Death Sentences For Depraved 2007 Connecticut Multiple Rape, Murder, Arson Convictions Revoked

Victims: Dr. William Petit (left) said it's an 'insult' that Hayes, who raped and murdered his wife Jennifer Hawke-Petit (right) and killed daughters Michaela (center-bottom), 11, and Hayley (center-top), 17, won't be executed.

[From article]
The Connecticut man who lost his wife and daughters in a brutal home invasion in 2007 said Wednesday it was 'sad' one of the killers had his death sentence revoked to comply with new state laws.
Dr. William Petit was tied up in the basement of his New Haven home during the July 23, 2007 attack and almost beaten to death. He could only listen as his wife was raped and murdered by Steven Hayes. Petit managed to flee to a neighbor's home as his daughters perished in the fire Hayes lit.
'It is a very sad day when a prolonged trial and decision and sentencing by a jury that took 4.5 months to seat is overturned by a legislature that ignores the wishes of the people of CT,' he said in a text message via Twitter on Wednesday.
He added: 'The insult is compounded by a Supreme Court that rules on not one but 2 cases based on personal opinions and politics and not the law.'

Tragic: Wolfe-Petit was taken to a bank to withdraw money for the robbers before her murder, while her daughters were tied to their beds. She told the cashier to call the police, but they arrived too late.

Hayes was sentenced to death in 2010 after being convicted of murder, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree sexual assault and 13 other counts.
Co-defendant Joshua Komisarjevsky was also sentenced to death in 2011.
But in 2012 the Connecticut House of Representatives voted to repeal capital punishment, stopping it from being handed out in future cases.
Originally, the 11 people on death row - including Hayes and Komisarjevsky - were still to face execution.
But in August last year that was deemed to be 'cruel and unusual punishment' and their death sentences were commuted.
Hayes's trial, which ended Wednesday is the first in a series deciding what will be done with those men. Komisarjevsky and the other nine men who were on death row have yet to face theirs.
Petit and his family declined to make a statement in court, saying they had already said what needed to be said during the trial, as did Hayes and his public defender Thomas Ullmann.
Superior Court judge Jon C. Blue concluded: 'With the gravity of these crimes and the depravity of your character, nothing more needs to be said.'
He then handed down six consecutive sentences of life without possibility of parole, followed by a total of 106 years for Hayes's crimes.
Hayes and Komisarjevsky committed their crimes in July 2007, when a home-invasion robbery spiraled into a nightmarish litany of rape, child abuse and murder.
The pair forced their way into Petit's home and beat him badly with a baseball bat before tying him up in the basement of his house, which he shared with his wife Jennifer Hawke-Petit, 48, and their daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11.
The pair demanded money from Petit, then 50, and ransacked his home - but when they found a banking book with $30,000 in it, they changed their mind.
Instead, they decided they would take Hawke-Petit to a bank, and force her to withdraw $15,000. She did, and told the teller what was happening.
But the police did not arrive in time for what happened next.
Once back home, Hayes raped Hawke-Petit, then strangled her to death. Petit, still tied up in the basement, could only listen.
When he heard one of the men say that it 'it will all be over soon,' Petit realized that they were all going to be killed and managed to break the bonds on his hands - but not those on his feet - and crawl to his neighbor's house.
The doctor was so bloodied and disfigured by his beating that his neighbor of 18 years didn't even recognize him at first.


Horror: Hayes and friend Joshua Komisarjevsky raided the Petits' home (pictured after the invasion) in July 2007. They tied Petit up in the basement, then Hayes raped Hawke-Petit before strangling her to death.

As Petit was crawling to safety, his daughters were suffering. They had been tied to their beds, with pillowcases placed over their heads.
Komisarjevsky raped 11-year-old Michaela - he later told authorities he thought she was 16 or 17 - and then Hayes splashed gasoline around the house and set it ablaze.
In journal entries read in court during the trial, Komisarjevsky wrote that he 'resented' the idea that people believe he raped Michaela, but admitting he did sexually assault her and then 'ejaculated onto her' in a 'vulgar display of power.'
He also took photos of her after the assault.
Hayley was able to free herself, but died in the hallway due to the superheated fumes. Michaela's body was found on her bed. It could not be determined how she died.
The suspects then fled the house, ramming through a police barricade with the Petits' vehicle, before being apprehended.
Facing the prospect of execution in 2013, Hayes told The New Haven Register: 'Death for me will be a welcome relief and I hope it will bring some peace and comfort to those who I have hurt so much.'
[. . .]
Since the deaths of his daughters and wife in 2007, Petit has remarried. He and his wife Christine had a son, William Petit III, in 2013.
But he has said he will never come to terms with the loss of his first family.
[. . .]
In May he began a run for state legislature.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3644078/Connecticut-man-listen-wife-raped-killed-daughters-burned-alive-says-s-sad-killer-death-sentence-commuted-new-state-laws.html

'It's an insult': Disbelief of William Petit who was forced to listen to wife being raped and killed and his daughters burned alive as Connecticut court overturns killer's execution because it's 'cruel'
Steve Hayes was convicted on 16 counts, including murder, in 2010
He was put on death row, but in 2012 Connecticut revoked its death penalty
And in 2015 he and ten others had their death sentences commuted
Now he's been sentenced to six life sentences plus 106 years in prison
In 2007 Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky invaded the Petit home
Dr. William Petit was tied up in his basement while Hayes raped his wife
He then strangled her to death while Komisarjevsky raped Michaela, 11
Michaela and sister Hayley, 17, were tied to beds while the house burned
Dr. Petit was nearly beaten to death but managed to escape to a neighbor's home but his daughters died
Komisarjevsky and nine others on death row have yet to be re-sentenced
By JAMES WILKINSON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 21:47 EST, 15 June 2016 | UPDATED: 06:32 EST, 16 June 2016

Hartford, CT Police Use Video Surveillance That Respects Privacy Of Civilians

[From article]
Michelle Plante scoured a surveillance video for clues, trying to identify the man seen shooting at someone in a Hartford playground recently in broad daylight. Luckily, no children were there, and the man fled into a nearby house after missing his target.
Plante, who works in the new Real-Time Crime and Data Intelligence Center for Hartford police, determined the address of the house and who lived there. She ran names through databases, hoping to determine the name of the shooter.
They can enter names into criminal and private company databases and relay virtual dossiers on people to police. They also tap into surveillance cameras at schools and businesses - after getting permission in a process agreed upon beforehand - to help police respond to active shooters and other crimes. Much of the information, including video feeds, can be sent to officers' cellphones.[. . .]
New York City opened its Real Time Crime Center - the first of its kind - in 2005, and other large cities followed suit.



