Saturday, June 07, 2003

USAT has a great article that answers the question...science or profiling. Hint: Bet on science.

Highlights:

DNA test showing ancestry may have helped La. search

Authorities hunting the Louisiana serial killer started focusing on black men after a DNA test indicated the killer's race, the company that did the test said. It was apparently the first such use of a test in a criminal investigation.

A crime-scene DNA sample was found to have come from "an African-American individual of average skin tone for the African-American group," Tony Frudakis, chief scientific officer of DNAPrint Genomics of Sarasota, Fla., said Wednesday.

Derrick Todd Lee, who was arrested May 27 in the serial killings of five Louisiana women, is black. Police say a sample of his DNA was taken as part of an investigation of some seemingly unrelated cases, and was then linked to the serial killings.

A spokeswoman for the task force that investigated the serial killings confirmed Wednesday that its investigators worked with DNAPrint Genomics but declined to comment further.

Authorities had initially indicated for about seven months that they were looking for a white man, based on a psychological profile and witness accounts. But in March, police said the killer could be of any race.

Frudakis said his company's test result led investigators to pay more attention to leads involving blacks than to other leads, and "that is why the case was solved two months after we ran the test for them" in March.

Frudakis said the test determines how much of a person's ancestry comes from each of four groups: sub-Saharan African, East Asian, Indo-European and Native American. It indicated that the ancestry of whoever left the DNA sample from the serial killer investigation was 85% sub-Saharan African and 15% Native American, he said. From that mix, the company was able to estimate the individual's skin tone, he said.





DEATH FROM AROUND THE GLOBE
Dateline: Saudi Arabia

Talkin' to the hangman...uh, head-chopper man

RIYADH (Reuters) - The leading executioner in Saudi Arabia, which implements strict Islamic sharia law, has no compunction about beheading convicts because it is "God's work."

"I sleep very well," Arab News daily quoted executioner Mohammed Saad al-Beshi as saying Thursday in a rare interview that offered an insight into a job that is much-criticized in the West and by human rights groups.

"It doesn't matter to me: two, four, 10. As long as I'm doing God's work, it doesn't matter how many people I execute."

Beshi's job is of prime importance in a kingdom that executes rapists, murderers, drug and alcohol smugglers, usually by beheading, and amputates the limbs of robbers.

So far this year, Saudi Arabia has executed at least seven people. At least 45 people were put to death in 2002, 75 people in 2001 and 121 people in 2000.

Arab News said the 42-year-old Saudi national started work in 1998 in the Red Sea city of Jeddah and would not reveal how much he gets paid or how many people he has executed so far.

Beshi is also proud of his sword, a gift from the government that he keeps razor sharp and cleans regularly from the blood stains. For amputations, he uses a special knife.

"People are amazed at how fast it can separate the head from the body," the father of seven boasted. "Sometimes they (his children) help me clean my sword."

Beshi is also entrusted with training executioners and has already started with his 22-year-old son. Asked if he thinks people are afraid of him, Beshi said: "No one is afraid of me. I have lots of relatives and many friends and I live a normal life. There are no drawbacks to my social life."

OKLAHOMA LAST MEAL
KENNETH CHARM
June 5, 2003


A forgiving father...

Last Meal: For his final meal, Charm requested fried chicken, french fries, hot peppers, corn on the cob, ketchup and hot sauce.

The skinny: Charm was executed for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl. The victim, a 14 year old Michigan girl, was murdered while visiting her father in Lawton. Prosecutors say Charm knew the victim`s father, and knew she was homesick for her mother in Michigan. So, he promised to buy her new clothes for her trip home. Instead, she was kidnapped by Charm and a 16-year old teen now serving life without parole. They drove her to a remote area where she was raped, strangled and beaten with a sledgehammer.

The defense: Charm`s defense tried to claim he`s mentally retarded. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected their appeal.

The Supreme Court ruled last year against executing the mentally retarded, and the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that people with an IQ of 70 or below shouldn't face the death penalty.

Charm had an IQ of 75, but his lawyers argued IQ tests have a margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points.

