CRIME REPORT

BRUTAL KILLER TO BE RELEASED EARLY

Amy Frink's killer due to be freed early | Best Web | StarNewsOnline.com.

Amy Carolina Frink, was 18 when, on June 23, 1994, she was tortured, raped, stabbed and eviscerated in Brunswick County. Her killers left her to bleed to death across the state line in South Carolina, authorities said.

The other man convicted for being an accessory to Frink's murder was set free in 2008. John Paul Counts, 42, was released early from prison for good behavior because he was eligible for the state's Mutual Agreement Parole Program. The program applies to offenders who committed their crimes before Oct. 1, 1994, and were sentenced under the state's Fair Sentencing law.

John Gamble, 46, will be released in less than two weeks after serving since July 17, 2000, on convictions of first-degree murder, rape, kidnapping and accessory-after-the-fact. He was sentenced to a total of 30 years. He has 23 violations on his prison record, including a weapons charge  in 2007.

Hearings put Easley on spot - State - News & Observer

 

 

Hearings put Easley on spot - State - News & Observer.

Federal prosecutors will undoubtedly scour Easley's words and his version of various events related to free flights, a free car, and campaign-paid home repairs that Campbell testified were purposely hidden from the public.

"The matters from this week are probably one slice of the investigative pie," said Kieran Shanahan, a former federal prosecutor and Raleigh lawyer and a Republican. He had a minor client in the hearing, and after watching said he saw nothing that would make prosecutors hesitate.

Easley spoke openly of the federal inquiry in his testimony, talking of isolation from friends and associates to avoid obstructing justice. He said he has been scouring bank accounts in detail, recently cutting a $4,200 check to cover unpaid rent on his son's college housing. At one point, during a break, Easley went five rows deep into the audience and shook the hands of an FBI agent and IRS agent who were taking notes and have been tracking him.

The board's decision to refer its case to a state prosecutor could be folded into the wider range of other issues surrounding Easley that all seem to fit a pattern of accepting favors, at times apparently mixed with government action. Those other concerns include: a job Easley helped create for his wife at N.C. State University; action by his administration to waive violations or possibly speed up permits; and a $137,000 discount he accepted on a coastal lot he purchased.

Some of the same people involved in those issues, such as developer Gary Allen, testified narrowly, and the elections board avoided getting into material outside of campaign finance law.

The election board's inquiry also exposed a top Easley aide, Ruffin Poole, as being involved in fundraising while he was also serving as a key agent for Easley to clear obstacles at various state agencies. Poole, now working at the same law firm as Easley, fought the board's repeated efforts to question him. The case reached the state Court of Appeals, which has said Poole should be required to appear. The board could return to Raleigh to call him as a witness.

Discrediting Campbell

Easley's lawyer, Thomas Hicks, says investigators should focus just as hard on Campbell as they will on Easley. He has sought to discredit Campbell as a witness, relying especially on comments Campbell has made to The News & Observer.

Campbell, for instance, had told The N&O last year that he had been paid by the Easley campaign, writing on Oct. 21, 2008: "When I flew for the Easley campaigns, reimbursement was provided."

At the hearing, he produced a four-page memo and said he hadn't been paid for scores of flights worth more than $100,000.

Elections board member Anita Earls, a lawyer and Democrat from Durham, said the board weighed both "words and actions" in reaching its unanimous conclusion.

"We would not have referred it, obviously, if we didn't think that there was some evidence that McQueen Campbell's version was true," she said.

Anecdotal answers

Easley did not make a major blunder, such as denying something and then having to admit it after a confrontation.

But Easley also testified in a way, familiar to reporters, that he has perfected in 16 years of holding statewide office. Faced with tough questions, Easley has been known to divert discussion to otherareas, or tell an anecdote.

During the hearing, for example, Easley testified he contacted car dealer Robert F. Bleecker this spring to settle up on an SUV that Easley's son had been driving for six years but that the Easley family didn't own or pay for.