Smaller cities are now opening their own centers after acquiring surveillance cameras, gunshot detectors and other technology. Civil liberties advocates, meanwhile, have privacy concerns and are calling for better regulation of police surveillance operations.
Such facilities have opened in the past year in Hartford; Wilmington, Delaware; and Springfield, Massachusetts. Others are in the works in Bridgeport, Connecticut; Modesto, California; and Wilmington, North Carolina.
"It's such a great asset having everybody under one roof," said Sgt. Johnmichael O'Hare, who's in charge of Hartford's center, which officials unveiled in February. "It's all about transfer of information."
[. . .]
The centers reflect law enforcement's growing reliance on technology. Many cities are using federal grants and drug forfeiture money to help pay for the centers, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to set up.
The American Civil Liberties Union says there is a lack of general rules to limit privacy invasions and abuse of surveillance technology by police. The ACLU also is concerned about how long police departments retain camera footage and other surveillance data.
"The public really needs to be consulted, and there needs to be a debate," said David McGuire, legislative and policy director of the ACLU of Connecticut, which is keeping an eye on real-time crime centers in the state.
In December, the ACLU of Northern California criticized Fresno police for using social media surveillance software without the public's consent. One software program, the ACLU said, suggested identifying potential threats to public safety by tracking hashtags related to the Black Lives Matter movement. Another program assigned "threat levels" to residents, the ACLU said.
[. . .]
Civil liberties advocates also have concerns about airports and many police departments now using facial recognition software to track and identify people, saying such software is known for mistakes.
The Hartford center doesn't use facial recognition, but officials say that could come in the future.
Hartford Police Chief James Rovella said city officials are well aware of privacy concerns.
"We have to respect people's civil rights at all times," he said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_REAL_TIME_CRIME_CENTER?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-24-14-07-09

May 24, 4:26 PM EDT
Smaller cities across US opening high-tech crime centers
By DAVE COLLINS
Associated Press

Chicago Assault Victim Ignored By Pedestrians, Hit By Taxi; Similar Earlier Event in Hartford, CT

Marques Gaines was killed Feb. 7, 2016, outside a 7-Eleven store in the 400 block of North State Street.
Photo: Ryan Cosens

[videos embedded]
[From article]
Surveillance video released Wednesday captures the last moments of a popular hotel cocktail server who was punched and knocked unconscious, landing in a Near North crosswalk. The footage also shows more than a dozen bystanders failing to come to his aid in the nearly two minutes before a cab accidentally drives over him.
[. . .]
"There's a clear photograph of the aggressor and a clear video of him attacking Marques Gaines. He hasn't been arrested, and we don't know why," Hurley added.
Gaines' cousin Drexina Nelson said she and her mother, Phyllis, watched the video of Gaines for the first time Wednesday evening and were shaken.
"It was gut-wrenching," Nelson said. "We had heard over the course of these past few three months what happened, but to actually see it with our own eyes was devastating."
Gaines' aunt Phyllis Nelson, who had been too upset during the news conference to speak, said afterward that she couldn't imagine strangers passing by an injured person in her native Georgia.
[. . .]
"I've never heard of anything like this where people just walk by a person lying in the street and nobody help," she said. "I just don't understand it."
Attorneys for the family released grainy footage from a Chicago police pod camera that captures Gaines falling to the ground after a heavier man wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants and white sneakers apparently knocked him out with a single right-handed punch. Gaines, who had just bought chips inside the 7-Eleven, could be seen running away from his pursuer before he was struck.
Especially troubling for Gaines' family was that bystanders didn't help as he lay in the crosswalk. At least one person believed to be a 7-Eleven employee called 911. Others walked past him without trying to pull him out of the street or block traffic.
Within seconds of the punch, a half-dozen people gathered around Gaines, including two men who appeared to have rifled his pockets. Gaines' family said his cellphone and debit card were stolen. After a minute, the group and his attacker left the scene and as seconds ticked away, individuals and groups of people walked by Gaines without trying to pull him out of the street.
[. . .]
That no one came to her cousin's aid or tried moving him to safety on the sidewalk was too much for Drexina Nelson. Nelson and her mother, who raised Gaines after his parents died, live in Georgia.
"We as people, as humans, we should care for one another," Drexina Nelson said as she sat with her mother and their attorneys at their Loop law offices Wednesday afternoon. "Who leaves a person in the street for that long? That's devastating to me — the fact that he could have been saved. He could still be here with us."
Last month, attorneys representing the Nelsons filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court against several entities, including Chicago Taxi and the driver who struck Gaines. But this week, a judge allowed the attorneys to amend the complaint to add 7-Eleven to the lawsuit as a defendant.
The Nelsons' attorneys also released footage outside the store that captures the confrontation between Gaines and the attacker, who is seen getting into the victim's face and pointing.
"Marques never would have been laying in the street if he hadn't been attacked by somebody who had just been in the 7-Eleven," Hurley said Wednesday. He put blame on a security guard and a store employee who he said stood by and watched but did nothing to get Gaines to safety.

http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-86683516/

Lawyer, family: 7-Eleven, bystanders failed assault victim before he died
William Lee
Chicago Tribune
5:05 pm, April 21, 2016

* * *

Angel Arce Torres, known to all as Ponce, was hit by a car that sped away.

