Crime

On Wednesday afternoon, Governor Dannel P. Malloy signed legislation into law that abolishes Connecticut's death penalty for future crimes.

Although he signed the bill behind closed doors with little fanfare, Malloy called it "a historic moment" as the state now joins 16 other states that have done away with capital punishment. He said it was a moment for "sober reflection, not celebration."

The same day that the bill was signed into law, a new Quinnipiac University poll showed that a majority of registered voters in Connecticut - 62 percent - favor the death penalty for those convicted of murder. The survey also found 47 percent of voters disapprove of Malloy's handling of the issue, while 33 percent approve.

Malloy, who is a former prosecutor, says that his position on the death penalty has evolved over the years.

The free speech that most Americans enjoy doesn't necessarily extend to those serving in the military, where rules limiting soldiers' free speech date back to the Civil War. One Marine recently learned this the hard way, after he was discharged from the military on Wednesday after making critical comments about President Barack Obama on Facebook.

Sgt. Gary Stein received an "other than honorable" discharge, which means that he has committed a serious offense that is "a significant departure from the conduct expected of a Marine.

Stein had set up a page on Facebook supporting the Tea Party and posted comments on there such as:

"As an active-duty Marine, I say screw Obama and I will not follow all orders from him."

As well as:

"I will not salute him."

And:

"Obama is the economic enemy, he is the religious enemy... he is the domestic enemy."

These comments were posted in response to the possibility of Americans being arrested for Koran burnings in Afghanistan.

A 30-year-old woman has been charged with capital murder after prosecutors say she shot and killed a mother and abducted her baby near Houston, Texas.

Kala Marie Golden, 28, was carrying her 3-day-old son Keegan in the parking lot outside his pediatrician's office when she was confronted by a woman, who shot her up to seven times and snatched the baby before driving off.

Prosecutors think that the attack may have been part of a plan to abduct any baby.

Witnesses say that there was an argument between Golden and another woman outside of the Northwoods Pediatric Center in Spring, Texas, on Tuesday before the attacker opened fire and took off with the child.

District Attorney Brett Ligon said that Verna McClain, 30, had been charged early on Wednesday in the killing. McClain is reported to be a registered nurse and a mother of three.

Baby Keegan was recovered on Tuesday evening, and is currently being cared for by social services.

Ligon told reporters:

"There were statements as indicated in the arrest record that were made by Ms McClain that led us to believe that, in fact, this was an intentional act on her part. Not that Ms Golden was targeted specifically, but that this was part of a plan to kidnap a child."

Later this month, notorious killer Charles Manson, 77, is up for parole. He has been up for parole 11 times before, with his most recent failed bid coming in 2007 when the parole board determined that Manson "continues to pose an unreasonable danger to others and may still bring harm to anyone he would come into contact with."

Manson refused to participate in the 2007 hearing, describing himself as a "prisoner of the political system." He also refused to participate in any psychological evaluations the year. At the time, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Patrick Sequeira aid:

"He refused to cooperate, so the conclusion they drew from the reports is he still remains a danger to the public. He was convicted of nine horrible murders. He has expressed no remorse or empathy for any of the victims."

Manson's parole hearing will be held next Wednesday.

Manson, along with other members of his "family", was convicted of killing actress Sharon Tate and six others during a bloody rampage during two August nights in 1969 in the Los Angeles area. According to prosecutors, Manson and his followers were attempting to incite a race war that he thought was prophesized in the Beatles' song "Helter Skelter."

Last year, Anthony Sowell was sentenced to death after he was found guilty for the murders of 11 women whose bodies were found at his Imperial Ave. home in Cleveland. On Tuesday, the Ohio Supreme Court granted a stay of execution for Sowell.

Sowell's newly appointed legal team argued that the appeals to which he is entitled would not be completed by the October execution date. Ohio law states that all death row inmates are entitled to an automatic appeal regardless of the crime committed.

Rufus Sims, Sowell's former trial attorney, said of the news:

“It’s not unusual. Cases like this stay on the docket for 20, 25 years."

An Ohio doctor has been arrested after it was discovered that he had packed a loaded gun in his carry-on luggage at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport on Monday.

