Charges Filed in Death of CA Woman:  Murder, torture and rape charges have been filed in the death of a woman from Santa Maria, California, who died after being brutally attacked in her home by two men, one of whom was in the country illegally.  Keith Carls of KEYT reports that 64-year-old Marilyn Pharis was sleeping in her home on July 24 when 29-year-old Victor Aureliano Martinez Ramirez and 20-year-old Jose Villagomez broke into her home and sexually assaulted, strangled and repeatedly struck her in the head with a hammer.  Santa Maria Police Chief Ralph Martinez expressed frustration over the arrest of Martinez Ramirez for possession of methamphetamine two weeks before the murder, in which officers had to simply cite him due to state policies such as AB 109 and Prop. 47.  "From Washington DC to Sacramento there's a blood trail leading to the bedroom of Marilyn Pharis," he added.  

CA Agrees to Pay for Transgender Inmate's Sex Reassignment:  California has agreed to pay for a transgender inmate's sex reassignment operation after reaching a settlement in a federal lawsuit, making it the first state in the nation to agree to do so.  Paige St. John of the LA Times reports that the state decided that inmate Shiloh Quine, who entered the prison system in 1980 as Rodney, "suffers severe gender dysmorphia that can be treated only by physically conforming her body to her psychological gender" and medical doctors and mental health experts that reviewed her case "determined that this surgery in medically necessary" for the convicted murderer.  Kent Scheidegger, Legal Director for the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, says that although a court settlement does not set a legal precedent, "those requests are bound to eventually force another legal challenge."  The cost of Quine's operation ranges from $15,000 to $25,000.  There are nearly 400 transgender inmates receiving hormonal treatment in the state.

Former NE Prosecutor Was Told Not to Pursue Executions:  The former top death penalty prosecutor for Nebraska, who handled the state's death penalty cases for over three decades and retired one year ago, said he was told four years ago not to pursue steps to alter the state's lethal injections protocol, which would have allowed the state to have a legal means to carry out executions.  Paul Hammel of the World-Herald Bureau reports that J. Kirk Brown, considered credible by many criminal justice officials, says that in the last three to four years that the was in the Attorney General's office, "there was a decision that we aren't going to push the death penalty anymore."  Brown believes that the order originated with the Governor's Officer under former Gov. Dave Heineman.  In a December 2014 interview with then-Attorney General Jon Bruning, who told Nebraska Educational Television that he wished the state had made an effort to change their lethal injection protocol or adopt alternatives.  Current Gov. Pete Ricketts and Attorney General Doug Peterson, both vocal death penalty proponents, are supporting the petition which would allow the state's voters to decide the fate of capital punishment.

Peaceful Vigil in Ferguson Escalates to Violence:  Peaceful vigils scheduled to take place in Ferguson, Missouri yesterday to mark the one-year anniversary of the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown escalated into a scene that mirrored last year's violence in the St. Louis suburb, resulting in looting, bricks thrown at police officers, two officers pepper sprayed and gunfire, with a total of three people shot.  Debbie M. Lord of AL reports that protests began in the days leading up to the anniversary of Brown's death, though they remained peaceful and resulted in no arrests until Sunday.  One of the three men shot on Sunday night was a man said to be in his 20s who "unleashed a remarkable amount of gunfire against officers and others."  Residents, business owners and event organizers have said that Monday will be a day of civil disobedience.

Illegal Alien Crime Accounts for 30% of Murders in Many States:  Between 2008 and 2014, illegal immigrants accounted for 38 percent of all murder convictions in California, Texas, Arizona, Florida and New York despite accounting for just 5.6 percent of the total population in those states, according to a report compiled by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).  Tom Tancredo of Breibart reports that the 38 percent figure represents 7,085 murders out of the total of 18,643.  In Texas alone, 35 percent of all murder convictions were for illegal immigrants, which equates to approximately 472 murders each year from 2004 to 2008.  Tancredo argues that a lack of transparency in the media, which oftentimes refuses to even use the term "illegal immigrant," has contributed to a collective ignorance and naivety in the U.S. regarding illegal immigration.