Articles Posted in Murder

Florida authorities on Saturday evening arrested two convicted murderers, Charles Walker and Joseph Jenkins, who forged release documents and escaped from prison.

They were taken into custody at 6:40 p.m. at Panama City’s Coconut Grove Motor Inn. The two men appeared in court Sunday morning at the Bay County Courthouse in Panama City.

The state Department of Corrections who incorrectly released the two inmates said little about the arrests, however, they insist it was not their fault. Family members of both men spoke out requesting that they turn themselves in to authorities. Walker’s mother said, “We just want you to surrender yourself to someone you trust who will bring you back in safely.” Both families denied any knowledge of the escape and told investigators and reporters they first learned of the releases in telephone calls from the Franklin Correctional Institution informing them that they could pick up their family member.

Derek Medina, a Miami man shot and killed his wife, Jennifer Alonso, during an argument in August. He allegedly uploaded a picture of her dead body to his Facebook page. He has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and is now claiming self-defense. He claims, “I’m not a killer…I do not feel that I’m guilty and I feel like this was self-defense.”

Medina said they were having an argument in the bedroom when she started throwing things at him such as mascara, creams, boxes and shoes. During the argument, Medina pulled a gun on Alonso and told her to stop. He put the gun away and Alonso told him she was leaving him. When they walked downstairs, she began to punch him, he grabbed the gun again, she pulled a knife, he wrestled it out of her hands and put it in a drawer.

Medina claims that Alonso kept throwing punches at him. He told authorities that Alonso threatend to kill him with a knife, she said she would have someone kill him and as they continued to fight, he shot her 6-8 times.

By: Mark Eiglarsh

Zimmerman may have murdered Trayvon Martin. He may have been a profiling “wannabe cop” who was filled with “ill will, hatred and/or spite.” He may have approached Trayvon with his gun drawn. He may have even physically assaulted him before Trayvon punched him in the nose. Trayvon may have been legally standing his ground. Trayvon, may have reasonably feared death or great bodily harm and used force to defend himself against a guy that he not only reasonably found “creepy,” but potentially violent. Travyon may have been backing off of Zimmerman, legally retreating, when he was shot in cold blood. “Really?” Yes, “Really!” However, notice, each of the sentences above contains the words, “may have.” In the legal arena, we call that “speculation.” In this case, and in every single criminal case, the judge informs the jury: “A reasonable doubt is not a mere possible doubt, a speculative, imaginary or forced doubt.” Judges also instruct jurors: “It is to the evidence introduced in this trial, and to it alone, that you are to look for that proof.”

If one eliminates emotion, bias, and/or sympathy, which is not easy to do, and objectively analyzes the evidence presented in the Zimmerman trial, the only legal conclusion that can be reached is “Not Guilty.” In order to reach that conclusion, one would also need to follow the judge’s instruction that: “The case must not be decided for or against anyone because you feel sorry for anyone, or are angry at anyone.” It’s very easy to be angry with George Zimmerman. Candidly, initially I was. I still may be, subconsciously. Even by his own admission, his actions set in motion the killing of a teenager. Especially because two of my three young children are boys, I immediately felt compassion for the Martin family, (I still do) and had anger “in my heart” for Zimmerman. I’m human. I’m entitled to feel however I want. Feelings aside, I chose to objectively listen to the evidence throughout the trial and now passionately believe that anything other than an acquittal would be a miscarriage of justice.

New England Patriot’s Aaron Hernandez has been charged with premeditated murder. He has pleaded not guilty.

Carlos Ortiz told authorities about an apartment Hernandez has that not many people know of. He also told police that he and Hernandez stopped at the apartment the night after Lloyd’s death.

A search of Hernandez’ apartment revealed ammunition from the same caliber gun used in the murder of Odin Lloyd. Authorities found a .45-caliber ammunition and a white hooded sweatshirt; the bullet that killed Lloyd was from a .45-caliber gun, and the white sweatshirt matches one Hernandez was seen wearing on surveillance video on June 17, the night Lloyd died.

