James Horn Is A Missouri Fugitive

Tonight, we have a man in Missouri, named James Horn Jr., on the run because he apparently murdered his ex-girlfriend, Sandra Sutton, and her seventeen year old son, Zachary. She had lived with Horn in Sedalia, but broke up with him after being held hostage in a wooden box most of the time since January. She finally got away from him in early April. This morning, she and Zachary were found dead in the home of relatives in Clinton. Because police did not see fit to grab him in April, when Sutton first complained, he is now in the wind. They have been making efforts to find him for about two weeks, though. Quite thoughty of them.

Authorities in Clinton have stated that they were unaware that Sutton was living in Clinton, and that they were unaware that there were any warrants for Horn's arrest or any efforts underway to find him. Let yours truly raise the BS flag here. This case has been in the news for at least several weeks, and did not become a double homicide until today. If CNN and Fox News were aware of Mr. Horn, law enforcement in Missouri should have been aware of him, as well. And since young Zachary attended school in Clinton, it does not appear to have been a secret that he and his mother were staying with his grandparents. Indeed, it was not a secret to Mr. Horn.

Hopefully, James Horn will be apprehended before he kills anyone else.

Sandra and Zachary Sutton

Chad Taylor Drops Out Of Senate Race

Chad Taylor, (D) District Attorney of Topeka Kansas and Senate Wannabe, not to be confused with Chad Taylor, guitarist in Live, has dropped out of the race for Senate in Kansas. This is good news, as this blogger will no longer be faced with the choice of voting for someone who actually tried to stop prosecuting domestic violence in Topeka and still has not filed charges in the death of Caleb Stewart, a baby who died in a Topeka daycare; or the choice of voting for republican Pat Roberts. It looks like the choice is now between Pat Roberts, and Independent Greg Orman.

Convicted Killer Howard Marnell Is About To Go Free

Should Howard Marnell, convicted of the 1982 murder of Sandra Olrich, be handed a "get out of jail free" card by the parole board? Apparently, he has exhibited enough "good behavior" in prison, after the exceptionally violent murder of his sister-in-law, which is technically domestic violence, for New York to take seriously his request for parole from his sentence of fifteen years to life. He says he has learned to "control his rage", and that he has matured. Control his rage? Sandra Olrich was only twenty years old in 1982. What could she possibly have done to incite that much rage from anyone? Howard Marnell is the type of criminal who should stay behind bars for the rest of his life.

 

Violence Against Women Act Passes

The Violence Against Women Act passed today. This is good news for all of the police training, shelters, counseling programs, funding for legal representation for victims, (and that is an HUGE problem!!) and laws connected to the Violence Against Women Act. Sadly, the subject of children caught in custody battles wherein the issue of domestic violence has manifested is still not properly addressed. Judges still seem to think that a violent thug will only have one victim over the course of his violent career, and thereby almost blame the victim! A family law court judge in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia actually tried to "overlook" the issue of domestic violence in rulings in a certain case, but since the thug involved had already been found guilty of domestic violence in criminal court, this judge was unable to ignore the guilty verdict when rulings were made. Without the Violence Against Women Act, she might have gotton away with it.

One hundred and thirty-eight Republicans did not think that protection under the law in all phases of defusing an ongoing domestic violence situation was "fiscally responsible", and those same Republicans also did not think that those most likely to become victims of domestic violence in their states would have any value as votors, and probably not as human beings, either. Kansas lawmakers, of course, voted against it. Their position on this is probably that it's more cost effective from an economic standpoint to bury a domestic violence victim than it is to help her.
 

Watch Congress Extends Violence Against Women Act on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

Republicans And The Violence Against Women Act

It's interesting to note who, in congress, voted against the 1994 Violence Against Women Act. It passed, but not with the help of Republican representatives from the Midwest. Apparently, any protections and assistantance afforded domestic violence victims bothers these people in some way. Pat Roberts, of Kansas, did not want to see any legal protection granted to domestic violence victims. For an all inclusive list of representatives who weighed in against the Violence Against Women Act, click here.  Pat Roberts has also been yammering, without really saying anything meaningful, about the President's State of the Union address last night. He wants the President to do something about the economy, specifically, unemployment, but then accuses the President of doing nothing but "raising taxes", when the President's republican predecessor did nothing but deregulate the banking industry and allow American jobs to disappear into other countries at the same time. It's likely that Pat Roberts is really just voicing the concerns of the Koch Brothers.

