Free Republic

Smirking defiantly as a Manhattan federal judge sentenced him to spend the rest of his life in prison, the American-citizen terrorist who tried to detonate a car bomb in Times Square vowed yesterday that "the defeat of [the] US is imminent." In a 10-minute statement to the court that denounced post-9/11 foreign policy as it threatened future American bloodshed, Faisal Shahzad warned: "Brace yourselves, because the war with Muslims has just begun. Consider me only a first droplet of the blood that will follow me. Invoking the names of Osama bin Laden and the medieval Muslim sultan Saladin, the 31-year-old...

Monday’s Supreme Court decision holding that sentencing an underage person to life in prison is unconstitutional is yet another disturbing example of judicial activism. More than simply another run-of-the-mill activist decision, the Court has reached a new level of usurping the powers the Constitution entrusts to our elected leaders in the states. On May 17, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Graham v. Florida. In this case, a 16 year-old habitual criminal named Terrance Graham had served time for armed burglary and assault. When he was released on probation, he was then arrested again for robbing a woman...

The Supreme Court ruled today that juvenile criminals cannot be sentenced to life in prison without parole except in homicide cases. Though 37 states, the District of Columbia, and federal law allow judges to impose life sentences without parole on juveniles, the Court noted that only 109 people were currently serving life terms for crimes committed while they were minors. Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, relied heavily on Roper v. Simmons, the Supreme Court’s 2005 decision forbidding the death penalty for minors. Kennedy wrote that no theory of punishment justified locking up a minor for his or her...

Taiwan court convicts Chen, imposes life sentence By PETER ENAV, Associated Press 1 hr 54 mins ago TAIPEI, Taiwan – A Taiwan court imposed a life sentence on former President Chen Shui-bian after convicting him of corruption Friday, marking a watershed in the island's turbulent political history. Chen's wife Wu Shu-chen was also convicted of corruption and received the same life sentence, said court spokesman Huang Chun-ming. "Chen Shui-bian and Wu Shu-chen were sentenced to life in prison because Chen has done grave damage to the country, and Wu, because she was involved in corruption deals as the first lady,"...

After three mistrials, two men were sentenced to life in prison yesterday for a horrific armed home invasion that left a 49-year-old Dorchester woman dead and her boyfriend partially blind. William Wood, 35, of Roxbury was sentenced to a life term plus 20 years without the possibility of parole for the crimes he committed before, during and after the Feb. 13, 2004, torture and murder of Betsy Tripp in her Monsignor Lydon Way home.

Jon Opsahl said he doesn't think domestic terrorist-turned-housewife Sara Jane Olson served nearly enough time for his mother's murder, but he's relieved the saga ended with Olson's Tuesday release from prison. Sara Jane Olson was released from a California prison Tuesday after serving seven years. Sara Jane Olson was released from a California prison Olson, a member of the self-styled revolutionary Symbionese Liberation Army -- perhaps best known for kidnapping Patricia Hearst -- was released from a California prison after serving seven years, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said. She was released to her husband just after midnight...

MIAMI (AFP) - Jose Padilla, a US citizen convicted of supporting the Al Qaeda terror network, could face anywhere from decades to a lifetime behind bars, a federal judge said on Tuesday. Judge Marcia Cooke rejected defense claims that Padilla, 37, and two co-conspirators had not commited any actual act of terrorism. She ruled that a special provision for stiffer penalties applied and that the three could each face prison sentences of 30 years to life. Before Cooke delivers sentence, probably later this week, lawyers for the two sides will present their arguments for sentencing. The prosecutors want Padilla, Adham...

LOS ANGELES - A former Lancaster state prison inmate awaiting trial on charges he murdered his prison cellmate has been charged with murdering another inmate at a downtown Los Angeles jail. Kurt Karcher, who already was serving a life sentence for murdering an Orange County lawyer, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to strangling fellow jail inmate Edgar Jimenez at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, where Karcher had been sent May 18 to await his trial in the Lancaster prison slaying. Karcher, 39, is charged separately with murder in the March 2006 strangulation of prison inmate Scott Manning at California State Prison-Los...

Two Aryan Brotherhood ringleaders were convicted of murder, racketeering and conspiracy in July after a four-month trial. Now, as their sentencing hearing began Monday, they were to learn their punishment. Barry "The Baron" Mills and Tyler "The Hulk" Bingham were expected to receive life sentences Monday following a sweeping federal case aimed at dismantling one of the country's most notorious prison gangs. To prevent communication with gang members and others, prosecutors were also asking a U.S. District Court judge to impose bans on visits, letters or phone calls from anyone but their attorneys, and on keeping writing implements, paper or...

I read Le Roy Barnett's letter ("Muslims, speak up," June 26) about Muslims' opinion on Abdul Rahman's conversion to Christianity. Islam is not only a religion, it is a complete way of life. Islam guides Muslims from birth to grave. The Quran and prophet Muhammad's words and practical application of Quran in life cannot be changed. Islam is a guide for humanity, for all times, until the day of judgment. It is forbidden in Islam to convert to any other religion. The penalty is death. There is no disagreement about it. Islam is being embraced by people of other faiths...

