crime

From zombies to serial killers? According to TVLine, "Walking Dead" actor Nick Gomez has booked a guest starring role on "Dexter" as a hit man... Leigh Weingus http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leigh-weingus/

Plainfield man convicted of attempted murder at Hazlet diner
The Star-Ledger - NJ.com
Foster was convicted of first-degree attempted murder, second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon and third-degree possession of a controlled dangerous substance. He faces a ...
Plainfield Man Found Guilty of Attempted MurderAtlantic Highlands Herald

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Conor Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was arrested Wednesday at a climate change rally in Washington, D.C. The 18-year-old ex-boyfriend of singer Taylor... James Gerken http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-gerken/

Ra Ra Riot: Going with their gut
U-T San Diego
Nowadays, bands don't need to rely on directors to oversee music videos; savvy fans will create the perfect one for them. For the title track to Ra Ra Riot's third studio release, “Beta Love,” a visual entry posted online by David Burkhart was adopted ...

Crime Stoppers sets reward for info about Stowe shooting
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Pittsburgh Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of a man police say shot another man in the leg in Stowe. A warrant was obtained for Tyler Boyd-Chaney, 18, in the shooting Dec. 16 in ...

The president's emotional tribute to victims of gun violence won accolades from gun-control supporters on Tuesday night, but gun-industry observers said that the people who... Saki Knafo http://www.huffingtonpost.com/saki-knafo/

WASHINGTON -- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday endorsed different procedural tactics to advance two of President Barack Obama's top legislative priorities. While... Sam Stein http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-stein/

Cake is particularly awesome when it’s decorated all fancy-shmancy, because it adds an extra oomph to any event. It turns out there are tons of... TheFW.com http://www.huffingtonpost.com/megan-griffo/

The mother of an Alabama boy held for days in an underground bunker said in an interview broadcast Wednesday that she forgave her son's captor... AP http://www.huffingtonpost.com/simon-mccormack/

Detroit mayor Bing to discuss murder rate, building demolitions in 7 p.m ...
Detroit Free Press
Detroit Mayor Dave Bing was expected in his State of the City speech tonight to reveal details of a plan to speed up building demolitions and offer progress reports on his efforts to restructure city government and battle a surge in murders. His ...

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Fox 43 TV
Third suspect wanted in VB murder
WAVY-TV
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) - Police released the name of a third suspect allegedly involved in the murder of a man found dead on his street last month. According to Jimmy Barnes with the Virginia Beach Police Department, Sean Omar Barnett is wanted ...
Va. Beach police seek man wanted in murder caseThe Virginian-Pilot

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Confessed serial killer Israel Keyes was mistakenly issued a razor before he committed suicide, according to a report released Wednesday by the... AP http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-mclaughlin/

In "Too Much Information," an op-ed that was published this week on Slate, University of Virginia Law Professor Brandon Garrett and New York University School of Law Professor Erin Murphy describe why collecting DNA from people simply for being arrested won't help to solve more crimes.

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case this term on whether the practice of collecting DNA from arrestees is constitutional. The case involves a 2009 Maryland criminal case in which police took a DNA sample from Alonzo J. King, Jr. who was arrested for pointing a shotgun at a group of people. Police took the sample despite the fact that it wasn't needed to link him to the incident.

Explaining why collecting DNA from arrestees doesn't help solve more crimes, Garrett and Murphy note:

Research shows that bigger is only better if DNA databases grow in the right way: by entering more samples from crime scenes, not samples from arrestees. DNA databases already include 10 million-plus known offender profiles. But a database with every offender in the nation cannot solve a crime if no physical evidence was collected or tested. And police collect far too few such samples.

Even worse, taking DNA from a lot of arrestees slows the testing in active criminal investigations. After all, 12 million or more people are arrested each year. (According to one study, by age 23, nearly one-third of Americans have been arrested for an offense, not including minor traffic violations.) Backlogs created by arrestee DNA sampling means that rape kits and samples from convicted offenders sit in storage or go untested.

Putting DNA from arrestees into databanks also exposes more innocent people to the risk of false accusation or conviction. Interpretation of DNA evidence from known offenders is straightforward, but crime scene samples often require subjective judgments that may lead to errors.

What we know now is that no good evidence shows that taking from DNA from arrestees helps to solve crimes in any meaningful way. We also know the cost to liberty and privacy. That's the tradeoff the Supreme Court should weigh. Read the full op-ed.

Brooklyn jury clears accused getaway driver of all charges in murder of NYPD ...
New York Daily News
A jury found Pride guilty Monday of second-degree murder, burglary and aggravated manslaughter - which carries a sentence of 25 years to life. But he was acquitted of the top charge, aggravated murder of a police officer, which would have carried a ...

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MEXICO CITY -- The guns that have caused so many deaths in northern Mexico are now making music. Mechanical hammers ping against ammunition magazines from... AP http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-moye/

LAS VEGAS -- A Saudi Arabia air force sergeant stood in shackles Wednesday in a Nevada courtroom and pleaded not guilty to abducting and raping... AP http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-mclaughlin/

TIME
Pablo Neruda's Body To Be Exhumed in Murder Investigation
TIME
“I insist on telling you that I am not a political poet,” said Chilean poet Pablo Neruda in a 1971 Canadian radio interview. And yet when he died of heart failure just 12 days after the 1973 military coup that unseated president Salvador Allende — a ...

Around the country, Americans are not only lobbying their Congressmembers to support legislation to reduce gun violence, they are also voting with their dollars -- through pension funds, government purchasing policies, and university endowments. Peter Dreier http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-dreier/

CHESTERFIELD, S.C. — A man involved in a paternity dispute opened fire Wednesday in front of a South Carolina courthouse, wounding a woman and her... AP http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-hoffer/

Christopher Dorner's all-but-certain demise came thanks to the help of a few civilians, notably the two maids who entered what they thought was an empty cabin only to be accosted by the fugitive and tied up. One of them escaped, and police were in hot pursuit of Dorner in no...