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| NEWS of the Day -April 5, 2011 |
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on some issues of interest to the community policing and neighborhood activist across the country
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following group of articles from local newspapers and other sources constitutes but a small percentage of the information available to the community policing and neighborhood activist public. It is by no means meant to cover every possible issue of interest, nor is it meant to convey any particular point of view ...
We present this simply as a convenience to our readership ... |
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From the Los Angeles Times
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Two men fatally shot at San Ysidro border crossing
April 4, 2011 Two men were fatally shot in Tijuana early Monday as they waited to cross into San Diego at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, said Baja California state authorities.
Sergio Salcido Luna, 25, and Kevin Joel Romero, 28, were in the line of cars approaching the border crossing at 2:40 a.m. when they were shot with a 9-millimeter weapon, according to a news release by the Baja California attorney general's office.
The truck the men were traveling in had California license plates, and one Mexican media outlet reported that they were U.S. citizens. But Baja California Atty. Gen. Rommel Moreno Manjarrez said at a news conference that he could not confirm the men's citizenship.
The U.S. consul general's office in Tijuana has yet to release information on their citizenship.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/04/2-men-shot-and-killed-at-san-ysidro-border-crossing.html
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Obama administration won't pursue civilian trials for 9/11 suspects
The administration acquiesces to GOP demands that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four suspected co-conspirators be tried before a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay.
(Video on site)
by Richard A. Serrano, Washington Bureau
April 5, 2011
Reporting from Washington— The Obama administration admitted defeat in its efforts to prosecute the self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks before a civilian jury in New York City, announcing that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four others would be tried by a military commission at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The decision, announced Monday by Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., marks a sharp political setback for President Obama, who had repeatedly pledged to use civilian courts to try "high-value" terrorism suspects. It also creates fresh uncertainty about the legal road ahead for senior Al Qaeda suspects now in custody.
A federal judge in Manhattan promptly dismissed a sealed grand jury indictment from December 2009 against Mohammed and the four others pending transfer of the case to the military tribunal. The existence of the 10-count, 81-page federal indictment against the five men was not previously known.
Several hours later, Navy Capt. John Murphy, chief prosecutor in the Pentagon's Office of Military Commissions, announced that charges would be filed "in the near future" to try the case at Guantanamo. Mohammed and his codefendants are among about 170 detainees at the military prison there.
"I intend to recommend the charges be sent to a military commission for a joint trial," Murphy said, adding that his office already was preparing its case.
In 2007, during a combatant status review tribunal hearing at Guantanamo, Mohammed confessed to the Sept. 11 conspiracy, as well as other lethal terrorist plots, and asked to be put to death. If military prosecutors seek the death penalty, he will not be allowed to plead guilty under the rules of military justice and will have to stand trial.
Mohammed's U.S. interrogators subjected him to waterboarding, a process that simulates drowning, 183 times in March 2003, shortly after he was captured in Pakistan, according to a report by the CIA. None of the statements given under such harsh interrogation procedures can be used against him, according to Obama administration policies.
By moving the trials to civilian court, Obama had hoped to demonstrate the fairness of the U.S. justice system. Civilian proceedings are more transparent and include civilian judges and jurors. In military tribunals, judge and jury are military officers.
But critics feared that a trial on U.S. soil would trigger terrorist reprisals and require an enormous outlay of funds for security. Many also worried that stricter standards for admissible evidence could result in more acquittals and lenient sentences.
Holder said at a news conference that he and the White House "reluctantly" reversed course because Congress passed legislation in December barring the use of federal funds to transfer detainees from Guantanamo to the U.S. In addition, he said, relatives of the nearly 3,000 people who were killed almost a decade ago in the attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon were losing patience.
Holder said he was confident prosecutors would have prevailed in New York but took solace that the cases would proceed in the military system.
The New York indictment listed all of those who were killed, filling 36 pages.
"For the victims of these heinous attacks and their families, justice is long overdue, and it must not be delayed any longer," Holder said.
At the White House, Press Secretary Jay Carney suggested that the need to bring the five suspects to trial drove the decision to hand them to the military legal system. The administration has spent 15 months reviewing possible trial venues outside Guantanamo, including a vacant state prison in Thomson, Ill.
