Cops Probe Death of Boy Killed By Toy Cannon

Utah cops are trying to determine what triggered a  tiny replica cannon to fire something into the face of a 14-year-old boy, killing him. 

"We're waiting for the autopsy," said Joyce Hansen, administrative assistant to the chief of police in Tremonton, Utah. She said it might take weeks, depending on the workload of the state medical examiner's office in Salt Lake City.

Robby Ostberg died Monday when the replicate 18th century cannon he was holding fired accidentally, a police press release said.

According to the release, Ostberg had been playing video games with his 16-year-old brother when the cannon erupted.  He was dead when police arrived, the release said.

The release said the cannon was a .50-caliber weapon designed to be fired with black powder. Police did not know what type of propellant may have been in the cannon Monday or if there had been a projectile in it, police said.

Robby Ostberg often filled the cannon with black powder and fired tinfoil balls out of it, Cameron Kunsman, who called Robby his best friend, told the Deseret News.

Trever Steinlicht, a neighbor, said cannons like the Ostbergs' could send a projectile through a wall or kill "small game," ABC4 said. They are known to go off accidentally, he said.  "All it takes is for something to slip and the hammer to drop on it and it will go boom," Steinlicht said.

There is legal confusion over whether the miniature cannons are decorations, toys or firearms,  according to a blog post by legal scholar Jonathan Turley.

"Utah laws are silent on replica firearms and antique firearms," he notes. If the cannon that killed Ostberg was designed to fire a .50-caliber round, Turley asks, should it be treated as a firearm and should it come with warnings and a safety lock, he asks.

Ostberg's father, Allen Ostberg, was home at the time of the accident, the release said. A relative told ABC4 Salt Lake City that Ostberg was an Army veteran who had guns in the home, but he locked them and taught his sons gun safety.

Continue Reading... Labels: cannon, Death, killed, probe

North Carolina Death Row Inmate Writes Letter About Life of 'Leisure'

A convicted murderer on death row in North Carolina wrote a taunting letter to his hometown newspaper about his life of "leisure" in prison and making a mockery of the legal system.

Danny Robbie Hembree Jr. was found guilty of murdering 17-year-old Heather Catterton in 2009 and was sentenced to death on Nov. 18, 2011.

Hembree, 50, is on death row at Central Prison in Raleigh, N.C., but he's not looking for any pity in the letter he sent to The Gaston Gazette.

"Is the public aware that I am a gentleman of leisure, watching color TV in the A.C., reading, taking naps at will, eating three well balanced hot meals a day," Hembree asked in the letter. "I'm housed in a building that connects to the new 55 million dollar hospital with round the clock free medical care 24/7."

He also asks if the public knows that the chances of his "lawful murder" taking place in the next 20 years, if ever, are "very slim."

Hembree has also been accused of killing two other women. One was 30-year-old Randi Dean Saldana, whose burnt remains were found near Blacksburg, S.C. in 2009. The other was 30-year-old Deborah Ratchford, whose body was found in 1992.

He admitted to taking drugs and having sex with Catterton and Saldana on the days they died, but told jurors he did not kill them or dispose of their bodies, according to ABC News' Raleigh-Durham affiliate WTVD. He is scheduled to go on trial for Saldana's killing in March.

Hembree confessed to killing the three women during recorded police interviews, but later said the confessions were an attempt to cover up a string of armed robberies, according to the Gaston Gazette.

In the letter, Hembree also mocks the judicial system.

"I laugh at you self righteous clowns and I spit in the face of your so called justice system. The state of North Carolina has sentenced me to death but it's not real," he wrote.

North Carolina State Representative Paul Stam told WTVD that the letter is a travesty of justice. He said that it is more likely that Hembree will die of natural causes than of the death penalty.

"His punishment does not fit his crime at all," Stam said.

Hembree tells the citizens of Gaston County, N.C., that they should petition that state and force them to carry out his "murder sentence."

The Gaston County District Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to request for comment.

"I am a man who is ready to except [sic] his unjustful punishment and face God almighty with a clean conscience unlike you cowards and your cowardly system," Hembree wrote. "Kill me if you can suckers. Ha! Ha! Ha!"

The letter is signed, "Sincerely, Danny Hembree."