I sat in stunned silence when the Public Information Officer announced that Zacarias Moussaoui would be spending the rest of his life in prison. So Moussaoui gets to live out his days eating 3 square meals a day, sleeping in a bed and getting daily exercise – all on US taxpayers’ dime. Our government will make sure that he has a copy of the Koran that is treated with respect. Moussaoui will get his three daily prayer times and his meals will not include pork products. Hell, we will even make sure his toilet faces towards Mecca if he desires....

FORT WORTH, Texas - A man convicted of abducting a girl as she walked to elementary school and molesting her must serve nearly 400 years in prison, a judge decided Wednesday. Jeremiah Sexton, 23, of Springtown, must serve four sentences of 99 years each. State District Judge Wayne Salvant, calling Sexton a "serial predator," ordered the sentences to be served consecutively, making the total 396 years behind bars. A jury Tuesday convicted Sexton on three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and one count of aggravated kidnapping. Sexton was arrested in February and accused of abducting and sexually...

McMINNVILLE, Ore. (AP) — A McMinnville woman faces multiple charges involving the alleged forcing of methamphetamine and sex on a preteen girl over five years. Jennifer Lynn Chasteen, 25, faces charges of sodomy, sexual penetration, and delivery of a controlled substance, all Measure 11 felonies. She also faces charges of sex abuse and endangering the welfare of a minor. Indictments are expected next week. She was arraigned Tuesday. Judge Cal Tichenor set bail at $800,000. Police said charges were brought after the girl confided in her parents this month, triggering an investigation by the Yamhill County Sheriff's Office. She told...

If not Death, then what? A personal look at capital crime and punishment December 13, 2005 by John David Powell If not Death, then what? Thoughtful individuals across the social and political spectra ponder this question today as they search for a suitable punishment for history’s longest-running crime. Capital crime and punishment is not a subject I enjoy. It became personal on Oct. 26, 1981. Don’t let anyone tell you time heals all wounds. It does not. And the recent debate over whether a state should execute a convicted murdering thug just keeps open the wound. Sometimes I bring it...

FOR A GRIM GLIMPSE of the future of California's correctional system, you need go no further than the California Medical Facility, a few blocks off Interstate 80 in Vacaville. That's what we did a few weeks ago when we visited the prison, the only one in California dedicated to providing medical care to inmates. What we saw pointed to the outcome of a "get tough on crime" policy that began decades ago, and has resulted in the continuing incarceration of thousands of ailing and aging inmates, most of whom present little or no threat to public safety. In mid-September, the...

THE ONCE-RESPECTED NEW YORK TIMES now specializes in “news” stories that undermine the war in Iraq, strengthen the prejudices of Bush detractors, cover the tracks of Islamic terrorists (aka “militants”), promote left-wing radicals (Lynne Stewart, Stanley Cohen, et. al.), and obscure the pro-terrorist and pro-Communist agendas of the organizers of “peace” demonstrations (International ANSWER and UFPJ). Now it has found a new favored group: child murderers. The New York Times made a political statement by merely choosing to run this kind of story. The Times could have investigated loopholes in the legal system that allow violent criminals to go free....

AUSTIN — The Texas House approved a new, unforgiving alternative to the death penalty Tuesday as representatives gave unprecedented support to a measure that would establish a sentence of life in prison without parole. Should the proposal survive a second review today, it will head to a conference committee. If eventually signed by Gov. Rick Perry, it would bring Texas into line with 47 other states that allow juries to lock up capital murderers forever. Touted by supporters as a largely cosmetic change that would clear confusion in the jury box and comfort victims' families, Senate Bill 60 passed by...

Texas May Add Life Without Parole Option By JIM VERTUNO /Associated Press Writer May 22, 2005 AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- In Texas, the state that leads the nation in executions, lawmakers are considering an option already available in all but one other death penalty state: life without parole. Death penalty opponents think a sentence that would ensure murderers never get back on the streets would make a death sentence less appealing. Currently, juries in Texas capital murder cases here have two choices - death or life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years. A measure approving life...

ARUSHA, Tanzania (AP) - A U.N. tribunal sentenced a former local government official in western Rwanda to prison for the rest of his life for shooting to death and raping mostly Tutsi victims during the 1994 genocide. Judge Khalida Rashid Khan said the tribunal found beyond any reasonable doubt that Mika Muhimana, who was a councilor in the province of Kibuye, shot mostly Tutsi victims, raped several Tutsi women and encouraged other men to rape in the town of Gishyita. The sentence of imprisonment for the rest of one's life is the highest penalty under the rules of the International...

A five-year manhunt for Eric Rudolph ended in 2003, when someone recognized him while he was foraging for food behind a grocery store in Murphy, North Carolina. Scavenging in a trash dumpster and hiding as a lone survivalist in the mountains of western Carolina are quite revealing. Rudolph had no support, aid or comfort within the pro-life community. Rudolph is a cowardly killer disguised as a defender of life. Rudolph, 38, pleaded guilty April 13 to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing and two other explosions, after earlier admitting to orchestrating a 1998 abortion clinic bombing in Alabama. The bombings killed...