This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Crime

  • Navy Yard gunman, Aaron Alexis, duped VA docs

    Dave sends us a link to MSN which reports that Associated Press FOIA’d Aaron Alexis’ medical records which show that the Navy Yard shooter had complained several times to Veterans’ Affairs doctors, and even though he had been screened each time for mental defects, the doctors had cleared him;

    Alexis told a VA emergency room doctor in Providence that he couldn’t sleep, the doctor wrote that his speech and thoughts seemed “clear and focused” and noted that he “denies flashbacks, denies recent stress.”

    The medical records said Alexis, 34, was found sleeping in the VA waiting room in Providence on Aug. 23 while waiting to see a doctor. During that visit he was prescribed 50 milligrams of trazodone, an antidepressant and anti-anxiety medication that in such low doses can be used to treat insomnia.

    As Dave points out, it’s pretty strange that Alexis complained about insomnia, but they found him sleeping in the waiting room. Then gave him a bunch of drugs to help him sleep.

    He directly denied having suicidal or homicidal thoughts when government doctors asked him about it just three weeks before the shootings.

    I don’t blame the docs – I blame that prosecutor in Seattle in 2004 when he shot the tires of some construction workers in his neighborhood. That prosecution probably would have kept him out of the Navy and prevented the purchase of the shotgun a few days before the shooting. I understand that the VA docs are limited in what they can do, but prosecutors who don’t prosecute criminals because they don’t see a personal value in doing their job really piss me off. Where’s the sense in writing laws that you don’t intend to enforce?

  • Two sentenced for misfiling or trashing 1800 vets’ records at NPRC

    A couple of folks sent us links to the St. Louis Dispatch which reports that two student employees misfiled or trashed at least 1800 veterans’ records in 2011 and 2012 at the National Personnel Records Center. The case opened when 241 records, complete with Personally Identifiable Information (PII), were found dumped in the woods;

    One of the ex-employees, Lonnie Halkmon, 28, was sentenced Thursday to two years of probation and ordered to perform 40 hours of community service. The other, Stanley Engram, 21, is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 7. Both pleaded guilty of destruction of government records. Federal guidelines call for a sentence from probation to six months behind bars.

    Court documents show that the files in the woods were traced to Engram, who admitted disposing of them, “abandoning” others in the center and throwing some away at home. In all, he admitted destroying or deliberately misfiling more than 1,000 records.

    […]

    [Engram’s lawyer, Eric] Banks stressed that “nobody has been denied or lost any benefits as a result of any of this.”

    Well, no, not yet. And I can imagine this incident can be the new excuse for phonies, like the 1973 fire has been their excuse for the last few decades. Thanks, fellas.

    That’s why you should always make copies of everything and keep them safe. Mine are in my gun safe.

  • Teen to be tried as an adult in vet-beating

    16-year-old Keith Scott is going to be tried as an adult in the beating of 92-year-old vet, Josef Martin in Fresno, California. Inn October, Scott and 12 & 15-year-old accomplices broke into Mr. Martin’s home according to the Fresno Bee;

    Mims said one of the suspects thrust a gun in Martin’s mouth and threatened to kill him. Martin also was pistol-whipped and then thrown into a closet, his head punching a foot-wide hole in the wall, as the assailants ransacked his home, stealing $200 from under a rug and jewelry before getting away.

    Mims also said deputies were investigating other home invasions in the vicinity of Martin’s home near Olive and Willow avenues.

    But so far, only Scott and the 12-year-old have been charged in connection with the attack on Martin.

    Wednesday, Lamanuzzi said neither Scott nor the 12-year-old was charged with personally using or holding a gun. That suspect has never been charged, he said.

    Sheriff’s officials confirmed Wednesday an investigation of the third suspect is ongoing.

    The Bee continues to paint a sympathetic portrait of Scott, a slight teen surrounded by hardened criminals in the court room. His lawyer tells us he’s a “special education student”, like that means anything anymore. We’re all special ed students these days. If I took down all of our phonies who people claimed they were “challenged, we’d be out of business. The lawyer claims that his client was influenced by the other boys – who were both younger than him. Hardly sounds right. But he’s being held on $400k bail, so we’ll know where to find him when he goes to trial.

  • Drone finally used to prosecute dangerous criminal

    Pinto Nag sends us a link to Forbes which reports that with all of the talk about law enforcement in the US getting drones, one had finally been used successfully to prosecute probably the most dangerous criminal who ever walked the surface of our planet; Rodney Brossart of North Dakota who apparently broke the law when three of his neighbor’s cows strayed onto his property and Brossart didn’t return them;

    After Brossart was arrested, an armed standoff ensued between his three sons and a SWAT team. His sons were located by a border-surveillance Predator borrowed from Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), which enabled local police to safely apprehend them, according to local newspapers.

    From that link in the quote;

    Brossart was convicted in November of terrorizing two law enforcement officers who arrested him June 23, 2011, over a neighbor’s three cows and their calves that strayed on to his farm. It’s a felony with a top sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

    Also Tuesday, Brossart’s three sons — Thomas, Alex and Jacob, all in their 20s — pleaded guilty each to a misdemeanor charge of menacing law enforcement officers, reduced from the felony terrorizing charge, in an agreement with prosecutors.

