Tag: murder

Trump admin firing squad will be first military execution in 65 years

The planned December execution of former Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who was convicted in 2013 of murdering 13 people at a military base and trying to kill many more, is set to be highly unusual.

Not only will the Dec. 3 death sentence be livestreamed for the very first time in American history, according to an Oct. 8 announcement by Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, but it will also be the first military execution in the United States in about 65 years.

Hegseth confirmed on social media his plan to offer a live viewing feed of the killing – an announcement that has sparked bipartisan criticism and comparisons to public executions carried out by authoritarian regimes.

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Hasan was an army psychiatrist who opened fire on fellow service members on Nov. 5, 2009, inside the Soldier Readiness Processing Center, at Fort Hood, Texas, where soldiers were preparing for deployment. He was shot several times by responding officers and is now paralyzed from the waist down. His victims included soldiers and one civilian employee.

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Trans killer blames transition for stabbing hiker 15 times on trail: Victim was ‘what I want to look like’

A troubled one-time Marine recruit who was transitioning to live as a trans woman has admitted to stabbing a hiker to death in Arizona — having told cops she was “what I would want to look like.”

Zion Teasley, 25, pleaded guilty to murdering beauty technician Lauren Heike, 29, in a deal that took the death penalty off the table.

The felon, who had left the Marines just months after going through bootcamp, will instead spend the rest of his life in prison for killing the hiker, who was found dead by neighbors at the foot of a barbed wire fence with 15 stab wounds off a Phoenix trail in 2023.

Before the murder, Teasley wrote in his diary that he was “battling with my gender identity and sexuality,” which he believed was conflicting with his Christian faith, according to a 400-page police report on the killing obtained by ABC 15 last year.

“I want to live a life of serving god, but how can I with these and other sins in the way,” wrote the killer, whose attorney called “she” in court.

“[I know] I am forgiven for my sins, but it’s still a lot of pressure and it’s hard to maintain a good Christian mindset 24/7.” 

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Judge Tosses Road Rage Killer’s Sentence over AI-Generated Video of Victim Played in Court

An Arizona appeals court has overturned the prison sentence of a man convicted of manslaughter after a road rage incident, determining that an AI-generated video of his deceased victim used during sentencing was unreliable and created fundamental unfairness in the proceedings.

The New York Post reports that Gabriel Horcasitas will face resentencing after the Arizona Court of Appeals vacated his 10.5-year prison sentence on Wednesday. Horcasitas was convicted of manslaughter and endangerment in the 2021 shooting death of Christopher Pelkey during a road rage incident in Chandler, Arizona, approximately 25 miles outside Phoenix.

The appellate court took issue with an AI-generated video of Pelkey that was presented during the original sentencing hearing. Breitbart News reported on the controversial AI video last year:

The AI-generated video, believed to be the first of its kind used nationwide, recreated Pelkey’s image and voice, allowing him to “speak” about his life and the fateful day he encountered Horcasitas. The video included real footage from Pelkey’s life, showcasing his personality and sense of humor, while also addressing his killer directly.

“In another life, we probably could have been friends,” the AI version of Pelkey said to Horcasitas. “I believe in forgiveness…” The video also featured a photo of Pelkey with an “old age” filter, as he remarked, “This is the best I can ever give you of what I would have looked like if I got the chance to grow old. Remember, getting old is a gift that not everybody has, so embrace it and stop worrying about those wrinkles.”

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U.S. Marine Arrested in Okinawa on Suspicion of Robbing and Murdering 39-Year-Old Japanese Woman — Japan Lodges “Strong Protest” with United States

A 20-year-old U.S. Marine stationed in Okinawa has been arrested by Japanese authorities on suspicion of robbing and murdering a 39-year-old woman inside a hotel in Naha, triggering a formal protest from the Japanese government.

Lance Cpl. Devin Jacob Ballard, assigned to Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, was taken into custody early Sunday in connection with the death of Anna Yagi, 39, a resident of Naha.

According to Stars and Stripes, Okinawa Prefectural Police allege that Ballard killed Yagi at the Naminoue Crystal Hotel in Naha’s Wakasa district sometime between approximately 2:10 a.m. and 4:17 a.m. Saturday. Police also accuse him of stealing her wallet and another personal item.

Police say surveillance footage showed Yagi entering the hotel with a man before the man later left alone carrying her belongings.

