Serious Crime with Little or no Consequences 1

Feb 7, 2024:  Kills 13 Year Old Bystander while On Probation for Armed RobberyA Baltimore man was sentenced to life in prison this week for the stray-bullet shooting of a 13-year-old girl that took place just two weeks after he got out of federal custody.  Tavon Battle, 36, was convicted of first-degree murder in November in connection with the fatal shooting of Kelsey Washington on Nov. 7, 2022, CBS News reported.  The teen was shot in the head when Battle opened fire on a crowded corner in East Baltimore, though officials previously noted that the young girl was not his intended target, the Baltimore Sun explained.  Battle – who was released on probation from federal custody related to an armed robbery less than two weeks before the incident – fired at a car and was  “probably intending to shoot who was in the vehicle,” but instead hit Washington, then-Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said in 2022.  Battle was also convicted of attempted first-degree murder in connection with the injury of another bystander who was shot but survived his injuries, according to the Baltimore Sun.  On Tuesday, Battle was sentenced to life in prison plus 35 years, with no possibility of parole for 10 years.  “While this lengthy sentence ensures this defendant will never be free to walk our streets again, it still cannot bring back Kelsey Washington, whose life was taken from her family and community at just 13 years of age,” Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates said of the decision, according to CBS. (How can the State Attorney say that he will never walk free again when there is a possibility of parole in 10 years.)

Feb 3, 2024:  Migrants Arrested for Attacking NYC Police Officers and Let Go for Bus to California
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg told reporters Friday that he did not request bail for the individuals involved in the attack of New York Police Department officers because he is trying to ensure that the proper suspects are identified. "We do not tolerate or accept assaults on police officers," Bragg said, according to NBC New York. (which is of course a totally erroneous statement because it has already been tolerated.)  "I watched the tape this week ... despicable behavior and it sickened me and outraged me."  so much that I let them go.  
Last week, four immigrant men were charged with felonies in an attack on two New York City Police Department officers in Times Square. The NYPD said that at least a dozen immigrants were involved in the attack and six are still wanted, according to CBS News.  Six people allegedly involved in the attack were arrested, but only one is behind bars while the rest were released.
Four of those released are believed to have left the state, according to a high-ranking police source who spoke to CBS New York. The four men gave fake names to a church group that arranged for bus tickets as part of a migrant resettlement program. They are believed to be headed to California, but the NYPD isn't planning to track them down at this time, as they aren't due back in court for a hearing until Feb. 20, according to the outlet. If they don't show up for the hearing, a bench warrant will be issued for their arrest.
Bragg did not answer questions about the case from the media until Friday evening, including why some of the migrants accused of assaulting police were released without bond.  He said his office was looking into new video to help identify the role each individual may have played in the assault. Bragg said he did not request bail because he is proceeding cautiously to ensure they have the proper suspects identified in the case.
"That is what is required to secure a conviction and get accountability and send the right people to jail. That's what we've been working on all week," Bragg said, adding that the one who was "deemed to have committed the most serious crimes is currently on Rikers."  Darwin Andres Gomez, 19, Kelvin Servita Arocha, 19, Wilson Juarez, 21, and Yorman Reveron, 24, were released without monetary bail by a Manhattan judge.  But Reveron, who had prior arrests on his rap sheet, was put on supervised release. 
"These individuals who assaulted New York City police officers have no regard for the law ... If we're not protected, how are we going to protect the people in the neighborhoods," Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry said, according to CBS. Democrat New York Gov. Kathy Hochul reportedly disagreed with the decision to let the suspects go free without bond.  "All I know is that an assault on a police officer means you should be sitting in jail," said Hochul, according to NBC New York. 
"Some of them live in the migrant shelter, they appear to be migrants, obviously. I don’t know when they got here. Some of them already have lengthy police records," said NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell. "These individuals who were arrested [or] will be arrested should be indicted, they should be sitting in Rikers awaiting their day in front of the judge. Plain and simple."
https://nypost.com/2024/02/07/news/baltimore-career-criminal-gets-life-for-stray-bullet-killing-of-teen/

