24 May
Monster - the first modern female serial killer to capture public attention. Image: Amazon
A new article titled “Lethal Ladies: Revisiting What We Know About Female Serial Murders” is in Homicide Studies by Farrell, Keppel, and Titterginton. It’s a good article. And I get the need to draw people in with catchy titles, even in an academic journal. But language matters.
20 May
Speedy Trial? 18 months to see a courtroom? (Photo credit: savebradley)
When a family member is a victim of crime, especially homicide – the whole family is affected. Yet, many states and municipalities do not recognize family members as victims, only the spouse, making parents and siblings unqualified for details or information surrounding the incident.
This is a huge omission. Family history and intimate information of the victim can offer clues and assist in the solution of a difficult case.
Lack of consideration for the victim is documented in the many cases that continue until a case is concluded due to a lack of a speedy trial.
Speedy Trial: Offered to both offender and victim?
If that were only true. The long list of extensions, excuses and manipulations that are available to the offenders – and none to the victim or their families.
Families, that is parents, siblings and extended family have NO rights if there is a surviving spouse who is wicked enough or determined enough to prevent any rights from the family.
It is past time for change in the criminal justice system to recognize the family of the victim, especially in homicide cases (Stacey Peterson, Casey Anderson, Nicole Simpson, Ronald Goldman, Darnell Donerson, Jason Hudson, Julian King).
The case of Linda Adanalian is especially interesting. Thecase continued for several years, exhuming her body for a second autopsy and additional testing before an alert specialist discovered the huge amount of the toxic chemical selenium in her tissue sample.
Crime within families seems to be a growing epidemic; murder, abuse, neglect – parent against children and children against parents and siblings.
One case is one too many.
19 May
Alright, I admit, that headline is a bit sensational. The science itself isn’t all bad, it’s how it gets used and the failure of the criminal justice system to be sensible about science that leads to science being misused.
So what’s gone wrong?
Image: Amazon
Stated conclusions far exceed the reasonable limits of the science. If you haven’t read John Grisham’s…
18 May
United States criminal justice system flowchart. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Anyone who has suffered from a serious criminal episode will concede their second incident was the ordeal of navigating the system of victim assistance.
No one seems quite certain among the victim assistance offices in Montgomery County Pennsylvania who is capable of determining who is and who is not qualified as a “victim”.
As has been reported here for over a year, the defendants in this case against the group who conspired to forge a will of Raymond Zachry have been allowed repeated “extensions”. The latest – the attorney for the widow, Darlene Zachry, a/k/a/ Zachery didn’t show up.
WOW! Wouldn’t you think that would be a contempt of court offence? Not so in Pennsylvania.
Lately, I have been advised of the Victim Rights law that includes the right of the victim to a fair and speedy trial.
According to the federal Office for Victims of Crime:
The core rights for victims of crime include:
- The right to attend criminal justice proceedings;
- The right to apply for compensation;
- The right to be heard and participate in criminal justice proceedings;
- The right to be informed of proceedings and events in the criminal justice process, of legal rights and remedies, and of available services;
- The right to protection from intimidation and harassment;
- The right to restitution from the offender;
- The right to prompt return of personal property seized as evidence;
- The right to a speedy trial; and
- The right to enforcement of these rights.
Pennsylvania victim rights law is so vague that it may as well not exist. Officials seem to ignore it, politicians deny it’s existence, and the perps get all the “rights”.
So Ray, we will never give up. Someday, somewhere justice will be done.
9 May
Reblogged from Friends of Justice:
By Hazel Taylor
This piece was originally published on onlineclasses.org.
If you want to learn more about the history of your city, explore the history of corruption within the city’s police department. Police corruption, which can include kickbacks, shakedowns, and protection of or even direct participation in illegal activities, has been around since the creation of the country’s first police force.
7 May
Texas Monthly (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Marie Robards was a high school honor student considered a real beauty by classmates. She was old enough to drive an automobile, and almost old enough to vote when she served a sufficient amount of barium to her father with his dinner that he died within a few hours.