Bleecker had testified that he had called Easley and sought payment before then.

Elections chairman Larry Leake asked Easley if Bleecker had been in error.

Easley didn't answer the question: "My recollection is the last time I talked to Mr. Bleecker I was vacuuming out my fireplace and the vacuum cleaner came unhooked and all of the dust started blowing out the back and I had to hang up and we didn't discuss the car at all." It drew chuckles throughout the room.

Much of the testimony covered a central dispute and possible crime involving Easley and Campbell, dealing with two payments from Easley's campaign treasury to Campbell in 2005.

Campbell says that the money covered house repairs he paid for on Easley's home in Raleigh and that Easley suggested he get the money from the campaign.

Related - or not?

Easley says he thought the payments were for flights. He denied taking part in any scheme to avoid paying Campbell for $11,000 in home repairs, including fixing a major water damage problem; records now show Easley also accepted a $5,400 insurance claim for water damage he hadn't paid for.

At one point in his testimony, Easley emphatically told the board members that "these two invoices are totally unrelated, at least in my mind, totally unrelated to anything to do with the house."

But he seems to have contradicted that in his own testimony.

It came when he talked about researching whether he had actually received the insurance payment. He was looking at the accounts this year because investigators were bearing down on him.

Easley told the board he wanted to acknowledge that he had checked and was clear on the fact that he, and no one else, had received the insurance money: "We received the check, and the check was deposited."

Leake: "But you didn't realize that until our investigators, if you will, got involved in making inquiries."

"No," Easley told Leake. "They didn't make any inquiry about that."

Easley then revealed that, in his mind, he actually had connected a Campbell invoice with his home repairs insurance payment.

"I made the inquiry," Easley testified, "when I found out about something I'm sure you are going to ask me about, which would be one of the [campaign flight] invoices."

Easley also testified that, as he went looking, he had hoped that he hadn't received the insurance money and was now willing to give it up.

Sound Familiar?

Police Officer Nick-Tomasito Birco
San Francisco Police Department
California
End of Watch: Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Biographical Info
Age: 39
Tour of Duty: 5 years
Badge Number: 612

Incident Details
Cause of Death: Vehicle pursuit
Date of Incident: Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Weapon Used: Automobile
Suspect Info: Charged with murder

Officer Nick Birco was killed when his patrol car was struck by a van being pursued by officers at the intersection of Cambridge and Felton Streets.

The persons in the van had been involved in an earlier robbery of an individual. The victim had accompanied officers during a search of the van and located it a short distance away. As the officers approached it, the van sped away.

The officers pursued the van until it struck the rear quarter-panel of Officer Birco's patrol car, causing it spin around and strike a utility pole. The van then struck two buildings and crashed. Officer Birco had aborted an attempt to lay down spike strips at the intersection and was moving his patrol car when it was struck.

All four persons were taken into custody. The three occupants of the van were charged with murder, manslaughter, and other charges.

Officer Birco was transported to San Francisco General Hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Officer Birco was a US Marine Corps veteran of the Gulf War. He had served with the San Francisco Police Department for 5 years and was survived by his parents, two sisters, brother-in-law, niece, and two nephews.

Another murderer that fell thru the cracks early on

Anthony Bowen was arrested in 2002 for kidnapping and raping a woman in Pender County. He was given the opportunity to plea to  lesser charges, both misdemeanors. Then while serving his probation in 2004 he was arrested for violating probation in Brunswick County. And instead of being placed in prison he was taken off supervised probation and placed on unsupervised probation as a result of a judges order. 

Anthony Bowen at some point takes up with Tarica Ann Pulliam. Ms. Pulliam was hired September 26, 2006 as a detention officer at the New Hanover County Jail. At the time of her murder she was making over $33,000 a year as a jailer. A jailer or detention officer is not a sworn law enforcement officer, they are not allowed to carry firearms and can not enforce an arrest. 

