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Author Topic: Question about a certain law  (Read 1244 times)
Psalm 51:17
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« on: February 21, 2013, 07:20:16 pm »

OK, I don't want to start a discussion on Drew Peterson, but am posting this b/c this caught my attention - what do you think of this new law that was applied to this case?

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/21/17045469-drew-peterson-sentenced-to-38-years-for-wifes-death?lite

Quote
He took issue with a law passed by the Illinois General Assembly in in July 2009 that allowed hearsay to be admitted as evidence in cases where prosecutors believe the victim was killed specifically to prevent them from testifying. The law was dubbed the "Drew Peterson Law."

"Hearsay is a scary thing," Peterson told the court. "It requires no proof of truth. Anything can be said and no one is accountable."

http://news.yahoo.com/drew-peterson-sentenced-38-years-murder-214735862.html

Quote
Prosecutors had no physical evidence tying Peterson to Savio's death and no witnesses placing him at the scene. They were forced to rely on typically barred hearsay — statements Savio made to others before she died and that Stacy Peterson made before she vanished. Illinois passed a hearsay law in 2008 tailored to Drew Peterson's case, dubbed "Drew's Law," which assisted in making some of the evidence admissible at Peterson's trial.
 
The hearsay — any information reported by a witness not based on the witness' direct knowledge — included a friend testifying that Savio told her Peterson once put a knife to her throat and warned her, "I could kill you and make it look like an accident."
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« Reply #1 on: February 21, 2013, 09:55:03 pm »

If i remember my Matlock, i didnt think you could pass new laws to use in present cases.
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« Reply #2 on: February 22, 2013, 04:24:17 am »

Yeah, not sure how they pulled that off. But then what can we expect from a corrupt system, after all it's Obama's home state.
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« Reply #3 on: February 22, 2013, 12:57:48 pm »

Thank you for the input, guys - like said, my intent is not to discuss this case specifically(wouldn't be edifying on this forum), but nonetheless it just seems like when a murder case like this just goes INCREDIBLY HIGH PROFILE, it's as if the NWO minions themselves have an agenda behind it.

No, not saying Peterson was set up or anything, but there's like 100s of murder cases like this, if not worse, that get ZERO publicity. I ended up seeing the tv movie recently based on this case(which starred Rob Lowe as the lead character), and it just seemed like Hollywood's intent was not only to sensationalize it, but to distort a decent number of facts rather than to be on the side of both of the victims's families to bring this guy to justice(if you know what I mean here). Won't go into them, but the news stories I've read contradict what I saw in the movie.

And yes, when I saw that it was in the state of Illinois, bells and whistles ringed in my head b/c this is Obama's home state. Also, the big themes around these cases are MAN-CENTERED(in terms of bringing people to justice) - no wonder why lots of these draconian new laws get pushed right under everyone's noses. What does scripture say on the contrary?

Luke 18:1  And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
Luk 18:2  Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
Luk 18:3  And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
Luk 18:4  And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
Luk 18:5  Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
Luk 18:6  And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
Luk 18:7  And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
Luk 18:8  I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
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« Reply #4 on: February 24, 2013, 09:02:20 pm »

Here's another example of another murder case where it shows the corrupt system's true colors to the teeth. And to boot, it also shows how the NWO-runned MSM uses these cases to further carry out who-knows-what draconian agendas, in addition to sensationalizing them to captivate the masses.

No, I'm not defending the woman in this case, but again, the bible says everything should be done in orderly and decently.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Jo_Pender

Sarah Jo Pender is a woman convicted along with her former boyfriend, Richard Edward Hull, of murdering their roommates, Andrew Cataldi and Tricia Nordman, on October 24, 2000 in Indiana. She came to national attention in August 2008 after she escaped from the Rockville Correctional Facility and was featured on America's Most Wanted. She was recaptured in December 2008.

