FAYETTEVILLE, Tenn. — Authorities say two men have been charged in six killings, including a toddler and unborn baby, near the Tennessee-Alabama border last fall during a dispute over drug dealing.

Lincoln County Sheriff Murray Blackwelder announced on Thursday that 36-year-old Henry Burrell, of Fayetteville, Tenn., and 35-year-old Zakkawanda Moss, of New Market, Ala., are charged with six counts each of first-degree murder. The two men are jailed in Alabama on unrelated charges.

Officials say three women, a man, toddler and unborn baby were slain last October.

According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Burrell and Moss were drug dealers who worked with one of the victims, Warren Crutcher. Officials believe the pair decided Crutcher was ripping them off, and the killings occurred while Burrell and Moss were looking for drugs and money.

Source: huffingtonpost.com

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CONCORD, N.H. — A woman convicted of sexually exploiting her 14-year-old daughter to produce child pornography was sentenced Thursday to 40 years in prison by a federal judge who called her conduct “shocking” and “egregious.”

“The damage you have done to your daughter is incalculable,” Judge Paul Barbadoro told the 43-year old woman.

The daughter, now 15, said in a videotaped statement played in court that her mother was normal for 13 years.

“I love my mother very much,” the girl said. “My mother is not the monster she is made out to be.”

The Associated Press doesn’t typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault and is not naming the woman, a Manchester lawyer, to avoid identifying her daughter.

A jury convicted the woman in January of transporting her daughter across state lines to produce child pornography, possessing child pornography and sexually exploiting her daughter to produce child pornography. She had faced up to 100 years in prison, which was the sentence federal prosecutors sought.

Two men testified that the woman made cellphone videos of them having sex with her daughter, and jurors viewed a 7-minute video prosecutors say she made of herself performing oral sex on the girl.

Defense attorney James Moir said Thursday that the woman’s life fell apart when her husband left her in 2011 and she turned to alcohol and drugs after 10 years of being a good Christian.

The judge said the woman, who has been incarcerated since her arrest in November and has been barred from having contact with her daughter, had used her daughter as “bait” to lure younger men for her own sexual gratification.

The woman, wearing a county jail uniform, shook her head and spoke briefly before she was sentenced.

“In July 2011 my world crashed, and I fell apart,” she said. “Being separated from my daughter is the greatest pain I have ever felt. Baby, I’m so sorry.”

Prosecutor Helen Fitzgibbon told the judge the daughter feels guilty and believes she is to blame for her mother’s predicament, a notion the judge said further illustrates the depth of the harm and damage the woman has done to her.

“She is 100 percent victim,” the judge said, calling the mother “100 percent perpetrator.”

The judge said he did not impose a life sentence on the woman to let her daughter know she had been heard.

Moir, the defense attorney, had asked for a 15-year sentence, saying the recordings, one of which shows the daughter having sexual intercourse for the first time in a Canadian motel room three weeks after she’d turned 14, were not made for profit or distribution but were a “sort of warped memento.”

The daughter did not testify and appeared in the courtroom for the first time to hear the verdict, to which she and her mother showed no reaction.

Moir said after court that he will appeal the conviction, and he declined to comment on the sentence.

U.S. Attorney John Kacavas said he was satisfied with the woman’s 40-year sentence.

“It effectively is a life sentence,” Kacavas said. “It removes her from society and eliminates any threat she poses to minors and adolescents.”

Source: huffingtonpost.com

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Officer Michael A. Dotro, 36, was arrested at his home in Manalapan Thursday. He faces charges of attempted murder and aggravated arson.

Prosecutors said Dotro, who worked with Captain Mark Anderko in the Edison Police Department, intentionally set fire to Anderko’s home in Monroe Township at about 4 a.m. Monday. The blaze was extinguished within about 15 minutes but heavily damaged the two-story colonial.

Anderko was inside the house at the time with his wife, two children and 92-year-old mother, prosecutors said. The children’s bedrooms were in front of the house, their windows inches away from where the aluminum siding melted from the heat of the flames.

Neighbor Haarika Reddy said the fire started from outside the home and the smoke detector couldn’t pick up on it immediately, but the family dog sensed the flames and woke Anderko’s wife, who in turn alerted the rest of the family and escaped.

No one was hurt.

Dotro, who has been an Edison police officer for nine years, was suspended from his job with pay. Bail has been set at $5 million.

Lawrence Bitterman, the attorney for Dotro, told NBC 4 New York it was “completely incomprehensible that Mike would be capable of something like this.”

Anderko, who has been on the Edison police force for 24 years, is currently one of several defendants in a lawsuit filed by another captain in the department, which has been embroiled in controversy for decades and internal lawsuits for the last several years.

Both the Middlesex County prosecutor’s office and the state attorney general’s office, who have been investigating the Edison Police Department, are looking into the arson.

Capt. Bruce Polkowitz, the president of the local police union, said Wednesday he was stunned by the attack on Anderko’s home.

“It’s unprecedented. I’ve never heard of anything like this, an attack on a police officer,” he said. “Mark is a genuinely good person, a great family man. This whole police department, from a union point of view, we’re doing whatever we can to help him out. I spoke to him yesterday, he’s as good as can be expected. Our hearts go out to him.”

– Pat Battle and Andrew Siff contributed to this report.

Source: nbcnewyork.com

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A preliminary 5.7 earthquake struck in Northern California on Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

The epicenter of the quake was centered 6 miles west northwest of Greenville, and 26 miles southwest of Susanville.

Initial reports said the quake, which struck at 8:47 p.m., was a magnitude 5.9.

A 5.7 magnitude quake is considered moderate, but has the potential to cause considerable damage.

Chief meteorologist Mark Finan at NBC affiliate KCRA said the quake was felt at the station’s studios in downtown Sacramento, about 145 miles south of the epicenter.

There was no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Actress Amanda Bynes was arrested in her New York apartment Thursday night on charges of reckless endangerment, tampering with evidence and criminal possession of marjuana, NBC New York reported.

The doorman of the building called police to report that Bynes was smoking marijuana in the lobby, sources told the station. Before officers arrived, Bynes, 27, had gone back to her 36th floor apartment, and when police came to her apartment, she reportedly tossed the water pipe out the window.

Sources told NBC New York that Bynes was taken to Roosevelt Hospital to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, then to a Midtown police station to be processed, and was expected to spend the night in jail and appear in court on Friday.

Bynes is on probation for three years for driving with a suspended license and also has a DUI case pending in southern California. She moved to New York last fall.

In April, Bynes drew attention for shaving half of her head, and she’s been a vocal poster on Twitter. In December, charges in two separate hit-and-run incidents against her were dismissed.

As a child actress, she starred in the sitcom “All That” and in her own sketch comedy show, “The Amanda Show.” She also appeared in numerous films.

In 2012, Bynes announced that she had retired from acting, an announcement she had also made in 2010 and later revoked.

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The defense team for George Zimmerman, the man charged with second-degree murder in the Florida shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, has released a trove of texts and photos from Martin’s cell phone — but it’s not clear whether they’ll be admissible in trial.

The newly released evidence, posted to a website run by Zimmerman’s defense team on Thursday, includes texts from Martin where he discusses being suspended from school and smoking marijuana. He also shows an interest in guns in several texts.

This comes just days before a key hearing next Tuesday that will determine the admissibility of certain evidence at the trial.

The 25 photos released by Zimmerman’s team include some of Martin that have already circulated widely online, as well as some new ones, including one where Martin shows his gold teeth to the camera while sticking up his middle fingers, and a close-up picture of a gun that the defense says was taken from Martin’s camera, although it’s not evident from the photo who is holding the gun.

Martin, a black 17-year-old, was shot to death by Zimmerman on Feb. 26, 2012, in Sanford, Fla., in a case that set off racial tensions around the country.

Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch volunteer of white and Hispanic descent, has pleaded not guilty, claiming he shot Martin in their gated community after Martin attacked him.

In one of the text conversations, sent 12 days before his death, Martin tells a friend he has been suspended from school for fighting.

“Why you not in school?” a text he receives asks.

“Suspended.”

“I thought you was going out with ur friend,” the reply says.

“Naw my ol g say she dont want me home caus she think ima get in mo trouble,” he texts back.

Martin’s texts also indicate he may have been curious about guns.

“U gotta gun?” reads a text from Martin’s phone, sent on Feb. 18, 2012, to a friend of his who was on the phone with him on the night of the shooting.

“You want a 22 revolver” asks someone in a text he receives that day.

Three days later, Martin mentioned a caliber of gun while asking a friend in another text, “U wanna share a .380 w.[redacted]?”

Other texts released allude to problems Martin was having at home and with authorities.

“My mom just told me i gotta mov wit my dad,” says one from Nov. 22, 2011. “She just kickd me out.”

Later that day, a text says, “Da police caught me outta skool.”

