Free Republic

Twenty years after he was convicted of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, Scott Peterson has a new ally in his fight to prove he didn't commit the crime. The Los Angeles Innocence Project is now working with Peterson, according to news outlets in California. It's an important shift in Peterson's case. Up to now, many of his attorneys' efforts have focused on overturning his death sentence — an effort that succeeded in 2020. Peterson, 51, is now seeking exoneration and to free himself from serving a life sentence. The Los Angeles Innocence Project issued a widely cited statement Thursday...

Maybe I’m a jerk for picking such a provocative title, or maybe this country is doomed because an utterly self-evident statement of the obvious has become provocative. Maybe both are true. In any case, I want to begin by telling you about a grown adult male who, last week, beat a woman to a bloody pulp in front of a cheering crowd. As he gloated about his physical dominance over this outmatched female, media outlets and advocacy groups hailed him as a pioneer. In fact, beating up women is literally this dude’s job. His latest victim ended up with a...

More than 20 men — all Chicago lawyers — will slip into stilettos and parade around the Loop on Tuesday in an effort to raise awareness about violence against women. The Chicago Bar Association's Young Lawyers Section is hosting its first Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event with Between Friends, a local nonprofit geared toward ending domestic abuse. The men will walk one mile in their choice of stilettos to draw attention to the bar association's effort to curb violence against women.

Kristin Ruggiero of New Hampshire figured it would be a slam dunk. The gambit worked like a charm during the divorce hearing; now she would bring the case to criminal court. Her husband Jeffrey, an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard, was an incorrigible batterer, at least that’s what she led to the judge to believe. That got him convicted of criminal threatening, and she won custody of their 7-year-old daughter. But Kristin Ruggiero wasn’t finished. One day, the woman bragged to her startled ex, “I took all your money, I took your daughter, and now I’m going to take...

Kristin Ruggiero of New Hampshire figured it would be a slam dunk. The gambit worked like a charm during the divorce hearing; now she would bring the case to criminal court. Her husband Jeffrey, an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard, was an incorrigible batterer, at least that’s what she led to the judge to believe. That got him convicted of criminal threatening, and she won custody of their 7-year-old daughter. But Kristin Ruggiero wasn’t finished. One day, the woman bragged to her startled ex, “I took all your money, I took your daughter, and now I’m going to take...

Police have seen 'honour' crime surge by 40 per cent due to rising fundamentalism, new figures show. Honour-based violence, including crimes like murder, rape and kidnap has rocketed in London during the past year. Reported instances of intimidation and attempts at forced marriage have also increased by 60 per cent.

Hey girls, want to get skanky? Well, sashay down to your local abuse shelter and get buzzed! No, you don't have to be a real victim of domestic violence. All you need is a convincing story. Last year Hollie Cephas of Monticello, Ark. arrived on the doorstep of the Options shelter to recount her tale of woe: Her husband had beaten her to the point of having two miscarriages, he hid her insulin, and once he even called her a "fat pig." The intake worker at Options had been taught to "always believe the victim," so of course she was...

All Desiree Carpenter wanted was a chance to succeed. As a young woman Ms. Carpenter (not her real name) had been subjected to repeated physical and sexual assaults, losing her eyesight during one attack. Her assailant did hard time, but now he was back on the streets and vowing to track her down. Her only hope was to flee to another state, assume a new identity, and start over. Washington was the best place to begin anew, since the state had passed tough anti-stalking laws. So she packed her bags and hopped on the train with her two children in...

Mailbag: Absolutist Feminism The IWF has no official position on abortion, and we welcome both pro-life and pro-choice women on our board and staff and among the readers of InkWell. What we do take a strong posision on--we’re adamantly opposed--is the insistence of some radical feminists that you can’t be a good feminist unless you’re an absolutist on abortion rights. And also the rad-fems’ insistence that you can’t be pro-choice if you’re not voting for John Kerry in November. Reader B.N. points out that the rad-fems’ requirement that women who call themselves "feminists" subscribe to every last jot and tittle...

Remember Their Names By Douglas JohnsonNRLC Legislative Director, Legfederal@aol.comSome pro-abortion leaders, like Planned Parenthood president Gloria Feldt, and some United States senators, like John Kerry of Massachusetts, believe that there are no unborn victims of violence.Carol Lyons of Scott County, Kentucky, knows better. Her 18-year-old daughter, Ashley, and her unborn grandson, Landon, died together at the hands of a murderer on January 7."Nobody can tell me that there were not two victims - - I placed Landon in his mother's arms, wrapped in a baby blanket that I had sewn for him, just before I kissed my daughter goodbye...