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By now, everyone knows of the sad end to the search for Annie Le.  Her body was discovered earlier this week in the walls of a Yale campus research building.  Many hoped her disappearance would lead to her safe return to her family and fiancé.  The 24 year old went missing a week ago,  and less than seven days before her wedding was to take place.

An arrest was made on Wednesday.  Raymond Clark, III, a custodian on Yale’s payroll, has been charged with murder.  Unlike other well-publicized American homicide cases, the authorities involved with this case have remained tight-lipped.  In a peculiar statement that was released by police that reads, in part, “…charges will be filed against anyone whose DNA matches evidence found at the crime scene”, it almost appears as though there might be other persons of interest.  Still, these same authorities insist they’re nearly certain Clark is the only suspect.

The irony is that Clark is described as a control freak who complained to the victim that he didn’t like the way she handled the lab mice.  His duties included cleaning cages and other custodial work.  In an email that hasn’t been released, it’s said Le apologized and assured Clark she would take his complaints into consideration.  If he’s found guilty, his control issues will only serve as a hindrance as he attempts to adjust to life in prison.  He didn’t enter a plea during his arraignment in Connecticut on Thursday and only replied when the judge asked him if he understood his Miranda rights.  He remains in jail on a $3 million dollar bond and will most likely remain there since he doesn’t have the financial resources to meet the obligations of posting bail.

The police chief in this case stated this case had little to do with university crime, domestic crime or urban crime, but rather it’s a clear cut example of workplace violence.  He then goes on to say it’s a growing concern in this country.

Just as Le had a fiancé who now must pick up the pieces, Clark too has left behind a stunned fiancé who surely must be trying to figure out how someone she loves could be accused of such a heinous crime.

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Saturday marks the 35^th anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s resignation.  On August 8, 1974, after having denied any involvement in the infamous Watergate scandal, and under pressure from nearly every politician in Washington, Richard Milhous Nixon officially became the first president in United States History to resign from the highest office in the country.  Gerald Ford was sworn in the next day to take over the role of US President.

The Watergate Scandal had already begun to taint the waters during the 1972 presidential elections; still, Nixon was re-elected in a landslide against his Democrat opponent, Senator George McGovern of South Dakota.  By this time, five men had already been arrested in the middle of the night for their attempts to break into the DNC headquarters at Watergate Hotel in D.C., a large sum of money in the form of a campaign check for Nixon appeared in the bank account of one of the burglars and the FBI had already determined the attempted break-in was a result of a large spy and sabotage effort ordered by Nixon.  The American public either didn’t care or didn’t believe the accusations that were beginning to surface.

Among other illegal activities, the office of a psychiatrist, who had been providing counseling services to a former defense analyst, Daniel Ellsberg, was burglarized and his confidential medical records stolen.  Ellsberg was the first one who leaked the scandal that would eventually and permanently taint politics.

In an address in November, 1973, President Nixon announced to the American public, “I’m not a crook” and once again reiterated his innocence.  Still, he chose to resign nine months later.  After President Ford assumed the role of president, he pardoned Nixon of all charges relating to the Watergate case.  In his announcement, he said, “… I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from July 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974.”; and in one fell swoop, the former president was absolved.

Former President Nixon died in April, 1994.

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Mississippi  is a beautiful state, no doubt.  It offers a slower-paced life, complete with everything others associate with southern living: sweet tea, too-hot summers and mosquitoes that you swear are on steroids.  Still, for so many who were born and raised in the Magnolia State, to even consider somewhere else home would feel like a betrayal.

Unless, of course, you’re one of the scandalous legal minds who are now calling a federal prison home.  In a post a year ago, Dickie Scruggs had just been sentenced to five years in federal prison for bribery and other crimes.  Today revealed yet another player in this convoluted scheme who’s anticipating a portion of his own life being spent behind bars.  Hinds County Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter pleaded guilty to a federal charge of obstruction of justice.  It all stems from former Pascagoula attorney Dickie Scruggs receiving an unfair advantage in a case that went before DeLaughter where millions of dollars were at stake.  Scruggs, along with Joey Langston, another Mississippi attorney, teamed up with a former Hinds County, MS district attorney who was also once DeLaughter’s boss.  Ed Peters agreed to approach DeLaughter on Scruggs’ behalf and promise him an appointment to the federal courts if he would rule in favor of Scruggs.  Former Senator Trent Lott (R-MS) is Scruggs’s brother-in-law and his name was used in the negotiations.  It should be noted Senator Lott played no role in this and was not aware of his name being used to further another’s career.  Lott recommended another candidate for that position.