When Yagi failed to leave by checkout time, a hotel employee entered the room and discovered her unresponsive. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities later located Ballard walking alone in an entertainment district and detained him before formally arresting him on suspicion of robbery and murder. Ballard has denied the allegations.

The precise cause and circumstances of Yagi’s death have not yet been publicly disclosed, and investigators are still working to determine the relationship, if any, between Yagi and Ballard.

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Prominent fashion exec and wife found shot dead outside posh home near UC Berkeley

The CEO of a swanky fashion company and his wife were found shot dead outside their home in the hills overlooking UC Berkeley on Friday morning.

Berkeley police were called to the area around 10:48 a.m. Friday after shots were heard. Cops found married couple, Bryan, 61, and Michelle Walker, 63, and performed life-saving measures. Both were then pronounced dead.

The Walkers ran a women’s fashion company, Bryn Walker. The pair designed clothing with “luxurious fabrics” aimed at “women who demand comfort, quality and easy sophistication,” according to their website. The company had locations in Berkeley and Massachusetts.

Haunting surveillance video reviewed by CBS, too horrifying for them to play on air, unveiled the mysterious circumstances of the shooting. The first gunshot can be heard on video around 10:43 a.m. Friday, and then a man is heard crying and screaming in a “very dramatic” scene.

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Case of Hanging Death of Black Woman in Mississippi Takes Another Twist as Democrats Sound the Alarm on Lynchings

The death of Tasia Fortune, the black woman found hanging from a tree, just took another interesting turn.

Earlier this month, a black man was arrested and charged with murder in the death of Tasia Fortune, a black woman who was found hanging from a tree in Mississippi, sparking unfounded claims of a potential lynching case, fueled by leftwing media and Democratic politicians.

Fortune, a 29-year-old mother of four, was found hanging from a tree on August 3rd in Jackson, Mississippi.

Outlets like CNN and the Associated Press immediately said the case brings up memories of the history of lynchings in the south even though Tasia Fortune was killed by a black man.

Two black men were arrested in connection with Tasia Fortune’s death.

“The death of Tasia Fortune, a Black Mississippi woman found hanging from a tree on Aug. 3, has stirred distressing memories of the grim history of lynchings across the U.S. South,” the AP said.

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Trial of Accused Tupac Shakur Murderer Brings to Light Police Coverup

On August 31, Duane “Keffe D” Davis was convicted of first-degree murder for his role in the death of famed rapper Tupac Shakur 30 years earlier.

Prosecutors argued that Davis and his nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, “went hunting” for Shakur after Anderson was in a fight with him and his entourage at the MGM Grand following a Mike Tyson boxing match, Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal said.

According to Palal, Davis led the charge through his role as a “shot caller” for the Southside Compton Crips and, ultimately, was driven by self-interest in his statements.

The defense countered by saying that the evidence tying Davis to Tupac’s killing was inconclusive and that the prosecution had not presented documentation to show that Davis was even in Las Vegas at that time.

Evidently the jury did not believe this. But regardless of whether Davis was involved in the murder in some capacity, he is a small fish compared to some of the big players who were involved in Tupac’s murder, which appears to have been orchestrated at higher levels.

Like other Black artists, Tupac was a target of offshoots of the FBI’s COINTELPRO operation.

He came from a radical family linked to the Black Power Movement and was considered a threat to revitalize the spirit of that movement, especially because his rap songs adopted subversive anti-establishment messaging.

The FBI, at the behest of ruling U.S. elites, deliberately provoked internecine conflict among Black rappers and groups that, if united, could have potentially mobilized Black youth in a political direction and away from the gang violence that has helped to devastate the Black community along with neo-liberal economic policies that have affected them disproportionately, racialized policing and the War on Drugs, which has spawned a new Jim Crow.

Tupac himself had expressed admiration for the Black Panther Party—the central target of COINTELPRO in the 1960s and early 1970s, and believed that he was a target of COINTELPRO.

Short for Counter-Intelligence Program, COINTELPRO was an FBI program instituted in the 1950s to covertly disrupt radical political organizations in the United States. The program is also known to have targeted artists and musicians, as well as non-violent political dissidents.

In former Black Panther Lee Lew Lee’s 1996 film All Power to the People: The Black Panther Party and Beyond, FBI agent whistleblower Wes Swearingen, CIA whistleblower Phil Agee, and former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark detailed how U.S. intelligence operations such as the FBI’s CounterIntelligence Program, murderously targeted The Black Panther Party (excerpted in Drugs as Weapons Against Us 1:00:30- 1:57).

