KFC Murderer Gets Life

Well let me start off by quoting the late great Colonel Sanders, "I'm to drunk to taste this chicken". Actually, that was one of Will Ferrell's lines from his movie "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby". That's the only laugh you'll get out of this blog. On Monday, a career criminal and notorious burglar pleaded guilty to the slayings of five innocent people who were taken from a Kentucky Fried Chicken in East Texas. Four of the victims of whom worked at the Kentucky Fried Chicken were murdered as well as another who was a friend of one of the employees. Slayed were Mary Tyler, 37; Opie Ann Hughes, 39; David Maxwell, 20; Joey Johnson, 20; and Monte Landers, 19. The victims were found dead the next day along an abandoned oilfield road in rural Rusk County. This became one of Texas's longest, most unsolved mass-murder cases ever. Romeo Pinkerton, 49, a native of Tyler, Texas came forth with his role in the deaths as part of a plea bargain offered by the Texas attorney general's office. In exchange for the plea, Pinkerton got a life sentence for each of the five deaths instead of the death penalty. Although, the families of the victims wanted to watch him die in misery as did their own, they'd rather him have to live with himself while having to be confined to a tiny prison cell for life. "Romeo Pinkerton's admission of guilt ends decades of uncertainty for the families of five innocent victims," Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a statement to the press. George Kieny, a retired FBI agent who cracked the murder-mystery case, said he couldn't comment in full but added that he was "extremely pleased with the results."Pinkerton was the first of two men to face trial in the Sept. 23, 1983, slayings. After the judge imposed the sentence on Pinkerton, he allowed the families of the deceased a chance to make impact statements. During the statements, Pinkerton sat emotionless with no remorse or feelings of wrong doings as the families talked about how much they had suffered and what it had did to them. The sister of David Maxwell said, "You're not only a murderer, you are a coward to let this continue all of these years". Pinkerton did not seem to care. In his eyes, all he seemed to be thinking about was whether or not he got top or bottom bunk. The other man involved in the murders, Darnell Hartsfield, cousin of Pinkerton, pleaded not guilty and is expected to be tried on the same charges next year. His lawyer, Donald Killingsworth, did not return phone calls monday night. As for Hartsfield, it's only a matter of time before he has to look the families of the victims in the eye with a cold stare in the court room as did Pinkerton. Until that day comes, as for now, justice has been served and only time will tell if he is but merely trying to prolong his time outside of the cell.

view the article:
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/10/30/1030kfc.html

Strike Three for the Bartlett Police Department

Not once, not twice, but for the third time this year the small Texas town of Bartlett is without a police chief or much less a police department. Johnny Whisenant, the third Bartlett police chief this year, resigned on Monday for personal reasons saying he wanted to work somewhere else. He left 6 months after becoming police chief of the small town with a population of roughly 1,500 people. He joined the department in the summer of 2006 and brought an impressive police background with him. Bartlett Mayor Arthur White would not eleborate on the resignation but said many small towns around the country are going through similar growing population struggles and are losing police chiefs to larger cities. White said none of the police chiefs left because of any ill will. The town of Bartlett put it's police department on probation in the spring of 2006 when a departure, a retirement and the placement of an officer on administrative duty left the town with only one officer. Former police chief Jerry Glaeser began rebuilding the department later that spring. He retired in February after only 6 months on the job. His replacement or succeeder, Mike Reed, stepped down in March after only one month. The police chiefs of Bartlett said the town was not budgeting enough money to maintain a full-time staff and equiptment. Mayor Arthur White thought the current budget of $197,410 a year was good enough. White said an interim chief will be selected at the next city council meeting.

Should the town of Bartlett increase the yearly budget for the police department? In my opinion, yes. With the growing small town populations taking place around the country, there is nothing more important than a well-equiped police department. Furthermore, with a growing population the budget needs to expand as well. They need more full-time officers, patrol cars, and reasons to get their police chiefs to stay longer than 6 months. Kind of like an unwritten verbal committment between the city and the local law enforcement. This will enable them to build for the oncoming population wave. Should they have more than 2 active policemen? Yes! Even with a population of 1,500 there should be at least 5 full-time active policemen. 2 policeman is just rediculous. What if there is a town mutany? There's no stopping the locals. A town needs order, security, and justice and you don't get that with two policeman. You get a dozen of donuts and some overworked policmen. Should the town of Barlett lead by example? Again, yes! After attracting all this local media attention they should be the first to increase their budget and bring change to small towns across the country and throughout Texas. That could start a frenzy of change and get other small towns like Bartlett to increase their budgets on local law enforcement.

This article affects all the small towns in Texas and all the others around the country. Local law enforcement is the foundation toward expanding and re-building a small town that is bringing in a giant wave of newcomers. The actions taken by the town of Bartlett can serve as an example to all the other small towns in Texas and around the country that are struggling with budget problems on police force and expansion.

article link:
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/10/17/1017bartlett.html

Death Row Inmate Wins a Reprieve on Lethal Injection

On Tuesday, The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stopped the execution of 28 year old Heliberto Chi, a native of Honduras, who brutally murdered an Arlington clothing store manager 6 1/2 years ago during a robbery. Attorneys had filed appeals to halt his execution that was set for Wednesday, based on claims that lethal injection is unconstitutionally inhumane. Chi would have been the 27th killer executed in the state of Texas this year. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals gave the state of Texas and prosecutors 30 days to prove that his lethal injection or execution would be unconstitutionally inhumane. The Texas Attorney General's Office and Governor Rick Perry, who issued the 30-day reprieve, said that the case is in the hands of the court to justify the matter. Early last week, the courts allowed Texas officials to execute Michael Richard for a slaying 21 years ago that took place in Kentucky. However, the courts reprieved a man earlier this year who slaughtered his parents in Texas. This recent reprieve of a slaying in Texas has brought alot of controversy from Chi's Lawyers. The Texas Government doesn't know whether they should execute him for murder or give him a full reprieve for violating his rights.

Should he be given a full reprieve? In My opinion, to put it bluntly, no. Although this man is an illegal immigrant from Honduras, what he did is still morally wrong and cannot but justified in any way but sick. Although he was not from this country, that doesn't change anything. Your rights should be taken away when you commit an act of violence toward an innocent human being. Does he deserves a vote by the court on the matter? Yes. But will the vote change? Probably not. The man who was reprieved in Texas was from Texas. That doesn't mean that because he murdered a man in Texas that he should be let go. It was that he was from Texas and as a citizen of the United States he still had his rights and his attorneys could act accordingly. In Chi's matter, that is not the case.

The article affects all inmates on death row in the state of Texas. Some of whom are illegal immigrants too. This ruling could change matters on the future rulings of lethal injections in the state of Texas which has the highest execution rate in the country. There are still 3 more inmates who have execution dates this year in the state of Texas. The fate of some of those rests in the hands of the courts decision on this reprieve ruling. So, what is the lesson death row inmates should learn from this? Don't mess with Texas.

article link:
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/gen/ap/TX_Texas_Execution.html