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Continue Reading... Labels: 'Leisure', about, Carolina, Death, Inmate, Letter, north, Writes

U.S. condemns reported Iran death sentence for former U.S. Marine

The State Department said Monday that it was working to confirm Iranian state media reports that an Iran revolutionary court had sentenced an American citizen and former U.S. Marine Amir Mirzaei Hekmati to death on charges of spying for the CIA.

"If true, we strongly condemn this verdict," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a press statement Monday. "Allegations that Hekmati either worked for, or was sent to Iran by the CIA, are simply untrue."

Hekmati "has 20 days to appeal the court's decision," the Washington Post's Thomas Erdbrink reported from Tehran.

Hekmati, 28, a former U.S. Marine Arabic language translator in Iraq, was born in Flagstaff, Arizona of Iranian descent and raised in Michigan. His family in Michigan, former colleagues and American officials say Hekmati never served in the CIA and was in Iran to visit his grandmother.

Hekmati's parents said they "are shocked and terrified" by the news, his mother Behnaz Hekmati wrote at the website the family set up to advocate for Amir's release, FreeAmir. "We believe that this verdict is the result of a process that was neither transparent nor fair."

Amir Hekmati on vacation in Colombia in 2010. (Courtesy of Hekmati family/Yahoo News)

"Amir did not engage in any acts of spying, or 'fighting against God,' as the convicting Judge has claimed in his sentence," his mother's press statement continues. "A grave error has been committed, and we have authorized our legal representatives to make direct contact with the Iranian authorities to find a solution to this misunderstanding."

Hekmati had the permission of the Iranian interests section--the U.S.-based diplomatic outpost for the Islamic republic--in Washington D.C. to travel to Iran in August to visit his elderly grandmother, his family has told Yahoo News. After his arrest on August 29, Iranian officials initially urged the family to keep quiet in order to facilitate his release.

But in December, Iranian state media aired video of Hekmati allegedly confessing to having worked as a CIA agent--charges his family and friends vehemently deny and which they said appear to have been given under duress.

Hekmati joined the Marines in 2001 after graduating from high school. He was posted to Iraq after attending language school in Monterey, Calif. He left the Marines in 2005, and later worked for various companies, including based in Kansas for the government contractor BAE Systems from March until September 2010, Yahoo News previously reported.

Former U.S. Marine Jared Bystrom told Yahoo News Tuesday that Hekmati called him last year to propose launching a business together. Bystrom and Hekmati had been posted by the Marines to the defense language school in Monterey, California in 2001, where Hekmati studied Arabic.

Another friend and former colleague of Hekmati's, Chase Winter, told Yahoo News last month that Hekmati had told him he was thinking of going back to school to get a business degree.  Hekmati visited Winter in South America last September 2010 for a week's vacation, Winter said.

Hekmati's Facebook page until shortly after his Iran TV video "confession" last month featured photos of himself in various locales he had traveled and worked--hardly demonstrating the behavior of someone trying to conceal his activities, his associates note.

American officials again called Monday for the Iran government to give Swiss diplomats consular access to Hekmati, to allow him to meet with a lawyer, and to release him "without delay."

"Securing the freedom and safety of this young man is the top concern of the U.S. government in this case," a U.S. official who requested anonymity said Monday. "Unfortunately, the Iranian government is not doing the right thing here.  They have a track record of falsely accusing individuals of espionage for leverage."

International human rights groups also called on Iran to reverse the sentence, and raised concerns about the apparent lack of due process Hekmati was granted. Hekmati is the first American to be sentenced to death in Iran since the 1979 Iranian revolution, Amnesty International said.

"Like many other detainees in Iran, Amir Hekmati did not receive a fair trial and we question the timing and political circumstances of this decision," said Ann Harrison, Amnesty International's interim director for the Middle East and North Africa. "We know from past experience that the Iranian authorities sometimes rush forward with executions of political prisoners — including dual nationals — at politically sensitive times and we fear that this execution could happen within days or weeks."

"We are seriously concerned regarding the death sentence, secrecy, and continued lack of transparency surrounding the prosecution of Iranian-American citizen Amir Hekmati," the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran's Hadi Ghaemi said in a press release Monday. "We ask the Iranian judiciary to adhere to international standards of due process and allow independent observers in the courtroom at his appeals trial."

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Continue Reading... Labels: condemns, Death, Former, Marine, reported, sentence

Iran sentences American man to death in CIA case

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian court has convicted an American man of working for the CIA and sentenced him to death, state radio reported Monday, in a case adding to the accelerating tension between the United States and Iran.