Dr. Richard Buxman, 60, of Poland, Ohio, was charged by Cleveland police with carrying a concealed weapon. Police reports indicate that Buxman and his wife were going through a security checkpoint when a TSA officer believed that he saw an outline of a gun in an x-ray of a computer bag.

A police officer was called over, and upon inspecting the bag he found a loaded 9mm handgun next to an Apple iPod in a zippered compartment. The police report also says that the officer found two more clips for the gun, a folding knife and a loose bullet in the bag.

Buxman's wife "stated in a distressed state that she had packed the computer case and that they both forgot that the weapons were inside." Dr. Buxman "acknowledged ownership of the bag" and was placed under arrest.

The Ohio State Medical Board says that Dr. Buxman is an osteopathic doctor who has worked in the emergency room at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Youngstown.

The Cuyahoga County corruption trial against former commissioner Jimmy Dimora, is playing out in court right now, where the jury has reached verdicts on the 37 counts against him and co-defendant Michael Gabor. Jurors have found Dimora guilty on 31 charges, including mail fraud, racketeering, conspiracy, conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, conspiracy to obstruct justice, destruction, alteration or falsification of records in federal investigations and bribery.

Dimora, 56, of Independence, was found not guilty on count No. 30, which was mail fraud regarding a party for his wife.

The jury reached verdicts on the seventh day of deliberations after a trial that lasted 8 weeks, and saw 72 witnesses take the stand.

Dimora is looking at facing anywhere between 16 to 20 years in prison.

Co-defendant Michael Gabor, 52, of Parma, was found guilty of racketeering, conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy to obstruct justice. He was found guilty on 7 of 8 charges against him.

The Ohio teen being detained for his alleged involvement in a shooting rampage in Chardon,Ohio, that killed three students and injured two, had a troubled past. Not only did T.J. Lane come from a broken family, but in 2009 he was also accused of choking and punching a person, according to court documents released on Wednesday.

The documents indicate that the 17-year-old was the focus of a criminal complaint involving another individual, John Bruening. A complaint dated December 9, 2009, says that Lane, then 15, placed Bruening "in a choke hold and punched him in the face."

The complaint stated that had the assault been committed by an adult, it would have been a misdemeanor of the first degree. Lane, however, was a juvenile and was instead placed in detention for a number of days in January 2010.

Court documents also show a traffic violation.

Lane's parents - Sarah Nolan and Thomas Lane - never married and each had domestic assault charges filed against the other during the course of their relationship.

Photo: Accused Chardon High School shooter T.J. Lane.

T.J. Lane, the teen suspected in an Ohio shooting spree that killed three students and injured two others, may have used a gun that went missing from his grandfather's barn.

Carl Henderson, a longtime neighbor of the suspect's grandparents, said that the gun was noticed missing after Monday's shootings and fits the description of the pistol that was reportedly used in the shooting rampage at Chardon High School. Henderson, a retired police officer and former Geauga County sheriff, said that he has spoken to the grandfather, Thomas Lane, about the gun.

The suspect's grandfather reportedy believes that the gun is the same "because the gun was there the day before, in the bar." Henderson, 70, says that he has been friends with the boy's family for nearly 50 years.

According to a law enforcement official familiar with the ongoing investigation, the gun used in the shooting was a Ruger .22-caliber Mark III target pistol, and was purchased legally in August 2010 from a Mentor gun shop.

Henderson also says tat the grandparents feel terrible about what happened, and have no explanation for T.J's alleged role in the shootings. He added that Lane came from a broken family and came to live with his grandparents on and off several years ago, but seemed to heal over time.sD

The 17-year-old suspect believed to be the perpetrator of a shooting rampage at an Ohio high school that killed three and injured two others, has confessed to opening fire on students that he chose at random.

The student, who has been identified as T.J. Lane, appeared in Geauga County Juvenile Court, where he was ordered to be detained following the deadly shooting spree at Chardon High School on Monday.

Prosecutors say that Lane has confessed to police to taking a knife and a .22-caliber pistol into the high school cafeteria, and to firing 10 rounds at randomly selected students.

On Monday, Daniel Parmertor, 16, was pronounced dead. Demetrius Hewlin and Russell King Jr., 17, were pronounced dead on Tuesday. One student has been released from the hospital, while another remains hospitalized.

At Chardon High School, students spent much of Wednesday huddling, talking, and placing red ribbons around the grounds.