Photo Credit: Hartford Police Department via Associated Press

[From article]

The video of a 78-year-old man being tossed in the air after being hit by a car and then left in the street like a discarded food wrapper would have been hideous whoever the victim.
But this was the victim: Angel Arce Torres, known to all as Ponce, the town in Puerto Rico he left in 1966 to come to the United States. Father of six daughters and one son, with a flock of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Dominoes player extraordinaire. Fisherman and Yankees fan. The guy who bought his own garbage can and chained it up to keep the street clean in front of his beloved El Bohio Café, where he swept the sidewalk, the way others tend their rosebushes, with the broom he kept in the alley. A retired forklift operator who picked up cans to earn a few extra dollars for Carmen Rodriguez, who lives next to the cafe. The least anonymous man on Park Street, who, thanks to one sickening video, became an unlikely symbol of the scary anonymity of the modern street.
[. . .]
“I don’t want to get too political,” Mr. Myers said, “but I’d just say a lot of things go on in society on a daily basis that are definitely inhumane, and no one raises an eyebrow. But this, something that happened so fast, you were stunned by it, this is inhumane? We’re not human? We’re subhuman? What does that mean?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/nyregion/08towns.html?_r=0

The Day the Traffic Did Not Stop in Hartford
By PETER APPLEBOME
JUNE 8, 2008

CT Gentleman, and Gentle Ladyfriend Charged With Killing His Parents

Break in the case: Police searching for missing couple Jeffrey Navin, 56, and his wife Jeanette, 55, on Thursday discovered human remains at a vacant home in Weston, Connecticut.


[From article]
The remains of a married couple missing since August were found in the back yard of a vacant Connecticut home — and cops issued an arrest warrant Friday charging their son with the murder.
The grisly discovery of Jeffrey and Jeanette Navin was made Thursday in upscale Weston, and cops later issued warrants for both their jailed son Kyle and his girlfriend Jennifer Valiante.
[. . .]
Kyle, 27, has been locked up on gun charges since September. When cops searched his home, they found heroin vials, oxycodone and Xanax.
He appeared in court for a hearing Friday and was ordered to remain behind bars.
Dayton, accusing Kyle of lying, said the suspect gave “completely different” versions of what happened when his parents vanished.
[. . .]
cellphones belonging to the victims had “magically” stopped working near Kyle’s home in Bridgeport.
Jeffrey, 56, was president of J&J Refuse in Westport. Jeannette, 55, was a school library aide.
They were last heard from on Aug. 4 and their pickup truck was found with a shattered window in a Westport parking lot on Aug. 9.
The day after his parents vanished, Kyle bought germicidal bleach, drain opener, stain remover and contractor-cleanup bags, police said.

http://nypost.com/2015/10/31/son-to-be-charged-with-murder-after-grisly-discovery/

Son to be charged with murder after grisly discovery
By Joe Tacopino
October 31, 2015 | 1:01am

* * *



Kyle Navin, who is charged with two counts of murder and murder with special circumstances, wrote chilling text messages to his girlfriend about his 'perfect plan'.

[From article]
Businessman Jeffrey Navin, 56, and his wife, Jeanette, 55, have been missing since early August. Their son, 27-year-old Kyle Navin, was named a person of interest in the disappearance last month but was arrested on an unrelated gun possession charge.
[. . .]
The couple was officially reported missing the following day, on August 7, after failing to turn up to work at the waste disposal company Jeffrey and his brother William ran together and with relatives unable to contact them on their cell phones.
On September 10, Kyle Navin, of Bridgeport, was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm by a drug user – a crime that can carry a sentence of 10 years.
[. . .]
Navin was shown to have changed his account of his own and his parents' last known movements four times; his girlfriend lied about her whereabouts on the last day the Navins were seen alive; and chilling text messages reveal the bizarre last known communication between father and son in which Jeffrey Navin accuses his eldest son of trying to 'set him up' and 'frame him' for the murder of Jeanette.
To the outside world, the Navins seemed like a family who had it all. According to former neighbor Gail Berman, 60, who lived next to the family in Weston where both Kyle and brother Taylor, 23, attended Weston High School the family seemed 'exceptionally close.'
[. . .]
And the discovery of Jeffery's Dodge pickup on August 9, two days after they were reported missing, cast a sinister light on what fate may have befallen the Navins.
The vehicle was abandoned in a commuter lot off the Merritt Parkway, detectives have said that the passenger window was smashed in and 'physiological fluid' believed to be blood along with a bullet hole was discovered inside.
Similarly Kyle's rapidly changing version of his own movements and the last time he had any contact with his parents is difficult to reconcile with the innocent explanation that the couple abandoned their Connecticut lives of their own volition.
Interviewed on August 7 he told investigators he had last seen his parents on the morning of August 4 when they visited him and asked him to dinner that evening.
He claimed to have declined the invitation because he was in pain from a back injury that, he said, rendered him unable to work.
[. . .]
He claimed that the only communication between him and his father was work related – a claim subsequently blown out of the water by a series of chilling text messages revealed in the affidavit.
They chronicle a bizarre exchange between father and son in which, at one point, Jeffrey asks his son 'Did you hurt mom?' and states 'I'm not going home till I know mom is okay…I go home and get framed for murder.' In another he bluntly states, 'U R setting me up.'
Analysis of Jeanette and Jeffrey's cell phone activity places both in the vicinity of their son's Bridgeport home when their phones were last used before being switched off.
And security camera footage has revealed images of Kyle driving Jeffrey's truck to his parents' home in Easton, followed closely behind by his girlfriend, Jennifer Valiant. The couple then drove away in Valiant's car.
Valiant initially told investigators that she was at home until confronted with the video evidence.
Meanwhile searches of Kyle's home have revealed that the once star athlete was in the grips of drug addiction uncovering drug paraphernalia, baggies containing Oxycodone and Xanax and numerous hypodermic needles containing residues of heroin.
They also found Kyle's gun without which, according to one unnamed friend, he was rarely seen (according to girlfriend Valiant, Kyle 'really likes his gun') as well as a Home Depot receipt for germicidal bleach, hair and grease drain opener, Goo Gone stain remover and contractor cleanup bags.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3297030/Police-digging-vacant-property-discover-suspected-human-remains-search-missing-Connecticut-couple.html

