Shouldn’t This Murderer Have A Jury Trial?

Plea Agreement For NY Mother Who Drowned Her Kids

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — A mother who drowned her three young children in a bathtub at their Long Island home has apparently reached a plea agreement that would send her to a psychiatric facility rather than prison.

Prosecutors and a defense attorney declined to confirm whether an agreement had been reached in the case of Leatrice Brewer, 28, but the father of two of the victims issued a statement Friday saying he had been informed of the deal.

“I am shocked that the district attorney would allow Ms. Brewer to plead insanity and be found not guilty without a trial,” Innocent Demesyeux said. “The question of whether she is guilty or not guilty by reason of insanity should be decided by regular people on a jury and not by lawyers and politicians.”

Let a jury judge her.

Brewer was due in court Monday to face murder charges in the deaths of 5-year-old Michael and his 18-month-old brother, also named Innocent Demesyeux. She is also charged with killing her 6-year-old daughter, Jewell Ward.

She is suspected of drowning her three children in a bathtub inside their apartment in New Cassel, N.Y., on Feb. 24. She told authorities she slashed the little girl’s throat before drowning her.

Eric Phillips, a spokesman for Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, declined comment on a plea. He said any decision would be based on “independent psychiatric and medical evaluations of the defendant.”  (Read more.)

B.S. Report–So everybody agrees that she’s not criminally responsible.  Well, if it’s so cut and dried, than let a jury decide.  She murdered her 3 kids–a jury should hear the details of the case.  She may be nutty as a jay-bird, so be it.  But maybe we should send a message that, nutty or not, you’re going to jail if you kill your kids.  Maybe, if the punishment is harsh and severe, some of these people won’t be quite “nutty” enough to kill their kids in the future.

56-year-old becomes 1st woman to swim Atlantic

She must be part fish.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Jennifer Figge pressed her toes into the Caribbean sand, exhilarated and exhausted as she touched land this week for the first time in almost a month.

Reaching a beach in Trinidad, she became the first woman on record to swim across the Atlantic Ocean _ a dream she’d had since the early 1960s, when a stormy trans-Atlantic flight got her thinking she could don a life vest and swim the rest of the way if needed.

The 56-year-old left the Cape Verde Islands off Africa’s western coast on Jan. 12, swimming about 2,100 miles (3,380 kilometers) through strong winds and waves of up to 30 feet (9 meters).

She now plans to swim from Trinidad to the British Virgin Islands, ending her odyssey at the Bitter End Yacht Club in late February.

“I was never scared,” Figge said. “Looking back, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I can always swim in a pool.”

Her journey comes a decade after French swimmer Benoit Lecomte made the first known solo trans-Atlantic swim, covering nearly 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) from Massachusetts to France in 73 days. No woman on record has made the crossing.  (Read more.)

In my opinion, a much better way to cross the Atlantic--but, to each his own.

Drug-dealing milkman spared jail

A 72-year-old milkman has been given a suspended jail sentence for supplying cannabis to pensioners alongside their daily pint.

"I didn't even make a profit."

London-Reuters–Robert Holding admitted selling the drug to “elderly people who had aches and pains”.

Burnley Crown Court heard Holding had 17 regular customers and built up his trade through “word of mouth”.

He was said to have delivered the drug with milk to pensioners who had left a note out with their order.

Police said the grandfather was arrested at his home in Burnley last July following an investigation over a number of weeks.

Officers had discovered a stash of cannabis resin in an egg box in his milk van.

B.S. Report–We had a milkman when we were kids-he looked something like this:

Hi guys, just milk today-no, ahem, "extras."

No, our milkman was straight and true.  On the other hand, this guy in our neighborhood was not:

Our ice cream man sold just about everything--sometimes even ice cream.

It’s been quite a while and he’s a long time dead, but if he weren’t he’d probably still be in jail.

Sad Case: Man cleared of rape by DNA, already died in prison in 1999

Timothy Cole: Proof that sometimes justice isn't served...

