Hey! Where's Her Beer?

Lucia Whalen finally stepped forward yesterday to explain what prompted her to make the 911 call about a possible home break-in – and WHAT SHE ACTUALLY SAID to the emergency operator.   Whalen says she was pained to be wrongly labeled as a racist.  So how come SHE wasn’t invited to the healing-ceremony at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?

With a trembling voice, Lucia Whalen, 40, said she was out walking to lunch in Gates’ Cambridge neighborhood near Harvard University when an elderly woman without a cell phone stopped her because she was concerned there was a possible burglary in progress.

Whalen was vilified as a racist on blogs after a police report said she described the possible burglars as “two black males with backpacks.”   Tapes of the call released earlier this week revealed that Whalen did not mention race. When pressed by a dispatcher on whether the men were white, black or Hispanic, she said one of them might have been Hispanic.   “Now that the tapes are out, I hope people can see that I tried to be careful and honest with my words,” Whalen said. “It never occurred to me that the way I reported what I saw be analyzed by an entire nation.”   via 911 caller in Gates case hurt by racist label.

Wonder what Whalen’s situation will do to others who pick up the phone to call 911.  Maybe they won’t even bother to get involved now.

The Brain's Forensic Truths

Imagine the hushed, sterile atmosphere of an autopsy room. A body arrives and a team of forensic experts quietly gets to work to try to determine cause of death. Scientific evidence is gathered to determine whether a crime was committed to cause the death, whether it occurred from natural, unavoidable causes or if it was death by suicide.

In many cases, such as that of retired NFL quarterback Steve McNair, the cause of death is pretty obvious. McNair, was found sprawled on his condo’s couch, shot twice in the head and twice in the chest. Nearby was the dead body of his 20 year old mistress, a gun underneath her. It was quickly ruled a murder/suicide.

But other deaths are not so clear cut. Take the case of 50 year old infomercial scream-seller Billy Mays. After he was found dead in his bed by his wife we heard that he’d violently bumped his head in an airplane just hours earlier. It was thought the hit on the head had something to do with his sudden death. But forensic science proved it wasn’t so. Once the medical professionals opened Mays’ chest they immediately discovered a diseased heart was to

Dead of Heart Disease

blame, an affliction Mays apparently was unaware he had.

And then there are the full blown forensic death investigations like the one surrounding entertainer Michael Jackson, suspected of dying at home from an overdose of a hospital strength anesthesia called Diprivan and, perhaps, a cocktail of other drugs. Cases like Jackson’s demand a full toxicology and histology workup. In layman’s terms: a full examination of blood, tissue, hair and organ samples to determine if someone should be charged with a crime.

All this scientific sleuthing takes time to accomplish and in the meantime families of the dead anxiously await the final verdict.

Autopsy blood workups are routine. The sample is usually taken from deep inside the body’s heart chamber and tests determine what compounds are present in the bloodstream. Some drugs like cocaine break down in the body quickly and are hard to detect. But most drugs stop metabolizing when the person dies and so the traces found in the bloodstream are indicative of what was present at the time of death. The forensic investigators also examine urine, bile and tissue samples from the liver, heart, spleen and kidneys. The information gathered fits together like pieces in a cause-of-death puzzle.

Hair is especially revealing, holding on to what the body has ingested like rings on a tree. Since scalp hair usually grows about half an inch a month the longer the body’s hair the more information can be found. A six inch hair will reveal a full year’s worth of clues. Traces of each drug used will be stored in the hair shaft and the coroner’s office will be able to list every one, be they prescription or illegal drugs, and when they were used. In the case of a bald person shorter hair from armpits or the groin area can be used, they’ll just yield less historical information.

But there is nothing as telling as what the scientists can deduce from studying the brain. Unlike other organs from which samples can be taken immediately, the brain requires special handling. The entire brain mass must be submerged and hardened in formaldehyde for about three weeks before samples can be taken. Once gathered a neuro-forensic pathologist usually needs four to six weeks to unravel all the telltale evidence about what happened to the body during life.

If the decedent was beaten as a child contusions on the brain will be seen as dead tissue, called necrosis spots. If in life the person suffered a drug overdose (or multiple drug overdoses) the scientist will be able to see evidence of that and can determine when the overdose(s) occurred. If the decedent suffered strokes there will be visible scar tissue.

When a family receives a negative cause of death determination from the coroner they are often in denial. They don’t want to believe their family member could have committed suicide or died of a self-inflicted drug overdose.

Media leaks about the state of Jackson’s body at death have been excruciating. The almost six foot tall performer was reported to have weighed just 112 pounds. The skin on his arms, neck and legs were said to have been pockmarked with both old and new needle punctures. All indications are he died from a fatal overdose of several different drugs.

If that is the final judgment on what killed Michael Jackson something tells me the Jackson family will never accept it. It will be more comforting to believe some outside force killed their loved one. It’s much harder to accept the fact that someone you cherished slowly and deliberately shortened his own life.

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Remember the Alamo - He Deserves Life In Prison

He terrorized countless people including dozens and dozens of children born into his sick cult. Today he got the punishment he deserved and had long escaped.   Phony baloney evangelist Tony Alamo was found guilty on all 10 federal counts involving repeated sexual misconduct with underage girls.  Oh, let’s call a spade a spade – he raped his followers daughters and he had the male children brutally beaten for the smallest transgressions.

I’ve been writing about this guy for a long time.  Now, the 74 year old Alamo faces the rest of his life in prison.  And I say hooray!

The verdict was something of a shock to people waiting in the courtroom according to a local TV reporter.

He says some people gasped in reaction to the news, and that some of the victims in the case who were seated in the back of the courtroom began crying when the verdict was read.   Each count carries a 10 to 30 year jail term, which could add up to a 175-year sentence for Alamo.  Alamo will be sentenced within 6 to 8 weeks.   via Alamo Verdict: Guilty on All 10 Counts.

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Are they worse than other crimes?

Let’s talk about hate. Hate crimes to be specific.

By definition these are crimes perpetrated by someone who targets another based on their race, color, religion or national origin. Congress now seeks to expand the definition of hate crimes to those who attack based on a victim’s sexual orientation or mental or physical disability. The goal is to add extra punishment for those convicted under hate crimes statutes.  But are they fair?

Two of America’s most recent and widely publicized hate crimes took place within two weeks of each other. On May 31st, there was the murder in a Kansas church of a high profile abortion provider, Dr. George Tiller. On June 10th, security guard Stephen T. Johns lost his life after courageously confronting a madman with a gun who entered the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. and started shooting.

In both instances the defendants were described as lone-wolf types, obsessed with hatred of particular groups of people. In the church shooting it’s alleged that the pro-life suspect hated abortion providers so much he resorted to taking life himself. In the second case the 88 year old man behind the gun was said to have long harbored hate for Blacks, Jews and other minorities.

Both were odious crimes to be sure. But why label them hate crimes when we already have strict laws against murder? If convicted both these men (the grievously wounded Holocaust Museum suspect is still alive as I write this) will go to prison for the rest of their lives. What difference does it make if the title “Hate Crime” is attached to their deadly actions?

One of the most heinous racially motivated crimes in this country occurred in Jasper, Texas in 1998. Three white men chained James Byrd Jr., to their pickup truck and dragged him to his death simply because he was black. The trio was tried under a hate crime law. But it didn’t matter what statute was applied – the nation couldn’t have been more repulsed by their crime. Two of the defendants were sentenced to death, the third got life in prison.

The first hate crimes legislation in America was passed forty years ago. Yet according to the Southern Poverty Law Center hate groups continue to flourish. The SPLC displays a map of their locations on its web site. There are 84 in California, 66 in Texas, 56 in Florida, 45 in South Carolina, 40 organized hate groups in New Jersey and Georgia, nearly that many in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Alabama and Missouri. Does anyone truly believe the label “Hate Crime” and the additional jail time it tacks on to a sentence deters criminals?

Where are our priorities in this country? As Congress seems intent on expanding the definition of certain types of crime I’m left thinking it would be more productive to expend energy figuring out how to prevent crime or on how to treat and re-program the criminal offender.

We’ve already got plenty of laws on the books to use against those who vandalize property, set fires to homes and churches, intimidate, rob, physically attack, maim or kill people. I think the real answer is the follow through.

If someone attacks a gay person let’s prosecute them for assault and demand the judge give the harshest sentence possible. If someone beats a defenseless mentally retarded homeless person let’s convict the suspect of assault with intent to kill and insist the judge pass a sentence denying early release. If a white man attacks an African-American, Hispanic or Asian person because he doesn’t like the color of the person’s skin or the country they came from let’s send a clear message, via a stiff prison sentence, that we will not tolerate that behavior! That said, why should an attack on a homosexual or a minority be worth more punishment than a similar attack on a regular Joe?

Boy, I hope prosecutors and judges are reading this.

Hate crime legislation is based on a person’s motivation for committing a crime. Declaring there is hate in a person’s heart when they act in a criminal fashion seems to be a shaky proposition to me. We should stick to punishing people for what they do – not what we believe they were thinking at the time of the crime.

The FBI recently stepped up its efforts to ferret out festering extremists with a program called “Operation Vigilant Eagle.” It’s designed to closely monitor those who run hate filled internet sites or belong to white supremacy and militia groups. To me, attacking hate at its breeding ground like that makes much better sense than slapping obvious labels on crimes perpetrators commit.

Hate is the name of the game when it comes to crime. We don’t need a fancy label on it. We need to figure out how to make it socially unacceptable.
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Now, the London Daily Mirror reports the beleaguered Dr. Arnold Klein, already in the cross hairs of a joint DEA/LAPD investigation into whether he illegally wrote prescription drug orders for Jackson, plans to jump into the official custody battle for the kids.   According to this report Klein has told friends he wants to take a DNA test and prove once and for all he is the Baby Daddy.

No word on whether Dr. Klein would also want to take custody of 7 year old Blanket whose parentage is still a mystery.  In nearly every instance  judges like to keep siblings together.  My question is why Klein’s sudden interest in playing Daddy?  Does he think law enforcement might ease up on him if he’s suddenly responsible for children?

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Christmas Time With "Uncle Arnie", Who Now Says He's Daddy

Now the 64-year-old millionaire has told friends that he IS the biological father, he wants to bring them up and he is consulting lawyers about his options.

A custody application filed with Los Angeles Superior Court in which Klein formally acknowledges he is Prince Michael and Paris’s father would be one of the most sensational developments yet in the entire Michael Jackson saga.

Klein’s intervention threatens to throw into total chaos the custody deal that was pending between the children’s biological mother, Debbie Rowe, and Jackson’s mother Katherine.  A well-placed source, who is close friends with one of Klein’s inner circle, told the Sunday Mirror yesterday: “Arnie is planning to fight for custody of Prince Michael and Paris.  “He says he can prove he is their father with Debbie.”  via Michael Jackson’s doctor to stake custody claim on his kids saying: ‘I’m the daddy’ – mirror.co.uk.

Boy, this could really get ugly.  And the kids are the real victims