Finally, there’s President Obama’s commutation of the sentence of Oscar Lopez Rivera last week. Rivera was the leader of the FALN, a Puerto Rican independence group. From 1974 to 1983, the group claimed responsibility for more than 100 bombings across the country. Its deadliest attack occurred at lunchtime at NYC’s historic Fraunces Tavern, headquarters for George Washington during the Revolutionary War. The attack killed four people and injured more than 60.

The FBI arrested Lopez Rivera in 1981. At his trial in 1983, Judge Thomas McMillen called him an un-rehabilitated revolutionary” and sentenced him to 55 years in prison. Another 15 years were added after he planned two escapes from Leavenworth prison.

In 1999, he declined an offer of clemency from President Bill Clinton, refusing to renounce violence. Joe Connor, whose father was killed in the Fraunces Tavern bombing, wrote in The Wall Street Journal that, at Lopez Rivera’s parole hearing in 2011, he offered “not a shred of remorse or contrition.”

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said last week she “cried with joy” upon hearing of the commutation. Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the Broadway musical “Hamilton,” said he was “sobbing with gratitude.”

And the city’s Panderer-in Chief, Mayor de Blasio, tweeted: “Thank you, POTUS for freeing Oscar Lopez Rivera. Congratulations for all who fought for this day.”

Call me ignorant, but I don’t get it.

President Trump...Please Do Better

 President Obama’s commutation of the sentence of Oscar Lopez Rivera last week is a mystery other than a thumb in the eye of all Americans. Rivera was the leader of the FALN, a Puerto Rican independence group. 

From 1974 to 1983, the group claimed responsibility for more than 100 bombings across the country. Its deadliest attack occurred at lunchtime at NYC’s historic Fraunces Tavern, headquarters for George Washington during the Revolutionary War. The attack killed four people and injured more than 60.

The FBI arrested Lopez Rivera in 1981. At his trial in 1983, Judge Thomas McMillen called him an un-rehabilitated revolutionary” and sentenced him to 55 years in prison. Another 15 years were added after he planned two escapes from Leavenworth prison.

In 1999, he declined an offer of clemency from President Bill Clinton, refusing to renounce violence. Joe Connor, whose father was killed in the Fraunces Tavern bombing, wrote in The Wall Street Journal that, at Lopez Rivera’s parole hearing in 2011, he offered “not a shred of remorse or contrition.”

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said last week she “cried with joy” upon hearing of the commutation. Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the Broadway musical “Hamilton,” said he was “sobbing with gratitude.”

And the city’s Panderer-in Chief, Mayor de Blasio, tweeted: “Thank you, POTUS for freeing Oscar Lopez Rivera. Congratulations for all who fought for this day.”

Call me ignorant, but I don’t get it.

It’s been awhile since I sat down and put thought to words. In that light I have stumbled upon a subject that is near and dear to my heart, Stupid Criminals. The subject has endless possibilities, as the criminal element is exactly that. Some as we know, more or less than others. To kick off the topic, we are leaving the good old U.S. of A., for as we know our country does not hold the individual claim to fame.

ILLITERATE BRIT ARRESTED FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER AFTER SPELLING ERROR

Jaqueline Patrick not only failed to proofread the note she forged after serving her husband Douglas a cocktail spiked with antifreeze, but she didn't manage to achieve her murderous mission either.

The fumbling 55-year old felon aroused the suspicion of medics and police after she produced a "good-bye cruel world" suicide note allegedly written by her sickened victim in which the word "dignity" was misspelled "dignerty". 

In a subsequent interview a sharp detective asked Mrs. Patrick to spell the word for them, at which point it became obvious she was the author of her husband’s last testament.

That telltale error saw her ultimately jailed for up to 15 years and also put away her 21-year old daughter for her supporting role in the stupid crime.

The two criminal masterminds further implicated themselves when they neglected to delete several incriminating text messages discussing the plot to kill Douglas Patrick with a poisoned Christmas drink.

R.I.P.

New York's Other Deadly September 11th

The hijacking happened on the evening of September 10, 1976.

After a TWA flight took off from LaGuardia for Chicago, a group of Croatian nationals masquerading as passengers handed a note to a flight attendant and announced a takeover.

Led by a 28-year-old resident of West 76th Street named Zvonko Busic, the group claimed to have five bombs on board, plus a sixth stashed in a locker in the subway station at Grand Central Terminal.

Busic forced pilots to fly first to Montreal, then to Newfoundland. The 727 next headed to London and finally to Paris, where the hijackers surrendered after 30 hours in the air.

But air piracy wouldn't be their only crime. Though the bombs Busic claimed to have on the plane turned out to be fake, the one in the locker at Grand Central was real.

Police removed it from the locker, and when they tried to deactivate it the next day, it went off, killing NYPD Officer Brian Murray(below) and wounding three others. For more on P.O. Brian Murray and the story go to www.nypdangels.com. 

DB Cooper Parachute Packer ID’d as homicide victim

The man who packed the parachutes used by infamous skyjacker DB Cooper has been identified as the victim of a homicide in Washington State.

The King County Medical Examiner’s Office said that 71 year old Earl Cossey died April 23^rd 2013 of blunt force trauma to the head. The sheriff’s office said his body was found by his daughter when she went to check on him.

