JonBenet Ramsey's father wants outside agency to test DNA

 JonBenet Ramsey's father wants outside agency to test DNA

The father of JonBenet Ramsey is supporting an online petition asking Colorado’s governor to intervene in the investigation into her death more than 25 years ago by putting an outside agency in charge of DNA testing

ByThe Associated Press

3 May 2022, 05:39

• 3 min read

The Associated Press

FILE - In this Jan. 3, 1997, file photo, a police officer sits in her cruiser outside the home in which 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey was found murdered in Boulder, Colorado on Dec. 26, 1996. The father of JonBenet Ramsey, John Ramsey, is supporting an online petition asking Colorado Gov. Jared Polis to transfer DNA testing in the case away from the Boulder Police Department to an outside agency. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

DENVER -- The father of JonBenet Ramsey is supporting an online petition asking Colorado’s governor to intervene in the investigation into her death more than 25 years ago by putting an outside agency in charge of DNA testing in the case.

The 6-year-old was found dead in the basement of her family’s home in Boulder on Dec. 26, 1996, bludgeoned and strangled, several hours after her mother called 911 to say her daughter was missing and a ransom note had been left behind. Her death was ruled a homicide, but nobody was ever prosecuted.

John Ramsey said he wants DNA evidence that was never tested before to be transferred away from Boulder police to a different agency, KUSA-TV reported Sunday.

“Somehow we’ve got to force the police, or take it away from them, the ability to go ahead and test some of the crime scene evidence that was never tested for DNA,” he said. “Why that’s never been done and will never be done by the police baffles me.”

The petition notes that advancements in DNA and the use of genetic genealogy is leading to the solving of more cold case around the country. It criticizes the Boulder Police Department for not doing enough to use DNA to solve the case, noting that the department said at the time of the 25th anniversary of JonBenet’s death that it was “actively reviewing genetic DNA testing processes” to see if those could be applied to the case.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Gov. Jared Polis said “The State will review the petition and look into how the state can assist in using new technology to further investigate this cold case and to identify JonBenet Ramsey’s killer.” The statement did not address the involvement of Boulder police.

Meanwhile, the Boulder Police Department said it has been working with state law enforcement agencies and the FBI, on the investigation and that DNA from the case is regularly checked for any new matches. As of December, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation has updated over 750 DNA samples from the investigation with the latest DNA technology, the department said in a statement.

“We have a shared goal to bring justice—and hopefully some peace—to JonBenet’s family and everyone who was impacted by her loss,” Police Chief Maris Herold said in the statement.

The police department was criticized for its initial handling of the investigation into the death of JonBenet, who had competed in beauty pageants.

The details of the crime and video footage of JonBenet from the pageants propelled the case into one of the highest-profile mysteries in the United States, unleashing a series of true-crime books and TV specials.

While the district attorney at the time of JonBenet’s death said her parents were under “an umbrella of suspicion” early on, tests in 2008 on newly discovered DNA on her clothing pointed to the involvement of an “unexplained third party” in her slaying, and not her parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, or their son, Burke. That led former district attorney Mary Lacy to clear the Ramseys of any involvement, two years after Patsy Ramsey died of cancer, calling the couple “victims of this crime.”

Colombian man extradited to US to face narco-terrorism case

 Colombian man extradited to US to face narco-terrorism case

A Colombian man has been brought to New York to face charges that he tried to broker deals for weapons with known drug dealing terrorist groups and hoped to murder a U.S. agent as a trophy

ByThe Associated Press

29 April 2022, 23:45

• 2 min read

NEW YORK -- A Colombian man was brought to New York to face charges Friday that he tried to broker deals for weapons with known drug dealing terrorist groups and hoped to murder a U.S. agent as a trophy.

Carlos Fernando Melo, 58, was expected to appear in Manhattan federal court to face narco-terrorism, firearms and drug trafficking charges. It was not immediately clear who will represent him in court.