Last Words and such:In a final statement while awaiting the lethal injection, Charm made a brief apology. "I'd like to apologize to the victim's family. To my family, I ask your forgiveness."

The victim's father reacts: The victim's father watched a friend die when his daughter's killer was put to death. "It's kind of sad, There were two lives lost here. It's not like I didn't know him. It's still hard for me to dislike him, even though he took my little girl."

Factoids: Charm was the ninth person put to death this year in Oklahoma and the 63rd since the state resumed executions in 1990.

Monday, June 02, 2003

Here is the complete article in Spanish from yesterday's El Mundo I will post a version using a Spanish-English translator after that.

MENU / EN EL COMEDOR DEL «CORREDOR»

¿ULTIMA VOLUNTAD?: PIZZA DE PEPPERONI

EL MENU del condenado a muerte despierta morbo en EEUU, mayoritariamente a favor de la pena capital. Los reos sólo tienen dos limitaciones: el alcohol, el chicle y que no supere los 20 dólares

ISAAC HERNANDEZ. Los Angeles

El martes pasado, el Estado de Oklahoma ejecutó a Robert Knighton.Por la mañana fue llevado a la celda próxima al cuarto de ejecuciones.Hasta las 12:00 h. recibió visitas de familiares. Después comió una pizza de pepperoni grande, aritos de cebolla, batido de fresa y pastel de crema de plátano. El resto del día lo pasó en solitario, haciendo algunas llamadas telefónicas...

La hija adoptiva de sus víctimas, Sue Norton, había perdonado a Robert y pedido clemencia al gobernador. Pero la llamada suspendiendo la ejecución nunca llegó. A las seis de la tarde, Knighton recibió tres inyecciones en cada brazo: la primera (sodium thiopental) le hizo perder el conocimiento, la segunda (pancuronium bromide) le cortó la respiración y la tercera (potassium chloride) le detuvo el corazón. Sus últimas palabras fueron para dar las gracias a sus abogados y para pedir perdón por lo que había hecho.

A Sue Norton le dejó dicho: «Nos veremos algún día, que Dios te bendiga». Oklahoma es el segundo estado que más ejecuciones ha hecho este año, por detrás de Texas y seguido por Florida.Este último se gasta 24 millones de dólares de media por ejecución (la mayoría en gastos legales).

Sin embargo, la gente parece más interesada por el menú de entre 15 y 20 dólares que piden los reos antes de morir. El Departamento de Correcciones de Texas cuenta con una página web (tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/finalmeals.htm) donde se registran las últimas comidas de los 304 electrocutados (155 de ellos durante el mandato del gobernador George W. Bush) desde que se reestableció la pena de muerte en 1982. Cincuenta y cuatro de ellos prefirieron no pedir nada. Robert Madden quiso que le dieran su comida a un indigente. Barnes Odell Jr. pidió «justicia, igualdad y paz en el mundo».

Mientras tanto, John Baltazar, acusado de matar a una niña de cinco años, encargó cerezas con nata. Carlos Santana, acusado de matar a un guarda durante el robo de un camión blindado, prefirió «justicia y templanza con misericordia». Lástima que no estuviese en el menú. Jay Pinkerton encargó un sandwich de pescado, patatas fritas y leche.

California, el Estado con más reos en el corredor de la muerte (608 hombres y 14 mujeres), cuenta el historial de sus 11 ejecutados desde 1982, en su página web (cdc.state.ca.us/CommunicationsOffice/CapitalPunishment/inmates_ex), detallando su menú.

Por lo general, a la hora de morir, los condenados son más sensibles que quienes contestan a la misma pregunta sin tener ante sí una silla eléctrica.

Dicha pregunta se puede encontrar en múltiples páginas de Internet.La gran mayoría no tiene problema en dejar correr su imaginación y sus jugos gástricos «ya que no importan las calorías», sin percatarse del límite de costo que establece cada estado, de que la comida ha de ser cocinada en prisión y de que tampoco están permitidos el alcohol y el chicle. Algunos llegan a meterse con el apetito de los condenados, como quien llama cerdo a Little William, porque el 1 de junio de 1999 pidió 15 lonchas de queso, tres huevos fritos, tres tostadas con mantequilla, dos tomates, una cebolla en rodajas, patatas fritas con aderezo de ensalada, un kilo de lacón crujiente, un litro de leche con cacao y una pinta de fresas frescas.

