Eric McGowan, Rape Suspect, Captured By US Marshals

McGowen


A man who fled his trial a day before being convicted and sentenced in the repeated group sexual assault of an 11-year-old Southeast Texas girl was captured Tuesday after being a fugitive for nearly two weeks, authorities said.

Eric McGowen, 20, was arrested after being found in an apartment in northeast Houston, said Alfredo Perez, a spokesman for the Marshals Service. Information provided to the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force led officials to McGowen, said Perez.

The fugitive was apparently caught by surprise, as he was sitting on a toilet when authorities entered the apartment and arrested him, said Capt. Steve Greene, a spokesman for the Liberty County Sheriff's Office.

Task force members turned McGowen over to Texas Rangers, who took him back to Liberty County, where he was convicted, Perez said. By Tuesday afternoon, McGowen was in the Liberty County jail, Greene said. Six law enforcement agencies coordinated the search for McGowen.

Both Greene and Perez declined to release further details about what led authorities to the apartment or who McGowen had been staying with. The Liberty County District Attorney's Office and McGowen's attorney did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.


The investigation regarding individuals who might have helped McGowen elude authorities continues, Greene said.

Authorities had been searching for McGowen since he fled his trial Aug. 29, the same day the girl tearfully testified about the attacks in her hometown of Cleveland, about 45 miles northeast of Houston. McGowen had been free on bail at the time and never came back to court after a break in testimony.

The trial in the nearby county seat of Liberty went on without him, and McGowen was convicted the next day of aggravated sexual assault of a child and sentenced to 99 years in prison.

McGowen was set to be formally sentenced in a Liberty courtroom Thursday before being transferred to the Texas prison system, Greene said.

McGowen was one of 20 men and boys who authorities say repeatedly sexually assaulted the girl on at least five occasions from mid-September through early December of 2010. He was the first defendant to stand trial in the case.

Before his trial, all six juveniles and two of the 14 adults charged had pleaded guilty. Since McGowen's conviction, four other adults have pleaded guilty and are set to be sentenced Sept. 21.

His disappearance was the latest twist in a case that divided the small town of Cleveland, both because of the horrific allegations and suggestions from some residents that the girl was partly responsible because of her appearance. Police began investigating after one of the girl's classmates told a teacher he saw video of her being sexually assaulted in an abandoned trailer.

Prosecutors' case against McGowen included a videotaped confession and testimony from nearly a dozen witnesses, including the girl, who is now 13. A defense attorney did not present any witnesses or evidence.
Culled from HUFF POST

Couple Accused Of Filming Sex Acts With Own Children

Michelle Lee Freeman and her husband Michael Serapis Freeman


A nationwide search for child pornographers culminated in the arrest of an Oregon couple who performed sexual acts with minors and taped them on video.

Michelle Lee Freeman, 40, and her husband Michael Serapis Freeman, 39, surrendered to local police in their hometown of Salem, Ore., after someone they know threatened to turn them in, ABC News reports.

The Freemans are accused of videotaping themselves performing sex acts with children, KTVB reports. A complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Oregon alleges that at least one of the minors in the videos is the couple's 9-year-old daughter.

According to the complaint, Michael Freeman said he traded photos and videos of the sex acts for other child porn on the Internet, saying that he initiated the practice and that "somehow" his wife became involved.

Investigators launched a nationwide search last month after videos in which a woman has sexual contact with two girls under the age of 10 were found on a computer that was obtained by the FBI in Colorado, according to ABC News.

This built on an ongoing investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Los Angeles, who had been pursuing the case since 2011, when a computer allegedly containing photos of the abused girls was seized, WTTG reported.

Since the woman in the videos was unidentified, ICE turned to the public for information. In a press conference, Homeland Security Investigation spokesperson Brad Bench said that tips began to flow in after a photo of the then-unidentified woman spread across social media, including Facebook. This information allowed law enforcement to narrow their search to the Pacific Northwest, he said.

"The general public and the media was instrumental in bringing these people to justice," ICE spokesperson Ross Feinstein told CNN.

If convicted, the couple could each face 15 to 30 years in prison.
Culled from HUFF POST

Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi sentenced to death

Tariq al-Hashemi


Iraq's fugitive vice-president Tariq al-Hashemi has been sentenced to death in absentia after a court found him guilty of running death squads.

The court ruling came as at least 45 people were killed in a wave of about 24 attacks across Iraq.

Hashemi was the most senior Sunni Muslim in the predominantly Shia Iraqi government until he was charged last December and went on the run.

The charges against him sparked a political crisis in Iraq.

Other Sunni politicians denounced Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki - who issued the warrant for Mr Hashemi - as a dictator, accusing him of deliberate provocation that risked plunging the country back into sectarian conflict.

Correspondents say the fragile government coalition between Sunnis, secularists and Shia has seemed in danger of collapse ever since.

Sunni insurgents linked to al-Qaeda have been blamed for much of the recent violence in Iraq.The Iraqi government issued the warrant for Hashemi's arrest on 19 December 2011, the day after the last US troops left the country.
He fled first to the largely autonomous Kurdish north of the country, and from there to Qatar and on to Turkey.