Cossey played a small part in one of the Northwest’s most enduring mysteries.

Cooper, whose real identity isn't known, hijacked a passenger jet in 1971. He released the passengers at Seattle-Tacoma Int’l Airport in exchange for $200,000.00 and four parachutes.

He jumped out of the plane somewhere near the Oregon state line. No one knows what happened to him from that point forward.

Cossey was a skydiving instructor and he packed the parachutes provided to the skyjacker.

The Miranda Warning: Common Misunderstandings

The Miranda warning comes from one of the biggest legal cases of the 1960's and thanks to countless arrest scenes in TV and movies, it’s one of the best-known applications of the Fifth Amendment. But what you don’t know about Miranda could be more significant than you think.

Currently, there is a big debate about the Miranda warning and Boston terror suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Federal investigators said after Tsarnaev’s detention that he would not be read his Miranda rights under something called the “public safety exemption.”

Under the exemption, police can interrogate a suspect without advising him or her of Miranda rights if they believe the suspect could have information about an imminent threat to public safety.

That exemption allowed investigators to interrogate Tsarnaev while in custody, without informing Tsarnaev of his rights to a lawyer and his right to stay silent.

According to an AP report, after 16 hours of questioning, a representative of the United States Attorney’s office read Tsarnaev his Miranda warning, and the suspect stopped talking to investigators.

The “Miranda” in the Miranda warning was Ernesto Miranda. He was arrested in March 1963 in Phoenix and confessed while in police custody to kidnapping and rape charges. His lawyers sought to overturn his conviction after they learned during a cross-examination that Miranda was never told he had the right to a lawyer and had the right to remain silent. (Miranda had signed a confession that acknowledged that he understood his legal rights.)

The Supreme Court overturned Miranda’s conviction in 1966 in its ruling for Miranda v. Arizona, which established guidelines for how detained suspects are informed of their constitutional rights.

The Miranda warning actually includes elements of the Fifth Amendment (protection against self-incrimination), the Sixth Amendment (a right to counsel) and the 14th Amendment (application of the ruling to all 50 states).

However, there are common misunderstandings about what Miranda rights are, and how they can protect someone under criminal investigation.

First, there is not one official Miranda warning that is read to a suspect by a police officer. Each state determines how their law enforcement officers issue the warning. The Supreme Court requires that a person is told about their right to silence, their right to a lawyer (including a public defender), their ability to waive their Miranda rights, and that what they tell investigators under questioning, after their detention, can be used in court.

The Miranda warning is only used (or "should only be used") by law enforcement when a person is in police custody and usually under arrest or is not free to leave a custodial situation and is about to be questioned. Anything you say to an investigator or police officer before you’re taken into custody—and read your Miranda rights—can be used in a court of law, which includes interviews where a person is free to leave the premises and conversations at the scene of an alleged crime.

In fact, Ernesto Miranda came into a Phoenix police station voluntarily to answer questions in 1963 and also participated in a police lineup.

The police can ask you questions about identification, including your name and address, without a Miranda warning. And they can use any spontaneous expressions made by you as evidence—for example, if you say something without the prompting of police before you’re taken into custody.

Of course, you’re still protected by your Miranda rights after you’re detained even if you waive them after an arrest. At any time, during an interrogation, you can stop answering questions and ask for a lawyer.

In the case of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, investigators probably felt they had enough evidence to charge him and win a case in court without any of the information Tsarnaev volunteered before he was read his rights.

As for Ernesto Miranda, though his original conviction was set aside by the Supreme Court ruling, he was retried and convicted, and was in jail until 1972, then in and out of jail several more times until 1976. After being released in 1976, he was fatally stabbed during a bar fight. His suspected killer was read his Miranda rights and did not answer questions from police. There was never a conviction in Miranda’s death.

Police in Cartoons

Police have always been included in various forms of entertainment throughout history, whether it was on the big screen in movies or the television screen. Even cartoons jumped on the bandwagon and realized police are fun to watch!

I can remember many examples of police in cartoons growing up. They interacted with characters of all sorts to include cats, bears, and of course bad guys. Below are just a few examples that come to mind. I'm sure I am forgetting many. How many can you recall from your early years?

Top Cat was popular in the early 1960's. A gang of alley cats in NYC that were constantly being watched over by Officer Charlie Dibble. The cats were always looking for ways to feed themselves or get ahead making a quick score (cartoons imitating life...?)

Deputy Dog was also a product of the same era. A Sheriff  in the state of Tennessee. Many of the story lines were built around the jailhouse that was DD's station. He was always trying to protect his produce from a local gang of characters; Vincent "Vince" van Gopher and Muskie Muskrat. He hung around with these two and didn't take many of their crimes very seriously as they also regularly fished together.

 Dudley Do-right of the Canadian Mounties. Again, from the same approximate time frame of the 1960's. Dudley was always trying to catch his arch nemesis Snidely Whiplash.  He romantically pursued Nell Fenwick, the daughter of Inspector Fenwick his boss.

I'm sure I could go on with the assistance of various search engines delving into history and coming up with all sorts of memories on this subject. Point being, we are and always have been (and always will be) a source for the media in one form or another.