Indiana police probe grisly slaying of 9-year-old

Michael Plumadore, 39, faces one count of murder in the death of Aliahna Lemmon of Fort Wayne, Ind.

Plumadore was being held without bond Wednesday. He was arrested Monday night after the girl's body was found, dismembered with a hacksaw, the head, hands and feet stored separately.

Florida Department of Corrections records show Plumadore was charged in May 2000 with battery on a law enforcement officer, firefighter or EMS worker in Miami-Dade County, and was later sentenced to a year of community supervision, according to a statement released to The Times.

But Plumadore failed to report to his probation officer or attend a court-ordered community service and anger management class, according to the statement.

Details of the offense were unavailable, but Plumadore is listed in the department database as an "absconder/fugitive," the statement said.

Plumadore has admitted to investigators that he struck the girl in the head with a brick repeatedly as she stood on the front steps of his mobile home in the early hours of Dec. 22, according to a probable cause affidavit released Tuesday and cited by CNN.

He told authorities he stored Aliahna's body in garbage bags in a freezer at his home until that night, when he dismembered it with a hacksaw, according to the affidavit. Plumadore allegedly told investigators he threw body parts in a nearby commercial trash bin but kept the head, hands and feet at his mobile home where they were later recovered, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit does not say why Plumadore allegedly killed the girl.

Amber Story, the girl's grandmother, has said Aliahna and her two sisters were staying with Plumadore in his Fort Wayne mobile home for about a week while their mother, Tarah Souder, recovered from the flu. The girls' father apparently worked nights, according to Fort Wayne's Journal Gazette.

Allen County Sheriff Ken Fries told CNN's Nancy Grace that Plumadore's confession came after several hours of interrogation by investigators Monday evening.

"They just had to sit there and listen to him as if they were just listening to a story with no emotion, just trying to get him to say more and more and more," Fries said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/

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Bill seeks to expand videotaped police interrogations

After advising crime suspects of their rights, more police may also be saying, "roll the videotape'' if proposed legislation makes it through Congress.

The Custodial Interrogation Recording Act seeks to increase police interrogation recordings of suspects by making federal grants available to pay for equipment and videotape training.

Proponents of videotaping contend it can help attorneys, judges and jurors assess the validity of confessions and whether they were coerced. It also can help police withstand false allegations of misconduct, they say.

While many police agencies record interrogations, costs have often been cited in state legislative battles over whether to require it.

The bill by Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Long Beach) would reduce the likelihood that a criminal suspect may give a false confession and "help to improve public confidence in the fairness and professionalism of policing,'' according to a summary of the measure provided by her office.

The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, a blue-ribbon panel created to study problems in the criminal justice system that put innocent people in jail, called in 2006 for taping interrogations of felony suspects in custody.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger twice vetoed legislation that would have required it. In his 2007 veto, he said it would "deny law enforcement the flexibility necessary to interrogate suspects."

Chris Boscia, who served as the commission's executive assistant, said that more police agencies might be willing to tape interrogations if the federal government provides financial aid.

"I don't think cost is the chief obstacle, though,'' Gerald F. Uelmen, a Santa Clara University law professor who was the commission's executive director, said in an e-mail."There is just strong police resistance to anyone, including legislators, telling them how to do their job. They are also concerned that malfunctioning equipment will create credibility problems for them.''

Curtis J.Hill, legislative representative of the California State Sheriff's Assn., called the measure "promising.''

But he said many law enforcement officials remain concerned about requiring recording.

"What if the recording equipment fails....intimating that the police interrogators did that on purpose in order to mask some unprofessional behavior?'' He said law enforcement officials also are concerned about when the term "in custody" comes into play.

"What if the guy makes a spontaneous comment as we're sitting him down in the back of the patrol car?'' Hill said.

The federal legislation does not require recording. But Richardson, in a summary of the bill, said the measure would "lessen the cost disincentive'' for states that don't require taping.

"The human memory is incapable of reproducing, no matter how many notes you take, precisely what was said,'' said Thomas P. Sullivan, a former U.S. attorney in Chicago who is a strong advocate of recording custodial interrogations. "If you videotape it, then you get the inflections and the body movements that sometimes can indicate sincerity or lack thereof.''

He said that police should welcome videotaping. " ... You get rid of the argument that the police didn't give me my Miranda warnings, that the police threatened me, or that they now are testifying falsely about what I said."

Richardson did not specify the total amount of money she is seeking for the proposed grants. While any legislation that calls for new federal spending faces a steep climb in Congress at a time of high budget deficits, the legislation could strike a chord with President Obama.

As an llinois state senator, he pushed for legislation, signed into law in 2003, that required police to tape interrogations of murder suspects.

Richardson introduced similar legislation last year near the end of the session. Her bill has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/

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From Google News

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Police deaths rise sharply again

For the second straight year, the number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty rose sharply in 2011, according to statistics released Wednesday.

Preliminary data compiled by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund showed that 173 federal, state and local officers have been killed on the job so far this year, 13 percent more than the 153 who died in 2010 — and 42 percent more than the 122 officers who were killed in 2009.

The memorial fund, a nonprofit group that runs the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, attributed the steep rise to "drastic budget cuts" that "have put our officers at grave risk."

Police "are facing a more cold-blooded criminal element and fighting a war on terror," but "we are cutting vital resources necessary to ensure their safety," said Craig Floyd, the fund's chairman.

The leading cause of death was gunfire, which has killed 68 officers this year, just one short of the decade-long high of 69 in 2007.

One of them was Scotty Richardson, 33, a master officer with the Aiken, S.C., police, who was buried Tuesday in a flag-draped coffin. Richardson died after he was shot in the head Dec. 20 during a nighttime traffic stop. His partner was also shot and survived, NBC station WAGT of Augusta, Ga., reported.

WAGT-TV: Life of Officer Scotty Richardson celebrated

Police charged Stephon Carter, 19, with murder and attempted murder.

Aiken Public Safety Director Pete Frommer said Richardson held the title "master officer" because of his diligence and sheer hard work.

"He had an additional 1,460 hours of advanced training," Frommer said. "Everybody can't do that."

Aiken Mayor Fred Cavanaugh said the ceremony was first time in a long while that a tragedy of such magnitude had hit his community.

"We're going to move forward, and it's sad that this happened, and we never want it to happen again," Cavanaugh said.

This is the first time in 13 years that shootings outpaced traffic incidents as the leading cause of officers' deaths, the police fund reported, which Linda Moon Gregory, president of Concerns of Police Survivors, a nonprofit interest group, blamed on inadequate training and equipment.

"At a time when criminals have the latest technology and weapons, we must ensure that our peace officers are adequately equipped and protected," Gregory said in a statement.

The most officers were killed in large states, such as Texas and California, and states in the South, seven of which were in the top 13:

• Florida 14
• Texas 13
• New York 11
• California 10
• Georgia 10
• Tennessee 7
• North Carolina 7
• Missouri 6
• Ohio 6
• Arizona 5
• Louisiana 5
• New Jersey 5
• Michigan 5
• Virginia 5

Read the full report

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/28/9775223-police-deaths-rise-sharply-again

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