Abducted PA Woman Found Dead: A Pennsylvania woman abducted Tuesday by her estranged husband, who was released on bond for charges of domestic abuse against her, has been found dead. Lisa Washington of CBS reports that Tierne Ewing, 48, was abducted from a home at gunpoint by Kevin Ewing, 47, and taken to a wooded area. Police eventually tracked the couple to a barn and, upon approach, heard gunshots. Tierne was discovered inside with a fatal gunshot wound to the head while Kevin was rushed to the hospital with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Kevin was arrested in July for holding Tierne hostage for nearly two weeks, abusing and threatening her after finding text messages on her phone. He was released on bond and fitted with a monitoring device that had no GPS, which he cut off Monday. After being cut off, the device did not send a signal or alarm. "My daughter's dead and he's sick and the damn judges let him go," said Tierne's father, Richard Kopko. "There's something wrong with the judging system in this country," he added.
TX Death Row Inmate May Have Faked Mental Illness: A Texas death row inmate is one step closer to execution after an appeals court ruled Monday that he may have faked mental illness to avoid execution for the fatal shooting of his ex-girlfriend and her young daughter 23 years ago. The AP reports that the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals made a ruling in the case of Gerald Eldridge, 52, agreeing with a lower court that ruled three years ago that while there was evidence in favor of Eldridge's mental illness claims, there was also extensive evidence of inconsistencies, particularly that he faked symptoms. Eldridge is on death row for the January 1993 slayings of his former girlfriend and her nine-year-old daughter in a shooting attack that also wounded his then-seven-year-old son and the woman's boyfriend. Years earlier, in 1985, Eldridge was sentenced to eight years in prison for an earlier shooting that wounded three men, but was released three years later. He then returned to prison in 1990 for beating his son and was paroled after four months. His initial execution date was in 2009.
Stanford Swimmer Goes Free on Friday: The former Stanford University swimmer convicted in a sexual assault case that sparked public uproar after he was given a sentence that was said to be too lenient, is scheduled to be released from jail Friday after serving three months, just half of his sentence. Andrea Noble of the Washington Times reports that Brock Turner, 20, was convicted in March of three felony counts of assault with intent to commit rape of an unconscious person, sexual penetration of an unconscious person and sexual penetration of an intoxicated person for the January 2015 attack of a woman at a fraternity party. He faced up to 14 years in prison if convicted, but prosecutors recommended a six-year sentence. Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky, however, handed down a sentence of just six-months in jail. Persky, who faced a recall effort for his sentencing decision, announced last week that he would be transferring from criminal to civil court.
TX Death Row Inmate May Have Faked Mental Illness: A Texas death row inmate is one step closer to execution after an appeals court ruled Monday that he may have faked mental illness to avoid execution for the fatal shooting of his ex-girlfriend and her young daughter 23 years ago. The AP reports that the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals made a ruling in the case of Gerald Eldridge, 52, agreeing with a lower court that ruled three years ago that while there was evidence in favor of Eldridge's mental illness claims, there was also extensive evidence of inconsistencies, particularly that he faked symptoms. Eldridge is on death row for the January 1993 slayings of his former girlfriend and her nine-year-old daughter in a shooting attack that also wounded his then-seven-year-old son and the woman's boyfriend. Years earlier, in 1985, Eldridge was sentenced to eight years in prison for an earlier shooting that wounded three men, but was released three years later. He then returned to prison in 1990 for beating his son and was paroled after four months. His initial execution date was in 2009.
Stanford Swimmer Goes Free on Friday: The former Stanford University swimmer convicted in a sexual assault case that sparked public uproar after he was given a sentence that was said to be too lenient, is scheduled to be released from jail Friday after serving three months, just half of his sentence. Andrea Noble of the Washington Times reports that Brock Turner, 20, was convicted in March of three felony counts of assault with intent to commit rape of an unconscious person, sexual penetration of an unconscious person and sexual penetration of an intoxicated person for the January 2015 attack of a woman at a fraternity party. He faced up to 14 years in prison if convicted, but prosecutors recommended a six-year sentence. Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky, however, handed down a sentence of just six-months in jail. Persky, who faced a recall effort for his sentencing decision, announced last week that he would be transferring from criminal to civil court.
re: Eldridge, so for years, he has tied up his case in federal court with bogus claims. Why isn't that a "constitutionally intolerable event"? A state's judgment thwarted by a prisoner playing games in federal court. The case should be immediately dismissed with no prejudice. Failing that, Texas should set a date and execute in the face of a bogus federal stay.