Google
 
Web Osi Speaks!

Monday, March 31, 2014

Kentucky Wraps Up Legislative Session.


Labels:

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Accused Murderer Testifies About Self Defense In Bowling Green Killing.

Murder suspect: I feared for my life
Thomas takes stand in his defense

Taking the stand in his own defense, Stephan Thomas said he fatally stabbed Tyrese Huffman out of fear for his own life during a skirmish involving Thomas and Huffman, who was with three other men.

Thomas, 26, of Bowling Green, is on trial on charges of murder and tampering with physical evidence for the June 9, 2012, death of the 21-year-old Huffman, who was stabbed in the neck.
FordsDN Blank rail NEWS short

Thomas began his testimony Friday afternoon in Warren Circuit Court, explaining his account of events under questioning from his attorney, John Stewart of Adams, Tenn.
He described a whirlwind of events that began three weeks before the homicide, when a feud developed between Thomas and Dewayne Graves.
Thomas said the hostilities began when Graves, who was in a relationship with Shadee Hodges, threw a brick through the kitchen window of Hodges’ apartment at 2055 Stonehenge Ave., Apt. D, while Thomas, the father of one of Hodges’ children, was inside.

Thomas said Graves saw him on the back deck of the apartment and shouted at him, and Thomas went down to confront him, but this meeting did not turn physical.
Later that day, Graves returned with a group of people and brandished a box cutter at Thomas, but the skirmish was broken up without anyone getting hurt, Thomas said.
Shortly after midnight on June 9, 2012, Thomas was standing outside Hodges’ apartment with his friend Ralph Jennings when he saw Graves walk toward them.
After finding out from Graves that hostilities had not subsided on his end, Thomas said he pulled a straight razor from his back pocket.
“I had a blade in my pocket, I pulled it out and I proceeded to chase (Graves),” Thomas said, adding that he pursued Graves until he hopped a fence. “I don’t even know this guy. I’m a likable guy. I’m not known to be a fighter. I’m not known to cause trouble.”

Final confrontation

A couple of hours after being chased over a fence by Thomas, Graves returned in an SUV to the apartment complex with Tyrese Huffman, Tyrese’s brother Joe Huffman and Darren Chamlee.
While standing on the back deck, Thomas saw Tyrese Huffman down below taunting him.
Thomas made his way downstairs and back outside, but stopped first to grab a steak knife from the kitchen counter.

“I reached for my blade, but I didn’t have it on me,” Thomas said. “I wanted to protect myself because (Graves) had pulled a knife on me before.”
Putting the knife in his back pocket, Thomas went down to confront Graves, who Thomas said was yelling at him from behind Tyrese Huffman.

Jennings, who testified for the prosecution, said at trial Friday that he tried early to break up the skirmish before it escalated, but Thomas and Graves’ group progressed toward Western Green Avenue “jawing” at one another.
Thomas said he saw Chamlee had a gun out by his side and testified that the gun was pointed at him at the moment when a brick struck him in the chest.
Earlier testimony from other witnesses identified Joe Huffman as the brick thrower, but a rock found by city police tested negative for blood.

Thomas, who did not know Chamlee or Joe Huffman, said he thought Chamlee had fired the gun.
“It just happened so fast. ... I just pulled the knife out. (Tyrese) grabbed my shoulder and pulled me to him,” Thomas said. “There was so much going on, I thought I was going to lose my life that night.”
The group of combatants scattered after the stabbing, with Thomas riding to his mother’s house in Jennings’ car and then traveling with Hodges and several others to a wooded area behind Regency Apartments known as “The Cut.”

Thomas, who had packed a few articles of clothing before leaving with Hodges, said he handed a T-shirt and boxer shorts to D.J. Woodson, testifying that the stress of the night caused him to vomit and urinate on himself.
Thomas denied burning the clothes, which Bowling Green police discovered almost two weeks later.
City police arrested Thomas within hours in an apartment that Hodges formerly rented.

Prosecutor questions Thomas

Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney Chris Cohron worked at poking holes in Thomas’ self-defense claim during a cross-examination that was interrupted when the jury was dismissed for the day.

Cohron got Thomas to acknowledge that Tyrese Huffman was unarmed and had not taken a swing at Thomas during their confrontation.
Early in the cross-examination, Cohron asked why Thomas didn’t lock the door and call 911 when Huffman yelled at him to come down from the back deck and meet him outside in the parking lot.
Thomas said that there were people inside the apartment using drugs at the time.
“You were out there releasing steam and you wanted to take care of it yourself, because you were worried about the drugs in the apartment,” Cohron said.

Cohron also focused on the incident in which Thomas chased Graves with a straight razor, asking Thomas what he would have done if he had caught Graves.
Thomas said he was trying to scare Graves away.
“Running after someone past two sets of fourplexes and through the grass to a fence that he hops, that’s a pretty long chase if you don’t want to catch somebody,” Cohron responded.

Cohron spent part of his questioning pointing out inconsistencies between Thomas’ testimony Friday and an affidavit he signed in July 2012 that professed to lay out his version of the events surrounding the stabbing.

Thomas said he “skimmed over” the affidavit when he signed it and largely disavowed the document, saying that he believed his former attorney, Brad Coffman, was not acting in Thomas’ best interests by offering him the affidavit to sign.
Cohron closes case
While Thomas’ testimony highlighted Friday’s proceedings, Cohron called his final four witnesses in the morning.

