Bill Bickel's Crimeweek

New Address

crimeweek — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 21:19:53 +0000

This site is now being updated at http://www.crimeweek.com.

The Price of Murder: $24.71

crimeweek — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 02:32:32 +0000

According to court documents filed yesterday, $24.71 of Stephen Grant’s prison wages has been garnished as partial payment on the $50 million judgment he owes to the family of his murdered wife. At this rate, the debt might take a while to pay off.

To put this in perspective, though, this is still $24.71more than O.J. Simpson has handed over to the families of his murdered wife and Ron Goldman.

Stephen Grant was found guilty of second-degree murder on December 21, and could be sentenced (on February 21) to life in prison.

Another Stacy Peterson ”Sighting”

crimeweek — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 02:35:37 +0000

Joel Brodsky, Drew Peterson’s attorney, claims that on December 29, Peterson received an letter from somebody who said he spotted Stacy Peterson with another man in Kentucky, a few weeks after her October 28 disappearance

The writer claims that he approached the woman and showed her a photo of Stacy Peterson, and that the woman then told him to leave her alone and “fled.”

Brodsky ignores the logical explanation that even if the letter is completely legitimate, the woman could simply not have wanted to engage in a discussion with yet another person who thought she resembled the woman who was on the cover of every tabloid at the supermarket check-out aisle that week.

Mentalist Offers Help in Stacy Peterson Case

crimeweek — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 00:37:50 +0000

”I’m interested in becoming involved with this case, in more ways than one … This case is crying out for a breakthrough, and I don’t have to be a thought reader to say that.” -”The Amazing Kreskin”

”At this time, we won’t be granting any meeting with the Amazing Kreskin.” -Mark Dorencz, spokesman for the Illinois State Police

Ever notice how, whenever psychics get involved in missing person cases, they always say that the missing person is “near water”?

One of the funniest things I ever saw on television was back in the 70s when Kreskin had his own television program and members of the audience would come up and he’d answer all manner of questions for them about their lives and their futures.

One audience member came up and Kreskin asked “What’s your name, miss?” and the audience member said, “I’m a guy.”

Maybe you had to have been there.

Worse Than Beating a Dead Horse

crimeweek — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:27:00 +0000

Bryan James Hathaway, a 21-year-old Wisconsin man who pleaded guilty last year of having sex with a dead deer, had his probation revoked Friday for, among other things, using alcohol and marijuana and having sexual contact with a (human) adult — which you’d think would be the sort of thing we’d want to encourage.

My problem with this whole thing is… While psychiatric treatment is definitely called for here, I’m not sure why he was ever charged with mistreating an animal: The animal was already dead and he was never accused of killing it. He was having sexual relations with venison. If we’re going to prosecute people for what they do to dead animals, we’d better all become vegetarians real quick.

Coneticut Woman Arrested for Check Fraud

crimeweek — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 22:20:50 +0000

If you’re going to buy items in Connecticut with forged checks, then return to the store five days later to ask for a refund, you’re already pushing your luck. If the checks purport to be from ”Rhonde Island” … well, now you’re just making it too easy for the police to catch you.

Tyshema Byrd-Eaddy was arrested yesterday on multiple charges of fraud, criminal impersonation, and identity theft.

Great Moments in Entrapment

crimeweek — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 21:15:05 +0000

Off-duty firefighter Robin Garrison was walking through a park in Columbus Ohio last May when he came across a woman sunbathing topless (this is legal in Columbus; I’ve been to Columbus, and I must have visited the wrong parks). They began to chat. She rested her foot on his shoulder. They flirted. She asked to see his penis. He complied. Undercover police officers appeared and arrested him for indecent exposure. This was, they said, “an undercover sting operation to catch perverts.”

Garrison was found guilty, fined $250, placed on a year’s probation, and the fire department is considering their own sanctions. He’s appealing his conviction on the grounds that the jury wasn’t properly instructed on what “entrapment” means.

Entrapment is defined as being persuaded by police (or other law enforcement or those working on their behalf) to commit a crime one had no previous intention to commit. It does not apply when the defendant is already inclined to commit the crime and law enforcement agents simply facilitate it or otherwise provide the opportunity.

Some new information:

Seems the police did have undercover officers in the park as part of a sting operation to catch “perverts,” but this woman wasn’t part of it. She just happened to have been sitting there sunning herself topless — in the shade under a tree — for several days and the police officers were just… looking in her direction a lot, apparently. And Garrison was only one of at least two men who were arrested for displaying their genitalia at the woman’s request that day.

Okay, now… you’d think after the first arrest, the woman might have begun to suspect she was being used as an entrapment agent by police.

Drew Peterson: ”It Happened to Me”

crimeweek — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 22:46:13 +0000

“People run away. People drown in the bathtub. And it happened to me.” -Drew Peterson referring to his claim that his wife Stacy, missing since October, left on her own; and that his previous wife, Kathleen Savio, drowned accidentally

At first glance, Peterson’s “It happened to me” sounds like a narcissistic slip of the tongue. I happen to believe his phrasing was entirely intentional, because he’s been giving every indication that he enjoys the spotlight. Like O.J. Simpson before him, he knows everybody believes he’s guilty, and he’s supremely confident that he’ll never be found guilty.

Jose Canseco: ”Vindicated”

crimeweek — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 21:57:10 +0000

Former baseball star Jose Canseco has announced that his new book, “Vindictaed,” will be coming out March 31, the first day of the 2008 baseball season. The title is not used in the usual sense (“I’ve been proven innocent”) but rather as “I told you so” (“Remember when I wrote Juiced and ratted out all those ballplayers who were taking anabolic steroids and Human Growth Hormone and everybody criticized me? Well now the Mitchell Report backed up everythng I said, so there!”).

The new book will name more names.

a review of Juiced, from 2005

No New Trial for Donald Blom

crimeweek — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 03:30:20 +0000

The Minnesota Supreme Court today declined — for the third time — to overturn Donald Blom’s conviction for the 1999 abduction and murder of 19-year-old Katie Poirier. The defense had argued that his confession was coerced.

A Preponderance of Implication: More about this case, the Laci Peterson case, the Lindy Chamberlain case, and several others