She should have been content enjoying her high school years and popularity; not plotting to murder one of her parents.
Robards was devastated when her parents separated, then divorced; subsequently her mother remarried and Marie did not get along with her step-father. That was the motivation Marie gave prosecutors for killing her father, Steven Robards.
Soon after eating his evening meal Steven became ill and started throwing up. Marie went to a neighbor, Sandra Hudgins and asked for her help. Marie stayed behind and visited with her son while the neighbor went to check on Steven.
Marie Robards later admitted she slipped “a teaspoonful of barium” into her father’s dinner.
Texas Monthly Magazine featured an article by Skip Hollandsworth. He described the symptoms that resulted from consuming the barium:
A neighbor, Sandra Hudgins, found Steven in bed, complaining that he was getting stiff in his arms and legs. “He said he couldn’t swallow well,” Hudgins recalled, “and I saw saliva coming up through his mouth. I went into the other room and called an ambulance. While I was on the phone, I heard Steven gurgling. His mouth was foaming. It was terrible. His eyes were open and he was just staring.”
A subsequent autopsy by the Fort Worth, Texas medical examiner found nothing unusual and accredited Steven Robards death to a heart attack.
Marie Robards was 16 years old then, she lived with her shrewd scheme until she could no longer cope with her conscience and confided her secret to close friend, Stacey High. The friend eventually revealed the secret because she had night mares that Steven Robards was “calling to her from his grave”, asking her to help him.
The Texas Monthly Magazine story continues:
The investigation should have been simple enough. All the medical examiner’s office needed to do was re-test Steven’s blood. (The office keeps blood samples from autopsies it has conducted.)
But delay followed delay while the medical examiner claimed it was necessary to search for a laboratory with the necessary equipment to do the testing.
Local assumption in Fort Worth Texas was the homicide unit had more important cases, “than a preposterous sounding story from an overwrought teenager about her best friend poisoning her father,” Skip Hollandsworth wrote of the murder investigation.
When the toxicology tests finally returned, the results were startling. Steven Robards blood contained 250 times the amount of barium acetate than would be considered normal.
Normal exposure, as reported by Center for Disease Control is 7mg/L. Steven Robards blood contained 250 X 7mcg/L = approximately 1750mcg/L
A Harford County man, Raymond Marc Zachry suffered a similar situation when he suddenly collapsed and died in Montgomery County Pennsylvania. He was found by his truck in Souderton, Pennsylvania, where he had recently purchased a house with his new wife of 18 months. Zachry was unresponsive according to the police report and “cool to the touch”; without pulse.
The Zachry case parallel to the Robards story is striking. His case was ruled a heart attack by the acting coroner, Jeanne Ottinger, RN and a release was sent to a Forest Hill, Maryland funeral chapel and crematorium to allow the final arrangements and cremation to go forward.
Following tests and many irregularities in the explanation of the death of Zachry, a poison panel was requested. It returned positive for 1950 mcg/L of barium. NMS laboratory, the testing facility, reported “result verified by repeat analysis”.
Acting coroner, Jeanne Ottinger RN, ESQ sent samples to another laboratory for a second opinion.
The second laboratory, DrugScan, reported a different result. It was greatly reduced, although greater than the quantity Center for Disease Control considers safe. Another DrugScan report had a redacted quantity and accompanied a fax cover letter with a handwritten note, “P. S. sorry for any confusion”.
Barium is one of the chemicals on the CDC – Emergency Preparedness and Response list of hazardous chemicals that should be treated as a biological chemical emergency.
“Biologic: A case in which an elevated spot urine barium level (>7 µg/L) exists, as determined by commercial laboratory tests”, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) report.
Montgomery County Pennsylvania acting coroner Jeanne Ottinger, RN, ESQ and newly elected coroner, Walter Hoffman, MD ignored the CDC requirements and pleads from Mr. Zachry’s family to re-examine the results.