Marijuana references are scattered throughout the texts. Some of the newly released photos show Martin blowing smoke and what appear to be marijuana plants.

Jeff Deen, a former assistant state attorney in Florida and the head of a state agency that represents criminal defendants, said that strict rules having to do with character evidence will likely make Martin’s texts and photos inadmissible at trial.

“What does his mom saying he needs to live with his dad for a while say about why he was shot?  Nothing,” he said. “Generally, reputation evidence is not admissible in court.”

But Mark O’Mara, the lead defense attorney for Zimmerman, said he will try to use the new evidence during Zimmerman’s trial on June 10.

But an attorney for Martin’s family argued that the pretrial evidence release consisted of “irrelevant red herrings.”

“Is the defense trying to prove Trayvon deserved to be killed by George Zimmerman because of the way he looked?” Benjamin Crump said in a statement on Thursday.

“If so, this stereotypical and closed-minded thinking is the same mindset that caused George Zimmerman to get out of his car and pursue Trayvon, an unarmed kid who he didn’t know. The pretrial release of these irrelevant red herrings is a desperate and pathetic attempt by the defense to pollute and sway the jury pool.”

Martin’s death spurred a national conversation about guns and Florida’s expansive “Stand Your Ground” self-defense law, which allows people to use deadly force if they believe they are in danger of being injured or killed.  In April, Zimmerman waived his right to a pre-trial “Stand Your Ground” immunity hearing, guaranteeing his June trial before a jury.

On Thursday evening, Zimmerman’s defense team also filed a request for a delay in the trial.

Editor’s note: George Zimmerman has sued NBCUniversal for defamation, and the company has strongly denied his allegations.

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Three people were rescued from a river after a bridge along Interstate-5 in Washington State collapsed on Thursday evening, plunging cars into the water below, according to Washington State Patrol.

The extent of the injuries for the three is unclear, but all were evaluated on scene and were transported to area hospitals, according to Marcus Deyerin of the Washington Incident Management Team. Authorities say they have no reason to believe any others are still in the river.

Two vehicles were submerged in the Skagit River when the bridge fell around 7 p.m. local time (10 p.m. EDT), and traffic has been closed in both directions.

NBC Seattle affiliate KING5 reported that traffic was significantly backed up in both directions. I-5 is the main freeway that runs along the West Coast.

This I-5 bridge over the Skagit River at Mount Vernon was described by the Washington State Department of Transportation, after an inspection in August 2010, as “somewhat better than minimum adequacy to tolerate being left in place as is.”

State inspection reports submitted to the Federal Highway Administration were reviewed by NBC News. That overall evaluation of the structural condition on the bridge corresponds to a score of 5 on a scale from 0 (worst) to 9 (best).

The bridge received identical scores on inspections in 2010, 2008 and 2006, and is on a schedule for inspection every 24 months, as generally required by federal regulations. State officials said Thursday evening they were working to make public a copy of the latest inspection report, presumably from 2012.

Looking at specific areas of the bridge, the substructure (piers, abutments, footings, piles, etc.) was described as in satisfactory condition, with the superstructure (beams, girders, stringers, trusses, cables, pins, hangers, etc.) in somewhat worse condition, listed as fair, according to the inspection data online from the Federal Highway Administration. “Fair” meant that all primary structural elements were sound but may have minor defects.

The 1,112-foot steel truss bridge was built in 1955, and was carrying an average daily traffic of 71,000 vehicles.

The bridge was of a “fracture critical” design, as are 18,000 bridges nationwide, meaning it could collapse if even one part failed.

Even after the bridge collapse that killed 13 people in Minneapolis in 2007, a haphazard system of inspections continued, with federal authorities choosing not to require re-inspection of all the fracture-critical bridges.

In a survey of every state by msnbc.com in 2008, only six states and the District of Columbia said they began to recheck all their fracture-critical bridges.

Officials in Washington state, like in most states, said they performed special inspections of only their few dozen bridges of the particular deck-truss design used in Minneapolis.

The bridge that fell Thursday did go on to receive its regular inspections in 2008 and 2010, according to the federal records, called the National Bridge Inventory.

Bill Dedman of NBC News contributed to this report.

Gina Cole / Skagit Valley Herald

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DENVER — Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper’s decision to block the execution of convicted killer Nathan Dunlap for as long as he is governor infuriated victims’ relatives and drew quick criticism from Republicans ahead of the 2014 election.

