Paul Shanley – the ex-Boston priest convicted of child abuse and profiled in the movie “Spotlight” — is out of prison after serving 12 years. Shanley was released for good behavior — he’d been sentenced to 15 years. Shanley was convicted…
Showing posts with label Convicted. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Convicted. Show all posts
Friday, July 28, 2017
Friday, July 21, 2017
Parrot Mimics Owner"s Last Words, Murderer Gets Convicted
If you"re going to commit a murder, maybe don"t do it in front of that witness. Even if that witness is a parrot.
Especially if that witness is a parrot, in this case. A story that"s spanned the globe is nearing its conclusion, as a woman whose lies were exposed by a parrot has now been convicted of murder. One of the clues in that case was testimony provided by a parrot.
We have video for you, from before the trial began, of Bud the African Grey. They censor some of his course language, but you do get to hear him imitate the murder victim pleading for his life.
To be clear, Bud the parrot didn"t testify in court.
This isn"t, like, a cartoon.
Or an especially screwy rerun of Matlock.
In 2015, Martin Duram was shot five times in his home.
He died.
His wife, Glenna Duram, was found having been shot once in the head.
She survived.
Though she was initially treated as a surviving victim, police ultimately came to realize that she was the perpetrator.
She has now been convicted of murder, as the whole thing was apparently a murder-suicide that didn"t work out quite as she"d hoped.
But there was a witness — Bud, Martin"s pet African Grey.
Now living with Martin"s ex-wife, Bud began to repeat what are believed to have been Martin"s final words:
"Don"t f—ing shoot!"
That might sound like something that Bud might have heard in a movie.
And that exact sort of argument is part of why Bud never spoke in court.
(Also he"s just shy and seems to repeat these lines when no one is in the room)
(And then there"s the obvious absurdity and inherently questionable nature of a parrot"s testimony)
But according to Martin Duram"s ex-wife, Bud most often repeats this phrase while imitating Martin"s voice.
And you can hear Bud doing just that in the video below.
Is that conclusive?
No.
Is Bud even directly pointing the finger (or … talon?) at Glenna?
Also no.
But it"s certainly suspicious as hell.
And it"s unnerving to hear Martin"s voice begging for his life in what some say is a decidedly familiar tone.
Not to worry, though — it was actual evidence that led to Glenna"s murder conviction.
For many talking birds, their "speech" is less about conversation and more like … some sort of avian echolalia.
That is, both domesticated and wild birds, including various parrot species, might repeat noises that they"ve heard, almost compulsively.
Some birds mimic car engine noises, others (especially beautiful tropical birds) imitate the sound of a camera taking a photo.
African Greys are different.
African Greys are widely regarded to be one of the most intelligent bird species and species in general in the world.
We"ve read a story where a woman"s African Grey would make vocal noises that sounded exactly like the woman"s kitchen sink was running.
She went into the kitchen to check — but the sink was stopped.
She goes back out into her living room, and the parrot — very amused with themselves — says "fooled you!" Triumphantly.
We"ve also read about parrots who will talk to dogs by imitating the voices of their humans.
"Wanna go for a walk?" can be very, very confusing for a dog who doesn"t realize that it"s the parrot talking.
In the case of Bud, however, we think that he"s probably just traumatized by what he witness.
Repeating what he"s heard doesn"t mean that he understands the justice system and wanted to provide evidence.
He very likely is just still processing it, still terrified by it.
Glenna Duram still awaits sentencing for murdering her husband.
It"s likely that she"ll face life in prison for her crime.
Bud, in the meantime, will turn 21 in a couple of months.
That would be really old for a dog or a cat, but African Greys have been known to live for up to 80 years in captivity.
Honestly, and we don"t care if this sounds silly, we hope that Bud is processing what happened as healthily as he can.
60 more years is a long time to live with trauma.
But he looks pretty happy in his new home, where he"s now been for over a year.
Watch the pre-trial news clip below to see and hear him recount Martin Duram"s last moments:
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Dani Mathers: CONVICTED in Body-Shaming Case!