The Murder
 
According to neighbor Jana Frederick, tensions had been growing for three weeks between the couples as Richard Hull and Andrew Cataldi often had arguments. At some point before the murders, Richard Hull, who couldn't legally purchase a firearm because of his record, sought to buy one from Frederick's boyfriend's son.[7] When that didn't work, he turned to Sarah Pender, who he somehow convinced to buy a weapon for him. In the morning of October 24, 2000, Hull drove Pender to a local Walmart where the clerk who handled the sale of the 12 gauge shotgun used for the murder saw Hull pick out the ammunition and bring it to the counter, where Pender paid for it.[8] The couple then went for an outing with Pender's parents and came home around 11 p.m.[9] Sarah Pender left the place shortly after to take a walk in the neighborhood. According to Richard Hull, while Pender was away, an argument broke out over money Hull's sister, Tabitha, owed to Cataldi. Cataldi, who knew about the recently purchased shotgun, went into Hull's room and tried to grab the weapon. "He said he was going to kill my [bleep] family" Richard Hull later told detectives. A struggle followed.[10] Hull then shot Cataldi in the chest and Nordman in the chest and in the head.[11] When Pender came back to the home, both victims were dead and Hull had already loaded one of the bodies in the back of a truck[12][13] he had borrowed from a friend, Ronnie Herron, on October 23, 2000.[14] He needed it to get stuff out of the basement because he and Cataldi planned to have a chemist from Las Vegas use the place to cook meth.[15] Hull and Pender then drove a few blocks away and dumped the bodies in a dumpster where they were found by Steve Stultz.[16] On October 25, 2000, Sarah Pender went to work as usual while Richard Hull borrowed a plug adapter from neighbor Jana Frederick to clean up the blood in the house.[17] On October 26, the couple went to Noblesville to bring the truck back to its owner; the home of which Richard Hull used to burn several blood stained items.[18] On the same day, detectives, who had identified the victims, searched Hull and Pender's house. They found traces of blood and noticed that attempts had been made to conceal the murders. Hull was arrested in Noblesville on October 27, 2000 and he confessed to both murders. On October 28, 2000, Sarah Pender turned over a pair of blood stained pants belonging to Hull to the police. DNA testing showed that the blood was that of Tricia Nordman and Andrew Cataldi.[19] No DNA evidence was found that linked Pender to the murders for which both she and her boyfriend were charged. Sarah Pender explained later that "after he committed these murders, I did not call the police, but instead stayed with him out of love, fear, loyalty and sheer stupidity".[20]

Evidence against Pender
 
Citing the fact that Pender had bought the murder weapon on the morning of the murders and that she later helped Hull in disposing of the bodies, Sells told the jury that she had planned the murders and had manipulated Hull into committing them. According to Indianapolis Star journalist Vic Ryckaert, Sells "likened her influence over Hull to the control Manson had over his followers, who committed a string of murders in 1969."[26] The "female Charles Manson" tag has stuck to Pender ever since.

WOW...does this DA even know who Charles Manson IS? He should have given her a label like the Revelation 13 Antichrist instead. Roll Eyes

To prove Pender's guilt, Sells relied chiefly on a letter allegedly sent to Hull by Pender in May 2001 and on the testimony of inmate Floyd Pennington. In the letter she allegedly wrote to her former boyfriend, the woman took responsibility for the murder. "I wish I could go back and change the events of that night," said the letter. "Drew was so mean that night. I just snapped. I didn't mean to kill them. It must have been the acid.[...]"When you said you would try to take the blame, I knew then that you loved me deeply. At first I thought you would tell, but you stuck to your promise." the letter ended with a postscript: "Destroy this."[27] Forensic Document Examiner Lee Ann Harmless testified the letter had been written by Pender.[28] Defense attorney James Nave said the letter was a fake. he said that Sarah Pender was no "clever criminal mastermind" and that the murder "was not a cleverly planned criminal act. It was an act of the moment." He argued that Richard Hull had shot Cataldi and Nordman because they were about to cut him out of a big drug deal.[29] Another piece of evidence presented to the jury was the testimony of fellow inmate Floyd Pennington, who had a pen relationship with Sarah Pender for several months. He testified that Pender had admitted to him her responsibility in the double homicide during a meeting they had arranged on September 22, 2001 at Wishard Hospital.[30]
 