Tarica Pulliam had a 7 year old daughter. In April 2008 Anthony Bowen accused Ms. Pulliam of cheating and he beat and choked her in front of the child. Bowen is scheduled to appear in court later this month for charges stemming from the April assault. Apparently he was held for a while in the county jail where Pulliam worked, then bonded out. 

Pulliam  got a domestic violence order of protection and was shot multiple times as she left an apartment and began to make her way to work at 5:15 this morning. It is unclear where the child was at this time or whose apartment it was she was leaving.

FIREHOUSE SCANDAL

 Firefighter Jeff Curran of the  New Hanover County Fire Department Station 51 said he saw a male and female firefighter engaging in a sex act out in the open.

He reported what he saw to the county department's chief and operations manager and was fired for it.

Had Curran seen and reported an act of oral sex, he was reporting a crime, a felony crime.

Section 14-177 of the NC General Statutes states, "If any person shall commit the crime against nature, with mankind or beast, he shall be punished as a Class I felon."  The NC courts' interpretation of the crime against nature law (abbreviated as "CAN" law) is that it is illegal for a person to engage in oral or anal sex with any other person even if this activity occurs in private, between two consenting adults.[1] The crime is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and/or a discretionary fine.

If all Curran witnessed was a "straight" sex act then he witnessed and reported a crime of indecent exposure and public sex act. 

NCGS 14-190.9 (c) states:

(c) Any person who shall engage in sexual intercourse, masturbation or a sex act

as defined in N.C.G.S. 27.1(4) in any public place and in the presence of any

other persons or persons or aids or abets in any such act, or who procures

another to perform such act; or any person, who as owner, manager, lessee,

director, promoter or agent, or in any other capacity knowingly hires, leases

or permits the land, building, or premises of which he is owner, lessee or

tenant, or over which he has control, to be used for purposes of any such act,

shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. It shall not be a defense that the

persons engaging in such acts shall be married to one another or otherwise

entitled under the laws or Constitution of the United States of this state to

engage in sexual relations in private non-public setting.

KILLA

Obama's Victim

What's all the hub-bub about? Why is this TV ad being banned? Racist attack ad?

I believe it to be a legitimate question. Should we be killing killers?

Why not answer the question?

Police believe there was more than one killer and said they are following up a host of leads and have not ruled out any motive, including whether the slayings might have been gang-related.

"The bottom line is we need the community's help," said Deputy Superintendent Steven Peterson.
Investigators believe all the victims, in their 20s or teens, knew one another. Their bodies were all found on the main level.

The slayings came to light Wednesday afternoon when a woman trying to visit the house found the bodies. There were signs of forced entry, police said.

The killings come at a time of heightened concern in the city about a recent spate of gun violence. The five deaths brought to 15 the number of people who have been shot to death in Chicago in less than a week.
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley said he plans to meet Friday with more than two dozen officials from religious groups, police, schools and social service agencies to talk about what's causing the violence and how to stop it.

SOME JUSTICE

Headlines in America after the arrest of 7 Marines and one Navy corpsman said, "Iraqis accuse soldiers of kidnapping and murdering civilian Iraqi."

All parties to the case of Hashim Ibrahim Awad al-Zobaie agree that he was shot dead by Marines of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment on April 26 in the small central Iraqi village of Hamdaniyah. But there are differing accounts of his death, and they are at the heart of another investigation into the conduct of American forces in Iraq.

Members of the Marine foot patrol under investigation in the case said they came upon Hashim digging a hole for a bomb near his home in the Sunni Arab village of about 30 homes near Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad. The Marines said they killed Hashim in a brief gun battle and that they found an AK-47 assault rifle and a shovel by his side.

THEN THE TRIAL BEGAN

“A Navy corpsman testified that Marines in his patrol seized an Iraqi civilian from his home, threw him into a hole and put at least 10 bullets in his head and chest after growing frustrated in their search for an insurgent. Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos said he saw a Marine put fingerprints from the victim onto a rifle and on a shovel to implicate him as an insurgent. ‘I was shocked and I felt sick to my stomach,’ Bacos said. Bacos, a medic who had been on patrol with the squad, was charged along with seven Marines in the slaying of Hashim Ibrahim Awad last spring in the town of Hamdania.

HADITHA

In the Haditha cases, where enlisted Marines are charged with murder, defense attorneys assert their clients were following the rules of engagement when they shot 24 Iraqi civilians, including women and children, minutes after a fellow Marine was killed by a roadside bomb in November 2005. Five were pulled from a taxi and killed, and 19 were killed in three nearby houses.

The military officer overseeing the case against a U.S. Marine charged with murder in the November 2005 killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha has recommended in July that the charges be dropped.

Lt. Col. Paul Ware, who heard evidence against Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt during a five-day hearing in June, made the recommendation in an 18-page report to Lt. Gen. James Mattis released late on Tuesday.

Mattis, the top commander of the Marines fighting in Iraq, will decide whether or not Sharratt must proceed to court-martial, the military version of a trial.

"Whether this was a brave act of combat against the enemy or tragedy of misperception born out of conducting combat with an enemy that hides among innocents, Lance Cpl. Sharratt's actions were in accord with the rules of engagement and use of force," Ware said in the recommendation.

PANTANO

These killings occurred on April 15, 2004, near Mahmudiyah, as Lieutenant Pantano led a platoon to search a house suspected of being an insurgent lair. When the marines approached, two men left in a white sedan, according to testimony at the hearing, but were stopped on Lieutenant Pantano's order. No weapons were found on the men, who were handcuffed as a Navy corpsman checked their car for weapons. When he was told that weapons and other contraband were found inside the house, Lieutenant Pantano ordered the men unhandcuffed and then directed them to search their car themselves.

Lieutenant Pantano supervised while the corpsman, George Gobles, and a Marine sergeant, Daniel Coburn, stood facing away as sentries. Lieutenant Pantano said that the men made a threatening move toward him after repeatedly talking with each other in Arabic and that he fired, emptying his M-16 rifle's magazine. He reloaded and emptied the second one, a total of as many as 50 bullets.

He acknowledged placing a hand-scrawled cardboard sign reading "No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy" atop the car, against which the bodies lay. The sign and the number of rounds fired, according to lieutenant Pantano's statement, were meant to send a message to other Iraqis about what happens to those who join insurgents.

The sign and its placement resulted in a formal accusation of desecration, in addition to the two accusations of premeditated murder.

The officer who conducted Pantano's hearing, Lt. Col. Mark E. Winn, recommended in a report to General Huck that criminal charges were not warranted, but sharply criticized Lieutenant Pantano's decision to have the car stopped and to focus so closely on the two men to begin with. Colonel Winn recommended nonjudicial discipline, because the sign and the number of rounds fired were in his opinion unwarranted and excessive. Lieutenant Edwards said, however, that General Huck would not issue any nonjudicial punishment.

MURDER OF HASHIM IBRAHIM AWAD- al ZOBAIE

Hutchins is one of seven U.S. Marines and one U.S. sailor with the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, charged in the April 26, 2006, killing of the Iraqi in Hamdania.

Five members of the squad, including the Navy medic, pled guilty to lesser charges in connection with the shooting. A military jury convicted a sixth member, team leader Cpl. Trent Thomas, of conspiracy and kidnapping and sentenced him to reduction to private, forfeiture of all military pay and benefits and a bad-conduct discharge.

A separate military jury on Wednesday found Cpl. Marshall Magincalda guilty of larceny and housebreaking as well as conspiracy to murder.

The jury will now begin considering his sentence.

REWARDS OF KEEPING QUIET

People sometimes get overrun when the shit hits the fan. Panic hits and effects personal judgment and the hanger-on's, lookie-lous and stress junkies pile on top of you offering advice and sympathy when all they actually want is a front row seat to the train wreck, or money. It takes a firm sense of self confidence to handle that storm and to wade your way through it, intact. Not many can do it, Chris Long never really tried.

I have worked in enough situations to know when someone gets steamrolled and when someone looses control of their own situation.

The best and most popular way to deal with the feeling of being overwhelmed is to let someone else tell you what to do. Sit back and just deal with the "me" issues.

In Chris Long's case it is let his father take over. Let Mike McGuinness take over. Let his pastor take over. Chris Long had so many people pulling at him he missed his real opportunity to be a stand up guy and take his medicine like a man.

Now I can understand the desire to avoid conflict. I am a professional pain dodger. But this is something inherently different. This is the taking of a life. Job or no job a life was taken, an innocent life. Chris Long knows that. All cops know that.

How many times have we seen suspects get "lawyered up" when they can afford to do so? How many mothers, fathers, preachers stand in front of microphones to defend and protect a defendant? But what do real men do? If it was a mistake they admit it, in humility. They don't fear civil suits, suspended sentences, misdemeanor convictions. They say, I'm sorry and mean it.

Of course it is extremely possible that Long may have been legally within his rights to have killed the unarmed 18 year old, Peyton Strickland. The latest Grand Jury said he was. But what gets me is that Long purports himself to be a Christian and a family man with children of his own. How then can he not do the right thing and say "I'm sorry!"?

Long froze up under the pressure and the worldwind took him and his sensibility and blew it into the laps of his counsel. And because of a perverse sense of loyalty and obedience Long submitted and was advised to keep his mouth shut, sign on the dotted line and don't question the direction and strategy that would turn his life into a living hell because they pumped fear into him to get him to cooperate. Afterwards, they assured him, it would all be worth it.

Sure Chris Long escaped what would most likely have been a conviction of involuntary manslaughter for his killing of Peyton Strickland. Sure by his keeping his mouth shut about not only his actions but the actions of those who sent him to the door that night, Long has successfully worked to have saved the sheriff and the county money by letting the system work and by being obedient patsy, the fall guy.

Don't you know his heart aches? I mean his spokesman did say that Long fell down in the yard of 533 Long Leaf Acres Drive and cry out to Jesus, and yes I do know that Deputy Long did not write that in his affidavit filed with the court that was supposedly used as a script in his discussions with the Grand Jury but someone thought by saying such a thing about Long that people would believe it so there must be some truth to it right? Heart aches or not I am sure he has placed a good deal of his guilty conscious to rest as he puts in his 70 hours every week at his new business enterprise he shares with his father. In February, Chris Long's father, Harry Long started Southside Chrome at 6132 Carolina Beach Rd. which I believe is one of those places that you see on those "pimp your ride" TV shows by making things on your motorcycle or car shine like "bling-bling". I'm sure they will be very successful pimping up stuff.

It's not impossible to repent publicly. To say you are sorry for damaging the faith and trust built up by dedicated officers who have fought hard to counter the majority of the public's perception that law enforcement officers all stick together behind the "blue line" and lie, cheat and kill knowing they have a privileged fraternal immunity.

A real man will admit his mistake and say he is sorry. When Arkansas State Police Trooper Larry Norman shot and killed Joseph Erin Hamley last year in a case of mistaken identity he took full responsibility. A judge this month sentenced him to 90 days in the county jail, 30 days of community service, a $1,000 fine and a year's probation.

His lawyer, John Everett, asked him why he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor negligent homicide in the death.

"I made a mistake, and I try to take responsibility for my mistakes and teach my children the same," he replied.

Our number on the show is 910-332-6390, we are on from noon till two. If you want to get something off your chest Mr. Long we would encourage you to call in this Saturday.

I sat behind the parents of Chris Long, while we all awaited the deliberation of the Grand Jury, his mother sobbed for 30 minutes straight as Harry Long, the father patted her shoulder. But I noticed Mr. Harry Long was hard and unemotional, even looked angry when Chris Long couldn't control himself immediately after the words, "No Bill" were uttered by Judge Beale. I imagine Long to be more like his mother, and that's a good thing. She knows Chris should say he is sorry. Give us a call, aproximately 16,000 people will hear you say it and I doubt you will ever have to say it again. 332-6390.

FATHERS & SONS

I know the love a father has for his son. I feel it every single day I breathe. I know what it is like to treasure the memories and moments kept in frozen animation on Kodak paper. To touch them is to feel the moment suspended, captured. A walk, a first walk, blowing out birthday candles and tickled pink Cheshire grins. I can go back and see the eyes of spark and flame and project my own desires, wishes, dreams and hopes of a passionate life, fruitful and full of rich ambitions. I know the love of a father for his son is kept in a box, the first thing saved when all looks lost. I know the love of a father and son, one for another it lives under your coat, held close, squeezed so tightly you never miss a beat. I know what love a father has for his son, only though for this past 15 months.

I saw Don Strickland carry this box of evidence with him as he entered the Grand Jury room to testify to the spirit and nature of his 18 year old son whose blood was shed by what the court of justice said was an act of self defense. The killer of this son, our son of primal communal parenting, is said to have felt his life in dangerous peril as he studied and watched in slow motion the son make his way forward. Deputy Chris Long watched over the top of a .45 caliber fully automatic submachine gun, watched through a window set in the front door as his target moved through the light as if the son were a hologram inching his way. Chris Long, Deputy Chris Long was doing what he was instructed to do, even if it was to kill the loved son of a father now holding tightly to a box until he can join in rhythm and sync to a familiar heart beat, feel a smile begin, and touch the taste of a spirit which roams free inches from his grasp. A box exactly like each of us who love our sons carry always and close, a box we open expecting others to capture the life contained within. A box, this slain son's father's box was placed in front of 18 human beings, at least 12 of which saw only that it had two bullet holes in it, nothing inside. They then made a judgement based upon what they think they saw or were told what they saw. A hologram. A target. A suspect. A threat.

Mr. and Mrs. Strickland meet my son Ben. There are a lot of us out here who know or are getting to know Peyton, your son, and Ben will be another.

THEY DID IT

One look at the December press conference seating and it was evident that Sid Causey was having nothing to do with the prosecution of his man Chris Long. You could fit a suitcase full of ill-gotten proceeds from Tampa between them and maybe have room left over for sack of raffle tickets. Causey who said he would take the heat should anything come down because of the shooting had just earlier fired the triggerman who was soon to be formally charged with Second Degree Murder. Body Language tells me Causey can't stand the heat. No wonder Causey often times complaints about his back.

Body Language. Causey has attempted to distance himself from Long by dumping money in Chris Long's lap and encouraging others to follow suit. Deputy Chris Long is a witness, potentially a witness against Causey and those supporting him and his family after he was fired.

Body language tells me differently.

Intimidation or interference by giving gifts, money and support to a government witness is a serious violation of the law. Article 30 14-226 is a Class H Felony.

I noticed the body language of triggerman Chris Long today as he made his way into court. He was anything but comfortable.

When the Grand Jury Foreman released the Jury members without the Judge's permission and perhaps more importantly without the Judge's instructions I noticed the entire court's body language.

Interesting how a body can betray a lie and illuminate the truth. For instance Peyton Strickland's body, tells us that he was shot thru an unopened door. That he was close enough to the door to have gunshot residue and glass particles imbedded in his chest. His body would also show that he was not drunk or under the influence of any drug. He held no weapon. And that he died facing his killer.

Body language convicts us all. Ben David knew back in December that Chris Long had committed a crime, Sid Causey knew it, and paranoid Chris Long's body hasn't stopped talking since he knelt down in the yard of 533 Long Leaf Acres Drive on the Friday evening of December the first.

When Marc met with Peyton Strickland's father the following morning in front of Peyton's house, Don Strickland said, "They murdered my son". Judging by the way Mr. Donald Strickland held his body erect and steady left little doubt that Peyton's dad knew the truth. They murdered his son. They did. They!