Arizona shooting accused pleads not guilty
ARIZONA: Jared Lee Loughner, the young assailant in the deadly January 8 mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder related to the attempt on the life of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and two of her aides, reports said on Monday.
As many as six people were killed and 13 injured including Giffords when Loughner went berserk during an open-invitation meeting at a Safeway grocery store in Tucson, arranged by Giffords. Loughner is believed to have nursed a grudge against Giffords after she had apparently failed to satisfactorily answer a question put to her by the youngman earlier.
Among those killed in cold blood were a Federal Judge and nine-year old Christina Taylor Green, who was born on 9/11, when the World Trade Center in New York was targeted.
Loughner appeared in the court of U.S. District Judge Larry A. Burns of San Diego accompanied by his counsel Judy Clarke. The defense did not raise any objection when prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Wallace Kleindienst, requested that court proceedings be moved to Tucson.
According to reports, the defendant clad in a bright orange prison jumpsuit and wearing glasses barely uttered a word during the hearing but remained smiling throughout the entire hearing process. He could be arraigned in both state and federal courts which could invite the death penalty if found guilty.
On being asked by the trial judge whether she had any real concerns regarding Loughner”s ability to grasp the trial proceedings, Clarke said she was not raising any issues at the moment. Also, some 25 tapes containing data downloaded from the defendant”s personal computer were handed over to the defense counsel by the prosecution.
Giffords, 40, has since been moved to a rehabilitation center in Houston as she proceeds on the path to recovery.
Pakistan vows to repatriate jailed scientist
September 24, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
MULTAN: Pakistan vowed on Friday to repatriate a scientist sentenced to an effective life term in the United States as hundreds of people protested against the ruling, denouncing their government and its ally Washington.
Many in Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in the war against militants and where anti-U.S. sentiment also run high, believe Aafia Siddiqui, a 38-year-old neuroscientist, is innocent.
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said his government, heavily criticized for its inept handling of the worst floods in the country’s history, told parliament “no stone had been left unturned” to secure the return of the “daughter of the nation”.
“I told them (the United States) that if you release Dr. Aafia Siddiqui then it will improve your public image, even if you decrease your financial assistance for Pakistan,” he said.
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman on
accused at 17
May 2, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
A 25-year-old Ambler man accused of vehicular homicide in the death of a 13-year-old boy riding a scooter was released on $60,000 cash bond Friday after he waived a preliminary hearing in Blue Bell.
As part of the agreement, Andrew R. Meyers of North Main Street will enter a 30-day rehabilitation program for heroin addiction, said his attorney, James P. Lyons of Horsham.
Meyers also agreed at a hearing before District Judge John S. Murray III to surrender his driver’s license.
Meyers had been held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility since March 17, when he was arrested at the scene of the accident that killed Natan Luehrmann-Cowen of Penllyn.
Charges included homicide by vehicle, homicide by vehicle while under the influence, and drunken driving. The mandatory penalty for vehicular homicide while under the influence is three to six years in jail, said Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Bradford A. Richman.
Police said that on March 17, Meyers had just completed his first day on the job at a North Wales construction company, and was headed home in his 1999 Ford Ranger pickup.
Meyers told investigators he was going south on Brights Lane near Cindy Circle in Lower Gwynedd Township when he saw Luehrmann-Cowen crossing on his Razor scooter.
Meyers told police he could not avoid the teenager. But accident investigators determined that he was going 63 m.p.h. in a 25 m.p.h. zone and that he swerved into Luehrmann-Cowen instead of away from him.
Luehrmann-Cowen, a seventh grader at Wissahickon Middle School, died of multiple injuries at Abington Memorial Hospital that night.
Seven days later, toxicologists reported that Meyers had methadone, marijuana, and clonazepam, an antianxiety medication, in his blood at the time of the accident.
Lyons said the Meyers family was “devastated.”
Pennhurst State School and Hospital
November 7, 2009 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Pennhurst State School and Hospital, The School and the Pennhurst State Hospital began in a small town in Pennsylvania in 1908. The purpose was to help people with mental and physical disabilities. Both adults and children were brought there Walking on campus. Most of them were sent by parents, some children were there alone after that, because parents never got to see them. They had a system for separating patients according to their mental level. Some were able to do their job on their own after treatment while others could not even feed and bathe on their own.
Patients in extreme conditions was suspended in cribs all day, where they were unable to move or turn around.
Patients need constant attention and was a very difficult task for doctors, but the most terrible scene came to see when the hospital became overcrowded by patients, in those days, the patient looks in a miserable condition. Some patients learned to capture the attention of staff with their faces spots that force them to clean them.
Pennhurst was closed in 1987 due to a case that was filed against him in 1977. District Judge Raymond J. Broderick, was the man who ordered the closure after he found that the school is violating the constitutional rights of the patient.
Pennhurst State School and Hospital was first posted on November 7, 2009 at 3:15 pm.