On August 22, 2002, Sarah Pender was found guilty and sentenced to 110 years in prison.[31] Richard Hull pleaded guilty to avoid trial.[32] His line of defense was that he had been influenced by Sarah Pender at the time of the murder, which was considered at the time by the court as a mitigating factor. He received a 130-year sentence.[33]

Controversies
 
Over letter
 
The only hard piece of evidence presented at Pender's trial as proof of her guilt was the letter that she allegedly wrote on May 16, 2001 and sent to Hull. Hull gave this letter to his attorney who passed it on to Indianapolis detective Kenneth Martinez between September and October 2001.[34] Pender, her lawyers and her supporters have always said that it was manufactured evidence against her by Hull to shift the responsibility of the murder on her. Several elements support this claim.

1.Richard Hull himself, in a signed affidavit, has recanted and admitted the letter was a forgery. In it, he has explained that while he was detained at Marion County Jail, he showed samples of Pender's handwritting to fellow inmate Steve Logan and asked him to write the letter for him, since Logan wrote more like a female. The deal was that Richard Hull would provide protection for Steve Logan, who was a small white guy on the cell block. By producing the forged letter, Hull's goal was to get a shorter sentence and walk home.[35] However, On May 4, 2004, when he appeared for re-sentencing, the court found as an aggravating factor the notarized affidavit in which he admitted the forgery, since it contradicted his earlier testimonies. The court found “an additional aggravating factor, which [arose since the original sentencing], which, actually, is very serious. [Hull] appears to have committed perjury in an effort to help his co-defendant manipulate her way out of a criminal conviction for [the] very serious offenses of murder.”[36] While admitting the May 16 letter was a forgery resulted in a heavier sentence for Hull, it was of no benefit to Sarah Pender.
 
2.Fingerprints from both Hull and Steve Logan were found on the letter,[37] but not those of Sarah Pender.
 
3.Detective Kenneth Martinez could not find a sealed envelope to match the letter.[38]
 
4.Most of the eighty letters sent by Pender to Hull were in cursive writing. The alleged self-incriminating letter was printed, which was less common.[39]
 
5.While Steve Logan has always stopped short of admitting he wrote the May 16, 2001 letter, he has testified that Hull showed him letters written by Pender and also asked him to write some sort of letter as a way to reduce his charges or sentences, which Logan claims he didn't.[40] On another occasion, according to Pender, Steve Logan also admitted to a private investigator hired by Pender that Richard Hull had requested that the forged letter be written.[41]
 
6.Between the alleged time of redaction of Pender's alleged self-incriminating letter, May 16, 2001, and the moment it was given to him by Hull's attorney, September–October 2001, pursuant to a search warrant, Detective Kenneth Martinez ceased jail correspondence between Hull and Pender on July 17, 2001.[42] He did not find the May 16th letter, even though Hull's had allegedly kept it during all that time.[43] Supporters of Pender say this is because the forged letter had not yet been written.