The case before DeLaughter was between Scruggs and his former partner, William Roberts Wilson, Jr.  Wilson claimed Scruggs stole money the two earned in the multi-million dollar asbestos lawsuits.  He further accused Scruggs of using the stolen money to finance the historical tobacco lawsuits that resulted in new laws being written across the country.  Although Wilson had a solid case, it did no good and DeLaughter ruled in Scruggs’s behalf. 

He was charged last year and has been on administrative leave with pay, which is more than $104,000.00 per year.  That all changed this week and he’s now facing up to twenty years in prison.

If the name Bobby DeLaughter sounds familiar, it’s likely because he was the prosecutor who was responsible for ensuring Byron De La Beckwith was finally held responsible for the 1963 murder of NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers.  In the film “Ghosts of Mississippi”, Alec Baldwin portrayed him.

Governor Haley Barbour is now in the process of appointing another to serve out the remainder of DeLaughter’s term.

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Ft. Myers Beach, FL has a storm brewing - and it’s not a hurricane.  The city chose to take advantage of a clause in the contracts all city leaders must sign and release its town manager “without cause”.  Sounds simple enough, except the city did give cause and that cause is what has many wondering if a lawsuit isn’t looming.

The town manager, Scott Janke, was ousted by the town council because he’s married to a porn star.  Although some may find that distasteful, the fact is, he hasn’t broken the law.  By a vote of 5-0, the council made what it’s referring to as a “judgment” call and released what the citizens say was an excellent manager.  In fact, even the town council says he’s been a good manager; but can no longer be “effective” and his choice in a spouse is sure to cause disruption should he continue in his current role.   Perhaps the disruption is of their own making, despite the mayor’s declaration of the media attention being proof of their predictions.  In fact, none of us would have ever heard of Scott Janke had this town council decided to “live and let live”.  After all, they’ve been married for over a year.

Mayor Larry Kiker says he considers the Jankes’ his friends and noted he gave Janke the courtesy of a phone call prior to the meeting, however, did not invite him to attend.  One council member said Janke’s wife’s profession brought an “inaccurate” image to the area.  It’s important to note she lived in this area for an extended amount of time prior to marrying Janke and there were no concerns of inaccurate images then.

Janke is expected to receive a severance package, worth about $50,000, along with continued health benefits.

Kiker says there are “possibly no legal ramifications” involved with the council’s decision and that they had to decide what was in the best interest of the town.  Perhaps the town’s best interests are served by a group of leaders who aren’t so judgmental and who make decisions only when they’re certain there are no legal ramifications.

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New Jersey just passed a law, slated to take affect January 1, 2010, that allows people who’ve lied in murder trials to no longer have the luxury of a statute of limitations to protect them should they get caught.  Currently, there are three states that have similar laws, including Arizona, Florida and Pennsylvania.  One of the state’s representatives, Renny Cushing (NH-D), said, “It’s one thing if you give false information about somebody stealing a bike, it’s another thing if you give false information about somebody stealing somebody’s life.”  This Senate bill passed unanimously.

With the advances of DNA, it’s become easier to identify those who’ve committed crimes, thereby ensuring the ease in identifying those who provide false alibis or other untrue information to law enforcement.  The punishments will vary depending on one’s involvement of a murder, but the potential for jail time is great.  Law enforcement is hoping it will serve as a deterrent for those who might consider lying or provide alibis to those suspected of killing another.  Further, when enough evidence isn’t available for a murder conviction but law enforcement finds evidence that proves the suspect tampered with evidence, the law will allow for tougher sentences.

Currently, the crimes that qualify for the death penalty in New Jersey are first degree murder, being a leader of a narcotics/drug trafficking network that ordered a murder or murder committed through the commission of a terroristic attack.  Further, the death penalty isn’t applicable to anyone under the age of 18, regardless of his crime.

Renny Cushing is the founder and Executive Director of Murder Victims’ Families.  His father was murdered in 1988 by two shotgun blasts by a neighbor.  He’s also responsible for New Hampshire’s Victims Bill of Rights law, passed in 2001.

As mentioned, there are only a few states with similar laws; however, other states are expected to follow suit in the near future.

