Read a news article on www.cnn.com, www.foxnews.com, or www.msnbc.com and write a brief summary and reaction to the article.
Killer smiles, families weep as jury recommends death
WHO: Derrick McFarland, Morva
WHERE: ABINGDON, Virginia
WHEN: Thu March 13, 2008
WHAT: A jury recommended the death penalty Thursday for a man who murdered a hospital security guard and a sheriff's deputy after escaping from custody.
WHY: Families of his victims and his own mother wept as the verdicts were read, but William Morva smiled slightly and snapped his fingers. He nodded to jurors and patted his attorney after he learned his fate. "He seemed to be acting like he won the lottery," said Harold McFarland, whose son Derrick was one of Morva's victims. It took about three hours for the Washington County jury to agree that Morva, 26, should be executed rather than face life in prison without parole. That's slightly less than it took the panel Tuesday to convict him of capital murder in the August 2006 killings.
HOW: Morva was a jail inmate who had been taken to a Blacksburg hospital for treatment of an injury when he overpowered a Montgomery County sheriff's deputy there. He used the deputy's pistol to shoot security guard Derrick McFarland, 32, who was unarmed. A day later in the manhunt that followed, Morva shot 40-year-old sheriff's Cpl. Eric Sutphin, who was searching for the fugitive on a walking trail near the Virginia Tech campus.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
March 10, 2008
Read a news article on www.cnn.com, www.foxnews.com, or www.msnbc.com and write a brief summary and reaction to the article.
Law to make tongue kissing minors a sex offense
WHO: Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, Delegate Riley Ingram, R-Hopewell.
WHEN: Sun March 9, 2008
WHERE: RICHMOND, Virginia
WHAT: State legislators passed a law Saturday that would require adults who French kiss a child younger than 13 to register as a sex offender.
WHY: Those convicted of tongue-kissing a child would be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine. The House of Delegates passed the legislation 96-1 and the Senate 39-0.
HOW: The only crime prosecutors could charge the man with was contributing to the delinquency of a minor, which did not require that he register as a sex offender. Ingram and other members of the House fought to make the crime a felony, but later gave in to senators who thought that classifying it as a felony was too harsh. Delegate Phillip Hamilton, R-Newport News, cast the lone nay vote, refusing to back down from his belief that the crime should be a felony.
Law to make tongue kissing minors a sex offense
WHO: Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, Delegate Riley Ingram, R-Hopewell.
WHEN: Sun March 9, 2008
WHERE: RICHMOND, Virginia
WHAT: State legislators passed a law Saturday that would require adults who French kiss a child younger than 13 to register as a sex offender.
WHY: Those convicted of tongue-kissing a child would be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine. The House of Delegates passed the legislation 96-1 and the Senate 39-0.
HOW: The only crime prosecutors could charge the man with was contributing to the delinquency of a minor, which did not require that he register as a sex offender. Ingram and other members of the House fought to make the crime a felony, but later gave in to senators who thought that classifying it as a felony was too harsh. Delegate Phillip Hamilton, R-Newport News, cast the lone nay vote, refusing to back down from his belief that the crime should be a felony.
Friday, March 7, 2008
march 7, 2008
Read a news article on www.cnn.com, www.foxnews.com, or www.msnbc.com and write a brief summary and reaction to the article.
BBQ-smoker-turned-'Robocop' chases off drug dealers
WHO: Robocop, Rufus Terrill
WHEN: March 7, 2008
WHERE: ATLANTA, Georgia
WHAT: It's midnight on the streets of Atlanta, and bar owner Rufus Terrill patrols his neighborhood with a rolling crime fighter of his own creation. Meet "Bum-bot," as Terrill describes it; others in his neighborhood call it simply, "Robocop."
WHY: It's a barbecue smoker mounted on a three-wheeled scooter, and armed with an infrared camera, spotlight, loudspeaker and aluminum water cannon that shoots a stream of icy water about 20 feet. Operated by remote control, the robot spotlights trespassers on property down the street from his bar, O'Terrill's. Using a walkie-talkie, Terrill belts out through the robot's loudspeaker, "That's private property.
HOW: But during the day, it's where young children frolic on a nearby playground at a the Beacon of Light Daycare Center in downtown Atlanta. It has become a nightmare for day care operator Lydia Meredith. "This whole square is enveloped with homeless people and drug dealers, defecating, urinating, prostituting -- the whole nine yards. And the overflow of that behavior, we get to cleanup every morning," she says. Meredith says people often toss used syringes and condoms onto the playground. Terrill, an engineer by trade, is also a board member at the day care center. Tired of cleaning up after the shady characters, he decided to take action. That's when he built his downtown Darth Vader of sorts.
BBQ-smoker-turned-'Robocop' chases off drug dealers
WHO: Robocop, Rufus Terrill
WHEN: March 7, 2008
WHERE: ATLANTA, Georgia
WHAT: It's midnight on the streets of Atlanta, and bar owner Rufus Terrill patrols his neighborhood with a rolling crime fighter of his own creation. Meet "Bum-bot," as Terrill describes it; others in his neighborhood call it simply, "Robocop."
WHY: It's a barbecue smoker mounted on a three-wheeled scooter, and armed with an infrared camera, spotlight, loudspeaker and aluminum water cannon that shoots a stream of icy water about 20 feet. Operated by remote control, the robot spotlights trespassers on property down the street from his bar, O'Terrill's. Using a walkie-talkie, Terrill belts out through the robot's loudspeaker, "That's private property.