    Well, I’m just happy that cattle rustler Brossart and his sons are off the streets for six months. Spending that money on drones has certainly paid off.

    Records obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group, found that CBP Predator drones flew 700 missions between 2010 and 2012 for other law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and local police departments.

  • Columbia, Maryland Mall shooting

    Yesterday we wrote briefly about the Mall in Columbia shooting, and now the information about it is coming out in drips and drabs. The shooter’s name and his motives haven’t been released yet, but Fox News says that one of the two victims, 21-year-old Brianna Benlolo has connections to the military. Fox broadcast news says that the shooter used a shotgun, Joe Biden’s choice.

    The Washington Times reports that five others were injured besides the two who were murdered, four were released from the hospital, while one remains for treatment of a foot wound. The Times also says that the shooter reportedly had a “large amount” of ammunition. Fox News says that he also had “two crude devices that appeared to be attempts at improvised explosives” which were disabled.

    From the Washington Post;

    Whatever the reason, the echoing shots provoked terror for those in the mall, igniting fears of yet another mass shooting in a public place that, until now, they considered safe.

    They wouldn’t consider it safe if the read Tom Clancy, or watched the news. Unless of course, they believed their governor, Martin O’Malley, when he told Maryland residents that they were safe now because of the gun control legislation he rammed down their throats last year.

  • Sheriff Joe puts inmates on bread and water

    Reuters reports that Sheriff Joe Arpaio has put his charges on bread and water in the Maricopa County Jail in Arizona because they defaced the American flags he had placed in their cells;

    “These inmates have destroyed the American flag that was placed in their cells. Tearing them, writing on them, stepping on them, throwing them in the toilet, trash or wherever they feel,” Arpaio said in a statement. “It’s a disgrace to those who have fought for our country.”

    The punishment will last for seven days, he said, and a second offense would bring 10 more days of the sparse diet.

    A sheriff’s spokesman said the bread provides the daily requirement of calories and nutrients that is necessary. There are about 8,300 inmates in the jail system.

    In recent months, the Maricopa County jails have broadcast patriotic songs over the public address systems – “The Star Spangled Banner” in the morning and “God Bless America” at night.

    Of course, the ACLU has knotted panties;

    “It’s certainly not illegal, but what he is doing is bad policy,” [Dan Pochoda, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union in Arizona] said. “It’s just another vindictive policy that has nothing to do with running a good jail system.”

    Um, doesn’t jail need a certain measure of discipline? Destroying county property isn’t indicative of personal discipline. So shut up, ACLU.

  • The Media Gets It Wrong about Gun Violence – Again

    Many regular readers of TAH probably are probably of the opinion that the media grossly exaggerates and/or deliberately slants any story that can possibly reflect badly on legal gun ownership.  Regular readers are also probably convinced that the media often “gets it wrong” on such stories.  Well, here’s yet another bit of support for those theses.

    If one listens to the mass media, one would think that US mass shootings are increasing, killing more people – indeed, that they have become a veritable “epidemic”.  Listening to the media, you’d also think that mass shootings are eminently preventable by “common sense” gun control measures and more/better mental health care.

    Bottom line:  actual research – something that the media rarely if ever does – concerning the issue shows the media has it 100% wrong.  Again.

    Two researchers, James Alan Fox and Monica J. DeLateur – both of Northeastern University, Boston, MA – recently studied US mass shootings on their own time and dime.  They recently published their results in Homicide Studies: XX(X) 1–21.  A synopsis of the article may be found here; the latest full version (PDF) may be found here.

    Here’s the “Cliff Notes” version of some of Fox and DeLateur’s conclusions:

    • Myth #1:  Mass shooters snap and kill randomly.  Not true.  Mass shooters typically thoroughly plan their crimes in advance. Common motives are revenge, power, loyalty, terror, and profit.  They may be disturbed, but they generally don’t “snap suddenly” and commit their crimes.
    • Myth #2:  Mass shootings are on the rise.  Also not true.  FBI data from 1976-2011 shows that there has been an average of roughly 20 mass shootings in the US annually over that period, with no apparent trend of either increase or decrease in the number of such annual period over the past 35 years.  (They also indicate how recent Mother Jones “studies” purporting to show otherwise use arbitrary definitions and inconsistent methodology to falsely portray a recent rise in US mass shootings.)
    • Myth #3:  The trend in mass shooting incidents is one of increasing severity in terms of numbers killed.   That’s simply not the case.  Random variability seems to be more at play than anything else in determining the number killed in mass shooting incidents in any given year.
    • Myth #4:  “Scary black guns” (AKA “assault weapons”) are primarily to blame for mass shooting incidents.  Not at all.  They’re used in less than one fourth of mass shooting incidents.  Handguns and shotguns account for over 3/4 of all mass shootings.
    • Myth #5:  Violent entertainment, especially video games are causally linked to mass shootings.  Again, a myth without substance.  Scientists cannot find a causal link between video games and mass shootings.  The preference for violent video gaming on the part of those committing mass shootings may well be a symptom of an underlying disorder vice a cause of aberrant behavior.  Or it may be a completely unrelated thing.  We just don’t really know.
    • Myth #6:  There are telltale signs that can help us to identify mass shooters before they act.    Not really.  About 62% of mass shooters tend to be male Caucasians with subclinical psychological issues; blacks are overrepresented as well, constituting approximately 33% of mass shooters.  These characteristics apply to a very large portion of the population – only a tiny fraction of which ever commit mass shootings.  Given that only about 20 such incidents on average occur each year, figuring out who will and who won’t commit this type of crime a priori just simply isn’t possible.
    • Myth #7:  Enhanced background checks will keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of murderers.   No.  “A recent examination of 93 mass shootings from 2009 through September 2013, conducted by Mayors Against Illegal Guns (2013), found no indication that any of the assailants were prohibited by federal law from possessing firearms because of mental illness.”   (emphasis added)
    • Myth #8: Restoring the Federal ban on assault weapons will prevent this type of crime.  Not at all.  About the same fraction of mass shootings – between 17% and 21% – were committed using “assault weapons” in the periods before, during, and after the effective period of the Federal assault weapon ban.

