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From the Los Angeles Times

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13 more bodies found in Mexico mass graves

The bodies were found in a different spot in the state of Tamaulipas than graves where 59 corpses were found earlier. Authorities found those bodies while investigating kidnappings of bus passengers.

by Ken Ellingwood, Los Angeles Times

April 8, 2011

Reporting from Mexico City

Mexican authorities announced Friday the discovery of 13 more bodies in the violence-torn border state of Tamaulipas, where 59 bodies were unearthed in eight pits earlier this week.

It was not immediately clear if the latest two graves, found Thursday, were related to the others.

The 13 bodies, all men and thought to be Mexican, were discovered in a different spot than the other graves, a state official said. Authorities found the previous bodies while investigating mass kidnappings of passengers from buses passing through the area.

Last year, 72 migrants from Central and South America were found slain on a remote ranch in the same region. That massacre was blamed on the Zetas, an ultra-violent drug gang that engages in migrant-smuggling, extortion and kidnapping.

Tamaulipas officials have only begun identifying the latest bodies. Preliminary evidence suggests that the 59 bodies found earlier were of Mexicans, not foreign migrants, officials said.

The discoveries have added to a sense that Tamaulipas, for decades a drug-smuggling corridor and now scene of a bloody feud between the Zetas and former allies, has slipped from the control of Mexican authorities.

The area is along a highway that serves as a path for U.S.-bound migrants from Mexico and Central America.

Morelos Jaime Canseco, government secretary for Tamaulipas, said officials have been in touch with authorities in other parts of Mexico, including the central states of Guanajuato and Queretaro, where residents have reported the disappearances of loved ones who went missing on their way north.

Border-bound buses from the north-central city of San Luis Potosi could have been carrying people from all over Mexico, he said.

"We don't know if their destination was to try to get into the United States to work in that country; that is a circumstance that will have to be cleared up," Canseco said in a television interview.

Thousands of Mexicans have disappeared since President Felipe Calderon declared war on drug traffickers four years ago and violence began to spiral nationwide.

On Thursday, government spokesman Alejandro Poire blamed a "criminal cell" for the 59 deaths, but did not say which one. He also announced that authorities had arrested 14 people in connection with a March 25 bus kidnapping and freed five victims.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-graves-20110409,0,6269834,print.story

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Police search for suspect in Santa Monica synagogue explosion

Police release a photo of the suspect, Ron Hirsch, 60, also known as Israel Fisher, saying they thought he was behind Thursday's blast outside Chabad House.

by Michael Finnegan, Los Angeles Times

April 9, 2011

Police on Friday were searching for the suspect in a Santa Monica synagogue explosion that authorities had earlier believed to be an accidental blast.

Santa Monica police released a photograph of the short and heavyset suspect, Ron Hirsch, 60, also known as Israel Fisher, saying they thought he was behind Thursday morning's blast outside Chabad House on 17th Street between Broadway and Santa Monica Boulevard. Police described Hirsch as a transient.

"Hirsch should be considered extremely dangerous," said a police bulletin sent to other law enforcement agencies.

He is described as white, 5 feet, 7 inches tall, 207 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes.

The bulletin said Hirsch was known to frequent synagogues and Jewish community centers in search of charity, among them Congregation Bais Yehuda on North La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles.

The blast sent a 300-pound metal pipe encased in concrete hurtling through the air and crashing through the roof of a home next door to Chabad House. Originally authorities had said they believed the explosion was a freak industrial accident.

But on Friday, bomb technicians and detectives scouring the scene discovered evidence that the blast was caused by an explosive device, police said. Items found nearby were linked to Hirsch, who was being sought on state charges of possession of a destructive device and other charges.

The motive for the attack was unknown, police said. Joining local authorities in investigating the case were the FBI and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

On Friday afternoon, the Anti-Defamation League issued a security alert to synagogues and other Jewish organizations in the Los Angeles area.

"ADL has no information regarding a specific threat against any Jewish institution," the league announced in the alert. "However, community members should be extra vigilant."

Amanda Susskind, the league's Los Angeles regional director, said in an interview that the alert was "not intended to create panic or a drama," but rather to keep people on the outlook for a man who seems to be disturbed.

She also said there was no indication that the suspect was part of a terrorist plot.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-temple-explosion-20110409,0,7490757.story

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2 men charged with hate crime in assault at O.C. park

Two men were facing hate crime and assault charges Friday for allegedly yelling anti-Semitic slurs while beating and robbing a man in a Coto de Caza park, Orange County prosecutors said.

The 23-year-old victim, whose name was not released, suffered a broken jaw, nose and eye socket; severe facial bruising; cuts; cracked ribs, and a concussion, authorities said. The assault occurred about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Orange County sheriff's deputies arrested Matthew Gregory Branstetter and Nolan John Wickham, both 19-year-old Rancho Santa Margarita residents. Each was charged with aggravated assault and second-degree robbery with potentially harsher sentencing for committing a hate crime, prosecutors said.

