2015 showed police gunning down 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. It spurred protests, fed a national debate over the use of excessive force by police against minorities and led to the ousting of local officials.
The officer, now 40, opted for a jury trial on Friday following the selection of a 12-person jury and five alternate jurors.
The jury of four men and eight women includes seven white people, three Hispanic people, one black person and one Asian person, based on appearances, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Opening statements were expected later on Monday.
Van Dyke’s attorney, Daniel Herbert, on Monday morning asked Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan to dismiss the jurors, saying “the negative and inflammatory rhetoric” surrounding the case had made it impossible for them to be impartial, but the judge rejected that argument. Gaughan also denied a defense motion to move the trial out of Chicago.
Van Dyke, who was suspended without pay after he was first charged in 2015, pleaded not guilty to murder and has said he felt threatened by McDonald.
McDonald was armed with a knife when he was shot. Van Dyke faces six counts of first-degree murder, 16 counts of aggravated battery – the same number of times prosecutors say McDonald was shot – and one count of official misconduct. Van Dyke is the first Chicago police officer to face a murder charge for an on-duty incident in decades.
The deaths of mostly unarmed black men at the hands of police officers across the United States in recent years have led to protests and sometimes violence in major U.S. cities. The killings, some of which were captured on video, helped give rise to the Black Lives Matter movement and became an issue in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.
The video, released by the city more than a year after the shooting in response to a freedom of information lawsuit, sparked days of protests in Chicago. Former Chicago police Superintendent and mayoral hopeful Garry McCarthy was fired, voters ousted the prosecutor who charged Van Dyke, and activists called for the resignation of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Emanuel said on Sept. 4 he would not seek a third term after facing widespread criticism over his handling of the city’s gun violence. He did not specifically cite McDonald in his announcement.
A U.S. Department of Justice investigation that began after the video’s release found that Chicago police routinely violated people’s civil rights, citing excessive force and racially discriminatory conduct.
Three Chicago Police Department officers were indicted in June 2017 for conspiring to cover up McDonald’s shooting. They have not yet been tried.
Article via: Trial begins Monday for Chicago officer accused of murdering black teen
Mom accused of killing her infant through drugs in breast milk
A Philadelphia-area woman who described herself as a drug addict is being held on a homicide charge after she allegedly transmitted drugs to her 11-week-old baby through her breast milk, officials said.
Samantha Jones, 30, of New Britain Township, was charged Friday with criminal homicide in the April 2 death of the infant, named R.J. in court papers.
The Bucks County District Attorney’s office said the autopsy showed the baby died after being fed breast milk containing methadone, amphetamine and methamphetamine, Fox 29 Philadelphia reported.
According to the affidavit, Jones told police she had been prescribed methadone because of an addiction to painkillers, that she had taken it during her pregnancy and that she was taking it at the time of the baby’s death, the station added.
Police found the baby in cardiac arrest after responding to a 911 call. Jones’ mother called the cops and reportedly tried CPR.
The affidavit stated that Jones said she primarily had been breastfeeding the baby, but had switched to formula three days earlier, saying the infant wasn’t getting enough milk from breastfeeding, the station reported.
Jones said that on the morning the child died, the baby was crying at 3 a.m. and she tried to breastfeed him because she was too tired to go downstairs and prepare a bottle of formula, Fox 29 added citing investigators.
She also said, according to the station, that she fed the infant formula at 6 a.m., fell asleep and then woke up to find her son pale, with bloody mucus coming from his nose.
Jones was held in lieu of $3 million cash bail.
Her 2-year-old son is in the custody of his father, the station reported.
The D.A.’s office said in a news release that Jones’ defense attorney argued for minimal bail saying R.J.’s death was not intentional.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/07/15/mom-accused-of-killing-her-infant-through-drugs-in-breast-milk/
Father accused of murder ‘would rather have a dead son than a gay son,’ teen’s former foster mom says
HENDERSON, Nev. — A teen was shot and killed last week, allegedly by his own father, according to KSNV.
Wendell Melton, 53, is accused of shooting 14-year-old Giovanni Melton on Thursday.
Sonja Jones, Giovanni’s former foster mom, said the two were arguing and part of that argument was over Giovanni’s sexual orientation.
“He hated the fact that his son was gay,” Jones told KSNV. “I’m sure that inside of his mind, he would rather have a dead son than a gay son.”
Jones said Melton had threatened his son before.
“I’m hearing his dad had caught him with his boyfriend before and pulled out a gun on him,” Jones said.
Melton faces a charge of open murder in addition to other charges, according to Henderson police.
Man snaps woman’s neck for refusing marriage proposal
A Pennsylvania man on Halloween snapped the neck of a female friend and beat her with a hatchet after the woman refused his marriage proposal, The Morning Call reported, citing police.
Christopher R. Tucker, 34, was charged with murder and criminal homicide for allegedly killing Tara M. Serino, 19.
He reportedly asked Serino to marry him at his home in Berks County. She said no and told him that she was sleeping with other men, NBC Philadelphia reported. He allegedly told police that she told him that he should kill her.
Police said Tucker told them that he snapped and choked her. He poked her eyes out and snapped her neck, police said, according to the station. He allegedly wrapped her in a rug and left.
The NBC report said Tucker was caught at a truck stop in Champaign County, Illinois. He will be extradited to Pennsylvania.
via: http://nypost.com/2017/11/07/man-snaps-womans-neck-for-refusing-marriage-proposal-cops/
Teens threw house party after killing grandparents
A Georgia teen accused in the brutal slaying of her grandparents earlier this month partied with her boyfriend in their house while the bodies began to rot, according to officials.
Police said that Cassandra Bjorge, 17, and her boyfriend Johnny Rider, 19, sealed the doors and windows to contain the stench of the decomposing bodies so they could throw a party at the home in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
The teen girl’s grandparents, Randall and Wendy Bjorge, both 63, had been dead for a week before their bodies were discovered during a wellness check on April 8, news station WXIA reported.
Bjorge and Rider were both charged with murder and aggravated assault in the deaths of the elderly couple. The teens allegedly slashed their throats, as well as kicked, beat and used a tire iron on the pair, according to the the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The 17-year-old appeared at a preliminary hearing Wednesday, where she reportedly confessed to stabbing her grandparents.
“This is a very unique and disturbing case on so many levels and detectives are still exploring motive,” Gwinnett County police officer Deon Washington told the Gwinnett Daily Post. “We may never find a scenario that makes sense to a reasonable person.”
via: http://nypost.com/2017/04/19/teens-threw-party-in-house-after-killing-grandparents-cops/