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From the Los Angeles Times

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Cole bombing suspect to face military tribunal at Guantanamo

Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, the suspected mastermind of the 2000 bombing of a U.S. destroyer in a Yemen port that killed 17 sailors, will be the first Guantanamo detainee to be tried by military commission during the Obama administration.

by Richard A. Serrano and David G. Savage, Washington Bureau

March 9, 2011

Reporting from Washington

The first captive at the U.S. naval base on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to be charged in a military tribunal during the Obama presidency is expected to be one of the prison's most notorious inmates — Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, the alleged mastermind of the 2000 bombing of the U.S. destroyer Cole that killed 17 sailors.

And his case, beset with Nashiri's allegations of torture and mistreatment, is fraught with complications for the administration, which this week reversed course and announced it would maintain the George W. Bush legacy of holding military tribunals inside the Caribbean fortress.

There are 172 prisoners there now, down from 245 when President Obama took office in January 2009. Forty percent of them are Yemenis, mostly low-level fighters with loose connections to Al Qaeda or the Taliban, and yet they may present a risk if returned home, which has become rife with Islamic militant groups.

Four dozen other men are considered too dangerous to send home but difficult to prosecute because their cases are too flimsy for prosecution in the military system.

So it is Nashiri who poses the first test for the Obama administration in the minefield of military tribunals, in which the Bush administration was dogged with accusations of unconstitutional maneuvering and misguided justice.

But legal experts said Tuesday that legal changes made the process fairer and granted more of a semblance of due process for detainees.

Congress in 2009 revised the rules for military commissions, as the tribunals are known, and military prosecutors now cannot introduce "statements obtained by torture, or cruel, inhuman or degrading statements." Moreover, a defendant's past statements may be used only if the judge concludes they were "voluntarily given."

Also tightened are standards for "hearsay" testimony from absent witnesses. A military judge now will permit such testimony only if the prosecutor shows it is reliable and relevant.

"The changes made in 2009 were significant and make the commissions much fairer. But they are not as fair" as a civilian trial in federal court, said Mason Clutter, counsel for the Constitution Project, a bipartisan group that wants the Guantanamo prison closed.

Charles D. "Cully" Stimson, a Pentagon lawyer under Bush, said military commissions could fairly decide whether a captive was guilty or not, but the verdict might not always be accepted as fair. For one thing, the judge and jurors are U.S. military officers.

"It is the unanswered question: whether they will be perceived as fair," Stimson said. "Certain folks on the left will never take kindly to the commissions, and they will honestly believe they mete out substandard justice."

According to the allegations against Nashiri, he met Osama bin Laden in 1996 and joined Al Qaeda two years later. In the fall of 2000, he allegedly recruited others to pilot a small boat filled with bombs into the Cole, setting off an explosion in a Yemeni port, killing 17 U.S. sailors and leaving a 40-foot hole in the ship.

Nashiri, a Saudi, was captured more than a year later, and "admitted he assisted with the plot," according to the government allegations. He was taken to Guantanamo Bay, one of 779 captives who have been detained there at one time or another.

Then Nashiri's lawyers contended that he had been deprived of sleep and tormented with sensory deprivation. An unidentified associate professor of medicine at Boston University, who specializes in human rights and refugee health, testified about "torturous treatment" and "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment."

Pentagon officials said Tuesday that Nashiri probably would be charged this month and arraigned in April. A military trial could convene by summer.

Others expected to be charged soon include Ahmed Darbi, a Saudi accused of plotting a separate ship attack, and Obaidullah, an Afghan who uses only one name and is accused of possessing anti-tank mines.

Since Obama has been president, one prisoner has died at Guantanamo. Awal Gul, a 48-year-old Taliban recruiter and suspected Al Qaeda operative, collapsed and died last month in the shower after exercising on an elliptical machine in his Camp 6 cellblock.