Agent Swearingen stated fellow agents told him that their FBI CounterIntelligence (COINTELPRO) was “officially” closed in 1971 but these activities continued at least until 1995, under different names. These activities in turn are thought to be connected to Shakur’s 1996 death.[1]

According to U.S. intelligence researcher John Judge, “there’s quite a bit of evidence that has come out over the years about the surveillance of [Shakur]. Apparently there were people that were surveilling him at the time of his murder that were never questioned by police.”

U.S. Intelligence and the Black Panther Shakur Family

Tupac’s mother, Afeni Shakur, was a section leader of the Harlem Black Panthers, and his stepfather, Dr. Mutulu Shakur (Jeral Wayne Williams), was a founding member of the Republic of New Afrika.

U.S. intelligence unsuccessfully tried to frame Afeni as part of the New York Panther 21, a group of Panthers who were accused of targeting New York police officers and planning terrorist acts. Dr. Shakur was imprisoned for decades, on charges of conspiring to rob a bank (1981 Brinks robbery) and for breaking Assata Shakur from prison.

Tupac’s “Auntie Assata” was imprisoned for purportedly shooting a police officer, while his godfather, Geronimo (Ji-Jaga) Pratt, led the Los Angeles Black Panthers and was falsely imprisoned for decades.

Police shot at Assata while she had her hands raised and shot at Geronimo’s bed as, fortunately, he was sleeping on the floor due to a bad back caused by a Vietnam War injury.

After activists stole documents from an FBI office in 1971, they found that the FBI orchestrated most of these attacks on Black Panthers like Assata and many others under COINTELPRO.

Police Attempted to Murder Tupac Before: Oakland in 1991 and Atlanta in 1993

The New Afrikan Panthers, active in nearly a dozen cities, elected Tupac Shakur as their National Chairman in 1989. Tupac’s music celebrated blackness and gave voice to the frustrations and disillusionment so many black youth faced with the prevailing political-economic system while provoking empathy for the system’s victims.

Tupac continued his activism with his imprisoned stepfather Mutulu Shakur and his Black Panther extended family by helping to spread a truce between the Bloods and Crips gangs from a few areas around Los Angeles to across the country.

There were at least four attempts on Tupac Shakur’s life with police foul play involved before he was murdered at the age of 25 in September 1996.

Several days after MTV released the political song “Trapped” from his solo debut CD in 1991, Oakland police stopped him purportedly for jay-walking, pounded his head against the curb and choked him into unconsciousness.

In Atlanta, Georgia, in 1993, two allegedly off-duty police officers shot at Tupac with a gun they had stolen from an evidence locker.

LA Police Detective: Police Killed Rapper Biggie to Cover up Their Murder of Tupac

An assailant fatally shot Tupac Shakur from another car in Las Vegas after a Mike Tyson heavyweight championship boxing match on September 7, 1996.

Six months later, a gunman fatally shot Tupac’s former friend and fellow top rapper Christopher “Biggie/Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace in Los Angeles.

After Biggie’s murder, Los Angeles Police Detective Russell Poole said that he found out that his fellow police officers murdered Biggie to distract from their murder of Tupac, trying to make it look like a rap rivalry.[2]

Detective Poole found dozens of his fellow police officers at all levels of Tupac’s last record company, Death Row Records.

When Detective Poole asked his superiors what all those LA officers were doing there, they told him you can call them “trouble shooters or covert agents.”[3]

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HORROR: Pediatric ICU Doctor Who Cared for Critically Ill Children Stabbed to Death in His Bed While His Children Slept — Suspect Was Out on Non-Monetary Bail in Felony Burglary Case

A respected pediatric critical-care doctor who dedicated his career to treating gravely ill children was stabbed to death inside his Pennsylvania home early Thursday morning while his own two children were sleeping nearby.

And the man accused of the horrific attack was reportedly already facing felony burglary charges, and had been released on non-monetary bail.

Dr. Idris V.R. Evans, 46, served as co-medical director of the Pediatric Critical Care Transport Team at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and as an assistant professor of critical care medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, according to his profile on the University of Pittsburgh.

Colleagues described him as a dedicated caregiver whose work focused on the sickest kids, pediatric sepsis, critical care transport, and keeping children alive when they arrived at the hospital in the worst possible shape.