Jodi Arias was convicted of first-degree murder May 8 in the stabbing and shooting death of Travis Alexander in his Arizona home.

Arias’ attorneys have requested that a judge vacate the jury’s decision in her murder trial that the killing of her boyfriend was “especially cruel,” which would allow a jury to consider deeath penalty.

Defense attorneys argue in their motion that the jury is unable to determine whether or not the killing was cruel because the definition of “especially cruel” is too vague for jurors, who have no legal experience.

Jerry Andrew Active, 24, is accused of breaking into a home in Anchorage, Alaska this past weekend. He allegedly sexually assaulted an elderly woman, killing her and her husband, and sexually assaulting their 2-year-old great-granddaughter before fleeing the scene.

Police were called to the home shortly before 8 p.m. Saturday. Upon arrival, authorities found Sorn Sreap, 73, and husband Touch Chea, 71, dead; also found in the home was the couple’s great-granddaughter who had been sexually assaulted. Sreap and Chea died due to blunt force trauma to the head and face.

Authorities said the 2-year-old’s child’s parents took their 4-year-old to the movies on Saturday, leaving their youngest in the care of the child’s great-grandparents. When they returned, the front door was locked and there was a chain on from the inside, blocking their way. The father was able to open the door a few inches and saw the bodies of Chea and Sreap on the floor. He broke a window, ran inside, yelled for someone to call 911, and found the suspect naked with his 2-year-old.

After months of a dramatic and emotional trial, juries in the Jodi Arias trial have finished deliberating and the fate of Jodi Arias will be announced at 4:30pm.

Jurors have been deliberating since Friday night. Deliberations surround the key questions of whether of nor Jodi Arias killed her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander in self-defense.

Alexander was stabbed repeatedly, shot and nearly decapitated about five years ago by ex-girlfriend and Defendant Jodi Arias. Arias says she killed him in self-defense after he attacked her, but horrific nature of the murder has caused many spectators to doubt this defense.

Two Texas prosecutors were killed over a two month span, one of which was the district attorney in Kaufman County.

District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were shot to death, almost two months after assistant prosecutor Mark Hasse was shot and killed outside Texas county’s courthouse on January 31 of this year. Hasse had feared for his life and carried a gun to work, said a Dallas attorney who described herself as his longtime friend.

Subsequent to Hasse’s murder, McLelland was recorded stating, “We’re going to pull you out of whatever hole you’re in, we’re going to bring you back and let the people of Kaufman County prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”

Colorado prosecutors have rejected James Holmes’ offer to plead guilty in exchange for escaping the possibility of being given the death penalty. Prosecutors have expressed that based on the current information disclosed to prosecutors, it is unlikely that a plea offer will be accepted by Holmes’ defense lawyers.

Holmes is charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder in the July 20 Colorado theatre shooting. Twelve people were killed and 70 were injured.

As previously mentioned, Holmes’ attorneys disclosed in a court filing Wednesday that their client has offered to plead guilty if prosecutors agreed to spare him the death penalty. Prosecutors criticized defense attorneys for publicizing the offer and argue that defense lawyers purposely did this in order to make the public and the judge aware of plea negotiations that should have remained private.

Edwin Ernesto Rivera Gracias, a national from Salvador, was named on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitive list Thursday, in connection with the murder of a Colorado man was on Thursday.

Gracias is accused of killing 69-year-old Richard Limon in August 2011. It is alleged that Gracias choked, beat and stabbed Limon and then dumped his body in the mountains outside of Denver. Limon was a longtime family acquaintance of Gracias’ girlfriend.

Photos of Gracias and his description can be viewed at http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/edwin-ernesto-rivera-gracias. The wanted poster says he is about 5 feet, 10 inches tall, weighs approximately 170 pounds, and is between ages 29 and 33.