Bowling Green police Detective Brett Kreilein, who led the investigation, described his information-gathering process in the days following the stabbing.
Woodson was one of the witnesses that Kreilein interviewed multiple times, returning to him when the detective and other investigators uncovered new information that did not match what Woodson had previously told police.
The gun that Chamlee displayed in the confrontation was not discovered by police until four days after the incident, and while Chamlee said he gave the gun to Joe Huffman, police were unable to get Huffman to admit to possessing the gun.

Barry Raley, a now-retired city police detective, testified that he interviewed Jennings in an unmarked police car when Thomas called Jennings’ cellphone.
Jennings and Thomas had two phone conversations that Raley recorded in which Thomas said he didn’t want to go to prison and appeared to encourage Jennings to tell police that Graves and his associates stormed into Hodges’ apartment.
“If anybody asks, don’t nobody know nothin’,” Thomas said during one of the conversations with Jennings.

Maurethia Hollins, who lived in the same complex as Hodges, testified that she witnessed a black male in the parking lot punch a larger black male two or three times before the larger man fell.
Hollins said she was sleeping when the yelling outside caused her to get out of bed to find out what was happening.

She dialed 911 soon after witnessing the melee and was kneeling beside Huffman during the call when she told the dispatcher she believed Huffman had died.
Jennings said he saw Thomas get hit hard in the chest by a brick thrown at him during the final fight, and then moments later he saw Thomas throw two right-handed punches at Huffman, followed by Huffman hitting the ground.
“I go to my car, I pull out and pick up (Thomas) and take him out,” Jennings said. “I asked if he was OK, but I didn’t see any scratches on him.”

The trial will resume, after a spring break for area schools, on April 8, when jurors are anticipated to hear remaining testimony and closing arguments before receiving the case.

Labels:

Friday, March 28, 2014

More Testimony In Claimed Self Defense Murder In Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Testimony: Defendant wanted 'to get away'
Accused in stabbing claims he was acting in self-defense

Stephan Thomas was a wanted man in the predawn hours of June 9, 2012, when he left his mother’s house and got into a car driven by Samantha Rath and carrying several other people.
Just hours earlier, Tyrese Huffman had been fatally stabbed outside 2055 Stonehenge Ave., Apt. D., and Bowling Green police were on their way to identifying Thomas as the suspect.

Before getting into Rath’s car, Thomas placed what appeared to be a duffel bag in the trunk.
“He said, ‘I have to get away from here,’ ” Alexandria Lockridge, a passenger in the car, said Thursday during Thomas’ trial for murder and tampering with physical evidence.
Thomas, 26, entered the third day of his trial in Warren Circuit Court, watching 11 witnesses testify for the prosecution.
Thomas has maintained that he acted in self-defense. He is represented by attorney John Stewart of Adams, Tenn.

Lockridge, Rath and Heaven Watson testified as part of Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney Chris Cohron’s effort to build a case that Thomas tampered with evidence by burning clothing that he wore when he stabbed Huffman, 21, of Bowling Green, with a steak knife during a brawl in the parking lot.

The three women had been at the apartment of Shadee Hodges, who has a child in common with Thomas, for a party on the evening of June 8, 2012.
The group left later that night to go to a nightclub, so they did not witness the confrontation between Thomas and Dewayne Graves that ended with Huffman dead from a four-inch-deep stab wound to the neck, the blade of the steak knife having broken from the handle.
Watson testified that she received a call at the nightclub from D.J. Woodson early June 9, 2012, that caused her group to go back to the Stonehenge apartment, where they saw police cruisers dotting the area.

Rath’s car already was carrying four people when Hodges, her three children and Woodson climbed inside and left, Rath said.
Thomas joined them shortly afterward, and Watson’s memory of the events suggested Thomas had something to hide.
“He had a bag and put it in the trunk,” Watson testified. “(Thomas said), ‘I need to do something with
these clothes.’ ”
The group pulled up to a wooded area behind Regency Apartments that they referred to as “The Cut,” at which point Thomas and Woodson went back there for a few minutes, the three women testified.
Thomas and Woodson returned, saying nothing about what they did in “The Cut,” according to the women.
Rath said she dropped off Woodson, Watson and two of Hodges’ children before driving to the Wal-Mart on Morgantown Road, where Hodges went into the store and exited a few minutes later with a bag of candles.

The group then went to an apartment at 1313 Kenilwood Way where Hodges had once lived, and was now cleaning to work down debt she incurred living there, according to prior testimony.
Police get breakthrough
Thomas and Hodges were alone in the apartment by the time police converged shortly after daybreak June 9, 2012.

Officer David Grimsley of the Bowling Green Police Department testified Thursday that he and two other officers were dispatched to Kenilwood to locate a murder suspect.
Hodges let Grimsley inside after several minutes of steady knocking.
Grimsley performed a sweep of the first and second floors of the apartment when he noticed a missing tile that would have covered a crawl space in a bedroom closet.
“I started to hear a shuffling noise over my head,” Grimsley said.

Thomas had gone into hiding in the crawl space.
“Thomas’ feet actually broke through the ceiling essentially a few feet in front of me,” Grimsley said. Police arrested Thomas without resistance.
Officers collect evidence
Three city police officers testified about processing the crime scene in the aftermath of the stabbing.
Sgt. Matt Davis said that the broken knife handle was found at the base of a tree near the apartment, and a Styrofoam cup and a cigarette butt on the front steps of the apartment  also were preserved as evidence.

Davis took several photos at the scene, including pictures of a “long smear” of blood where Huffman was believed to have fallen after being stabbed and visible bloodstains on the front door.
A chunk of concrete found at the corner of a fence near the apartment also was collected, Davis said, explaining that he acted on information he received from a detective who said that a witness told him someone had thrown a rock during the melee.
“That was the only thing that halfway corroborated what the detective told me,” Davis said under cross-examination from Stewart.

