| $30 million lawsuit: Police planted shell casings in Baltimore shoot-out Apr 18th 2012, 00:25 By Isolde Raftery, msnbc.com Brad Hallwig, the lawyer for a man whose conviction was overturned, thought news headlines should read: “Bad police shooting turns into cover-up.” Hallwig’s client, Darryl A. White, Jr. of Baltimore sued two police officers for $30 million, for the shooting deaths of his cousin and friend and his wrongful imprisonment. The families of the two who died joined White in the lawsuit. A judge declared a mistrial Monday, WBALTV.com reported. The lawsuit stems from a shootout on July 4, 2008, when three police officers in a marked cruiser responded to an Independence Day party at a union hall where gun shots had been heard.
The officers – James L. Brooks and Christopher D. Ahearn – claimed they were targets, according to the Baltimore Sun. They said they were fired at from within the white Ford Taurus. The lawsuit says they responded with more than two dozen shots. White’s cousin, Heywood White, 18, and friend, Raemond White, 21, were both killed. A bullet also pierced Darryl White’s hand. Officers said they recovered handguns from the Taurus. Following the shooting, Darryl White was charged on 20 counts, including attempted murder. He was ultimately convicted on handgun violation charges and sentenced to 12 years. In prison, White continued to claim his innocence, saying that he didn’t have a weapon that night. On appeal, testimony revealed that the officers did not see him with a handgun and that police had not tested him for gunshot residue. A Maryland Court of Special Appeals overturned his conviction last March. White then sued, saying that the shots heard were celebratory, and that the officers opened fire in response. White’s lawyers say police planted evidence by placing a shell casing inside the Taurus. "Why the cover-up? Why the plan?” Mark Herman, an attorney for the plaintiff told the court on Monday. “The defendants knew they had a problem. They had killed two innocent people and shot a third." Paul M. Blair, Jr. president of the city’s police union, defended the officers. "You carry guns ... nowadays on the street, and you start shooting at police, then the police are going to return fire," Blair said, according to the Baltimore Sun. More content from msnbc.com and NBC News: Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook |  Second suspect arrested in disappearance of Marine's wife Apr 18th 2012, 00:00  AP / San Diego County Sheriff's Department This image provided by the San Diego County Sheriff's Department shows Brittany Dawn Killgore who was reported missing on Saturday. Killgore, 22, was last seen on Friday. Her cellphone was found Saturday in San Diego's Gaslamp District. Sheriff's deputies in San Diego County foul play is likely involved. By NBCSanDiego.com Authorities say they have arrested a second suspect in the case of a missing 22-year-old Fallbrook, Calif. woman. Brittany Killgore was last seen in San Diego on Friday. Investigators said they believe there is a strong likelihood she is the victim of foul play. Her husband, Cory Killgore, was deployed when she went missing and is on his way home with help from the Red Cross. On Tuesday afternoon, a female body was found in Riverside County near Lake Skinner, the San Diego Sheriff's Department announced. They could not say whether the body was Killgore's.
Investigators are still processing the scene, which is about a mile north of Warren Road. The San Diego Medical Examiner’s Office will release the identity of the body when it is known. Read the original story at NBC San Diego Two suspects have been arrested in connection to the case. Jessica Lynn Lopez, 27, was arrested at a Ramada Inn on Tuesday. Louis Perez, 45, an active-duty Marine based at Camp Pendleton, was also arrested on unrelated charges. Lopez is currently in the UCSD Medical Center for "medical necessity," and faces murder charges, said Sheriff's Capt. Duncan Fraser with the Homicide Division. Killgore was last seen by a friend at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 13. She may have traveled to the Gaslamp area that day as her cell phone was found there, according to sheriff's deputies. Perez is believed to be one of the last people seen with her and has been arrested on unrelated charges, according to officials. He has been questioned regarding Killgore's disappearance, but detectives said he was uncooperative. Perez is currently in San Diego Central Jail for allegedly stealing an AR-15 assault rifle. Investigators are now classifying Perez as a "person of interest." "[He is] uncooperative and not completely forthcoming about his knowledge we believe," said Lt. Larry Nesbit. Cory Killgore posted on his Facebook page asking for prayers for his family. “Thank you everyone for the prayers and concern," Cory said on Tuesday. "I request you pray for her more then you do for me. I have family and friends for support. She is alone where ever she is." Marine returning from Afghanistan after wife Brittany Killgore vanishes The couple filed for divorce on April 10, according to court documents. A car parked at her residence had explicit language scribbled in the dust of the car windows. Investigators said the comments were not there yesterday. Killgore's neighbor, Patricia Pagdilao, said Killgore is often out late at night but that she's always with friends. "Usually I see her, you know, every night coming through here when she invites a couple of friends over but the last time I saw her was last week," Pagdilao said. Investigators searched in De Luz Canyon near Fallbrook today based on information they received. Killgore is described as 5-foot-8 with brown hair, brown eyes and weighs 130 pounds. Killgore was last seen wearing a dark purple evening gown with purple floral glitter patterns. More content from msnbc.com and NBC News: Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook | | $1,500 to lower flag to half-staff? Gay rights group doesn't want to pay Apr 17th 2012, 23:22 Should Gays without Borders have to pay for flying flags at half-staff in San Francisco?