You may not remember the name Dani Mathers, but you probably remember the vile conduct that made her a target on social media last year.
In case you forgot, or you just want to be disgusted all over again, here’s what happened:
Mathers took a photo of a nude elderly woman who was changing in a gym locker room and posted it on Snapchat.
To make matters worse, Matters – who was the 2015 Playboy Playmate of the Year – captioned the photo:
“If I can’t unsee this, neither can you.”
The backlash was immediate, and Mathers promptly posted a lengthy apology on Twitter:
“I want to acknowledge my post from snapchat earlier. There is no excuse…I understand fully the magnitude of this post,” Mathers tweeted.
She added:
“I’m sorry for what I did… I need to take some time to myself now to reflect on why I did this horrible thing.”
Unfortunately for her, the damage had been done, both in terms of the violation of the woman’s privacy and legal ramifications for Mathers.
Back in September of 2016, the LAPD located the woman the woman and the photo and decided to press charges against Mathers.
Today, the 30-year-old was convicted in Los Angeles County Court, and while many on social media are already clamoring for a harsher sentence, we’re guessing the victim feels vindicated and Mathers has learned her lesson.
In exchange for a lighter sentence, Mathers pled guilty and was offered two options with regard to her punishment:
She could serve 45 days in jail and receive 36 months probation.
Or she could do 30 days of graffiti removal … and also receive 36 months probation.
Not surprisingly, she chose the latter option.
So legally, she got off easy.
But in other ways, Mathers will pay for her crimes for the remainder of her life.
Prior to one of the most egregious social media blunders of all time, Mathers seemed to be successfully transitioning from her role as a Playboy model into the world of mainstream media.
We’re guessing she won’t be seeing any more hosting gigs coming her way for a very long time.
Dani Mathers Convicted in Body Shaming Case (VIDEO)
Former Playboy Playmate Dani Mathers has a choice … either go to jail or do some hard labor, as her punishment for secretly taking a pic of an elderly woman in a gym locker room and then shaming her on social media. Mathers was in court Wednesday…
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
United Airlines Passenger Convicted of Drug Trafficking, Sex Crimes
The passenger who was dragged off a United Airlines flight against his will on Sunday night has been identified.
And he has quite the sordid history.
To be clear up front: This doesn’t make the heinous actions of United, or the tone deaf statements made by United’s CEO, any less heinous or tone deaf.
But this is still a newsworthy follow-up to the original story.
According to TMZ, the 69-year old doctor who refused to give up his seat on this now-infamous United flight is named David Dao.
In 2005, Dao was charged with 98 felony drug counts for illegally prescribing and trafficking painkillers.
Prosecutors claimed at the time that Dao fraudulently and illegally filled prescriptions for hydocodone, Oxycontin and Percocet.
Dao, who a decade later is best known for having his face bloodied (see images above and below) by members of the Chicago Police Department, was also convicted on six felony counts of obtaining drugs by fraud and deceit.
He was given five years probation for these crimes.
But this wasn’t all: Dao was also convicted for writing prescriptions and checks to a patient in exchange for sex.
Based on medical board documents obtained by TMZ, Dao denied paying for sex.
However, the physician indicated he did accept sexual favors from an associate in exchange for reducing a debt that associate owed him. (Editor’s Note: WTF, dude?!?)
In February of 2005, Dao gave up his Kentucky medical license.
TMZ has also dug deep and learned that Dao turned to the professional poker circuit during this time, when he was not permitted to actually work as a doctor.
He started playing at tournaments in July of 2006 and finished second in a 2009 tournament, walking away with more than $ 117,000 as a result.
Overall, Dao banked $ 234,664 in World Series of Poker events over the years.
In 2015, the Kentucky medical board lifted Dao’s suspension and allowed him to practice medicine with a few restrictions; as of last year, he may only practice internal medicine in an outpatient facility one day a week.
Which brings us back to Sunday and United flight 3411.
And this VERY disturbing video:
Dao was randomly selected by the airline after no passengers were willing to accept $ 800 in exchange to take a later flight (because the company overbooked this one and needed four employees to take the spots of passengers who had already paid for their seats).