Davis also went to Thomas’ house with a search warrant, collecting a T-shirt with suspected dried blood in the armpit area that was lying on a couch in Thomas’ bedroom.
Officer Rebecca Robbins took pictures of Huffman’s body after it had been cleaned, focusing on scratches on Huffman’s left forearm. The pictures showed the knife near the scratches.
Robbins said her training and observation led her to examine whether they were defensive wounds.
The Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office, which performed the autopsy on Huffman, discounted that possibility, however.
Officer Brandon Stice took several pictures and DNA samples of Thomas himself.
Stewart pointed out that a picture of a tattoo of a pair of arms clasped in prayer featured some redness on the skin, and he asked Stice whether he noted any other visible bruises or injuries.
Stice said he did not consider the redness to be a bruise, testifying that he took a picture of the tattoo as a way to identify Thomas.

Officers discover burnt clothes, hidden gun

City police Detective Tim Buss said that a handgun matching the one that Darren Chamlee brought to the fatal altercation was discovered in a white garbage bag under a bridge on a walking trail near Russell Sims Aquatic Center.
Chamlee had testified that he unholstered his revolver and gave it to Joe Huffman, Tyrese’s brother, during the altercation, and Alexandra Lockridge testified Thursday that she saw Woodson with a gun in the front of his pants.
Police discovered the gun June 13, 2012, four days after the homicide. A T-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts with burn marks on them were discovered June 20 in a grassy area near the walking trails, Buss said.

Buss said the articles of clothing were found about 100 yards apart , and he estimated they had been lying where they were found for at least a few days, based on the dead grass under the clothes.
Shane Hardison of the Kentucky State Police West Regional Lab in Madisonville said that the boxer shorts, knife handle, knife blade and an unsmoked cigarette collected by police tested positive for the presence of blood, while Lyle Hall of the KSP Central Lab in Frankfort said DNA on the cigarette matched Thomas’ DNA, and Huffman’s DNA was located on the knife handle and blade.
The trial resumes today and is anticipated to continue beyond this week.

Labels:

The Real March Madness Bracket Buster!


Labels:

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Man Claims Self Defense In Fatal Bowling Green Stabbing.

Witness: Man was 'swinging a knife'
Thomas charged withmurder in 2012 stabbing

Jurors weighing a murder charge against a Bowling Green man accused of fatally stabbing another man during a melee heard testimony Wednesday from several people present at the scene.
Stephan Thomas, 26, is on trial on charges of murder and tampering with physical evidence in connection with the death of Tyrese Huffman, 21, of Bowling Green.

Huffman was stabbed once in the neck with a steak knife June 9, 2012, during an argument outside 2055 Stonehenge Ave., Apt. D.
Bowling Green police said after the stabbing, Thomas tried to burn some of the clothes he wore during the incident.

A jury was seated Tuesday in Warren Circuit Court to begin considering evidence and testimony.
Thomas, who is represented by attorney John Stewart of Adams, Tenn., maintains he acted in self-defense.
City police, led by Detective Brett Kreilein, arrested Thomas after an investigation resulted in a scenario that had Thomas at odds with Dewayne Graves.
Graves was the on-again, off-again boyfriend of Shadee Hodges, who has a child in common with Thomas, Hodges testified Wednesday.
Graves and Hodges lived together at the Stonehenge Avenue apartment until about a month before the stabbing.

Thomas was at the apartment for much of the day leading up to the stabbing, part of a group of people who were drinking, smoking marijuana and taking Xanax, Hodges said.
The relationship between Graves and Hodges had volatile moments, Hodges testified. Graves sometimes physically abused her and damaged a window at her apartment by throwing a beer bottle through it, she said.

A couple of hours before the stabbing, Graves and Thomas had words, leading to Thomas chasing after Graves with a knife, according to prior testimony at a preliminary hearing.
At the trial Wednesday, witnesses recalled that Graves returned to the parking lot outside the apartment a couple of hours after the initial incident with Tyrese Huffman, Tyrese’s brother, Joe Huffman, and Darren Chamlee.

Chamlee testified Wednesday that Graves called him moments before and asked him to pick him up, along with the Huffman brothers, but added that he was not clear on the purpose.
“I knew (Graves) was having a problem with somebody,” Chamlee said when questioned by Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney Chris Cohron. “He said some guys had tried to jump him earlier.”
The group returned to the parking lot, and Chamlee recalled seeing Tyrese Huffman and another man yelling at one another.

At some point, Chamlee unholstered a revolver that he routinely carried when he went out at night, and handed it to Joe Huffman, a convicted felon who is not allowed to possess a firearm.
Chamlee said he was not aware of the criminal records of any of his passengers, and that he aimed to go back to his SUV, drive up and get his friends out of the area before the situation could escalate, having seen Thomas with a knife.

Chamlee heard a scream as he walked and turned and saw Tyrese Huffman on the ground, bleeding profusely from his neck.
“I hoped I could get us out of there because I knew it was bad,” Chamlee said. “The guy was swinging a knife at Tyrese, so I wouldn’t say that’s a good situation.”
Chamlee was cross-examined extensively by Stewart about the gun, focusing on when in a series of interviews with city police detectives he disclosed the fact that he had a gun and brought it to the crime scene.

Chamlee said he did not disclose information about the gun in initial interviews at the scene because detectives did not raise the subject.
A city police detective came to Chamlee’s house the following day, and that is when Chamlee admitted having the gun, when either his mother or grandmother encouraged him to tell the truth to the police. At the encouragement of city police, Chamlee called Joe Huffman to ask what happened to the gun, but Huffman hung up, Chamlee said.