HOW: But during the day, it's where young children frolic on a nearby playground at a the Beacon of Light Daycare Center in downtown Atlanta. It has become a nightmare for day care operator Lydia Meredith. "This whole square is enveloped with homeless people and drug dealers, defecating, urinating, prostituting -- the whole nine yards. And the overflow of that behavior, we get to cleanup every morning," she says. Meredith says people often toss used syringes and condoms onto the playground. Terrill, an engineer by trade, is also a board member at the day care center. Tired of cleaning up after the shady characters, he decided to take action. That's when he built his downtown Darth Vader of sorts.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
march 6, 2008
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Surviving kids in Memphis killings guarded
WHO: Cecil Dotson, 30, who was renting the house; Hollis Seals, 33; Shindri Roberson, 20, and Marissa Rene Williams, 26. The children were ages 9, 5, 4, 2 and 2 months.
WHERE: MEMPHIS, Tennessee
WHEN: Thu March 6, 2008
WHAT: Three youngsters found wounded but alive in a house where six other people were slain are under police protection, and not even their relatives can visit them in the hospital.
WHY: Police have offered no motive for the killings, which apparently occurred over the weekend at a small brick house in a neighborhood where low-income homes sit near cheap motels and junkyards. Authorities identified the adult victims Wednesday as Cecil Dotson, 30, who was renting the house; Hollis Seals, 33; Shindri Roberson, 20, and Marissa Rene Williams, 26. They declined to identify the children.
HOW: Billy E. Gunn, whose house is behind the home where the bodies were found, said he heard five rapid gunshots and then three slow ones around 9 p.m. Sunday. He said he didn't call police because it's such a common sound. "It wouldn't have mattered; it takes the police so long to get out here," he said. Ricky Hall, 52, who lives near the home where the bodies were found, says the neighborhood has grown more unkempt and dangerous in the past few years, with many rental homes sitting empty. Investigators say they have few leads to work with. The Memphis City Council announced a $30,000 reward Wednesday for anyone who can help solve the case. Police refuse to say if the slayings could be connected to Dotson's violent past.
Surviving kids in Memphis killings guarded
WHO: Cecil Dotson, 30, who was renting the house; Hollis Seals, 33; Shindri Roberson, 20, and Marissa Rene Williams, 26. The children were ages 9, 5, 4, 2 and 2 months.
WHERE: MEMPHIS, Tennessee
WHEN: Thu March 6, 2008
WHAT: Three youngsters found wounded but alive in a house where six other people were slain are under police protection, and not even their relatives can visit them in the hospital.
WHY: Police have offered no motive for the killings, which apparently occurred over the weekend at a small brick house in a neighborhood where low-income homes sit near cheap motels and junkyards. Authorities identified the adult victims Wednesday as Cecil Dotson, 30, who was renting the house; Hollis Seals, 33; Shindri Roberson, 20, and Marissa Rene Williams, 26. They declined to identify the children.
HOW: Billy E. Gunn, whose house is behind the home where the bodies were found, said he heard five rapid gunshots and then three slow ones around 9 p.m. Sunday. He said he didn't call police because it's such a common sound. "It wouldn't have mattered; it takes the police so long to get out here," he said. Ricky Hall, 52, who lives near the home where the bodies were found, says the neighborhood has grown more unkempt and dangerous in the past few years, with many rental homes sitting empty. Investigators say they have few leads to work with. The Memphis City Council announced a $30,000 reward Wednesday for anyone who can help solve the case. Police refuse to say if the slayings could be connected to Dotson's violent past.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
march 4, 2008
Read a news article on www.cnn.com, www.foxnews.com, or www.msnbc.com and write a brief summary and reaction to the article.
4 adults, 2 kids killed in Memphis home
WHO: Four adults and two children
WHERE: Memphis, Tennessee
WHEN: Monday March 4, 2008
WHAT: The four dead adults were shot and the two dead children were stabbed, sources told CNN affiliate WMC-TV. At least one of the wounded children also was stabbed, police told the Commercial Appeal newspaper.
WHY: Memphis Fire Department spokeswoman Melanie Young said firefighters responded to a 911 call at a home at 6:11 p.m. Monday and found the bodies and wounded children. A 7-year-old boy, a 10-month-old girl and a 4-year-old whose gender wasn't immediately known were taken to Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center. The Commercial Appeal newspaper said one child was upgraded to stable condition late Monday, another was upgraded to critical and the third was still in extremely critical condition.
HOW: The newspaper reported that the shooting appeared to be the city's deadliest mass killing since 1973, when 28-year-old David Sanders randomly shot and killed five people before being shot dead by police. In 2000, police said firefighter Frederick Williams confessed to a shooting in Memphis in which four people were killed -- his wife, a sheriff's deputy and two fellow firefighters.
4 adults, 2 kids killed in Memphis home
WHO: Four adults and two children
WHERE: Memphis, Tennessee
WHEN: Monday March 4, 2008
WHAT: The four dead adults were shot and the two dead children were stabbed, sources told CNN affiliate WMC-TV. At least one of the wounded children also was stabbed, police told the Commercial Appeal newspaper.
WHY: Memphis Fire Department spokeswoman Melanie Young said firefighters responded to a 911 call at a home at 6:11 p.m. Monday and found the bodies and wounded children. A 7-year-old boy, a 10-month-old girl and a 4-year-old whose gender wasn't immediately known were taken to Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center. The Commercial Appeal newspaper said one child was upgraded to stable condition late Monday, another was upgraded to critical and the third was still in extremely critical condition.
HOW: The newspaper reported that the shooting appeared to be the city's deadliest mass killing since 1973, when 28-year-old David Sanders randomly shot and killed five people before being shot dead by police. In 2000, police said firefighter Frederick Williams confessed to a shooting in Memphis in which four people were killed -- his wife, a sheriff's deputy and two fellow firefighters.
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