untitled
PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS!!! - PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS!!! -PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS!!! - PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS!!! - PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS!!!
DIVORCE, BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS, AND
OTHER LEGAL ISSUES AFFECTING
CHILDREN OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
MENTAL HEALTH
AND
JW MURDERS & OTHER JW CRIMES
AGAINST NON-JWs
PAGE 2 of 4
************** **************
The following criminal and other cases, in which the Jehovah's Witnesses religion served as the spiritual element of the perpetrators' and/or other actor's formative environment, or otherwise served as one of the major influencers of the perpetrators' and/or other actor's behavior, are often tragic, and speak for themselves.
Court Cases involving Jehovah's Witness Criminals who have been convicted of stealing money from their employers and others, and similarly related crimes, are summarized on a sister website. Click HERE for two webpages of financial related case summaries.
Visitors to this website should keep in mind that this website generally defers to SILENTLAMBS.ORG for coverage of the topic of sexual abuse and molestation committed by Jehovah's Witnesses. However, I will occasionally post summaries of a few of such type court cases in which the perpetrator committed other crimes, such as murder, or where there are other factors which make appropriate the posting of the case on this website.
************** **************
CALIFORNIA v. VERSE (1988), CALIFORNIA v. VERSE (1989), CALIFORNIA v. VERSE (1990), and CALIFORNIA v. VERSE (1992) were California criminal court decisions which involved an African-American Jehovah's Witness homosexual named Cary Verse.
Although older criminal convictions, Cary Verse received an avalanche of media coverage from 2003 until 2007 due to his extremely controversial "supervised conditional release" in 2004. Many such media reports insinuated or even outright stated that Cary Verse was an adult "convert" to the Jehovah's Witnesses during his supposed rehabilitation, with much adoo made of Verse's baptism in 2003.
However, Cary Verse had been reared as a Jehovah's Witness by a strict Jehovah's Witness mother, named Tonnie Verse, of Oakland, California, who had married a career military husband after she was divorced from Verse's father. Verse wrote in 2004 that he first realized that he was a homosexual one day when he was 8 or 9, while looking at other boys while at a swimming pool. Verse wrote that later that same day:
"I continually asked Jehovah for forgiveness as I took that long walk home. I knew that he was glaring his powerful eyes down upon me. I knew from my [Jehovah's Witness] upbringing that gay people were wicked and doomed to fiery destruction. I didn't want to die like that. What was I going to do? I couldn't possibly be gay! I kept this experience to myself."
Reportedly, 11 year-old Cary Verse "bribed" a 6 year-old boy to fondle him. The victim reported the incident, but the boy's military parents would not press charges. When he was 12 years-old, Cary Verse forced himself sexually on another boy, but was caught. The DA's office offered Verse counseling rather than prosecuting him.
When Cary Verse was a 17 year-old high school student, he "fell in love" with a 14 year-old male teammate on his high school track team. Verse invited the teammate to spend the night. While "wrestling", Verse pulled a knife and forced the teammate to allow Verse to kiss and fondle him. The teammate reported the assault, and Verse was finally prosecuted. Verse was confined to a juvenile detention camp for that 1988 conviction.
Cary Verse befriended a 17 year-old inmate, who Verse convinced to escape. However, once the pair had escaped, Verse then sexually assaulted the 17 year-old inmate. Verse, who was 18 years-old by then, was sent to county jail, where he tried to sexually assault a cellmate. For that assault, Verse was sentenced to a 44 month prison term, in 1990, but Verse was paroled in February 1992. In March 1992, Verse, 21, beat up, tied up, and attempted to sexually assaulted a 22 year-old homeless man, while they both were in a Richmond, California homeless shelter. Verse was sentenced to 12 years in prison for that 1992 conviction.
Verse spent six years in prison before being sent to Atascadero State Hospital to join the Sexual Offender Commitment Program. There, Cary Verse made friends with another Jehovah's Witness inmate, and the pair apparently "spiritually-upbuilt" each other.
After Verse's release in 2004, controversy followed Verse everywhere he tried to live. No one wanted Verse living in their neighborhood -- that is, except for Verse's fellow Jehovah's Witnesses. To make a point, one or more of Verse's fellow JWs even allowed Verse to be alone with their teenaged son -- something that violated the terms of his release, and eventually got his release revoked.
At one 2004 hearing, one Jehovah's Witness, named Birgitta Ericsson, testified on Verse's behalf, stating in part:
"There is a danger in knowing Cary Verse. The danger is that you will need to come to know yourself. You will need to come face to face with your own sins. ... I have known Cary for some time. I respect him, and the way he carries himself through these trials. ... I have never met a man who has come so close to walking as Jesus did."
**************
OREGON v. KIM, OREGON v. KIM, OREGON v. KIM, and OREGON v. KIM was a series of 2004-6 Oregon criminal court cases. The Sung Koo Kim Saga received tons of media coverage from the time it first made the news in mid-2004, when the 30 year-old was first arrested, until mid-2006, after Sung Koo Kim had pleaded "guilty" to the second set of charges relating to the thefts of 1000s of pairs of used women's undergarments, and other items described below, from the laundry rooms of apartment buildings and college dormitories, and was eventually sentenced to a total of more than 11 years in prison. The cases are somewhat confusing to follow given that Kim faced and/or still faces property theft charges, and even child porn charges, in four different Oregon counties.
Unfortunately, only a small percentage of those media reports ever focused on what caused Sung Koo Kim to do what he did. At the first sentencing hearing, in November 2005, Kim read a lengthy statement in which he apologized for the fear that he had "unintentionally" instilled in his many victims, and the ill repute that he had brought on his parents and younger sister. Kim claimed that he never stalked anyone, nor had he ever posed a threat to the community. He stated that he simply had developed a fetish for women's undergarments. Kim blamed his mental illness on the isolation he experienced while growing up as a member of the strict, insular Jehovah's Witness community:
"I was a Jehovah's Witness all my life, and tried to live a perfect life, according to the Bible and the doctrines of the Jehovah's Witnesses. I never committed fornication and kept away from all worldly sins. I lived all my life in isolation, in a lonely religious prison, deprived of friends, love, intimacy and happiness. ... "
While some would argue that thousands of JW Children have experience the same issues as did Sung Koo Kim, and did not turn out as did Kim, others would acknowledge that no two children have the same genetics, nor experience the exact same formative environment, and thus do not turn out the same.
In fact, Kim's parents reportedly eventually acknowledged the damage which had been done to their son, and they eventually left the WatchTower religion. Joo Kim, Dong Kim, and their two young children immigrated from Korea to Los Angeles in the late 1970s. There, they eventually joined the small community of Koreans who were members of the Jehovah's Witnesses. At some point, there in LA, or after the family had relocated to Beaverton, Oregon, Joo Kim even was appointed a "Congregation Elder", which required the parents to place even more pressure on their children. When Sung Koo Kim entered his high school years, the "honors student" complained to his parents that he felt like he was being "chained". Sung Koo experienced teasing and bullying due to both his race and his religion. He couldn't celebrate holidays. He couldn't play sports. He couldn't attend dances and other social events. He couldn't date girls. He had no friends. He had no social life.
Having developed no social skills, Sung Koo Kim's college experience was no better. Kim first earned an Associate's degree in computers from Portland Community College, and thereafter worked one year at Intel. Kim then enrolled at Washington State University, and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in genetics and cellular biology, in 2001. However, Kim never was employed after graduating. Kim moved back in with his parents, and began to live a life about which still may not all be known.
Among Kim's personal effects, investigators reportedly found seven or more assault rifles and handguns. Police also seized three computers containing 40,000 images of women being mutilated, raped and dismembered. Police also found more than two dozen suitcases, backpacks, cardboard boxes and plastic bags, which contained 3400 pairs of women's used panties and bras -- clean and dirty. Police also found used toilet paper and feminine hygeine products. They also found packaged dryer lint, and even human hair. Many of the items were marked as to when/where obtained. Police also found one secretly made video of two female college students marked with intimate personal identity info. Needless to say, police suspected Kim of being guilty of much more than "property theft", but evidently have not been able to tie Kim to more than these prosecutions. Time will tell.
**************
CALIFORNIA v. AGUERO was a 2004 California criminal case. In February 2004, a Jehovah's Witness, named Angel Aguero, 31, was stopped by a Gilroy, California police officer during the noon hour for a routine traffic violation. Aguero exited his 1988 Cadillac with a long metal pipe in his hand, and advanced toward the officer, who pulled his pistol, and ordered Aguero to stop, and for Aguero to drop the pipe, several times, but Aguero continued his approach. A male passenger exited the Cadillac, and unsuccessfully tried to convince Aguero to drop the pipe. That passenger eventually ran from the scene.
That police officer radioed for back-up, and several other officers responded. Aguero also refused their orders for him to drop the pipe, and even told them, "You're going to have to shoot me," and "You're going to have to kill me." An officer fired a rubber baton round at Aguero hitting him on the front of his body, but he still held onto the pipe. They then pepper-sprayed him, and shot him with a second rubber round, and pepper-sprayed him again, at which point Aguero dropped the pipe and was placed under arrest.
Both police and bystanders related that Angel Aguero had declared that he was a Jehovah's Witness, and that he was "preaching" and "calling to Jehovah" throughout the standoff.
**************
MISSOURI v. SATTERFIELD was a 2003-5 Missouri criminal court decision. At exactly 7:00 PM, on Sunday, June 29, 2003, a 22 year-old Jehovah's Witness "Pioneer" (fulltime door-knocker), named Aimee Satterfield, of Elkland, Missouri, telephoned 9-1-1 and reported that she had been beaten, slashed, and raped at knife-point in her auto after she had stopped alongside a busy highway to fix a flat tire. As soon as the supposed perpetrator left, Satterfield first telephoned her mother, Connie Satterfield, from her cell phone, and thereafter telephoned 9-1-1. A Sheriff's Deputy responded. Satterfield was found bruised, with her clothes cut and torn, and with superficial knife slashes to her chest and breasts. A rape exam at a Mount Vernon, Missouri area hospital disclosed that Satterfield had recently had sexual intercourse.
Local authorities were shocked that such an attack could have occurred in broad daylight alongside a well-traveled highway near an interstate exchange. Roadblocks were set up around the area during the following two weekends, including the Fourth of July, looking for the described suspect and for his described pickup truck, and questioning locals who lived in the area, or who had been driving in the area at the time of the attack. Over 2000 law enforcement man-hours were expended on this case, rather than on other pending matters. Fear of the uncaught perpetrator swept females throught the locale.
However, the more investigating that was done, the more that Satterfield's story did not make sense. Although there were other inconsistencies with Satterfield's story, one major issue was that a security video showed Satterfield leaving a truck stop store, where she had purchased a drink, at 6:53 PM, which was 2.5 to 4 minutes away from the scene of the alleged rape. There simply had not been enough time for Satterfield to have gotten in her station wagon, have driven to the scene, have stopped, have gotten out her spare tire, have been assaulted by a man offering to help change her tire, have telephoned Connie Satterfield, and then telephoned 9-1-1 -- all in seven minutes. After weeks of investigation, and agonizing with the idea of having to charge a supposed rape victim with lying about such, on September 24, 2003, the Sheriff finally charged Satterfield with filing a false report.
Warren Satterfield and Connie Satterfield were outraged, and stated that their daughter had been betrayed, and effectively assaulted a second time -- this time by the Sheriff. Aimee Satterfield denied that she had lied. Satterfield stated that she had been a "virgin' until the rape; that pre-marital sex was forbidden to Jehovah's Witnesses (a disfellowshipping offense); and she even denied having a boyfriend at the time. Satterfield told a reporter:
"I am a baptized Jehovah's Witness. ... If I back down, Jehovah's name is involved. I'll sit in jail the rest of my life if necessary. But I refuse to put any kind of reproach or dishonor on Jehovah's name."
In July 2005, the case against Satterfield went to "trial on the record" -- during which the prosecutor read into the court record what his witnesses would have testified. Satterfield's attorneys did not present a defense. According to her attorneys, Satterfield had married and wanted to move on with her new life. Satterfield's attorneys also mentioned that Satterfield, who reportedly suffered from fibromyalgia, depression, and two suicide attempts, had been receiving "counseling". Satterfield was found "guilty", and sentenced to 6 months in jail. However, the judge suspended the sentence, placed Satterfield on 2 years of unsupervised probation. Additionally, Satterfield was ordered to pay restitution to the Sheriff's office of $7500.00.
**************
The Mildreada Andrews Jehovah's Witness Crime Family. Referred to by federal prosecutors as the "Grand Dame of Identity Theft", a Jehovah's Witness named Mildreada Andrews (amongst other surnames) was finally partially exposed for who she was, and she and her children were finally convicted in United States Federal Court, in 2005-6.
Given that Mildreada Ruiz was a Cuban immigrant, it probably is not even a sure bet that Mildreada's maiden name is "Ruiz". The only surname that is a certainty is "Andrews", and that is a known fact only because it can be established that the then 20 year-old Mildreada "Ruiz" married a fellow Jehovah's Witness named Mark Andrews, in Florida, in January 1980, and they thereafter had a son, named Michael Lee Andrews (1981), and a daughter, named Melanie Marie Andrews (1983).
Reportedly, Mark Andrews met Mildreada "Ruiz" at a "Jehovah's Witness Get-Together" in Hollywood, Florida, sometime in the late 1970s. The day after they returned from their honeymoon in January 1980, the FBI knocked on their front door looking for Mildreada on forgery charges, since their wedding, honeymoon, etc had been paid with checks that she had forged.
Although only 20 years old at the time, Mildreada Andrews' life of crime probably pre-dated those 1979-80 crimes, and it is known to have continued long after Mark Andrews and she divorced in the mid-1980s. Mildreada Andrews apparently was even somehow able to con the Florida family courts into granting her custody of Michael Andrews and Melanie Andrews, despite having served an unknown amount of prison time during the 1980s, and then rearing the two children in "the family business". At some point, Mildreada Andrews also started using the surname "Rapa" with some regularity. It is not known whether Mildreada may have married a second time, or whether "Rapa" was simply a "clean alias".
Mildreada Andrews used "identity theft" as a way to facilitate the family's many other financial crimes. Thus, even after the 2005-6 federal prosecutions and convictions of all three family members, the FBI probably has no idea of the actual number of crimes which were committed during the nearly 30 years long multi-state crime spree, because even when arrested, and/or prosecuted, and/or jailed, it is known that at least some of those arrests, prosecutions, and convictions were under ever-changing aliases.
Mildreada Andrews apparently also used the Jehovah's Witnesses' proclivity for packing up their families and moving every few years in order to perform WatchTower recruiting in a less often worked area as a means of moving from state-to-state and lying-low as honest-beyond-reproach citizens. While JWs holler that Mildreada Andrews also victimized fellow JWs, interestingly, it was not until the 2001-3 crimes against several JWs in Washington State that law enforcement was able to uncover who was the real Mildreada Andrews. If Mildreada Andrews had a pattern of victimizing JWs prior to then, then show me the proof.
Apparently, only because she was either arrested, prosecuted, or convicted under her own name, Mildreada Andrews is known to have operated in Florida, New Jersey, possibly Texas (a "Mildreada Ruiz" was indicted in Jefferson County -- east Gulf coast of Texas -- in December 1992), Arizona, California, and Washington. It is anyone's guess as to where else this "Jehovah's Witness Gang" may have conducted criminal operations.
UNITED STATES v. RAPA, UNITED STATES v. ANDREWS, and UNITED STATES v. ANDREWS. In 2006, "Mildreada Rapa", her daughter Melanie Andrews, and her son Michael Andrews (using the surname "Hernandez"), were convicted in Washington state federal court of Fraudulent Use of Social Security numbers, real estate fraud, false statements to HUD, and income tax fraud. "Mildreada Rapa" was sentenced to 8 years in prison and 3 years of supervised release, and was ordered to make restitution of $550,000.00. Melanie Andrews was sentenced to 15 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay restitution of $60,000.00. Michael Andrews had already been sentenced in October 2005 to18 months in prison and ordered to pay $243,224.00 in restitution after pleading guilty to related identity theft charges.
Among the many criminal schemes conducted during their stay in Washington State from around 2001 to 2003, the family got overly greedy and even started victimizing several of their fellow Jehovah's Witnesses. Having prepared Federal Income Tax returns for some JWs, they inflated the W-2s of those JWs, and had the refunds paid to their own accounts, and then either kept the entire refund or kept the inflated amount and paid the correct refund amount to the JWs. The family also submitted several returns using false identities. Altogether, they stole only about $60,000.00 from the IRS, which corresponds to the restitution Melanie Andrews was ordered to pay.Some of the family had been arrested in Washington State back in 2003, but they even used forged bonds to gain their release. After fleeing Washington State, the family eventually settled in Arizona.
Michael Andrew's wife, "Isis Pellon Andrews", as well as other aliases, is named in media reports as being charged in connection with crimes in California and Arizona, but it is unknown whether she was ever charged in connection with the crimes in Washington State. Given that she was supposedly only 19 years-old in 2005, she possibly could have an "unavailable" juvenile record.
***
ARIZONA v. RAPA and ARIZONA v. ANDREWS. In 2004, "Mildreada Rapa" and Melanie Andrews were indicted by an Arizona grand jury on 10 counts of fraud, theft, forgery, and identity theft in connection with their impersonation of and employment as Registered Nurses at two renal dialysis clinics. Using stolen identities to gain employment, the JW-Gang then used their employment access to patient records to steal even more identities. They plea bargained down to only one theft count for which the Mother received a sentence of 30 months in jail, and the Daughter received a sentence of 18 months in jail. They also were ordered to pay $32,500.00 in restitution.
CALIFORNIA v. NIDIA JIMENEZ BERNAL (Mildreada Andrews), CALIFORNIA v. STEPHANIE MENDOZA (Melanie Andrews), CALIFORNIA v. MICHAEL LEE APODACA (Michael Andrews), and CALIFORNIA v. DEIDRE ANN MENDOZA (Isis Pellon Andrews). Possibly again using forged bonds to gain release in Arizona, the family members were arrested in California in February 2005, where they had set up shop in the Palm Springs area. The three female family members were arrested at medical clinics in Indio and Palm Springs, where they had taken jobs so that they allegedly could steal the identities of patients and co-workers. Michael Andrews allegedly was developing a con related to a pool business.
UNITED STATES v. MILDREADA ANDREWS. Sometime in the early 1980s, Mildreada Andrews was charged with passport fraud.
FLORIDA v. MILDREADA ANDREWS. Around 1987, Mildreada Andrews was charged in south Florida with over 100 counts of various frauds and theft.
FLORIDA v. MILDREADA ANDREWS. In 1999, Mildreada Rapa (?) was convicted in Key West, Florida for filing $59,000.00 in fraudulent insurance claims. The Monroe County Prosecutor had been investigating Rapa since the 1987 spree. Sentence unknown.
FLORIDA v. MILDREADA MARTINEZ. Under this Florida alias, Mildreada Andrews is currently wanted for parole violation.
