On and on goes Nancy Grace. She is consumed with Casey Anthony. She calls her “Tot Mom”. Remember Caylee is her mantra. Grace is not necessarily advocating revenge for Ms. Anthony’s daughter, but she sure is overtly saying it to the millions that watch her show. It seems to be repeated all night between Dr. Drew and another annoying “yenta” shouting for Casey Anthony’s hide on CNN. And, as they used to say in the sixties, the beat goes on.
Since 1875 “our” government has operated the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, KS – the USDB. Better known as the “Castle”, it is the only maximum security prison within the Department of Defense. It presently “houses” approximately 450 male inmates, 10 of whom are serving life sentences without parole and 6 are on death row. Female prisoners are held at the Naval Consolidated Brig in San Diego, CA.
Only enlisted prisoners with sentences over five years, commissioned officers, and prisoners convicted of offenses related to national security are incarcerated at the “Castle”. Enlisted prisoners with sentences under five years are housed in smaller facilities, such as the Regional Correctional Facility at Fort Knox, KY or the Marine Corps Brig at Quantico, VA.
Sexual offenses presently represent 50% of the inmates crimes. The last execution was back in 1961. Army private, John Bennett, was hanged for raping and the attempted murder of an 11-year old girl. The execution of Army private Ronald Gray, who has been on military death row since 1988, was approved by President George W. Bush in July 2008. Gray was convicted of the rape, two murders and an attempted murder of three women, two of them Army soldiers and the third a civilian taxi driver whose body was found on the post at Fort Bragg. In November 2008, a federal judge granted Gray a stay of execution to allow time for further appeals.
On November 5th 2009, Fort Hood, outside Killeen, TX, a gunman killed 13 and wounded 43 people. U.S. Army major, Nidal Malik Hasan, 39 years old, serving as a psychiatrist, was wounded and taken into custody. As a result, he is paralyzed from the chest down. Hasan, an American born Muslim of Palestinian descent, has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder under the UCMJ – the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Yesterday was his arrangement, one year and eight months, after (NYT) “one of the deadliest mass shootings ever to unfold at an American military base”. The judge set the trial date for March 5th 2012. Military law prohibits defendants charged in capital punishment cases from pleading guilty. Major Hasan is being held at the Bell County Jail, in Belton, TX, roughly 20 miles from Fort Hood. Nancy Grace remains in Orlando.
At about 1:34pm, Hasan entered the Soldier Readiness Center within the Fort. According to eyewitnesses (Wikipedia) he bowed his head for several seconds and then opened fire shouting “Allahu Akbar!” He shot into a crowd of soldiers gathered for a college graduation ceremony in a nearby theatre. He was armed with a FN 57 semi-automatic pistol, purchased at a civilian gun store. He has a .357 Magnum as a backup weapon. He fired at people as they ran and tried to take cover. The “incident” lasted about 10 minutes. Hasan was shot by civilian policeman Sergeant Mark Todd who then kicked a pistol out of Hasan’s hand and placed him in handcuffs. Of the 13 Hasan (allegedly) murdered, Private First Class, Francheska Velez, of Chicago, IL, was pregnant.
The murder of Casey Anthony’s daughter was a tragedy. The trial was held and she was determined to be not guilty. That verdict cannot be changed. Some members of the media, I referred to Nancy Grace earlier, seem “passionate” about determining Anthony’s whereabouts and making what life she does have miserable. This “effort” seems “misguided” to me. The arrangement of Hasan did not even make the evening news. The hot weather took priority. The anger over what Hasan is accused of should not “disappear” from the public consciousness. We cannot let Casey Anthony “cloud” our sensibilities nor “Murdock” style “journalists like Nancy Grace, set our priorities.
For a complete account of the Ft. Hood shootings go here FtHood/LOTR/Wiki and to read the latest piece from The New York Times about the arrangement go here NYT/FTHOOD/LOTR.
THE 13 MURDERED:
1. Mike Cahill, 62,Civilian Physician Assistant, Spokane, WA
2. Libardo Caraveo, 52, Major, Woodbridge, VA
3. Justin DeCrow, 32, Staff Sergeant, Plymouth, IN
4. Fred Greene, 29, Specialist, Mountain City, TN
5. Jason Hunt, 22, Specialist, Tipton, OK
6. Amy Krueger, 29, Staff Sergeant, Kiel, WI
7. Aaron Nemelka, 19, PFV, West Jordan, UT
8. Mike Pearson,22, PFC, Bolingbrook, IL
9. Russ Seager, 51, Captain, Racine, WI
10. Francheska Velez, 21, PFC, Chicago, IL
11. Juanita Warman, 55, Lt. Colonel, Pittsburgh, PA
12. Kham Xiong, PFC, 23, St. Paul, MN
13. John Gaffaney, 56, Captain, Serra Mesa, CA
If you liked that post, then try these...
No comments:
Post a Comment