Free Republic

The state judge who on Monday set a $20,000 bail for five defendants arrested at a remote New Mexico compound where authorities say children were being trained to conduct school shootings has a history of issuing low bail to violent offenders. Judge Sarah Backus, an elected Democrat, ordered the two men and three women to wear ankle monitors, have weekly contact with their attorneys and not consume alcohol or own firearms while on bail. She said although she was concerned by “troubling facts,” prosecutors failed to articulate any specific threats to the community.

At the link is a very cool slide show of pictures from the funeral of Officer Kerrie Orozco from yesterday. http://odc.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=5002&p=5978

A family dispute at Beach Place on Wednesday afternoon ended with a man fatally shooting his sister and then turning the gun on himself as they stood next to their mother, police said. Juan Alicea Orozco, 23, of Fort Lauderdale, died shortly afterward at Broward General Medical Center. His sister, Jesnishia Alicea Orozco, 25, of Oakland Park, died that evening at the same hospital. Their mother was not injured, police said.

– Los Angeles County's sheriff yesterday said the killing of a deputy during a gang investigation shows that gang violence in Southern California is out of control. "This is barbarism. This is ignorance. This is something that doesn't fit the human dignity," Sheriff Lee Baca said at a news conference. He also criticized "incompetent families that don't know what to do with their errant children." Baca called on state and local officials to provide more funding for anti-gang efforts, both by law enforcement and through social efforts such as providing better education and job opportunities to disadvantaged youthOrozco, who was...

Border incident interests citizens' group By Louie Villalobos, Staff Writer Aug 12, 2003 Using the Yuma case of two men arrested for allegedly holding illegal immigrants at gunpoint as its coming-out party, a newly formed citizens' group is promising to sue two Yuma County departments and come to Arizona with an "army" ready to patrol the Mexican border. Keith French, spokesman for the newly incorporated U.S. Special Service, said his Missouri-based organization intends to sue the Yuma County Sheriff's Office and the Yuma County Attorney's Office for what he called the unlawful arrest and detention of Matthew Hoffman and Alexander...