Son and girlfriend are charged over double murder after the bodies of his parents who vanished without a trace three months ago are discovered at his friend's home in Connecticut
Kyle Navin, 27, and his girlfriend, 31-year-old Jennifer Valiante were arrested Friday night, state police said
Navin, who already was in federal custody on a weapon charge, was charged with two counts of murder and murder with special circumstances
Valiante was charged with conspiracy to commit murder and hindering prosecution
Navin's parents Jeffrey, 56, and Jeanette, 55, have been missing since August from their Connecticut home
Police found two bags of remains at a vacant home in Weston Thursday
The owner, Thomas Kerrigan, is reportedly a friend of the Navins' son, Kyle, who is a person of interest in the case
Medical examiner determined by Friday afternoon the remains were human
The Navins had financial troubles but neighbors say they were close and appeared loving
By Snejana Farberov and Laura Collins In Easton, Connecticut, For Dailymail.com
Published: 10:51 EST, 30 October 2015 | Updated: 01:39 EST, 31 October 2015


* * *


Jennifer Valiante of Westport made her first court appearance Monday, four days after Jeanette and Jeffrey Navin's remains were found outside a vacant home in Weston.

[From article]

A Connecticut woman accused of conspiring with her boyfriend to kill his 'piece of crap' parents because they were considering leaving him out of their will says she had nothing to do with the slayings.
Jennifer Valiante, 31, of Westport made her first court appearance Monday, four days after the remains of Kyle Navin's parents, Jeanette and Jeffrey, were found in the yard of a vacant home almost two months after they vanished.
A Bridgeport Superior Court judge held Valiante on a $2 million bail and continued the case to November 24.
Police say Valiante conspired with Navin to kill his parents as they considered cutting him out of their will, but her lawyer insists she was not part of the plot and even led the search for them when they were reported missing.
He also says text messages between the pair supposedly indicating their plans to kill the parents, who Navin described as an 'infection', have been taken out of context.
[. . .]
In the build-up to the death of his parents, Navin reportedly wrote a chilling text message to Valiante saying he had the 'perfect plan' to get '$ for life'.
It was part of a string of sinister correspondences where Navin said he had an idea that would 'give us a wealthy amazing life'.
[. . .]
In one conversation in July, he said he had a plan to 'solve every single problem and give us a wealthy amazing life'.
She replied: 'I hear ya. It sounds very good I just don't know.'
He later wrote: 'Wipe out the infection and get $ for life. It's perfect plan.'
However Warren insists these messages are just a sampling of the hundreds the pair sent between each other on a daily basis and have been taken out of context.
Navin allegedly shot his mother at least once in the chest while she sat in her son's blue truck.
He also supposedly gunned down his father, Jeffrey Navin, possibly in the basement of his Bridgeport home his parents had helped him buy.
[. . .]
According to an arrest warrant affidavit for Valiante, Jeanette Navin was said to be distraught about the situation with her son in the days before she and her husband vanished.
She told a friend that her relationship with her son was 'very tempestuous' and that she thought he was taking drugs, the document said.
The parents had bought a home for their son but he was failing to pay the mortgage and taxes.
Mrs Navin is said to have the friend that they planned to cut their son out if their will, sell their trash-hauling business and leave him without any financial support from the family.
In the warrant obtained by state police charging Valiante, investigators described DNA evidence allegedly found in both Navin's truck and in the basement of his home.
Blood was found along with a bullet hole on the front passenger seat of Navin's truck which tested positive for Jeanette Navin's blood, according to the warrant obtained by The Hartford Courant.
Police also allegedly found blood stains that tested positive for both his blood and his father's blood in the basement of Kyle Navin's Bridgeport home.
They also found prescription pills and heroin inside the property.
Navin, who was already in federal custody on a weapon charge, was charged with two counts of murder and murder with special circumstances.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3300301/Woman-charged-slayings-Connecticut-couple-court.html

Woman accused of helping boyfriend plan to murder his 'piece of crap' parents for cutting his inheritance denies plot and claims she was leading the search for them
Jennifer Valiante, 31, of Westport, Connecticut, denied involvement in plot
Comes four days after Jeanette and Jeffrey Navin's remains were found
Their son, Kyle Navin, 27, is behind bars facing murder charges
Allegedly killed them because they considered cutting him out of their will
He text Valiante saying he had the 'perfect plan' to get '$ for life'
Prosecutors say the pair both planned to kill the parents
Valiante was held on a $2million bail and will return to court in November
By Wills Robinson and Laura Collins In Easton, Connecticut, For Dailymail.com and Associated Press
Published: 13:17 EST, 2 November 2015 | Updated: 17:31 EST, 2 November 2015

CT Woman, Black Lives Matter Supporter, Arrested For Kidnapping, Sexual Assault

Arrested: Towanna Randall (above), 38, of New Haven, Connecticut was arrested Saturday night and charged with sexual assault, unlawful restraint and reckless endangerment.


[From article]
Police have arrested and charged a woman in the attempted abduction of a teenage girl who bailed out of the suspect's moving car to escape in Connecticut.
Towanna Randall, 38, of New Haven, Connecticut was arrested Saturday at 7.30pm, according to the Bridgeport Police Department.

The teenage girl escaped from the car, pictured, shortly after she was lured into the vehicle.

Randall was charged with sexual assault, unlawful restraint and reckless endangerment.
On October 5, a 17-year-old girl was walking to school on Boston Avenue when a driver pulled up in a charcoal grey Toyota Corolla and offered her a ride, police said.



Towanna Randall's bond was set at $100,000 and she is expected to appear in court on October 13.