"The president's commitment here is this: Those who are suspected and accused of participating in those heinous attacks be brought to justice," Carney said. "That is his primary concern."
The decision, announced on the same day that Obama opened his reelection campaign, reflected a realization that the president cannot overcome political opposition to civilian prosecution of Guantanamo detainees and that he had to shelve his campaign promise to shutter the detention camp at the naval base.
On Capitol Hill, those who opposed a New York trial and sought to keep the Guantanamo prison open applauded the announcement.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said Obama's campaign promises were "built on the naive premise that softening America's image would somehow soften our enemies' resolve."
On the Democratic side, Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York said the reversal was "the final nail in the coffin of a wrongheaded idea."
But in interviews, some New Yorkers castigated Obama for changing course.
"It's a complete, utter failure of political courage," said Ron Kuby, a high-profile lawyer who has defended terrorism suspects in the New York area. "Khalid Shaikh Mohammed won this, and with Republican help and the failure of the administration."
Karen Greenberg, who runs New York University's Center on Law and Security, which tracks terrorism prosecutions, said the military commission system is untried, unknown and too secretive. Trusting that system, she said, is like "putting your head in the sand."
The 2009 federal court indictment had charged Mohammed, Walid bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed Hawsawi with murder, air piracy and acts of terrorism, which could have brought them the death penalty.
The indictment charged Mohammed, a close ally of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, with proposing in 1999 to coordinate a plot that would use airplanes as missiles to crash into buildings. From that moment on, the indictment says, Mohammed wore the title of "operational leader" of the Sept. 11 plot.
Attash allegedly collected information on U.S. airports and airplane security. Binalshibh and Ali tried to enlist as pilot hijackers but failed to obtain U.S. visas, the indictment says. Instead, it says, they sent tens of thousands of dollars in wire transfers to the pilots and their musclemen inside the United States.
Hawsawi was charged with helping the hijackers enter this country.
Monday's decision ends speculation that any terrorism detainees will be moved to the empty Illinois state prison in Thomson, although the U.S. Bureau of Prisons still hopes to use it someday for federal prisoners. The government's attempted purchase of the prison has been waylaid by budget cuts and GOP objections to housing Mohammed and other high-profile Guantanamo detainees there.
"The fate of Thomson is on the table," said Assistant Majority Leader Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.). But, he said, "if cuts proposed by House Republicans continue, it will be impossible."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-holder-gitmo-20110405,0,208290,full.story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Grim Sleeper case: Eight more women could be victims of serial killer, LAPD says
April 5, 2011
Los Angeles police detectives are investigating the possibility that eight additional women were victims of the man accused of being the Grim Sleeper serial killer.
Lonnie Franklin Jr. has already been indicted for 10 slayings of women in South Los Angeles stretching over more than two decades. He has been in custody awaiting trial since his arrest in July.
In a statement previewing a news conference scheduled for Tuesday, LAPD detectives said they were turning to the public for help finding eight more women, all of whom are known to have had some connection with Franklin.
Six of the women are reported missing persons, one is the victim of an unsolved murder, and one is unidentified.
Photos: Identities of mystery women sought
Although police have eyed four of the women as possible victims for some time, the other four are additions to the investigation.
Detectives are expected to display photographs of the six missing women, along with their names and last known location. Three of them were connected to the case by strong circumstantial evidence recovered at Franklin's residence, police said. The three other missing women are thought to have had several things in common with the killer's confirmed victims. Each had frequented Franklin's neighborhood before her disappearance.
The women were reported missing as far back as 1982, and the most recent in 2006.
The identity of a seventh woman remains unknown. Her photo was among a cache of photos of scores of women found at Franklin's residence. Although they still don't know her identity, detectives have uncovered evidence at Franklin's residence indicating that she had a direct connection to him. Police did not elaborate on the evidence.
Detectives believe that the eighth woman, who was killed in 1988, may have been a victim of Franklin because her killing has similarities to the others Franklin is accused of committing.