Prosecutors said Hashemi was involved in 150 killings. During his trial in absentia in Baghdad, some of his former bodyguards said Mr Hashemi had ordered murders.

He says the charges against him are politically motivated and has accused PM Maliki of fuelling sectarianism.

On Sunday, an Iraqi court found Hashemi and his son-in-law guilty of two murders and sentenced him to death by hanging. The judge dismissed a third charge for lack of evidence.

Although violence has decreased since its peak in 2006 and 2007, attacks have escalated again after the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq at the end of last year, amid increasing political and sectarian tensions.

The Iraqi government has been hampered by divisions between Sunni, Shia and Kurdish political groups.

The Iraqi government said July 2012 was the deadliest month in nearly two years, with 325 people killed.

Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was a Sunni, and many Sunnis believe they are being penalised by Shias, who have grown in influence since the US invasion.

Sunnis have accused Mr Maliki of taking an authoritarian approach to government.
Culled from BBC

From death row back to pulpit: How Iranian Pastor became a 21st century martyr

Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who was originally sentenced to death in his native country for his Christian faith, was acquitted of apostasy charges and released from custody today.
Nadarkhani, 32, was imprisoned for three years and waiting execution for refusing to renounce his Christian faith. His charges were lowered to evangelizing to Muslims, which carried a three-year sentence. He was released with time served, according to the American Center for Law and Justice, a Washington-based watchdog group that had been campaigning for the pastor's release.
Afterlanguishing in prison for almost three years, he has been reunited with his family.
Pastor Youcef’s story is an example of how the world can join together to ensure that justice is served and freedom preserved."
Nadarkhani was originally called to Saturday's hearing to answer to "charges brought against him," leading to speculation that the new charges from the Iranian Supreme Court could be for a security-based crime, a charge often handed down to cover-up prisoners being held and sentenced on faith-based charges.
"While we praise the release of Pastor Youcef, we must recognize that Iran felt obligated to save face among its people and continue its pattern of suppressing religious freedom with intimidation tactics," Tiffany Barrans, a legal director for ACLJ said to FoxNews.com.
"International attention to this matter saved this man's life, but we must not forget the human right of freedom of religion includes the right to freedom of expression."
Nadarkhani's attorney, who also has been jailed, maintained that the married father of two faced execution because he refused to renounce his religion. An Iranian diplomat told a United Nations panel earlier this year that Nadarkhani would not be executed.
According to Sharia law, an apostate has three days to recant. The pastor refused to do so and sources close to the matter say executions in Iran can happen at any time, often without notice. The court is reportedly seeking the opinion of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Islamic republic's spiritual leader and highest authority, according to AFP.
The ACLJ worked with the State Department to try to win Nadarkhani's freedom, and the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution earlier this year condemning his imprisonment and calling for his immediate release. Nearly 3 million people have voiced support for Nadarkhani on Twitter through the "Tweet for Youcef" campaign.
Culled from FOXNEWS

Turkish woman awaits trial after beheading her alleged rapist

Nevin Yildirim


A woman in Turkey is awaiting trial after beheading a man who she says raped her repeatedly for months and is the father of her unborn child. Her lawyer says the woman killed the man to protect her honor.

Nevin Yildirim, a 26-year-old mother of two, lives in a small village in southwestern Turkey. She said the man, Nurettin Gider, began the attacks a few days after her husband left in January for a seasonal job in another town, according to a source close to the case.

Yildirim said Gider threatened her with a gun and said he would kill her children, ages 2 and 6, if she made any noise, according to the source. That was the first of repeated rapes over the next eight months, the source said.

Gider


At one point, Yildirim said, Gider sneaked into her house while she was asleep and took pictures of her, the source said. One of the pictures shows her pregnant body. Gider threatened to publish the pictures if she didn't obey him, the source said.

In small villages like hers, honor is held above all else, and women carry the burden of honor for their families. Pictures like those would have been devastating for Yildirim and her family and could have posed a danger.

Pakistan: 'Honor' murderer boasts of triple killing

On August 28, at least five months pregnant by a man who she said continued to rape her, Yildirim said she decided she had had enough. Gider was climbing up the back wall of her house. "I knew he was going to rape me again," she said at her preliminary hearing August 30.

She said she grabbed her father-in-law's rifle that was hanging on the wall and she shot him. He tried to draw his gun and she fired again.

"I chased him," she said. "He fell on the ground. He started cussing. I shot his sexual organ this time. He became quiet. I knew he was dead. I then cut his head off."

Witnesses described Yildirim walking into the village square, carrying the man's head by his hair, blood dripping on the ground.

"Don't talk behind my back, don't play with my honor," Yildirim said to the men sitting in the coffee house on the square. "Here is the head of the man who played with my honor."

She threw Gider's head to the ground, the witnesses said. Video from Turkish broadcaster DHA, which arrived on the scene before the authorities, showed Gider's head on the ground.

Witnesses called authorities and Yildirim was arrested.