Randall has an extensive criminal record that includes robbery, larceny, and selling hallucinogenic drugs, police say.
In an effort to help track down the suspect, police released surveillance footage of the incident, which showed the rear bumper on the car missing.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3268975/Woman-extensive-criminal-history-arrested-abduction-attempt-17-year-old-girl-jumped-moving-car-escape.html

Woman arrested for trying to abduct and sexually assault 17-year-old girl who jumped from moving car to escape
Police arrested and charged Towanna Randall, 38, in the attempted abduction of a 17-year-old girl walking to school
Randall was charged with sexual assault, unlawful restraint and reckless endangerment and is being held on $100K bond
The teenage girl was approached in Bridgeport, Connecticut on October 5 by the suspect in a charcoal grey Toyota Corolla with a missing bumper
The 17-year-old victim managed to jump out of the moving car before calling police to report the incident
Police say Randall has an extensive criminal history
By REGINA F. GRAHAM FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 01:06 EST, 12 October 2015 | UPDATED: 01:38 EST, 12 October 2015

Wesleyan University (CT) Administrators Have Spines, Support Free Speech.

[From article]
The opinion piece unleashed a firestorm of criticism, first directed at Stascavage and later at the school newspaper and its editors. Stascavage said he's been called a racist by students on campus, while some activists are calling on the school's student government to defund the newspaper.
A petition demanding the Wesleyan Argus lose funding unless it meets certain demands has signatures from at least 172 students, staff and recent alumni. Signatories threatened to boycott the paper because they said it fails to "provide a safe space for the voices of students of color and we are doubtful that it will in the future."
The university administration, meanwhile, defended Stascavage's right to free speech over the weekend.
[. . .]



"As members of a university community, we always have the right to respond with our own opinions, but there is no right not to be offended," said the post, titled "Black Lives Matter and So Does Free Speech."
"We certainly have no right to harass people because we don’t like their views," the administration said. "Censorship diminishes true diversity of thinking; vigorous debate enlivens and instructs."
[. . .]
After the backlash, however, editors-in-chief Rebecca Brill and Tess Morgan issued a lengthy statement apologizing "for the distress the piece caused the student body."
"The op-ed cites inaccurate statistics and twists facts," the two wrote. "As Wesleyan’s student newspaper, it is our responsibility to provide our readership with accurate information. We vow to raise our standards of journalism and to fact-check questionable information cited in articles, including those in the Opinion section, prior to publication."
[. . .]
"I have learned more in the past 10 days than I learned in three years of college," he told FoxNews.com. "Freedom of speech is critical for democracy."

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/09/24/college-student-op-ed-criticizing-black-lives-matter-movement-stirs-controversy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fmost-popular+%28Internal+-+Most+Popular+Content%29

College student's op-ed criticizing Black Lives Matter movement stirs controversy
Published September 24, 2015
FoxNews.com

CT Police Charge Prisoner With Six More Homicides of Women

Diane Cusack (from left), Joyvaline Martinez and Mary Jane Menard, whose remains were discovered behind a strip mall in 2007. The three women went missing in 2003.
Photo: AP

[From article]

An East Coast drifter already behind bars for killing one woman will be charged Friday with the serial slayings of six other people, whose bodies were found behind a strip mall, police said.
William Devin Howell, 45, who grew up in Hampton, Virginia, will be charged with multiple counts of capital felony, murder and felony murder at a 2 p.m. appearance in New Britain Superior Court, authorities said.
All seven victims disappeared in 2003, when Howell was mowing lawns and working other odd jobs in central Connecticut.

http://nypost.com/2015/09/18/convicted-killer-to-be-charged-with-6-other-slayings/

Cops say they’ve nabbed serial killer who slaughtered 7
By Associated Press
New York Post
September 18, 2015 | 10:24am

CT Police Official Arrested In Florida For Theft of Winning Lottery Ticket From Niece

Michael Royston, 49, Windsor Locks, CT Police Commission Chairman
[From article]
A Connecticut man was busted trying to cash in a winning $520,000 lottery ticket he allegedly swiped from his niece.
Michael Royston, 49, was arrested Thursday at Florida Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. Royston claimed the ticket was a gift but dummied up when asked who gave it to him, the newspaper reported.
Royston’s niece told the cops she had shown her uncle the ticket last month, the paper reported, and a few days later she reported it stolen to Northampton police.
Northampton police did not return calls yesterday.
Royston, who is charged with fraud and grand theft, is free on $1,000 bail.
Royston has since resigned as chairman of the Windsor Locks Police Commission — an unpaid position overseeing the town police department. In a statement, he denied any wrongdoing and said he was stepping down because he didn’t want the arrest to affect the commission.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/08/uncle_charged_in_winning_lottery_ticket_scam

Uncle charged in winning lottery ticket scam
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
By: Jessica Heslam
Boston Herald

Wesleyan University President Asks Students To Reveal Who Sells Bad Drugs On Campus

The president of Wesleyan University (pictured) has urged students to 'turn in the drug dealers' following a rash of hospitalizations among people who took a party drug known as molly over the weekend.
[From article]
Wesleyan University's president has urged students to 'turn in the drug dealers' after 12 people - 10 students and two visitors - were hospitalized after taking party drug 'molly'.
In a letter to the campus President Michael Roth said: 'If you are aware of people distributing these substances, please let someone know before more people are hurt.'
The school became aware of the problem early on Sunday morning after several students showed up seeking treatment at a Middlesex Hospital near the campus.
[. . .]
Molly is a term used to describe a refined form of Ecstasy, a synthetic drug also known as MDMA.
It can drive up body temperature and cause liver, kidney or cardiovascular failure.
Dr. Mark Neavyn, chief of toxicology at Hartford Hospital, said users who believe they are taking molly are often receiving different kinds of designer drugs with ranges of purity and potency making the health risks unpredictable.
He said testing is underway to confirm what drugs the Wesleyan patients took.
'When we see these people in the emergency department and they claim to have taken molly, we don't pay attention to that word anymore.
'It's so commonly not MDMA, we just start from square one and say it's some sort of drug abuse,' Neavyn said.
Wesleyan health officials said in a campus-wide email on September 16 that students had been hospitalized after taking molly.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2966481/Wesleyan-University-s-president-urges-students-turn-dealers.html