By Jim Gold, msnbc.com Getting two flags flown at half-staff for a day could cost close to $1,500 in San Francisco. And the group Gays Without Borders is worried it may have to foot that bill for a ceremony on May 17, International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, or IDAHO, says gay rights blogger and activist Michael Petrelis. At the group’s request, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors last month approved flying the U.S. and U.N. flags at the city’s United Nations Plaza at half-staff for 24 hours.
But Petrelis said the city Public Works Department told him its cost would be $1,467.90. The department confirmed to msnbc.com on Tuesday that in a deal with unions, lowering the flags will take two station engineers paid for four hours each at $90 an hour -- or up to $135 an hour nights and weekends with overtime – and another four hours to raise them again. That’s up to $1,080. Where the rest of the cost that Petrelis cited came from was unclear. However, that does not necessarily mean the group will be billed for the service, a department spokesperson said. While the formal half-staff order came to the department through the Board of Supervisors, this is the first time to her knowledge any private group had submitted a flag-lowering request. So the city is working out how to proceed. “We are willing to respect the day and of course the flags will be lowered,” Gloria Chan, department spokeswoman, told msnbc.com. Chan said details of any ceremonies that Petrelis and his group want to perform in conjunction with the flags have yet to be worked out. She also said protocols with respect to the U.S. flag also had to be worked out. The Flag Code allows only for the president or state governors to order the flying of U.S. flags at half-staff. May 17 marks the day in 1990 that the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses. The San Francisco resolution notes that Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Mexico, Costa Rica, France, Luxemburg and Brazil recognize IDAHO. “I mean, c’mon,” Petrelis said, according to the San Francisco Examiner. “If San Francisco, of all cities, can’t find a way to lower two flags for 24 hours to honor dead gay people from around the world, what does that say about San Francisco?” More content from msnbc.com and NBC News: Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook Results Total of 78 votes | | 6-year-old Texas boy's lemonade stand raises $10,000 for cancer-stricken dad Apr 17th 2012, 23:01 By James Eng, msnbc.com Drew Cox knows how to make lemonade out of lemons – and then some. The 6-year-old Gladewater, Texas, boy reportedly took in more than $10,000 in one day at a lemonade stand he set up to raise money for his sick dad. Randy Cox was diagnosed with seminoma earlier this year, according to KLTV. That’s typically a type of testicular cancer, but in Cox’s case it’s non-testicular and tumors appeared in his chest and elsewhere in his body, colleagues say. The condition is treatable with chemotherapy.
Drew said he felt sad and wanted to help his father with medical bills. “He is so important to me. We like to play with each other. Lots of times we like to play games," Drew told KLTV. Randy Cox says he has medical insurance but still will have to pay thousands of dollars in medical costs out of pocket. “You know it almost made me cry. It's nice knowing that my kids care so much for me," Randy said of his son’s business venture. Drew opened his stand for business outside his home on Saturday morning, charging 25 cents a cup. Word of his benevolent venture spread quickly, with some customers coming from dozens of miles away. One person wrote a $5,000 check and by the end of the day, Drew raised more than $10,000, his family told KLTV. Drew isn’t the only one raising money for his dad. Tameka Royal, a longtime friend of Randy Cox, has set up a website account, www.giveforward.com/randycox, to solicit contributions for the family, which includes Randy and his wife, Tonya Cooley Cox, and three boys: Drew, 6, Jake, 4, and Micah, 7 months. “Randy and I have been friends for a long time because we went to school together at Sabine High School,” Royal told msnbc.com in an email. “His wife and I have been friends since we were 6 years old from dance class. When I heard of his cancer, I immediately began to pray for him and his family. I asked God to give me direction as to how to help them and get others to help this wonderful family.” More content from msnbc.com and NBC News: Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook |  What to do with frozen cows stuck in cabin at 11,200 feet? Apr 17th 2012, 22:49  U.S. Forest Service Hikers found dead cows inside this U.S. Forest Service cabin, located in the mountains near Aspen, Colo. The outline of one carcass is seen through the doorway. By Miguel Llanos, msnbc.com Granted, the U.S. Forest Service usually has bigger issues to deal with, but this got its attention because of its rather unique nature: How to dispose of six frozen cows stuck inside a Forest Service cabin, and more scattered outside, at 11,200 feet elevation? And, no, this is not a hypothetical: In late March snowshoers who had hoped to use the cabin at Colorado's Conundrum Hot Springs found it already occupied -- by dead cows, which had apparently gotten out of the cold but were too dumb to find the exit, the Aspen Daily News reported. The options now being weighed include: blowing up the carcasses; burning the cabin (and carcasses); or hauling the carcasses out with a helicopter or wheeled vehicle.
