Criminal Justice Quote: Targeting the Police

     Two Los Angeles police officers were shot at Sunday night December 28, 2014 while they drove their patrol car…The officers returned fire…No one was injured in the exchange. One suspect was arrested in possession of a rifle, the other remained at large…

     That Sunday there was a second incident involving police officers who were fired at. This shooting took place in Pasco County, Florida. Someone fired three shots at two sheriff's deputies as they sat in their patrol car. According to a sheriff's office spokesperson, "Both deputies heard the whizzing sound of each projectile. The officers did not see the shooter or the vehicle from which the shots were fired."…

     These two police targeting incidents occurred after New York police officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were gunned down in their patrol car on December 20, 2014….

"Officers Shot At in Florida and Los Angeles," CNN, December 29, 2014 

Writing Quote: The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators

     If you want to write or illustrate books for kids, the number one piece of advice you're going to hear is "Join the SCBWI." I'll bet money on it.

     SCBWI stands for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and is a world-wide organization that links together those who want to create content for kids. There are many regional chapters in the United States, and plenty internationally as well. The group holds meetings, has annual conferences (both regional and national) and provides both a support system as well as a wealth of online resources.

Chuck Sambuchino in Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market, edited by Chuck Sambuchino, 2013 

The Death Penalty Remains Popular in Oklahoma

     The botched execution of Clayton Lockett in April 2014 and other troubling executions in Ohio and Arizona gave capital punishment opponents a flicker of hope that areas of the country that most enthusiastically support the death penalty might have a change of heart. They didn't.

     Although Governor Mary Fallin suspended further executions so that Lockett's death and Oklahoma's methods could be reviewed, the state held what amounted to a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its overhauled death chamber only months later and is scheduled to resume killing inmates in mid-January 2015. And rather than causing states to question whether capital punishment is just or worth the risk of subjecting someone to a potentially agonizing death, the prolonged executions and problems states have had securing lethal injection drugs have led them to explore new and more efficient ways of killing, including gassing inmates…

     Lockett's execution did little or nothing to dampen support for the death penalty in deeply conservative Oklahoma which has killed more inmates than any other state except Texas since the 1976 reinstatement of the death penalty. In October 2014, officials gave media tours of the renovated execution unit at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, which got a $104,000 overhaul after Lockett's death and now stands in sharp contrast to the rest of the shabby, 106-year-old facility.

     Not content with just the upgrades to the prison and lethal injection equipment, though, Oklahoma's House of Representatives conducted a study on the use of nitrogen gas to execute inmates and is expected to consider legislation early next year that would make Oklahoma the first state to adopt hypoxia by gas--the forced deprivation of oxygen--as a legal execution method…

     Tennessee passed a law in 2014 to reinstate the electric chair if it can't get lethal injection drugs and Utah is considering bringing back the firing squad.

     Oklahoma has executed 194 inmates since achieving statehood in 1907, including one by hanging, 82 by electrocution and 111 by lethal injection….

Sean Murphy, "Death Penalty States Unmoved by Botched Execution," Associated Press, December 27, 2014 

Criminal Justice Quote: Shoplifter Fakes Heart Attack While His Accomplice Steals Toys

     Tarus Scott, 30, and Genard Dupree, 27, were arrested Tuesday December 16, 2014 after a surveillance camera in Walmart in Lake Wales, Florida, captured their shoplifting stunt on tape…The video showed the suspects walking through the store together. Suddenly, Dupree laid on the ground near the entrance and clutches his chest, pretending to have a heart attack.

     When other shoppers saw Dupree on the ground, they tried to help him while Scott allegedly helped himself to $369 worth of toys…Once Scott was out of the store, Dupree got up, brushed himself off, and walked out as well. Both men were seen getting into a silver sport utility vehicle…Police picked up the suspects a short time later and charged them each with grand theft…

     Both Scott and Dupree have extensive criminal backgrounds and Scott was recently released after serving 10 years in state prison. [Apparently ten years wasn't enough.]

"Man Fakes Heart Attack So Accomplice Can Steal Toys," huffingtonpost.com, December 17, 2014 

Criminal Justice Quote: Boy Drowns in Murky Day Care Pool

     A former Philadelphia day care owner pleaded guilty in the drowning death of a boy who attended her unlicensed center. Tianna Edwards, 32, faces up to 22 years in prison…She pleaded guilty on December 18, 2014 to involuntary manslaughter and lesser charges. Prosecutors say it took police nine hours to find 7-year-old Isear Jeffcoat's body in the murky backyard pool at her mother's house.

     According to the police, Tianna Edwards, in June 2012, dropped off 20 children for a swim then left the house. Before pleading guilty to the criminal homicide charge, Edwards had pleaded guilty to improperly taking $1.4 million in day care payments. The judge sentenced her to five years on that charge.

     With regard to the involuntary manslaughter charge, her lawyer said Edwards had pleaded guilty to take responsibility for what he called a "tragic accident." [Letting children swim unsupervised in a filthy pool was not an "accident."]

     Authorities say Edwards hid her criminal record to open Tianna's Terrific Tots day care center and spent government payments on gambling and personal expenses.

"Day Care Owner Pleads in Boy's Death in Murky Pool," Associated Press, December 19, 2014

Dead Infants Found in Abandoned Storage Unit

     A mother is under investigation after sheriff's deputies found the remains of two infants in a storage locker in Placer County, California. In November 2014, Placer County resident Regina Zimmer purchased the abandoned storage unit in an auction. Inside the locker she detected a foul odor coming from a container. "We opened it up, and the smell that came out was horrible," she said. "It was a little skull. It looked like it was in three pieces with some hair. And you could see a jawbone."

     Investigators said the previous owner of the storage unit had defaulted on the rent, leaving the inventory untouched for several months--including the remains of two babies. "The remains were in very poor condition," said Lieutenant John Poretti with the Placer County Sheriff's Department. "I mean, there was no easy way to tell exactly what we had."

     The container was taken to the Placer County morgue for autopsies on both babies to determine the causes of their deaths….

"Remains of Infants Found in Colfax Storage," kcra.com, December 18, 2014 

Writing Quote: The Children's Book Writer Must Identify With His Intended Reader

Before you begin to write your children's book, make sure that you are clear in your own mind whether you are writing about children, or for them. Do you have a reader in prospect? If there is any doubt or ambiguity about this, your work will suffer. If you try to write for children, but hope that adults will be reading the book, too, an element of insincerity is almost certain to slip into your style.

Joan Aiken, The Way to Write for Children, 1999

Criminal Justice Quote: Is Former NFL Star Darren Sharper a Serial Rapist?

     Former New Orleans Saints football player Darren Sharper has been indicted by an Orleans Parish grand jury on two counts of aggravated rape…Sharper's indictment stems from an alleged incident in September 2013. According to a police report, the rape happened in the Warehouse District on September 23, 2013 at ten in the morning. Later, police said a second victim claimed she was raped by Sharper and another man in the same apartment…

     Sharper, who remains in a Los Angeles jail, is under investigation for eight rapes and 11 druggings in Louisiana, Nevada, Arizona, and California. He is being held without bond in Los Angeles as he awaits two rape charges there. He also has been formally charged in two rapes in Tempe, Arizona.

     The 38-year-old Sharper spent 14 years in the NFL as a safety. He played for the Green Bay Packers, the Minnesota Vikings and then the Saints. He was a five-time Pro Bowl selection. He retired in 2010.

"Darren Sharper Indicted on Rape Allegations in New Orleans,"  USA Today, December 12, 2014 

The Lambert Corpse in the Refrigerator Murder Case

     In June 2014, Patrick Lambert, his wife Anastacia, and their 6-month-old son moved into the Braeswood Oaks apartment complex in southwest Houston, Texas. Anastacia had been born and raised in West Africa and Patrick had lived in New York City, Clearwater, Florida, and Hawaii.

     On September 2, 2014, Anastacia Lambert called 911 to report a domestic disturbance at the second-story Braeswood Oaks apartment. To the responding officers with the Houston Police Department, she accused her husband with threatening her with a knife. The police did not take Patrick Lambert into custody and no criminal charges were filed against him.

     On November 20, 2014, the utility company turned off the power to the Lambert apartment for lack of payment. Because neighbors hadn't seen Anastacia, her husband, or their 11-month-old son since the end of November, they thought the family had moved out. Because Anastacia didn't have family in the country and didn't work outside the home, there were no relatives or fellow employees to report her missing.

     At two in the afternoon of December 8, 2014, maintenance workers at the Braeswood Oaks complex detected a strong odor of death coming from unit 822, the Lambert apartment. The workers called 911.

     Upon entering the apartment, police officers discovered a large quantity of dried blood on the kitchen floor. They also found 27-year-old Anastacia Lambert's corpse stuffed inside the refrigerator. She had been stabbed to death and her son was not in the apartment.

     On the day police found the body in the refrigerator, the authorities issued an Amber Alert for the Lambert child and his 38-year-old father. Police described the missing murder suspect as a five-foot-elven inch black male. The police did not have a description of Lambert's vehicle and had no idea regarding his whereabouts or the whereabouts of his son.

     Police officers had the crime scene refrigerator transported to the Houston Crime Lab for forensic examination.   

Criminal Justice Quote: Police Arrest Brazilian Serial Killer

     A Brazilian man has confessed to killing 39 women in the Rio de Janeiro region… If his claim is confirmed, he will be one of the most prolific serial killers in the country's history.

     In an interview with Brazilian broadcaster TV Globo, the alleged killer, Sailson Jose das Gracas, said he carried out his first slaying when he was 17 and continued to kill over the next decade. "I started robbing purses and small things like that," he told TV Globo. "And as I got older, I started having different thoughts. My thoughts started changing. From stealing, I started thinking about killing."

     The 26-years-old said he didn't kill impulsively but stalked his victims. Rio police said they arrested Sailson on Wednesday December 10, 2014 on suspicion of killing a woman in the suburb of Nova Iquacu. He confessed to that homicide and then told police about the other killings. Sailson described his need to kill as pathological.

     "When I didn't kill, I would get nervous," he told TV Globo. "I would pace around the house, and then when I killed, it calmed me."…The self-declared killer said he had no regrets about his actions and would kill again if set free. "What is done is done," he told the TV reporter. "If I leave prison in 10, 15, 20 years, I'll go back to doing the same thing."

"Brazilian Man Says He Killed Dozens of Women," CNN, December 12, 2014