La página deadmaneating.com, que se autoproclama contra la pena de muerte, va más lejos. Aparte de mostrar la gula de algunos de sus visitantes y la receta para hacer pollo al estilo del corredor de la muerte de Texas, publica cada una de las últimas cenas de los ejecutados desde 2002, anunciando en primera plana quién fue el último en ser servido y quién ha hecho la «próxima reserva».

El sitio, creado por Mike Randleman, actor de Los Angeles, tiene 3.000 entradas al día y 8.000 después de una ejecución. «Es bastante gracioso que, para la sección cuál sería tu última cena, la gente envíe listas enormes de comida; más de lo que pudieran comer en una semana», explica Randleman.

El mes que viene hay nueve ejecuciones planificadas en seis de los 38 estados donde todavía se aplica la pena capital. La ejecución de Roberto Argüelles en Utah será por fusilamiento. La costumbre es herencia de los mormones, quienes piensan que el castigado ha de sangrar para cumplir su condena.

Argüelles tenía la opción de ser ejecutado con inyección letal, pero ha elegido el fusilamiento; además, no quiere que lo encapuchen cuando los cinco tiradores (uno de ellos con balas de fogueo para que los que disparan se queden con la duda de si fueron ellos los auténticos verdugos) apunten a una diana colocada en su corazón desde detrás de una barrera. Cada uno recibirá 150 dólares por la labor.

Dado que en los últimos años se han anulado 110 ejecuciones, tras ser declarados inocentes, el apoyo a la pena capital se encuentra en horas bajas, aunque sigue siendo bastante alto.Según una encuesta reciente de ABC News y The Washington Post, el 64% de los americanos apoya la pena de muerte cuando no se ofrece otro castigo alternativo. Pero cuando se les ofrece la alternativa entre la cadena perpetua y la pena capital, el 49% elige esta última, mientras que el 45% se inclina por la cadena perpetua.

Quizás el seguimiento de los últimos menús de los ejecutados sea una manera de evitar tener que examinar la realidad de las ejecuciones. Tal vez sea la manera a través de la cual muchos intentan comprender lo que se cuece en la mente de un criminal.¿Por qué Timothy McVeigh pidió helado de vainilla para su última comida? Mr. Breakfast tiene otra teoría.

En un artículo publicado en mrbreakfast.com, se dice que Timothy McVeigh desayunó espaguetis fríos antes de hacer explotar el edificio federal de Oklahoma. «¿Y si esa fatídica mañana de 1995 McVeigh hubiera tomado un café caliente y unos gofres mientras leía el periódico?». También publica un estudio realizado entre 281 ejecutados desde 1986, según el cual sólo un 7,5% decidió desayunar por última vez, mientras que ninguna mujer ejecutada desde 1970 lo ha hecho.

LANGOSTA, PATATAS Y MALTEADA. James Collier. Ejecutado en Texas el 11 de diciembre de 2002. Treinta langostas «jumbo», patatas fritas, un filete t-bone, malteada de chocolate, helado de vainilla y tres latas de Big Red.

HELADO DE VAINILLA Y GALLETAS DE CHOCOLATE. Timothy McVeigh. Ejecutado en Indiana el 11 de junio de 2002. Dos tarrinas de helado de vainilla y chocolate con trocitos de galletas de chocolate y menta.

POLLO, PATATAS Y HELADO, Keith Clay. Ejecutado en Texas el 20 de marzo de 2003. Cuatro piezas de pollo frito, puré de patatas, dos tarrinas de helado de chocolate, una hamburguesa con queso y lacón.

FILETE, PATATAS Y ENSALADA. Graville Riddle.

Ejecutado en Texas el 30 de enero de 2003. Filete de ternera, patata asada, pastel de queso y cerezas, ensalada con aderezo de queso azul, Coca-Cola, café, fresas y naranjas.