After the stabbing, Chamlee said he called his mother to tell her what happened, and she came by to pick him up and take him back to his house, leaving Chamlee’s SUV where he parked it.
Chamlee told Stewart he thought the police wanted to search his vehicle for his gun, which led Stewart to ask how the police would have known about the gun.
“I’m just trying to wonder why you left an expensive vehicle in an unfamiliar neighborhood,” Stewart said.
Hodges’ recollection of events had her making several trips to a nearby Wal-Mart during the day to buy things for her three children.
She encountered Thomas and Graves yelling at each other as she walked back from one trip, and Hodges said she chased after them and tried to grab Graves.
“I grabbed (Graves) by his shoulder, and that’s when (Thomas) struck Tyrese Huffman,” Hodges said. “I saw (Huffman) hold his neck.”

Hodges said she did not see Thomas with a knife or anyone else with a gun.
Hodges then left the scene, traveling with her children and friends to two separate apartments.
After the children were dropped off at Regency Apartments, Hodges ended up at a sparsely furnished place with Thomas at 1313 Kenilwood Way. She testified that Thomas had changed shirts between the stabbing and that incident but denied knowledge of Thomas attempting to burn his clothes.
“We were just talking about the situation at hand and how he messed up and he had to go,” Hodges said. “I pretty much figured out the situation went bad when I saw Mr. Huffman fall to the ground.”

When police converged on the apartment, Thomas hid in an attic and Hodges initially denied to police that Thomas was inside.
Police reportedly heard someone overhead and Thomas fell through the ceiling, according to prior testimony.

Hodges was warned three times by Warren Circuit Judge Steve Wilson to speak more loudly and threatened with jail time for contempt of court due to jurors struggling to hear her testimony.
The trial resumes today and is anticipated to continue through the end of the week.

Labels:

G8


Labels:

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Barren County Sheriff, Chris Eaton And Deputies Settle Federal Lawsuit Filed Against Them By Arrestee.


Deal reached in Eaton case
Civil rights lawsuit involving former Barren County sheriff and others settled, dismissed

A settlement reached Tuesday in federal court ended a legal battle between former Barren County Sheriff Chris Eaton and a man who claimed Eaton and three deputies violated his civil rights while arresting him.

Terms of the settlement are not disclosed in court documents.

But the agreement between the two sides dismisses the lawsuit that Mark Smith brought in U.S. District Court against Eaton and deputies Aaron Bennett, Rodney Sponhouse and Chris Wyatt.
Bowling Green attorney Aaron Smith, who represented the officers, said an agreement was reached with Mark Smith, but nothing has been finalized.

He declined to comment further.

Mark Smith sued the officers in 2012, accusing them of using excessive force and engaging in malicious prosecution when he was arrested the previous year for public intoxication and disorderly conduct – charges that were later dismissed.

Eaton, who was not involved in the arrest, was sued for failing to properly train his officers about lawful search and seizure of property and the use of excessive force.

The arrest occurred Aug. 19, 2011, on Tompkinsville Road in Barren County. Mark Smith’s vehicle ran out of gas there, and he had contacted a friend to pick him up to get fuel, according to his lawsuit.
Mark Smith returned with fuel, but it was not enough to start the car, so he asked for permission from the property owner where the vehicle sat to leave it there overnight.

After those arrangements were made, Mark Smith returned to his vehicle and found Wyatt there.
Wyatt suspected Mark Smith of being intoxicated and asked him to submit to a field sobriety test. Mark Smith refused, citing an ankle injury.

Wyatt called Sponhouse and Bennett for backup, and Mark Smith submitted to a breath test.
Mark Smith claimed to have asked to see the results of the test, and that Wyatt refused to share them, leading Mark Smith to opine that he must have passed. Mark Smith then accused Wyatt of grabbing his arm and slamming him into the side of the police cruiser, handcuffing him and searching him.

Police found herbal incense in Mark Smith’s pocket, according to court records.
Sponhouse deployed pepper spray in Mark Smith’s face and locked him in the back of a police cruiser with the windows rolled up for about 30 minutes, the lawsuit claimed.

In a filing by Aaron Smith supporting a motion to dismiss the case, the lawyer said Sponhouse deployed a one-second blast of pepper spray because Mark Smith was banging his head against the window of the police cruiser and refused to stop, posing a danger to himself.

Bennett was at the scene but was not involved in the arrest and was not aware pepper spray had been used against Mark Smith until after he was transported from the scene.
Sponhouse aired out the cruiser where pepper spray had been used before transporting Mark Smith to jail, according to court records.

Mark Smith spent 15 days in jail and lost his job, according to his lawsuit, but Aaron Smith’s motion notes the charges were dismissed at Eaton’s request after Mark Smith’s attorney requested leniency based on his client’s past history of drinking problems and his agreement to enter rehabilitation.

Eaton’s 2013 federal trial for crimes charged against him, Bennett and two other deputies in relation to the 2010 arrest of another suspect played a factor in this case.
Eaton was found guilty in that case of two counts of witness tampering and acquitted of charges that he wrongfully assaulted Billy Stinnett after placing him in handcuffs and is appealing his conviction in that case. Bennett was found not guilty on all charges.

Mark Smith’s attorneys, Laura Landenwich and Ted Walton of Louisville, incorporated testimony from the criminal trial into court filings to support Mark Smith’s case against the sheriff and the officers.
Aaron Smith’s motion to dismiss argued the testimony and evidence from the criminal trial was not relevant to this unrelated case and did not demonstrate a pattern of excessive force used by officers under Eaton’s leadership.