The suspects -- along with a third accomplice who has not yet been arrested -- allegedly demanded money from the victim, who told them he had none. They allegedly went on to kick and punch him while yelling anti-Semitic slurs, and stole his jacket and cellphone, prosecutors said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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It's time to let the Chowchilla kidnappers go free

Public emotions over their 1976 crime are not reason enough keep Chowchilla kidnappers in prison.

April 9, 2011

One memorable moment during the Chowchilla kidnapping trial came during the testimony of one of the young victims. A girl testified that during the ordeal, she had tried to get everyone to sing, "If You're Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands."

"No one clapped," she said in a small, plaintive voice.

The 1976 kidnapping was full of moments that set it apart from most crimes. The nation's panic when an entire school bus of children disappeared along with their driver. The victims' daring escape. The discovery that the kidnappers were not professional thugs, but three affluent young men.

These are some of the factors that make a case special in society's collective emotional memory. They ensure that the events won't be forgotten no matter how much time has passed and that anger at the perpetrators will remain long afterward.

But public emotions are not a solid foundation for true justice. The time has come to let the Chowchilla kidnappers go.

Thirty-five years after their crime, all three men, now far from young, are still in prison after numerous requests for parole were rejected. Some of the people who helped put them behind bars — a former judge, investigator and prosecutor — now say they should be freed. Much of the town of Chowchilla vehemently disagrees. But last week, a parole board recommended early release for one of them, Richard Schoenfeld. Even then, his release is 10 years away, and could be rescinded by Gov. Jerry Brown or any other governor in office before that time. His brother, James, and the third kidnapper, Fred Woods, will be eligible to apply again over the next couple of years.

The issues surrounding whether and when criminals should be paroled raise core questions about what our society means by criminal justice. Certainly, the primary reason for imprisoning lawbreakers is to protect society from further wrongdoing by them. It is expected to send a message to would-be criminals that the time is not worth the crime. But there also is an element of righteous retribution; our basic sense of fairness demands that people who do wrong should be punished for it. That sense is heightened when a crime strikes us as particularly heinous — such as the assassination of a beloved public figure, or an extraordinarily vicious assault.

Similarly, the overriding concern of a California parole board is supposed to be the protection of society — whether the convict poses a continuing danger or whether he or she has been rehabilitated and is unlikely to commit another crime. There has been little question that the Chowchilla kidnappers have been model prisoners. None of the people who oppose their release has given fear of recidivism as a reason.

Court decisions have been unclear on how much leeway parole boards have beyond this point. A 2005 state Supreme Court decision allowed parole boards to consider whether the crime had been "especially callous and cruel" even if they didn't have objective criteria for that finding. Yet in 2008, the court ruled that parole decisions had to be based on whether the criminal posed a threat, not on the viciousness of the crime. A decision that year by a panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said that these measures of a crime's gravity cannot be arbitrary; there must be some substantial reason for calling a crime heinous. But the full court overturned that decision in 2010.

Where do the Chowchilla kidnappers fit in all this? We would disagree with the former investigator who, in calling for their release, dubbed them "just dumb rich kids." Dumb and rich, yes, but they also were amazingly callous. Never do they appear to have considered the trauma they were causing to 26 children, or the real risk that their victims could perish. The three men hijacked the bus at gunpoint, eventually forcing the children into a buried moving van and covering the escape hole with a metal plate weighted down by tractor batteries. After 16 hours, the bus driver and the children escaped.

Yet the kidnappers' punishment has fully reflected the seriousness of their crime. In their 20s at the time of the kidnapping, they are now in late middle age and would be senior citizens by the time of their release. They have missed out on the prime of life, the years of building a career and creating a family — appropriately, given their despicable, senseless actions.

But in terms of sheer heinousness, it's worth remembering that the kidnappers apparently did not intend to injure or kill anyone, and luckily for them, they didn't. If they were not particularly solicitous toward their victims, neither were they vicious. In contrast, the followers of Charles Manson were horrifyingly brutal, which was why we opposed compassionate release for Sharon Tate's murderer, Susan Atkins, several years ago. What mainly differentiates Chowchilla from other crimes is that it was intensely public. It panicked and then outraged an entire town; the bizarre nature of the crime drew national interest and sympathy for the children. But the public emotion roused by a crime does not make it inherently more heinous, and thus is not a valid reason on its own for denying parole.

We agree that parole boards need a degree of flexibility in making their decisions, but we also agree with the 9th Circuit panel that this flexibility should not be arbitrary. There should be rational, widely understood guidelines for measuring the heinousness of a crime and the likelihood that a felon will commit more of them. We do not believe such guidelines would call for lifelong imprisonment of the Chowchilla kidnappers.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-chowchilla-20110409,0,761362,print.story

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