Model may cop plea in cell phone attack

Supermodel may cop a plea (CNN)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Naomi Campbell appeared in a Manhattan courtroom Tuesday where prosecutors said a plea bargain was possible in the case of her alleged cell phone attack on her housekeeper. She did not speak during the brief proceeding.

Right: Naomi Campbell models a "snakeskin criss-cross open maillot" at the Rosa Cha Spring 2004 fashion show Saturday, Sept. 13, 2003 in New York. (AP Photo/Diane Bondareff - Photo from the Star archives)

Wanted for murder: Ronald E. Mitchell

Still at large: Ronald E. Mitchell (right), 60, 6’, 175lbs, believed to be armed and dangerous. Charged with shooting to death Tracy L. Tillman, 43, at a Friday-night fish fry in the 7100 block of Wayne Avenue.

From the Probable Cause Statement:

• Witnesses stated that...there were two arguments going on, none of which involved the victim. The victim was in the front yard at the time of these arguments. Witnesses stated at that time the suspect, Ronald E. Mitchell, came out of the residence with a long rifle type weapon. The suspect fired one shot from the weapon and the victim fell to the ground.
• The victim was found to have a gunshot wound that entered her left cheek area and exited near the base of her skull.

Call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477.

Sheriff's charity grill in Olathe Friday

Johnson County sheriff's deputies will fire up the grill for their annual “Feed the Need” cookout Friday 11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. in the courtyard between the Johnson County Courthouse and Administration building, 125 N. Cherry, Olathe.
Menu: Hamburger and hot dog plates, $5.00 - choice of burger or dog, chips and a drink (pop or water). Baked goods will also be for sale.
You can buy tickets for a drawing for $1 each or six for $5 to win:

• A $45 gift certificate to Famous Dave’s BBQ
• Kansas City Chiefs pennant autographed by Linebacker Derrick Johnson
• 2004 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s 1:24 scale die cast car
• Two KU game day baseball caps with two KU baseball t-shirts
• Four general admission T-Bones tickets to any regular season game
• Apple I-Pod shuffle
• More

Feed the Need program stocks local food pantries (third item)

www.jocosheriff.org

Video: O.J. Simpson frolics with jugglers

Public opinion about the O.J. Simpson case is famously split. But that hasn't stopped people from buying him drinks and asking for his autograph as he travels, bon vivant-like, across the country.

A colleague of mine and her family ran into O.J. in Breckenridge, CO recently. Here's an 11-second video of O.J. with jugglers from the family:

• O.J. with jugglers

Theory: He must be looking for the real killer of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman (Warning: crime scene photos).

The local paper in Colorado published a long love-feast about O.J., including shoe size:

• O.J. chills in the mountains:
  • Not to say O.J. has bulked up, but he won't talk about his weight.
  • His mid-six-figure NFL pension can't be garnished.

Links:
Frontline (PBS 2-part special, viewable in full online)
O.J. Simpson: Facts and Fiction (Cambridge U. Press)

MO death penalty: A dyslexic executioner?

The drug-administering doctor in this case said he's dyslexic, but that didn't affect his work as a surgeon - just the dosages he gave condemned inmates. Huh?

In Missouri, concerns halt executions
A federal judge Monday ordered a halt to all executions in Missouri until the department of corrections can repair what he found to be a flawed lethal injection procedure.
Ruling in the case of Michael A. Taylor, who earlier this year came within hours of being executed for the 1989 killing of a Kansas City teenager, U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr. ordered the Missouri Department of Corrections to submit a written lethal injection protocol to him by July 15.
Eric Berger, part of the legal team representing Taylor, called the decision a “huge victory for Michael Taylor.”
Taylor, now 39, was convicted of raping and killing 15-year-old Ann Harrison after she was kidnapped while waiting for the school bus in front of her house.

Fatal shooting at KC car wash

From Kansas City police 10:01 p.m. but email just landed:

• Monday 7 p.m. police are called to a vehicle fire at a car wash at Gregory and Troost.
• Vehicle had crashed into a wall and was burning.
• Witnesses pulled man from the flames, but he was dead.
• A man approaches officers and says he was drying his car when the man robbed him of the vehicle at gunpoint, so he shot him.
• 1 pronounced dead, 1 in custody, 2 weapons recovered.
• This is homicide #38 compared to 54 at the same time last year.
• News release

Porch fires follow golf course encounter

Desoto, KS - Three guys were hot-rodding around on a golf cart here Saturday and practically had the bumper falling off, Johnson County sheriff's deputies said.
A resident of a subdivision on the golf course and the golf course owner separately encountered the men and asked them to cut it out, deputies said. Instead, the men just drove off.
Late that night, pretty big fires started on the porches of the homes of both the resident and the golf course owner.
Deputies would like to talk with the golf-cart trio.

News release
Two porches set afire

To assume a connection would, of course, be the "post hoc ergo propter hoc" fallacy.

Open thread Tuesday: Persistence

This is the place to come for discussion of off-topic topics. It's also a good place to bring story ideas, especially with a link, to make my job even easier.

Today: Persistence through adversity.

KC girl, 16, arrested in death of KC girl, 15

Teenager dies after struggle, stabbing
A 15-year-old girl died of stab wounds Sunday near 73rd and Wabash after getting in a fight with her 16-year-old friend, police said.
A boy who lives around the corner said he saw a girl run down the street screaming, and he ran into the house, where he found the victim on the floor, unconscious and bleeding.
“I can’t believe that happened,” he said. “I’d known her since first grade.”

Kansas death penalty statute upheld

AP story and nice links:

Supreme Court reveals fracture over death penalty
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court upheld a state death penalty law on Monday in a splintered ruling that revealed deep division among the justices over the fairness of capital punishment in America.
The 5-4 outcome was as much a debate about capital punishment as it was a ruling on a unique law in Kansas, which has just eight death row inmates and hasn't executed anyone in 40 years.

Phill Kline is pleased - Background from the Kansas AG, with audio clips.