Wesleyan University's president urges students to 'turn in the drug dealers' as 12 people are hospitalized after overdosing on party drug ‘molly’
So far 12 people have been hospitalised - 10 students and two visitors
Two students remain in critical condition after being airlifted to hospital
Students are believed to have ingested party drug molly - a type of Ecstasy
Police say they are looking into reports students took 'bad batch' of drug
University's president is urging students to identify the drug dealers
A confidential telephone line has been set up for students to call
By KEILIGH BAKER FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 04:01 EST, 24 February 2015 | UPDATED: 17:26 EST, 24 February 2015

* * *

[From article]
School officials said Sunday that the overdose symptoms seemed to point to the drug “Molly,” a stimulant psychoactive drug also known as methylone. No other information about their conditions was released.
Wesleyan officials did not say whether the students had been together or where the drugs had come from. The Hartford Courant reported that city police late Sunday were investigating whether the students had taken a “bad batch” of the drug.
Middletown police Capt. Gary Wallace said the side effects can be life-threatening and police are trying to help physicians “in obtaining any and all information.”

http://nypost.com/2015/02/23/11-students-hospitalized-after-overdosing-on-molly/

11 students hospitalized after overdosing on Molly
By Associated Press
New York Post
February 23, 2015 | 9:23am

Connecticut Bank Robbers Invade Home of Bank Employee, Use Fake Bombs

Sources say the suspects told Yussman he would have to 'empty the vault', but that he was able to call a co-worker who notified police.

[From article] A bank manager said he and his mother were strapped to supposed explosives after two masked suspects broke into their home on Monday morning.
The man said he was then forced to drive the suspects to the Achieve Financial Credit Union in New Britain, Connecticut, which, sources say, the suspects planned to rob.
It wasn't until officers responded to the home invasion call in Bristol and found a woman tied to her bed, with an explosive placed underneath, that they realized the two incidents were connected.
Police said they have not yet determined if the bank manager is a victim or a suspect.
When police arrived at the scene they found the man sitting alone in a car outside the Credit Union, the explosives still tied to his body.
The man said the intruders threatened to kill both him and his mother if he did not take cash out of the credit union, according to the Hartford Courant.
The suspects had disappeared by the time police arrived.
Although he has not yet been identified by police, public records show the home in Bristol belongs to credit union CFO Matthew Yussman, according to WFSB.
Neighbors told say he lives at the house with his mother.
The man was kept in the vehicle while officers 'cleared the area of residents and shut down nearby roadways,' New Britain Police Chief James Wardwell said during a press conference.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2966260/New-Britain-bank-manager-strapped-supposed-explosives-outside-Achieve-Financial-Credit-Union-Bristol-home-invasion.html

Robbers invaded bank workers' home, strapped bombs to him and his mother and threatened to blow them up if he didn't rob bank
Man was forced to drive the suspects to Achieve Financial Credit Union in New Britain, Connecticut, which they planned to rob, according to sources
His mother was tied to a bed, with another device planted underneath it
Police found him sitting outside bank alone in a car, still wearing the device
Both devices have been determined to be fakes and police said they are still investigating if the man is a suspect or a victim
Public records show house belonged to credit union CFO Matthew Yussman
By ANNETA KONSTANTINIDES FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 23:21 EST, 23 February 2015 | UPDATED: 06:23 EST, 24 February 2015

Woman Dies Stopping To Help Crash Victim On Connecticut Highway

Lauren A. Mohr, 34, of Wallingford, fell to her death Thursday morning while attempting to help two motorists near exit 7 of I-91 north, according to state police at the Troop I barracks in Bethany. 

(Courtesy of Quinnipiac University)
[From article]
The accident happened about 12:30 a.m. near exit 7 of I-91 north, according to state police at the Troop I barracks in Bethany.
Lauren A. Mohr, 34, stopped to assist two motorists and fell off a concrete wall and then off a bridge, they said. She dropped about 40 feet, state police said, calling Mohr a good Samaritan.
[. . .]
Mohr was a temporary worker in the undergraduate admissions office of Quinnipiac University, according to university spokesman John Morgan.
"She comes in during our busy season," he said.
She was the stepdaughter of Joan Isaac Mohr, vice president for Admissions and Financial Aid.
A graduate of Mark T. Sheehan High School in Wallingford, Mohr earned her associates degree from Middlesex Community College, Morgan said. She planned to study social work at Southern Connecticut State University in the fall.
At the time of the accident, she was returning from her job at Barcelona Restaurant and Wine Bar, Joan Mohr told Morgan.
[. . .]
State police tweeted a warning to motorists Thursday morning: People should refrain from getting out of their cars when on a highway, they said.
If a motorist's car becomes disabled, he or she should pull as far to the right as possible and call 911, they say.

http://touch.courant.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-82862017/

Motorist Stops To Help Crash Victims, Drops To Her Death
CHRISTINE DEMPSEY
1:43 pm, February 19, 2015

Connecticut Man Freed After Wrongful Rape and Murder Conviction. Awarded $6 million by State

Kenneth Ireland (pictured), 44, was awarded $6million from the state of Connecticut after being wrongly jailed for 21 years.

[From article]
A man who was wrongfully imprisoned for 21 years for the rape and murder of a mother of four was awarded $6million from the state of Connecticut.


Mr Ireland was imprisoned at the age of 18 for the rape and murder of Barbara Pelkey (left) and was released in 2009 after the Connecticut Innocence Project reviewed his case and initiated new DNA testing.

Kenneth Ireland, 44, was jailed when he was 18 and released in 2009 after DNA tests proved another man fatally beat and raped 30-year-old Barbara Pelkey in Wallingford.
The other man, Kevin Benefield, is serving a 60-year prison sentence for killing the mother-of-four.


Kevin Benefield was found guilty for the murder and is now serving a 60-year prison sentence.

