Who we really are
Roger Brown
09/26/01
MALCOMB DANIELS
News staff writer
A 19-year-old Alabaster man was charged with murder Tuesday following
a
fatal shooting in a neighborhood where residents and officials
recently
applauded a long reprieve from homicides.
Obie Hundley Jr. is charged in connection with the killing of
21-year-old
Tiyawn Catrell Wright of Alabaster on Fifth Avenue Southeast following
a
brief argument at 4:25 p.m. Monday, Alabaster Police Sgt. Eddie
Lovelady
said.
Hundley was being held Tuesday in the Shelby County Jail on a $250,000
bond.
Lovelady said witnesses told police that Wright was driving down Fifth
Avenue when Hundley stopped him. The witnesses said Wright got out of
the
car, the two exchanged words and Hundley shot Wright several times,
Lovelady
said.
Wright's shooting was the second in three days on Fifth Avenue
Southeast in
Alabaster's Simmsville community.
Josh Hadley, a 19-year-old cable company salesman, was shot during a
robbery
at 12:20 p.m. Saturday.
Demetrius Carl Hale, 23, and Willie George Hicks Jr., 21, have been
charged
with robbery and assault in connection with that incident, Lovelady
said.
Hadley was working in the area when three men came up to him and asked
if he
was the cable man. They asked Hadley to go behind a trailer to look at
some
cable wire, Lovelady said.
Behind the trailer, the men kicked Hadley, hit him, threw him to the
ground,
took his wallet and shot him in the buttocks, Lovelady said. He was
listed
in stable condition Tuesday at Shelby Baptist Medical Center.
City officials and police noted with pride earlier this month that the
Simmsville community had not had a homicide since the mid-1990s.
Shootings
also had become rare, Lovelady said.
City Councilman Bobby Harris, who represents the area, said he's
disappointed. "It's a tremendous step back in light of the fact we had
made
such great progress," he said.
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard
.xsl?/base/news/10014957103236525.xml
*pic of nigs at link*
Jury finds two men guilty after Loomis driver's eventual death
By Lawrence Buser
bu...@gomemphis.com
A Criminal Court jury convicted two men of felony murder Tuesday in an
unusual case in which the victim, an armored truck courier, died more
than
two years after he was shot in a 1997 holdup.
The sequestered jury returned its verdicts after about four hours of
deliberations that began Monday afternoon. They now will decide in a
sentencing trial whether defendants Andrew Thomas and Anthony Bond
should
receive the death penalty, life in prison without parole or life in
prison
with the possibility of parole after 51 years.
Thomas, 28, has eight prior aggravated robbery convictions and one
robbery
conviction. Bond, 23, has five prior aggravated robbery convictions.
Victim James Day Jr.,who worked for Loomis Fargo|&|Co., was shot in
the back
of the head on April 21, 1997, while picking up money at Walgreens at
4522
Summer. Day, 41, was paralyzed and died 29 months later of
complications
stemming from the shooting, state prosecutors Amy Weirich and Jennifer
Nichols said.
"He was supposed to die on the concrete of Walgreens, he had two good
reasons to live," said Weirich, referring to Day's wife and teenaged
son.
"It was a battle James Day fought every day. Everything that happened
to him
was the direct result of a bullet to the back of the head so Andrew
Thomas
could get a pink car and Anthony Bond could get four gold teeth."
In the seven-day trial, jurors heard from Day himself as his
transcribed
testimony from a federal court proceeding was read by a federal
prosecutor
who handled Bond's guilty plea and Thomas's conviction on robbery
charges in
1999.
Bond was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison and Thomas, because
of his
extensive prior record, was sentenced to life.
In Tuesday's sentencing hearing, Day's widow, Faye Day Cain, told
jurors
that she has not yet put her husband to rest despite having remarried.
"My husband was my everything - my husband, my best friend, my lover
and my
confidante," she said. "When he was shot, he changed. He was not the
same
person. After he was shot, he couldn't stand to be touched because of
the
pain. I didn't have that closeness, that loving relationship after he
was
shot."
Cain also told jurors her son Cedric, now 16, harbors so much anger
toward
the defendants that she will not let him come to court for fear he
will act
on that anger.
The sentencing trial resumes today before Judge Joseph Dailey
http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/local_news/article/0,1426,MCA_437_832716,00.htm
l
Girl charged in stabbing of boy, 12, with pencil
By Yolanda Jones
yoj...@gomemphis.com
A 12-year-old boy was stabbed in the chest with a pencil by another
student
at Vance Middle School Tuesday morning.
The boy, whose name was not released, was changing classes shortly
before 10
a.m. when he and another boy got into a fight. Teachers broke up the
fight,
but somehow a 14-year-old girl stabbed the victim, police said.
The girl, identified by family members as Jameda Frazier, was hit in
the
face during the incident. She said she acted in self-defense.
"The boy was fighting her cousin and she said the boy got up in her
face and
she stuck him with the pencil,'' said Jameda's aunt, Terri Frazier.
Late Tuesday, Jameda was charged with aggravated assault and taken to
Juvenile Court, police said.
The victim was taken to Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center, where he
underwent surgery. He was listed in serious condition in the intensive
care
unit, hospital officials said Tuesday night.
John Britt, the security director for the city school system, said
this is
the first incident this year at a school in which a student had been
injured.
"This incident started from an altercation over the weekend that
spilled
over into school today," Britt said.
He said there is a school officer assigned to Vance Middle at 673
Vance who
was on the scene when the incident occurred, along with teachers.
