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The lawyer for Simon Angilda, who was convicted of raping a 92-year-old woman, is arguing against a proposed sentence of more than 85 years. From Matt Campbell's report:
She also challenged the contention that the enhanced sentence was justified by the victim’s age and infirmity.
“She was sharp as a tack,” Cline said of the woman, who managed to call 911 during the attack. “She did all the smart things she was able to do and she was not severely injured.”
Cline said the attack on the victim only lasted a couple of minutes and the rape Angilda committed “was not necessarily worse than the average” rape. She also noted that Angilda faces a longer sentence than he would have if he had murdered the woman.
The FBI is asking the public to help solve a coded message found in a Missouri homicide victim's pocket back in 1999 near St. Louis.
“Even if we found out that he was writing a grocery list or a love letter, we would still want to see how the code is solved. This is a cipher system we know nothing about," Olson said.
Here's a Post-Dispatch article from when the body was discovered.
A Utah prosecutor failed to win a conviction in a stabbing case, even though he quoted the lyrics to Johnny Cash's "Don't Take Your Guns To Town." (To be fair, they sort of apply here.) Also, I loved this quote from the Salt Lake Tribune's report:
As for the man who was stabbed, Wright said, “He said he has healed, but sometimes when he speaks in Spanish it causes difficulty.”
The body of Summer Inman, a missing Ohio woman, was found hidden in a septic tank behind a church Tuesday, authorities say. Her estranged husband and his parents have pleaded not guilty to kidnapping in her disappearance. Authorities say they located the remains after getting information from Inman's mother-in-law:
"We did negotiate with Ms. Inman to get information, but I can't release any details right now," Hocking County Prosecutor
Hat Tip: Many thanks, Rhonda!
AP Photo/The Logan Daily News, Leslie Gray
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An Independence police officer pulled over a vehicle this afternoon (Tuesday) that possibly had been used in a bank robbery and ended up in a gunfight with the person driving the car, police say.
The officer was not wounded, but the suspect was hit, Independence police spokesman Tom Gentry said. Gentry would not confirm the suspect’s condition, but a body remained on the ground long after the shooting.
The robbery apparently involved a bank robbed prior to today on 23rd Street.
Dale Helmig, who spent 14 years in prison for the murder of his mother, keeps winning legal battles. The latest? The Missouri Courts of Appeals says a judge was right to release Helmig because his trial was horribly flawed. Prosecutors have 180 days to decide whether they'll retry him.
We've featured the case before, as demonstrated here.
The Midwestern Innocence Project, which has helped represent Helmig, has more about his case here.
What do you think, Internet friends? Will the prosecutors take another crack at Helmig?
File Photo: Dale Helmig is on the right.
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