Mr Ireland was issued the award yesterday under Connecticut's wrongful incarceration compensation law.
State claims commissioner J. Paul Vance Jr issued the award to Mr Ireland and said in a report: 'No words or dollar amount will suffice to give him back the time that he lost and the misery that he endured.
'Mr. Ireland was wrongfully convicted and was labeled a murderer and sex offender and was forced to spend a long portion of his life in maximum security prisons.
'He experienced 21 years of violence, sleepless nights and the constant fear and hopelessness that he would die in prison as an innocent man.'
The new DNA testing came after the Connecticut Innocence Project, which looks into potentially wrong convictions, began reviewing Ireland's case in 2007
[. . .]
In 1987 two people came forward to the police and said Mr Ireland and another man had made incriminating statements regarding their involvement in Mrs Pelkey's murder.
A third person came forward a few months later and said Mr Ireland had confessed to the killing.
The third witness later admitted she was drunk at the time and may have imagined that the statements were made.
Mr Ireland was charged based on these witness statements.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2932162/Connecticut-man-wrongly-jailed-21-years-gets-6M-award.html

Connecticut man gets $6m award after being wrongly jailed for 21 YEARS for rape and murder
Kenneth Ireland, 44, was freed in 2009 after DNA tests cleared him of killing mother-of-four Barbara Pelkey
Was exonerated after Connecticut Innocence Project reviewed his case
Mr Ireland said he plans to travel and 'see things I've missed'
First award under state's wrongful incarceration compensation law
By ANNETA KONSTANTINIDES FOR MAILONLINE and ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 19:18 EST, 29 January 2015 | UPDATED: 14:36 EST, 30 January 2015

Not Enough White People In Hartford, CT Suburbs

This is one example of the coming difficulties with racial statistics in schools, college admissions and hiring. Soon cites will be and some are already majority minority cities. Whites will be a minority. But under current propaganda driven public policies white people will continue to be demonized as oppressors. Though Ferguson MO is 70 percent black, voters complain about not enough black police and black public officials. Is that due to white privilege? Only white people can vote in Ferguson MO? Then does that mean that black public officials are less corrupt than white ones? What difference does it make? The defining issues for public officials should be common sense and integrity not skin color. But journalists and the Obama-Holder-Johnson-Sharpton-Matthews-Smiley-New Black-Panther-Party administration makes dividing America by race the highest priority. Take good note that America hating organizations, CAIR, Hamas, e.g., which defends terrorists attacking Americans, advocates for more racial divisions. 

[From article]
About half the students living in the 22 communities subject to the agreement, according to state officials, are non-white. That's up from about 38 percent in 2008, when the parties negotiated a revised timetable for progress on reducing racial, ethnic and economic isolation. Another revision was made last year.
"The state is in the position of, how do you meet the requirements of the State Supreme Court given the fact that the demographics of the region have changed so completely," said Kathleen Demsey, state Department of Education's chief financial officer who worked for years on the issue. "Financially, it's a burden for this transportation system, money that could be used for education is being used to bus kids."
[. . .]
The issue of changing demographics has come up before. In 2013, the parties redefined the standard for diversity, allowing Asian, American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders to count toward the 25 percent "white enrollment" threshold. Further changes could be among the proposals in this round of negotiations.

http://news.yahoo.com/demographics-complicate-hartford-desegregation-140702273.html

Demographics complicate Hartford desegregation
By SUSAN HAIGH
Yahoo News
December 7, 2014 9:09 AM

Rape Allegations Investigated in Connecticut Hospital

Martin Chalecki, in his apartment at the Marina Village housing project in Bridgeport, Conn. on Thursday, December 4, 2014, claims he was molested by Gonzalo Flores while a patient at St. Vincent's Medical Center. Chalecki said he reported the molestation to the hospital at the time, but that his charges were dismissed by hospital authorities.
Photo: Brian A. Pounds
[From article]
Chalecki's complaint was the first accusation against Flores police and hospital staff said they had received. There was no arrest at the time, and the February allegation lingered, unsubstantiated, for months.
Then on June 7, an unidentified Fairfield man reported to police that he was sexually assaulted in his hospital room. In that incident, the victim was paralyzed, according to a police report.
Following that alleged attack, as police investigated Flores -- but before his arrest -- the hospital fired him on June 11.
Nearly a month later, on July 8, Flores was arrested and jailed on charges he sexually assaulted the Fairfield patient.
[. . .]
During the July 8 interview with Flores, the day of his arrest, police said he confessed to sexually assaulting more patients.
Then on Sept. 30, another alleged victim reported he was abused by Flores at the hospital on March 14, 2013 -- more than a full year before Chalecki's accusation.
On Nov. 15, while in jail, Flores was arrested a second time and charged with the sexual assault of the unidentified St. Vincent's patient in 2013-- the earliest known attack.
[. . .]
"My roommate called the nurse, but instead of helping me, the nurse accused me of making it all up," he said. "She just kept saying `come on frequent flyer Martin, just stop lying. The doctor is not going to give you any more medication, come on frequent flyer Martin.' "
[. . .]
Chalecki said he called hospital security from his room, and a security officer showed up a short time later, but didn't take his account seriously.
"He wrote something down, but I could tell he didn't believe me," he said.
[. . .]
He said, `Are you sure the drugs didn't make you hallucinate? He kept saying `are you sure, are you sure?' Then he said if I made a false account, I could be arrested," Chalecki said. "He had me doubting myself and finally I told him, `All right I won't do anything, and he left.' "

http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Hospital-rape-case-widens-5940881.php

Hospital rape case widens
Daniel Tepfer
Updated 2:16 pm, Monday, December 8, 2014

Three Young Girls Missing 40 Years In Connecticut

Search: Police have reopened the search into the disappearances of 13-year-olds Debra Spickler (above) and Lisa White (below) who went missing within six years of each other in the same area of Connecticut 40 years ago





Missing: This is a reward poster issued the year Janice Pockett, then aged seven, went missing 

[From article]
A task force has been formed to investigate the disappearance of three girls in the same area of Connecticut 40 years ago.
Thirteen-year-old Debra Spickler of Mystic disappeared in 1968, while walking to a swimming pool in Vernon.
Janice Pockett was 7 when she was last seen riding her bicycle in nearby Tolland in July 1973.
And, 13-year-old Lisa White was last seen walking near a Vernon park on November 1, 1974.
Now, more than 40 years later with no leads on any of them, police have decided to reopen the cases - insisting they are 'certain' somebody has information that will solve them.
[. . .]
The state is offering $150,000 in rewards for the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for the girls' disappearance.
'Extensive investigations have been conducted already, which include thousands of pages of police reports and supporting documents,' Meier said.
'However, with modern advances in technology and police procedures, we are hoping that a fresh look at these cases will produce new leads.'


