In 1990, Jennifer Schuett was snatched from her bed, raped in a field and left for dead when she was just 8 years old. Her injuries were so severe, doctors told her she would never be able to talk again. CNN article here.
Doctors performed a rape kit after the assault but technology did not allow for a conclusive result.
In 1997, her attacker, Dennis Earl Bradford, was sent to prison for a similar offense. At the time, DNA testing technology was more advanced and his DNA was entered into a database following his felony conviction. (Many states have a similar law: upon conviction of a felony, the defendant shall enter his DNA into a database.)
Now, just a month over the passing of the new law, old DNA that was preserved in an unsolved rape can be entered into a database to search for someone who had subsequently been entered into the system, most likely for another conviction. Clearly, this law is working in the way it was intended: to finally bring sexual assault victims justice.
Unfortunately, many people will not be able to seek proper justice because sexual assault cases have a statute of limitations, meaning prosecutors must charge and prosecute a case within a certain number of years. I am assuming that Mr. Bradford's arrest was possible because he is also charged with attempted murder.
I couldn't be more disgusted with our national media and our elected leaders.
Last night, I watched CNN play it over and over again: a bystander's video of Derrion Albert being beaten to death in the streets of Chicago.
* This isn't a beating in a gangway or in the middle of the night. * This isn't a one-on-one fight between two men of rival gangs. * This isn't a drive-by shooting. * This isn't a drug-deal-gone-bad. * This isn't Iraq or Afghanistan.
Instead:
* This is beating murder in the middle of the street, in broad daylight. * This is a public spectacle - numerous people stand and watch instead of seek help. * This is an innocent, church-going, honor roll student athlete who is beaten to death. * This is less than 15 miles from downtown Chicago, just 3 blocks from Fenger High School. * This is the United States of America.
This is a war in our streets. Derrion Albert's High School Photo
OUR POLITICIANS' SILENCE & THE MEDIA'S FAILURE TO REPORT
I watched CNN's report with a friend, whose opinions I greatly respect and that I often refer to in my blogs. I commented that I was disgusted by Obama and other politicians' failure to address the inner-city and race issues. I'm not quoting my friend directly -- but the response was something like: Obama and our elected leaders cannot address the race issue because too many people will manipulate their words. Basically, don't disturb the bees' nest because you will get stung. As I heard this opinion, I bit my lip and nodded my head in agreement. Yep, it's true; my friend is right, yet again.
Instead, let the bees kill each other or learn to live together, right? Survival of the fittest.
The problem is that we aren't talking about bees -- we are talking about our children. We are talking about a war on our American soil, not a war in Afghanistan or Iraq.
Why do our politicians have public opinions about whether we should send troops into Afghanistan but not about what we can do to stop the war on the streets? Why are we so concerned with keeping al-Queda out of Afghanistan but not with keeping domestic terrorists from killing more innocent children?
Remember Obama's recent Sepetember 8th speech to the K-12 students of America? Remember how everyone was all in a tizzy about whether it's appropriate for our President to speak to our students? Remember how some parents kept their kids home from school? I wrote a blog about his speech here, stating in part:
I find it interesting that it wasn't until the end of Obama's speech where he said something like "we are doing our part to get you the resources [for an education.]" Today's speech wasn't about what Obama's going to do to provide for the opportunity for our students to have the best education...but now he's opened the door so he better follow up!
Walk into a Chicago Public School one day and you will find kids whose only meal of the day is the one served in school. Many kids don't have those books and computers. Sure, he had an example of ONE child out of Chicago Public Schools who made it against the odds. But that girl is an anomoly. Kids cannot relate to that ONE child. What is Obama going to do to bring our schools up to par?
Why does the media refuse to address these issues? Why does the media not put pressure on our elected officials, including Obama, to start protecting our inner-city youth?
And here I am, less than three weeks later, watching a kid get beaten to death, just 10 miles south of Obama's Chicago residence.Derrion Albert didn't have a chance even though he was doing all of the things Obama said to do: go to school, work hard, stay in school, work hard.
Where is Obama now? He surely didn't have a problem making a big scene about the arrest of Professor Gates. You know, the African-American Harvard Professor who was arrested in his home and then Obama said the police acted "stupidly." Maybe they did; maybe they didn't -- that's not the issue. The issue is, Obama continues to remain silent about inner-city issues that are not isolated incidents but proof of the ongoing war in our streets.
THE RACE STATISTICS
The other week, Obama told David Gregory on "Meet the Press":
"Well, look -- David, here's what I'm saying. -- I -- I -- I think that -- the media loves to have a conversation about race. I mean, the -- this is -- is catnip to -- to -- the media because it is a running thread in American history that's very powerful. And it invokes some very strong emotions.
I'm not saying that race -- never matters in -- in any of these -- public debates that we have. What I'm saying is this debate is not about race -- it's about people being worried about -- how our government should operate."
In March, I wrote a blog about gun violence in Chicago: "Gun Violence Among School-Age Youth in Chicago" a report released by the University of Chicago Crime Lab says the annual cost of gun violence in the City of Chicago costs $2.5 billion dollars annually. Yes, that's BILLION. Article here.
Derrion's death doesn't fall into that statistic because he wasn't shot; he was beaten to death. Imagine the annual cost of non-gun violence in the City of Chicago.
Here's another statistic: During the 2008-09 school year, 36 Chicago Public School students were killed, making it the third year in a row the murder rate has climbed into the double-digits. Article here. Dexter Voisin, a researcher at the University of Chicago said, "Those with nonfatal injuries are almost 100 times that of our homicide rates. You think for about every one kid who is murdered, 100 kids witness the murder or are victims of nonfatal injuries, of robberies, muggings and gang-related incidents. A lot of times, this exposure goes undocumented or unreported." Black youths, he said, are two times more likely than white youths to fail or drop out of school, and at the same time they are also eight to 10 times more likely to be victims of homicide than whites.
Obama, you are wrong. Derrion's death is about race and about black-on-black crime. This isn't just a "conversation about race" -- these are statistics and facts about race.
It kills me inside that my friend is right: Obama and our other elected leaders will continue to remain silent. Derrion Albert is now just another statistic, another number. People will continue to say our community leaders like Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. are irrelevant, even though they are the people who visit the family and console crying parents who lost their innocent children to the streets.
I pray for the day when General McChrystal's domestic counterpart (right now, there's no such person) submits a report to Obama on how to win the war in our streets, not just in Afghanistan. I also pray for the day when our national media will spend just as much time discussing the war at home as they do on Acorn.
Here is the video of the beating. Warning: the footage is extremely graphic.
Annie Le - Yale UniversityYale doctoral student Annie Le was found dead on Sunday, 6 days after she was reported missing. Her body was hidden in the ceiling of one of Yale's labs. Article here.
Ms. Le was last seen entering the lab at 10 am. A fire alarm was triggered several hours later but police were unable to identify her leaving the building with others during the alarm.
Investigators have said the fire alarm was caused by steam from a lab but I think something's not right here.
The person who murdered Ms. Le possibly used the alarm as a decoy. Either Ms. Le was murdered and the person triggered the alarm so he/she could walk out of the building with the crowd of students/teachers pouring out from the alarm. Or, the person used the alarm to grab a random, lingering student (that ended up being Ms. Le) who was disregarding the alarm and then used the time in the empty building to commit the murder.
This case is creepy and bizarre. The fact that she was getting married just a few days before her disappearance makes me believe this was not a random crime but a cold and calculated murder. I think the person who committed the murder not only knew Ms. Le but knew the building well.
I believe the fire alarm holds a lot of information. Fingerprints, who triggered it, who was in the room when it was triggered, was Ms. Le in the room when it was triggered, etc.
Michael Jackson's cardiologist, Dr. Conrad Murray, is seen in this July 7, 2006 photo. (AP)Gerald Posner is the King of Journalism when it comes to the details of Michael Jackson's death. He recently wrote the article, "Defending Jackson's Doctor," (article here) that discusses leaked allegations that Dr. Murray, Jackson's live-in doctor, administered an amount of propophol/Diprivan to Jackson that caused his death.
Mr. Posner proposes Dr. Murray's best defense, if charged, may be that he did not know Michael was using other prescription medication at the time he was using propophol.
The best hope for the defense team is that the toxicology report is Elvis-like. When the original King of Rock ‘n’ Roll died at the age of 42 in 1977, 10 drugs were found in his body. Four were in “significant” quantities: codeine; Ethinamate, a popular sedative-hypnotic med of the 1970s; Quaaludes; and a barbiturate, or depressant, that has never been identified but is usually reported as Phenobarbital. Presley’s body also contained smaller amounts of the painkillers morphine and Demerol; tranquilizers Placidyl and Valium, and Chlorpheniramine, an antihistamine.
The more drugs in Jackson’s toxicology report, the better for Murray’s defense. His lawyers could then contend that even if the prosecution can establish that Murray gave Jackson Propofol the night he died, the doctor might have adjusted the dosage, or refused to give it at all, if he knew that Jackson was mixing other prescription medications, prescribed by other doctors, and hidden in the house.
True, the amount of propophol administered must be determined by the doctor's knowledge of the patient's use of other drugs. But, Dr. Murray had no training whatsoever to use the drug. Propophol is so powerful and so fragile that only anesthesiologists are trained to use the drug. Dr. Murray was not an anesthesiologist, he was a cardiologist.
Also, the death of Elvis is quite different than the death of Michael: Michael died in the arms of a doctor who was, at that very moment, allegedly giving Michael an IV injection. Elvis was allegedly over-prescribed medication by doctors who fed his addiction. But, Dr. Murray was placed inside of Michael's home and was hired to care for Michael. There is a direct link between Michael and Dr. Murray; there was no specific doctor linked to the death of Elvis.
Dr. Murray will look like a damn fool if he says he did not know Michael was using other prescription medication. Dr. Murray will be held to an even higher standard than the average doctor because he was living with Michael and administering medication to him on a daily basis. Even if Dr. Murray didn't know of Michael's drug abuse, he should have known. Dr. Murray's permanent presence inside the Jackson home raises the standard of duty and care to Michael.
If propophol really did kill Michael Jackson, Dr. Murray will be charged with murder...
Caylee AnthonyThe autopsy report of Caylee Anthony was released to the public on Friday, against George & Cindy Anthony's wishes. They had asked their daughter's judge, The Honorable Stan Strickland, to seal the autopsy report from public record because it would cause them great anguish. Article here.
I suspect there may be some tension between Casey's attorneys and Casey's parents. I've never heard of the parents coming in, upon motion, and asking the judge to do something. Why didn't the attorneys make the argument on behalf of the parents? Granted, I understand that the emotion can be best understood by the parents speaking directly to the Court, but still...George's testimony seemed so bizarre.
THE ISSUE ISN'T GEORGE & CINDY'S FEELINGS, BUT PROTECTING THE FAIRNESS OF TRIAL
In my opinion, the judge should have sealed the report, not because the parents can't emotionally deal with the results, but because this case has already caused such a media circus. And, Casey Anthony is pretty much despised by the majority. More evidence provided to the public/media PRIOR to trial risks tainting the jury pool and affecting the fairness of the judicial system.
THE JUDGE COULD HAVE SEALED THE RECORDS - HIS HANDS WEREN'T TIED BY THE LAW
The judge apparently struggled with the decision. He said, "Their pain means a great deal to me. I don't like the ruling I'm making, but it's one that I legally have to make." I do not agree with the judge's statement. The judge has discretion and if he wanted the public report sealed, he could have issued such an order. Although I respectfully disagree with the Judge Strickland, since he is given discretion, I respect his opinion. He's definitely trying to do the right thing, by virtue of the law, with every pre-trial decision.
The autopsy report is going to come out at trial anyway. As a defense attorney, it seems fundamentally unfair to allow the public access to crucial evidence in a death penalty murder case prior to trial - the additional information allows Casey to be tried in the court of public opinion, piece by piece. The risk to Casey outweighs the public's right to know...even if she is a cold-blooded murderer.
The good thing is, however, the public report does not include photos or xrays. Those will have to wait until trial...
Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at 08:41AM 
In 1990, Jennifer Schuett was snatched from her bed, raped in a field and left for dead when she was just 8 years old. Her injuries were so severe, doctors told her she would never be able to talk again. CNN article here.