Iran charges that as a former U.S. Marine, Amir Mirzaei Hekmati received special training and served at U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan before heading to Iran for his alleged intelligence mission. The radio report did not say when the verdict was issued. Under Iranian law, he has 20 days to appeal.

The 28-year-old former military translator was born in Arizona and graduated from high school in Michigan. His family is of Iranian origin. His father, a professor at a community college in Flint, Michigan, has said his son is not a CIA spy and was visiting his grandmothers in Iran when he was arrested.

His trial took place as the U.S. announced new, tougher sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, which Washington believes Tehran is using to develop a possible atomic weapons capability.

Iran, which says it only seeks nuclear reactors for energy and research, has sharply increased its threats and military posturing against stronger pressures, including the U.S. sanctions targeting Iran's Central Bank in attempts to complicate its ability to sell oil.

The U.S. State Department has demanded Hekmati's release.

The court convicted him of working with a hostile country, belonging to the CIA and trying to accuse Iran of involvement in terrorism, Monday's report said.

In its ruling, a branch of Tehran Revolutionary Court described Hekmati as a mohareb, an Islamic term that means a fighter against God, and a mofsed, or one who spreads corruption on earth. Both terms appear frequently in Iranian court rulings.

In a closed court hearing in late December, the prosecution asked for the death penalty for Hekmati.

The U.S. government has called on Iranian authorities to grant Swiss diplomats access to him in prison. The Swiss government represents U.S. interests in Iran because the two countries don't have diplomatic relations.

Hekmati is a dual U.S.-Iranian national. Iran considers him an Iranian since the country's law does not recognize dual citizenship.

His father, Ali Hekmati, and family friend Muna Jondy, an attorney who has been speaking on behalf of the family, did not immediately respond to emails and phone messages left at their offices before business hours Monday morning.

Similar cases against Americans accused of spying have heightened tensions throughout the years-long standoff over Iran's nuclear program.

Iran arrested three Americans in July 2009 along the border with Iraq and accused them of espionage, though the Americans said they were just hiking in the scenic and relatively peaceful Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

One of them was released after a year in prison, and the other two were freed in September in deals involving bail payments that were brokered by the Gulf sultanate of Oman, which has good relations with Iran and the U.S.

On Dec. 18, Iran's state TV broadcast video of Hekmati delivering a purported confession in which he said he was part of a plot to infiltrate Iran's Intelligence Ministry.

In a statement released the same day, the Intelligence Ministry said its agents identified Hekmati before his arrival in Iran, at Bagram Air Field in neighboring Afghanistan. Bagram is the main base for American and other international forces outside Kabul, the Afghan capital.

It is not clear exactly when he was arrested. Iranian news reports have said he was detained in late August or early September.

Hekmati's father, Ali, said in a December interview with The Associated Press, that his son was a former Arabic translator in the U.S. Marines who entered Iran about four months earlier to visit his grandmothers.

At the time, he was working in Qatar as a contractor for a company "that served the Marines," his father said, without providing more specific details.

Continue Reading... Labels: American, Death, sentences

MoD names hospital death Gurkha

4 January 2012 Last updated at 13:57 ET

Rifleman Sachin Limbu came from Rajghat, Morang in Nepal

A British soldier who died in hospital in Birmingham 18 months after being injured in Afghanistan has been named by the Ministry of Defence.

Rifleman Sachin Limbu, 23, from the 1st Battalion the Royal Gurkha Rifles, died at Queen Elizabeth Hospital on Monday.

He was injured in a bomb blast in June 2010 while on a patrol to deter insurgent activity in Walizi Village.

The Nepal-born soldier's death takes the number of UK personnel killed in Afghan operations since 2001 to 395.

The MoD said Rifleman Sachin died with his parents by his side.

Mr Dillisher Limbu, Rifleman Sachin's father and a retired Gurkha soldier, said: "My wife and I are immensely proud of our only beloved son who has sacrificed his life for the good of others.

"Sachin was our only son and we both extend our sincere thanks to all the staff at The New Queen Elizabeth hospital and Brigade of Gurkhas who have supported us all so closely."

From Rajghat, Morang in Nepal, Rifleman Sachin was brought up in the life and community of 7th Gurkha Rifles and later 2nd Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles in Hong Kong and Brunei. He joined the Brigade of Gurkhas in 2007.