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2795881/Task-force-review-cases-3-missing-girls.html


'I truly believe somebody out there knows something': New task force formed to re-investigate disappearances of three girls in same part of Connecticut more than 40 years ago
Debra Spickler, 13, disappeared walking to a Vernon swimming pool in 1968
Janice Pockett, 7, last seen riding a bike near Tolland in July 1973
Lisa White, 13, went missing after walking near a Vernon park in Nov 1974
Task force offering $150,000 for information that could lead to an arrest
The team will determine whether the disappearances were connected
By Associated Press and Mia De Graaf for MailOnline
Published: 12:31 EST, 16 October 2014 | Updated: 15:24 EST, 16 October 2014

Former Student Files Lawsuit For Sex Abuse At Private CT School

Headmaster Peter Carleton, pictured, allegedly used boys for his sexual pleasure, according to the lawsuit. The headmaster would show the boys porn, encourage them to masturbate with each other and assault them.

[From article]
A former student at an exclusive New England boarding school in 1980s is claiming he was subjected to sex assaults by his headmaster and was gang raped.
A federal lawsuit filed this week has reopened a decades-old sex abuse scandal at the exclusive Indian Mountain School in Connecticut.

[. . .]
Brownville, who was between 13 and 16 years old at the time, also alleges he was gang raped by on several occasions by members of the school's maintenance department.
The school's trustees and other teachers were aware of the abuse and in some cases witnessed some of it, according to the lawsuit.
At parties, Carleton would discuss boys' bodies and his fascination with them, Ponvert said.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2786909/Lawsuit-shines-new-light-old-sex-abuse-scandal.html

Former student claims he was sexually assaulted by headmaster and gang raped while at exclusive New England boarding school in the 1980s
William Brownville alleges that boys were routinely and rampantly molested at the exclusive Indian Mountain School in Connecticut decades ago
Named in lawsuit are former headmaster Peter Carleton, who died in 1996, and former English teacher Christopher Simonds, who was fired in 1985
The suit alleges a group of boys was part of a rotation to sleep in the principal's house, where they were 'used for his sexual pleasure'
The principal would show the boys pornography and encourage them to masturbate with each other, the suit alleges
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Daily Mail (UK)
PUBLISHED: 15:13 EST, 9 October 2014 | UPDATED: 16:00 EST, 10 October 2014

Voter Fraud in Connecticut

[From article]
Democrats and the dominant media assure us that vote fraud doesn’t exist, so we certainly don’t need voter ID, and in fact it would be racist to demand as much proof of identity as is necessary to board an airplane or buy a drink. Nevertheless, a Democrat state representative in Connecticut was arrested for allegedly voting 19 times.
[. . .]
According to the Connecticut Post, Ayala’s mother, Santa, was also investigated by the Elections Enforcement Commission. The commission also recommended criminal charges be filed against Santa Ayala, the Democratic registrar of voters in Bridgeport, but none have been filed as of Friday.
The registrar of voters has been recommended for arrest, but vote fraud doesn't exist, eh?

http://americanthinker.com/blog/2014/09/dem_rep_in_ct_arrested_for_crime_that_doesnt_exist.html

September 29, 2014
Dem rep in CT arrested for crime that 'doesn't exist'
By Thomas Lifson

CT Lawyer Gets Wrist Slap For Harassing Woman Clients

[From article] Mayo was accused in two prior ethics cases, according to the Connecticut Law Tribune. In the first he was suspended for 15 months after he was accused of making unwanted advances to female clients referred to him by a group for abused women, the story says. In the second, he was banned from representing women in family law or domestic violence cases after he was accused of offering to waive attorney fees in exchange for a massage.
http://www.abajournal.com/mobile/article/lawyers_suspension_includes_lifetime_ban_on_representing_women/

Lawyer’s suspension includes lifetime ban on representing women
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Aug 6, 2014, 08:14 am CDT

CAIR Employs Stalinist Tactics

[From post]
The Connecticut chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CT) announced today that it is joining a growing coalition in calling on state officials to sever financial ties with Israel and stop investing in Israel companies and bonds because of it killing of civilians in Gaza.
According to the state treasury department the state of Connecticut has millions of dollars of investments in Israel, including $4 million bonds (as of 2011.)

https://www.facebook.com/CAIRNational/posts/10152306188852695

CAIR

CT Lawyer in Bush Administration Convicted of Attempting To Kill His Wife

Guilty: John Michael Farren, former White House lawyer in both Bush administrations ,was convicted Friday, July 11, 2014, of attempted murder and other charges in the beating of his wife at their Connecticut home four years ago. He is seen here in court in 2010.

[From article]
She managed to flee the house with her two young daughters.
The attack occurred two days after she served him with divorce papers, authorities say.
Farren disputed the seriousness of the charges.
He also tried to use a mental health defense, but a judge didn't allow it.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2689193/Ex-Bush-lawyer-convicted-trying-kill-wife.html

Former White House lawyer for George W. Bush faces up to 50 years in jail for trying to kill wife by beating her to death in their multimillion dollar mansion
John Michael Farren, 61, choked and beat his wife Mary Margaret Farren with a metal flashlight in January 2010
Attack occurred in their multimillion dollar home in New Canaan, Connecticut
She was able to escape and get help from neighbors
Testified her husband said: 'I'm killing you.'
A mental health defense was denied by the judge
He was found guilty Friday and faces 50 years prison
Daily Mail (UK)
By ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTER