Judge rules enough evidence to hold officer on murder charge

Oscar Grant III was shot and killed by Johannes Mehserle on New Year's Day. Mehserle was a transit officer at in Oakland, California. He resigned a few days after the incident was found on the internet. A rainy phone video was taken by a witness of the event. One officer was kneeling on Grant, holding him down, while Mehserle is seen taking out his gun and shooting Grant in the back, killing him. Some say that Mehserle meant to grab for his Taser not his gun, but none will ever know for sure what was really going on. Mehserle was released on $3 million bail, which upset many people and fueled more demonstrations. The Grant family is filing a $50 million wrongful death suit against Mehserle.

I am a little surprised that I do not remember this happening on New Year's. I do not think I ever heard of this incident. I do not understand it either. I do not know if I should believe that Mehserle was reaching for his Taser instead of his gun and "accidently" picked the wrong one. Or if I Should believe that he meant to grab his gun and shoot Grant. It's a very tricky subject to discuss. Maybe Mehserle did accidently grab his gun, but would that change things? Probably not. Grant is still dead. His family will still mourne his death. Nothing can bring him back. I do think that it is good that the Grant family is filing a suit against Mehserle. I do not believe that someone should have died over a small transit fight. Especially shot by police, the people that are supposed to protect and serve. Not shoot from behind and kill.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/04/bart.transit.officer.murder.charge/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Wal-Mart: We're hiring 22,000

Need a job? Walmart is hiring this year. They are reportedly going to open 142 to 157 new or expanded stores in the United States in 2009. States with new or expanded stores opening that will be hiring new workers include, Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia. The new or expanded stores opening this year is fewer than the number of stores that were opened in 2008, but the company is not specifying that exact number from the previous year. Walmart hired 33,000 people last year, this years projected number is less by almost 11,000 people at 22,000 new jobs that will be needed to be filled this year. These jobs include cashiers and sales associates, as well as pharmacists, human resource managers and customer service associates. They are also going to fill their business units. This information came out before the May report on national employment. The national unemployment rate has risen to a 25-year high to %9.2.

I think that it this is great. It does not really make a huge dent in the unemployment numbers but it will at least get 22,000 people a job that did not have one before. The economy is terrible so any way that people can get it moving again is always good! I cannot believe that the nation unemployment rate is so high now. A 25-year high of %9.2! That is just crazy. We should really get on that and do something about that so nothing like the Great Depression happens again. It is good that at least one company does not need the help of the Government to stay on its feet, too. For example, all of the insurance and car companies that needed/wanted a bailout to keep them going. As well as those car companies that filled for Bankruptcy. At least someone is still on their feet.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/04/news/companies/walmart_jobs/index.htm?eref=rss_topstories

Ex-soldier apologizes to Iraqi family for raping, killing

Ex-solider, Steven Green, apologized to the family he hurt while a soldier in Iraq. He had raped a 14-year-old girl and killed her, killed her parents and 6-year-old brother while in Iraq. He was discharged from the army as soon as the crimes surfaced, so he was charged in a civilian court in Kentucky. The jury could not unanimously decide on the death penalty so as law states the judge charged him with life in prison without the possibility of parole. The Iraq family members of the family the Green killed did not accept his apology. They refused. Green said, "you wish I was dead, and I do not hold that against you. If I was in your place, I am convinced beyond any doubt that I would feel the same way. I know that I have done evil, and I fear that the wrath of the Lord will come upon me on that day. But, I hope that you and your family at least can find some comfort in God's justice." Green was one of the five soldiers in the 101st Airborne Division that has been charged with crimes and a subsequent cover-up.

I think that this is disgusting. I completely agree with Amanda on this one. The family should not have accepted his apology. There is absolutely nothing that he can do to make them forgive him, especially not just by saying he's sorry. Yes, he can not really do anything to make the family members come back and to take away his actions, but they should not have to accept his apology for that. He brutally murdered an entire family! That is just something I do not understand, how can people do those types of things? I supposed that the war got to him and made him crazy, but who knows? I'm not going to make up excuses for him. He definitely does not deserve it, that is for sure. I believe that he got the sentence he deserved. Two wrongs does not make a right, like Amanda said. Just because he killed that family does not mean that he should be killed as well. What good does that do? He will have never learned from his mistakes and will just be gone. No good will have been done. He deserves to sit in prison for the rest of his life and to think about all the terrible things he has brought onto that poor family.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/05/28/kentucky.iraq.murder/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

4 teens charged as adults in locker room sexual assault case

Randall John Moye, 14; Raymond A. Price-Murray, 14; Lee Louis Myers, 14; and Diamante J. Roberts, 15 have all been charged with four counts each of sexual battery. They have allegedly been sexually assaulting a 13-year-old boy with broomsticks and a hockey stick for two months. All four are being charged as adults. Prosecutor Kimberly Hindman stated that two of the boys held down the victim while the other two violently sodomized him with hockey stick and broomsticks. There were multiple witnesses to these crimes as they were being committed but no one reported them, including the victim. The investigation started with a fight that started on the football field and continued into the locker room. During this fight the victim screamed, "I'm tired of them getting on me," Hindman said. All four of the defendants admitted to the crimes in a written statement. The bond for each defendant was set at $15,000, also all but one of them have to wear ankle monitors, the one that does not, has left the area. The defendants could spend up to 120 years in prison if convicted on all four counts.

This makes me sick to my stomach. Reading about this, I almost became ill. How could these boys do this to that 13-year-old victim and no one reports it? It was stated that MULTIPLE people witnessed the crimes in process and no one ever said anything. How can you stand by and watch something like that, with the victim screaming for them to stop, and not try and help? I just can not believe that people could just walk past it and not say anything! It's amazing to me. How can you be so cruel as to not help this poor kid out? He's being raped and harassed and abused and you just walk by and do not try to stop it? I just can not believe people could do that. I hope that these boys are convicted. They do not deserve to go free in anyway. They should definitely go to jail for what they did. It is horrific. It really makes me sick to my stomach. How can people be so cruel and messed up in the head to think that that is okay to do to someone? Those four boys do deserve to go to jail for that 120 years. They do not deserve to have a life after what they did to that poor young boys. He is going to be haunted for the rest of his life because of those four, he will never forget what they did to them. They should never have to forget what they did. I hope it haunts them for the rest of their lives. They do not deserve to be free.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/04/florida.sexual.assault/index.html?eref=rss_topstories