Labels:

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

It's Spring!


Labels:

Monday, March 24, 2014

Words To Live By, Words Of Wisdom, And Words To Ponder.

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 

-- Ephesians 3:10, The Bible, King James version

Labels: , ,

Obamacare Youth Enrollment. LOL.


Labels:

Sunday, March 23, 2014

AT&T!

Labels:

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Mr. Phelps At Heaven's Door!


Labels:

Friday, March 21, 2014

Lorde, Westboro Baptist Church Does A Royal Song, Fer Sure. I Love It!

BELOW'S THE REAL SONG:

Labels:

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Suckers!


Labels:

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Tommy Brown, In Court Filing, Says Self-Defense Prompted Deadly Shooting Gainst Brandon Bradshaw.

Brown says self-defense prompted deadly act
Bradshaw 'negligent in failing to exercise ordinary care for (his)own safety,' EMS response says

Brandon Bradshaw was shot at the end of what police have characterized as a road-rage incident in which Bradshaw’s truck came close to striking Brown’s truck on the bypass.

In a court filing, Tommy Brown maintains he acted in self-defense when he fatally shot Brandon Bradshaw last year.
Brown, a former Warren County court security officer, said in a response filed Tuesday to a lawsuit in U.S. District Court by Bradshaw’s widow that Brown fired his weapon three times in reaction to Bradshaw drawing a handgun and pointing it at him in a Feb. 26, 2013, incident in the parking lot of Michelle’s Consignment on U.S. 31-W By-Pass.

Heidi Bradshaw’s civil suit claims her 27-year-old husband, who died from his wounds March 2, 2013, was killed without due process and Brown, who was off duty at the time of the incident, committed common law battery upon Bradshaw, a youth theater director and one-time Warren County constable.

A grand jury declined to charge Brown with a crime after meeting last year to consider evidence and testimony.
Bowling Green attorney Paul Lawless, representing Brown, argued in Tuesday’s response to Heidi Bradshaw’s suit that Brown was not the aggressor in the incident and acted in self-defense to Brandon Bradshaw first brandishing his weapon.
“I think our answer says it all. I think the grand jury has spoken, and we stand by what’s in our answer and what the grand jury’s already determined,” Lawless said.

Lawless denies wrongdoing on Brown’s part and seeks to have the case dismissed.

Brandon Bradshaw was shot at the end of what police have characterized as a road-rage incident in which Bradshaw’s truck came close to striking Brown’s truck on the bypass.
As the two trucks were still traveling, Brown asked Bradshaw whether he was still a constable. Bradshaw pulled into the Enterprise Rent-A-Car parking lot and ended up in Michelle’s parking lot behind Brown’s truck.
Brown, driving with his wife, then got out of his truck and approached Bradshaw’s truck.
“Bradshaw drew and raised his handgun over the top of the doorframe and pointed it in (Brown’s) direction resulting in this defendant firing his weapon three times in self-defense,” Lawless stated in the 13-page response.

After the shooting, Brown showed his badge to customers at Michelle’s and stood by Bradshaw’s truck until Bowling Green police officers arrived.
Heidi Bradshaw’s lawsuit also names Warren County Sheriff Jerry “Peanuts” Gaines, Warren County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Randy Hargis, BGPD Chief Doug Hawkins, BGPD Lt. Col. Kevin Wiles, the city of Bowling Green, former Kentucky State Police Post 3 Commander Bobby Murray, unknown agents from all three law enforcement bodies and Medical Center EMS as defendants.

Heidi Bradshaw, who is represented by Bowling Green attorney Gary Logsdon, claims a law enforcement officer at the scene reported Brandon Bradshaw was “10-7” – police code for deceased – before EMS personnel approached Bradshaw and found he still had a strong pulse, causing possibly life-saving medical treatment to be delayed by at least seven minutes.

She further argues law enforcement failed to preserve evidence that may have shed light on events surrounding the shooting and the incident occurred because the heads of each agency failed to properly train and supervise the officers below them.
“The response was what I expected it to be,” Logsdon said this morning. “We’ll see how it all shakes out. This is the first skirmish in a long war.”

Wesley Milliken, a Bowling Green attorney representing Gaines and Hargis, argued in a response filed Tuesday that the sheriff’s office acted in good faith in response to the incident, denying Heidi Bradshaw’s claims that the sheriff’s office acted with deliberate indifference.
Milliken also claims Brown was not acting in his capacity as a bailiff at the time of the incident.

Bowling Green attorney Aaron Smith responded on behalf of Medical Center EMS on Tuesday, arguing in his filing that Brandon Bradshaw was “negligent in failing to exercise ordinary care for (his) own safety.”
Smith acknowledges an unknown law enforcement officer mentioned at the scene that Bradshaw was “10-7” but denies the definition of that term laid out in the lawsuit, going on to state that EMS personnel made no determination at the scene that Bradshaw was dead.
KSP records of the investigation show Brown said he remained calm and did not lose his temper during the incident, though two witnesses told police he appeared “agitated” or “hostile.”

A witness also reported seeing Bradshaw pull a gun from somewhere in his truck and point it in Brown’s direction, according to KSP records.

Labels:

LOL.


Labels:

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Vanishing.


Labels:

Monday, March 17, 2014

Shocked!


Labels:

Words To Live By, Words Of Wisdom, And Words To Ponder

Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

-- Phillipians 4:9, The Bible, King James version

Labels: , ,

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Ok, Let March Madness Begin In Earnest! Wow!!