FLORIDA v. MARIA ANNA MARTINEZ. Another outstanding Florida warrant under even another alias of Mildreada Andrews.
Even Canadian authorities have said they intend to seek "Mildreada Rapa's" extradition for a credit card fraud committed in Canada around 2000.
**************
COLORADO v. GOAD, COLORADO v. KEMP, and COLORADO v. BONES were related 2004-5 Colorado criminal court cases. On December 13, 2004, three "overaged juvenile" Jehovah's Witnesses, named Levi Bones, 23, Richard Kemp, 26, and Nathan Goad, 29, vandalized a 9 foot tall Menorah, which had been erected in Aspen's Paepcke Park as part of the local Jewish community's celebration of Hanukkah. Per Jewish tradition, the lights on the Menorah are lit individually during each of the eight days of Hanukkah. The ignorant Jehovah's Witness "juveniles" stated that they thought that the Menorah was a "broken Christmas ornament", because not all of its lights were lit, as if they would have had the right to destroy such. Arresting police officers stated that some of the JW trio had been drinking. Goad and Kemp pleaded "guilty", and were fined and placed on two years probation, plus ordered to pay for the damages. Bones initially declined to plead guilty. Outcome of his case is unknown.
**************
On Saturday evening, November 13, 2005, an Aurora, Colorado African-American Jehovah's Witness Couple, named Aaron P. Davis, 39, and Benita Coleman-Davis, 36, were both shot and wounded after physically attacking 52 year-old Glen Eichstedt during an argument in a Denver-area strip-mall parking lot. Aaron Prentice Davis later died at the hospital after he refused to consent to a needed blood transfusion. Benita Coleman-Davis recovered from her wounds.
Aaron Davis, who was a USPS employee, and Benita Davis were sitting in their Toyota 4-Runner awaiting a take-out order at a nearby restaurant, when Eichstedt, who just dropped off his date, parked next to the Toyota. Eichstedt supposedly hit the Toyota as he opened the door of his Mustang, and an argument ensued between the JW Couple and Eichstedt as to whether Eichstedt had dinged their Toyota. The argument escalated to a shouting match, which escalated to the point that threats of violence were exchanged. At some point, Aaron Davis, who had a blood alcohol level of .015 at time of autopsy, retreived a metal bar from his Toyota, and Aaron Davis hit Eichstedt over the head and knocked Eichstedt to the pavement. Eichstedt claimed that both Aaron and Benita Davis were beating him as he laid on the pavement. Eichstedt, a downtown Denver Bar & Grill owner, then pulled a .38 caliber pistol, for which he had a concealed weapons permit, and shot each Davis two times. Investigating police officers declined to arrest Eichstedt at the scene of the attack/shootings. In June 2006, a Grand Jury fully investigated the attack/shootings, and ruled the two shootings to have been in "self-defense".
The media reported that the Montbello Colorado Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses was packed to hear Elder Phil Harris deliver Davis' eulogy, in which he used WatchTower doctrine to answer the question, "Why do good people die?"
**************
FLORIDA v. CHRISTIE and FLORIDA v. MARRERO were related 2003-5 Florida criminal court cases. An African-American Jehovah's Witness Teacher, named Vonda Christie, was employed as a first-grade teacher at Coral Gables Elementary School. In October 2003, both Christie and her Teacher's Aide, named Ivonne Nieves Marrero, were arrested for abusing five students in August and September 2003.
The Teacher's Aide was a citizen volunteer, whom Vonda Christie knew well. In fact, Christie and Marrero were neighbors, and Christie even had been raising Marrero'a son since 2000. Marrero had a history of arrests and drug use. Marrero had been arrested seven times since late 2001. At the time of this incident, Marrero was on probation for armed robbery.
Christie and Marrero were arrested for using tape to discipline five first-graders (all six years old) at different times. One boy said he was bound with tape to his chair and to the blackboard. Other pupils said their ankles were taped together, their arms taped to their lap or their heads taped to the blackboard. The girl said her mouth was taped shut. Since Marrero was the one who actually did the taping, she was charged with abuse and false imprisonment. The outcome of Marrero's case is unknown.
Since Vonda Christie did not do the actual taping, the Prosecutor later changed the charges against Christie from abuse to "neglect". However, that particular Florida "neglect" statute applied only to child "care-givers", not schoolteachers, so in 2005, the Florida courts dismissed the neglect charges against Christie. There is no indication that the Prosecutor ever filed different charges against Christie.
**************
CONNECTICUT v. MALEBRANCHE was a 2003-5 Connecticut criminal court decision. Incomplete details. On January 23, 2003, Maureen Mayo, 40, of Walcott, Connecticut, dropped her car off to be repaired at an auto repair shop a few blocks distance from her apartment. As Mayo walked back to her apartment along Meriden Road, Mayo was struck by an automobile, and severely injured. A 30 year-old Jehovah's Witness Mother of two, named Myrca Malebranche, was eventually arrested and charged with fleeing the scene of the accident.
In April 2005, after a lengthy six day trial, in which there apparently was an abundance of testimony and/or evidence, the jury, after only three hours of deliberations, found Myrca Malebranche "not guilty" of "evading responsibility" for the consequences of the accident. Afterwards, Malebranche stated to reporters, "Thank God, this is America and this is justice."
Apparently, Myrca Malebranche not only denied knowingly fleeing the scene of an accident, but Malebranche also never ever admitted that she was the driver who struck Mayo, and thus never ever apologized to Mayo, who evidently was left permanently injured. Mayo and a number of locals who were supposedly familiar with the case were upset with the jury's decision. It is not known whether Mayo pursued a civil action against Malebranche.
**************
NEW JERSEY v. PETTERWAY was a 2002-4 New Jersey murder court decision. Described by media as a "CrackHead ConArtist", in January 2004, a female African-American, named Pamper Petterway, 44, of Trenton, New Jersey, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the September 2002 robbery and murder of an 81 year-old "Good Samaritan".
During the investigation of this murder, police discovered that "Petterway", had essentially lived at least two lives -- one in North Carolina, and one in New Jeresey -- under at least 4 or more aliases, and 2 or more SSNs. Petterway had an extensive rap sheet. Prior to this robbery/murder, Petterway had been arrested 10 times in North Carolina, mostly for forgery and related crimes, and Petterway had been arrested 14 times in New Jersey, including two felony convictions for forgery, one for criminal mischief, and one or more for prostitution.
At the time of the murder, Pamper Petterway had been married to Darrell Gilchrist for only four years (when Petterway was 37/38), and they supposedly had two children who lived with them. Petterway also had at least two other children who lived with Petterway's mother, Lillian Houston, in North Carolina. According to Darrell Gilchrist, his wife was a Jehovah's Witness, who "sometimes hosted religious meetings" at their home. Thus, it is possible that Pamper Houston, aka Pamper Petterway, aka Pamper Gilchrist, and who knows how many other names there may have been, had been reared as a Jehovah's Witness back in North Carolina.
On September 25, 2002, Pamper Petterway "targeted" 81 year-old Stella Garczynski outside of a local bank. Petterway put on some type of "con" which attracted the attention of Garczynski, who was a known "Good Samaritan", who often helped locals who were in need of help. Petterway acted dejected, and told Garczynski that she and her children had been put out of their apartment, and needed a place to live to keep from being homeless. Garczynski offered to show Petterway an available rental near her own home.
After arriving in Garczynski's neighborhood, Petterway asked Garczynski if she could use her bathroom. Once inside Garczynski's home, Petterway picked up a lamp, and bludgeoned the elderly woman to unconsciousness. Garczynski may have regained consciousness, and interrupted the ransacking of her home, multiple times, because there appeared to have been multiple attacks, and evidence that Garczynski had fought back. In addition to having been bludgeoned with the lamp, Garczynski had also been bludgeoned with a picture frame and a statue. (Garczynski was a devout Catholic.) Garczynski also had been severely beaten. At some point, Garczynski had also been both bound and strangled with a cord. Garczynski was also stabbed more than 40 times with one of her kitchen knives. Most of the stab wounds were to Garczynski's face and throat, but some were "defensive" wounds to Garczynski's hands and arms.
After cleaning herself up, Petterway went straight to Garczynski's bank, and obtained the necessary legal documents to gain power-of-attorney over Garczynski's accounts. Petterway had also stolen about $1000.00 in cash from Garczynski's home, as well as various legal documents, ATM card, etc. Petterway was arrested the next day at the bank after the bank clerk recognized Garczynski's name as that of a recent murder victim.
Given the above circumstances, does anyone really believe that this was the very first time that Petterway had ever conned her way into someone's home, and then did who knows what? We are even taking Petterway's word for it that she gained entry into Garczynski's home the way that has been described.
Petterway never showed remorse at any of the multiple hearings, and at the August 2003 hearing, during which she eventually pled guilty in order to avoid the death penalty, the "the meek and forlorn-looking" Petterway initially claimed that she was "innocent" of the charges.
***************
GEORGIA v. GRAY was a 2004 Georgia juvenile court decision. In March 2004, a 12 year-old African-American Jehovah's Witness, named Daryl Gray, stabbed in the face with a pencil a school classmate who allegedly had repeatedly been bullying Gray. Gray was convicted of aggravated battery, and he was sentenced to 90 days of probation, a $332.00 fine, 16 days of community service, attend family orientation counseling program, and join the Awesome Inc. mentoring program. One media report stated that Gray's attorney had filed a motion for a new juvenile court trial. Another mentioned the possibility of a civil lawsuit against the school. No further info has been located on either.
Daryl Gray claimed that he stabbed the male classmate only after that other student first punched him. The stabbing left a possibly permanent facial scar, and the other student was reportedly charged with misdemeanor battery. Both boys also had been suspended from school for 10 days.
Daryl Gray was an "A" student, who had repeatedly reported that he was being bullied by multiple classmates, but officials at Pointe South Middle School had failed to stop the verbal harassment and even physical attacks. Jeanette Gray, Daryl's mother, stated that she also had reported the ongoing bullying -- face-to-face, and via an email to the BOE. Reportedly, the school's only response was advice on avoiding conflict and re-scheduling of Gray's classes.
**************
UNITED STATES v. GRAHAM was a 2002-2004 District of Columbia court decision. In July 2004, Marcus A. Graham, 21, was sentenced to a 50 year prison term for killing his parents' 67 year-old neighbor, Lucille Batchelor, in a brutal attack and robbery. The conviction and sentence was affirmed in 2008 by the D.C. Court of Appeals, but likely will be further appealed.
On Sunday morning, November 17, 2002, then 19 year-old Marcus A. Graham went to the family's local Wash D.C. Kingdom Hall along with his with wife, mother, stepfather, and other relatives. Shortly after arriving, Graham left on the excuse of having argued with his wife, but apparently had other things on his mind. The previous evening, Graham's mother, Irene Perry, had asked her son to take some soup and tea to a neighbor who had complained of having a cold. After purchasing and smoking some PCP, Graham returned to his parents' apartment, where he and his wife were living.
Thereafter, Marcus Graham went to Lucille Batchelor's apartment, where he was invited in, possibly on the pretext of retreiving his mother's dishware. When Batchelor returned to her living room, she caught Graham rifling through her purse. Graham and Batchelor tussled, and the elderly woman was knocked to the floor. She either hit her head on, or had it slammed into, the edge of her dining room table. Graham also beat the elderly woman in the head with her own walking cane. Finally, Graham stabbed Lucille Batchelor in the chest with a kitchen knife. Graham left with only $15.00 cash and two credit cards. At 11:00 AM, a nearby ATM took a photo of Graham as he unsuccessfully attempted to get cash using one of Batchelor's cards.
Four days later, Marcus Graham voluntarily went to police headquarters for a requested "interview" that ended up lasting into the AM hours of the following day. That same evening, Clarence and Irene Perry voluntarily showed up at police HQ, and Irene Perry was allowed to talk privately with her son for an hour and a half. Afterwards, in an interview with Clarence and Irene Perry, Irene Perry told police that she had suspected her son as soon as she learned of the murder, "because he's different than the rest of the kids. He's not serving Jehovah. He's been in the street ... you know, he acts kind of thug-ish." (Marcus Graham had a prior criminal record.)
Irene Perry pressed her son to tell the truth, and Graham eventually confessed to the murder. (Graham had confessed to robbing Batchelor even before his mother arrived, but he had told police that he had stole the credit cards on Saturday evening.) Both confessions, and Irene Perry's participation in the second, were the subject of Graham's losing appeal.
Graham's stepfather may not have been as "cooperative" as was Graham's mother. Clarence Perry reportedly believed Graham's initial denials, and reportedly offered to help Graham get an attorney and fight the charges. After Graham's sentencing, Clarence Perry was quoted as stating: "This picture they're trying to paint of my son, as a hardened criminal, it's not true."
**************
CALIFORNIA v. JUSTICE (2003) and CALIFORNIA v. JUSTICE (2004) both involved a high profile Jehovah's Witness Teenager named Winston Justice, who now plays professional football in the National Football League (NFL).
As reported by ESPN, Winston Justice was reared as a Jehovah's Witness, and attended the Kingdom Hall three times per week. Other media articles related: "Winston Justice has gone door to door to teach others about his religion since he was a small baby in his mother's arms. ... As a small child, Justice learned to not be discouraged when people made rude comments or slammed doors in his face."
Gary Justice and Winifred Justice (immigrants from Barbados), in consultation with the JW Elders at their Long Beach area Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, initially refused to permit Winston to play organized high school sports, but as Winston grew larger and larger, and his athletic potential blossomed, Winston's JW Parents re-thought the situation, and decided that they would exercise their own "consciences". They overruled the JW Elders, and decided to allow their son to play sports during his junior and senior years. Winston Justice was awarded a football scholarship by the University of Southern California (USC), and entered college in Fall 2002.
In June 2003, while home for the summer, then 18 year-old Winston Justice was arrested for "solicitation of prostitution" in his hometown of Long Beach. The USC All-American eventually pleaded "no contest" to a misdemeanor in exchange for a $300.00 fine, and three years probation, and Justice was ordered to undergo HIV testing, and attend a court-approved AIDS class.
In February 2004, then 19 year-old Winston Justice was arrested for allegedly flashing what turned out to be a pellet gun at another USC student and two passangers during a dispute in a parking structure near the campus. Although arrested by police on "suspicion of felony assault with a deadly weapon", the USC All-American eventually pleaded "no contest" to a misdemeanor count of exhibition of a replica firearm, and was sentenced to 60 days of electronic monitoring, and three years' probation.
**************
PENNSYLVANIA v. ANTHONY LEN LINDSEY, PENNSYLVANIA v. GEORGE T. LINDSEY, and PENNSYLVANIA v. ERASLEY LINDSEY. In June 2004, multiple Pittsburgh area media outlets reported the arrests of three then 32 year-old COUSINS reputed to be members of a large extended African-American Jehovah's Witness family living in the greater Pittsburgh area. The Pennsylvania Attorney General alleged that Anthony L. Lindsey, George T. Lindsey, and 14 others (possibly including other relatives, or friends thereof) were "major dealers of drugs" in western Pennsylvania. The AG also alleged that the three Lindsey Cousins had attempted to hire a police informant to murder Caleb Thompson (possibly also a relative), who the Trio allegedly believed to have been "snitching" on Anthony Lindsey to authorities.
Anthony "Tone Loc" Lindsey, 32, of Aliquippa, Beaver County, was charged with eight counts each of possession of cocaine, possession with intent to deliver cocaine, delivery of cocaine, one count of criminal conspiracy, one count of criminal use of a communication facility, and one count of solicitation to commit murder. Anthony Lindsey was convicted of 16 drug-related charges in May 2006, and was sentenced to 17 to 36 years in state prison.
George T. "Cricket" Lindsey, 32, of Aliquippa, Beaver County, was charged with one count each of possession of cocaine, possession with intent to deliver cocaine, delivery of cocaine, criminal conspiracy, criminal use of a communication facility, and solicitation to commit murder. Outcome of that prosecution unclear. Later, in 2006, George Lindsey was convicted on federal drug possession charges and charges of firearm possession by a convicted felon, and he was sentenced to nearly 23 years in federal prison.
Erasley "Dewey" Lindsey, 32, of Aliquippa, Beaver County, was charged with one count of solicitation to commit murder. Outcome of prosecution unknown.
**************
CALIFORNIA v. JOHNSON was a 2003 California murder case. In 2003, during a second trial, Lamont Sterling Johnson, of Richmond, California, was for the second time convicted of robbery and first degree murder of a drug dealer in May 1996, and was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.
At the time that the crimes were committed, Lamont Johnson was 19 years-old. During the penalty phase of the trial, Johnson's attorney successfully used the fact of Lamont Johnson's "strict Jehovah's Witnesses upbringing" and alleged "learning disability" to make a case that the death penalty was not warranted. Deliberating less than a full day, one juror explained why the jury had not given Lamont Johnson the death penalty, "We looked at the whole big picture, from his childhood all the way to now."
**************
NEW YORK v. HARDY was a 2002-3 New York court case. Limited details. Reared as a "devout Jehovah's Witness" by a JW Mother, named Yugetta M. Osborne, 14/15 year-old George Hardy was convicted, and did jail time, for charges related to carrying a firearm while attending classes at Lafayette High School in Buffalo, New York. In 2007, George Hardy, then 19, was shot and killed.
**************
On New Years Eve, December 31, 2002, at around 6:30 PM, Paul Chase, 22, and his newlywed wife, Jamaica Howard Chase, 21, of Tacoma, Washington, were each "executed" while sitting in their standing automobile, by being shot in the back of their heads. The shootings went unsolved.
Apparently, it was not until the couple's Jehovah's Witness Families began complaining about media reports that disclosed Paul Chase's gang affiliation, and his extensive criminal background, and Jamaica Howard's minor criminal record, that it was even disclosed that Paul Chase and Jamaica Howard apparently had both been reared as Jehovah's Witnesses.
Subsequent media reports quoted Paul Chase's sister, Elizabeth Williams, boasting how Paul Chase "had worked diligently in recent months to develop his talents and become a good, God-centered father" [to his two children by another woman]. Jamaica Howard's step-grandmother, Judy Broadhurst, told reporters that she first learned of the marriage when Paul Chase's mother told other congregation members at the local Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses which both families apparently attended. Judy Broadhurst boasted how the couple were attending congregation meetings, and were working to turn their lives around. Jamease Howard, then 14, said she looked up to her sister. Friend Maria Kramer likewise admired Howard, stating that, "She was a single mom, and she did such a good job raising her son [Albert]."
**************
PENNSYLVANIA v. GARTH was a early 2000s Pennsylvania criminal court case. Incomplete details. John Garth Jr., of the greater Pittsburgh area, reportedly served 18 months in state prison for selling crack cocaine, sometime around 2002-4, when Garth (born 1981) was roughly 21-23 years old.
John Garth Jr. had been reared as a Jehovah's Witness by African-American Jehovah's Witness Parents, John Garth Sr. and Marta Garth. According to his sister, Joanna Garth Potts, "We were brought up pretty strict." Joanna Garth Potts told a reporter about their JW upbringing which centered on "worship, Bible study, and family rules". Despite such, John Garth Jr. had entered the world of drugs during his high school years at Allderdice High School, and he eventually even dropped out of school without graduating.
Unfortunately, John Garth Jr. was murdered in October 2004. Garth left behind a pregnant girlfriend, Jessica Monroe, who was also the mother of his two year-old daughter, Messina Garth. Chalina Garth was born around January 2005.
**************
NORTH CAROLINA v. QUINCY JOVAN ALLEN (2004) and SOUTH CAROLINA v. QUINCY JOVAN ALLEN (2005). Reared in South Carolina by a "strict" single African-American Jehovah's Witness Mother, in 2002, then 22 year-old Quincy J. Allen went on a multi-state arson, armed robbery, and murder crime spree, which ended in robbery and murder convictions in both North Carolina and South Carolina. While North Carolina agreed to a plea bargain which sentenced Quincy Allen to life without the possibility of parole, South Carolina sentenced Quincy Allen to the death penalty, which was upheld by the Supreme Court of South Carolina in 2009.
SOUTH CAROLINA v. QUINCY J. ALLEN. Prior to 2002, Quincy Allen had served prison time for a previous auto theft conviction.
In July 2002, for no other reason than to test-fire a newly acquired shotgun, Allen shot and wounded a homeless man sleeping on a park bench in Columbia, SC. Several days later, Allen shotgunned and killed a 45 year-old female, and then burned her body. In August 2002, Allen shot into an automobile belonging to the boyfriend of a co-worker killing a 22-year-old passenger. Allen thereafter set fire to the boyfriend's home. Allen later set fire to two other automobiles, and threatened others with his shotgun. Still in August 2002, Quincy Allen fled to New York City where he attempted to find employment as a "mafia hit man". Laughed out of NYC, Allen returned to South Carolina, but not before first shooting and killing an interstate convenience store clerk and a store customer during an armed robbery in North Carolina. After telephoning multiple SC media outlets and threatening to kill even more people, Quincy Allen fled westward, but was eventually arrested after he shot at Texas police officers during a traffic stop.
In their attempt to avoid the death penalty, Quincy Jovan Allen's South Carolina defense attorneys claimed that Allen had been diagnosed in the latter 1990s with schizophrenia and other mental disorders during the six times that Allen was in and out of psychiatric facilities. They alleged that Allen was physically abused, starved, and teased as a child. They alleged that Allen's mother, who was "strict in her Jehovah's Witnesses faith", beat Allen and frequently locked him out of the house as punishment. Allen allegedly was often left to fend for himself -- living with friends, in a treehouse, or whereever else on the streets that he could find shelter. One defense attorney told reporters:
"This guy had a really bad upbringing. He became very bitter. He's deeply mentally ill. None of this is said to justify anything, but this guy, ... the wheel's came off the track."
Although the SC trial judge acknowledged Quincy Allen's "poor and destructive home life", the trial judge ruled that Allen's crimes were an attempt "to be noticed and respected", rather than the a result of a major mental illness, and even stated in his decision to issue the death sentence that he hoped it would act as a deterrent to "abusive parents".
**************
KANSAS v. SCHNEIDER was a 2001 Kansas criminal court case. On Monday, April 16, 2001, at around 6:30 PM, a Jehovah's Witness, named Ronald Ray Schneider, 50, drove his Pontiac automobile directly into oncoming traffic as he proceeded westbound in the eastbound lanes of I-470 in Topeka, Kansas. Eventually, Ronald R. Schneider struck head-on an eastbound automobile containing two 22 year-old females, neither of whom were wearing seatbelts. A semi-truck driver later told police that Schneider had drove straight at his semi, and that he had avoided hitting Schneider head-on only by swerving into the median.
Ronald Schneider and the female passenger in the other vehicle were each treated at a local ER and released. However, the operator of the other vehicle was admitted to a local hospital in "serious" condition. She improved to "fair" condition a few days later, but her outcome is unknown. No further details regarding wreck or criminal prosecution, but Schneider died about 6 months later at a Topeka hospice from causes apparently unrelated to any injuries from this wreck. Civil lawsuits were likely avoided, because Schneider's insurance carrier would probably have simply paid policy limits under these indefensible circumstances.
Ronald Ray Schneider was a member of the Colly Creek Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, and a former "Bethelite" of the WatchTower organization. It is unclear whether he and Loretta Tindell Schneider were still married at the time. Interestingly, Ray Schneider had worked as a Computer Programmer at WatchTower Society world HQ from 1978 until 1986, when he left to get married in Nebraska. Such likely indicates that Schneider was one of the "fathers" of the WatchTower's "MultiLanguage Electronic PhotoTypeSetting System", commonly known as MEPS, given that the MEPS project began in 1979 and was finished in 1986.
***************
BASIAGO v. DISTEFANO was a 2001 Pennsylvania civil court decision. In April 2001, Jennie Basiago was awarded a civil judgement in the amount of $632.00 by a local judge after filing a civil trespassing complaint in Cleona, Pennsylvania, against Bernadine DiStefano, a member of the Palmyra, Pennsylvania Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Jennie Basiago worked night shifts and had repeatedly been awakened during the daytime by JWs knocking at her door. Basiago claimed that local JWs had called at her home approximately 4 times per year during the previous 12 years. Basiago had posted eight (8) "No Trespassing" signs, along with 3 "Beware of Dog" signs along her lengthy 300 foot long driveway. In October 2000, she had even telephoned both local JW Kingdom Halls and told them that she was going to file a lawsuit if they ever again came on her private property. Yet, Bernadine DiStefano, accompanied by another unidentified JW female, still called at the home of Jennie Basiago and woke her up in February 2001. Fed up with the ignorant pests, Jennie Basiago filed this civil lawsuit.
Bernadine DiStefano raised as her defense that the local township had recently changed the address numbers of area homeowners, which caused the JWs "Do-Not-Call" list to not work. This says much about the mentality of Jehovah's Witnesses. They have absolutely ZERO respect for the eight (8) "No Trespassing" signs which Jennie Basiago had posted along her driveway. Unless the local JW Congregation said not to call at Basiago's door, the JWs could care less about the property owners legal rights. Jennie Basiago should have demanded that the local District Attorney also criminally prosecute Bernadine DiStefano for "criminal trespassing". (In fact, the judge had included the $395.00 criminal fine when computing his civil award to Basiago.) This is just another example of why civil libertarians have no business praising the WatchTower Society and Jehovah's Witnesses for allegedly expanding civil rights and liberties. In fact, JWs could care less about anyone else's rights and liberties other than their own.
**************
HAWTHORNE v. GOLDFINCH and HAWTHORNE v. ADELAIDE CONGREGATION OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES were related 2001-3 Australian civil court cases. Although I typically avoid posting JW cases from foreign countries, even those which were sufficiently notorious so as to garner international media attention, there is the occasional case which simply demands to be posted here. These cases from Australia are such. They involve a Jehovah's Witness TRESPASSER, who ended up injured, and then had the nerve to sue the property owners, and amusingly, even the local Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, of which the JW Trespasser was a member.
In July 2001, Kenneth Hawthorne and his wife, Pamela Hawthorne, then of Tea Tree Gully, were out in "field service" selling WATCHTOWERS door-to-door, when they came to the small farm of Ronald and Julie Goldfinch, near Paracombe. The Goldfinch's property was fenced, and on the closed gate at the entrance near the farmhouse was a posted sign which read: "PRIVATE - KEEP OUT".
Typically, the JW Couple ignored the property owners' sign, and entered private property that they had no legal right to enter. As the trespassing JW Couple proceeded toward the farmhouse, a four year-old ram ran at and repeatedly butted Kenneth Hawthorne -- fracturing one his legs.
Thereafter, Kenneth Hawthorne filed a civil lawsuit against the Goldfinches seeking damages for his injuries and loss of earnings due to his supposed inability to earn a living while recovering. The lawsuit was settled just prior to trial in January 2003 -- probably by the Goldfinch's insurance company.
More interesting was the fact that Kenneth Hawthorne even sued his own local Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses for its' alleged failure to provide proper instructions about door-knocking in rural areas. Outcome unknown.
Amusingly, the Australian media reported that the ram's name was "SH*T-FOR-BRAINS". I doubt that such was true. It was more likely that the Aussie reporters simply felt that someone in this story needed to be labeled as such, and only the ram could not sue them.
******************
COLORADO v. STOVALL and COLORADO v. STOVALL were related 2001 Colorado murder court cases. In November 2001, twin brothers, Joel Stovall and Michael Stovall, 24, pleaded guilty to the murder of a Deputy Sheriff, 18 counts of attempted murder against police officers, and one count of aggravated robbery, in exchange for sentences of "life plus 896 years".
On September 28, 2001, Joel Stovall was arrested in Penrose, Colorado, after shooting a neighbor's dog, and Michael Stovall was arrested for interferring with his brother's arrest. The Deputy Sheriff failed to search the brothers before placing them in the backseat of his patrol car. While on the way to county jail, Michael Stovall used a concealed handcuff key to free himself, and then used one of two concealed pistols to shoot out the rear right side window. Michael then stuck one of the pistols out the window and back toward the Deputy's front passenger side window. When the Deputy refused to stop, and went for his own pistol, Michael shot the Deputy multiple times. When that Deputy's body was found, it had 12 shots to the head, and 4 shots to the body, and two different pistols had been used. Later, in Florence, Colorado, the brothers carjacked at gunpoint a pickup truck. Three hours later, the brothers ambushed a moving city patrol car striking the driver, Officer Bethel, three times and leaving him paralysed. Toby Bethel also lost his spleen, liver, and a kidney. During the subsequent chase, they wounded another Deputy in the arm, and even a fourth officer was slightly injured by flying glass as his windshield was shot out. The brothers peacefully surrendered to police the next day.
The brothers attitude during all this was beyond belief. Not only did they exchange gunfire with police on a number of occasions with some degree of fearlessness, but after shooting up Bethel's patrol car, which contained a second uninjured officer, they returned when they saw the EMTs arrive, and they proceeded to taunt and threaten them from a short distance. After their arrest, the brothers reportedly threatened to kill a guard if given the chance. Joel Stovall even gave a jailhouse television interview in which he smiled, joked, and mocked the audience for having to support him for the rest of his life.
Robert Stovall and Linda Stovall had reared Joel Stovall and Michael Stovall as Jehovah's Witnesses, and at the time of the rampage, they were living with and caring for an ailing grandmother who called them "good boys" who were "perfect in her book". Until these events, the brothers had had no trouble with the law since the time that the two then Sophomores were arrested at Florence High School after they climbed into the ceiling above the choir room and dropped burning pieces of paper down onto the choir causing minor fire damage and evacuation of the school. Also, while the brothers were still in high school, one shot the other near the collarbone with a bow and arrow. The boys reportedly did not use drugs, and were light social drinkers.
Some of the brothers' issues likely resulted from the separation of their parents (at some uncertain time), and then being reared by a father who apparently was an outdoorsman, who introduced them to everything that goes along with such. Most of the twins "issues" were likely from all the baggage that results from being reared as a Jehovah's Witness. Locals who had went to school with the twins described them as "loners", who kept to themselves, and who didn't hang out with other students, and thus had few friends. One local who had went to school with the twins since kindergarten stated that their fellow classmates had made fun of the boys and picked on them for years because of their religion. The boys were not permitted to participate in any holiday festivities, nor even sex-ed classes. After a while, "they just sort of withdrew". After Joel Stovall was suspended for the fire incident, neither boy returned to high school. However, the twins apparently finished high school either via homeschooling and/or GED, because they both attended community college for one semester before dropping out.
Evidently, as the boys got older, hunting and survivalism gradually became their energy outlet as they also likely consciously and subconsciously came to the understanding that their WatchTower religion was the cause rather than the solution to many of their problems. At some point, the brothers came to hate the police, despite the fact that their mother worked as a prison guard, and that Michael had enrolled in the community college's criminal justice program before dropping out, and that both twins had worked as security guards.
**************
NEW JERSEY v. SCOTT was a 2002 New Jersey court case. In May 2002, 23 year-old Saeed Scott was arrested in a wooded area of Burlington Township after eluding and fighting with police officers who had been chasing the naked Scott. Saeed Scott was reported to the police by a group of children at a bus stop, who told police that Scott initially approached them talking about his Jehovah's Witness religion, but then stripped off all his clothes. Outcome unknown.
**************
In June 2002, a "homeschooled" 21 year-old inactive Jehovah's Witness, named Yukio Allen, who reportedly had no history of violent behavior, committed "suicide-by-cop" in Inverness, Florida, after a series of negatives in his life, which evidently caused his depression.
In what may have been a poorly thought out plea for help, Yukio Allen walked to a nearby convenience store to supposedly make copies of a suicide letter that he had composed. While there, Allen flashed a pistol at the clerk, and dared her to "call the cops." Allen returned home, where cops said he later wielded two guns, one in each hand, and confronted them, and told them that he had turned on the gas in the house, and was going to blow himself up. However, when Allen refused to surrender the two guns he was waving around, the cops took him out.
While being reared as a JW in Detroit, an older brother, named Patrick Allen, had been shot and killed by another youth with whom he was having unspecified issues in 1993.
**************
CALIFORNIA v. COLIN was a 2001-2 California murder court case. Sometime during 2000-2001, the 10-year marriage of a 32 year-old Watsonville, California Jehovah's Witness, named Enrique Paniqua Colin, fell apart, and thereafter, so did his life. Like a farm animal born and reared inside a barn that does not know how to behave outside the barn when eventually let out, Enrique P. Colin went "crazy" after the breakup of his marriage and his divorce from his wife, and after his "excommunication" from the JWs.
Enrique Colin was referred to by the media as having been a JW "lay minister". Whether this meant that Colin had been an "elder", "ministerial servant", or merely a lowly congregation publisher is not known. At his December 2002 sentencing, Colin accepted full responsibility for his crimes, and he apologized to his victims. His sister, Norma Colin, described her brother as a loving father to his two sons, and a loving brother to his JW family members (six siblings with numerous children of their own). She cautioned those who did not know Colin to not judge him by his past couple years, and spoke for the Colin family: "We know he is a man of God -- no matter what anybody else says."
In June 2001, Colin was convicted of violating a restraining order, and was placed on three years probation. At the time, Colin was already on probation after being convicted of spousal battery.
On Christmas Eve, 2001, Colin drove to pickup his male roommate from work at the Watsonville KFC. From there, Colin drove to Village Liquors, where his roommate wanted to re-stock after the previous night's alleged marathon session of drinking and methamphetamine smoking. While the roommate was in Village Liquors, Colin went into nearby Pacific Rim Buffet, which had already closed. There, Colin, pulled a pistol, and attempted to rob the owners. However, the owner verbally refused Colin's demand for money. Whether he recognized Colin as the JW son of Jose Colin and Maria Colin, who owned the Watsonville Mexican restaurant known as Mi Rancho is not known. Colin responded to the refusal by shooting Khoon Shao "Sean" Koay, 40, in the chest and head as his wife and 3 year-old daughter looked on. When Koay's 65 year-old father, Shang-eng Koay, came to his son's aid, Colin shot him three times. While the father survived with only losing the partial use of an arm, Sean Koay died.
On December 29, 2001, two sheriff's deputies went to a home in an adjacent county as part of a separate burglary investigation, and there discovered a stolen vehicle parked in the driveway. Enrique Colin ran out of that house and started firing his .38 pistol at the deputies, who returned fire striking Colin in the chest, shoulder, and hip. Colin was charged with attempted murder, vehicle theft, and possession of stolen property in that county.
Colin's roommate, who reportedly had not known that Colin was going to stickup the restaurant while he was buying booze, "gave up" Colin, and he was thereafter charged with the Xmas Eve crimes. In December 2002, Colin agreed to a plea deal in which he received life without the possibility of parol. He was also ordered to pay $137,241.00 in restitution. It is not known whether the separate charges from the December 29, 2001 shooting were dropped or later prosecuted.
******************
Using what has become "standard operating procedure" for practically every newspaper that publishes a seasonal article about how its local residents are choosing to celebrate Christmas, or other holidays, the News-Press, of Fort Myers, Florida, on January 1, 2004, in a Christmas article, included comments from a local Jehovah's Witness Male, who had been interviewed on December 24, 2003, who related that he would not be celebrating Xmas due to his WatchTower beliefs. That JW Male, who just so happened to have so unusual a surname such that I had never heard/seen such previously, also just happened to mention as an aside (Freudian? - conscience?) that he had had plans to drive to Ohio over the Christmas holiday to visit his son, but that his plans had fallen through.
Because that JW's surname was so unusual, I googled such, and surprise of surprises: A male with the exact same name shows up on an Ohio government webpage, which indicates that a male with the exact same full name had been arrested for his 9th DUI in October 2001. That man's age was officially listed as 43 (in 2001), while the JW with the exact same unusual name, who was interviewed in 2003, told the reporter that he was 42, or at least that was the age that was published.
******************
In May 2001, a self-proclaimed Jehovah's Witness, named Rutilio Gracida Castillo, 23, of Oxnard, California, was shot and killed by one of two Oxnard police officers who had responded to a complaint that Rutilio Castillo was peeping into windows at an apartment building -- possibly his own. Castillo had a history of mental illness, which had led to previous encounters with police. In particular, Castillo was paranoid that someone was trying to kill him. On the night in question, Castillo was carrying a knife. The police chased Castillo to a nearby crowded strip mall parking lot, but when he failed to heed police commands to drop the knife, and supposedly lunged at or advanced toward the officers, he was shot three times and killed. The Ventura County district attorney’s office concluded that the officers had acted reasonably, and that the shooting of Castillo was a justifiable homicide.
******************
ALASKA v. PRITCHARD was a 2001 Alaska attempted murder criminal court case. In October 2001, a 34 year-old Jehovah's Witness, named Jason Walter Pritchard, pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted murder. Pritchard was ruled "guilty but mentally ill", and was sentenced to two concurrent 99-year prison terms, during which he will effectively never be eligible for parole.
Jason W. Pritchard became a Jehovah's Witness sometime in the early 1980s while he was still in high school. A fellow female student at Homer High School, who was a Jehovah's Witness, had used Pritchard's attraction to her as her opportunity to convert Pritchard. However, after Pritchard became a JW, their relationship was apparently terminated. This scenario possibly traumatized Pritchard and led to his mental illness given that Pritchard evidently never married, and given Pritchard's later problems with sexual issues.
Interestingly, in 2001, Pritchard's mother told a reporter that teenaged Pritchard had been confused by WatchTower teachings, since Jason had interpreted some Bible verse to mean that children should "shun" their parents. [Those familiar with WatchTower teachings know the significance and impact of the mother's vague reference -- the Jehovah's Witnesses were teaching then teenaged Pritchard to limit as much as possible his relationship with his own parents, since they were not JWs.]
After high school, Pritchard worked on fishing boats and at other various jobs, and apparently saved his money. Sometime in the early 1990s, Pritchard moved to Anchorage, where he purchased a four-plex to live in and rent out for extra income. Pritchard also operated a vending machine route, while he also was employed at a carpet company. All the while, Pritchard apparently was an active Jehovah's Witness.
It was around 1994 when Jason Pritchard's life started to fall apart. From the fall of 1994 until the fall of 1996, Pritchard received 5 citations for reckless driving, DWI, and driving with a suspended license. Pritchard also lost his job due to such.
In August 1997, Pritchard was arrested for "trespassing" while he apparently was "door knocking" at an Anchorage apartment complex where both the manager and police had warned him not to solicit tenants. Pritchard also had two encounters with police due to his drinking around this same time.
At some point around 1997-8, Pritchard's drinking also led him to frequent bars, strip clubs, and massage parlors. Pritchard also began to hear voices, and Pritchard's interpretations of the Bible went off the deep end. Apparently, having started to engage in illicit sex, which troubled his conscience, a voice supposedly told Pritchard that cutting off his penis would solve his problems, which Pritchard actually partially accomplished. It was around this very time that Pritchard was "disfellowshipped" due to sexual sins.
After being disfellowshipped, Pritchard was driven to start preaching to teenagers and even children about sexual sins. In mid 1998, Pritchard started approaching teenagers and children in and around schools, and he was reported to police, who in turn investigated and reported Pritchard to all local schools. Pritchard's "sex talk" was interpreted as sexual advances toward children and teenagers, but Pritchard was actually warning the children and teens about the "evils" of sex -- as his mentally ill mind so interpreted. In June 1998, Pritchard was cited for "stalking" a 14 year-old boy.
In December 1998, Pritchard walked into Anchorage Rescue Mission and started throwing $5000.00 in cash into the air, and then left. Apparently, around $4400.00 was turned over to police by the staff. The next evening, Pritchard walked into the middle of a Kingdom Hall service and started blaring that all the JWs present needed to kill themselves, or at least that's what they told police. Pritchard was "escorted" outside twice, and was returning a third time when police arrived and placed him under arrest. Pritchard spent the next several months in jail and mental health facilities under suicide watch. In March 1999, Pritchard was placed in Alaska Psychiatric Institute for one year, after which he was released and lived with his mother.
Sometime in latter 2000, on medication, Pritchard moved to Anchor Point to live with his former stepfather. There, he worked in a cannery, and attended every Kingdom Hall meeting. Pritchard also immersed himself in "bible study".
Then, on Monday morning, May 7, 2001, Pritchard, who apparently had stopped taking his medication, showed up at Mountain View Elementary School, in Anchorage, and began attacking with a knife students who were waiting for school to open. By the time police arrived, Pritchard had attempted to cut the throats of three boys, ages 8 and 9, and he was attempting to cut a fourth student inside the school, but was being prevented by a teacher with a desk.
At gunpoint, the police ordered Pritchard to drop the filet knife and surrender, but he not only refused, but even encouraged the officers to help him kill "his little brothers and sisters", and "send them to Jehovah". At one point, he exclaimed that he wanted "strength" so that he would not "take the mark of the Beast". Rather than shooting Pritchard, the police used three shots from a beanbag gun to disarm and subdue him. During such, Pritchard exclaimed, "Strengthen me, Father, to do your will." All four young boys suffered life-threatening slashes to their throats and/or faces, but all were fortunate to survive.
**************
CALIFORNIA v. SALDIVAR was a 2001-2 California criminal court decision. In 2002, a Jehovah's Witness, named Efren Saldivar, pled guilty to six counts of murder and one count of attempted murder in a deal with prosecutors in which he would be sentenced to life imprisonment rather than receiving the death penalty. Efren Saldivar was an "angel of death", who had worked as a Respiratory Therapist in a number of California hospitals from 1989 until 1998. The number of patients murdered by Saldivar is uncertain, but the number may have been in excess of 100 people.
Efren Saldivar was the son of illegal Mexican immigrants. Saldivar was reared as a Jehovah's Witness, and as is often the case, Saldivar had a troubled childhood. Saldivar was a loner with few social skills. He dropped out of high school during his senior year. Discouraged by his job at a supermarket, and encouraged by a friend attending vocational school, Saldivar decided to pursue training as a Respiratory Therapist. After obtaining a G.E.D., and completing one year of vocational school, Saldivar began his career as a RT in 1989.
At the age of 20, this "angel of death" began his spree of "mercy killings". The first victim was an elderly female who was suffering from cancer and terminally ill. Saldivar disconnected part of her breathing apparatus so that she would suffocate to death. Over 1,000 patients died at some point on Saldivar's (third) shift during the eight years at the hospital where he worked fulltime. Saldivar also worked at a number of other hospitals on a parttime basis over the years. Even Saldivar did not know how many people he had killed. Saldivar stated that he stopped keeping count after the number passed 60.
******************
CALIFORNIA v. FRIAS was a 2001-2 California murder case. On May 21, 2001, Armando Tizok Frias, 19, who was a Nuestra Familia gang member, was selling drugs at a Salinas, California saloon, when Raymond Sanchez and Joseph Cantu walked in and sat at the bar. Sanchez also was a drug dealer, who also was a NF "dropout" who had stopped associating with the gang. But, more importantly, Sanchez was sporatically selling drugs in NF territory without paying the NF "tax". After Sanchez's failure to heed repeatedly warnings, NF leaders had given the "green light" to its' street soldiers to kill Sanchez. Just within the past few days, the "hit" order allegedly had been confirmed by a NF "Street General" named Daniel Hernandez.
Armando Frias telephoned his local NF leaders, who met Frias in the parking lot. Frias was given a pistol. Frias walked back into the bar, and when the opportunity arose, he walked up behind Sanchez and shot him in the back of the head. Frias also shot Cantu out in the parking lot. Sanchez died. Cantu survived.
Armando T. Frias, his girlfriend, and their 7 month-old son fled to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to hide out at the apartment of Frias' Jehovah's Witness Mother. Armando Frias had been reared in the WatchTower religion in Salinas, California. Armando Frias had attended a local Kingdom Hall, and like other JW Kids, he had gone without birthdays and holidays. Frias missed such as a child, but says that he was respectful of his mother, and did not complain "too much". His mother had relocated to Oklahoma City sometime when Frias was a teenager. Frias and his girlfriend had lived with his JW Mother in Ohlahoma City for a while in 1999 and/or 2000, after Frias had been released, at age 18, from California Youth Authority, where he had been incarcerated for a robbery in which two people had been murdered. At some point during all this, Frias' father, Armando Rico Frias, who also had been a NF gangbanger, had reformed, possibly had also become a JW, and possibly had reconciled with his JW wife in Oklahoma.
In June/July 2001, Armando Frias was captured at his mother's apartment, extradited back to California, tried, convicted, and sentenced to 29 years to life for the May 2001 murder and attempted murder (sounds like a plea deal). But the story does not end there.
CALIFORNIA v. HERNANDEZ (x ???) The Sanchez "hit" order allegedly had been "green-lighted" by a NF "Street General", named Daniel "Lizard" Hernandez, who later denied that he did so. Interestingly, Daniel Hernandez, who obviously had an extensive criminal and prison history in order to have reached the level of a "Street General" in the Nuestra Familia, had been reared in a middle-class Long Beach, California family of Jehovah's Witnesses. Hernandez once told a reporter, "As a kid I didn't know anything but religion."
But, like many children reared as JWs, Hernandez rebelled against the heavy yoke of WatchTower Rules, and his JW parents sent him to live with an aunt in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Hernandez eventually returned to live in California. At age 19, Hernandez was convicted of armed robbery, and while awaiting sentencing, he knifed another prisoner during a jailhouse fight. After that, "Lizard" became indoctrinated into the Nuestra Familia by a cousin that he met in San Quentin. Thereafter, Hernandez moved up the ranks of Norteno (after spending a short while as a Sureno) as he particpated in gang-life inside various California prisons and outside on the streets of California and Pittsburgh.
**************
The following excerpts are taken from a 2002 California Appellate Court decision which reviewed and affirmed the exclusion of four African-Americans from the original murder trial jury. One of those dismissed jurors was a Jehovah's Witness Mother of six children, of Carson, California, and identified only as "P.B.", who was employed as a beautician, volunteered as a teacher's aide, and was married to a chiropractor:
"... Counsel argued that the last four peremptories the prosecutor had exercised were against African-American prospective jurors ...
"... P.B. was not 'terribly bright' and was disturbed by the nature of the case and the type of evidence that would be presented. ...
"P.B. was a married Carson resident, who worked as a hairdresser and volunteered part-time as a teacher's aide for the L.A. Unified School District. She had six children. A year previously, she and her husband were victims of a Long Beach carjacking. The carjackers were prosecuted. Her husband handled most of it. She and her husband appeared at the defendants' sentencing. She was nervous about attending the sentencing proceedings since the friends and family of the defendants were present. She is a Jehovah's Witness and sees apparent gang members when she is in different areas; that does not bother her. At age 18, one of her sons was involved in an out-of-state bank robbery. The son was released, had turned his life around and was now working for the city. Her husband is a chiropractor, and her other children are employed or married. When asked about the credibility of gang member witnesses, she replied that from her experience with her own child, sometimes it was 'just association or situations that they have been into.' She would not be prejudiced against gang witnesses. None of her children had been gang-affiliated. One daughter was incarcerated after she failed to pay tickets and, since the daughter had no money, she chose to stay in jail rather than pay a fine. P.B. knew someone who was a law enforcement officer. She would be uncomfortable about hearing that someone was killed, but would try to put aside her feelings so that she could objectively evaluate the evidence. When asked about whether she would be able to view bloody pictures, she said, 'It would be hard,' and she would not want to see such photographs.
**************
TARR v. EDWARDS was a 1999 Missouri civil court case. Incomplete details. In May 1999, three females filed a civil lawsuit against a Jehovah's Witness Chiropractor, named Dr. Gary F. Edwards, alleging inappropriate sexual behavior. Sandra Tarr, a former employee, claimed that Edwards sexually harassed her by touching her, hugging her, kissing her, and rubbing against her body. Leslie Tuttle and Michelle Brown, both patients of Gary Edwards, alleged that the objectionable behavior occurred while they were being treated at Edward's Independence, Missouri chiropractic office. Edwards denied the allegations. Outcome of this civil lawsuit is unknown. Unknown if criminal charges were pursued.
Click HERE to read summaries of other court cases involving this same Jehovah's Witness Chiropractor.
**************
UNITED STATES v. TOUTJIAN was a 1999 Texas federal criminal court case. On February 11, 1999, a 44 year-old Jehovah's Witness, named Mark Toutjian, of Concord, California, was arrested by the F.B.I. in one of the United State's first internet interstate adult-child sex cases. The arrest was based on charges filed in Texas USDC by the parents of a 14 year-old girl, who lived in Sugar Land, Texas. The complaint alleged that their minor daughter had met Mark Toutjian in an internet "teen sex" chat room in June 1997. The alleged relationship was eventually discovered by the parents in February 1998.
FBI investigators alleged that, in July 1997, Mark Toutjian traveled from his home in California to the girl's hometown of Sugar Land, Texas, spoke with her by phone, and ultimately went to her house. Toutjian and the minor allegedly had sex in his rental car and at his motel room. The F.B.I. traced Toutjian's credit card and registration information to the motel. The F.B.I. also discovered payment records for an airline ticket from Oakland to Houston.
Mark Toutjian, who was a self-employed Computer Consultant, and married father of two children, was arrested at a San Ramon jobsite. In a failed attempt to gain Toutjian's release on bond, his attorney actually announced in court that Toutjian was a JW, in order to gain an advantage with the federal judge. Media reports stated that Toutjian was being supported by his fellow JWs, which would seem to indicate that he may have been an "Elder". Outcome unknown.
**************
CALIFORNIA v. MORALES was a 1999-2000 California serial rapist court case. In July 1999, a 31 year-old active Jehovah's Witness married Father of two small children, including a 2 year-old daughter, named Steven Morales, was arrested on multiple charges of burglary, kidnaping, assault, and rape, relating to his 8-months long series of at least seven attacks at six Orange County homes. Morales apparently used his door-knocking experience to specifically target teenaged girls who lived in upscale Orange County neighborhoods. In one home, Morales raped two sisters -- one was 16 years old, and the other was 13 years old. Only one of Morales' victims was a grown woman, who was in her 40s.
In October 2000, Steven Morales plea bargained to a sentence of 101 years in prison. At his sentencing, Morales apologized to his victims and their families, but he did not reveal a motive nor explanation for his crimes. One can't help but wonder whether the 1998-9 series of rapes was really the first time that the then 30 years-old Jehovah's Witness had went on a such a hunting spree.
******************
TEXAS v. HUGHES was a 1976-99 Texas murder court decision. Forever labeled "A Cop Killer", Billy George Hughes, Jr., of Fairhope, Alabama, was executed by lethal injection in Texas, in January 2000, for the 1976 shooting of a Texas State Trooper, while Hughes was stopped alongside a Texas interstate by that trooper and his partner.
Billy George Hughes had been an easy person to villianize given that his murder of a law enforcement officer was the finale of a three-year long series of crimes. Hughes former wife, Beth Rounds Hughes, who was a Jehovah's Witness, had been one of Billy George Hughes' biggest critics, and Jehovah's Witnesses everywhere were quick to point out his multiple crimes, along with the fact that Hughes had been "disfellowshipped" for such.
Few webpages bother to discuss what type person was Billy George Hughes, Jr. before 1973 and after 1976. According to his father, Billy George Hughes, Sr., Junior had an idealic childhood. School, education, and preparing for his future were primary in Hughes' life. In elementary school, Hughes played on various local football and baseball teams. In High School, Hughes competed on the cross-country and track teams, and also was a statistician and sports reporter for the high school football team. Hughes once served as the President of his school's Junior Achievement club. When Hughes was 10 years-old, he won a local essay contest, writing on the topic: "Why My Daddy's The Greatest". The Hughes family lived on a small horse farm to accomodate Billy George's love of horses, and Hughes once had had hopes to become a verternarian. After Billy George Hughes was imprisoned, he earned two college degrees, and became a celebrated artist and cartoonist, and Hughes donated artwork to several charitable causes.
Billy George Hughes, Senior, claimed that the day that two Jehovah's Witnesses came knocking at his front door was the "sad turning point" in his family's life:
"One afternoon, two young men showed up and said to me, 'Would you like to be able to live forever and never have to die?' And so I said, 'What? Do you know something I don't know?' That was the beginning of the trouble that came into the Hughes family."
It is not clear exactly when that day occurred, but it probably was while the oldest child, Junior, was in High School (1967-71). Senior did not fall for the JWs' sales pitch. However, Senior evidently was interested just long enough, and allowed the JWs access to his family sufficient for his wife, Vida Hughes, and all his children, including Junior, to all convert to the WatchTower religion.
Because the WatchTower Society was against higher education, because Armageddon was going to occur in October 1975, Junior gave up a chance for a scholarship in the physical therapy field, and abandoned plans to study the farrier trade or become a veterinarian.
In the summer of 1972, at a WatchTower District Convention, Hughes met fellow JW, Beth Rounds, of Montgomery, Alabama. They were married in June 1973. Typical of numerous such JW marriages during the pre-1975 days, the marriage was a disaster. It is not clear what all occurred after 1972, but up until 1972, Billy George Hughes, Jr., had lived an unblemished life. He was well-liked and respected by the Fairhope community.
ALABAMA v. HUGHES. The couple quickly developed financial problems as Hughes bounced from one bad business venture to another bad business venture. Almost sounding like a re-run of the Christian Longo saga, Billy George Hughes began passing bad and/or forged checks around the area. It was that afront to the reputation of the local JWs that got Hughes excommunicated. That only caused the couple's problems to escalate. The couple separated and filed for divorce in early 1974. Beth Rounds Hughes claimed that Hughes had began to beat on her during the last days of their relationship. At some point, the Hughes couple filed bankruptcy.
UNITED STATES v. HUGHES. At some point in all of the aforementioned, Billy George Hughes also made multiple telephoned bomb threats to area businesses -- possibly to those businesses who were prosecuting him for the passing of the bad and/or forged checks. Hughes plea bargained "guilty" to a federal extortion charge, and received three years probation -- apparently because the telephoned bomb threats were seen as being "out-of-character" for Hughes.
However, the federal prosecutor and judge did not do Hughes any favors, because Hughes, who was likely "mentally diseased" at that point, only continued his criminal activities. In January 1976, Hughes left one of his shirts -- bloodied -- on a nearby beach, so that people would think he was dead, and like Christian Longo, Hughes left town, and went on a multi-state crime spree.
Hughes three-month long, multi-state and multi-city crime, spree ended in Texas, on the night of April 4, 1976, when two Texas state troopers pulled Hughes' stolen 1975 Ford LTD over near Sealy, Texas, after a motel clerk had telephoned the vehicle's description to police after the operator had attempted to rent a room with a stolen credit card. As the troopers approached Hughes' vehicle, Hughes stuck a 9mm pistol out the driverside window and shot one trooper. Hughes speeded away, but was arrested two days later during a massive statewide manhunt.
Hughes first conviction was overturned on appeal, but he was convicted again during the 1988 re-trial. During the penalty phase of the trial, Beth Rounds traveled to Texas to testify against her former husband. She told jurors that Hughes physically assaulted her numerous times, lied, stole, and made her life miserable during the year and a half they were married back in 1973-4. Rounds testified that she still feared Hughes, and that she thought Hughes to still be a violent person and a continuing threat to society. Rounds stated: "He was very convincing. He could turn those baby blues on. I know what type man he is inside."
To no avail, defense attorneys presented about a dozen character witnesses who testified Hughes was not the same man in 1988 who went on the cross-country crime spree in 1976. A Catholic Priest, a Lutheran Minister, a Texas Agricultural Extension Service horse specialist, a SPCA employee, a childhood friend and two school principals from Fairhope, Alabama, and even a Corrections Consultant once tapped to head the Texas Department of Corrections, all testified that Billy George Hughes was an asset to society who should not be executed.
**************
An "email contributor" reports an incident which is so "unique" and "unusual" that no JW readers will believe such even after I am able to locate the published news report -- thus, why I choose to go ahead and post a summary of the "lead" now. The "contributor" has a 100% track record thus far, but has been unable to locate and forward the article. I too have not been able to locate such -- yet.
"Contributor" states their recollection of reading a news article, sometime in the early 2000s, which reported an incidence of gang violence in the Los Angeles area which involved two separate groups of youths -- and here is where the story will be denied by JWs -- who were associated with two separate Kingdom Halls of Jehovah's Witnesses.
-- Thanks to a second emailer who vaguely recalls the news report, but their recollection was that it was a fight between two groups of JW youths from two different KHs, but not necessarily "gang related". This helper recalls "California", but not necessarily LA, and indicates time period may have been in late 1990s.
**************
RECOMMENDED READING:
Jehovah's Witnesses and the Problem of Mental Illness
**************
<<<------PREVIOUS PAGE----------HOME PAGE----------NEXT PAGE ------>>>
JW ON NON-JW CRIME - PAGE 2 of 4