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Fire Fiend Stole Keys, Harrassed Victim For Months

Al Sharpton — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:46:41 +0000

Jerome “Jerry” Isaac, the Brooklyn man accused of setting a 73-year-old grandmother on fire in her building’s elevator, harassed his victim for months, family members say.

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According to reports, Issac stole keys to Delores Gillespie’s apartment and repeatedly jammed the locks every time she changed them.

Issac claims she owed him more than $2,100 for odd jobs he did in her apartment, but according to members of the victims family, Issac apparently snapped when she refused to pay him anything after she caught him stealing her belongings.

Maurice Gillespie, 37, Norris’ dad, said his mother “put tape on her door” to check if anyone had opened it while she was out, and “changed the locks every two weeks.”

Detroit Robbery Victim Gives Life To Save His Wife

Al Sharpton — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:37:41 +0000

A Detroit man is being hailed as a hero after he gave his own life in a robbery so that his wife could be spared.

Tommie Caldwell, 63, was fatally shot when robbers entered the northwest Detroit home he shared with his wife.

Caldwell was forced back into his home by a gunman Wednesday morning as he exited to head to work.

According to reports, Caldwell struggled with the man and begged him not to hurt his wife before he was fatally wounded. His 64-year-old wife, Alberta Caldwell, was spared.

“He begged them not to hurt her because she’s in remission,” Alberta Caldwell’s sister Ethel Jackson said, explaining that Alberta has been battling breast cancer. “He told her that they were being robbed.”

Sad! Man Killed Shortly After Being Freed For Murder He Didn’t Commit

Al Sharpton — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 16:12:20 +0000

A 23-year-old Bronx, N.Y. man who was acquitted of murder in March after spending 4 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit was fatally shot last Monday near his home, police say.

David Clarke, the ex-murder suspect released from Rikers Island in March after a jury overturned his 2007 murder conviction, was shot and killed in what his family described as a penny-ante neighborhood beef unrelated to his conviction.

“Four years in Rikers, to come here and die in eight months? Why would God do that? It’s not even fair,” cried his mother, Anne Smith. “He was 23 years old. How do you die at 23?”

New Jersey Man Acquitted Of Murdering 5 Teenagers In ’78

Al Sharpton — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 17:13:08 +0000

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey man on Wednesday was acquitted of locking five teenagers in an abandoned home in 1978 and burning them to death in retaliation for stealing marijuana, ending a case that went cold until 2008 because no bodies were ever found.

A jury in Newark found Lee Evans not guilty of 10 murder-related counts in the deaths of the teens.

Evans represented himself and denied killing the boys.

Prosecutors sought to prove that Evans planned to kill the teenagers as payback for breaking into his apartment and stealing a pound of marijuana a week before they vanished. Evans, who ran a handyman business, often hired the teens for odd jobs and paid them in marijuana, prosecutors said.

The case largely hinged on the prosecution’s star witness, Evans’ cousin Philander Hampton, who agreed to testify after pleading guilty in exchange for a 10-year prison sentence and $15,000 in relocation money. It was Hampton’s comments to authorities in 2008 that helped revive the long-dormant case.

Hampton testified that Evans was angry about the marijuana theft and was bent on retaliation. Hampton said he helped Evans lure the teens to a vacant Newark house after asking them to help move some boxes but then herded them into a closet and secured the door with a 6-inch nail. He said Evans poured gasoline around the perimeter, demanded that Hampton give him a match and set the house ablaze.

The bodies of 17-year-olds Melvin Pittman and Ernest Taylor and 16-year-olds Alvin Turner, Randy Johnson and Michael McDowell were never found. The boys were reported missing after the fire, and authorities at the time never connected the two events or examined the fire site as a crime scene.

The case, originally classified as a missing-persons case, went cold for decades until a pair of Newark detectives on the cusp of retirement decided to rework it as an unsolved homicide.

Several family members of the missing teenagers, many of whom attended every day of Evans’ trial, said they had long believed Evans had killed their loved ones.

Evans and the attorney assisting him, Bukie Adetula, said the scenario to which Hampton testified would have been impossible and pointed out Hampton’s criminal record and inconsistencies in his testimony.

Evans said he had lived and worked openly in the same community near Newark in the bordering city of Irvington, where many of the victims’ families lived, and emphasized that fact as proof that he had nothing to hide.

Cops Say Omarosa’s Brother Was Murdered By Girlfriend’s Ex

Al Sharpton — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:32:08 +0000

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio-Jack Manigault, the brother of former “Apprentice” and TV-One’s “Ultimate Merger” star, Omarosa Manigault was murdered in Youngstown Ohio.

Police claim that Manigault was killed by his girlfriend’s ex lover, 22-year-old Marco Cardenas who had broken into their home.

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Reuters reports:

Cardenas went past two juveniles who were in the home and entered the bedroom, where several shots were fired, police said. Manigault ran from the room and collapsed from a gunshot wound to his head, they said.

Vindy.com, a Youngstown news site, said Manigault’s 34-year-old girlfriend had told police that Cardenas hit her on the head with the gun and tried to shoot Manigault again before the two juveniles forced him out of the house.

What?! Man Arrested For Killing His Elderly Mother With His Car

Al Sharpton — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:02:52 +0000

AUSTIN — An Austin, Texas man is in police custody after he was arrested for running over and killing his mother with his car.

EMS responders were transporting 72-year-old Virginia Samuelson from her car to an ambulance to treat injuries she suffered from a fight with her son Shaun Samuelson, 45, when he intentionally ran her over with his truck.

They tried pulling the stretcher Samuelson was on, but were not able to in time. The car hit her before hitting a police car. Virginia Samuelson was pronounced dead at the scene.

Amanda Knox Found Not Guilty Of Murder

RobinRazzi — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 20:15:47 +0000

An Italian jury has overturned the murder conviction of Amanda Knox, an American who had been found guilty of killing her roommate in Perugia in 2007. For more on this story, click here. Please stay here for more on this developing story.

Bye! Ex-Harvard Student Sentenced To 3 Years In Murder Case

Al Sharpton — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 12:40:04 +0000

WOBURN, Mass. — A former Harvard University student was sentenced Friday to three years in prison after pleading guilty in connection with the 2009 fatal shooting of a Cambridge man during a drug robbery inside a dormitory.

By pleading guilty Friday, Brittany Smith, 24, admitted she hid the gun used in the shooting of Justin Cosby and helped three men involved in the killing elude authorities and flee to New York City.

Smart Black Girls, Dumb Thugs, Drugs, Guns And Murder

Jabrai Copney Sentenced To Life For Harvard Murder

Prosecutors said Cosby, 21, was shot during an attempted robbery by Smith’s former boyfriend, Jabrai Jordan Copney, and two other New York City men.

Under a plea agreement, Smith pleaded guilty to several charges including accessory after the fact to assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

As part of the deal, prosecutors agreed to drop a charge of accessory after the fact to murder.

Copney was convicted of first-degree murder in Cosby’s death and is serving a life sentence.

Prosecutors said Copney pretended to be a Harvard student who wanted to buy marijuana from Cosby.

They said Copney, along with friends Blayn Jiggetts and Jason Aquino, lured Cosby to the basement of the dorm, where Copney shot him when he refused to hand over the marijuana. None of the men attended Harvard.

Assistant District Attorney Daniel Bennett said that after the shooting, when the men returned to Smith’s dorm room, she hid the 9mm semiautomatic handgun used in the shooting, then hailed the men a cab to the bus station. Bennett said Smith bought bus tickets for all three men and herself, then took a bus to New York City with them.

Bennett said Smith lied to police and later a grand jury to protect her boyfriend, Copney.

“All she had to do was tell the truth. All she had to do was accept responsibility,” Bennett said.

“She hasn’t accepted responsibility at all at any time in this case.”

Justin Cosby’s mother, Denise Cosby, called Smith “the nucleus of this whole catastrophe” and asked Judge Kathe Tuttman to give her a stiff sentence.

“In my opinion, you are just as responsible for my son’s death as the shooter. The only thing you didn’t do was pull the trigger,” she said during a victim impact statement she made before sentencing.

Smith did not offer a statement or show any visible emotion during the sentencing hearing. Before the hearing, she kissed and said “I love you” to her family, seated in the front row of the courtroom.

Smith’s lawyer, John Osler, said Smith didn’t help plan the robbery and didn’t participate in Cosby’s murder.

“There is no act alleged in any one of these indictments against Miss Smith that bears any causal relationship to the death of Justin Cosby,” Osler said.

“This is a young woman who made some big mistakes beginning the moment her boyfriend walked back into that room with a gun in his hand,” he said.

Smith, who was also from New York City, was 22 and weeks away from graduating from Harvard when Cosby was killed. After the shooting, Smith was suspended and not allowed to graduate.

Prosecutors asked for a sentence of five to seven years while the defense asked for 18 months.

Tuttman sentenced Smith to three years to three years and a day, a sentence that effectively means she won’t be eligible for parole.

The Grandson Of The Late Bea Gaddy Has Been Murdered

Larry Young — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 13:24:30 +0000

Via: abc2news.com

31-year-old Antonio Laws is the latest case for Baltimore city homicide detectives.

Police say Antonio Laws was killed just a block away from the Bea Gaddy Family Center on Sunday afternoon. Investigators tell family he was shot five times while in his bed and pronounced dead on scene.
Investigators are actively searching for a suspect as well as a motive. An online check of court records shows Laws was released just weeks ago from jail after being charged with second degree assault and attempted rape. His family says he was getting his life together and he always made an effort to live out his grandmother’s mission to help those in need.
“He was a volunteer here endlessly. This past Thanksgiving, we couldn’t document the work he did. He worked from sun up to sun down and then beyond. He was putting in 12-18 hour days right here helping us,” said Brooks.
“We know the folks in the street have the information. They know what happened. And I’m asking – we help you, now we need you to help us,” said Brooks.
Antonio Laws was expecting a child in a few months. The family plans to bury him next to his grandmother, Bea Gaddy.

Man Admits To Killing Wife After Blaming Black Men For Hate Crime

Larry Young — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 13:06:48 +0000

BOONTON, N.J-Kashif Parvaiz admitted to orchestrating the killing of his wife, Nazish Noorani, with his mistress, Antoinette Stephen.

Noorani and Parvaiz were both shot in the Boonton, New Jersey but police began to suspect he was involved after they discovered flaws in his story. Parvais’s original story had police suspicious of a hate crime after he claimed three Black men shot him and his wife while yelling “terrorists.”

The Bend Bulletin reports:

Parvaiz, according to prosecutors, initially described a trio of attackers: one white, one black and one whose race he said he could not determine. He later changed his story, describing all three as black, before finally admitting to setting up the shooting, according to his arrest affidavit.