A final decision might be a few days a way, but the newspaper quoted Forest Service spokesman Scott Snelson as saying "we need to dispose of them sooner rather than later" because the hot springs might become polluted if the carcasses are allowed to thaw and decay. Manure is already all over the hot springs and the cabin is filled with it, Jeff Malin, a Boulder resident who hiked to the site, told the newspaper. "They obviously spent a lot of time there," he said, calling it a "real mess." The site is 8.5 miles from the Aspen area in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness Area. Using helicopters is probably too expensive, and trucks are usually barred from formal wilderness areas, the Associated Press cited Forest Service spokesman Steve Segin as saying. The Forest Service does sometimes use explosives to destroy carcasses that can't be retrieved. "We've used them as a means of disposal to remove dead horses, elk and other animals," Segin noted. As for where the cows came from, the Forest Service said they were part of a herd of 29 that went missing last fall from the nearby Gunnison National Forest. More content from msnbc.com and NBC News: Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook |  Sold! Jewels of heiress Huguette Clark bring a surprising $18 million at auction Apr 17th 2012, 22:19  Christie's, New York Freed from their bank vault by the executor of the estate, the jewels of copper heiress Huguette Clark were sold on April 17, including a rare pink diamond and these emerald, pearl and diamond ear pendants. See the photos for final sale prices. By Bill Dedman, Investigative Reporter, msnbc.com NEW YORK — The jewelry collection of Huguette M. Clark, the mysterious heiress to a copper fortune, was sold at auction Tuesday afternoon at Christie's New York, fetching $18.3 million, far above the pre-sale estimate of $8.5 million to $12 million. The jewels had been recovered from the bank vault of the reclusive heiress, who lived the last 20 years of her life in Manhattan hospitals and who had rarely been seen since the 1930s. The last surviving child of U.S. Sen. William Andrews Clark (1839-1925), who made his fortune in mining, railroads and other ventures, Huguette Clark has been the subject of a series of reports on msnbc.com about her vacant properties and the management of her fortune. Born in Paris in June 1906, she died in May 2011 at age 104. Hundreds of people filed through Christie's at Rockefeller Center to see her jewels over the weekend. The highlight was a rare 9-carat purplish-pink diamond ring, with a pre-sale estimate of $6 million to $8 million. "Four million dollars," started the elegant auctioneer, Rahul Kadakia. "Seven point five million dollars?" was his next step. "Alright, why waste time." It was hammered home at $14 million, plus commission, for a total outlay of $15,762,500. The pace was set with the first two items, onyx photo frames estimated at about $6,000. They each sold for $60,000. A pair of art deco bracelets sold for $90,000 and $480,000. The total for all Clark items, with commissions, was $20.8 million. Buyers were not identified. See the accompanying slideshow for details on the Clark jewels and their final sale prices. "It was like chasing a rainbow and you had this big pot of gold at the end. It was fantastic," auctioneer Kadakia, head of jewelry for Christie's, said on the TODAY TV show about opening the Clark vault. (See the accompanying video.) "They were all in this original boxes, in this bank vault, since the 1940s." In addition to bidders at Christie's at Rockefeller Center in New York, bidders were online and on the telephone in Texas, Bahrain, Japan. They were alerted that parties with a potential financial interest were bidding on several of the less-expensive items. Possibly these were Clark relatives. Many non-Clark items in the jewelry auction also sold well above their estimates, including a 24.68-carat diamond that sold for $420,000, or more than twice its high estimate. An apartment already sold
One of her three mysterious apartments on New York's Fifth Avenue found a buyer soon after they hit the market in March. The penthouse apartment, listed at $24 million, sold in less than a month for an undisclosed price. The two others remain on the market, at $19 million and $12 million. Each apartment has about 5,000 square feet of space. Also on the market: her country home in New Canaan, Conn., at $19.8 million. Rahul Kadakia of Christie's Auction House displays jewels discovered in heiress Huguette Clark's safe deposit box. How can anything be sold now?