Over Pennington's testimony
 
At the beginning of September 2001, Floyd Pennington was an habitual offender and violent felon waiting for sentencing over robbery.[44] He also had a previous record for Child Molesting, a crime for which he got a five year sentence in 1989.[45][46] On September 20, 2001, he met with detective Kenneth Martinez, saying he could arrange a meeting and have Pender admit to him her responsibility for the murders.[47] He had been involved in a correspondence with Pender which totalled at the time 75 letters. This had evolved in a long distance love relationship.[48] After his meeting with detective Kenneth Martinez, he wrote to Sarah Pender at which date she should fake being sick to be sent to Wishard Hospital. On September 22, he faked having a kidney problem and both met as planned at the hospital. On September 28, 2010, Pennington gave a statement according to which he had been able to discuss during three to four hours with Pender. He told that they were left alone for half an hour during which Pender admitted to planning the murder, coercing Hull to kill both Cataldi and Nordman and being present in the house at the time of the murders.[49]
 
Sarah Pender says that Floyd Pennington is a liar.[50] Supporters of Sarah Pender believe it is no coincidence if Floyd Pennington decided to make a statement against Pender at the end of September. This happened just before he was due to be sentenced, and just at the time Richard Hull decided to give Pender's alleged self incriminating letter via his attorney to Detective Kenneth Martinez. Floyd Pennington had been incarcerated in the same cell block as Richard Hull for two months.[51] They believe Floyd Pennington knew about the letter and saw an opportunity to make a false testimony against Sarah Pender that would look credible and would hopefully benefit him and get him some leniency.

"Female Charles Manson" Label
 
In 2002, during her trial, Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Larry Sells likened Sarah Pender to a "Female Charles Manson" to describe her alleged influence over Richard Hull. At the time, this comparison was relayed by the media on several occasions[66] and it has regularly resurfaced since in the online media. Supporters of Sarah Pender claim that this comparison is inappropriate because Sarah Pender did not plan, commit or pressure Richard Hull into murdering Tricia Nordman and Andrew Cataldi. They claim that even if Sarah Pender had been involved in planning the murders, the comparison would be grossly exaggerated; Charles Manson was a guru with a juvenile offender record and a psychiatric history who led several members of his sect to commit several murders on several occasions over a period of several months.
 
In 2008 and during his trial, Scott Spitler explained that he had been manipulated by Sarah Pender.[67] At the time of the escape, Indiana Department of Correction Commissioner Edwin Buss told the media that Spender had "Manipulated him to the point where [he had planned his day] to get a vehicle inside the facility and take her outside the facility."[68] Detectives said that she had first seduced, then coerced, Spitler into helping her to escape. Interviewed by America's Most Wanted, Larry Sells said one more time about Pender that "Lurking within is a dark evil demon [...] she has the ability to seduce people into committing atrocious acts [...] she has a Charles Manson-like ability to manipulate people."[69] The America's Most Wanted website made a particularly dramatic depiction of Sarah Pender, labeling her a "cunning and dangerous fugitive" and asking viewers to call "before she has the opportunity to kill again." It said that "Pender used her body to get what she desired most -- Freedom" The show talked about "her manipulative ways".[70]
 
Sarah Pender has written that "the media, including "America's Most Wanted", has selectively used facts in order to manipulate the viewers to believe I am a degenerate, dangerous criminal in return for sensational story and higher ratings under the guise of bringing justice."[71] Supporters of Sarah Pender claim that Scott Spitler was aware of the media depiction of Sarah Pender and used it to minimize his responsibility. They point out that Spitler did not act out of a misguided love for a femme fatale when he helped Sarah Pender to escape Rockville Correctional Facility : he was expecting a $15,000 payment for his services, a fact that the media did not report neither during Pender's escape, nor before or during or after Spitler's trial.[72] Sarah Pender's supporters further point out that the relationship between Pender and Spitler was not an exception at Rockville. Two months after her escape, in October 2008, Roger Heitzman, another correctional officer at Rockville, was arrested by the state police for trafficking and engaging in sex acts with at least one female inmate. Because the case was not high profile, no one claimed Heitzman was a victim manipulated by the inmate involved.[73] Supporters of Sarah Pender finally claim that the Department of Correction had also an interest in exaggerating Pender's abilities in order to minimize media damage and their own responsibilities. The Rockville Correctional Facility's hiring policy had already gotten bad media publicity in February 2008 when it was revealed that mass murderer Steven Kazmierczak had been hired there in 2007 to work as a correctional officer.[74] The fact that the guard posted at the gate did not search Spitler's vehicle on the day of the escape as he should have, Scott Spitler's behaviour, Roger Heitzman's arrest, the hiring of psychopath Steven Kazmierczak are elements that clearly pointed out problems within the institution which, when considered, had little to do with Pender's personality. Supporters of Sarah Pender point out that she committed no violence of any kind in planning or executing her escape.
 