His time at Guantanamo Bay — like the vast majority, without a trial — lasted eight years and four months.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gitmo-20110309,0,5609855,print.story

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2 Sikhs shot in Sacramento area; $30,000 reward offered

A $30,000 reward has been offered in the case of two elderly men who were shot -- one fatally -- while they took an afternoon walk in the Sacramento suburb of Elk Grove.

Police found Surinder Singh, 65, and Gurmej Atwal, 78, on the sidewalk about 4:30 p.m. Friday, each with multiple gunshot wounds to the upper torso. Singh was pronounced dead at the scene and Atwal remains hospitalized in critical condition.

The case has puzzled investigators and left the Northern California Sikh community reeling with fear and anger.

Elk Grove police are investigating the shooting as a possible hate crime, in part because the men wore traditional Sikh turbans. But detectives have yet to find any evidence of such a crime, a spokesman said.

“The city of Elk Grove is a marvelously diverse community and the possibility that one of our valued community groups might have been targeted because of their national origin or religion is of grave concern,” Elk Grove Police Chief Robert M. Lehner said in a statement over the weekend.

The victims were described as retired neighbors who went on afternoon walks together.

Darshan Singh Mundy, a community leader, said fear over the shooting has left some Sacramento-area Sikhs shut inside their homes and scared to emerge for traditional afternoon walks.

“The two families are shocked and this is a totally brutal killing,” he said, "for people to be walking around and someone to just be shot for no reason.”

Mundy said the men may have been targeted because they wore beards and turbans and may have been confused for Muslims.

In an unrelated incident in November, two men attacked a Sikh taxi driver in Sacramento after mistaking him for a Muslim. One of the men admitted Monday in a no-contest plea to committing a hate crime.

Elk Grove police have been interviewing possible witnesses but have not spoken to anyone who witnessed the crime. A passerby found the two men on a somewhat isolated stretch of road next to the 99 Freeway that is sheltered from nearby homes by a high sound barrier.

Adding to the complications, investigators have had great difficulty interviewing Atwal, the hospitalized victim, because he was so badly injured that he is physically unable to speak.

“We're basically having to rely on head nods,” said Officer Christopher Trim.

Police have few leads for now, but they are looking for a tan or light brown 1999 to 2003 Ford F150 pickup truck seen driving near the crime scene immediately after the shooting.

Detectives urged anyone with more information to call the Elk Grove Police Department at (916) 714-5115 .

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/03/sacramento-area-sikhs-offer-30000-reward-in-shooting-of-elderly-men.html

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Prostitution crackdown in Hawthorne leads to 25 arrests

Twenty-five people have been arrested during a crackdown on prostitution in Hawthorne over the last three weeks, police said Tuesday.

Arrested were 11 suspected prostitutes, one suspected pimp and 13 alleged “johns,” officials said.

Increased enforcement began Feb. 21 after numerous complaints from the community about illegal activity on Imperial Highway between Inglewood Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard, said Lt. Gary Tomatani of the Hawthorne Police Department.

Hawthorne is seeking “stay away” orders for each of the suspected prostitutes and the pimp, prohibiting them from returning to the area.

Judges have already granted the orders on four of them, Tomatani said. The others are being processed through the courts.

Motorists who propositioned the undercover officers were arrested by a police team stationed nearby.

Thirteen men, including six from Hawthorne, were taken into custody. One of the men offered drugs in exchange for sex, Tomatani said. However, the man did not have any narcotics on him.

Hawthorne police will continue their anti-prostitution operations throughout the year. Anyone with information about prostitution-related activity can call the department at (310) 349-2700 .

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/03/prostitution-crackdown-in-hawthorne-nabs-25.html?lanow

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Crack-down hits distracted drivers

More than 60 drivers busted for using hand-held phones while behind the wheel.

by Veronica Rocha, veronica.rocha@latimes.com

March 7, 2011

GLENDALE — One by one, Police Det. Ashraf Mankarios on Saturday blew his whistle and directed motorists who had been spotted using hand-held cellphones over to a growing line of cars.

