by Diane on January 3, 2011
Thinking of Ways to Make a Safer and More Just World
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the commandment to “Love Thy Neighbor as Yourself” was the only law we needed?
Strictly adhered to that would be enough to curb crime in a big way. There would be no murder, assault, fraud, burglary … well, you get my drift.
But as this New Year dawns we all understand that we’re way past biblical pronouncement at this point. Today society must have laws and rules and regulations. But I often heave a big sigh and wish they worked better to get crime under control!
In years past I’ve used this first column of each New Year to list my wishes for the crime and justice system. For 2011 the list is pretty simple … [click to continue…]
by Diane on December 20, 2010
Marijuana as Cure - Not Crime
In November 2007 Steele Smith and his wife Theresa were arrested by federal DEA agents in Orange County, California for cultivating and selling marijuana. But the Smith’s aren’t your run of the mill drug dealers and the federal government has left them in legal limbo ever since.
The backstory: In the summer of 2001 Steele was a successful self-employed marketing man who was felled by a gut-wrenching mystery illness. He couldn’t eat and quickly dropped forty pounds from his already thin 6 foot 7 inch frame. His doctors were stymied about what caused the debilitating condition. After four excruciating months a rare-disease specialist diagnosed a condition called Zollinger-Ellison syndrome which pockmarks a victim’s upper gastrointestinal tract with multiple, painful ulcers. Morphine was prescribed for Steele’s constant pain and he lived in that legally induced drug dependent state for the next three years eventually becoming an opiate addict.
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by Diane on November 29, 2010
President Obama Pardons "Courage"
Watching President Barack Obama grant the traditional “pardon” to a Thanksgiving turkey got me thinking about my friend Dan Hanks. Dan has been asking for a presidential pardon since April 2003. I think he deserves one.
Since the early 80’s Daniel Joseph Portley-Hanks has conducted undercover investigations for our government, specifically the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Along with his private investigation partner, the late Fred Valis, Hanks helped the feds crack a multitude of major cases that put away dozens of career criminals. [click to continue…]
by Diane on September 6, 2010
An Autopsy on the Media Coverage
I took some time off my regular schedule to write a book. It’s all about how we as a society have abrogated our opinion-making and handed it over to whatever media we follow.
For some people these days it takes too much time and effort to engage in critical thinking. But what if the media is just playing follow the leader – parroting each other and not really checking out the facts? It happens all the time and now more than ever we need to use our common sense to help lead us to the truth.
My new book is about the couple the media branded “The White House Gate Crashers,” Michaele and Tareq Salahi. The name of it is “Cirque Du Salahi – Be Careful Who You Trust” and I don’t mention it here as just a shameless plug for my own work. I mention is because Cirque – or circus – perfectly describes the information superhighway traveling into our homes every minute of every day. It has become a circus of truths, half-truthful exaggerations and downright lies.
Many of us gobble it up without stopping to think what we’re digesting. [click to continue…]
by Diane on July 12, 2010
US Marshal's Serve Warrants
At any given time in America there are one million outstanding arrest warrants pending … give or take a few. These are court approved documents allowing members of law enforcement to take into custody any suspect with their name on such a warrant.
In other words there are one million scared people in America. These are people who spend a part of their lives looking over their shoulder wondering when the law will catch up with them and they’ll be punished.
Some of these outstanding warrants are for scofflaw traffic infractions or minor drug offenses from years ago. Other warrants seek people who are suspected of committing violent crimes like rape and murder. [click to continue…]
by Diane on June 14, 2010
Lucas circa 1975 - He Destroyed a Generation
So many topics to write about this week! British Petroleum investigated for possible criminal activity over the oil spill in the Gulf! Notorious Dutchman Joran van der Sloot confesses to killing a young Peruvian woman! The headlines have been on fire about these stories.
But this week I want to tell you about Frank. He’s written a book. And he appears to be the toast of the town, getting full page write ups for his new autobiography entitled, “Original Gangster.” His publicity machine from St. Martin’s Press is trying to convince TV and radio personalities to interview Frank because his story is, “is a chilling look at the rise and fall of a modern legacy.” And besides, they gush, Denzel Washington once portrayed Frank in the movie “American Gangster.”
Frank is Frank Lucas, the nefarious drug lord who admits he hooked a huge portion of his Harlem neighborhood on heroin back in the late 60’s and early 70’s. [click to continue…]
Predator Snarls as Manhood Questioned in Court
Imagine being in a room with the person who murdered your child. How would you react? What would you want to say to the killer?
Every day in America grieving families congregate in courtrooms to watch justice meted out to those who’ve robbed them of their loved ones. Before sentence is passed upon the convicted, judges offer family members a chance to give a “victim’s impact statement.” It’s the most dramatic, heart wrenching moment of the entire judicial process.
Such a day played out recently in a San Diego courtroom with a registered sex offender named John Gardner. He’d been free of his court-ordered GPS monitoring device for less than five months after having served 6 years for sexually attacking a 13 year old girl. At 31 years old Gardner was living with his mother when he began preying on other young girls. [click to continue…]
John Mark Karr in Custody - 2006
Today I want to ignite a nationwide manhunt. This guy has got to be located and stopped!
I’m sure you remember him: John Mark Karr, the slight, feminine looking man with the receding hairline who was extradited from Thailand to Colorado after he very publicly confessed to killing Jon Benet Ramsey.
Back in the fall of 2006, police in Boulder, Colorado declared Karr’s confession was phony when his DNA did not match what was recovered from the murdered beauty queen’s underwear. His handwriting didn’t match the ransom note. They realized he hadn’t even been in Boulder at the time of the murder. They sent Karr packing, despite the fact that his laptop was full of child pornography, and wrote him off as a delusional loon who’d confessed for the attention.
Well, John Mark Karr hasn’t stopped his weirdness and he’s now back on law enforcement’s radar. [click to continue…]
by Diane on March 8, 2010
Gina Gentile (L), Vanessa Dorwart (R)
Two beautiful teenagers died recently and I was there. I’ll never forget what happened.
I needed to get from New York to Washington, D.C. for a business meeting but a massive snow storm was set to slam into the Northeast. I thought the meeting would be canceled. It wasn’t, so a trip aboard Amtrak’s high speed Acela train seemed the best bet.
As two colleagues and I were strategizing we felt a bump and heard a cracking sound. There were murmurs of, “We must have hit a patch of ice,” and “I think it was a big tree branch on the track.” Then the train stopped dead.
There we sat for two hours in Norwood, Pennsylvania watching the snow fall outside our windows. [click to continue…]
by Diane on February 15, 2010
The Face of Domestic Abuse?
Inside a cozy courtroom in Aspen, Colorado this week I came face to face with Carlos Irwin Estevez as he appeared to face multiple domestic abuse charges. I said hello. He remained silent.
This is a man whose past is littered with complaints from the women in his life. One of his ex-wives alleges he became absorbed in pornography, abused alcohol and street drugs and threatened her safety. Several of his past female companions worked in the porn industry and he once shot a girlfriend in the arm. He’s been in and out of rehab for cocaine abuse and court ordered probation violations but still he keeps popping up on law enforcement’s radar. So far he’s avoided prison time.
On this day Estevez was dressed in somber black, including his skinny tie and horn-rimmed glasses. He was memorable for what he wasn’t wearing. He’d left his trademark smirk and cocky bad boy attitude back home in Los Angeles where he makes a multi-million dollar living as an actor…. [click to continue…]