In a recent letter to the family of Mr. Zachry Walter Hoffman said, “I consider this case closed”.
Read this and more by this author:
Baltimore Financial Fraud Examiner,
Baltimore Crime Victims Examiner
4 May
Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Kangaroo Court (single) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
April 23, 2012 a pre-trial was schedule for the foursome we have been following: the widow of Raymond Zachry, Darlene Miller Zachry a/k/a/Zachery, her sister Annetta Frackman and friends Lisa and William “Bill” Werneke in the case of a forged will of Raymond Marc Zachry, and insurance fraud.
A group of supporters of Raymond Zachry accompanied his mother, Shirley Sanservino to this pre-trial since Ray’s mother had been assured that at this pre-trial there would be a determination of either a hearing or Zachery/Zachry would agree to a “plea deal“.
The group gathered at 8:30 AM to be certain that they would be in the right place at the right time and afforded a seat in court room 8 of Montgomery County Pennsylvania criminal court.
Zachry/Zachery arrived as well as William “Bill” Werneke. Each was given an extension by the court due to a letter from the attorney of Werneke and Zachry/Zachery was on hold until the court suddenly discovered a “sealed letter” from her attorney and dismissed her to leave.
Many telephone calls later, and searching the criminal docket the following is the entry into docket sheet for April 23, 2012:
Pre-Trial Conference 04/23/2012 9:00 am Courtroom 8 Judge Joseph A. Smyth Scheduled
03/29/2012 Montgomery County Court
Administration: Hearing Notice
Pre-Trial Conferences Scheduled
_______________________________________________________
Judge Smyth – Courtroom #8
April 23 to April 25, 2012 at 9:00 a.m.
Notices Sent First Class Mail
DA/PD Sent Inter-office Mail
________________________________________________________
04/23/2012 04/23/2012 Smyth, Joseph A.
Order to Relist for Pre-Trial Conference
Gradel, John Neumann
4/23/2012 Orally in Open Crt Record
Sobel, Jonathan J.
04/23/2012 Orally in Open Crt Record
This time there were five witnesses in the court room, two telephone calls to attorney Jonathan Sobel to verify that he was still the attorney of record for Darlene Zachery/Zachry to verify that he still represented her as an attorney - he was definitely a no-show.
How could the above court record happen without the attorney and prosecutor actually being in court?
Only in Pennsylvania, the home of Keystone Kops, illusionary court hearings and attorneys who do not show, yet hold arguments on a case.
Stay tuned folks there will be more to come of this ridiculous Kangaroo Court.
27 Apr
UPDATE: Another illusion of fair justice when the foursome, widow, Darlene Zachry a/k/a/ Zachery, her sister, Annetta Frackman, two friends Lisa and William “Bill” Werneke were given another “extension”. Reason: Darlene’s attorney was a no-show.
Whatever happened to contempt of court charges for attorney’s who do not comply with court schedules?
This year-long fiasco has made a mockery of justice.
Today is one year since the arrest warrants were sent out for the foursome. Will it be another year, two years, how long does it take for the judge to say, “ENOUGH” WE ARE PROCEEDING – WITH OR WITHOUT YOUR ATTORNEY!
Monday, April 23, 2012, four years, seven months after his death and as much time since his widow Darlene M. Zachry a/k/a/Zachery filed a forged will in Montgomery County Pennsylvania.The widow Zachry enlisted the aid of her sister, Annetta Frackman, and close friends Lisa and William Werneke in her scheme to defraud the estate of Raymond Zachry so that she would have all of his estate for herself - without dividing with his parents as would happen without a will.
Once the forged will was discovered by Raymond’s mother and identified by a document examiner as a forgery – two years of discovery, lies and obstruction kept it out of court until December 2009.
Raymond Zachry's safe where his widow testified she "found" his will that she probated in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Orphans Court Judge Stanley Ott filed his opinion March 16, 2010 detailing the crimes of perjury, forgery, conspiracy and more that were detailed in testimony in his court by the widow Zachry, Frackman and the Werneke married couple.