Gider was 35 and the father of two children, 15 and 9. He was married to an aunt of Yildirim's husband.

Yildirim told her legal representative she regrets what happened, the source said.

"I thought of reporting him to military police and to the district attorney, but this was going to mark me as a scorned woman," Yildirim said, according to the source. "Since I was going to get a bad reputation I decided to clean my honor and acted on killing him. I thought of suicide a lot but couldn't do it."



Yildirim said she was worried people would judge her children because of what happened, the source said.

"Now no one can call my children bastards," she said, according to the source. "I cleaned my honor. Everyone will call them the children of the woman who cleaned her honor."


The source said Yildirim went to a health clinic a while ago seeking an abortion, but health workers told her she was 14 weeks pregnant and abortion was not an option.

In Turkey, abortion is allowed during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, after which it is permitted only to save the life or health of the mother or in cases of fetal impairment, Human Rights Watch said.

At her hearing, Yildirim said she doesn't want to keep the baby and that she is ready to die, the source said. The public prosecutor's office has ordered a medical examination to decide whether Yildirim may have an abortion and to assess her mental stability, the source said.

Yildirim's father, Zekeriya Yildiz, told DHA his daughter did not report the alleged abuse to anyone in the family.

"If she would have told us, we would have taken other precautions," he said.

Yildirim is in the local jail while she awaits trial.

In a report last year, Human Rights Watch decried gaps in Turkish law that it said leave women and girls unprotected from domestic abuse. Some 42% of women older than 15 in Turkey and 47% of rural women have experienced physical or sexual violence at the hands of a husband or partner at some point in their lives, the group said.

"She has lived through a terrible trauma. She must be charged with self-defense," said Gursel Oztunali Kayir, a sociologist at Akdeniz University and a member of Antalya Women Support Organization.

Culled from CNN

Woman Cuts Off boyfriend's Penis and Flushed It Down The Toilet

Julia Muñoz Huaman


A Peruvian woman allegedly cut off her sleeping boyfriend's penis, then tossed it into the toilet.

Julia Muñoz Huaman, 41, reportedly used a kitchen knife to cut off the penis of 46-year-old Ramon Arias Apaico before flushing the severed appendage, according to the Digital Journal. The two were staying at a hostel in Brena, Peru at the time.

Huaman attempted to leave the hostel, but was stopped by staff members, who contacted authorities after allegedly hearing Apaico's cries of pain, La FM reports.Police claim Muñoz (pictured at right) confessed to the crime, saying she made the slice after learning Apaico had cheated on her, according to MSN.

Apaico was transported to a hospital in Lima, according to Peru 21. Arias remains partially intact, urologist Zarela Solis told the station, and is expected to remain in the hospital 10 days.

He will likely need psychological treatment for several months.
Culled from HUFF POST

Trial begins for a 26-yr old mother who mudered her 8-month old baby and bragged about it

Elizabeth Johnson & the 8-month baby


Jury selection began Wednesday in the case of Elizabeth Johnson, the Arizona mother accused of kidnapping her 8-month-old son, Gabriel, then bragging to the boy's father about his murder.

"I suffocated him. I suffocated him, and he turned blue, and I put him in his diaper bag and put him in the trash can," Johnson allegedly said in a 2009 telephone conversation with the baby's father, Logan McQueary. The recording was released to the public by police.

Johnson, 26, is being tried on charges of kidnapping and conspiracy to commit custodial interference. The Tempe woman has been behind bars since January 2010, after she was found mentally unfit to stand trial. The court has since found her to be competent, according to Phoenix court officials.

Police said the telephone conversation between Johnson and McQueary was Dec. 27, 2009, the day after Gabriel was last seen alive. In it, Johnson allegedly told McQueary, her ex-boyfriend, that she killed their child out of revenge because she believed he was involved with other women.

"You want to talk to girls, that's the price you pay," Johnson said, according to police.

Johnson and McQueary had joint custody of Gabriel, but on the day McQueary was supposed to pick up his son, he told police, he received an ominous text message from Johnson telling him their baby was dead.

"You will never see Gabriel again," the text allegedly read. "I made sure of that. And you can spend the rest of your pathetic life wondering about him. You will never find me. I'm already boarding a plane out of the country. When I'm safe, I'll e-mail you the exact location of dead Gabriel's little blue body, if the garbage don't come first. This is what liars like you deserve."The phone call between the couple occurred later that same day. In addition to accusing McQueary of being unfaithful, Johnson told him he destroyed her life, according to an audio recording.

McQueary responded, "I haven't destroyed anything."

Johnson, according to police, replied, "Yes, you have, Logan. You made me kill my baby boy ... So find some new girl to make your new baby."

The message and phone recording prompted a massive search of local landfills by police, but they were unable to find the child.

In the days following her arrest, Johnson changed her story, telling police she gave Gabriel away to strangers in San Antonio, where her car was later found. Witnesses have placed Johnson and the baby in the San Antonia area between Dec. 20 and 27, 2009, but she was alone when she was found and taken into custody in Florida on Dec. 27.