That life ended around 12:30 a.m. Thursday in the family’s Edgewood home on Linden Avenue, KDKA reported.

According to WPXI, citing Allegheny County police and court documents, 32-year-old Elijah Hemingway of Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood neighborhood entered the home through a window, went to the third-floor bedroom, and attacked Evans and his wife with a kitchen knife while they slept.

Hemingway was wearing only underwear and reportedly talked about “being God” during the assault.

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Sunny Hostin Lied About Being Holdout Juror Who Kept Cannibal Out of Prison

Sunny Hostin bragged on Tuesday’s episode of The View that she was the lone holdout who kept Daniel Rakowitz, the Butcher of Tompkins Square Park, out of prison, but it appears that she lied.

People who sat in that room and the papers that quoted them in 1991 describe an unemployed man who liked the $15 a day and the free meals as the lone holdout in the case.

The Post reports:

But 35 years ago, jurors told The Post, Newsday, the Daily News and the Associated Press that the actual holdout was an unemployed man who wanted to keep the trial going so he could continue getting paid by the court for his civic duty.

A law enforcement source from the time also told The Post this week that the holdout was a man.

“He was unemployed and liked the $15 a day and the three free meals,” juror Valerie Holmes told Newsday in the aftermath of the verdict.

“He liked that we were arguing on and on.”

Holmes reiterated the claim to The Post and The Daily News, describing the holdout as being “very determined” and “manipulative” man determined to get his way.

“From day one, this particular person was determined that the jury was going to find Rakowitz not guilty by reason of mental disease,” jury forewoman Lois Markle told the AP at the time.

Meanwhile, Hostin was quoted as a juror on the case in multiple news clips at the time — but she did not identify herself as the holdout, nor did any of the fellow jurors who talked to the press after the trial.

In a statement to Newsday at the time, under her legal name Asunción Cummings, Hostin also contradicted her current claim.

“We had to compromise. But it is obvious to me he butchered the body and he literally got away with murder. He attempted to commit the perfect crime,” Hostin told the paper.

Hostin claimed she was the holdout during a discussion on The View about the Lindsay Clancy mistrial in Massachusetts, where one juror refused an insanity verdict in the case of the mother who brutally strangled her three children to death.

Hostin said she wanted Clancy to be found not guilty by reason of insanity.

“The reason I felt so strongly about this holdout juror is because I was a holdout juror in the Daniel Rakowitz case. I don’t know if people remember it, the Butcher of Tompkins Square Park,” Hostin said.

Joy Behar asked, “The guy who ate the victims?”

Alyssa Farah Griffin said, “You got this guy off?!”

“That’s how much I believe in the insanity defense. He fed her body parts to the unhoused,” Hostin explained.

“All that being said, it was so clear to me in the jury room. We were sequestered for nine days. One juror threw a chair at me, they were so angry with me. But, one by one, I picked them off. I said, ‘What about this? What about that?’ We ended up, all 12, unanimously voting that he was not criminally responsible on reason of insanity. He is still in a mental institution being treated. That’s a different type of prison, and he’s being treated because he’s sick.”

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Idaho Sheriff’s Office Claims It Might Have Solved Infamous ‘Tylenol Murders’ Case

An Idaho sheriff’s office believes that a man who died in a Boise church 44 years ago could be linked to the 1982 case in which several people were killed after taking tampered Tylenol.

The Ada County Sheriff’s Office said that a man who killed himself inside a Boise Catholic church was Dr. Mathew Betkouski, according to a news release. When the man was found in December 1982, he had no ID, only a large amount of cash and a typed letter with a false name.

Sheriff’s office cold case Detective Tim Cooper began looking at the case in 2019. He determined through photos and DNA that a Florida man who disappeared in 1982 and Betkouwski were one and the same.

Betkouski, who had worked in two drugstores in college, had discussed the use of cyanide to kill without being detected.

The 1982 Tylenol killings involved cyanide being substituted for the medicine in several Tylenol capsules. Seven people were killed in the Chicago area before the product was pulled from shelves.

Dr. Park Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist, said that by 2021, he believed Cooper was making connections that linked Betkouski to the Tylenol case.

More details will be released on the “Unsolved Mysteries” TV series episode titled “Unmasking the Tylenol Killer.”  The show will appear Oct. 9 on The Roku Channel.

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