'True Gurkha'

Lt Col David Robinson, commanding officer of 1 RGR, said Rifleman Sachin had shown "remarkable tenacity" in his fight to recover after being "terribly injured".

"Rifleman Sachin's sacrifice has prevented him from fulfilling a rewarding career but his inspiring determination not to succumb to his injuries for so long was in the true spirit of those Gurkhas who have gone before him.

"He was highly cherished and loved by his fellow Gurkhas and left his mark on all those that had the honour to meet him. As the only son of a retired Gurkha this will have been devastating for his family; our thoughts and prayers are with them at this difficult time."

Maj Kushiman Gurung called Riflemen Sachin Limbu a "true Gurkha soldier".

"He was loyal, determined, and enthusiastic and was always up for a challenge with a grin on his face," he said.

"His cheerful attitude and determination made him an inspiring member amongst his fellow soldiers, who both admired and respected him."

Maj Dyanprasad Rai, also of 1 RGR, paid tribute to "a courageous and highly capable soldier who was dedicated to his profession".

"He has always been sincere and devoted towards his responsibilities as a soldier, in the best tradition of the Gurkha soldier."

Continue Reading... Labels: Death, Gurkha, hospital, names

Three bailed over stabbing death

31 December 2011 Last updated at 12:45 ET

Seydou Diarrassouba was stabbed after a fight began in the Foot Locker sports shop

Three youths have been arrested and bailed over the death of Seydou Diarrassouba on London's Oxford Street during the Boxing Day sales.

The three - two aged 16 and one aged 20 - were held at separate London police stations and bailed until mid-January.

The 18-year-old was stabbed after a fight began in the Foot Locker sports shop near Bond Street Tube station on Monday.

Later, his family praised a "loving son and brother".

The homes of 20 suspected gang members were raided on Friday to "quell" related tensions, police said. A further 11 individuals have also been arrested.

Police have targeted suspected gang members in Merton, Wandsworth and Southwark.

Mr Diarrassouba's family said in a statement: "A simple shopping trip has turned into a complete nightmare for our whole family.

"Whoever took his life took our backbone away. Seydou kept us upright and now we feel weak as we have lost a very special part of us."

Continue Reading... Labels: bailed, Death, stabbing, Three

Man arrested after death of baby

30 December 2011 Last updated at 06:19 ET

A man has been arrested following the unexplained death of a baby girl in Devon, police said.

The 10-month-old was taken to the Royal Devon Exeter Hospital from Ottery St Mary on Monday.

The girl, who was brought to hospital unconscious, was transferred to Frenchay Hospital in Bristol but died on Thursday.

A 28 year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm, police said.

He was released on bail until February.

The girl has not been formally identified but her next of kin were with her at the time of her death, police said.

Continue Reading... Labels: After, arrested, Death

Prayers for police death family

10 December 2011 Last updated at 08:30 ET

Toby Day is thought to have attacked his family before killing himself

Prayers are to be said for a family, three of whom were found dead in a Leicestershire house.

Former police inspector Toby Day, his wife and youngest daughter were found fatally injured in Melton Mowbray on Thursday. It is thought he attacked his family before killing himself.

Two other children, aged 13 and 15, are in a stable condition in hospital.

The family were regulars at All Saints Church, in Oakham, Rutland, and will be the focus of the service on Sunday.

Mr Day, 37, lived in the property on Robin Crescent with his wife and children, named locally as Samantha, Kimberley, 15, Adam, 13, and Genevieve, 6.

The Leicestershire force has confirmed he was sacked after a misconduct hearing on 1 December concerning misuse of police computers.

Police have confirmed they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the attack.

Canon Lee Francis-Dehqani, vicar of All Saints Church in Oakham, said his heart goes out to the family

Tributes, including flowers and balloons, have been left at the scene.

Rev Canon Lee Francis-Dehqani, vicar of All Saints, said he had known the family since he was appointed at the church in 2004.

"They were a lovely family and regular worshippers at the church," he said.

"Prayers will be said for the family and for those who died during our service tomorrow."

He added he was working with the family and police liaison officers on the funeral arrangements.

Councillor Paul Westley, who represents Beaumont Leys on Leicester City Council and worked with Mr Day for three years while he was based in the area, said: "I am absolutely shocked and I am sure the community are.

"And of course my thoughts are with the family of the children and I offer my deep condolences."

Police have launched a murder inquiry and results of post-mortem tests are expected later.