Hickenlooper on Wednesday granted an indefinite reprieve to Dunlap, who is on death row for the ambush slayings of four people – three teenagers and a 50-year-old mother – in an Aurora Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in 1993.

The reprieve essentially guarantees Dunlap, 38, will stay alive at least through Jan. 13, 2015, the last day of Hickenlooper’s first term.

“I think it’s highly unlikely that I will revisit it,” Hickenlooper said.

“We feel the governor has taken the cowardly way out,” said Marj Crowell, whose 19-year-old daughter, Sylvia Crowell, was killed. “They’re just hoping we’ll forget about this until we get the next governor.”

Hickenlooper is running for re-election next year, and Dunlap’s fate is certain to be a campaign issue.

Citing Hickenlooper’s decision, former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo – who ran as a third-party candidate in the last gubernatorial election – announced Thursday he will run again as a Republican.

Wednesday’s decision prompted unusually personal criticism.

“Hickenlooper should’ve been up front with voters when he ran for office if he could not carry out the death penalty,” GOP Attorney General John Suthers said in a statement.

“He’s made himself into Nathan Dunlap’s guardian angel,” said George Brauchler, the Republican district attorney in the office that prosecuted Dunlap. “He’s said, `As long as you keep me in office, Nathan Dunlap never has to face death.’”

“This is something we’ve seen consistently out of this governor,” said Rep. Mark Waller, R-Colorado Springs, minority leader in the state’s lower house. “`I’m not going to make a decision.’”

Hickenlooper has an image as a pragmatic problem-solver, and he enjoyed bipartisan popularity until this year. But he has been forced to take a stand on an increasing number of divisive issues since his party won back the statehouse in November.

He signed sweeping gun control legislation and approved laws to help people who are in the country illegally and to establish civil unions for same-sex couples this year.

On the death penalty, Hickenlooper has appeared to be searching for a middle way.

In a December interview with The Associated Press, he said of repealing the death penalty: “I wrestle with this, right now, on a pretty much daily basis.”

Legislators this year considered a bill that would have ended the death penalty, but they dropped it when Hickenlooper sent word he might veto it.

In his reprieve order, Hickenlooper said the death penalty is used inconsistently across Colorado, and he cited problems in obtaining the drugs required for lethal injection, the execution method mandated by state law. He also said many states and nations are moving toward banning executions.

Dunlap, whose execution was scheduled for the week of Aug. 18, got only a reprieve, not the clemency he sought. Clemency would have removed the possibility of execution and changed his sentence to life without parole.

“Mr. Dunlap was grateful. His expressions of remorse were genuine. He is truly sad for what happened,” said Phil Cherner, one of his attorneys. “This is not a day to celebrate.”

Cherner has said Dunlap had undiagnosed bipolar disorder at the time of the crime, and that his attitude has changed since the state prison system began medicating him in 2006.

___

Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi, Colleen Slevin, Catherine Tsai and Kristen Wyatt contributed to this report.

___

Follow Dan Elliott

Source: huffingtonpost.com

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Steve Powell has been serving time on voyeurism charges for secretly recording images of young neighbor girls. He was sentenced in June 2012 to 2 1/2 years in prison.

May 23 was the earliest possible date Steve Powell could be released, based on sentence reductions he earned in prison for participating in programs and avoiding serious infractions, Corrections spokesman Chad Lewis said Wednesday.

To get out early, inmates must submit an acceptable release plan. Lewis said the state was still reviewing Powell’s proposed plan. If it’s approved, the state still requires 35 days to allow staff to notify victims and local law enforcement.

Police in Utah said this week they were closing the active part of the Susan Powell investigation and released their case file. She disappeared from her home in December 2009. Her husband, Josh Powell, was a focus of the investigation until he killed himself and the couple’s two children last year in an explosive house fire in Graham, Wash.

Investigators turned their attention to Josh Powell’s brother, Michael Powell, who, they now believe, helped Josh Powell dispose of Susan Powell’s body. Michael Powell committed suicide by jumping off a parking garage in Minneapolis three months ago.

Josh Powell and his two young sons moved into his father’s home in Puyallup, Wash., after Susan Powell’s disappearance.

Steve Powell had a sexual obsession with Susan Powell and thoroughly documented it in journals seized by police. Officers investigating her disappearance searched his home.

Police in Utah said Monday they do not believe Steve Powell was directly involved with Susan Powell’s disappearance but may know more about it than he has let on.

Police said both Steve Powell and Michael Powell were uncooperative in the investigation.

Source: huffingtonpost.com

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