Gabriel's mother also implicated an Arizona woman named Tammi Smith, claiming she helped set up the meeting with the San Antonio couple.

Smith, 38, allegedly wanted to adopt Gabriel herself, according to media reports. Smith was later arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit custodial interference after authorities said she offered money to Johnson and forged court documents, police said.

In May, Smith was found guilty of forgery and conspiracy to interfere with Gabriel's custody. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Joseph Kreamer sentenced her to probation and 30 days in jail. During her July sentencing hearing, Smith apologized for any "pain and suffering" that helping Johnson may have caused.

"I never intended to hurt anybody ... I pray every day that Gabriel is alive and that he is found," Smith said.

Gabriel's whereabouts are still unknown. Jury selection is expected to take two weeks; opening statements are scheduled to begin Sept. 19.
Culled from HUFF POST

Govt ban on smoking provokes protests in Lebanon

A ban on smoking in enclosed public places has come into effect in Lebanon, prompting sit-in protests by some restaurant and cafe owners.

The ban covers bars, restaurants and cafes where traditional shisha, or hookah, water pipes are ubiquitous.

The law was passed last year and already affects airports, schools and hospitals.

Anyone who breaks the ban faces a $90 (£57) fine. Cafe owners who turn a blind eye could be fined up to $2,700.

Smoking, which is banned in public in much of Europe and the United States, is very popular in Lebanon.

Daily smoking is more prevalent among adults in Lebanon than in any other country in the Middle East, according to World Health Organization (WHO) figures from 2009.

More than 45% of men and 30% of women are estimated to be regular smokers.

Neighbouring Syria became the first Arab state to enforce a smoking ban in April 2010.
'European concept'

Under the law, advertising and sponsorship by tobacco companies is also banned, while 40% of the surface area of a cigarette packet will have to be covered with health warnings.

In Beirut, one shisha smoker told the AFP news agency the ban was a "European concept".

"Shishas are a way of life in eastern Lebanon and they want to deprive us of that," said Saad Fiefel, smoking outside a cafe.

Some retailers have said the ban will force many cafes to close down because so many rely on shisha smokers for business, and customers will not always be able to sit outside.

One coffee shop owner in Beirut's Hamra district told AFP: "Nearly 80% of our customers come here for the hookah. How will we do in winter when there won't be any terraces?"
Culled from BBC

Nurse who stabbed 4-yr-old daughter to death and attempted suicide is jailed

Makin


A nurse who stabbed her four-year-old daughter to death before attempting to kill herself has been jailed for 12 years.

Dawn Makin, 35, became depressed after she was sacked following allegations that she passed information about patients to a personal injury claims firm.

Makin, now in a wheelchair after drinking anti-freeze in her suicide bid, earlier admitted the manslaughter of her daughter, Chloe Burke, on the grounds of diminished responsibility.Preston Crown Court heard today that she was suffering an "abnormality of mental function" when she stabbed Chloe to death and then drank the anti-freeze at their home in Bury, Greater Manchester.

Peter Wright QC, for the prosecution, said: "She was no longer able to form a rational judgment and believed the only way was to kill herself and her daughter."

He said the nurse practitioner lost her job at Moorgate Walk-in Centre in Bury after passing patient details to her boyfriend, Martin Campbell, who worked for a personal injury claims firm.

Mr Wright said: "Sadly, an agreement was reached between the defendant and her partner that she would supply details of patients at the clinic."

In May 2010, a complaint was made by a patient, and Makin was suspended pending an investigation, the court heard.
Three months later she was dismissed.

"That was an event that was to have a considerable effect on this lady, both financially and psychologically," Mr Wright added.

Makin and Campbell split in January 2011 causing her further "considerable distress", the court was told.

The following month, on Valentine's Day, she learned she was to be summonsed to court to face data protection charges.

Two days later Makin and her daughter were found when the defendant's mother, Sheila, forced her way into the house with a neighbour.

Chloe was lying dead on her mother's bed in clean pyjamas and a dressing gown surrounded by cuddly toys.

She had suffered knife injuries to her chest, neck and throat.

Following the attack her mother had removed her blood-stained pyjamas and put them in a washing basket before dressing her in clean clothes.

Makin was found alive but with serious injuries and rushed to hospital.

Mr Wright added: "The defendant had cut her wrist, there was a bottle of anti-freeze on the floor and anti-freeze in a glass nearby.

"Police were called and the defendant was taken to hospital where her life was saved.

"The effect of the anti-freeze was to leave her permanently disabled and confined to a wheelchair."

He said a number of suicide notes were found and also "an apology".

In one of the notes Makin said: "I had no choice, my life was wrecked."

She also wrote on a picture of her daughter: "I'm so sorry I've taken her away from you all but I couldn't leave her with no money, that would be too cruel. Sorry."

Nick Johnson QC, defending Makin, said it was a case of "extended suicide".

He said psychiatric examination of the mother revealed she believed her daughter was an "emotional extension" of herself.

He said: "The defendant genuinely believed that if she took her own life, her daughter would be better off dead.

