Vanderbilt University Rape Case: Cory Batey & Brandon Vandenburg Found Guilty of 16 Felonies, Including Aggravated Rape

TWO DOWN, TWO TO GO …

Former Vanderbilt University football players, 21 year old Brandon Vandenburg and 20 year old Cory Batey have been found guilty of 16 felonies, including several for aggravated rape in the sexual assault of a female student in a Vanderbilt dorm in June 2013. It took the jury just three hours to return guilty on all charges for both Batey and Vandenburg.  Both individuals were convicted of four counts of aggravated rape, one count of attempted aggravated rape and two counts of aggravated sexual battery.  The trial took 12 days, but the jury deliberations took just a little more than 3 hours. The jury had their minds made up when lawyers were giving closing arguments. Their sentencing is scheduled for March 6, 2015.

These two idiots have ruined their lives with their poor and deviant decisions. They had the opportunity to attend Vanderbilt University, one of the best colleges in America and pissed it all away. Actions have consequences.

Look how the two convicted rapists have been polished up by their attorneys for court

 Two former Vanderbilt football players were convicted on Tuesday of raping a fellow student in 2013 after a jury rejected claims that they were too drunk to know what they were doing and that a college culture of binge drinking and promiscuous sex should be blamed for the attack.

The jury deliberated for three hours before announcing its verdict against the two former players, Brandon Vandenburg and Cory Batey. Mr. Batey was stoic, staring ahead, and Mr. Vandenburg shook his head no, appearing stunned as the verdict was read. His father had an outburst and abruptly left the courtroom.

The victim, who was a 21-year-old neuroscience and economics major at the time of the attack, cried as each guilty verdict was announced.

Both men were convicted of four counts of aggravated rape, one count of attempted aggravated rape and two counts of aggravated sexual battery. They face decades in prison at their sentencing, scheduled for March 6.

Vanderbilt rape victim releases statement:

“Thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout this difficult process. I’m thankful that the criminal justice system will hold the defendants responsible for their violent crimes. The hard work of the law enforcement officers, prosecutors and victims’ advocates who dedicated so many months of their lives to this case has made justice possible.

I want to especially thank detective Jason Mayo, Sgt. Mike Shreeve, Detective Chad Gish, Deputy District Attorney Tom Thurman, Assistant District Attorneys Jan Norman and Roger Moore and victims’ advocates Wanda Swan, Lt. Rochelle Barrios and Teresa Shearon. You are my heroes and I am so proud of and grateful for each of you.

“I am also hopeful that the publicity this case has received will lead to a discussion of how we can end sexual violence on college campuses. Finally, I want to remind other victims of sexual violence: You are not alone. You are not to blame.”

Two other players, Jaborian McKenzie and Brandon Banks, were also accused in the rape. Both have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.

Boston Marathon Bombing Suspect’s Friend Azamat Tazhayakov Found Guilty of Obstruction of Justice and Conspiracy in Impeding Investigation into the Terror Bombing

GUILTY, ONE DOWN … THREE TO GO!

Azamat Tazhayakov, a college friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was convicted Monday of on charges of obstruction of justice and conspiracy involving impeding the investigation into the Boston Marathon bombing. Tazhayakov is scheduled to be sentenced on October 16. He faces a five-year maximum for conspiracy and 20-year maximum for obstruction. Dias Kadyrbayev faces a separate trial in September. A third friend, Robel Phillipos, is charged with lying to investigators. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty in the bombing and multiple murders is scheduled to stand trial in November. Dzhokhar faces the possibility of the death penalty if convicted.

Azamat Tazhayakov was charged with obstruction of justice and conspiracy, with prosecutors saying he agreed with a friend’s plan to remove Tsarnaev’s backpack containing altered fireworks from his dorm room a few days after the 2013 bombing.

His trial was the first stemming from the bombing, which killed three and injured more than 260 near the marathon’s finish line. Tazhayakov’s mother sobbed loudly and rocked in her seat as the jury announced the guilty verdicts, which it reached on the third day of deliberations.

Tazhayakov’s lawyers argued that it was the other friend, Dias Kadyrbayev, who removed the items from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth dorm room and then threw them away.

Prosecutors told the jury that both men shared in the decision to remove the items and get rid of them to protect Tsarnaev. Kadyrbayev faces a separate trial in September. A third friend, Robel Phillipos, is charged with lying to investigators.

Friend convicted of impeding Boston Marathon probe.

Don’t do the crime, if you can’t do the time …

A college friend was convicted Monday of trying to protect Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev by agreeing with another friend to get rid of a backpack and disabled fireworks they took from his dorm room three days after the attack.

Azamat Tazhayakov, a baby-faced 20-year-old, put his hands over his face and shook his head as guilty verdicts were read on federal charges of obstruction of justice and conspiracy in the first trial stemming from the twin bombings, which killed three and injured more than 260 near the marathon’s finish line in April 2013. His mother sobbed loudly and rocked in her seat.

Florida Jury Awards $23.6 Billion to Widow of Michael Johnson in Smoking Lawsuit Against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company … What Happened to Personal Responsibility?

Sorry, I am no fan of the cigarette industry, but I am one of personal responsibility. I generally cannot stand the smell of cigarette smoke and don’t understand why anyone even uses them, but this jury verdict is absurd and needs to be overturned by appeal.

An Escambia County, Florida jury awarded the widow of of a 36 year old man who died of lung cancer $23.6 million. The verdict included more than $16 million in compensatory damages. Cynthia Robinson claimed that smoking killed her husband, Michael Johnson, in 1996 at the age of 36 after he had smoked from the age of 13. The widow stated that R.J. Reynolds was negligent in not informing him that nicotine is addictive and smoking can cause lung cancer. The lawyer for the plaintiff’s said that because of the juror’s age, he had to shoe how the tobacco industry presented its product before the public awareness campaigns on tobacco risks and dangers in the 1990′s. HUH? Robinson’s attorneys, Christopher Chestnut also went on to say, “The jury wanted to send a statement that tobacco cannot continue to lie to the American people and the American government about the addictiveness of and the deadly chemicals in their cigarettes.” HUH?

A Florida jury awarded a widow $23.6 billion in punitive damages in her lawsuit against tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, her lawyer said.

Cynthia Robinson claimed that smoking killed her husband, Michael Johnson, in 1996. She argued R.J. Reynolds was negligent in not informing him that nicotine is addictive and smoking can cause lung cancer. Johnson started smoking when he was 13 and died of lung cancer when he was 36.

The jury award Friday evening is “courageous,” said Robinson’s lawyer, Christopher Chestnut.

“If anyone saw the documents that this jury saw, I believe that person would have awarded a similar or greater verdict amount,” he said.

The Escambia County trial took four weeks and the jury deliberated for 15 hours, according to the Pensacola News Journal. The verdict included more than $16 million in compensatory damages, the newspaper said.

Chestnut said five of the six jurors who heard the case were 45 or younger, which meant he had to show them how the tobacco industry presented its product before the public awareness campaigns on tobacco risks and dangers in the 1990s, he said.

Okay, let’s do the math for the obviously challenged Florida jury. I guess this one might be as clueless as the Florida jury that deliberated in the Casey Anthony murder case. For 50 years we have been warned that smoking is hazardous to our health, where was Michael Johnson during that time?

FIRST … WHO DOES NOT KNOW THAT CIGARETTES ARE HARMFUL TO YOUR HEALTH AND CAUSE LUNG CANCER?

United States was the first nation to require a health warning on cigarette packages.

Now for the numbers.

1. Michael Johnson died in 1996 at the age of 36 from lung cancer.
2. This means the deceased would have been born in 1960.
3. Johnson would have begun smoking in 1973 as the story above states he began smoking at the age of 13.
4. WHAT PARENT ALLOWS THEIR CHILD TO SMOKE AT THE AGE OF 13?
5. All 50 states bad laws banning sales to minors by 1950. The most common age of restriction for cigarettes and tobacco products today applies to persons under the age of 18. In an effort to ensure stricter enforcement 11 states have lowered the age of restriction from 21 to 15 (Tobacco Merchants Association, 1971: 1-2).
6. The smoking age was 18 meaning for 5 years the decease was breaking the law and smoking as a minor. Who’s fault was that?
7. In 2006 Florida state Supreme Court tossed out a $145 billion class-action verdict. That ruling also said smokers and their families need only prove addiction and that smoking caused their illnesses or deaths.
8. In 2008 on behalf of her late husband, Michael Johnson Sr.
9. 2014 a Florida jury awards $23.6 billion in punitive damages in a lawsuit against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco.

Now for some more relevant numbers.

• On June 12, 1957, Surgeon General Leroy E. Burney declared it the official position of the U.S. Public Health Service that the evidence pointed to a causal relationship between smoking and lung cancer.
• The 1964 report on smoking and health had an impact on public attitudes and policy. A Gallup Survey conducted in 1958 found that only 44 percent of Americans believed smoking caused cancer, while 78 percent believed so by 1968. In the course of a decade, it had become common knowledge that smoking damaged health, and mounting evidence of health risks gave Terry’s 1964 report public resonance.
• The Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965 (Public Law 89–92) required that the warning “Caution: Cigarette Smoking May Be Hazardous to Your Health” be placed in small print on one of the side panels of each cigarette package. The act prohibited additional labeling requirements at the federal, state, or local levels.
• In June 1967 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued its first report to Congress recommending that the warning label be changed to “Warning: Cigarette Smoking Is Dangerous to Health and May Cause Death from Cancer and Other Diseases.”
• In 1969 Congress passed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act (Public Law 91–222), which prohibited cigarette advertising on television and radio and required that each cigarette package contain the label “Warning: The Surgeon General Has Determined That Cigarette Smoking Is Dangerous to Your Health.”
• In 1981 Congress enacted the Comprehensive Smoking Education Act of 1984 (Public Law 98–474), which required four specific health warnings on all cigarette packages and advertisements:SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, and May Complicate Pregnancy.
      SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Quitting Smoking Now Greatly Reduces Serious Risks to Your Health.
      SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Smoking by Pregnant Women May Result in Fetal Injury, Premature Birth, and Low Birth Weight.
      SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Cigarette Smoke Contains Carbon Monoxide.

