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Damon Thibodeaux, 38, spent 15 years on Louisiana’s death row for a murder he did not commit was released Friday from prison in an exoneration brought about by the Innocence Project.

Thibodeaux was convicted of killing his 14-year-old relative, Crystal Champagne, after falsely confessing to having raped and murdered her. Thibodeaux was among a number of people who were interviewed by police subsequent to the death of the 14-year-old girl. After some nine hours of interrogation, he provided authorities with a confession and was later sentenced to death in October 1997.

About ten years after his sentence, Thibodeaux’s legal team presented evidence of false confession and DNA to the district attorney which showed Thibodeaux’s innocence and an investigation began. The investigation wound up involving hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of DNA testing, forensic evidence and interviews. It was later confirmed that Thibodeaux’s confession was false in every significant aspect. District Attorney Paul Connick Jr. agreed with Thibodeaux’s lawyers that he had confessed to something he did not do.

On Friday, police received calls shortly after 8:15 a.m., reporting a man with a gun at the Gateway Center Building in Pittsburg. A 22-year-old man, who authorities suspect to be Klein Michael Thaxton took another man hostage in a suite on the 16th floor of this high rise office building.

The suspect was on Facebook for hours during the hostage situation. Authorities state that he was paying more attention to Facebook than to the negotiating team, which was impairing the teams’ abilities to resolve the situation

There were messages being sent to Thaxton that may have encouraged him to continue with the hostage situation. SWAT officers monitored Thaxton’s Facebook page for about two hours before they shut down his page.

Drew Peterson, a former Chicago-area police sergeant is being charged with murder for the death of his third wife Kathleen Savio, who was found dead in her home on March 1, 2004, just weeks before their divorce settlement was to be finalized.

Savio’s death was not ruled as a homicide until February 2008, after Stacy Peterson, Peterson’s fourth wife, went missing in October 2007. It was during the search for Stacy Peterson that investigators began to reinvestigate Savio’s death, which was previously concluded to be a drowning.

Peterson, 58, has pleaded not guilty to two charges of first degree murder, one by intentionally killing her and the other by engaging in behavior that led to her death.

Matthew Scheidt, 18, is now in police custody and accused of impersonating a police officer.

Just last year Scheidt was accused of impersonating a physician assistant. Scheidt told detectives he went to Osceola Regional Medical Center to get a badge he thought he needed for his job at a doctor’s office across the street, but, through a clerical error, acquired a medical badge and spent several days posing as a medical professional and treating patients. “Their error was putting me in apparently as a physician assistant into their computer, and then I lose my job,” he said.

Scheidt told detectives that he wore scrubs to the hospital, a pager and even a lab coat, which he bought. He admitted to holding two patients’ hands after he said they asked him to. Scheidt told a detective that a doctor asked that he performed CPR on a patient who came in for an overdose.

The Fifth District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach has granted the petition for a new judge for George Zimmerman, the man charged with the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

A panel of three judges voted 2-1 that Stanford Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester’s statements directed towards Zimmerman were enough to grant Zimmerman’s motion and assign a new judge to the case. “Accordingly, we direct the trial judge to enter an order of disqualification which requests the chief circuit judge to appoint a successor judge,” the ruling read.

Initially, Circuit Court Judge Kenneth Lester, refused to recuse himself and denied Zimmerman’s motion for a new judge as it was “legally insufficient.” Judge C. Alan Lawson of the Fifth District Court of Appeal stated “… this is admittedly a close call,” however Judge Lester’s actions and statements towards Zimmerman met the legal standard requiring him to step aside.

Police Chief Jeff Tyson of the Lantana Police Department is preparing for an unpleasant legal encounter of his own. After the incident on April 4, Tyson will be having his own day in court. Tyson was operating an unmarked police car on Wednesday afternoon when he rear-ended a sheriff’s deputy from the Palm Beach County’s Sheriff’s Department. After hitting the car, Tyson drove off without a word. The deputy turned on his emergency lights and followed Tyson.

Once on the side of the road, Tyson said, “What do you want? I only bumped into you.” When Boca Raton police arrived to question him about the crash, Tyson was reported to say, “I tapped him in the a**…no big deal.”

Tyson was handcuffed and charged with a DUI and leaving the scene of an accident. When his blood alcohol levels were tested, they came back at three times the legal limit. He was reported to smell strongly of alcohol, and a cup with a red liquid that smelled like liquor was found inside of his vehicle.

The accused cold-blooded killer of a Yale doctor has told a federal judge that he’s still suing a Brooklyn hospital where he and his victim had clashed.

Dr. Lishan Wang filed the discrimination suit in Brooklyn Federal Court nine months before cops say he stalked and shot Dr. Vajinder Pal Toor at point-blank range last April in front of the victim’s wife and 3-year-old son.

Wang blamed Toor for getting him fired from Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center and accused the hospital of mistreating Chinese nationals like himself.

Recently, Dallas prosecutors celebrated their victory against Willie Campbell, who was sentenced to 35 years for assault with a deadly weapon.

What caught my attention about this case was that the deadly weapon was his HIV-positive spit.

Campbell was being arrested for public intoxication when he allegedly began resisting and kicking inside the patrol car. The arresting officer testified that, “He turns and spits,” hitting the officer in the eye and mouth. Then he told the cop that he has AIDS. Apparently Campbell, who won’t be up for a Nobel Peace Prize any time soon, has a history of spitting at police officers and biting fellow jail inmates.

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The following CNN appearance that I did recently features a discussion concerning whether a convicted sex offender should get back his pornography after serving a prison sentence. I think you’ll enjoy this one.

Mark Eiglarsh’s recent CNN interview with Erica Hill

Shocking…get it? As you’ve probably heard, 21 year old UF student Andrew Meyer was arrested for resisting an officer and disturbing the peace and then tasered yesterday (Monday) during a question and answer session with U.S. Senator John Kerry. If you haven’t seen the full video of the encounter, I encourage you to Watch the following video and let me know what you think. Also, visit Andrew Meyer’s web site to gain some greater insight into what this guy is all about. http://www.theandrewmeyer.com/

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