"She did not try to kill herself because she killed Chloe. Dawn Makin killed her daughter because she wanted to kill herself."

In the 18 months since Chloe was killed Makin has received psychiatric care, Mr Johnson said.

He described her as "no longer a cause for concern" but told the court Makin's physical condition made her "acutely vulnerable".

He added: "She has to live with the fact that she killed her child, something she can't remember.

"She has severely tested the bond with her parents and she has deprived them of their granddaughter's love.

"Finally, she has inflicted a terrible injury on herself and none of this can be undone."

Makin sobbed throughout the hearing as she sat in her wheelchair in the dock.

Her parents and Chloe's father, Michael Burke, also sobbed at times as they followed the proceedings in the public gallery.

Passing sentence, Judge Anthony Russell QC, the Recorder of Preston, said the facts of the case were "appalling".

He said: "Two highly experienced and distinguished psychiatrists agreed that at the time of the killing you had developed an abnormality of mind which arose from a recognised medical condition, namely a depressive disorder.

"Although you were able to understand the nature of your conduct, you were no longer able to form a rational judgment and were of the belief that there was no alternative but to kill yourself and your daughter."

He said the loss of her job "appeared to trigger" the onset of Makin's mental health problems.

He also noted a statement given by Mr Burke which described the defendant as a "fantastic mother who doted on Chloe".

"This case must be treated as one where an intention to kill is proved," Judge Russell added.

"The victim was your four-year-old child, vulnerable and someone who trusted you.

"Chloe must have undergone considerable physical and emotional suffering."

He jailed Makin for 12 years and ordered she serve at least six years before she can be released on parole.
Culled from HUFF POST

World’s shortest man, woman meet for first time

The world’s shortest woman has met the world’s shortest man.

Jyothi Amge, 18, of Nagpur, India, recently met Chandra Bahadur Dangi, 72, of Nepal, in Italy, where the pair took pictures for the 57th edition of the Guinness World Records 2013.

Amge, who stands 24.7-inches tall, became the world’s shortest woman in 2011. Amge has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia – so she has reached her maximum height.

Last year, when presented with her title, Amge – who is smaller than the average 2-year-old, said she hopes to attend university and become a Bollywood star.

Dangi became the world’s shortest man this past February – and is also the world’s shortest man in history, breaking the record of India’s Gul Mohammed, who died in 1997 at 22.5 inches tall. Dangi measures 21.5 inches tall and weighs 31 pounds, 5 ounces.

The reason for Dangi’s condition is unknown. He never received a check up from a doctor until Guinness' doctor measured him in February, and a reason for his short stature could not be determined.

“It’s a big thing for my family, my village and my country,” said Dangi, who lives in a remote Nepalese mountain village called Rhimkholi. “I am very happy.”

“It was an extraordinary moment,” said Marco Frigatti, official Guinness World Records adjudicator, of the meeting. “They’re both such incredible individuals. Everyone knew this was a special moment, and the atmosphere was magical.”

Guinness World Records 2013 is available Thursday, Sept. 13. Visit Guinness World Records for more info.
Culledfrom FOXNEWS

Texas Gang Rape Trial: How 11yr old girl was gang-raped by 20 men

McGowen.

A 13-year-old Texas girl who authorities say was repeated sexually assaulted by 20 men and boys during a series of attacks two years ago cried Wednesday as a video of one of the encounters was played for jurors in the first case to go to trial.

The girl, testifying under a pseudonym, told the jury that 20-year-old defendant Eric McGowen and another man charged in the case took her to a house in Cleveland, a small Southeast Texas town where all the defendants and the girl lived, in October 2010. The girl, who was an 11-year-old at the time, said she was brought into what she described as the "baby room" in the house, and that several men or boys took turns having sex with her, including McGowen.

McGowen, one of 14 adults accused of having sex with the girl during a nearly three-month span, is charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child and faces up to life in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors played a few minutes of a video in which they say a third man charged in the case was sexually assaulting the girl. The girl testified that McGowen was in the room at the time. The girl cried as the video was played and several jurors turned away from it.

"Did the guys just take turns with you?" prosecutor Joe Warren asked.

"Yes sir," the girl said.

Prosecutors say the girl was assaulted on at least five occasions from mid-September through early December of 2010.

Eight of the 20 defendants accused in the case have pleaded guilty, including all six juveniles. A gag order has prevented prosecutors and defense attorneys from commenting about the case.

Authorities began investigating that December after one of the girl's friends told a teacher he watched a cellphone video of her being raped in an abandoned trailer.

The case sparked outrage in Cleveland, a community of roughly 9,000 residents 45 miles northeast of Houston. Some residents drew widespread condemnation for suggesting the girl was partly responsible because they say she wore makeup, looked older than her age and wasn't properly supervised by her parents.

The case also has been complicated by a belief among many in the predominantly black neighborhood where several of the suspects live that the arrests were racially motivated. All of the suspects are black, while the girl is Hispanic.

The trial is being held in nearby Liberty, the county seat.

On Tuesday, McGowen was dealt a setback when state District Judge Mark Morefield ruled that prosecutors could admit as evidence a videotaped police interview of McGowen in which he admitted he and eight other men took turns having sex with the girl, sometimes two at a time, the Houston Chronicle reported.

In the video, which was played in court without the jury present, McGowen initially denied ever touching the girl, but he later broke down and told investigators she performed oral sex on him. He said one of the others used a beer bottle on her, the paper reported.

Some of those present for the alleged attack made videos or took cellphone photos, McGowen said. Reporters weren't allowed in the courtroom when that footage was played.

McGowen's lawyer, Matthew Poston, sought unsuccessfully to have McGowen's statements to investigators deemed inadmissible, arguing that police had an arrest warrant for his client but hadn't served it when he was brought to the station for questioning, the paper reported.

Warren pointed out that McGowen was advised of his rights on video before he was questioned.

One of the two adults who pleaded guilty in the case received a 15-year prison term and the other is awaiting sentencing. The six juveniles each received 7-year prison terms that were suspended, putting them on probation for that amount of time.

Most of the adult defendants in the case face charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child, while four face a charge of continuous sexual abuse of a child
Culled from FOXNEWS

Scientists Create World's First 'Cyborg Skin'

'Cyborg skin' with embedded electronics has been built in a Harvard lab for the first time.

The breakthrough marks the first test were functional electrical nanowires have been successfully placed inside lab-grown flesh.

The embedded wires make it easier to measure activity inside the skin, because usually tissue is damaged by electrical probes.

If the wires are 'grown into' the skin then the risk of damaging tissue is much less acute.

"Ultimately, this is about merging tissue with electronics in a way that it becomes difficult to determine where the tissue ends and the electronics begin," said Charles Lieber, professor of chemistry at Harvard.

Described in the journal Nature Materials, the new technique is similar to that which is used to make microchips.
According to the research team, the technique will first be used in the pharmaceutical industry to better study how drugs interact with tissues in three dimensions.

Theoretically the tech could one day be placed inside a live person, in order to study and manage drug treatment without damaging existing tissue.

Culled from HUFFPOST

'Speed Freak' killer let out of prison to help search for victims

Shermatine


Wesley Shermatine, one half of the Speed Freak Killers duo, was reportedly let out of San Quentin’s death row to help investigators search for victims, FOX40.com reported.

Shermantine aided investigators for the day, and was taken back to prison Sunday night.

The Speed Freak Killers is the name given to serial killer duo Loren Herzog and Wesley Shermantine, together initially convicted of 4 murders (3 jointly), and suspected in the deaths of as many as 15 people, in and around San Joaquin County, California. Their nickname was given due to their being methamphetamine users, with "speed freak" a colloquialism for such. Shermantine is on death row. Herzog committed suicide in 2012. He had had his conviction overturned in 2004, and had been paroled in 2010. Bones recovered in 2012 from an abandoned well have been positively linked to the killings.
Herzog and Shermantine were arrested by the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department in 1999 after the blood of 25 year old Cyndi Vanderheiden of Clements was found in Shermantine’s car. She had gone missing after having left with them one night in 1998. The duo had grown up as childhood friends in the town, and had been regulars at Cyndi's father's bar in Linden. In 2001, a jury found Shermantine guilty of four murders; Vanderheiden, two men shot dead in their car in 1984, and 16-year-old Chevelle "Chevy" Wheeler, who disappeared in 1985 from Franklin High School in Stockton, when she told friends she was leaving school to go with Shermantine to his family's cabin in San Andreas. Shermantine was given a death sentence, and is on death row at San Quentin State Prison. Herzog was convicted of three murders, and was sentenced to 77 years to life. The sentence was later reduced to 14 years. An appeals court overturned the first-degree murder convictions, after ruling his confession was coerced. Herzog was paroled in 2010 to a trailer adjacent to the High Desert State Prison in Susanville. He committed suicide, hanging himself outside the trailer in January 2012, after bounty hunter Leonard Padilla informed Herzog that Shermantine was planning to disclose the location of a well and two other locations where the duo had buried their victims. Prior to then, none of the bodies of their victims had been found. Both men maintained that the other did the killing in all cases. The citizens of Linden, a small town with fewer than 2,000 people, 95 miles east of San Francisco, were long aware of the duo's reputation as methamphetamine users.
Letters written to journalist Scott Smith, of the Stockton Record, by Shermantine led authorities, in February 2012, to a well on an abandoned farm outside of Linden, California, where more than 1000 human bone fragments were recovered. The bones were to be tested by the California Department of Justice for DNA profiling. Shermantine stated that he believed that Herzog was responsible for the kidnapping of Michaela Garecht. Shermantine had given investigators maps to the well, and other possible burial sites, after bounty hunter Padilla promised to pay him $33,000 for the information. Two bodies from separate sites were identified as those of Chevelle "Chevy" Wheeler and Cyndi Vanderheiden. In February 2012, authorities and Padilla searched for bodies on property owned by Shermantine's parents. The search for bodies was spurred by a letter written to Padilla by Shermantine, detailing possible locations of victims. In March 2012, the FBI's Evidence Recovery Team was asked to assist with the investigation.
Shermantine has stated he knows the location of bodies, of victims killed by other death row inmates, in the Cow Mountain Recreation Area. Lake County sheriffs were skeptical of the possibility of a successful recovery of any bodies in the large park.In August 2012, California Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani wrote to prison department Secretary Matt Cate asking him to briefly release Shermantine from prison, to assist in the discovery of any remains he may have knowledge of, under an emergency law she had written.
In February 2012, acting on Shermantine's directions, authorities found over 300 human bones and some personal items in an abandoned well in Linden, California. In late March 2012, the remains of two Stockton California teens who had been missing since the mid 1980's were identified as Kimberly Ann Billy, 19, who disappeared on December 11, 1984 and Joann Hobson, 16, who disappeared on August 29, 1985. The remains of an additional victim found the well has yet to be identified.
culled from FOXNEWS