Authorities said he was arrested by Colombian authorities on April 20 at the request of the United States. They said Melo didn’t realize that the individuals he thought were arms traffickers were actually U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration confidential sources.

In court documents, authorities said Melo from September 2019 to December 2019 tried to buy explosives and firearms, including machine guns, from individuals he believed to be arms traffickers for use by two organizations then designated by the Department of State as Foreign Terrorist Organizations: the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (“FARC”) and the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (“ELN”).

In a release, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Melo tried to make deals involving machine guns with known narco-terrorist organizations and hoped to murder “a DEA agent abroad as a ‘trophy.’”

"Melo’s extradition today ensures that he’ll be held accountable on U.S. soil for allegedly targeting DEA Special Agents committed to fighting the illicit drug trade,” Williams said.

DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said the extradition met the DEA central mission of “targeting the most dangerous, most ruthless drug-traffickers who threaten our communities for their own profit.”

Pilot in botched Arizona Red Bull plane stunt apologizes

 Pilot in botched Arizona Red Bull plane stunt apologizes

The pilot in charge during a forbidden Red Bull plane-swapping stunt is taking full responsibility for the ensuing crash over the Arizona desert

ByThe Associated Press

30 April 2022, 00:05

• 2 min read

ELOY, Ariz. -- The pilot in charge during a forbidden Red Bull plane-swapping stunt said Friday he takes full responsibility for the ensuing crash over the Arizona desert.

Luke Aikins, the lead pilot, admitted in a post on his Instagram that he disregarded a denial from the Federal Aviation Administration two days before Sunday's mid-air crash.

“I made the personal decision to move forward with (the) plane swap. I regret not sharing this information with my team and those who supported me,” Aikins wrote.

He said he would cooperate fully with the FAA and any other regulatory agencies.

Aikins and another pilot flew separate single-engine Cessna 182 airplanes up to 14,000 feet (4 kilometers) Sunday evening as part of a stunt to promote the energy drink company. They tried to switch planes as the aircraft descended.

One plane spun out of control and crashed near Eloy, roughly 65 miles (104 kilometers) southeast of Phoenix. The pilot was able to parachute out safely. The second pilot regained control of the other plane and landed safely.

It was not clear what possible penalties Aikins could face. Elizabeth Isham Cory, an FAA spokeswoman, said the agency does not comment on open investigations. But the FAA provided a copy of a letter denying Aikins' request.

Aikins had petitioned for an exemption from the rule that pilots must be at the helm with safety belts fastened at all times. He argued the stunt would “be in the public interest because it would promote aviation in science, technology, engineering and math.”

Robert Carty, FAA deputy executive director of flight standards service, denied the exemption.

Red Bull, known for organizing wild promotional stunts, said in a statement it looks forward to continuing to work with Aikins. The company called him a “courageous, highly skilled athlete” who has been honest about his role in the incident.

New York Times' top editor may speak out more on journalism

 New York Times' top editor may speak out more on journalism

The New York Times has usually been content to let its journalism speak for itself

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer

30 April 2022, 00:06

• 5 min read

NEW YORK -- The New York Times has a tradition of letting its work speak for itself, rather than publicly defending its journalism from criticism.

Yet with democracy, truth, and the news business under attack, that's a luxury The Times' incoming executive editor, Joe Kahn, may not be able to afford. Kahn, a managing editor for the past five years, succeeds Dean Baquet on June 14, inheriting the most high-profile job in journalism.

The deliberate, soft-spoken Kahn said he's been thinking about whether The Times' reluctance to speak about its work is still the best approach at a time when people take sides about journalism brands like they do about politics. How Kahn will tackle things differently from his predecessors remains to be seen, but he is open to trying.

“I’m not sure there’s a perfect answer to it,” said Kahn, who believes efforts to communicate with readers could be improved. He added: “Being able to narrate that to some degree, and bring a broader audience into the investment we're making in quality journalism, I do think (that) is an important part of the job.”

News organizations sometimes let marketing teams do the talking, with ad campaigns highlighting their work and why it is done, as CNN did when former President Donald Trump labeled them “fake news.” Former Washington Post executive editor Marty Baron famously said that the Post was not at war with the Trump administration, “we're at work.”

That may not be good enough anymore, said Kyle Pope, editor in chief and publisher of the Columbia Journalism Review.

“Journalists for a long time have taken it as a given that the country and its leaders understood the role they play in a functioning democracy,” Pope said. “We're at a moment now where you can't take that for granted.”

Targeting The Times for criticism has long been a rite of passage for many conservatives. More recently, liberals have stepped up their criticism, most notably by demanding the newspaper more aggressively call out what they see as Republican efforts to subvert democracy,

Kahn said he wants The Times to be dogged in covering voter access, the certification of elections and increased political violence. Reporters and editors dedicated to the topic need to be persistent about focusing attention on the problems, similar to how The Times tracked the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

“We can cover these issues really well and assertively without turning ourselves into a partisan news organization,” he said.

The Times can point to examples where it has led the way. This past week, Times reporters broke the news of House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy saying he planned to urge Trump to resign following the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection. In June, The Times' painstaking “Day of Rage” video outlined clearly what happened that day.

Still, some critics on the left believe it too often treats efforts to change voter access laws as a typical political fight when the meaning is much deeper.

“Reporting more aggressively, accurately and clearly about threats to democracy is not asking them to become a partisan organization,” said Dan Froomkin, editor of the Press Watch media criticism site.

The Post announced in February that it would hire two editors and three reporters to staff a new democracy team to cover these issues, and The Associated Press said last week it would add a new democracy editor to its political staff.

On a sometimes related topic -- disinformation -- Kahn said The Times plans further investment. That was illustrated recently when satellite imagery from Ukraine was used to refute Russian propaganda that civilian killings were staged.

The Times is also writing stories specifically designed to show up in Internet searches when people want to learn the truth about false stories that spread online, like quack COVID treatments.

“If you're partisan and want to live in your own information silo, it's really hard to break through to that,” Kahn said. “But if you are, in my view, like the vast majority of people who hear things and may not believe them, we'll be there to help guide you in those moments.”

One trait Kahn has that is not always common in top media executives is that he's open to listening to criticism, wrote Margaret Sullivan, the Post's media columnist. From 2012 to 2016, she was public editor at The Times, where her job was often to convey reader complaints to editors.

The Times discontinued that role in 2017. Although Sullivan doesn't expect that decision to be revisited — and Kahn pointed out that's the publisher's decision, not his — she said in an interview that “the thing that's missing is a steady sense of The Times hearing outside voices, outside critics, and responding in real time on a regular basis.”

Baquet has tended to respond to individual issues that come up through media interviews.

The Times' decision to appoint an insider as executive editor is typical, but does contrast with the Post choosing AP's Sally Buzbee and Los Angeles Times picking Kevin Merida from ESPN as leaders over the past two years. Part of the reason they went with outsiders, “if I'm being honest, is that they're trying to catch up with us,” Kahn said.

In announcing Kahn's elevation, Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger said it was an affirmation of the Times' direction under Baquet, who had Kahn as his top lieutenant for five years.

The Times has grown from under a million digital subscriptions to nearly 10 million under Baquet. Its footprint has widened, encompassing a popular podcast, “The Daily,” the Wirecutter product recommendation service, newsletters and a documentary unit that made “Controlling Britney Spears.” Not everything has gone smoothly — The Times painfully concluded its 2018 podcast “Caliphate” did not meet journalistic standards — but it has been a remarkable transformation.

Neither The Times, nor he, believes in standing still

Teen pleads guilty in high school shooting that wounded 2

 Teen pleads guilty in high school shooting that wounded 2

A 15-year-old boy has pleaded guilty to malicious wounding in a shooting that injured two students at a Virginia high school in September

ByThe Associated Press

30 April 2022, 00:13

• 2 min read

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- A 15-year-old boy pleaded guilty Friday to malicious wounding in a shooting that injured two students at a Virginia high school in September.

The teen pleaded guilty to two counts of malicious wounding and four gun charges in the shooting that prompted panicking students at Heritage High School to run for the exits and barricade themselves in classrooms, The Daily Press reported. The teen did not have a plea agreement.

An argument spilled out of the cafeteria and into the school hallway when a 17-year-old punched the teen in the face and the teen pulled out a gun, Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Travis White said. There were about 100 students in the hallway at the time, court documents said.

A history teacher tried to break up the fight and saw the teen pull out the gun, White said.

“He attempted to get the other students out of the way,” White said of the teacher. “Frankly, I’m surprised he wasn’t shot himself.”

The teen fired multiple shots in the hallway, White said, striking the 17-year-old in the head, leg and finger. A 17-year-old girl was also struck in the leg.

“Both students survived, and both are recovering,” White said, noting they are out of the hospital.

Court documents state the teen ditched his handgun in a trash can as he fled the school and ran home. A relative took him to surrender to authorities. He was given a Miranda warning, then gave a statement to police with his mother present.

“He admitted that he shot the gun after a physical altercation,” White said.

The shooting took place less than two weeks into the school year, as Newport News students returned to in-person classes after pandemic lockdowns. The school was closed for more than a month after the Sept. 20 shooting.

Before Friday’s hearing, prosecutors reduced an aggravated malicious wounding to malicious wounding, reducing the possible sentence for the charge from life in prison to 20 years. The change was based on improvement to the girl's leg wound, White said.

The teen faces up to 65 years behind bars at sentencing Aug. 5 .

Arizona death-row prisoner won’t be executed in gas chamber

 Arizona death-row prisoner won’t be executed in gas chamber

A prisoner scheduled to be executed in what would be Arizona’s first use of the death penalty in nearly eight years won’t be put to death in the gas chamber

By JACQUES BILLEAUD Associated Press

30 April 2022, 00:14

• 4 min read

The Associated Press

FILE - This undated photo provided by the Arizona Department of Corrections shows Cla...

PHOENIX -- A prisoner scheduled to be executed in three weeks in what would be Arizona’s first use of the death penalty in nearly eight years will die by lethal injection and not in the gas chamber — a method that hasn’t been used in the United States in more than two decades.

Clarence Dixon declined to pick a method of execution when officials asked him if he wanted to die by lethal injection or the gas chamber, leaving him to be put to death by lethal injection — the default method for condemned prisoners who don’t make a decision, Dixon's defense team said Wednesday.

Dixon is scheduled to be executed on May 11 with an injection of pentobarbital for his conviction in the 1978 murder of Arizona State University student Deana Bowdoin. Prosecutors believe the execution will likely be delayed if a judge goes forward with a hearing to determine whether Dixon is mentally fit to be put to death.

The last lethal gas execution in the United States was carried out in 1999 in Arizona. The horrific nature of gas-chamber deaths and the advent of lethal-injection executions turned the United States against lethal gas

Arizona refurbished its gas chamber at the prison in Florence, southeast of Phoenix, in late 2020.

Arizona, California, Missouri and Wyoming are the only states with decades-old lethal-gas execution laws still on the books. Arizona is the only one that still has a working gas chamber.

In recent years, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Alabama have passed laws allowing executions with nitrogen gas, at least in some circumstances, though experts say it’s never been done and no state has established a protocol that would allow it, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Corrections officials in Arizona have declined to say why they were restarting the gas chamber.

The move came as states find it increasingly difficult to secure lethal injection drugs as manufacturers refuse to supply them. Arizona had struggled to find drug suppliers but revealed last year that it had obtained a shipment of pentobarbital.

The last prisoner to be executed in a U.S. gas chamber was Walter LaGrand, the second of two German brothers sentenced to death for killing a bank manager in 1982 in southern Arizona. It took LaGrand 18 minutes to die in 1999.

Both brothers chose the gas chamber in hopes that courts would find the method unconstitutional. While Karl LaGrand accepted the state’s last-minute offer of lethal injection, Walter LaGrand rejected it, saying he would prefer a more painful execution to protest the death penalty.

The case drew widespread criticism in Germany, which has no death penalty, and prompted repeated diplomatic protests.

Arizona’s gas chamber refurbishment was condemned internationally, including coverage in Israel and Germany drawing parallels to Holocaust atrocities.

Earlier this month, a judge denied a request by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Phoenix to bar the state from using cyanide gas to carry out executions in Arizona.

Authorities have said the 21-year-old Bowdoin, who was found dead in her apartment, had been raped, stabbed and strangled. Dixon had been charged with raping Bowdoin, but the charge was later dropped on statute-of-limitation grounds. He was convicted, though, in her death.

The last time Arizona used the death penalty was in July 2014, when Joseph Wood was given 15 doses of a two-drug combination over two hours in an execution that his lawyers said was botched. Arizona has 112 prisoners on death row.

On Wednesday, the South Carolina Supreme Court issued a temporary stay blocking the state from carrying out what was set to be its first-ever firing squad execution.

———

This story has been updated to correct that Deana Bowdoin died in 1978, not 1977.

Chauvin appeals murder conviction for killing George Floyd

 Chauvin appeals murder conviction for killing George Floyd

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is appealing his conviction for murder in the killing of George Floyd, arguing that jurors were intimidated by the protests that followed and prejudiced by heavy pretrial publicity

ByThe Associated Press

28 April 2022, 23:49

• 4 min read

The Associated Press

FILE - Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin addresses the court as Hennepi...

MINNEAPOLIS -- Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is appealing his conviction for murder in the killing of George Floyd, arguing that jurors were intimidated by the protests that followed and prejudiced by heavy pretrial publicity.

Chauvin asked the Minnesota Court of Appeals in a court filing Monday to reverse his conviction, reverse and remand for a new trial in a new venue, or order a resentencing.

Last June, Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill sentenced Chauvin to 22 1/2 years in prison after jurors found him guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin pinned the Black man to the ground with his knee on his neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds. Floyd had been accused of passing a counterfeit $20 bill at a convenience store. Three other fired officers face state trial this summer after being convicted in federal court earlier this year of violating Floyd's civil rights.

Chauvin’s attorney, William Mohrman, laid out a number of challenges to his conviction, including that the trial should not have been held in Hennepin County, where Floyd was killed.

“The overwhelming media coverage exposed the jurors — literally every day — to news demonizing Chauvin and glorifying Floyd which was more than sufficient to presume prejudice,” the brief said.

In the months that followed Floyd's killing, protesters took to the streets in Minneapolis and around the country to protest police brutality and racism. Some of that unrest was violent.

Mohrman said several potential jurors expressed concerns during jury selection that if Chauvin was acquitted they would fear for their personal safety and worried about more violence. He said several of them said they were intimidated by the security measures implemented at the courthouse to protect trial participants from protesters.

The filing also cited the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright by a police officer in nearby Brooklyn Center that sparked mor protests during Chauvin's trial. It says jurors should have been sequestered after selection to avoid being prejudiced by reports of that slaying. It also cited a $27 million settlement reached between the city and Floyd's family that was announced during jury selection, saying the timing of that prejudiced jurors in the case.

Mohrman cited several instances of alleged prosecutorial misconduct, claiming untimely sharing of evidence, failure to disclose and document dumping by the government.

The filing also says the judge did not apply the sentencing guidelines correctly and should not have included “abuse of a position of authority” as an aggravating sentencing factor for the former police officer.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has 45 days to respond to Chauvin’s brief.

The appeal came as the Minnesota Department of Human Rights released the results of a nearly two-year investigation launched after Floyd's slaying. It found the Minneapolis Police Department has engaged in a pattern of race discrimination for at least a decade, including stopping and arresting Black people at a higher rate than white people, using force more often on people of color and maintaining a culture where racist language is tolerated.