Jan 29, 2024: Parole for man who beat 3-year old to death & previously convicted of child abuse and murder
Californian officials have approved parole for a man who beat his girlfriend's 3-year-old son to death, sparking public outrage amid a debate about lenient sentencing—and posing a dilemma over intervening for state Gov­er­nor Gavin New­som.  Patrick Goodman murdered Elijah Sanderson in December 2000 and tried to frame the child's mother for the crime.
He had become outraged with the boy after he let the family dog into the house. Goodman later admitted that he grabbed Sanderson and repeatedly slammed him against a wall.
The au­topsy re­port de­tailed in­juries rang­ing from a bro­ken neck and bro­ken ribs to a sev­ered bowel and a sev­ered re­nal artery. Fifty sep­a­rate ex­ter­nal in­juries were recorded, the anti-crime website, San Francisco Public Safety reported.  Goodman, who previously served a two-year sentence for injuring a man in a hit and run, was con­victed of mur­der and child abuse in 2002 and was sen­tenced at San Fran­cisco Su­pe­rior Court to a term of 25 years to life in prison.  His re­lease was ap­proved by the state Board of Pa­role Hear­ings on De­cem­ber 14, 2023. During the hearing, Goodman told the parole board: "I hope that one day I will be able to show Eli­jah's fam­ily, so­ci­ety and every­one who got caught in the rip­ple ef­fect of my ac­tions, that I'm no longer the mon­ster that I used to be."
Dur­ing the hear­ing Good­man said that he killed Sanderson be­cause he had let the fam­ily dog into the house. He also ad­mit­ted ly­ing in court when he ac­cused Eli­jah's mother of mur­der­ing her own child. When challenged about whether, at the time, he was prepared to let Sanderson's mother go to prison for his actions, he replied: "I was just try­ing to get the at­ten­tion off of me".  On January 24, San Francisco Public Safety published a transcript of Goodman's parole hearing.
Commissioners Michele Minor and Dane Blake approved Goodman's release. "We find that Mr Good­man does not cur­rently pose an un­rea­son­able risk to pub­lic safety and is therefore suitable for pa­role," Minor said after 15 minutes of deliberations following the hearing, San Francisco Public Safety reported. The de­ci­sion was made over the ob­jec­tions of a rep­re­sen­ta­tive of San Fran­cisco Dis­trict At­tor­ney's of­fice who asked for pa­role to be de­nied for at least three more years.  "His mur­der robbed a baby child of a fourth birth­day," said as­sis­tant dis­trict at­tor­ney Vic­to­ria Mur­ray-Bal­doc­chi. "Learn­ing how to shave, his first kiss, of go­ing to col­lege, of mak­ing cards for his mother on Moth­er's Day, cel­e­brat­ing his sib­lings' birth­days."  "I sug­gest he is still in de­nial as to how bru­tal his mur­der was of this tiny lit­tle in­no­cent hu­man."  Un­less California Gov­er­nor Gavin New­som in­ter­venes, Goodman will leave state prison when the parole board's de­ci­sion re­view unit com­pletes a manda­tory check for le­gal or fac­tual er­rors in its de­ter­mi­na­tion.  https://www.newsweek.com/patrick-goodman-gavin-newsom-parole-board-hearing-california-release-elijah-sanderson-1864719

Jan. 27, 2024

A career criminal with more than a dozen prior arrests was busted early Friday for flashing a box cutter during an attempted robbery on a Lower Manhattan train — just days after he was cut loose following a similar crime on the rails, sources and prosecutors said.  Rakeem Washington, 38, was nabbed just before 3 a.m. Friday for flashing a box cutter at a 56-year-old man on board a southbound No. 4 train and snarling “Give me your money,” law enforcement sources said.   When the victim refused to fork over any dough, Washington allegedly grabbed him by the coat, sparking an argument, sources said.

The conductor called for police and Washington was arrested as soon as the victim pointed him out, cops and sources said.   Washington was previously cuffed on Monday for allegedly snatching another rider’s phone on board a No. 6 train in Lower Manhattan heading uptown, sources said. He initially asked the 23-year-old commuter for $200, and grabbed the phone when he refused, according to the sources.  When the victim tried to grab the phone back, Washington threatened to kill him, the sources said.  The NYPD’s Transit Bureau condemned Washington’s release — which allowed him to get back on the streets and commit yet another crime — in a sharply worded Instagram post. “Make no mistake about it, your cops are doing their job!” authorities wrote in the post. “Now it’s up to the rest of the criminal justice system to do theirs.  “On Monday, Transit cops arrested a 38-year-old career criminal after he forcibly robbed a straphanger of his cellphone in Manhattan. He was released without bail.”  “Today, just 4 days later, this same perp was arrested AGAIN by Transit cops — this time for attempting to rob another subway rider at knifepoint in Manhattan,” the online posting continued. “New Yorkers deserve better.”

Washington’s arrest history in the Big Apple dates back to 2005, for raps including assault, robbery, criminal possession of a controlled substance and fare evasion, sources said.  He has a prior conviction out of Nassau County from 2006 for attempted robbery, robbery and aggravated harassment, according to online records.   His mental health history in the city includes a 2019 case in which he suffered from hallucinations that his face and body were on fire, sources said. 

ttps://nypost.com/2024/01/26/metro/career-criminal-busted-with-box-cutter-in-nyc-subway-crime-days-after-similar-arrest-cops/

Entered Jan. 25, 2024 from Jan. 19, 2024  Man Released from Prison for Murder Arrested on New Murder Charges 

Note:  Served until Sept 2023 for murders committed in 2016 as a 14 year old.  Tragic all around.  

