KCK shooting victim was hit in the back

From Bob Cronkleton's report: A 22-year-old Kansas City, Kan., man was in the hospital today after being shot in the back overnight.

The shooting occurred about 10:10 p.m. near 9th Street and Oakland Avenue in northeast Kansas City, Kan. The man told police he heard a gunshot and then was hit.

The victim’s injuries were not believed to be life-threatening, but his condition was not available this afternoon. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 913-573-6020 or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477).

The missing-pants judge has lost his job!

This is the best Halloween ever! Hey, maybe they're hiring down at the dry-cleaners ...

Westboro Baptist loses privacy, emotional distress lawsuit

In Baltimore, a jury has awarded $2.9 million to the father of a dead Marine in the Westboro Baptist Church trial there.

Here's the Baltimore Sun's take. And that $2.9 million -- that's just compensatory damages and does not include punitive.

Not much reaction from Westboro yet, but you've got to believe they're going to appeal. In the meantime, I'm guessing the church won't be doing much funeral picketing. (Though I could be -- and often am -- wrong.)

Marc Randazza at Legal Satyricon has a post about why he reluctantly sided with Westboro in this case.

OH MY GOD -- Westboro has its own blog. It's basically set up so church leaders can respond to emails from the public. No response from the church yet, but I'll keep checking.

UPDATED: Punitive damages are $8 million.

Photo: Fred and the family outside the federal courthouse in Baltimore. AP Photo/Baltimore Sun, Jed Kirschbaum

"Hey, I know it's late, we can make it if we run ..."

In Omaha, a sixth-grade teacher, age 25, is accused of running off with a 13-year-old boy that she allegedly had a relationship with.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, David!

Child killer is upset because prison won't give him prosthetic legs after suicide attempt

Barry L. McAdoo is a 32-year-old from Idaho who beat his 1-year-old son to death. Afterwards, he took 50 sleeping pills with a chaser of rat poison and then walked around in the freezing cold for a few hours. He lost his legs, but sadly, lived.

Anyway, poor Barry is suing the prison system for $1 million because they won't get him prosthetic legs. He says he was promised them during his plea negotiations, though there's not so much as a Post-It note to back him up.

YouTube saves a life

A man in Florida decides to take a bunch of pills and kill himself. Before he does, though, he posts his last will and testament to YouTube, where a person in New York saw it and called police, who saved the man's life.

We live in a beautiful world.

Don Vito Is Guilty!

He was convicted of two felony sex-assault charges, acquitted on one. Apparently, he fell to the ground and started screaming when the verdict was read.

Police: AZ baby dies in hot car after Mom leaves him there for hours

UPDATED: Here's Mom. Her name is Ashly Duchene, and she's been arrested on suspicion of negligent homicide. From the police spokesman ...

Tranter said interviews with family members and close friends revealed that Duchene was an unhappy mother. Those close to Duchene said she wanted her freedom and did not make the child a priority at all, Tranter said.

I went ahead and changed the headline since it's still not clear if this was definitely an accident or not. Thanks to everybody who pointed this out.

PREVIOUSLY: Sad story from Phoenix, where a 17-month-old baby died after his Mom forgot to leave him at daycare before she went to work at Hooters, police say. The baby died in the backseat of his mother's Honda Civic.

Hat Tip: Thanks, riskybzns and eephus!

Levares Key

A while back, we had a story from Florida about a 13-year-old boy who allegedly beat his younger brother to death because 8-year-old Levares Key ate a dessert he wasn't supposed to.

Now police have arrested the dead kid's godmother, the woman who pretty much raised him, because they think she beat him. During the autopsy, the medical examiner found several injuries on the little boy's body, in different stages of healing.

Hat Tip: Thanks, sexy

Open Thread ... Wednesday

The Open Thread welcomes your off-topic comments and discussion -- this is a good place to while away the hours until you can finally go trick-or-treating. (Or egging, we don't judge.)

Please sign your comments, and please avoid profanity, as well as racially and sexually abusive language. I read the OT, but if you need to contact me directly, my email is jhart@kcstar.com.

Thanks again, and have a great day!

Shooting up the messenger: Ads show the ugly side of meth

Laura Bauer has a great story about a series of anti-meth ads from Montana that government officials credit with cutting their drug rates almost in half. They're a little hardcore. My favorite?

A newspaper ad depicts a dirty public bathroom, graffiti on the wall and the toilet seat up, with the words, “No one thinks they’ll lose their virginity here. Meth will change that.”

Sadly, it doesn't look like we' re going to get the ads here. Kansas doesn't have the cash, and Missouri is leery of the whole thing. Here's a link to some of the ads.

Where is Tabitha Brewer?

It's been over nine years since Tabitha Brewer left her family's apartment in Shawnee and disappeared. Jackson County prosecutors have charged a man -- Brandon Howell -- with the murder of Brewer and her boyfriend, Nick Travis, but nobody knows where Brewer's remains are. (Travis' body was found a few months after the disappearance.)

So her family is asking anyone with information to call the Crime Stoppers TIPS Hotline at (816) 474-TIPS (474-8477). It's anonymous. And the family hopes anyone who was too afraid to speak up then might be ready to talk now.

At this point, the people who loved Tabitha Brewer just want to give her a decent burial.

(Howell's trial was originally set for November, but it's been postponed and hasn't been rescheduled yet.)

Christine Vendel did a good story about the case when charges were filed. It's available here as a Rich-Text document.

