Free Republic

IREDELL COUNTY, N.C. -- A man charged with multiple sex crimes involving a teenage girl he met online has turned himself in. Investigators arrested 27-year-old Jarred Ashley Workman late Monday afternoon. He’s charged with 11 counts of statutory rape and five counts of statutory sex offense. Iredell County authorities say Workman met a 14-year-old girl on social media. They chatted for about a month, and then agreed to meet in the woods near the teen’s home in the Love Valley area of Iredell County. Investigators say the teen invited Workman inside the house where he set up residence in the...

Reports have been surfacing for days across the country, including yesterday’s story in Philadelphia, and another in Washington, D.C., about the so-called “Knockout Game” in which thugs have targeted people, frequently women, at random and attempted to knock them unconscious with a single punch. (snip)Earlier this year, a 17-year-old punk in Lansing, Mich., identified as Marvell Weaver, was shot twice when he apparently tried to take things to a higher level by using a stun gun on his intended victim. Bad luck for Marvell, now in jail, because his stun gun didn’t work but the .40-caliber Smith & Wesson semi-auto...

Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat put one out of the park Wednesday morning with a column on the sharply rising number of active concealed pistol licenses in Washington State, in which this columnist was, er, “liberally quoted.” And quoted accurately, I might add. Did Workman really say “firearms are dangerous?” Uh, huh, because that happens to be true; if you’re not careful with a firearm, you’ll get an education about 30 seconds after you need it. An old Texas Ranger once related how one of his colleagues had apparently been approached by a lady who had been observing the “cocked-and-locked”...

For many in Memphis, the execution of Philip Workman early Wednesday was too long in coming. For others, it should never happened at all. But both sides agree that the legal process that began shortly after Workman was convicted of killing a policeman more than 25 years ago is unwieldy. "Even if the death penalty served a purpose, the delays defeat that purpose," said Memphis attorney Art Quinn, an opponent of the death penalty who has handled several death penalty cases. "The delays negate any argument that it serves as a deterrent," Quinn said. "But the fact that we have...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A man convicted of killing a Memphis police officer in 1981 was executed early Wednesday after a court rejected defense pleas for more time to examine newly revised execution protocols. Philip Workman, whose execution had been delayed on five prior occasions, became Tennessee's third lethal injection since 2000. The Tennessee Supreme Court rejected a final defense request for more time to challenge the way the state carries out its three-chemical injection procedure. A federal judge halted Workman's execution last week over concerns about the revisions, but a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A little more than a week after revising its execution procedure manual, Tennessee was preparing Tuesday to carry out a lethal injection for only the third time in state history. Inmate Philip Workman, convicted of the 1981 shooting death of a Memphis police officer, is scheduled to die at 1 a.m. CDT Wednesday. Tennessee has executed two other prisoners in the past 47 years. Workman's execution was halted last week over concerns about the revised execution method, but a panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted that temporary restraining order Monday. In a...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A federal judge in Nashville this afternoon delayed the scheduled execution of Philip Workman. He was scheduled to die by lethal injection early next Wednesday. U-S District Judge Todd Campbell ruled shortly after Workman's attorneys asked for a delay on grounds they did not have time to file complaints against new execution procedures. The new guidelines were released Wednesday. Workman was convicted for the 1981 shooting death of Memphis police Lieutenant Ronald Oliver after a fast food robbery. He twice has come within hours of execution before the courts stepped in. Campbell cited the likelihood that...

NASHVILLE — The state has asked a federal appeals court to lift a temporary restraining order that has delayed the execution of death row inmate Philip Workman set for this week. In a motion filed today with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, the state seeks an expedited action to overturn the order handed down Friday by a U.S. District Court judge in Nashville. The state is hoping to get the restraining order overturned and put Workman's execution, set for Wednesday, back on track. Attorney General Robert Cooper Jr. argues in the filing that the restraining order...

NASHVILLE — Death row inmate Philip Workman's execution is back on schedule after being halted last week over concerns about Tennessee's revised execution method. In an opinion issued Monday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati vacated a temporary restraining order handed down Friday by a U.S. District Court judge in Nashville. Workman's execution is scheduled for Wednesday at 1 a.m. CDT. In the 2-1 majority opinion, Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton wrote that Workman has come within days of being executed five previous times and never before challenged the state's three-drug lethal injection procedures. Workman's lawyers claimed that...

SALT LAKE CITY -- The Utah Supreme Court on Thursday reversed a judge's ruling and reinstated a write-in contender as the official Republican candidate for mayor of Salt Lake County. In a brief order, the court said a doctor's note from Republican Mayor Nancy Workman, who is facing criminal charges of misusing public funds and quit her run for re-election, complies with state election law. A written ruling was expected. Democrats who had sued over the certification of businessman Ellis Ivory to replace Workman on the ballot said they would not appeal. "Now it's up to the voters, and I...

February 10, 2004 Memphis, TN - A Shelby County Grand Jury late Tuesday indicted Shelby County Medical Examiner Dr. O.C. Smith. The charges stem from an investigation into a June 2002 incident in which Dr. Smith was found outside his office early one morning with a bomb strapped to his chest. The indictment charges Dr. Smith with "Possession of a non-registered destructive device" and with two counts of making "false statements" to Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms investigators. Shelby County District Attorney General Bill Gibbons says the indictment will have no bearing on the validity of Dr. Smith's...