We are now passed two years since Judge Ott’s opinion was posted in the records of Montgomery County Orphans Court. The appeal court upheld his opinion with a similar 11 page opinion.
Monday, April 23 will be 11 months and 362 days since arrest warrants were issued for the foursome.
Nearly a year later we will see if Montgomery County Pennsylvania is really concerned about crime and lying about the crime in their court; and see if they really have any concern for victims of those crimes.
Insurance fraud: Pennsylvania has a special fraud investigation division under the office of their attorney general. Monday, April 23, 2012 we will see how concerned Pennsylvania is about prosecuting those who are charged with insurance fraud.
Is Pennsylvania really going to prosecute these people who conspired to steal from a dead husband, brother-in-law and “like a brother” friend? Or, are they going to dismiss the case and penalize the victim of their crime, Raymond Zachry who can’t defend himself; and his mother who has spent nearly five years asking for assistance from Pennsylvania courts, district attorney and legal profession.
Monday we will know how serious Montgomery County Pennsylvania really considers crime in their county and state.
27 Apr
National Crime Victim’s Rights Week was recognized in 1981. Each year a week in April is set aside for promoting victim’s rights, recognizing crime victims and honoring those who assist them.
This year April 22-28 is designated as National Crime Victim’s Rights week.
Their Light Still Shines, a community remembers homicide victims
Parents of Murdered Children (POMC), is a national organization based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Their mission is to assist families of murdered children through a network of local chapters. Maryland has one chapter, Upper Chesapeake Bay Chapter. They meet the last Monday of each month in Elkton, MD at a local Veteran of Foreign Wars (VFW) who donates use of a meeting room for the monthly POMC meetings.
“POMC membership is open to those who have been cruelly bereaved by the murder of a loved one although professionals who are in frequent contact with grieving families are also welcome to join,” according to their web site.
Upper Chesapeake Bay Chapter held their annual memorial service Wednesday, April 25, 2012 at the court house in Elkton, MD. While it was a solemn occasion, many of the families recognized each other from prior services and chatted about their common bond; the loss of a loved one.
A favorite gathering place was the Angel Wall, titled Their Light Still Shines. One family who wanted their name withheld tearfully said, “I know he is in heaven,” of her deceased loved one whose photo and name was on the wall.
Lynn Jones is Chapter Leader. Her son Ross was murdered by three neighboring teens April 2, 2005.
“The three teens attacked Ross three days before they broke into their home and shot Ross in his head,” Lynn said. My husband Dan and I were away on vacation. He came home Sunday because he had to go back to work on Monday. He found our son lying on the kitchen floor of our house.
“They knew each other, they knew he was home alone, Lynn said.
“Two of the offenders were sentenced to 50 years in jail, the other 25 because he was willing to talk and told authorities what happened,” she stated.
Lynn started Upper Chesapeake Bay Chapter in September 2010 after talking with a woman who had lost a son about 20 years earlier. Lynn said after talking with this survivor she realized she was not alone in her grief, and it was ok to grieve.
“I wanted to give back for the help and understanding that was given to me, so I started the Chapter. It has been work, but I get more out of it than I give,” Lynn said.
POMC requires a new chapter leader attend a training session at their Cincinnati, Ohio home office. Then the new chapter must meet criteria during a probationary period before becoming a fully accredited chapter. Upper Chesapeake Bay Chapter received accreditation in March 2012.
More information is available about crime victim assistance from The Office for Victims of Crime is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. http://ovc.ncjrs.gov/ncvrw/
Originally posted:
Baltimore Examiner Crime Victim
22 Apr
Cassandra Cales (left) and missing sister Stacy Peterson.
Four and half years ago, Stacy Peterson made a late morning call to her family. That was the last anyone has heard from her. Despite extensive searches, no trace of her has been found. Her husband, Drew Peterson now resides in the Will County Adult Detention Center in Joliet, Ill. Not for anything to do with Stacy, however.