This is the second incident police are investigating at Memphis
schools.
Thursday, two 13-year-old students, who were not identified, at
Havenview
Junior High School in Whitehaven were charged with bringing a weapon
on
school property.
Authorities said one of the boys brought his mother's gun in his
backpack,
and another student took it from the bag and took it home.
Monday, the parents of both students were brought to the school at
1481
Hester, after the gun was discovered by the parents of one the
students.
Last year, the Memphis Police Department officers working in schools
reported making 1,391 arrests. They reported confiscating 14 guns, 50
knives, nine box cutters and eight razors from students last year.
http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/local_news/article/0,1426,MCA_437_832618,00.htm
l
Cult leader released from prison, returns to Miami
The Associated Press
MIAMI - A cult leader linked to a 1980s reign of mutilation murders
was
released from federal prison and returned to Miami Tuesday after
serving
nearly 11 years of his 18-year sentence.
Yahweh Ben Yahweh paid a fine of more than $16,000 required for his
release
on parole from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Attorney's Office
said.
He arrived at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport about 8:30 p.m.
Tuesday, the
South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. Yahweh had been held in New York
while
his attorney fought his conditions of parole.
As part of his parole, Yahweh, convicted of federal racketeering for
his
connection to the killings, can't have any contact with members of the
religious following that he once led without prior approval.
In August, U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore upheld the U.S. Parole
Commission's decision to bar Yahweh from having any contact - directly
or
indirectly - with any followers once he's free.
Yahweh must have prior written approval of a U.S. Probation Officer to
have
contact with any of them.
Yahweh, 65, had wanted to retake his leadership position with the
group,
which attracted about 1,000 people to a gathering last year in
Montreal.
The cult was blamed for 23 murders before its leader was imprisoned in
1990.
Yahweh was accused of dispatching his closest followers in 1986 to
kill
"white devils" and return with a physical souvenir as proof.
Yahweh was charged in three murders but two cases were dropped after a
state
jury delivered a quick acquittal in the third.
The group denies it is racist and points to its nonblack members. Its
Web
site concentrates on a Bible-based religious message, rails against
Yahweh's
conviction and accuses the U.S. government of waging a war of words
against
the group.
http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/apnews/stories/092501/D7EOJU7O1.html
911 call nets conviction in DuPage killing
September 26, 2001
BY DAN ROZEK STAFF REPORTER
Michelle Monachello's dying words during a 911 call provided all the
evidence needed to convict her ex-boyfriend of killing her by stabbing
her
and then setting her on fire, prosecutors told a DuPage County jury
Tuesday,
and it took a jury barely an hour and a half to return a guilty
verdict
against Artarius Jett in the Oct. 4, 1999, killing.
''It's the closest thing you can get to a recording of the murder,''
Assistant State's Attorney Daniel Guerin said of the tape-recorded
emergency
call from a neighbor who found the mortally injured woman outside her
Glendale Heights apartment.
Monachello is heard on the tape identifying Jett, her ex-boyfriend and
the
father of her then-3-year-old daughter, as her killer.
Prosecutors argued that Jett, 29, killed Monachello because he was
angry she
had cut off his contact with the little girl.
Jett showed no reaction as the verdict was announced following a
four-day
trial in Wheaton. He faces a term of life in prison when he is
sentenced by
Judge Kathryn Creswell on Nov. 8.
Monachello's family members were satisfied with the guilty verdict,
said her
father, Ray Monachello.
''The system works,'' said Monachello, who, with his wife, is raising
their
granddaughter. But he blinked back tears as he said of his daughter,
''We'll
never get her back.''
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-jett26.html
Prosecutors: Davis Dragged Boy To Death
Opening Statements Presented In Trial
Posted: 11:26 a.m. CDT September 24, 2001
Updated: 9:59 p.m. CDT September 24, 2001
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kim Davis intentionally dragged 6-year-old Jake
Robel to
his death while trying to carjack a vehicle, prosecutors said Monday
during
opening arguments in Davis' first-degree murder trial.
Davis Trial, Day One
But while conceding that Davis (pictured, left) is responsible for the
boy's
death, defense attorney Christopher Slusher said that Davis had no
idea that
Robel was hanging outside the vehicle, entangled in a seat belt, as
Davis
sped down Interstate 70.
Robel's mother, Christy Robel, left the car running, with her son
inside,
while she went into a sandwich shop in Independence on Feb. 22, 2000.
When
she saw Davis trying to steal her vehicle, she ran outside and tried
to pull
Jake from the Chevrolet Blazer.
The boy became entangled in a seat belt and Davis sped off, dragging
him for
several miles before witnesses stopped the car.
Davis could face the death penalty if he's convicted of first-degree
murder.
Jackson County prosecutor Bob Beaird said the state would show that
"the
defendant intentionally and deliberately drug Jake Robel to death" to
avoid
being caught after stealing the vehicle.
Witnesses will testify that they saw Jake "hung up, being drug
bouncing
against the side of the car, bouncing against the side of the tire
repeatedly," Beaird said.
But Slusher said that Davis did not know the boy was stuck in the seat
belt.
"Kim Davis is responsible for the death of Jake Robel, and he'll have
to
carry that weight the rest of his life," Slusher said. "The question
is, how
is he responsible?"
On Monday, the victim's mother, Christy Robel, took the stand. She
recalled
her struggle to free her son from his seat belt before he was dragged
more
than four miles to his death.
The trial in Jackson County Circuit Court is expected to last at least
a
week.
http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/kc1/news/stories/news-97096820010924-110
924.html