Free Republic

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - A crime watchdog raises concerns about the snowball effect of crime, after Wednesday’s murder of a man who was out on bond, in spite of two second-degree murder charges pending against him. Hollis Carter was killed in Gentilly, after his arrest for the murders of an Edna Karr High School student and his sister last March. 21-year-old Carter was shot to death Wednesday morning in front of a place that has trained dozens of ministers. “When they heard it everybody turned and they saw a gentleman standing out with his rifle pointing in the car,” said...

Imagine if you caught a man molesting your five-year-old daughter. Or if you discovered that a man was pimping out your 17-year-old daughter. What would you do? When a 23-year-old Texas father heard his little girl crying behind a barn, when he saw her being sexually violated by Jesus Mora Flores, he beat the deviant to death. And when San Francisco parents Barry Gilton and Lupe Mercado were unable to rescue their teen daughter from her pimp, Calvin Sneed, by peaceable means, they shot and killed him. Both the Texas dad and parents Gilton and Mercado were accused of taking...

A school-cafeteria lunch lady and her husband have received hate mail, unwanted visits from reporters and fearful inquiries from neighbors — all because their Sanford-area address is being disseminated on Twitter as belonging to Trayvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman, her son said late Tuesday. The woman, 70, who has a heart condition, and her husband, 72, have temporarily moved to a hotel to avoid the spotlight and possible danger, said son Chip Humble of Longwood. The woman has another son named William George Zimmerman who lived with her in 1995 and still lives in Central Florida. He is no relation...

THREE vigilante attackers who beat up a sex offender have been jailed. Joseph Milton, who served a prison sentence for a sexual offence in his past, was jumped on from behind then kicked in the face and head as he made his way to his flat at Beach Road, South Shields. After the assault, which left Mr Milton with bruising and scrapes to his arms, shoulders and torso, a bloodshot eye and a loose tooth, taunts and threats such as "rapist, we are going to burn you out" were shouted up at his window. Mr Milton's partner Anne Pinkney was...

Don’t smoke ’em if you’ve got ’em. That was the message as owners of bars, restaurants and other public establishments across the state were telling cigarette-smoking patrons they would be sent packing if they lit up. In November, Arizona residents voted to approve Proposition 201, which banned smoking in most public places, including bars, gaming halls, billiards halls, bowling alleys and other public areas. Although some restaurateurs, bartenders and customers were angry about the new rules that took effect Tuesday, most said customers were compliant. “It’s stupid, stupid, stupid! That’s what I say,” said Kimberly Joseph, a resident of the...

The disciplinary arm of the N.C. State Bar dropped charges of felonious misconduct against two former Union County prosecutors Friday because of a 1999 clerical error at the state Supreme Court. The State Bar had charged Kenneth Honeycutt and Scott Brewer with lying, cheating and withholding evidence in a 1996 death penalty case. The ruling Friday marks the second time that Honeycutt and Brewer won on procedural grounds before the bar's Disciplinary Hearing Commission, which sits as judge and jury in disciplinary cases. . . . Prosecutors around the state are concerned that the case is damaging their reputation and...

On Saturday morning, the 73-year-old convicted paedophile Arnold Hartley was beaten to death in his house in Redcar. Police suspect it was the result of a vigilante assault - the sort of attack Hartley had been subjected to for years. Esther Addley asks his neighbours and acquaintances if they believe he was a victim - or whether he got what he deserved By early evening yesterday, as the black, dirty rain battering the small Teesside town of Redcar ushered in an even blacker, dirtier night, the phone lines in the incident room at the local police station had rung precisely...

<p>Former priest John Geoghan, a notorious pedophile whose case sparked the clergy molestation scandal of the past 18 months, died this afternoon after being attacked at the state prison in Shirley.</p> <p>The matter has been referred to the Middlesex County District Attorney Martha Coakley's office.</p> <p>Geoghan was serving a nine-to-10 year sentence at MCI Shirley for allegedly groping a boy at a Waltham swimming pool.</p> <p>More than 140 people have claimed they were abused by Geoghan, claiming they were fondled or raped at locations ranging from church rectories to their own homes.</p>