'Riots' take over Mombasa, Kenya after cleric is shot dead

Rogo Mohammed



Riots have broken out in the Kenyan port of Mombasa, after a controversial Islamic cleric was shot dead.

Aboud Rogo Mohammed was suspected of being a key recruiter for Kenyan Muslims fighting in Somalia.

It is not known who shot him, but he was on a United Nations sanctions list for allegedly financing the militant Somali group al-Shabab.
Details coming up later.

Culled from BBC

20yr old Scott bags 12yrs in prison for raping 63yr old pensioner to death

Jay Soso


An Edinburgh man who raped and killed a pensioner who treated him like a grandson has been jailed for 12 years and eight months.

Jay Soso, 20, from the Tollcross area of the city, attacked 63-year-old Marie Reid in her sheltered home in Easter Drylaw Way in November 2010.

Mrs Reid lay dead for up to four days before her body was discovered.

Soso was initially charged with murder, but admitted a reduced charge of culpable homicide.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Lady Dorrian said Soso had been aware that his victim, who lived alone and suffered from poor health, was vulnerable.

She told the guilty man: "You knew her and there was an element of trust in the relationship you had with her.

"The rape was clearly forcible and violent, causing injuries to her and leading to her death."

Soso and his mother lived next door to Mrs Reid for five years between 2003 and 2008.

The court heard he helped Mrs Reid by running errands for her and she was described by Soso's mother Sharon as treating him "like a grandson."

Soso's family moved to England, but he didn't like it there and moved back to Edinburgh.


By 2010 he had a job in a fishmongers in Edinburgh and lived close to Mrs Reid.

He visited her occasionally, claiming he was checking to see how she was, before raping her on November 11, 2010.

Culled from BBC

India launches 'vagina tightening cream' amidst controversy and sex debates

An Indian company has launched what it claims is the country's first vagina tightening cream, saying it will make women feel "like a virgin" again. The company says it is about empowering women, but critics say it is doing the opposite. The BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan in Mumbai reports.



The makers of 18 Again, the Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company Ultratech, say it is the first of its kind in India (similar creams are already available in other parts of the world such as the USA), and fills a gap in the market. Ultratech's owner, Rishi Bhatia, says the cream, which is selling for around $44 (£28), contains natural ingredients including gold dust, aloe vera, almond and pomegranate, and has been clinically tested.

"It's a unique and revolutionary product which also works towards building inner confidence in a woman and boosting her self esteem," says Mr Bhatia, adding that the goal of the product is to "empower women".

Mr Bhatia says the product is not claiming to restore a woman's virginity, but to restore the emotions of being a virgin.



But the company's advertising strategy has attracted criticism from some doctors, women's groups and social media users, who say the product reinforces the widely held view in India that pre-marital sex is something to be frowned upon, a taboo which is even seen as sinful by some.


A survey of more than 5,000 people by India Today magazine last year showed that fewer than 1 in 5 (19%) of respondents were open to the idea of pre-marital sex, or live-in relationships, with a quarter of people saying they did not object to sex before marriage, as long as it was not happening in their family.We're brought up being told that having sex with someone is a bit vulgar," says one 26-year-old virgin.


The introduction of a vagina tightening cream, follows a recent controversy over a vagina skin lightening cream. Both are examples of how traditional values are clashing with newer ones in today's India.
Culled from BBC

How Neil Armstrong rendered apology to Indira Gandhi

Armstrong





"I apologise for the inconvenience", US astronaut Neil Armstrong told Indira Gandhi when informed that the Indian Prime Minister had kept awake till 4:30 am to watch him land on the moon on July 20, 1969.

Ghandi



This anecdote about the celebrated astronaut, who died two days ago, was recalled in London by former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh, who was present when Mr Armstrong and his fellow astronaut met Mrs Gandhi in New Delhi as part of their world tour after their moon landing.

Mr Singh, who conducted the two heroes into Mrs Gandhi's room at her Parliament House office, recalled that the then US ambassador was also present. After photographers snapped the two astronauts with the Prime Minister and left the room, there was an awkward silence. On being signalled by Mrs Gandhi to speak, Mr Singh said: "Mr Armstrong, you will be interested to know that the Prime Minister kept awake till 4.30 am, so as not to miss the exact time of your lunar landing."