They too had been pulled over to find an officer and a ticket waiting.

The vehicles were exiting the Ventura (134) Freeway on the South Glendale Avenue off-ramp where police had set up a enforcement operation, part of a growing effort to clamp down on distracted driving in Glendale.

Most motorists immediately put down their phones when they saw the officer, but by then, it was too late.

The lead officer radioed a description of the violation and vehicle to Mankarios, who then walked out into the busy street, blew his whistle and signaled the driver to the curb.

On Saturday, officers issued 66 citations to motorists for using their cellphones while behind the wheel. Another eight motorists were cited for texting while driving, while five others were cited for speeding and road violations.

“It's getting quite prevalent,” Sgt. Dennis Smith said of distracted driving. “I think we need to do something to stem the tide.”

In most stops during the operation, the motorists admitted to talking on the phone while driving.

Motorists will likely have to pay $145 fine for the citation.

The operation was funded through a $254,795 state grant aimed at decreasing the number of distracted drivers.

Officers have cited approximately 150 motorists during two separate grant-funded distracted-driving operations.

Police have also deployed electronic signs displaying the messages “Hang up and drive,” and “Talk, text, ticket,” on Brand Boulevard.

Still, Smith said, many motorists continue to use hand-held cellphones while driving because the law is still fairly new.

http://www.glendalenewspress.com/news/tn-gnp-0308-distracted,0,369262,print.story

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From the New York Times

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Mexico: Former Police Chief Seeks Asylum in the U.S.

A woman who took the job of police chief in a border town riddled with drug gang violence has asked for asylum in the United States, officials said Tuesday.

The woman, Marisol Valles García, who was 20 when she was named police chief of Práxedis G. Guerrero in October, left with her whole family, including her baby son, last week, said Gustavo de la Rosa Hickerson, a Chihuahua State human rights investigator.

A spokeswoman for United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed that Ms. Valles García was in the United States.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/09/world/americas/09briefs-mexicopolice.html?_r=1&ref=world&pagewanted=print

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Vicious Assault Shakes Texas Town

CLEVELAND, Tex. — The police investigation began shortly after Thanksgiving, when an elementary school student alerted a teacher to a lurid cellphone video that included one of her classmates.

The video led the police to an abandoned trailer, more evidence and, eventually, to a roundup over the last month of 18 young men and teenage boys on charges of participating in the gang rape of an 11-year-old girl in the abandoned trailer home, the authorities said.

Five suspects are students at Cleveland High School, including two members of the basketball team. Another is the 21-year-old son of a school board member. A few of the others have criminal records, from selling drugs to robbery and, in one case, manslaughter. The suspects range in age from middle schoolers to a 27-year-old.

The case has rocked this East Texas community to its core and left many residents in the working-class neighborhood where the attack took place with unanswered questions. Among them is, if the allegations are proved, how could their young men have been drawn into such an act?

“It's just destroyed our community,” said Sheila Harrison, 48, a hospital worker who says she knows several of the defendants. “These boys have to live with this the rest of their lives.”

The attack's details remained unclear. The police have declined to discuss their inquiry because it is continuing. The whereabouts of the victim and her mother were not made public.

The allegations first came to light just after Thanksgiving, when a child who knows the victim told a teacher she had seen a videotape of the attack on a cellphone, said Stacey Gatlin, a spokeswoman for the Cleveland Independent School District.

The school district's security department interviewed the girl, 11, who is a student at Cleveland Middle School, and her mother. The security department determined that a rape had taken place, but not on school property, and then handed the matter over to the police, Ms. Gatlin said.

On Dec. 9, the police obtained a search warrant to go through a house on Travis Street and a nearby trailer that had been abandoned for at least two years. An affidavit filed to support the search warrant said the girl had been forced to have sex with several men in both places on Nov. 28 and cited pictures and videos as proof, according to The Houston Chronicle.