HAMBURGUESA, ARITOS Y TARTA. Richard Williams. Ejecutado en Texas el 25 de febrero de 2003. Dos perritos calientes con chile, dos hamburguesas, aritos de cebolla, ensalada de pavo con patatas fritas y tarta de chocolate.



MENU / IN THE DINING ROOM OF THE «RUNNING» ¿FINALIZES WILL? : PIZZA OF PEPPERONI THE MENU of the condemned to awake death morbo in US, mainly in favor of the death sentence. The defendants only have two limitations: the alcohol, the chewing gum and that do not surpass the 20 dollars
ISAAC HERNANDEZ. Los Angeles

Tuesday past, the State of Oklahoma executed to Robert Knighton in the morning was carried to the next cell al fourth of executions to the 12:00 h. received visits of relatives. Later it ate a pizza of pepperoni large, aritos of onion, batter of strawberry and pastel of cream of plátano. The remainder of the day passed it alone, doing some telephone calls.. The adopted daughter of its victims, Sue Norton, had forgiven to Robert and asked clemency al governor. But the call suspending the execution never arrived. At six o'clock of the afternoon, Knighton received three injections in each arm: the first one (sodium thiopental) caused lost it the knowledge, the second (pancuronium bromide) cut it the respiration and the third (potassium chloride) the heart stopped it. Its last words went to give the thanks to its lawyers and to ask pardon for which had done.

To Sue Norton left him said: «we will see Us some day, that God you bendiga». Oklahoma is the second state that more executions he has done this year, behind Texas and followed by Florida This last is spent 24 million dollars of average by execution (the majority in legal expenses).

Nevertheless, the people seems more interested by the menu of between 15 and 20 dollars that ask the defendants before dying. The Department of Corrections of Texas counts on a page web (tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/finalmeals.htm) where the last foods of the 304 are registered electrocuted (155 of them during the mandate of the governor George W. Bush) since themselves reestableció the death penalty in 1982. Fifty-four of them they preferred to do not ask anything. Robert Madden wanted that they gave their food to an indigent one. Barnes Odell Jr. asked «justice, equality and peace in the world».

California, the State with more defendants in the runner of the death (608 men and 14 women), account the record of its 11 executed since 1982, in its page web (cdc.state.ca.us/CommunicationsOffice/CapitalPunishment/inmates_ex), detailing its menu.

Generally, at the moment of to die, them condemned are more sensitive than who answer to the same question without having before itself an electric chair.

Said question can be found in multiple pages from Internet The great majority does not have problem in leaving to run its imagination and its gastric juices «since it do not matter the calories», without being noticed of the limit of cost that establishes each state, that the food should be cooked in prison and that do neither be permitted the alcohol and the chewing gum. Some they come they to become with the appetite of him condemned, as who calls hog to Little William, because June 1, 1999 asked 15 slices of cheese, three fried eggs, three tostadas with butter, two tomates, an onion in rodajas, french fries with I adorn of salad, a kilogram of ham crujiente, a liter of milk with cocoa and a paints of fresh strawberries.


The page deadmaneating com, that himself autoproclama against the death penalty, goes further. Aside from showing the greed of some of his visitors and the prescription to do chicken al style of the runner of the death of Texas, publishes each one of the last suppers of him executed since 2002, announcing in the first plan who was the last one in to be served and who has done the «next reserve».

The place, created by Mike Randleman, actor of Los Angeles, has 3.000 entrances al day and 8.000 after an execution. «It is quite funny that, for the section which would be your last supper, the people send enormous lists of food; more than what could eat in a week», explains Randleman.

Next month there are nine executions planned in six of the 38 states where still applies the death sentence. The execution of Roberto Argüelles in Utah will be for fusilamiento. The custom is inheritance of the mormones, who think that the punished should bleed to serve the sentence.

Argüelles had the option of to be executed with deadly injection, but has elected the fusilamiento; besides, does not want that they hood it when the five marksmen (one of them with bullets of fogueo so that the ones that shoot remain with the doubt of if were they the authentic executioners) aim at a diana placed in their heart since behind a barrier. Each one it will receive 150 dollars by the work.