Supporters of Sarah Pender claim that if anything, far from being manipulative, Sarah Pender has often been used by a variety of people as a convenient scapegoat to elude their own responsibilities in crimes or errors they committed, or used in the media as a means to get high ratings and better copy for their newspapers.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also, I saw the tv movie on this recently - suffice to say, whether or not this woman is guilty/innocent, it was filled with alot of innacuracies and lies. For example, it showed a couple of scenes of her shooting the victims. Fact was that she didn't do any of the shooting, even the DA's office made this clear.
« Last Edit: February 24, 2013, 09:42:27 pm by BornAgain2 » Report Spam   Logged
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« Reply #5 on: February 24, 2013, 09:20:41 pm »

^^

Again, my intention here is not to discuss these specific cases, and no, I'm not defending these people's innocense or anything.

But nonetheless the overall big picture, as we can see, is how incredibly rotten and evil the system is. I mean we've seen this before - the DA would start out by MARKETING their case by throwing in catch phrases to manipulate the jury's and everyone else's emotions. They would also find the tiniest loophole(I mean TINY), and they would end up making a mountain out of a tiny molehill over this, when it turns out it isn't even anywhere in the 1000s of law books. And when something gets exposed as faulty, instead of humbling themselves and throwing it out, they would turn a blind eye to it and act like it never happened, hence letting it hang out there like it's the truth.

And to top it off, the NWO-runned media(America's Most Wanted, Hollywood movies, MSM, etc) would add fuel to the fire by further promoting their lies.

James 3:3  Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body.
Jas 3:4  Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.
Jas 3:5  Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
Jas 3:6  And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
Jas 3:7  For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:
Jas 3:8  But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

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« Reply #6 on: October 10, 2013, 05:01:10 pm »

Isaiah_59:4  None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.

OK, saw this on CBS' "48 Hours Mystery" 7 years ago - pretty much, the whole thing just leaves you head-scratching. Ryan Ferguson and his friend had an AIR-TIGHT alibi at the time of the murder(both of them were at a bar with his sister late at night, and there were several witnesses to account for them there). The police concluded that the murder of a Missouri(small town, forgot the name) reporter at his car on his way out from the office was a CONTRACT KILLING. And there was NO physical evidence of Ryan being at that murder scene(ie-no blood, shoeprint size didn't match, no fingerprints, etc)

But en yet - all this, and the lone eyewitness that claimed to see them at the murder scene admitted LYING AFTER the trial, he still doesn't get justice?

And even though his friend ended up "admitting" they both did the killing(and testified against him at the trial) - when I think about it, it looked like he was MK Ultra'd - he just looked DAZED when he testified on the stand, despite all of the details he put out convincingly. Now guess what, he RECANTED his story recently!

Sometimes it makes you wonder if the whole system is compromised. Yes, that includes these people's DEFENSE lawyers as well. It seems like everything you see on tv from Matlock to Perry Mason, etc where the "good guys" will come to rescue you is all just make believe.

Ryan Ferguson: 'Scary' That Officials 'Not Looking for the Truth'
Video: http://gma.yahoo.com/video/ryan-ferguson-scary-officials-not-125101477.html
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« Reply #7 on: November 05, 2013, 03:19:08 pm »

FINALLY! Smiley

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/a/167634/ryan-fergusons-conviction-overturned/
Ryan Ferguson's conviction overturned

Tuesday, November 5, 2013 | 8:27 a.m. CST; updated 2:36 p.m. CST, Tuesday, November 5, 2013

*Updates to this story include comments from Bill Ferguson and others close to the case, as well as the Attorney General's office. Information will be updated throughout the day. The full opinion is embedded at the bottom of this story.

