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December 15, 2009
November 6, 2009
Iowa mom guilty of murdering son, 2
Michelle Kehoe was convicted of first-degree murder and attempted murder.
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Grundy Center, Iowa (CNN) — An Iowa jury found Thursday that a mother with a history of depression knew right from wrong when she slashed her sons’ throats, killing one and leaving the other permanently scarred.
Michelle Kehoe of Coralville, Iowa, broke into tears as the jury of eight women and four men found her guilty of first-degree murder, attempted murder and child endangerment causing serious injury. The jury deliberated for just and hour and 40 minutes.
Kehoe faces a sentence of life in prison without parole.
Kehoe’s attorneys presented an insanity defense, arguing that she believed she was trying to save her sons from a life of suffering when she cut their throats and her own. Her first suicide attempt occurred in 1996, according to testimony.
Prosecutors countered that Kehoe methodically planned to kill her sons and herself, but botched it. The detailed planning showed she was not legally insane, Iowa Attorney General Andrew Prosser said.
The trial’s dramatic highlight came as prosecutors played an audiotape of the surviving son’s police statement. The boy, now 8, described how his mother slashed his throat, then moved on to his younger brother.
“She cut me,” the boy said in a high-pitched voice.
November 5, 2009
Officials: 11 killed, plus gunman, in Fort Hood shootings
(CNN) — Eleven people plus a gunman were dead and 31 wounded after the gunman opened fire Thursday on a soldier-processing center at Fort Hood, Texas, officials said.
The gunman was a soldier, and two other soldiers have been detained as suspects, Army Lt. Gen. Bob Cone said.
The slain gunman was identified as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, a law enforcement source told CNN. Licensed in Virginia, Hasan was a psychiatrist who previously worked at Walter Reed Army Medical Center but more recently was practicing at Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, according to professional records.
Ten of the other dead also were soldiers, while the remaining one was a civilian police officer who was working as a contractor on the base, Cone said.
Two of the injured were in “very serious” condition, Fort Hood spokesman Christopher Hogue said.
More than one shooter may have been involved, Cone said.
“All the casualties took place at the initial incident, that took place at 13:30 [1:30 p.m. CT], at the soldier readiness facility,” Cone said.
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The primary shooter had two weapons, both handguns, he said.
“The local police response forces were there relatively quickly and killed the confirmed shooter,” Cone said.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said she was told that the soldiers at the readiness facility “were filling out paper processing to go to Iraq or Afghanistan,” according to CNN affiliate KXAN in Austin, Texas.
A senior officer who was playing golf Thursday about 2.5 miles from the attack said he witnessed the arrest of one of the two surviving suspects.
Shortly after the shooting, military police told him to clear the course, and he saw other MPs surround the building that held the golf carts, he said. He ducked into a nearby house for cover as 30 to 40 cars carrying MPs approached, he said.
A congressional aide said he was on the post to attend a graduation service when he saw a soldier with blood on his uniform near the building where the service was being held, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
Greg Schannep, an aide to U.S. Rep. John Carter, said the soldier ran past him and said a man was shooting. He said the soldier appeared to be injured in a shoulder, the American-Statesman reported.
President Obama called the shootings “tragic” and “a horrific outburst of violence.” He expressed his condolences for the shooting victims.
“These are men and women who have made the selfless and courageous decision to risk, and at times give, their lives to protect the rest of us on a daily basis,” Obama said. “It’s difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas. It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil.”
Officials at Fort Hood, which is the Army’s largest U.S. post, were asking people there to stay away from windows, CNN affiliate KXXV said. The incident took place at the sports dome, now known as the soldier readiness area, the station reported.
The Army has asked the FBI to look into the background of the suspects, Cone said.
On the Fort Hood Web site, the word “closed” is posted with the statement, “Effective immediately, Fort Hood is closed. Organizations/units are instructed to execute a 100 percent accountability of all personnel.”
Fort Hood, with about 40,000 troops, is home to the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division and elements of the 4th Infantry Division, as well as the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 13th Corps Support Command. It is located near Killeen, Texas.
At least 25,000 people are at Fort Hood on any given day, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon said.
Fort Hood is home to the Warrior Combat Stress Reset Program, which is designed to help soldiers overcome combat stress issues.
In June, Fort Hood’s commander, Lt. Gen. Rick Lynch, told CNN that he was trying to ease the kind of stresses soldiers face. He has pushed for soldiers working a day schedule to return home for dinner by 6 p.m., and required his personal authorization for anyone working weekends. At the time, two soldiers stationed there had committed suicide in 2009 — a rate well below those of other posts.
Victims, relatives to witness sniper execution
By DENA POTTER
Associated Press Writer
RICHMOND, Va. – Some ache for revenge, others simply for justice. There is frustration, too, and defiance.
For those wounded by the D.C. snipers and for the relatives of those killed, the emotions leading up to the execution of the mastermind behind the 2002 attacks vary as widely as those who found themselves in the cross hairs.
John Allen Muhammad, 48, is set to die by injection in a Virginia prison Nov. 10, seven years after he and his teenage accomplice terrorized the area in and around the nation’s capital for three weeks.
Some family members can’t wait to see Muhammad take his final breath. Others plan to make the trip to Virginia but never step foot on prison grounds.
And there are those who plan to spend the night at home with their families, satisfied that Muhammad is paying for what he’s done but indifferent as to how it will happen.
21-year-old charged with murder in October slaying
By Carol Robinson — The Birmingham News
Cedric SumpterA 21-year-old Birmingham is charged with capital murder in the October slaying of a man found dead in a southwest Birmingham apartment.
Cedric Sumpter is being held without bond in the county jail, authorities said today.
Sumpter is charged in the death of Michael Turner, 26.
Turner was found about 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 20 at an apartment building on Tuscaloosa Avenue, near the intersection of 10th Street Southwest.
Birmingham homicide Sgt. Scott Thurmond said today Turner was fatally shot during a robbery.