    IMO, Fox and DeLateur missed two items worth stressing.  First:  a primary reason that none of those committing mass shootings between 2009 and Sep 2013 were prohibited from possessing firearms due to mental illness is the extreme difficulty in many jurisdictions in getting an obviously sick person involuntarily committed for psychiatric treatment.  (We can thank our liberal “brethren” for that, since laws they championed require courts to give greater deference to the rights of those who are mentally disturbed than the safety of society.)  Indeed:  as the Aurora incident shows, that difficulty extends to even getting a disturbed individual’s mental health counselor to alert law enforcement of a potential problem.

    Second:  the US population increased dramatically between 1976 and 2011 – from 218.04 million to 311.59 million, or by 42.9%.  Since the number of mass shooting incidents has remained essentially constant since 1976 at an average of roughly 20 per year, that means the rate of mass shootings has declined substantially.  In 1976, it was 1 such incident for roughly every 10,900,000 US residents (20 incidents in a population of 218.04 million); in 2011, it was roughly 1 incident per 14,180,000 US residents (22 incidents in a population of 311.59 million).

    Finally, the true “money quote” is at the end of the article:

    Eliminating the risk of mass murder would involve extreme steps that we are unable or unwilling to take—abolishing the Second Amendment, achieving full employment, restoring our sense of community, and rounding up anyone who looks or acts at all suspicious.  Mass murder just may be a price we must pay for living in a society where personal freedom is so highly valued.  (emphasis added)

    In plain language:  the only potential “cure” would be to impose an all-powerful police state that enforces conformity throughout society and stifles all dissent or eccentricity.  Um, well, thanks – but no thanks.

     

    Author’s Note:  Hat tip to Paul Bedard at the Washington Examiner for his article that pointed me to the Fox and DeLateur study.

  • Karl Twilleager; PTSD made him want to blow up a bar

    Mary sends us the records of one Karl Twilleager who was recently sentenced to five years in prison for plotting to blow up a bar in Washington State because his motorcycle club’s rivals frequented the place. The 66-year-old claims that the year that he spent in Vietnam gave him PTSD and his lawyer wrote in a statement to the judge at sentencing that because of the government’s inability to treat veterans when they return from war, we’re all on the verge of bombing stuff, or something;

    James B. Feldman quoted William M. Dulaney who wrote: “What seems clear is that neither the American government nor society is attending to the effects of war on such individuals. Indeed it appears that no process exists by which combat veterans are able to assume their role as citizens, as people. Because of this lack of structured re-assimilation into American society, certain combat veterans have created over time a culture in which they are accepted as the people they have become. The outlaw motorcycle club structure can be seen as a society built along militaristic, hierarchal lines, a highly ordered, controlled and black and white world in which individuals may understand their role, their identity, their place in society.”

    The Seattle PI writes;

    An Army veteran, Twilleager turned to crime after leaving the military following his service in Vietnam. His attorney contended Twilleager and other veterans found the structure of outlaw biker gangs appealing after life in the military.

    Having been convicted of drug crimes in Oregon, Twilleager was sentenced to 12 years in state prison for a 1993 murder in Grant County. Twilleager shot a man three times, loaded his body into the trunk of a car and dumped the remains on a roadside.

    As a convicted felon, he wasn’t allowed to have guns. He also lacked the required federal permits to possess a short-barrel shotgun or explosives.

    Yes, Twilleager spent a year in Vietnam, here are his records, if you need verification;

    Twilleager FOIA
    Twilleager assignments

    My complaint is that there are thousands of Vietnam veterans and thousands of them belong to motorcycle clubs and they’re not plotting to blow up their rivals or a bar or even an outhouse. I understand that the lawyer needed something to mitigate his client’s bad behavior, but using the blood and minds of millions of veterans to do that is irresponsible.

    I’m not going to judge Twilleager’s time in Vietnam, I wasn’t there and I don’t know if he did anything that would have brought on PTSD. But, that doesn’t give him or his lawyer the right to propagate the crazy vet myth.