Police also displayed once again 56 photos from the cache recovered at Franklin's residence. Detectives are still working to identify the women in the photos in at attempt to eliminate them or include them as possible victims.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/
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Miranda rights and terror suspects
New Justice Department guidelines on reading terror suspects their Miranda rights strike a good balance between the needs of law enforcement and the rights of the arrestees.
April 4, 2011
There was an uproar when it was revealed that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the so-called Christmas Day bomber, was read his Miranda rights. The hysterical reaction obscured a real dilemma for law enforcement: how to obtain what could be vital information about terrorist plots without denying suspects their legal rights. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. and the FBI have produced guidelines that adroitly balance the two interests.
Issued Oct. 21 but made public only recently, the guidelines will not please those conservatives who insist that suspected terrorists shouldn't be Mirandized at all. But they strike us as reasonable and, equally important, useful in heading off efforts in Congress to weaken Miranda.
The guidelines say that if applicable, "agents should ask any and all questions that are reasonably prompted by an immediate concern for the safety of the public or the arresting agents without advising the arrestee of his Miranda rights." This advice is consistent with a 1984 Supreme Court decision making an exception from the Miranda requirement for questioning motivated by a concern for public safety.
Next, the guidelines say that after public safety concerns have been resolved, agents should promptly Mirandize a suspect. But there are exceptions: situations in which, "although all relevant public safety questions have been asked, agents nonetheless conclude that continued unwarned interrogation is necessary to collect valuable and timely intelligence not related to any immediate threat, and that the government's interest in obtaining this intelligence outweighs the disadvantages of proceeding with unwarned interrogation." This provision pushes the public safety exception to its limit, but it's defensible.
Finally the guidelines remind agents that the Miranda rule is ultimately about ensuring that confessions introduced at trial are not coerced: "The Supreme Court has strongly suggested that an arrestee's 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination is not violated at the time a statement is taken without Miranda warnings, but instead may be violated only if and when the government introduces an unwarned statement in a criminal proceeding against the defendant." The point is that if an agent believes Mirandizing a suspected terrorist would lead to vital information being withheld, the agent can delay doing so — but at the cost of rendering the results of the interrogation inadmissible.
The new guidelines strike a reasonable balance between the needs of law enforcement and the rights of suspects. In fact, they're so reasonable that they shouldn't be limited to terrorism cases but should apply to any case — a gang-related case, say, or a murder plot — in which a suspect may have knowledge of a possible future threat. Singling out terrorism suspects as less deserving of legal protections than others is generally a bad idea. So let's by all means implement the new guidelines, and broaden them beyond terrorism.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-warnings-20110404,0,5510861.story
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From Google News
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Long Island, N.Y. —
The number of victims of a suspected serial killer on New York's Long Island has doubled in the past week following the discovery of three more corpses along a remote beach highway.
The remains of eight victims have now been found just steps from Ocean Parkway, a highway leading to popular Jones Beach, about 45 miles east of New York City. The bodies of four missing prostitutes were found in December while investigators were searching for another missing woman who worked as an escort and was last seen in the area nearly a year ago.
The disappearance of that woman, Shannan Gilbert of Jersey City, N.J., remains a mystery, although Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said Monday that because detectives have been conducting an ongoing search for her, they already have her DNA and other forensic information, which should accelerate the identification process.
Last week, investigators found a fifth body about a mile east of where the first four were located. That discovery prompted police to resume a widespread search of a seven-mile stretch of the north side of the highway on Monday, a search that yielded the remains of three additional victims.
Dormer said investigators would resume their search, which included police academy cadets, volunteer firefighters with extended ladder trucks, and cadaver dogs, on Tuesday. The marshy terrain features a 4-foot-tall tangle of sea grass punctuated by scrubby pine trees. At least 20 police officers have gotten poison ivy and the area is infested with deer ticks, officials said.
The identities of the most recent four victims have not been released and police have yet to even describe their gender. The New York City medical examiner's office is assisting Suffolk County in helping determine the identities.
“We still believe that Shannan Gilbert is in this area,” Suffolk's Chief of Detectives Dominick Varrone told reporters Monday.
Gilbert, 24, was last seen in Oak Beach on May 1, 2010, after apparently meeting a client she had booked through Craigslist. The bodies of the four other women, who worked as Craigslist escorts and were in their 20s, were found along the same highway by police searching for Gilbert.
The latest discovery was about a mile east of where the other four were found. The remains of the four dead women were strewn about 500 yards apart.
Gilbert had arranged to meet a client in Oak Beach, a gated seaside enclave. A resident has told authorities a woman believed to be Gilbert came to his door around 4:45 a.m. May 1, pleading for help. The man said that when he tried to call police, the woman fled.
Moments later, an unidentified man in a sport utility vehicle drove past the house and said he was looking for the woman, but then took off. Neither the woman nor the man was seen by the neighbor again.
The client Gilbert had arranged to meet was investigated but is not believed to be a suspect in her disappearance.
Authorities have identified the four victims found in December as Amber Lynn Costello, 27, originally of Wilmington, N.C.; Megan Waterman, 22, of Scarborough, Maine; Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 28, of Norwich, Conn.; and Melissa Barthelemy, 24, of Buffalo, N.Y. All were last seen planning to meet clients for sex booked through Craigslist, police have said.
Detectives suspect a serial killer but so far have no suspects.
http://www.waynepost.com/latestnews/x816843856/Three-bodies-found-near-Long-Island-beach
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From the Department of Homeland Security
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Dolan, TSA's 500th Pupp |
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TSA Welcomes Its 500th Puppy!
Aprile 4, 2011
Meet Dolan, TSA's 500th puppy to be born into the TSA Puppy Program.
Each of the puppies are named after a 9/11 victim to honor their memory, and this puppy was named after Capt. Robert Edward Dolan Jr., who lost his life in the attack on the Pentagon.
Dolan was born at Lackland Air Force Base and if he meets our high standards will be trained by the TSA's National Explosives Detection Canine Team to become an explosives detection dog.
Puppies that don't meet our standards are offered to other agencies or adopted by loving families. |
"My children and I are very excited to have a puppy named in Bob's memory,” said Lisa Dolan, wife of the late Captain Dolan. “Bob began his military career as an explosives ordnance expert. When he was killed at the Pentagon, he was working on Homeland Defense, and so it's very fitting to have one of the TSA puppies named for our hero, Captain Bob Dolan. Knowing “Puppy Dolan” will one day be an explosives detection canine in the service of our country is reassuring. Dolan's future career keeping travelers safe is a fitting addition to Bob's legacy of freedom.”
The program has been in place for nine years and out of the 500 puppies, around half of them are currently working in the field, or have been selected as breeders.
Once the puppies are born into the program, they have to be fostered by volunteer families for up to a year prior to their training. If you live in the San Antonio or Austin area and are interested in fostering a puppy such as Dolan, TSA will provide all the food, equipment and veterinary care in exchange for providing a stimulating environment where the puppy can grow and develop. Sound appealing? Want to take out a new “leash” on life? Go here and fill out the application (PDF).
Many potential foster families are "hounding" us to become part of the program, so “schnauzer” chance… Be sure to apply now so you can be placed on a waiting list.
http://blog.tsa.gov/2011/04/tsa-welcomes-its-500th-puppy.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the Department of Justice
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Statement of the Attorney General on the Prosecution of the 9/11 Conspirators
Washington, D.C. ~ Monday, April 4, 2011
In November 2009, I announced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other individuals would stand trial in federal court for their roles in the terrorist attacks on our country on September 11, 2001.
As I said then, the decision between federal courts and military commissions was not an easy one to make. I began my review of this case with an open mind and with just one goal: to look at the facts, look at the law, and choose the venue where we could achieve swift and sure justice most effectively for the victims of those horrendous attacks and their family members. After consulting with prosecutors from both the Department of Justice and Department of Defense and after thoroughly studying the case, it became clear to me that the best venue for prosecution was in federal court. I stand by that decision today.
As the indictment unsealed today reveals, we were prepared to bring a powerful case against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four co-conspirators – one of the most well-researched and documented cases I have ever seen in my decades of experience as a prosecutor. We had carefully evaluated the evidence and concluded that we could prove the defendants' guilt while adhering to the bedrock traditions and values of our laws. We had consulted extensively with the intelligence community and developed detailed plans for handling classified evidence. Had this case proceeded in Manhattan or in an alternative venue in the United States, as I seriously explored in the past year, I am confident that our justice system would have performed with the same distinction that has been its hallmark for over two hundred years.
Unfortunately, since I made that decision, Members of Congress have intervened and imposed restrictions blocking the administration from bringing any Guantanamo detainees to trial in the United States, regardless of the venue. As the President has said, those unwise and unwarranted restrictions undermine our counterterrorism efforts and could harm our national security. Decisions about who, where and how to prosecute have always been – and must remain – the responsibility of the executive branch. Members of Congress simply do not have access to the evidence and other information necessary to make prosecution judgments. Yet they have taken one of the nation's most tested counterterrorism tools off the table and tied our hands in a way that could have serious ramifications. We will continue to seek to repeal those restrictions.
But we must face a simple truth: those restrictions are unlikely to be repealed in the immediate future. And we simply cannot allow a trial to be delayed any longer for the victims of the 9/11 attacks or for their family members who have waited for nearly a decade for justice. I have talked to these family members on many occasions over the last two years. Like many Americans, they differ on where the 9/11 conspirators should be prosecuted, but there is one thing on which they all agree: We must bring the conspirators to justice.
So today I am referring the cases of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed , Walid Muhammad Bin Attash, Ramzi Bin Al Shibh, Ali Abdul-Aziz Ali, and Mustafa Ahmed Al Hawsawi to the Department of Defense to proceed in military commissions. Furthermore, I have directed prosecutors to move to dismiss the indictment that was handed down under seal in the Southern District of New York in December, 2009, and a judge has granted that motion.
Prosecutors from both the Departments of Defense and Justice have been working together since the beginning of this matter, and I have full faith and confidence in the military commission system to appropriately handle this case as it proceeds. The Department of Justice will continue to offer all the support necessary as this critically important matter moves forward. The administration worked with Congress to substantially reform military commissions in 2009, and I believe they can deliver fair trials and just verdicts. For the victims of these heinous attacks and their families, that justice is long overdue, and it must not be delayed any longer.
Since I made the decision to prosecute the alleged 9/11 conspirators, the effectiveness of our federal courts and the thousands of prosecutors, judges, law enforcement officers, and defense attorneys who work in them have been subjected to a number of unfair, and often unfounded, criticisms. Too many people – many of whom certainly know better – have expressed doubts about our time-honored and time-tested system of justice. That's not only misguided, it's wrong. The fact is, federal courts have proven to be an unparalleled instrument for bringing terrorists to justice. Our courts have convicted hundreds of terrorists since September 11, and our prisons safely and securely hold hundreds today, many of them serving long sentences. There is no other tool that has demonstrated the ability to both incapacitate terrorists and collect intelligence from them over such a diverse range of circumstances as our traditional justice system. Our national security demands that we continue to prosecute terrorists in federal court, and we will do so. Our heritage, our values, and our legacy to future generations also demand that we have full faith and confidence in a court system that has distinguished this nation throughout its history.
Finally, I want to thank the prosecutors from the Southern District of New York and the Eastern District of Virginia who have spent countless hours working to bring this case to trial. They are some of the most dedicated and patriotic Americans I have ever encountered, and our nation is safer because of the work they do every day. They have honored their country through their efforts on this case, and I thank them for it. I am proud of each and every one of them.
Sadly, this case has been marked by needless controversy since the beginning. But despite all the argument and debate it has engendered, the prosecution of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-conspirators should never have been about settling ideological arguments or scoring political points. At the end of our indictment appear the names of 2,976 people who were killed in the attacks on that deadly September day nearly ten years ago. Innocent Americans and citizens of foreign countries alike who were murdered by ruthless terrorists intent on crippling our nation and attacking the values that we hold dear. This case has always been about delivering justice for those victims, and for their surviving loved ones. Nothing else. It is my sincere hope that, through the actions we take today, we will finally be able to deliver the justice they have so long deserved.
http://www.justice.gov/iso/opa/ag/speeches/2011/ag-speech-110404.html |
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