John Connolly, the disgraced FBI agent whose friendship with Boston’s one man crime wave Whitey Bulger lost him his badge, is on trial in Miami. Currently serving prison time on RICO chages, Connolly is now accused of giving Bulger and his gang information to help them murder a suspected police informant. Martin Scorsese’s The Departed was inspired by the Connolly-Bulger story.
Marjorie Knoller, co-owner of the Presa Canario dogs that mauled lacrosse coach Diane Whipple to death in San Francisco, was sentenced (again) to 15 years to life for second degree murder. In 2002, the judge at Knoller’s trial overturned the jury’s conviction, replacing it with a lesser involuntary manslaughter conviction. Knoller served 3 years in prison. The prosecution appealed successfully and now Knoller’s original conviction has been reinstated. She will receive 1,044 days’ credit for time served.
Robert Chambers is back in the big house. Chambers hasn’t been able to stay out of trouble since serving out his sentence for the 1986 strangulation murder of acquaintance Jennifer Levin. Now he’ll do 19 years for selling drugs out of the East Side apartment he shared with girlfriend Shawn Kovell.
After just three hours of deliberations, an Idaho jury voted that serial pedophile-convicted killer Joseph Duncan III be put to death the 2005 murder of 9-year old Dylan Groene. In 2005, Duncan slaughtered three members of the Groene family in order to abduct Dylan and his 8-year old sister Shasta. Duncan sexually assaulted both children, videotaping the acts. He later tortured and killed Dylan, fleeing with Shasta. Duncan was apprehended in a convenience store. Shasta Groene survived.
Holly Ashcraft, the USC student accused of dumping her newborn baby in a dumpster in 2005, has pleaded no contest to child endangerment resulting in death. She was given five years probation. Ashcraft was originally charged with murder. The Los Angeles D.A. agreed to accept the plea after two different judges dismissed their murder charges against Ashcraft.
Paul Bernardo, one of the most notorious serial killers in Canadian history, claims he’s reformed and no longer a threat to society. Bernardo insists that he’s no longer a sexual predator. He is eligible for parole in 2010. Let’s hope Canada keeps this monster where he belongs. Here’s a recently-released video of him being interviewed last year by the Toronto Police.
Bernardo’s former partner-in-crime Karla Homolka has left her native Canada for the Caribbean. The woman who helped Bernardo rape and murder several young women, including her own sister, is now a mother. She reportedly resides on the island on Antilles with her lover and their one-year old son. These days Homolka calls herself Leanne Teale.
Melinda Loveless has been denied early release from prison. The aptly-named Loveless was sentenced to 60 years for orchestrating the brutal murder of 12-year old Shanda Sharer in 1992. Loveless and her attorney plan to appeal the judge’s decision.
Former California Highway Patrol officer Craig Peyer was denied parole this year. Peyer, whose story we recounted in True Stories of Law & Order: SVU, received 25 to life for killing California college student Cara Knott in 1986.
Lisa Montgomery’s defense strategy of claiming to have suffered from pseudocyesis, a disorder in which a woman falsely believes she is pregnant, has failed. She was found guilty in October 2007 of murdering pregnant Bobbie Jo Stinnett and cutting the fetus out of the victim’s womb. The federal jury suggested Montgomery receive the death penalty.
After numerous delays in his trial and at least one suicide attempt, Thomas Hose has pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, for which he was sentenced to five to fifteen years. At the sentencing, he interrupted victim Tanya Kach as she read a statement. Hose said that if he hadn’t held her captive for those ten years, she would have landed up dead on the street.
>