The affidavit said the assault started after a 19-year-old boy invited the victim to ride around in his car. He took her to a house on Travis Street where one of the other men charged, also 19, lived. There the girl was ordered to disrobe and was sexually assaulted by several boys in the bedroom and bathroom. She was told she would be beaten if she did not comply, the affidavit said.

A relative of one of the suspects arrived, and the group fled through a back window. They then went to the abandoned mobile home, where the assaults continued. Some of those present recorded the sexual acts on their telephones, and these later were shown among students.

Residents in the neighborhood where the abandoned trailer stands — known as the Quarters — said the victim had been visiting various friends there for months. They said she dressed older than her age, wearing makeup and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her 20s. She would hang out with teenage boys at a playground, some said.

“Where was her mother? What was her mother thinking?” said Ms. Harrison, one of a handful of neighbors who would speak on the record. “How can you have an 11-year-old child missing down in the Quarters?”

Cleveland, a town of 9,000, lies about 50 miles northeast of Houston in the pine country, near the picturesque Sam Houston National Forest. The town's economy has always rested on timber, cattle, farming and oil. But there are pockets of poverty, and in the neighborhood where the assault occurred, well-kept homes sit beside boarded-up houses and others with deteriorating facades.

The abandoned trailer where the assault took place is full of trash and has a blue tarp hanging from the front. Inside there is a filthy sofa, a disconnected stove in the middle of the living room, a broken stereo and some forlorn Christmas decorations. A copy of the search warrant was on a counter in the kitchen next to some abandoned family pictures.

The arrests have left many wondering who will be taken into custody next. Churches have held prayer services for the victim. The students who were arrested have not returned to school, and it is unclear if they ever will. Ms. Gatlin said the girl had been transferred to another district. “It's devastating, and it's really tearing our community apart,” she said. “I really wish that this could end in a better light.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/09/us/09assault.html?ref=us

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3 Law Officers Are Shot in St. Louis; One Dies

ST. LOUIS — A deputy federal marshal was killed and two other law officers were wounded in a shootout early Tuesday while trying to serve an arrest warrant at a house in South St. Louis. The man named in the warrant was pronounced dead at the scene.

Deputy United States Marshal John Perry, who was shot in the head, died Tuesday night at Saint Louis University Hospital, The Associated Press reported. Another deputy marshal was shot in the ankle and was in fair condition.

A St. Louis police officer sustained a graze wound to his face and neck, a Police Department spokeswoman said. He was treated at a hospital and released.

A spokeswoman for the Marshals Service identified the gunman as Carlos Boles, 35.

The spokeswoman, Lynzey Donahue, said the warrant for Mr. Boles contained charges relating to the assault of a law enforcement officer and the possession of a controlled substance. Court documents show that Mr. Boles, whose criminal record stretched back to 1993, pleaded guilty to five felonies.

Shortly before 7 a.m., officials said, two officers from the Police Department and eight from the Marshals Service were trying to serve the warrant when they discovered several children inside the house. After escorting the children outside, the officers began searching for Mr. Boles, who officials said opened fire when they encountered him.

After the shooting, the police cordoned off the area as a SWAT team cleared the rest of the house. Within minutes, a crowd had gathered in a park across the street, where people were trading rumors in a drizzling rain and venting anger over what they called a pointless police shooting.

“They could have just let one of his family members go in and talk to him,” said Tony Johnson, 22. “I don't blame anyone for the tension right now.”

A man who identified himself as Mr. Boles's brother but would not give his name said he was frustrated by the lack of information. “We don't know what's up,” the man said after holding back a bereaved woman. “All we know is three police were shot, and they're pulling a body out the back.”

The shooting comes amid a violent wave in which at least 17 federal, state and local officers have been killed by gunfire so far this year, an increase of more than 23 percent over this time last year, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, a nonprofit group.

That number includes the death of Derek Hotsinpiller, 24, a deputy United States marshal. He was killed last month in West Virginia while trying to serve a warrant for a man wanted on charges related to cocaine trafficking. Two other deputies were wounded in the confrontation.

At a news conference, Chief Daniel Isom of the St. Louis Police Department said that the investigation of Tuesday's shooting was continuing and that details remained “sketchy.”

“Right now,” Chief Isom said, “we're just praying for the officers who are injured and hope that everything works out well.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/09/us/09stlouis.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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From Google News

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DNA links Ohio felon to 2 Cleveland murders, 7 years apart

(CNN) -- A DNA investigation following the discovery of 11 bodies in a Cleveland home has linked a second man to serial killings in the area, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

"This is wild stuff," said Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason. "One serial killer leads us to another one."

After the bodies were found at the home of Anthony Sowell in 2009, Cleveland's Cold Case Unit launched a DNA investigation into victims found within a 3-mile radius of the property. The unit matched two cases to felon Joseph Harwell, who is currently serving time on a separate murder charge, Mason said.

Both the victims allegedly tied to Harwell, 27-year-old Mary Thomas and 33-year-old Tondilear Harge, were found raped and fatally strangled, seven years apart from one another. Thomas was three to four months pregnant at the time of the attack, a release by the Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Office says.

Harwell is indicted on 14 counts, including charges of aggravated murder, rape, and kidnapping, according to the prosecutors office.

Believing there could be more victims related to the ones found in the Sowell home, "we kind of drew a circle around his residence," Mason said.

"There are missing pieces. I don't believe that everybody (Sowell) killed, he put in his house," Mason said. "There's a lot of missing girls that would fit that description."

Harwell is currently serving time for the 1997 murder of 29-year-old Teresa Vinson of Columbus. He is up for parole next year but with Tuesday's additional indictments could now face the death penalty, according to Mason.

"He was kind of a little stunned by it, to say the least," Mason said on Harwell's reaction to his DNA linkage to the two victims. "... He just said I want a lawyer."

Harwell was also convicted of felonious assault in 1989 for attempted strangulation of a 31-year-old woman in east Cleveland and convicted of aggravated robbery in 1979.

Mason's office accuses Harwell of murdering Thomas in 1989 and murdering Harge in 1996, according to a statement.

Sowell, indicted on 85 counts including aggravated murder, rape and kidnapping, is currently awaiting trial. He has pled not guilty.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/03/08/ohio.serial.killers/

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Pimps prowl Eugene for girls to lure into sex slavery

by Molly Blancett, KVAL News

March 8, 2011

EUGENE, Ore. - Hundreds of women and girls are sold into sex slavery in Lane County each year, according to an undercover police officer who investigates human trafficking in Eugene.

"I mean, probably way too many to count," said Sgt. Curtis Newell.

"It's a lot bigger problem than I think most people in the community realize," Newell said. KVAL News did not show his face on TV or online because he works undercover under assumed names.

The crime of human trafficking is grossly under-reported, according to Newell and Alex Gardner, Lane County's district attorney. Both law enforcers were part of a panel of experts invited to speak at the Eugene Hilton on Tuesday at an event sponsored by the Eugene Zonta Club.

Gardner said girls are lured into sex trafficking by pimps over a period of time.

"They have come to see in that period of time that law enforcement is essentially toothless," Gardner said.

But why is this such a big problem in Lane County?

"I think what it boils down to is demand," Newell said. "Any time there is a large demand for something, whether it be jobs or in this case sex, there is always going to be customers."

Newell said the sex traffickers find their victims right in the heart of downtown Eugene. They stake out public places like the bus station and the library looking for seemingly vulnerable girls.

The supply of girls is endless and so is the demand, making fighting sex trafficking a difficult task, Newell said.

"Until we can knock down the demand a little bit or maybe increase the punishment for some of the customers and definitely the pimps or the traffickers," he said, "we are going to continue to have a problem."

http://www.kval.com/news/local/117619954.html

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