Labels:

A Different Kind Of March Madness!


Labels:

Saturday, March 15, 2014

LOL.


Labels:

Friday, March 14, 2014

Time And Half. LOL.


Labels:

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Alive And Kicking!


Labels:

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

"I Spy"!


Labels:

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Same Sex Marriage In Kentucky.


Labels:

Monday, March 10, 2014

Duel?


Labels:

Sunday, March 09, 2014

War On Terror.


Labels:

Saturday, March 08, 2014

Justice Department Officials File Briefs Urging To Let Stand Prison Sentence FDor Former Barren County Sheriff Chris Eaton.


Lawyers urge that conviction stand

Former sheriff Eaton sentenced 18 months, remains free pending outcome of appeal

Lawyers from the U.S. Department of Justice are urging a panel of federal appeals judges to uphold the conviction last year of former Barren County Sheriff Chris Eaton on witness tampering charges.
Erin Flynn and Mark Gross, attorneys from the justice department’s Civil Rights Division, filed a brief this week with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that outlines their argument for Eaton’s guilt.

A jury in U.S. District Court in Bowling Green found Eaton guilty of two counts of witness tampering, agreeing unanimously that he encouraged then-deputies Steve Runyon and Adam Minor to provide false information to the FBI, which was investigating allegations that Eaton and others used excessive force during their arrest of Billy Stinnett in 2010.
Eaton was given an 18-month sentence but remains free pending the outcome of his appeal.

The 70-page brief requests oral arguments before the federal appeals court and counters the arguments in a brief filed in January by Eaton’s attorney, Guthrie True of Frankfort.
Flynn argues that sufficient evidence was presented at trial to support the jury’s guilty verdict against Eaton on both counts of witness tampering.

The federal case focused on the actions of Eaton and three colleagues when they arrested Stinnett, who had led law enforcement on an hour-long chase through Barren County that ended at Calvary Baptist Church in Glasgow.
Court records and testimony revealed that Eaton struck Stinnett with a baton in an effort to subdue him and place him under arrest.
The arrest was witnessed by youths inside the church who claimed Stinnett was hit with batons and kicked after he was handcuffed. One of the youths told her father, who later contacted the Glasgow Police Department.

Glasgow police then notified the FBI, which initiated the investigation.
Eaton, Deputy Aaron Bennett, Detective Eric Guffey of the Barren-Edmonson-Allen County Drug Task Force and Minor were charged with deprivation of rights under color of law and other offenses.
Bennett and Guffey were acquitted of all charges, while Minor pleaded guilty to making a false statement to federal investigators, reaching an agreement in which he testified for the government in exchange for a sentence of probation.

At the trial, Runyon testified that he was directed by Eaton to write a report for the FBI stating that he had seen a knife belonging to Stinnett on the ground at the scene of the arrest outside the church, even though Runyon was not involved in the arrest, was unfamiliar with the scene and had not observed the location of the knife.
Runyon, who retired last year from the sheriff’s office, also said that he felt his job was in jeopardy if he did not write the report.
“A juror reasonably could infer that Eaton, acutely aware of the FBI’s investigation into the officers’ use of force, knowingly directed Runyon to include false information in his report in order to make the amount of force the officers used, and Stinnett’s related injuries, appear justified,” Flynn wrote.
Minor testified that he prepared a report for the FBI under Eaton’s watch, the sheriff directing him to include false information about Stinnett pulling a knife on Eaton and dropping it at the arrest scene.

When testifying in state court about the case, Minor admitted withholding truthful information about the arrest and the recovery of the knife, which Stinnett disclosed to Minor was in his pants pocket and was retrieved from there by Eaton and Minor.
Minor said he omitted those details at Eaton’s direction.
“Minor explained that if he did not comply with Eaton’s instructions, he would have been fired and, because of Eaton’s political connections, faced difficulty finding another job in Barren County,” Flynn wrote.

Flynn went on to counter True’s contention that Eaton cannot be held liable for witness tampering because information about the knife was not material to whether officers assaulted Stinnett while handcuffed.
In her argument, Flynn asserts that the federal investigation focused on the circumstances of Stinnett’s arrest but was not limited just to what occurred once he was handcuffed.
Eaton was asked by the FBI to provide all information related to the physical confrontation with Stinnett, including information on whether Stinnett was armed, resisted arrest, threatened officers or possessed or brandished a weapon.
“As the Barren County Sheriff, Eaton would have known the importance of any such information when he directed Minor and Runyon to lie in their reports to the FBI,” Flynn wrote.
Additional arguments

Later in the brief, Flynn addresses True’s argument that the federal district court should have instructed the jury on an affirmative defense for Eaton’s contact with Minor and Runyon, in which the sheriff encouraged the deputies to relate truthful facts about the arrest to the FBI.
True has argued that the jury was left with the impression that any kind of contact between Eaton and the deputies in the wake of the investigation constituted witness tampering, but Flynn replies in her brief that the district court has found that Eaton did not point to any facts that would have made his conduct lawful.

True’s argument that the conviction should be overturned because the witness tampering count against Minor alleged two offenses in one count is also addressed by Flynn.
Flynn argues that federal law establishes that an indictment can allege that a defendant committed an offense by one or more means and that jurors do not need to come to unanimous agreement on which method to rely upon in convicting a defendant.

The government alleged in the witness tampering count involving Minor that Eaton persuaded him to conceal truthful information from the FBI about unreasonable use of force against Stinnett and to provide false information to the FBI about the knife in Stinnett’s possession.
“The jury did not need to agree on the precise facts establishing each element of the crime,” Flynn argues in her brief.

Flynn also pushes back on True’s argument that federal prosecutors made improper statements during their closing arguments regarding Eaton’s refusal to testify at trial.
True objected twice during the arguments, which led the government to clarify that the remarks were meant to persuade jurors to refer to statements Eaton and others made in their reports for the FBI, and Flynn argues that the prosecutors were commenting on inconsistencies between the defendants’ theories about the case and the evidence instead of Eaton’s refusal to testify.

Labels: ,

Friday, March 07, 2014

Enjoy Some Lorde -- Royal.

12 Years A Slave Wins Oscar.


Labels:

Thursday, March 06, 2014

Crying!


Labels:

Wednesday, March 05, 2014

Where Did Vladmir Putin Get The Idea To Invade Another Country?!


Labels:

Tuesday, March 04, 2014

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear Will Hire Outside Counsel To Appeal Federal Judge's Ruling Approving Homosexual Marriages After Attorney General, Jack Conway Refused!

Beshear: Ky. will appeal federal judge's ruling in same-sex marriage case without Conway

FRANKFORT — Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear said Tuesday that he will appeal a federal judge's order requiring Kentucky to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.
The definition of marriage in Kentucky and other states "will be and should be ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in order to bring finality and certainty to this matter," Beshear said in a statement. "The people of this country need to know what the rules will be going forward. Kentucky should be a part of this process."

Beshear said he will ask for an indefinite stay, or delay, in the judge's order while Kentucky takes the case to the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. The order is on hold until March 20.
Beshear will have to hire outside lawyers to pursue the appeal because a tearful Attorney General Jack Conway, also a Democrat, announced minutes earlier that he will not appeal the judge's order.
Kentucky's ban on same-sex marriage is discriminatory and doomed to fall, and the state shouldn't waste its limited resources in court trying to save it, Conway said.

U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II "got it right" last month when he struck down a 1998 state law and a 2004 state constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman, and prohibiting recognition of same-sex marriages from outside the state, Conway said.
"The United States Constitution is designed to protect everyone's rights, both the majority and the minority groups," Conway said in a brief statement to reporters, after which he took no questions.
"Judge Heyburn's decision does not tell a minister or a congregation what they must do, but in government, 'equal justice under law' is a different matter," Conway said.

Conway began to cry as he continued: "For those who disagree, I can only say that I am doing what I think is right. In the final analysis, I had to make a decision that I could be proud of — for me now, and my daughters' judgement in the future."

Religious conservative groups, who pressured Conway to appeal, quickly criticized his decision Tuesday, calling it "a dereliction of duty."
"Now that Colorado has legalized marijuana sales, how long will it be before Judge Heyburn legalizes marijuana in Kentucky, too, since it's legal in another state and we have to respect their laws? And of course, now we know that Jack Conway would not oppose it," said Paul Chitwood, executive director of the Kentucky Baptist Convention.

Beshear's appeal before the 6th Circuit could take a year to 18 months, said Dan Canon, one of the lawyers for the four same-sex married couples suing Kentucky.
"We're extremely disappointed," Canon said, "This is essentially a decision to waste taxpayer money defending statutes that are morally reprehensible and constitutionally doomed to fail. Every court to decide this case so far, reviewing state laws that ban recognition of same-sex marriage, has found them to be unconstitutional."

Simultaneously, Heyburn is considering a related argument from new plaintiffs suing Kentucky for the right to be issued same-sex marriage certificates inside the state. A decision in that case is expected by this summer. It was not clear Tuesday who will continue to argue for the state in that case.

Read more here.

Labels:

Kentucky Gubernatorial Race For 2015 Starts To Heat Up As Hal Heiner Enters Race With K. C. Crosby.


Hal Heiner enters GOP governor's race; Lexington running mate won't resign from RNC

Former Louisville mayoral candidate Hal Heiner officially announced his Republican campaign for governor on Tuesday, joining running mate KC Crosbie of Lexington in railing against the "status quo" in Frankfort.

With about 100 supporters cheering them on at Star Manufacturing in Lexington, Heiner and Crosbie kicked off a two-day tour of the state without mentioning potential GOP rivals Agriculture Commissioner James Comer or former ambassador to Latvia Cathy Bailey.
"Today, Kentucky is at a crossroads and we're in desperate need of strong leadership and innovative thinking," said Heiner, his hands shaking slightly with a banner reading "Kentucky First" behind him. "With my running mate, KC Crosbie, I am convinced that we can bring actual leadership to Frankfort for the first time in a long time and make dramatic improvements in peoples lives all across our state. And that's why I am excited to announce that I am running to be the next governor of Kentucky."
Crosbie, a former Urban County Council member, was offered the spot on Heiner's ticket last week, according to campaign manager Joe Burgan.

Crosbie also is one of Kentucky's two members of the Republican National Committee and finance chairwoman for the Republican Party of Kentucky. Some Republican leaders, including House Minority Floor Leader Jeff Hoover, told the Herald-Leader Monday that Crosbie should resign from those positions.
But Burgan said Tuesday that Crosbie has no intention of resigning from the RNC, and she will "look into" whether she should step down from her post at the state party.
Crosbie told the crowd, many of whom said they were friends of hers but not familiar with Heiner yet, that she was "really pumped up to get started with this campaign."
"Changing the leadership in Frankfort won't be easy," she said. "It's going to be really tough, and we all understand why. The Democrat politicians who control Frankfort now and those aspiring to replace them are the same insiders who have had a stranglehold over change for decades."