It given that in recent years 110 executions have been annulled, after to be declared innocent, the support to the death sentence is found in low hours, although continues being quite high according to a recent survey of ABC News and The Washington Post, the 64% of the Americans supports the death penalty when himself is not offered another alternative punishment. But when it is offered them the alternative among the life in prison and the death sentence, the 49% chooses this last one, while the 45% inclines for the life in prison.

Perhaps the monitoring of the last menus of them executed be a way to avoid to have to examine the reality of the executions. Such time be the way through which many try to understand what is cooked in the mind of a criminal ¿POR what Timothy McVeigh asked ice cream of vainilla for its last food? Mr. Breakfast has another theory.

In an article published in mrbreakfast com, is said that Timothy McVeigh had breakfast espaguetis cold before causing to exploit the federal building of Oklahoma. «¿And if that fateful one tomorrow of 1995 McVeigh to have taken a hot coffee and some waffles while read the newspaper? ». Also it publishes a study carried out among 281 executed since 1986, according to which only a 7,5% decided to have breakfast for last time, while any woman executed since 1970 has done her.

LOBSTER, POTATOS AND MILKSHAKE. James Collier. It executed in Texas December 11, 2002. Thirty lobsters «jumbo jet», french fries, a fillet t bone, milkshake of chocolate, ice cream of vainilla and three tin platings of Big Network.

ICE CREAM OF VAINILLA AND CRACKERS OF CHOCOLATE. Timothy McVeigh. It executed in Indiana June 11, 2002. Two tarrinas of ice cream of vainilla and chocolate with trocitos of crackers of chocolate and lie.

CHICKEN, POTATOS AND ICE CREAM, Keith Clay. It executed in Texas March 20, 2003. Four fried pieces of chicken, puré of potatos, two tarrinas of ice cream of chocolate, a hamburger with cheese and ham.

FILLET, POTATOS AND SALAD. Texture Riddle.

It executed in Texas January 30, 2003. Fillet of veal, pastel, roasted potato of cheese and cherries, salad with I adorn of blue cheese, Cook Queue, coffee, strawberries and orange.

HAMBURGER, ARITOS AND TARTA. Richard Williams. It executed in Texas February 25, 2003. Two hot doggies with Chile, two hamburgers, aritos of onion, salad of pavo with french fries and tarta of chocolate.


There you go...DME.com would have been better off taking Spanish instead of German in high school. Wo ist Peter? Im boat!

Sunday, June 01, 2003

FBI PROFILERS strike out again...

In January, the FBI released a profile of the man they were looking for in the string of Louisiana murders. They were looking for a white man, but the guy they arrested this week, Derrick Todd Lee was black. In January, the Associated Press said, “Police have linked all four victims to one murderer with DNA evidence left at the crime scenes. An FBI profiling team has said the killer likely was a white male between the ages of 25 and 35 who acted awkward with women and likely held a blue collar job.”

Lee was described by those who knew him as a woman charmer.

The NewOrleansChannel.com (which has a good collection of stories on this case) says it is similar to the D.C. area sniper case. Investigators, you will remember, initially talked about a white suspect and a white van. They arrested two African-American men, John Lee Malvo and John Muhammed who allegedly did their shooting from a car.

My favorite line..
....UNO criminologist Peter Scharf said witness descriptions can vary widely.

"But there's a Casablanca line," Scharf said. "Round up the usual suspects. Let's find a pimply white guy."


This appeared a the very fine Al's Morning Meeting on Poynter Online.




Our apologies, gentle readers. The move to Hell's Kitchen (cue evil laughter) has taken a bit longer than expected. Did you know there are a lot of things to do in New York? We were surpised to.

On a better note, DME.com was interviewed for an article on last meals by Isaac Hernandez of El Mundo, the second largest paper in Spain. The article appears today, but we can't read Spanish. So, if we made the cut or not, we can't tell. We couldn't even register. For those of you who can read the article, go to...

Check www.el-mundo.es,
then go to Edicion Impresa
and click on the left column of menus on the one call CRONICA.

Viva El Mundo!