Paper suing TX Gov Perry to get clemency report of possibly innocent man who was executed

The Houston Chronicle and Hearts Newspapers are suing Texas Governor Rick Perry, R-Texas, for the clemency report on Cameron Todd Willingham -- a man who was executed but may have, in fact, been innocent.

I first read about it nearly two months ago, and you can too with this 16,000 word article from the New Yorker. Worth reading every word.

The report is a summary and status of the case against Willingham that was given to Perry at 11:30 a.m. on the day of Willingham's 2004 execution in the fire deaths of his three daughters. Anti-death penalty advocates say modern fire forensics show the blaze cannot be proven as arson.

Perry's office has refused to release the report, claiming it is a privileged document. The clemency document was used by Perry in the process of deciding whether to give Willingham a 30-day stay of execution.

“When it comes to human life, there is no place the governor should be more transparent in his decision-making,” said Jonathan Donnellan, an attorney for Hearst and the Chronicle.

About Cameron Todd Willingham, convicted of killing his children

The New Yorker always has excellent articles. And this article about Cameron Todd Willingham is no exception. The nearly 16,000 word article lays out the facts of the case.

I can't excerpt a certain piece and make it representative of the article, but it is definitely worth reading.

Boston police officer sends racist e-mail to Boston Globe

Holy crap. I know I usually take a beat or two before sending an e-mail just to make sure that I didn't mess anything up... but this guy should probably not be sending e-mails at all.

This came, obviously, after the arrest of Harry Louis Gates.

Here's an excerpt of the letter from the Boston Globe (the full letter is at the link, but below is just an excerpt):

Your defense [4th paragraph] of Gates while he is on the phone while being confronted [INDEED] with a police officer is assuming he has rights when considered a suspect. He is a suspect and will always be a suspect. His first priority of effort should be to get off the phone and comply with police, for if I was the officer he verbally assaulted like a banana-eating jungle monkey, I would have sprayed him in the face with OC deserving of his belligerent non-compliance.

Wow.

Guy still proud of beating up first base coach with his dad

From Deadspin:

Few moments in sports history were as truly stunning as the sight fans saw on September 19, 2002, when two shirtless buffoons charged onto the field during a Chicago-Kansas City game and began pummeling the Royals' 54-year-old first base coach Tom Gamboa. It turned out to be a father and son team—William Ligue Jr. and his loyal 15-year-old boy—who were hauled off, surly and unrepentant, into baseball history. And also jail.

The younger Ligue apparently brags about beating up the unsuspecting first base coach whose only crime was to be a first-base coach for the Kansas City Royals and in the path of a drunk dad and his "loyal" son.

An amazing story

From ESPN The Magazine:

[Eric Frimpong] left his native Ghana in 2005 to play soccer for UC Santa Barbara; a year later he became a campus hero while leading the Gauchos to their first-ever national championship. If the immigrant experience can have a sound, Frimpong's sound was a raucous stadium. But in 2007, just weeks after being selected by the Kansas City Wizards in the MLS draft, he was accused of raping another student on the beach near his house. Now he's a convicted felon.

Read the story.

Never do a bomb threat this way

From the Albuquerque Journal:

She was allegedly calling in the bomb threats because her boyfriend Joseph Quintana had a court appearance scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday. Quintana, 29, had failed to appear in court on a traffic violation and feared he would be sentenced to jail if he went to court, according to the complaint. So he asked her to call in a bomb threat at Metropolitan Court so he wouldn't have to go.

According to the complaint, Romero initially was concerned that dispatchers would trace her number, but Quintana told her to dial star-67. That usually hides a person's phone number on caller ID - unless you're calling 911.

Ouch.

Never try to rob the house of a 72-year old former boxer

Because you just might get beat up.

He added: ' Photographs of the defendant showed what looked like a car accident and photos of the scene looked more like a murder scene.'

Happened in the UK.

Ten best prison breaks

Via NewMexiKen. Who does this whole blogging-about-interesting-things thing better than I ever could.

Wired magazine had the list of the ten best prison breaks. Which, of course, makes me think of Cool Hand Luke and The Great Escape. Never a bad thing.

My favorite? This one:

Lake County Jail(1934)

John Dillinger, brandishing a wooden gun blackened with shoe polish, bailed in the sheriff's Ford.

MMA fighter masterminded a $92 million bank heist

Wow.

In February 2006, robbers posing as cops abducted the manager of a high-security bank warehouse in Tonbridge, Wales, and forced their way inside the building while his wife and son were held at gunpoint. As employees were bound and gagged, seven masked men loaded three waiting trucks with 53 million British pounds in cash (about $92 million.)

Police say about $57 million of the haul is still missing.

Five of the assailants were captured and convicted at trial in London last year. Another alleged accomplice, Paul "The Enforcer" Allen, is currently in custody awaiting trial. But British prosecutors say Murray, a former UFC star, was "at the heart" of the plot and claim to have a cell phone recording that shows him planning the heist.

Didn't exactly work out like Ocean's 11 for Lee Murray who is now spending his time in Morrocan jail.

Donte Stallworth

Cleveland Browns wide receiver was suspended indefinitely today by the NFL. What did he do?

Cleveland Browns receiver Donte' Stallworth was suspended by the NFL indefinitely without pay following his guilty plea to DUI manslaughter in the death of a pedestrian, the league announced Thursday.

Stallworth was sentenced in a Miami court Tuesday to 30 days in jail, a controversial ruling that drew a great deal of criticism.

Yeah, he killed a man while driving drunk in Miami -- and will only be in jail for 30 days.