PITT COUNTY, N.C. (WITN) - A Farmville man who was recently released from prison on previous murder charges has been arrested on new charges connected to a different murder in Pitt County this week.

Deputies say that they took a missing person report on Wednesday evening for 23-year-old Zytorius Ruffin of Farmville.  Deputies later say that they found Ruffin’s body shortly after.

According to detectives, they arrested 26-year-old Raekwon Blount of Farmville on Thursday and charged him with accessory after the fact to murder.  Records show that Blount pled guilty in 2016 to second-degree murder in the Hustle Mart murders in Farmville where three people were killed. He was 14 years old at the time. According to online records, Blount was released from prison at the end of September.

Blount was taken to the Pitt County Jail where is being held without bond.  Deputies say that the investigation is still ongoing and additional charges and arrests are possible.

Jan. 24, 2004  Woman gets probation for fatally stabbing boyfriend 108 times

A California woman who fatally stabbed her boyfriend at least 108 times during a moment of “cannabis-induced psychosis” has received probation and no prison time. 

On Tuesday, 33-year-old Bryn Spejcher was sentenced to two years probation and has been ordered to do 100 hours of community service after being found guilty of the murder of her boyfriend, Chad O’Melia. Spejcher was found guilty on December 1st, 2023, of involuntary manslaughter after she stabbed her boyfriend, Chad O’Melia, 108 times after smoking marijuana.

Prosecutors stated that the stabbing took place sometime between May 27th and May 28th in 2018 at Omelia’s apartment. “Both took several hits from a bong loaded with marijuana,” the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office stated. “[However] Spejcher had an adverse reaction to the marijuana and suffered from what experts call ‘cannabis-induced psychotic disorder.’”

She then became allegedly “unconscious” when she repeatedly stabbed O’Melia, according to the state’s mental health expert. When the police arrived, she also stabbed her dog and then turned the knife on herself.  “In the early morning hours of May 28, 2018, law enforcement arrived at the apartment to find Mr. O’Melia in a pool of blood and Spejcher screaming hysterically with a knife still in her hands,” according to District Attorney Erik Nasarenko’s office.  “Before law enforcement could disarm her, Spejcher plunged the knife into her own neck,” prosecutors said in a statement after her conviction. “Officers used a taser and several baton blows before they were able to finally disarm Spejcher.”

 Jan 21, 2024  Let Go After Arrest for Illegal Gun and Hollow Points and Later Found with More

A man was busted twice in one week in New York City — including for carrying an illegal gun and 55 hollow-point bullets — and dumped back on the street again each time, records show.  Floyd Pickens, Jr., a 61-year-old homeless man from Glendale, Ariz., was first arrested Jan. 9 while walking through Terminal B at LaGuardia Airport in Queens, where he “engaged in conversation with a Port Authority cop’’ and revealed he was packing, the Port Authority Police Department said.  In addition to toting the illegal handgun, the suspect had more than 60 rounds of ammo on him, cops said.  Authorities charged Pickens with criminal possession of a firearm — then cut him loose with a desk-appearance ticket.  Afterward, Pickens made his way to a men’s shelter on Clay Street near Paidge Avenue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, police sources said.  City Department of Homeless Services Police searched him as part of the screening process at the shelter around 12:45 a.m. Jan. 11 and found he had another 93 bullets, including 55 hollow points and 38 regular rounds, on him, according to a criminal complaint.  He also had an array of police equipment, including six magazine holsters, nine gun holsters, five pairs of handcuffs, six handcuff keys and a body-worn camera, among other things, sources said.  DHS cops charged him with unlawful possession of an ammunition feeding device and possession of pistol ammunition, the complaint said.  Pickens pleaded not guilty during his arraignment and was cut loose again because the raps involved a nonviolent felony and are not bail-eligible under the state’s controversial criminal-justice reforms.

https://nypost.com/2024/01/21/metro/man-busted-twice-in-one-week-in-nyc-including-for-gun-and-hollow-point-bullets-and-dumped-back-on-street/

Jan 19, 2024 More Probation for Man Who Pleaded to Burglary While on Probation for Fire Damage

 CHICAGO — Tyler Hamlin was charged with burglary last February after a concealed carry holder interrupted the break-in and held him at gunpoint until Chicago police arrived. This week, a judge sentenced Hamlin to probation.  

He was already on probation for a criminal damage by fire case, which started as an aggravated arson charge, when the Wrigleyville gunowner detained him around 8:30 p.m. on February 6, 2023.  The CCL holder had received an alert from his security system that someone was on his front porch in the 3500 block of North Fremont. Prosecutors said he inspected the property and found Hamlin inside his garage. The homeowner warned Hamlin that he had a gun and ordered him to show his hands while his wife called 911.

“[The police] were here in about 45 seconds, and he couldn’t get out of the garage. I was standing in the door,” the homeowner told CBS2 last year.  

Hamlin, 31, has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and gender and women’s studies from UIC, according to his defense attorney. Despite those credentials, he was homeless and unemployed at the time of the burglary.  He pleaded guilty to burglary this week in exchange for the sentence from Judge Sharon Kanter. His probation in the criminal damage to fire case was terminated unsatisfactorily, according to court records.

1/19/2024

The end result of no consequences.  And the end result of students making the investment in a college education and coming out with something of limited value for supporting themselves.

Dec 26, 2023 --  Randomly Stabs Two After 17 Prior Arrests for Which Given Conditional Discharge

A troubled vagrant randomly stabbed two teenage girls enjoying a Christmas morning meal with their parents at a Grand Central Terminal restaurant — after ranting that he wanted “all white people dead,” authorities said.  The girls, 14- and 16-year-olds visiting from South America, were attacked at Tartinery in the Grand Central Dining Concourse around 11:25 a.m. Monday and suffered non-life-threatening stab wounds, police and sources said. 

“I want all the white people dead,” the suspect, Steven Hutcherson, 36, allegedly yelled, according to police sources. “I want to sit next to the crackers.”  He then allegedly lunged at the unsuspecting teens, plunging a knife into the 16-year-old’s back, nicking her lungs, and stabbing the younger girl in the thigh, police and a law enforcement source said.  Hutcherson — who cops and sources said has a slew of prior arrests and a history of mental health issues — had gotten into a fight with restaurant staffers who were trying to kick him out of the eatery shortly before he allegedly went on his rant and attacked, WABC-TV reported.  

Hutcherson has 17 prior arrests on his rap sheet, sources said. He also has been classified as an “emotionally disturbed person” in prior brushes with police, according to the law enforcement sources.  Prior to Monday’s incident, he was last arrested Nov. 7 for allegedly threatening to “shoot” a stranger in the Bronx.  “I’m gonna shoot you. I don’t care what kind of green card the government gave you,” he said, according to the criminal complaint against him. “Open your mouth and say something. I will shoot you right now.” He then pulled what the victim believed was a gun “from the side of his pants,” according to the complaint — though law enforcement sources said cops didn’t find a firearm on him but did recover a knife.  Hutcherson was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, menacing, harassment and assault  and sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge. 

Yussif Abdullahi, 46, was outraged after learning that Steven Hutcherson, 36, had been cut loose by a Bronx judge — just two weeks before he allegedly randomly knifed a 14-year-old girl and her 16-year-old sister as they enjoyed a Christmas Day meal with their family at a restaurant in the Grand Central concourse.

“They shouldn’t have let him out [of jail]. I don’t believe it,” he told The Post.  Abdullahi said his Nov. 7 run-in with Hutcherson was the most dangerous encounter he’s had since he moved to the US from Ghana in 2008.  He’d been working outside a freight truck depot in Hunts Point when he said he saw Hutcherson allegedly attacking a woman.  Hutcherson — a homeless man with a lengthy rap sheet and history of mental illness — then suddenly turned his ire on Abdullahi, yelling: “Why are you working for white people? I’m going to kill this man!”

“I’m gonna shoot you. I don’t care what kind of green card the government gave you,” Hutcherson said, according to the criminal complaint against him. “Open your mouth and say something. I will shoot you right now.”  At first, Abdullahi said he thought “maybe he’s high and going crazy.”  “I was thinking maybe he was just saying it and didn’t mean it,” he recalled.  But when Abdullahi tried to walk into the workshop where he worked, he said the unhinged man blocked his path and showed him what appeared to be a gun tucked into his wasteband.

“He pulled a gun on me and said, ‘I don’t care what kind of green card you have, I’m gonna shoot you right now!” Abdullahi recalled.  Hutcherson stormed away, sucker-punching another man just one block away less than 30 minutes later, according to the complaint.  He was arrested at a nearby gas station and cops charged him with criminal possession of a weapon, menacing, harassment and assault.  Police did not recover a gun, but found a knife on him when they arrested him, according to law enforcement sources.  Hutcherson pleaded guilty to third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to conditional discharge on Dec. 12 by Judge Matthew V. Grieco, according to court records.