I am of the belief that if cigarette tobacco is so bad, then make them illegal to use. Otherwise, it is just a way of the local, state and federal government making tax money off of lung cancer. It is an individual’s choice to smoke. Sorry folks, unless you were born prior to 1965 or your terminal lung cancer occurred prior to then, you have no one to blame but yourself. For nearly 50 years there have been warning labels on cigarette packages.

EXACTLY HOW MANY WARNINGS DOES ONE NEED BEFORE THEY REALIZE THAT SOMETHING IS HAZARDOUS TO THEIR HEALTH?

Samuel “Curt” Johnson III, SC Johnson Heir Pleads Guilty to Sexually Assaulting Teen … Sentenced to Misdemeanor, Fourth-Degree Sexual Assault

THERE CAN BE NO JUSTICE WHEN THE VICTIM DOES NOT WANT IT … 

Samuel “Curt” Johnson III, heir to the SC Johnson fortune, was convicted on Friday of sexually assaulting a teen. However, the felony was downgraded to a misdemeanor, fourth-degree sexual assault and disorderly conduct. Johnson was initially charged in 2011 with the repeated sexual assault of a child, that charge carries a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.  However, Judge Eugene Gasiorkiewicz sentenced Johnson to four months in jail and fined $6,000. Wow, $6,000, that is the equivalent of like 6 cents for this individual. However, the problem this time was not a lenient judge or lame prosecutor, it was the victim and her family. Neither the girl nor her mother wanted a case brought against Johnson, but the female victim did initially tell Racine County investigators that Johnson had inappropriate sexual contact with her 15 to 20 times, starting the summer after she finished sixth grade. She said Johnson exposed himself, fondled her under her clothes and kissed her breasts and elsewhere.

A Wisconsin billionaire pleaded guilty Friday to repeatedly sexually assaulting a teenage girl, a charge that prosecutors ended up downgrading from a felony to a misdemeanor after they said the victim and her family repeatedly refused to cooperate.

Samuel “Curt” Johnson III, whose family has run home-products giant SC Johnson for five generations, was convicted of fourth-degree sexual assault and disorderly conduct. He was sentenced to four months in jail, short of the one-year maximum. He was also fined $6,000.

In considering the sentence, Judge Eugene Gasiorkiewicz acknowledged that neither the girl nor her mother wanted a case brought against Johnson. Authorities only became aware of the allegations after the 59-year-old sought counseling at a clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he made an undisclosed comment that triggered a mandatory report.

Sadly, this billionaire sex offender is going to get off with a slap on the wrist. Assistant District Attorney Robert Repischak said the victim and her mother refused to cooperate from the outset, leaving him a flimsy case at best. Repischak told reporters after the hearing, “I would have liked a chance to present the felony case to a jury. But given the state of the case, with little if any evidence, I did was I was able to do.”

Someone’s Chickens Just Came Home to Roost … Jeri Wright, The Daughter of Rev. Jeremiah Wright Found Guilty of Money Laundering

Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s daughters chickens appear to have come home to roost …

Jeri Wright, the daughter of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, President Barack Obama’s former controversial minister, was found guilty on Friday and convicted of money laundering. Jeri Wright was found guilty of 11 counts that included money laundering from a Chicago-based jobs program, ‘We Are Our Brother’s Keepers’, lying to federal agents and lying to a grand jury.  As reported at Breitbart, Prosecutor Timothy Bass said Jeri Wright lied “over and over” and went on a “spending spree” that included traveling to Las Vegas, buying vehicles, and remodeling her basement with cash from the money laundering scheme. The jury took less than 2 hours to return the guilty verdict on all charges. Of course, she said following the verdict that she did nothing wrong and plans to appeal.

There was no comment from Rev. Wright as to whether the white people on the jury were liars.

The daughter of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, President Barack Obama’s former minister, was convicted by a federal jury Friday of laundering thousands of dollars from a $1.25 million state grant for a Chicago-based job-training program.

Jeri Wright said she would “definitely” appeal the verdict in U.S. District Court, which found her guilty of 11 counts that included money laundering, lying to federal agents and lying to a grand jury.

Daughter of Jeremiah Wright Convicted in Fraud Scheme.

The $1.25 million state grant was for a not-for-profit work and education program called We Are Our Brother’s Keeper, owned by Regina Evans, former police chief of Country Club Hills, and her husband, Ronald Evans Jr. The couple has pleaded guilty to the fraud scheme.

Wright, a close friend of the couple, took as much as $11,000 from checks worth more than $30,000 that were supposed to be for work related to the grant, prosecutors said. About $20,000 was deposited back into accounts controlled by Regina and Ronald Evans.

The grant agreement was supposed to provide bricklaying and electrical pre-apprenticeship training and GED preparation at the Regal Theater, another entity owned by the couple. Little, if any, of the training provided in the grant agreement was ever completed, according to prosecutors.