In addition to her official duties with the Republican Party, Crosbie also took early heat Monday from Comer and his allies for the lobbying work her husband, Scott, has done on behalf of pro-gambling interests like GTech Corporation and Tropicana Casinos and Resorts.
Heiner, a former Louisville Metro council member, largely demurred when asked about Scott Crosbie's work and his position on expanded gaming.
"The bullets already are starting to fly," Heiner said with a chuckle. "And actually it's the politics of old that have held back this state. All of this tangential ideas instead of focusing on where this state can go and that's why we end up with 55 percent of our children that are either dropping out or not prepared for college or career."

When pressed, Heiner said he has the same position on expanded gambling that he had when running for mayor of Louisville, saying that Kentuckians should be allowed to decide the issue at the ballot box. He added: "I likely wouldn't vote for it."

Heiner, a millionaire businessman and chairman of Capstone Realty, said his top priorities are jobs and education. He hailed his time in the private sector as a necessary qualification for the state's next governor.
"Our state needs a chief executive with business experience," Heiner said. "Someone who has competed in the global economy and has a track record of success."
Promising "a campaign of big ideas and lofty goals," Heiner said his announcement is the beginning of "a 20-month journey all across Kentucky."

After the first announcement in Lexington, Heiner was departing by plane to Hazard and Bowling Green before an afternoon event in Louisville.
The duo were planning to continue their tour, visiting towns like Owensboro and Paducah on Wednesday.
"So thank you so much for being here at the launch," Heiner said. "Now it's time to get to work, so let's go."

Labels: , ,

Monday, March 03, 2014

TEA Party Group Blames Mitch McVonnell For Kentucky's Homosexual Marriage Ruling. Watch Video.

The Real Reason Arizona Governor, Jan Brewer, Vetoed The Homosexual Bill. LOL.


Labels:

Sunday, March 02, 2014

Snakes Are Dangerous -- In Church Or Elsewhere!


Paul Prather: Snakes are dangerous and so is taking the Bible too literally

Snakebite death of Middlesboro pastor was quick, son says; medical treatment refused
Jamie Coots, 42, was handling rattlesnakes during a Feb. 15 church service at Middlesboro's Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name. A snake bit his hand.

Shortly after, Coots lost consciousness.

According to news stories, he'd refused medical help for past snakebites and had urged his family not to take him to the hospital if he were ever bitten and incapacitated. So his loved ones refused medical treatment for him. Instead, they prayed.

He died.

Herein lies a problem with being too literal-minded about the Scriptures: it often forces you to defend untenable, even dangerous, positions.

I hold a high but more nuanced view of Scripture.

Before I tell you what I think about how we should interpret the Bible, let me assure you I mean no disrespect to Coots, his family or his church.

Surely, those who handle snakes are sincere. You have to be sincere to reach into a box of writhing vipers with your bare hands, whether in God's name or anyone else's.

But that, my dad would point out if he were still around, goes to show that you can be sincere — and yet be sincerely wrong.

Mark 16 contains this passage: "And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

Mainstream scholars argue this passage isn't found in the earliest extant manuscripts of Mark, and apparently was added much later in the book's development, as manuscripts were endlessly copied and recopied.

Snake-handling Christians tend not to make these academic distinctions. They accept Mark, as they accept the rest of the Bible, at its literal words.

This calls to mind a larger issue within the Christian faith.

Very, very few Christians handle snakes — a micro-sliver-of-a-single-percentage-point of the religion's 2 billion members.

However, a great many Christians claim to believe the Bible is inerrant. They say it's 100 percent correct about any subject on which it speaks, even science or history.

A couple of weeks ago, for instance, I wrote a column that was partly about creationists, who, despite a century-and-a-half of accumulated scientific evidence to the contrary, insist the Earth was created in six 24-hour days, a few thousand years ago.

That's what Genesis seems to say, and creationists say they believe exactly what the Bible tells them, word for word, at face value.

To me, the danger there is that once you make it your primary spiritual mission in life to defend a questionable passage as unalterably, literally accurate down to the least jot or tittle, you open yourself up for unnecessary grief.

You won't end up petting copperheads, but you may waste oodles of time defending untenable scientific, historic or theological positions. You'll strain at gnats.

I'd humbly suggest another, and time-honored, means of approaching the Bible, and of understanding our faith in general.

It allows us to focus on the heart and soul of the Bible, its profound revelations and transcendent promises, without getting waylaid by less relevant details.

This approach has multiple origins. I happened to encounter it long ago through the works of John Wesley, the evangelist who in the 1700s co-founded Methodism.

Wesley thought the Bible should direct Christians' beliefs. But he also recognized the Bible as a tough book to decipher. To avoid our veering into tangents and excesses, he suggested we accompany our biblical interpretations with checks and balances.

First, he said, consider Christian history and tradition. How have the great body of good, thoughtful men and women understood a particular passage across the centuries?

Second, what does reason tell us? God gave us brains; he meant us to use them.

Finally, what does human experience, including our own experiences in life and in faith, say?

These tests are as valid today as when Wesley offered them.

Take the matter of snake handling.

Mark 16 urges me to handle snakes and drink poison. But church history, common sense and humans' long experiences with snakes all agree that's not a good idea. Those are two biblical admonitions yours truly won't be taking literally.

We can easily apply the same test to many Scriptures.

As we do, we start finding a healthier, more fulfilling balance in our beliefs.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/03/02/3116310/paul-prather-snakes-are-dangerous.html#storylink=cpy

Labels: ,

Saturday, March 01, 2014

Religious Freedom.


Labels:

Guns In Church.


Labels: