Open Thread 3/26/2014

posted by Crane-Station

Good evening! Fred and I are sharing a computer currently. We believe we have worked out a truce, as well as a schedule, so that we can both post without killing each other. I will be posting again on Friday. In the upcoming weeks, I am hoping to post some historical essays from the 1930s and 1940s, as my parents are kind enough to share them. I will also address other topics.

Here are some things we have been discussing, at this site:

1. Today I did see one article from Byron Williams at Huffington Post, titled, There Is No Comparison Between Zimmerman and Alexander. I found it unusual that after a couple of hours, there were no comments. That may have changed by now, but I am wondering if this is an indication that internet traffic overall is lower than it has been, or if people are kind of avoiding the topic of Zimmerman, at this point.

There is no comparison between Alexander and Zimmerman for many reasons. State prosecutor Angela Corey has demonstrated competence in little more than getting a conviction in the Dunn case, but not exactly a conviction for killing, but rather for Dunn’s firing at but not killing, three of four teenagers. Corey will re-try Marissa Alexander, and go for 60 years this time around. She also claims that she will retry Dunn, and what is interesting at this point is, it does not look like there will be a continuance. The trial is scheduled for May.

2. #MH370

27th March, 2014: 10.45am (AEDT)

Search and recovery operation for Malaysia Airlines aircraft: Update 21
*All times are expressed in Australian Eastern Daylight Saving Time (AEDT). Please note all times are
approximate.

Today’s search and recovery operation in the Australian Search and Rescue Region for Malaysia
Airlines flight MH370 is now underway.

Search activities today will involve a total of 11 aircraft and five ships.

Today’s search is split into two areas within the same proximity covering a cumulative 78,000 square
kilometres.

Two Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orions, a Chinese Ilyushin IL-76, a Japanese Gulfstream jet, a
US Navy P-8 Poseidon and a Japanese P-3 Orion will fly sorties throughout the day

Media Release

3. Craig Michael Wood, charged with kidnapping and murder of Hailey Owens in Springfield, Missouri, appeared in court for the first time today.
Accused murderer Craig Wood appears in courtroom for first time

4. Kendrick Johnson. We believe that Kendrick Johnson was most likely murdered. There appear to be no additional articles addressing an email confession, but we will continue to watch.

This is an open thread, please join and share thoughts, videos, music…whatever is on your mind. Here are a couple of videos, if you care to watch. The hat tip for the first goes to yellowsnapdragon at Firedoglake, who shared it yesterday. It is Ode to Joy, a flash mob, in Odessa:

Published on Mar 24, 2014
Flash mob: Odessa Musicians for Peace and Brotherhood.
Флэшмоб: Одесские Музыканты за Мир и Братство.

(Official Video). Saturday, March 22, 2014, 10:29 am. Odessa Fish Market (‘Privoz’). Members of the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra and Odessa Opera Chorus, Hobart Earle, conductor, perform music from Beethoven’s 9th symphony.

After the devastation of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Tohoku The Inoue Brothers travelled to the region to start a project with some of the affected local artisans. The result of this collaboration is their “Made in Tohoku” collection.
Credits
A FILM BY The Inoue Brothers – theinouebrothers.net
DIRECTED BY Joppe Rog – jopperog.com
SECOND CAMERA BY Lennert Rog – lennertrog.com
MUSIC BY Sorenious Bonk – soreniousbonk.co.uk
PRODUCTION Present Plus – presentplus.com/

Open Thread, Monday Night

posted by Crane-Station
2-17-14

Here are some updates on other stories and legal cases that have been in the news:

Jodi Arias:

The sentencing phase for Jodi Arias, which was set for March, has been postponed. Judge Sherry Stephens has not set a new date, for sentencing. The court received two motions from the defense team. First, the defense wants to keep from the jury, that Arias wanted to fire her lawyer, Kirk Nurmi. In a 15-page letter to the court earlier, Arias claimed that Kirk Nurmi didn’t like her, and that she didn’t trust him and also, he has “”utter poverty of people skills.” The defense argues that if the sentencing jury sees this, they will be prejudiced.

The second motion has to do with a problematic interview that an ex-cellmate of Arias gave to HLN, in November. Phoenix New Times reports:

In an interview with Fox-10 News (KSAZ-TV) on November 26, then on Headline News Network on January 8, Collins said that while she was Arias’ cellmate before the trial, Arias told her she was considering asking a hit-man to give Martinez “a ‘mafia bowtie,’ meaning having someone slit his throat.” Collins also said Arias had no remorse for her murder of Alexander.

Arias’s defense team does not want the jury to hear of this interview because it may unfairly prejudice the jury. The defense team claims that the statements that Collins made to the press in the interview are false.

Darrin Manning:

Darrin Manning was injured in a pat-down search in Philadelphia on January 7. He is a 16-year-old high school student, who was apparently with his sports team, but for some reason was seized for running from police because he was frightened. During the pat down, the female police officer grabbed his left testicle and pulled. Manning underwent surgery the next day. A small blood clot was removed. Initial reports were that the testicle was ruptured, and although that is thankfully not the case, Philly.com reports:

The District Attorney’s Office has launched a grand-jury probe into the incident, in which the cop is alleged to have violently grabbed the boy, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said yesterday.

Marissa Alexander:

Marissa Alexander remains on home detention and on bond, awaiting retrial in her case, where she was initially convicted and sentenced to 20 years, for firing a warning shot.

Her new trial is scheduled for March 31.

The activist site Free Marissa issued the following statement, regarding the verdicts in Dunn:

Yet again, we believe that Angela Corey has failed the constituents of Florida and a pattern of institutional racism in Florida’s justice system continues to devastate. Corey has once again proven incapable of obtaining a murder conviction against a white man who took the life of a black teenager. Yet, Corey somehow continues the unjust prosecution of Marissa Alexander, an African American woman from Jacksonville, FL who defended her life from a violent act of rage and power from her estranged husband, and who caused no injuries.

We are outraged that once again a white man’s fear is judged more worthy than a black youth’s life, while a black woman’s fear was rendered invisible or impossible, as was the case in Marissa Alexander’s Stand Your Ground hearing. We continue to advocate for justice for Jordan and his family, and call for immediate and transformative responses to the racism woven throughout the US criminal justice system.

Theodore Wafer:

The Final Call reports that Theodore Wafer will go to trial in June, to face a murder charge for the killing of Renisha McBride:

DETROIT – A June trial is scheduled for a Detroit-area man charged with second-degree murder after shooting a young woman on his porch.

Unrelated to court cases, here is a couple breaking up, using 154 movie titles:

This is an open thread. What upcoming legal situations or court cases would you like to follow, or hear more about? Or not!

Open Thread

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Good afternoon:

I have replaced my dead computer and I’m back up and running.

Not much happening today that has not already been mentioned in the comments.

Big day tomorrow.

Angela Corey’s office must release the audio recordings of Michael Dunn’s 740 or so phone calls from jail by tomorrow at the close of business.

There will be a hearing in Erick Munoz’s lawsuit against the hospital seeking an order to disconnect his dead pregnant wife from a ventilator with the fetus in some serious difficulty.

Fauxmccoy posted this comment quoting his attorney and a link, which I have embedded.

“According to the medical records we have been provided, the fetus is distinctly abnormal,” the attorneys said. “Even at this early stage, the lower extremities are deformed to the extent that the gender cannot be determined.”

The attorneys said the fetus also has fluid building up inside the skull and possibly has a heart problem.

“Quite sadly, this information is not surprising due to the fact that the fetus, after being deprived of oxygen for an indeterminate length of time, is gestating within a dead and deteriorating body, as a horrified family looks on in absolute anguish, distress and sadness,” the attorneys said.

Meanwhile, Zimmerman’s fledgling career as a paint-by-numbers copycat continues.

The pool is open.