Dead Texas Man Cleared Of Rape Conviction

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A man who died in prison while serving time for a rape he didn’t commit was cleared Friday by a judge who called the state’s first posthumous DNA exoneration “the saddest case” he’d ever seen.

State District Judge Charles Baird ordered Timothy Cole’s record expunged.

Cole was convicted of raping a Texas Tech University student in Lubbock in 1985 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He died in 1999 at age 39 from asthma complications.

DNA tests in 2008 connected the crime to Jerry Wayne Johnson, who is serving life in prison for separate rapes. Johnson testified in court Friday that he was the rapist in Cole’s case and asked the victim and Cole’s family to forgive him.

“I’m responsible for all this. I’m truly sorry for my pathetic behavior and selfishness. I hope and pray you will forgive me,” Johnson said.

The Innocence Project of Texas said Cole’s case was the first posthumous DNA exoneration in state history.

“I have his name,” Cole’s mother, Ruby Cole Session, said after the hearing. “That’s what I wanted.”

Cole and his relatives for years claimed he was innocent, but no one believed them until evidence from the original rape kit was tested for DNA. Cole had refused to plead guilty before trial in exchange for probation, and while in prison, he refused to admit to the crime when it could have earned him release on parole.  (Read more.)

B.S. Report–What must that poor guy have been thinking as he sat in jail for years until he finally died?  Man, life can really be cruel.  This guy got dealt a bad hand and bad health.  He dies in jail from asthma at age 39.  If he lived just until age 48 he’d be out now.

Dog Found After Being Missing For 6 months

No one knows where "Buck" was for over 5 months. Maybe he just needed some space.

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A golden retriever named Buck that darted from his owners last summer after being spooked by a train whistle and went missing for six months is back home in Washington state, thanks to several residents of rural north-central Montana.

The 7-year-old dog survived despite apparently spending most of the winter exposed to heavy snow and temperatures well below zero before he was found taking refuge under a collapsed building.

“I’ve never had a miracle happen to me, so I don’t really know what to think,” said Kim Halter of Bonney Lake, Wash.  (B.S.-Hey Lady, maybe the miracle happened to “Buck,” it’s not necessarily all about you!)

Halter said she, her husband and two of their sons were on a family trip to Montana in August when they stopped at a rest stop along U.S. Highway 2 in the small town of Chester.

“The dog was normally never on a leash. Big mistake,” Halter said Thursday. “But he was always next to my son. He never left his side, so we never really had a problem.

“We were under the trestle when the horn blew. When Buck heard the whistle, he took off like a shot. None of us even saw him.” (Read more.)

B.S. Report–Nice, but in the movie “Lassie Come Home,” Lassie found her way home (hundreds of miles) all on her own.  But this family had to drive 750 miles to pick up “Buck.”  That’s Hollywood make-believe for you.

This Is Dumb…A 2-Mile Run Where You Gain Weight!

Yummy! I think I'm ready to run 2-miles now.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — It’s a challenge, all right.

In a charity race Saturday, more than 5,000 runners ran two miles to a downtown Raleigh Krispy Kreme shop, ate a dozen glazed doughnuts each and returned to North Carolina State University in less than an hour.

That’s 2,400 calories and 144 grams of fat consumed while burning about 400 calories during the run.

The student-run Krispy Kreme Challenge raised about $35,000 for the North Carolina Children’s Hospital.

The event began on a dare among college friends in 2004. Then-freshman Ben Gaddy won the first race by beating nine guys in about a half-hour.

His reward? A terrible stomach ache.

B.S. Report–I know it’s for charity but it’s still dumb.  Krispy Kreme is the sponsor so the runners obviously aren’t going to run in there and grab a salad, but 12 glazed doughnuts?  This event will last until one of the runners has a heart-attack and drops dead–and then Krispy Kreme will change the rules.

My charity event.

By the way, I’m in the process of organizing my Pizza Hut Run for charity where runners each eat 3-Large Pizzas and an order of hot wings and run 2-miles back to a sports bar where the fun really begins.  Any takers?  Come on, it’s for charity!

A-Rod is “A-Fraud,” Tested Positive For Steroids Back in 2003

A-Rod drinking his, uh, "juice."

New York–Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in his MVP season of 2003 with Texas, according to a report by Sports Illustrated.

The New York Yankees star failed a drug test for two anabolic steroids, four sources told the magazine in a story posted Saturday on its web site.

His name appears on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in a 2003 baseball survey, SI said.  He reportedly tested positive for Primobolan and testosterone while playing for the Rangers.

Rodriguez declined to discuss the tests when approached by SI on Thursday at a gym in Miami, where he lives in the offseason.

“You’ll have to talk to the union,” he told a reporter.  Calls from SI to union head Donald Fehr were not returned.

Major League Baseball said it was “disturbed” by the report, but did not elaborate because of player confidentiality.

“Because the survey testing that took place in 2003 was intended to be non-disciplinary and anonymous, we cannot make any comment on the accuracy of this report as it pertains to the player named,” MLB executive vice president Rob Manfred said.  (Read more.)

B.S. Report–Just add him to the list…lets see:  Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, Palmeiro…Wait, it might be easier to get a list of the players who didn’t use steroids.  The problem with A-Rod is that he so adamantly denied ever having used steroids–he even bragged that his accomplishments were attributable to his legendarily tough off-season workouts.  Well, apparently that was only a part of the reason (if, in fact, the report of the failed drug test is true).  But lets also be clear, steroids cannot make you a great ballplayer–but they can make you a better ballplayer.

Freedom Video: Milton Friedman defends Capitalism

As we watch our government further shred the Constitution and grab more power for themselves, I thought it would be nice to watch the great economist and thinker Milton Friedman defend individual rights, economic liberty and free exchange.  This video is called “Greed.”  Mark Levin reminded me about this video by posting it on his site.  It’s just a couple of minutes and very worthwhile to watch him rebut the arrogant Phil Donahue, as Donahue tries to make his usual case against Capitalism or for Socialism.

President Obama Is Out Of His League…

Smooth talker, yes, but the rest is just old-style political pandering.

B.S. Report–Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer neatly exposes the hypocrisy of Obama’s (Pelosi’s) “stimulus” bill.  He also exposes a president that, far from bringing in some grandiose new style of “get-things-done” leadership, is just a smooth talker who’s using “perhaps the greatest frenzy of old-politics influence peddling ever seen in Washington.”

Read Krauthammer’s column here.

See, Even A Great Performer Like Jessica Simpson Can Have An Off Night…

Jessica Simpson Forgets Lyrics, Fights Back Tears At Show

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) – A bizarre 38-minute set by opening act Jessica Simpson inadvertently stole the spotlight from headliner Rascal Flatts in a show at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich.

The Grand Rapids Press says Simpson forgot her lyrics, struggled with her ear monitors, mumbled through songs and fought back tears during Thursday night’s performance.

It must be the weight gain...it can make a girl highly emotional.

At one point, she asked her backing band to start over on one song, and she forgot the words to another.

Cindi Berger, a representative for Simpson, says the 28-year-old singer-actress had an “off night.”

Simpson apologized to the supportive audience of about 9,000 by mouthing the word “sorry” on two large video screens.

I was so hot.

B.S. Report–Hey, cut the girl some slack…so she had a little meltdown.  It made for a better show.  Seriously, you don’t go to a Jessica Simpson show because of her amazing talent-do you?  She’s having a rough time right now with every magazine calling her fat (even the president alluded to it),  and her boyfriend, Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo possibly cheating on her.  Then, she remembers what she used to look like…oh, about 1,200 twinkies ago.  But that was back in the days when she probably ate only once a month.  It’s all very sad–but, devastated as I am about her ordeal…I have to try to carry on somehow…