The case was referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission but it later said it would not be carrying out a formal investigation.

Continue Reading... Labels: Death, family, police, Prayers

CIA officers mark death of spy with rare request

WASHINGTON (AP) — CIA officers are asking people to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of the first American killed in the Afghan war by donating to help the children of their fellow fallen.

Since the death in 2001 of CIA officer Mike Spann, a total of 23 stars have been added to the wall at the CIA's Langley, Va., headquarters that honors CIA operatives lost. Many were killed in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The clandestine world rarely breaks its silence, especially when it comes to family, but the CIA Officers Memorial Foundation notes about 56 children of those killed in the line of duty will need educational support over the next 17 years.

Spann was part of a small group of CIA paramilitary officers who went into Afghanistan just 16 days after the al-Qaida attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Less than two months later, the CIA along with U.S. Special Forces Green Berets and a massive aerial bombing campaign helped Afghan militias drive out the ruling Taliban.

Spann was killed when hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners, guarded by just a handful of Afghans, tried to escape from a fortress jail in Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan.

Spann is survived by his wife, Shannon, a retired CIA officer, and three children.

___

Online:

http://ciamemorialfoundation.org/

Continue Reading... Labels: Death, officers, request

Death toll rises in Cairo clashes

20 November 2011 Last updated at 19:25 ET

The BBC's Helena Merriman says police were beating protesters - "about 20 or 30 of them I saw, covered in blood"

Thousands of Egyptian protesters remain in Cairo's Tahrir Square after two days of clashes in which at least 13 people were killed and hundreds injured.

On Sunday, police and troops made a violent attempt to evict the demonstrators, firing tear gas and beating them with truncheons.

However, the protesters returned less than an hour later, chanting slogans against Egypt's military rulers.

The European Union said it condemned the violence "in the strongest terms".

There were also clashes in other cities including Alexandria, Suez and Aswan.

A total of 11 people were reportedly killed on Sunday and two on Saturday, according to medical sources. Health officials say as many as 900 have been injured, including at least 40 security personnel.

The demonstrators, some wearing gas masks, say they fear Egypt's interim military rulers are trying to retain their grip on power.

The violence comes a week before the country's first parliamentary elections since President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in February.

Armoured vehicles

The European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton called on the Egyptian authorities to cease violence against the protesters.

"I urge calm and restraint and condemn the use of violence in the strongest terms. There is no doubt that the transitional process is a difficult and challenging one," she said.

"I reiterate that the interim authorities and all parties concerned have the crucial task of listening to the people and protecting their democratic aspirations."

A second day of violence began on Sunday when stone-throwing protesters advanced from the square - focal point of February's uprising - towards the interior ministry.

Officers fired volleys of tear gas and drove the protesters back, before blocking the street leading to the ministry.

Armoured personnel carriers brought in reinforcements as the security forces tried to gain the upper hand.

Scores of soldiers and police poured into the square, beating protesters and dismantling a protest camp there.

But within an hour, protesters swarmed back into the square, usually one of Cairo's busiest traffic thoroughfares.

The BBC's Helena Merriman at the scene says the atmosphere is tense, with moments of calm punctuated by outbreaks of panic and running.

The edges of the square are thinning out but the road to the ministry of interior is full of protesters, she says.

In recent weeks protesters - mostly Islamists and young activists - have been holding demonstrations against a draft constitution that they say would allow the military to retain too much power after a new civilian government is elected.

They have repeatedly tried to gain a foothold in Tahrir Square again, but until this weekend they had always been removed quickly by the police.

"The violence [on Saturday] showed us that Mubarak is still in power," one protester, Ahmed Hani, told the Associated Press news agency.

Protester Magdy Mohamed Ali: "If they think that the army personnel can bring us down then they are in for surprise"

He said the leader of Egypt's military government, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, should resign.

"We have a single demand: the marshal must step down and be replaced by a civilian council," he said.

The latest violence is some of the worst in months between the Egyptian authorities and demonstrators.

Parliamentary elections are due to begin on 28 November and take three months.

Earlier in November, Egypt's military rulers produced a draft document setting out principles for a new constitution.

Under those guidelines, the military would be exempted from civilian oversight, as would its budget.

This has angered protesters who fear the gains they have made during the uprising could yet slip away as the military tries to retain some grip on power.

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Continue Reading... Labels: Cairo, clashes, Death, rises