But he refused to get up from his seat.
Witnesses (one of whom filmed the footage above) claim Dao told United employees that he had patients to attend to early Monday morning and simply could not afford to change his plans.
After attempting to verbally convince Dao to depart the plane, flight attendants contacted other authorities, who eventually dragged Dao away, injuring his face and causing him extreme distress in the process.
Video of this incident quickly went viral, with social media users outraged over Dao’s treatment.
In response, United CEO Oscar Munoz Tweeted his lame apology over the need to “re-accommodate” customers such as Dao.
“Our team is moving with the sense of urgency to work with the authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened,” Munoz added.
“We are also reaching out to this passenger to talk directly to him and further address and resolve the situation.”
We have a feeling it will get resolved.
And the resulting check to Dao will dwarf this controversial doctor’s lifetime poker winnings.
Since the assault (really, what else can we call it?) occurred, United’s stock has fallen by 3.7%; that equates to approximately $ 830 million wiped off its market capitalization.
Many are calling for a boycott of the airline, especially residents of China, who believe Dao was chosen to be kicked off the plane due to his ethnic background.
Mark Cuban has echoed this sentiment and call to action, referring on Twitter to United’s handling of the situation as “appalling” and “sickening” and adding:
“Definitely time to boycott #unitedAIRLINES.”
Jimmy Kimmel also had a field day with the incident during his monologue last night.
“Imagine if this happened in any other industry,” Kimmel said. “Imagine if this happened at Applebee’s.”
It’s sort of true, right?
Imagine if you made a reservation at Applebee’s and were sitting down for your meal… but then the restaurant said you had to leave because it had booked more reservations that night than there were tables inside the establishment.
That’s the exact same thing that airlines do ALL THE TIME.
Kimmel went on to joke about Munoz’s ridiculous attempt at a mea culpa.
“It’s like when we re-accommodated El Chapo out of Mexico,” Kimmel quipped, before getting more serious.
“That is such sanitized, say nothing, take no responsibility, corporate B.S. speak. I don’t know how the guy who sent that tweet didn’t vomit when he typed it up.”
Seriously.
At least the celebrities featured in the slideshow below actually did some $ hit that earned them a one-way ticket off their airplane ride…
United Airlines Doctor Convicted of Exchanging Drugs for Sex
The passenger who was savagely removed from a United flight is a medical doctor with a sordid history. Dr. David Dao was charged in 2005 with 98 felony drug counts for illegally prescribing and trafficking painkillers. Prosecutors claimed Dao…
Monday, March 20, 2017
War Machine Convicted On 29 Counts in Christy Mack Beating, Hung Jury for Attempted Murder
Former MMA fighter War Machine dodged conviction for the attempted murder of his ex-gf Christy Mack — but was nailed on 29 other charges, including sexual assault and battery. The jury came back deadlocked on 2 counts of attempted murder in…
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Dylann Roof Convicted in Charleston Church Massacre
Dylann Roof was convicted for the racially motivated mass murder of 9 worshippers in a South Carolina church. The jury in Charleston deliberated for 2 hours before returning the guilty verdict on all charges … including hate crimes, religious…
Dylann Roof Convicted in Charleston Church Massacre
Dylann Roof was convicted for the racially motivated mass murder of 9 worshippers in a South Carolina church. The jury in Charleston deliberated for 2 hours before returning the guilty verdict on all charges … including hate crimes, religious…
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Brock Turner, Convicted Rapist, Registers as Sex Offender
Yes, by now, you likely know who Brock Turner is.
You probably didn’t need us to write in the above headline that he’s a “convicted rapist.”
Except far too many media outlets seemed to bury this lede when reporting on Brock Turner getting out of jail last week.
They wrote that “Former Stanford Swimmer Brock Turner…” was now out of prison or some similar nonsense.
So we just want to make it clear here:
Yes, Brock Turner once swam for Stanford University.
But that fact only matters to the shady judge who gave him a lenient sentence.
Brock Turner is only generating headlines these days because he is a rapist. He was convicted on three felony counts of sexual assault against an unconscious woman.
Okay, thank you for indulging us.
We had to get that out of our system.
Turner was somehow sentenced to only six months in prison for his heinous act, which took place in January of last year and which involved him inserting his figures in a woman lying on the street outside a party.
He was caught by a couple of fellow students and ran away as quickly as he could at the time.
Fortunately, one of those students caught up to Turner and tackled him to the ground.
He was eventually arrested and convicted of rape, only for his father to argue in court that his son did not deserve any jail time for a mere “20 minutes of action.”
The judge incredibly agreed with this assessment, going against the prosecutors’ recommendation and sentencing Turner to six months behind bars, which was reduced to three months due to good behavior.
Turner is now a free man.
But he will at least have an official stigma attached to his name forever.
As you can see below, Turner registered on Tuesday morning in Greene County, Ohio as a sex offender.
This registration, along with drug and alcohol counseling, was part of Turner’s legal “punishment.”
We have to put that word in quotation marks because it’s abhorrent just how easy to judge went on Turner.
In response to the light sentencing, Turner’s unnamed victim read a moving letter to her rapist in court.
It was then read on CNN by anchor Ashleigh Banfield, who fought off tears as she made public the words of this brave young woman.
It’s well worth your time to watch the video above.
Yes, it will make you even angrier over the Brock Turner sentencing.
But it will hopefully comfort you in the knowledge that his victim seems like the sort of woman who will recover from his act and maybe even use her horrible history to help others.
Brock Turner is a rapist. Brock Turner is a rapist. Brock Turner is a rapist.
Sorry. Just had to make sure we said that a few more times.
Friday, March 18, 2016
Convicted Felon Sings Like Adele in Court
As previously documented, for many understandable reasons, we adore Adele at The Hollywood Gossip.
And we apparently are not alone.
Say hello to Brian Earl Taylor.
A young man who was sentenced to two years in prison for illegally carrying a concealed weapon – and 18 months to 15 years for unlawful imprisonment – Taylor has gone viral for the way in which he apologized to Judge Darlene O’Brien during his sentencing in court.
By putting on an emotional reinterpretation of Adele’s smash hit “Hello.”
"Hello there, your honor," Taylor sang at his hearing in Washtenaw County, Michigan this week.
"I want to say I"m sorry for the things I"ve done and I"ll try and be stronger in this life I chose, but I want you to know – that door, I closed.”
We"re not kidding. This really happened.
"And your honor I"m sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry,” Taylor continued to croon in front of an awkwardly quiet courtroom.
As it turns out, THIS DOG is not the only creature who does a decent impression of Adele.
Taylor went on to direct his Mea Culpa to his mother and the victim of his crime with another round of soulful apologies.
You really need to see this unexpected performance to believe that it happened.
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
18 Celebrities You Didn"t Know Were Convicted Felons
Who knew Christian Slater was a convicted felon? And what exactly did 50 Cent to to get himself in trouble with the law?
From felony drug charges, weapons charges, and even assault, here"s a surprising list of celebrities who are also convicted felons.
1. Christian Slater
It’s hard to believe, but Christian Slater got into a LOT of trouble back in the day, including drunk driving, trying to board a plan with a concealed weapon in his luggage, and assaulting a police officer.
2. Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry actually once spent three months in prison for credit card fraud. Who knew? He was only 17 at the time, but he made the bad decision of going on a spending spree with a family friend’s card. Whoops.
3. 50 Cent
50 Cent got into major trouble when he tried to sell drugs to an undercover police officer. That was one of two times he was charged with felony drug possession.
4. Yasmin Bleeth
It’s true. The Baywatch babe was charged with felony drug possession in 2001. She was put on probation and sentenced to 100 hours of community service.
5. Mark Wahlberg
Also known as “Marky Mark,” Mark Wahlberg was put in prison on charges of assault and attempted murder when he was younger. That all seems hard to believe now, doesn’t it?
6. Chris Brown
Okay, so maybe you did know about this one, but we still needed to include it. Chris Brown was convicted of felony assault, but managed to get a plea deal to keep himself out of prison.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)