Mr Singh recalled that Mr Armstrong rose to the occasion, and said: "I apologise for the inconvenience we caused you, Madame Prime Minister. Next time, I shall make sure that we land on the moon at a less unearthly hour".

July 20, 1969 became a watershed date in the history of mankind after Mr Armstrong, commanding the Apollo 11 spacecraft landed on the moon, and accompanied by fellow astronaut Aldrin spent nearly three hours walking on the moon.

After the Apollo 11's moon mission, Mr Armstrong announced that he did not plan to fly in space again.

Mr Armstrong died on August 25 at the age of 82.
Culled from NDTV

Grandmother gives birth to grandson through surrogate pregnancy

Linda Sirois in group photo with her daughter and newly born grandson


A 49-year-old northern Maine woman kept her word to act as a surrogate mother, and has given birth to her grandson.
The newborn baby, Madden Hebert became his own uncle when his grandmother gave birth to him last week
Linda Sirois of Madawaska, carried and delivered baby Madden Hebert, because her daughter Angel Hebert, 25, has a heart condition which would make pregnancy unsafe.
Seven pound, 14 ounce baby Madden was born Aug. 13. His mother says he's 'eating like a champ and he doesn't fuss too much.'



Hebert’s mother, 49-year-old Linda Sirois, had offered for years to be a surrogate mother for her daughter in case she could not get pregnant. Hebert and her husband, Brian, got the news last summer.

"It was pretty disappointing, and we were pretty upset about it," Hebert told the Herald. "But we kind of had an idea that it was a possibility and, all along, my mother was saying, 'I'm here and I can carry for you.' I guess we didn't really take her seriously."

After getting many rejections from fertility clinics because of her age, Sirois finally got a ‘yes’ from the Reproductive Science Center in Lexington, Mass. She successfully became pregnant with her daughter’s fertilized egg on the first attempt.
Culled from MAIL ONLINE

Nigerian Prostitute, Anthonia Egbuna, allegedly murdered by Italian Journalist

From left to right, Piampaschet $ Egbuna



An Italian man has been arrested over the murder of a Nigerian prostitute after police searching her apartment found a short story he wrote with close similarities to the killing.

Police in the northern Italian city of Turin discovered the nine-page story entitled "The Rose and the Lion" among the belongings of Anthonia Egbuna, whose body was fished out of the river Po in February, a Carabinieri spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday. She had been stabbed to death.

Police took some months to identify the body and then visited Egbuna's apartment last month.

After finding 34-year-old Ughetto Piampaschet's short story, police say they discovered he had been in a relationship with Egbuna, then 19, between February and August of last year.

They alleged in a statement that he murdered her in November because their relationship was going badly and she refused to give up prostitution - in what appeared to be a link to the short story.

"He loved her and he loved her more every day, but she did not want to leave the streets. All his efforts to convince her to change her life had failed. And for this reason she had become his torturer," reads an excerpt of the story quoted by police.

In the short story, the murderer strangles the Nigerian prostitute and then commits suicide.

"He wrote the story and gave it to her as a gift - to make himself look good," Ughetto Piampaschet's lawyer, Stefano Tizzani, told Reuters.

Tizzani said Ughetto Piampaschet had a "profound passion" for Africa and Nigeria, and saw Egbuna as an inspiration for his writing. "My client has declared his innocence and we are working to demonstrate it," Tizzani said.

Ughetto Piampaschet told investigators after his arrest that his relationship with Egbuna changed after he started dating another Nigerian woman last August, though he remained in contact with her.

His lawyer said his client stopped seeing Egbuna after he was threatened by people who control the Nigerian prostitution business in Turin.

"He stopped calling her after he was threatened and intimidated and told not to see her anymore," said Tizzani.
Culled from NIGERIA ONLINE NEWS

Mass killer, Anders Behring Breivik bags 21yrs in prison

Breivik

Wearing a dark suit and sporting a thin beard, Breivik smirked as he walked in to the court room and raised his fist. Anders Behring Breivik was convicted Friday of terrorism and premeditated murder for bomb and gun attacks that killed 77 people and sentenced to a special prison term that would allow authorities to keep him locked up for as long as he is considered dangerous.
Breivik, a self-styled anti-Muslim militant, looked pleased as Judge Wenche Elisabeth Arntzen read the ruling, declaring him sane enough to be held criminally responsible for Norway's worst peacetime attacks.

Lawyers for the 33-year-old Norwegian said before the decision that Breivik would appeal any insanity ruling but accept a prison sentence.
Going against the recommendation of prosecutors, who had asked for an insanity ruling, Arntzen imposed a sentence of "preventive detention," a special prison term for criminals considered dangerous to society. She set the minimum length of imprisonment to 10 years and the maximum at 21 years, the longest allowed under Norwegian law.
However, such sentences can be extended under Norwegian law as long as an inmate is considered dangerous.
Culled fro FOXNEWS