Proceeds from the properties and jewelry will be used to pay estate expenses, with the rest held for the eventual winner of the legal battle over her $400 million fortune. On one side are members of the Clark family, grandchildren of her father from his first marriage, whom she included in one will and then cut out of her last. On the other side are her attorney, accountant and nurse, all named in the last will, which left nothing to her relatives. Her oceanfront home in Santa Barbara, Calif., with an estimated value of $100 million, is not on the market, because her second will designates it as a public museum and home for her art collection. The fate of that property is tied up in the legal battle. The largest chunk of the estate is left to that museum in the second will. Also not for sale: her doll collection, with an estimated value of $4 million, which the second will leaves to her nurse. The full story
More on the Huguette Clark mystery is at http://clark.msnbc.com/. Do you have information on the Clark family?
Reporter Bill Dedman is writing a nonfiction book about the Clark family. If you have information, you can reach him at bill.dedman@msnbc.com. |  Republicans seek to pin GSA spending scandal on White House Apr 17th 2012, 13:31 Jeff Neely, the man at the heart of the General Services Administration scandal, will be facing more questions about his travel. NBC's Lisa Myers reports. By M. Alex Johnson, msnbc.com Updated at 2:45 p.m. ET: Republican lawmakers tried Tuesday to tie the spending scandal at the General Services Administration to the White House, pressing current and former agency officials to explain why they met with senior administration officials two weeks before disciplining most of the implicated officials. At a congressional hearing Tuesday, former GSA Administrator Martha Johnson acknowledged that she met with several top White House officials — including chief of staff Jack Lew and Personnel Director Nancy Hogan — as early as mid-March about the scandal.
NBC News' Stacey Klein and msnbc.com's Becky Bratu contributed to this report by M. Alex Johnson of msnbc.com Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook.
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Johnson put Region 9 Public Building Regional Commissioner Jeffrey Neely on leave on March 19. But she didn't resign and discipline other top agency officials until the GSA's inspector general officially released a report April 2 documenting lavish spending for a Las Vegas conference in 2010 that cost $823,000.
The GSA, which manages federal properties, is also being investigated for how resources were spent on other outings and conferences, including trips to Hawaii, Atlanta and Napa, Calif., and an interns' conference in Palm Springs, Calif., attended by 150 people. Neely, the official at the center of the scandal, wasn't present at Tuesday's hearing. On Monday, Neely repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Ex-GSA head apologizes for $823,000 Las Vegas spending spree As Republicans tried to suggest a cover-up by the White House, Johnson testified Tuesday that she never spoke to President Barack Obama, but she said she did have "informational" meetings with other top administration officials the weeks of March 18 and March 25. Besides Lew and Hogan, officials from the White House counsel's office and the president's communications staff attended some of those meetings, Johnson said. "Those meetings were about policy," Johnson told Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., head of the Transportation subcommittee on public buildings. "We wanted to talk with them about travel policy, because obviously they are interested in how we can move forward after this event." Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said it was a Democratic appointee who brought the General Services Administration to light. Denham pressed Johnson to explain why it took "all the way up to April 2nd" to fire Stephen Leeds, her chief counsel, and Bob Peck, head of the public building department, and "to put all of the other administrators on leave." "I was working particularly with our HR (human resources) senior executives and a senior executive in the general counsel's office to understand what was the particular evidence that the IG had uncovered and how we could fit that into letters of admonishment and what kinds of disciplinary action we could take," Johnson replied, adding that "there's a due process here that we needed to follow." In an interview with CNN before the hearing, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, made it clear that Republicans believe "people did let the White House know, and the White House did not choose to intervene or to take action early on." But Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., ranking Democrat on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee and a member of Mica's committee, pointed out that it was a Democratic appointee, Deputy GSA Administrator Susan Brita, "who brought this to light." Neely and others implicated in the scandal "will be brought to justice and be made to pay back the money they owe the taxpayers," Cummings said in an interview with NBC News' Andrea Mitchell. Mica said he and Denham were examining whether the GSA's culture of squandering could be purged or whether the agency — "our government's landlord" — should be replaced. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat who represents the District of Columbia, disagreed with Denham and Mica, saying, "GSA serves an indispensable function." The General Services Administration is under investigation for frivolous spending in Las Vegas. The NOW panel debates the fallout from the scandal. That's what makes the investigation "such a difficult matter," said Norton, who was lampooned in a widely circulated video the GSA made at the conference. In his opening statement, Peck said the Las Vegas conference was an "aberration" and that most conferences he attended weren't lavish. He said he paid for some food out of his pocket in Las Vegas. Peck also offered a personal apology and said he wouldn't shirk responsibility. More content from msnbc.com and NBC News: Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook | |