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Thursday marks the thirty year anniversary of Jeffrey MacDonald’s conviction for murdering his wife and two daughters.  In 1970, an army doctor phoned 911 to report intruders had broken into his home and stabbed his entire family.  Though injured, the lone survivor was MacDonald.  Investigators immediately became suspicious since his story simply didn’t match the evidence. Causing further doubt in minds was a copy of that week’s Esquire magazine that featured the Tate murders and Charles Manson on its cover.  Since the MacDonald home had similar details, such as writing on the wall in blood, investigators believed it was an attempt to confuse authorities and another way for MacDonald to cover a crime he was already under suspicion of committing.

MacDonald was also a captain and a doctor in the U.S. Army.  Military hearings were held with no court martial and MacDonald was eventually honorably discharged.  His behavior then was similar to the Drew Peterson mindset that dominated nightly news programs in recent months.  He began a campaign that included several televised interviews, each one ending with MacDonald declaring his innocence and reminding the public that he was the victim; the one who had to now live without his family.  He even hired a writer to pen his autobiography as an attempt to convince that same public he could never kill his wife and two daughters.  Unfortunately, his chosen ghostwriter, Joe McGinnis, didn’t produce the final product MacDonald would’ve hoped for.  In fact, McGinnis decided, along with the majority of others in the legal and law enforcement fields, he was guilty and didn’t hold back his opinions in the best-selling book that emerged as a result of his own investigation.

Meanwhile, civilian authorities were moving forward in their own investigation and finally, after nearly a decade, police and the district attorney felt they had enough to take MacDonald to trial and on July 16, 1979, Jeffrey MacDonald was convicted of murdering his wife and two daughters.  Over the years, he exhausted all of his appeals and his lawyers say he won’t again be eligible for parole until 2020.  He’ll be nearing eighty, if, of course, he’s still living.

There are thousands of people who believe MacDonald is innocent.  Proof of that is the number of websites devoted to that theory.  Still, there are just as many, if not more, that exist as a reminder of the three people who didn’t survive due to the one man who was supposed to protect them.

A New York woman, Margery Tannenbaum, was re-arrested today for further charges due to her posting a Craigslist ad under the guise of her nine year old daughter’s rival that said, “I need a little affection”.  Of course, this resulted in a number of phones being made to the child of those who stood ready to provide this perverted affection.

Her lawyer declined to comment on the specifics of the case, but said that his client is a good person.  In the meantime, another mother across town is surely living in fear of the phone ringing and probably taking monumental efforts to protect her little girl.  Tannenbaum pleaded not guilty when she stood before a judge in May and once again today when she was charged with child endangerment.  She was released without having to post bail.

In a world where kids go missing every day, many of whom are featured on nightly news programs, to purposely place an electronic ad simply because of a rivalry between nine year olds is unthinkable.  Whether or not this woman did it, the ad exists and someone had to have placed it - and it certainly wasn’t the child.  Because the two families happen to be neighbors, it’s doubtful there’ll be a block party this Fourth of July.

Now for the kicker - Tannenbaum was once a social worker and is a licensed psychologist.

The family who was the target of this Craigslist campaign has said that at no time did their daughter answer any of the incoming calls from the twenty-plus men who answered the ad.  Tannenbaum apparently used her own email address and then replied to those interested with the family’s phone number.

This comes on the same day another meddling mother was in the headlines.  This time, the cyberbullying mom, Lori Drew, who relentlessly harassed a young girl on MySpace had her conviction thrown out by a federal judge.  This woman’s hoaxes are what many say led to a 13 year old girl’s suicide.  For now, she’s no longer facing a prison sentence of up to three years nor a $300,000 fine, which her lawyer argued was excessive considering her convictions were misdemeanors.

It was this week in 1972 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled capital punishment was both cruel and unusual, especially due to some states’ “capricious and arbitrary” ways of employing the death penalty.  The Court ruled race placed too large a role in determining who lived or died.  It didn’t stop there, however.  The Court recommended new legislation be instituted so that the death penalty might become constitutional again and went on to say legislation should directly address racial problems regarding capital punishment and that new guidelines should be put into place.  This, of course, wasn’t what opponents of the death penalty wanted, but for many, it was a start.

Then, in 1976, a substantial new study revealed over 65% of Americans not only supported the death penalty, but wanted it made constitutional again.  The Supreme Court heard the majority loud and clear and after having been satisfied of the changes it had strongly encouraged some four years earlier, the death penalty was once again deemed constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Interestingly, the first execution only a year later was commissioned via the firing squad.  Gary Gilmore, a Utah killer, faced the squad and in a split second, his life was over.  Still, many groups, including Death Penalty Focus, a group committed to abolishing the death penalty once and for all, insist racism is still too big a priority of those deciding the lives of others.   Further, it also reiterates the many who were convicted and executed, only to be found innocent later due to DNA or other evidence not available prior to the execution.  Currently, nearly 130 people across the country who were facing execution dates have been found innocent and not only taken off death row, but released from prison completely exonerated.  To date, there are over 3,300 prisoners who are on death row awaiting conviction.

It becomes difficult to reconcile those who adamantly insist the system is racist, especially since almost 45% of those currently on death row are white.  African Americans follow with slightly less than 42% of the total death row population, followed by Latinos (11.3%), Native Americans (1.10%) and Asian (1.10%).

With so much crime in today’s headlines, each story more evil than the one before, the odds of the death penalty being deemed unconstitutional again in the near future are practically nil.

A story came out last week about a teen who was suing a tattoo artist for inking over 50 small stars on her face.  Kimberley Vlaeminck, who’s eighteen, says she requested only three small stars be tattooed to her face and that she fell asleep as the artist proceeded to work his magic.  Okay - that’s the first red flag.  As one who had a couple rebellious moments in her youth and is now the proud owner of a small cowboy hat on her ankle, I can tell you no one sleeps through it - especially when the needle is all over the face area.  Granted, it’s not unbearable, but it’s not comfortable either.  I’m not sure anyone believed that, except for maybe the girl’s father who happened to be furious when he saw his daughter post-tattoo.

The girl said she lied because her father was more than a little upset and felt she was going to be in big trouble if she owned up to it.  I doubt she anticipated international interest along with her face being plastered all over the world via the internet.  Unfortunately, she’s also risked the reputation of the tattoo artist who was only doing what was requested of him.  She chose to walk ten miles to tell a lie when two

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steps for the truth would’ve more than sufficed.  Either way, her father was bound to be upset.  I think it’s fair to say any young girl’s father would be upset upon discovering his little girl is now adorned with a tattoo (again, I know from experience).

So now this young woman has in essence gone from one threatening to sue to one who’s now at risk of being sued for the possible damage to the reputation of the tattoo artist.  My guess is he will surely be researching what legal remedies are available to reestablish his reputation, whether they’re civil or possibly even criminal remedies.

As bad it must have been to reveal her new look to her father, I’m wondering how exactly she’s going to explain these stars on a first date.  Surely it’s going to be distracting to look in her eyes over the dinner table when one’s so distracted by the stars that surround them.

A new study released earlier this month revealed that 60% of bankruptcies are filed due to overwhelming medical bills.  What’s incredible is that of those bankruptcies 75% of the filers have health insurance!  This revelation speaks volumes to those who insist the insurance industry needs no overhaul.   Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School and Ohio University participated in this report and the results were published in the American Journal of Medicine.  Dr. David Himmelstein, an advocate of a U.S. insurance overhaul and a member of the Harvard Medical School staff says that those of us without a bank account to rival Warren Buffet are only “a serious illness away from bankruptcy”.  He goes so far to say that health insurance offers little, if any, protection for middle-class America.

Other findings in this study include:

• The proposals that are now being considered by the Obama White House will not likely help a vast majority of Americans.
• Expanding private insurance won’t prevent financial catastrophe for hundreds of thousands of Americans.
• Of the 170 million Americans who have health insurance through their employers, many will find themselves with none by year’s end due to employers cutting their own costs.
• 25% of all insurance companies cancel coverage immediately after a disabling illness occurs and is filed, another 25% do so within the twelve months following the claim.

No one is immune from bankruptcy, either.  The study found that most were educated, owned their homes and had successful careers.  Further, the numbers reflect a 50% increase from bankruptcies filed in 2001. 

For many who were asked to pay thousands of dollars after the insurance paid, such as those with injuries or who were diagnosed with Diabetes or other illnesses, the payments were just too much.  Many hospitals and physicians asked patients to make payments that rivaled their automobile or in some instances, those that surpassed even the patient’s mortgage payments.

President Obama continues to work on solutions to the ever-deepening concerns and fears for health care in this country.  Until these problems are met head on and with a consistent solution across the board that will address insurance, bankruptcies and job losses, these numbers won’t be declining.