MS man chases down, shoots carjacker who threatened his 71-year-old mother

Police aren't sure if they're going to charge a 40-something man from Olive Branch, Mississippi, who reportedly chased down an 18-year-old carjacker who'd pointed a shotgun at the man's mother.

The story is a pretty exciting read. At one point, the two guys are pointing guns at each other as they speed along. The son eventually forces the carjacker out of the vehicle and onto the ground -- and then shot the 18-year-old in the leg when he reportedly made a move on him.

Police say they feel for the victim, but they're not OK with him taking the law into his own hands, a department spokesman said. He might be charged.

Police capture El Dorado escapees in New Mexico

From John Shultz's report:

Two inmates who escaped from the El Dorado Correctional Facility this weekend and a former prison employee have been arrested in New Mexico.

According to the Kansas Department of Corrections, authorities caught up with Jesse L. Bell and Steven A. Ford, along with former prison guard Amber Goff early this morning.

Both inmates have ties to the Kansas City area. Bell has a Leavenworth County conviction. And in November 1998, Ford was one of six inmates who participated in a massive breakout at the Wyandotte County jail.

Kid playing with matches started one So-Cal wildfire

In Los Angeles County, the sheriff says one of last week's So-Cal wildfires was started by a kid playing with matches. That one fire grew into a blaze that burned 38K acres, destroyed 21 homes and injured five people. A case is being presented to the DA, but no charges have been filed yet.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, Jewwells P!

IL school bans girl with "disruptive" braided hair

Not a crime, but too moronic NOT to pass along ... A school near Peoria has banned a 12-year-old girl from class because her hair style is "too disruptive."

Kiddo got her hair micro-braided, which is a popular style among some black women. (There's a picture after the jump, and it looks pretty tame.) Mom is sticking to her guns, partly because it's a stupid call on the school's part, partly because it cost $100 to have the do done.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, ryan89!

Police: IA woman goes berserk after people tell her to stop stripping

This enchanting creature is Shelbie Ann Zimmerman, 22, who was arrested at a Des Moines bar last night. Witnesses say she grabbed a whiskey bottle and started smashing things after she was told to stop taking her clothes off.

Other customers and paramedics were holding her down when 5-0 showed up, though she's also accused of flailing about while being put in a squad car. (She allegedly kicked a squad car door, pinning an officer, the Des Moines Register reports.)

Mega-Hat-Tip: Many thanks, You're A Mean Drunk R2D2!

It's the most wonderful time of the year

from the Shawnee police blotter ...

5:39 p.m. Oct. 30, 187XX W. 64th St. -- Unknown suspects threw a pumpkin at the victim's mailbox causing damage.
5:42 p.m. Oct. 30 186XX W. 64th St. -- Unknown suspects threw a pumpkin at the victim's mailbox causing damage.
5:42 p.m. Oct. 30 186XX W. 64th St. -- Unknown suspects threw a pumpkin at the victim's mailbox causing damage.

“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.” -- Auric Goldfinger

Petty Thieves 2, Basic Human Decency 0

In Denver, somebody has stolen a special swing designed for a 5-year-old boy with cerebral palsy -- just took it right out of the kid's yard. This is actually the second time this has happened.

If I had no loot

Miami police are trying to find the robber who held up an armored truck and stole a bag of canceled checks. (Way to score, buddy! You're set for life!)

MO Supremes: Man shouldn't have to pay child support for daughter that isn't his

A while back, a guy named David Salazar was sentenced to 28 days in jail in Buchanan County because he wouldn't pay child support for a kid that wasn't his.

The state didn't really care that he couldn't be the father of the kiddo. Salazar and his wife had been separated over a year when the kiddo was born. The wife even told the hospital not to put Salazar's name on the birth certificate. State officials also didn't care that Wife had continually gone to the authorities and said she didn't want the guy's money.

The government just decided that he needed to cough up the money.

Can you believe this? This case had to go all the way to the Missouri Supreme Court for somebody with half-a-freaking-brain to make the right call.

(And for all girl-hating he-men in our audience, please note the wife completely had her ex's back throughout this.)

Update on Jose Offerman's bat attack

Jose Offerman, a former Royals player now playing in the minors, is getting probation after he took after two opposing players with a baseball bat during a game in Connecticut. Also, Jose gets to do some anger management.

Former NY coroner official stole millions

In New York, a former director of the city's medical examiner office has pleaded guilty to stealing millions of dollars by directing it to "fraudulent companies," CNN reports. Some of the money came from the federal government after 9-11 to help identify victims of the terrorist attacks.

Former Columbia cop to get new trial early next year, prosecutors say

It looks like Steven Rios, a former Columbia policeman accused of murdering Mizzou student Jesse Valencia in 2004, will probably get a new trial next year. The Missouri Supreme Court decided not to intervene in an appeals court's decision to give Rios a new trial.

Rios was convicted, but that was thrown out because of hearsay testimony -- one of the victim's friends said Valencia planned to reveal an affair he was having with Rios.

MO Supremes reprimand lawyers who lent money to judge

From Joe Lambe's report:

The Missouri Supreme Court issued public reprimands Tuesday to four area lawyers who lent money to a Kansas City judge and handled cases in her courtroom.

The reprimands go on the lawyers’ permanent records and are the harshest actions taken yet against any of the lawyers who made loans to then-Kansas City Municipal Court Judge Deborah Neal.

Lawyers John Quinn, Cecil Williams, Vincent Esposito and Salvatore Mirabile “engaged in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice,” the reprimands say.

They won't, however, lose their law licenses.