 

Michael J. Algeo On The Bench In Maryland

To the left is a picture of the honorable Michael J. Algeo. He is a judge in Montgomery County, Maryland, who recently made the insane decision to turn two year old Prince Mcleod Rams over to his father, Joaquin Rams, for unsupervised visitation. Joaquin Rams has a rather extensive criminal resume....that is, record for such things as domestic violence and sexual assault, and is also a suspect in the death of his mother. But none of this was legally factored into the decision made by Judge Algeo, and when Algeo was presented with evidence concerning the other cases and the murder investigation, along with testimony from witnesses, the judge referred to the information as "smoke, which he could see through." On October 21, after Judge Algeo saw through the smoke, Prince visited his father, unsupervised, and was taken to the local emergency room with assorted injuries and dried blood in his nose. Social Services was called because Joaquin Rams did not explain these injuries to hospital staff's satisfaction, and Prince later died. If Judge Algeo is so good at "seeing through smoke", why didn't he see this coming?

First of all, domestic violence and sexual assault are serious crimes, and thugs who commit these crimes really never change. Second, people who are being investigated for murder do not generally make the best parents. Yes, that's a bit biased, but hey......who might suddenly have a reason to run from the law, taking the child along for the ride? Someone who is being investigated murder, of course. May the Gods help the child who is old enough to talk and notices his noncustodial but visiting parent has committed a crime: how safe is a child in THAT situation? Third, the judge should not have said "smoke, which he could see through." He should have said, "smoke, through which he could see." Either the smoke from whatever he had smoked before court had not cleared, or Algeo smoked too much of the wrong stuff when he should have been learning proper grammer. Upon closer examination of this case, it appears that Hera Mcleod, Prince's mother, meticulously presented evidence to the court, and attended hearing after hearing, only to be told by Judge Algeo that the situation was "her fault", for "falling in love" with someone who had violent tendencies, and that he "hated" family law court hearings! Why does the judicial system in this country have a permanantly open season declared on mothers who try to protect their children?

Judge Algeo will probably not have any difficulty with Maryland because of Prince's death. In Maryland, assault and battery is generally not even prosecuted if the victim is a child. Children who are kidnapped from other states and taken to Maryland are often not returned for months. Victims, especially women, are blamed for incurred assaults, and the only language the courts in Maryland occasionally understand is money, and even then, whoever has the highest priced attorney and can pay for the most time from an attorney usually wins. When a child's life is at stake, no one in the judicial system in Maryland is concerned. This is just a part of Hera Mcleod's letter to Judge Michael J. Algeo. The rest of it can be read here.

"In case you still don’t remember me, I would like to take a moment to remind you. I was the woman who came into your court room in March of 2012 (and again in July 2012) begging you to keep my son safe from his father. You heard testimony from several women Luc had abused. I told you about how I had fled Luc’s house in July 2011 with my newborn son and the clothing on our backs – that was after Luc had raped my then 19 year old sister. You heard testimony about all the people who died around Luc (including the mother of his older son and his own mother) All the horrifying information we presented, however, was still not enough for you to choose to keep my son safe.

I watched my son’s body slowly shut down for nearly two days as I waited for the doctors to officially declare him brain dead. As I watched my innocent baby boy die, I thought about you. I remembered how you told us you hated Family Court. I remembered how you blamed me for falling in love with a con man. I remembered how you talked about fairy dust and how you explained that my son would need to come home with cigarette burns before you would believe Luc was abusive. I remember how you rolled your eyes, appeared to fall asleep on the bench, and openned up your computer as if to read your email – you did all of this as I pleaded with you to keep visitations supervised."

 

Ann Romney Soaks Up Tax Dollars For Secret Service Detail

Yuck! Paris Hilton's domestic evil twin, Ann Romney, is now soaking up tax dollars for her own secret service detail. The average domestic violence victim must jump through hoops to get a family protection order in the United States, but taxpayors must pay for the likes of nonworking, nontaxpaying Ann Romney to have a secret service detail! And at the same, time her husband refuses to tell America about his tax returns! Since Ann Romney has enjoyed a free ride in this life, why shouldn't she buy her own security? At this writing, Mitt Romney does not live in the White House, and this country is still America.

Anyone who applies for any type of government assistance is expected to furnish all of his or her financial information. Why are the Romneys receiving government assistance without furnishing their financial information?

This Is Interesting, Terri Horman

It's Monday again, and on Monday, I usually give Terri Horman, who googles her name from time to time, something to find when she looks for herself online. I usually do this via description of a cold case, and how it got solved. Terri's stepson, Kyron Horman, disappeared on June 4, 2010, from his school, and that has, unfortunately become a cold case; so by doing this, I give myself an avenue to run his picture online one more time, in hopes that someone will recognize him.

This is Kyron, looking at something that appears to be a decorated Easter egg, with a natural expression on his face. I am hoping that authorities will run an age progressed picture of him, soon. But more fervently, I am hoping he will be found before authorities have to run an age progressed picture of him. He has been missing for way too long of a time.

Here's this Monday's cold case, Terri: in 1970, a woman named Mary Rivera, of Texas, got mad at her husband and threw some boiling cooking oil on him. While plenty of us have had husbands that are worth a certain amount of anger, this is clearly domestic violence, unless it is done in self defense; but even then, there are other ways to handle this type of situation, besides feeding the violence. Even back in 1970.................................

Mary's husband was burned so severely that he died of his injuries. At that point, it became abundantly clear that Mary would face charges of some type of manslaughter, rather than just assualt. So she fled Texas and hid out in Georgia for forty-one years. Fast forwarding to now: one of her kids ran his mouth when the police asked nosy questions, and now she is back in the pokey, awaiting a court date. She has bad health, too, but since she is obviously a flight risk, she's not going anywhere today.

So what's this got to do with you, Terri? Hopefully, nothing. Seriously. I truly hope that Kyron's disappearance is custodial interferance on the part of one of his biological parents. That is Kyron's best chance of being alive, still, at this late date. But if this is the case, why are you not saying anything? Kaine is obviously not being very nice to you, Terri. If he has hidden Kyron from Desiree, why not just tell authorities how you know that, or why you think that? You and Kaine were not together for long, but still, in my opinion, long enough for you to notice a few things about his life. Or; conversely, if this was an action of Desiree, (much LESS likely for many reasons) why would you let the situation keep you prisoner in your parents' house, rob you of career opportunities, ruin your life, and take Kiara's mother away from her? If you are innocent, you do not owe those things to anyone. This is probably why the general public, myself included, maintains the opinion that you may have played a role in Kyron's disappearance. Just some food for thought, Terri.

                                                     Mary Rivera, Forty-One Years Later

A Letter From Topeka

This morning, Chad Taylor, of the District Attorney's Office in Topeka, issued a letter to everyone about the fact that he does not prosecute most crime anymore. It is kind of wordy, so I will link you to it here, and I will just quote part of it. I don't think he really says anything of value to his constituents in the letter, anyway. We all know that he is just making a choice which he says is based on budget cuts, and most of us feel that it is a bad choice. The people who don't feel that it is okay to judicially ignore misdemeanors are petty criminals and domestic violence thugs. What's happening with them is this: the police arrest them and put them in jail, and within a certain amount of time, they get released, because the district attorney in Topeka never charges them with a crime, because there is not enough money in the budget to prosecute petty crimes any more.

Here's a tidbit from the letter that explains Chad Taylor's intentions the best:

In preparation for this policy change, my office discontinued the filing of any new city misdemeanors. Ethical and practical considerations required that we stop filing new criminal cases that we knew would have to be dismissed shortly once budget cuts were instituted and we no longer had the necessary personnel to prosecute these newly filed cases. Our office has continued prosecuting all previously filed city misdemeanors as well as any new misdemeanors that occur outside the city limits, but within Shawnee County.

There are several things that I find disturbing about this, among them is the idea that if I ran a business in Topeka, my insurance would probably go up, since the DA has very publicly stated that is it almost legal to steal there. A myriad of other crimes no longer have consequences, either. But what I find most disturbing is this..........domestic violence and child abuse are both usually misdemeanors. The victim has to present with fatal or near-fatal injuries for these crimes to become felonies. Guess what's happening with domestic violence thugs in Topeka now, friends.........Yes indeed......these creeps are getting arrested initially by cops who don't want to find corpses at the same addresses later on, after they stop the violence; but since Chad Taylor knows that it is a lot more cost effective, from a strictly fiscal point of view, to bury a domestic violence victim that to help her, or to bury or sell a child abuse victim than to help a family find other options, these offenders are getting released almost as quickly as they get arrested. How long will it take for someone in power to give the police a directive to stop intervening in domestic violence situations at all?

I asked this a couple of weeks ago on this blog, and I will ask it again. Wouldn't it have been a better idea, for the safety of the general public, if Chad Taylor had decided to stop prosecuting victimless crimes, instead? As a citizen, I am completely uninterested in sending someone to prison for years on end and limiting his or her opportunities forever with a permanant criminal record just because he or she took a bong hit somewhere, at the wrong place or time. As a taxpayor, I am completely uninterested in paying for the indefinate room and board for that type of "criminal", too. In fact, the biggest impact prohibition laws have had on our entire population is the criminalizing of people who would not otherwise have had encounters with our judicial system. Think of all the money Topeka could save it it didn't focus on bong hits. Nationwide, if we just loosened our grip on prohibition laws concerning marijuana (don't get me wrong, folks, I am NOT condoning drunk driving, opium dens, dirty needles, or bathtub gin!) we could effect the pleasant result of forcing the drug cartels to look for income elsewhere and lots of drug dealers would have to find gainful employment. Did Chad Taylor give this any thought?


                                                                                                      

                                  A "misdemeanor" hit.   Notice, also, the victim's gender. Any possible relevance to the gender of most domestic violence victims  and Chad Taylor's decision to shirk his duties at this particular juncture will have to wait for another post, though. Hopefully, Chad Taylor will stop this nonsense and start doing his job again, before I have to create another post.      
                                                  

Here, we have a "hit" that is usaully a felony, after our judicial system has gotton through with it, using your tax dollars and mine.

It's Legal To Commit A Misdemeanor In Topeka

I have known for quite some time that Kansas has a serious problem with lunatics making serious decisions, but now, authorities in Topeka are no longer using due process for misdemeanors. Only felonies, which must, at the direction of federal authorities, be prosecuted. No kidding. Chad Taylor, District Attorney of Shawnee County announced, "Under current constraints, we do not have the necessary resources to prosecute misdemeanors that occur in Topeka and simultaneously fulfill our statutory obligations. This decision will have no effect on felony crimes or crimes occurring outside of Topeka. We will continue to vigorously prosecute all felonies that occur in Shawnee County as well as misdemeanors that occur beyond the boundaries of Topeka"........ksnt

So what does this mean? Lots of sex offenses are misdemeanors. Does this mean that offenders can do whatever they want to any victim they choose, and just stop short of committing a felony? What about domestic violence? Is wife beating okay, now? Drunk driving is usually a misdemeanor, so is vandelism. What about child abuse? Can I key my neighbor's car when he parks in my spot? Can shoplifters loot the stores, as long as they only take so much at one time? I think I see insurance rates for running a business rising already.............

This is really a stupid idea. I think it would have been smarter if Chad Taylor had informed Topeka that he was going to ignore violations of prohibition laws, instead. Then, only victimless crimes would be ignored, and Shawnee County's judicial sytem would find it's productivity at an alltime high.....no pun intended! Oh wait........that can't happen. Victimless violations of prohibition laws are usually felonies, these days, while sexual assualts of children and domestic violence, even with fatal results, are usually misdemeanors.