COLUMBIA — The Missouri Court of Appeals Western District published an opinion Tuesday morning granting Ryan Ferguson's request to overturn his 2005 conviction for the murder of Kent Heitholt.

The Western District court ordered the state to release Ferguson in the next 15 days if prosecutors have not filed notice of a retrial within that time period.

Ryan Ferguson's father, Bill Ferguson, said he thinks the state typically grants appeals without retrying the case.

"If they are smart, they will agree not to try him again," Bill Ferguson said. "It's not about justice, it's about politics."

A representative of the Missouri Department of Corrections said it doesn't have a specific date for his release.

The appellate court made its decision solely on a Brady violation affecting the testimony of Jerry Trump, stating it did not need to address any further complaints by Ferguson. A Brady violation is when the prosecution withholds information from the defense.

In the original trial, Jerry Trump said he identified Ferguson when his wife sent him a newspaper while he was in prison for a parole violation. He said the paper was folded in a way that he saw pictures of Ferguson and Erickson, but did not see the headline convicting them, and he immediately recognized them as the men he saw that night.

The state failed to disclose the fact that they interviewed Trump's wife, Barbara. In that interview she reluctantly said she didn't remember sending her husband a newspaper while he was in prison. The court found that this information was vital in judging the credibility of Jerry Trump as a witness because the source of his testimony changed. It also revealed that the state contacted Jerry Trump while he was in prison, which they had not disclosed previously.

At the evidentiary hearing, Trump said Kevin Crane, then chief prosecutor and now a 13th Circuit Judge, called him while in prison and said it would be "helpful" for him to identify Ferguson and Erickson.

Crane's investigator Bill Haws talked to Trump while he was still in prison and also interviewed Trump's wife, Barbara. The prosecution is legally obligated to disclose all interviews to the defense attorneys. Haws did not file a report on these interviews and therefore Crane didn't necessarily know they took place, according to the opinion.

Crane said he's going to re-examine the testimony from the evidentiary hearing to determine the timeline of when his office talked to her. Crane said he never personally talked to Barbara Trump.

Bill Ferguson has been advocating to overturn the conviction and spread the word about his son's case.

"I am so thankful for the supporters that have stuck with us for nine and a half years," Bill Ferguson said. "If you wait long enough, you always get justice. He should have never been convicted."

Bill Ferguson and his son's attorney, Kathleen Zellner, who was on her way to Columbia this morning, will talk more about the decision at a 4:15 press conference at Tiger Hotel.

Zellner said she plans to visit Ferguson in prison before heading to the press conference. She talked to him Tuesday morning and said he was speechless and thrilled.

She said they are filing a motion to get him out on bond, hopefully in the next few days.

Zellner, who has never lost a wrongful conviction case and took this one pro-bono, said it was her most problematic case. Her office got two other people out of prison while working on Ferguson's case.

She praised the thoroughness of the opinion, saying it was incredibly well reasoned.

"I had great confidence in this court," Zellner said. "That opinion — the detail and the effort, is really remarkable. I think from my perspective we confirmed that the system works."

A spokeswoman for Chief Prosecutor Dan Knight's office said he has seen the decision but won't comment until he has read it and discussed it with the Missouri Attorney General's office.

A spokesperson for the Attorney General's office released a statement about the ruling.

“The Attorney General’s office will review the court’s decision and consult with the Boone County prosecutor’s office in the coming days regarding appropriate next steps to take in this matter.”

Ryan Ferguson has been serving a 40-year sentence in the Jefferson City Correctional Center for second-degree murder and first-degree robbery. He has been imprisoned for almost eight years.

Heitholt, a sports editor at the Columbia Daily Tribune, was killed on Halloween night 2001 while leaving the Tribune building. He was strangled with his own belt. Ryan Ferguson had been partying at a nearby club, but has consistently denied being involved with the killing.

Tribune Managing Editor Jim Robertson said he was thinking of the Heitholt family after hearing of the decision.

"I think the system works, I've said it before. They found a serious error on the part of the prosecution," Robertson said.

He said he hadn't talked to the family yet and hadn't talked to them for a while.

The testimony at Ryan Ferguson's trial that convinced a jury of his guilt was mainly from two eye witnesses, who have both recanted their testimonies.

In September, Ryan Ferguson's attorney Kathleen Zellner and Assistant Attorney General Shaun Mackelprang, debated in front of a three-judge panel in the Western District Court of Appeals to determine if Ferguson should be granted a new trial.

The hearing focused on possible Brady violations which might have impaired Ryan Ferguson's attorney's ability to provide an effective defense. Zellner said these violations included the prosecution not informing Ferguson's attorney of contact with a key witness. Mackelprang argued the defense could have taken steps to find holes in their case earlier.

The judges stopped Zellner when she mentioned the lack of physical evidence in the case — fingerprints and blood at the scene did not match Ryan Ferguson — and the recantation of two key witnesses, wanting to focus on the Brady violations instead.

But after, Zellner said the recantations were key.

Chuck Erickson and Jerry Trump are the two witnesses who recanted their testimonies.

Erickson had been partying with Ryan Ferguson the night of the murder and in 2004 started having dreams that the two committed the killing. They were underage but had been drinking at a local club. Erickson also admitted to using c0caine, Adderall and marijuana that night.

Erickson received a 25-year sentence after pleading guilty to second-degree murder, first-degree robbery and armed criminal action.

In 2009, Erickson taped a sworn statement that he committed the robbery and murder alone. Erickson testified at the 2012 evidentiary hearing that he had no memory of the killing whatsoever.

Trump, a janitor at the Columbia Daily Tribune at the time, saw two men the night of the killing and testified at the original trial that one of them was Ryan Ferguson. He recanted his testimony at the evidentiary hearing, stating he only identified Ryan Ferguson because he thought it was what the prosecutor, Kevin Crane, wanted.

Ryan Ferguson has sought to get his conviction overturned more than a dozen times but has been denied by the Western District Court of Appeals and the Missouri Supreme Court, according to a timeline in the habeas corpus petition.
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« Reply #8 on: April 28, 2014, 01:19:53 pm »

http://www.salemnews.com/local/x1221282621/9-teen-killers-could-get-parole-under-SJC-ruling

December 28, 2013

9 teen killers could get parole under SJC ruling

BY JULIE MANGANIS
 STAFF WRITER   

SALEM — Essex County prosecutors will meet Monday to begin the process of preparing for parole hearings for nine convicted killers whose life sentences without parole were wiped away by the state’s highest court on Tuesday.

The nine, who were all teenagers under the age of 18 at the time of the murders, were made eligible for parole in the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision. Two others, convicted since 2007, will also someday get a chance at parole.

Now, decades after families of victims were reassured that their loved ones’ killers would never see the outside of a prison, District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett’s office is facing the prospect of tracking down those relatives to give them the news.

“Massachusetts prides itself on being enlightened on victims’ rights,” a clearly frustrated Blodgett said yesterday. “And yet this decision comes out on Christmas Eve day? That’s a pretty tough, bitter pill to swallow for victims’ families who thought that these cases had been put to rest.”

Going forward, the decision also affects sentencing options for Philip Chism, the 14-year-old Danvers boy charged in October with the murder of teacher Colleen Ritzer, 24, of Andover.

The court’s ruling, in the case of Gregory Diatchenko, who was 17 when he stabbed a man as he sat in a car in Boston’s Kenmore Square in 1981, held that sentences of life without parole failed to take into account a young defendant’s likelihood of being rehabilitated.

It’s a ruling that goes beyond the United States Supreme Court’s holding in Miller vs. Alabama, said Blodgett, who was recently elected to serve as head of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association.

The Miller decision, like the SJC ruling, pointed to recent research showing that the brains of teenagers are still developing, and concluded that it is a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment to summarily sentence someone to life without parole under those circumstances.

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« Reply #9 on: April 28, 2014, 01:30:40 pm »

^^ Posting this here b/c there was this one tv movie released in 1996(which starred "The Wonder Years" Fred Savage and Candace Cameron, Kirk's sister that is) - the movie was (loosely)based on a popular high school athletic star who put a lot of psychological and physical abuse on his girlfriend. It was called "No One Would Tell".

Since 1996(it's release), this movie has re-played on tv many, many times since - usually when they do this, you KNOW they have an agenda behind this. It was a LOOSELY adaptation of the real life events - one of them being that they portrayed the possessive boyfriend as somewhat of a sympathetic character(ie-how his alcoholic and abusive father abandoned him - apparently, this wasn't the case in real life).

Ultimately - this just shows how the justice system is completely rotten - he(along with other teens) committed these horrible crimes that DO deserve life imprisonment with no parole(and hence the judges ruled correctly). But somehow years later, they come up with this "But the teenagers' brains haven't developed fully..." idea.(hence granting them parole opportunities just based on this alone)

http://www.examiner.com/article/no-one-would-tell-true-story-movie-based-on-amy-carnevale-and-jamie-fuller
'No One Would Tell,' based on Amy Carnevale
12/28/13

"No One Would Tell" is based on a true story. The movie originally aired in 1996 as a made for television movie of the week. It is based on the 1991 murder of cheerleader Amy Carnevale of Beverly, Mass. The real names and locations were changed in the movie. The murder is often referred to as the "shoe pond" murder.

The relationship

Amy Carnevale was a beautiful 14 year old cheerleader who fell in love with 16 year old Jamie Fuller, a handsome jock at Beverly High school. According to classmates, the relationship between the two was extremely intense. Fuller, by all accounts, was an aggressive and jealous boyfriend who constantly tried to control Amy.

Always confrontational, Fuller would grab Amy by the arm, he would block her way as she tried to walk around him, and he would harass her as he insisted that she was flirting with other boys. During outbursts, Fuller told his friends that he was going to kill her.

The murder

Jamie Fuller had told anyone who would listen that he was going to kill Amy Carnevale. He even described how he would do it. Amy had heard about the threats, but she didn't give it much thought. So when Jamie lured her to a wooded area in the back of the school, she went with him. At least one person heard Amy screaming, before Fuller emerged from the wooded area bragging that he had finally killed her. Returning to the scene a short time later with a friend, they wrapped her body in plastic and dumped her in the United Shoe Pond on Mckay Street. According to the Boston Herald, just before tossing her body in the pond, he stated: "It sucks being you, Amy." Her body was found several days later.

According to the autopsy report, the killing was especially brutal. 14 year old Amy had a slashed throat, as well as other stab wounds to the heart and upper chest. Cinder blocks had also been placed upon the body to hold it under water. Fuller was arrested and charged with murder after her body was discovered.

The conviction and aftermath

In 1992, Jamie Fuller was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. His mother, Celeste Fuller, was allegedly so distraught that she kept a bible and a photo of her son embracing Amy nearby. A source confirmed that she had also made a pact with her son to commit suicide.

In 1993, Celeste Fuller, was arrested for plotting to help her son escape from prison.

Today Jamie Fuller still sits in the MCI Shirley Medium Security prison in Massachusetts. He is not eligible for parole.

Update 2014: Due to an SJC ruling, Jamie Fuller is now eligible for parole this year. Many people are taking to the web to protest it.
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