19/10/13 03:58 from Top Stories - Google News
San Francisco Chronicle6 killed, officer hurt in crash near Ohio capitalUSA TODAYUPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio (AP) — A social worker says six members of a family killed in a crash with an Ohio police officer were Iraqi refugees who were driving...
Ohio family of six dies in collision with police car
By Kim Palmer
CLEVELAND (Reuters) - A family of six died in a car crash just outside Columbus, Ohio, early on Friday after being hit by a police vehicle rushing to the scene of a robbery, police said.
An officer from Upper Arlington, a Columbus suburb, was responding to a reported armed robbery at a McDonald's when he collided at an intersection with a car carrying a husband, wife and their four daughters, including a 2-year-old, the Perry Township Police Department said.
No one in the family appeared to be wearing a seat belt, and the toddler was not in a child safety seat when the accident happened at 1:35 a.m., the police said in a statement.
The officer, whose name has not been released, was taken to Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Investigators believe the officer was using the cruiser's lights and siren before the crash, said Perry Township Police Lieutenant Steve Cesaro.
Cesaro said he did not know how fast the vehicles were traveling when the accident occurred or which car had the right-of-way at the intersection, which was in Perry Township's jurisdiction.
"We are investigating that, and it should take about a week or so before we will know," Cesaro said.
(Reporting by Kim Palmer; Editing by Mary Wisniewski, Colleen Jenkins and Eric Beech)
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A fire broke out after 13 cars carrying crude oil and liquefied petroleum gas left the tracks, but no injuries were reported.
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» Florida manhunt for convicted killers prompts officials to ponder what went wrong - CBS News
19/10/13 12:49 from Top Stories - Google News
Washington PostFlorida manhunt for convicted killers prompts officials to ponder what went wrongCBS NewsORLANDO, Fla. As authorities search for two convicted killers freed by bogus paperwork, questions linger about who created the legiti...
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Christian Science MonitorBay Area traffic sluggish as BART strike continuesChristian Science MonitorSan Francisco Bay Area rapid transit officials and union leaders are offering what they say are solutions to a strike that scrambled the ...
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Washington PostTrain strike clogs San Francisco-area highwaysCharlotte ObserverCommuters wait to board a ferry bound for San Francisco on Friday, Oct. 18, 2013, in Oakland, Calif. Commuters in the San Francisco Bay Area got up before daw...
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19/10/13 06:56 from Top Stories - Google News
Washington PostTrain strike clogs San Francisco-area highwaysSan Francisco ChronicleOAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — San Francisco Bay Area rapid transit officials and union leaders are offering what they say are solutions to a strike that scrambl...
19/10/13 06:56 from Top Stories - Google News
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19/10/13 06:55 from Top Stories - Google News
Washington PostSan Francisco Bay area commuters clog highways, swarm buses as train ...Washington PostOAKLAND, Calif. — San Francisco Bay Area rapid transit officials and union leaders are offering what they say are solutions to a strike...
19/10/13 06:55 from Top Stories - Google News
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» Fla. cracks down after 2 murderers released from prison - USA TODAY
19/10/13 11:46 from Top Stories - Google News
ABC NewsFla. cracks down after 2 murderers released from prisonUSA TODAYThe Florida Department of Corrections is cracking down on rules involving inmate releases after two convicted murderers walked out of a Panhandle-area prison with fo...
Fla. is cracking down on inmate releases after two convicted murderers were wrongly freed.
The Florida Department of Corrections is cracking down on rules involving inmate releases after two convicted murderers walked out of a Panhandle-area prison with forged documents in late September and in October.
In a letter dated Friday and addressed to Florida's Circuit Court judges, Michael Crews, secretary of the state Department of Corrections, writes that effective Friday, the department would require verification of any order from a sentencing judge that results in early release of an inmate.
The inmate will not be released until verification is received, Crews writes. "In light of the potential for fraudulent use of court papers, we believe that the additional step of providing verification of sentence modification court orders is an important safeguard in ensuring the integrity of the judicial process," the letter continues.
The letter follows revelations that came earlier Friday that the convicted murderers, Joseph Jenkins and Charles Walker, both 34, checked in as required by Florida law with a jail after they gained their freedom from the Franklin Correctional Institution in Carrabelle, Fla.
On separate days, the men reported to the booking lobby of the Orange County Jail in Orlando, where they were photographed and fingerprinted for a state database, and where they filled out registration forms, jail spokesman Allen Moore says. During this process, an Orange County sheriff's deputy typically checks for outstanding warrants and if there is none to be found, the person is free to go, according to Moore's office.
Florida law requires felons to register with a local sheriff's office when they move to a new county.
The case has drawn attention to the state in recent days, since it was first revealed both men were voluntarily released from the prison with years to go on their sentences.
Jenkins was released Sept. 27th. He was serving a life sentence for first-degree murder in the 1998 killing and botched robbery of an Orlando man.
Walker was released Oct. 8. He was convicted of second-degree murder in a 1999 slaying in Orange County, Fla. He also was serving a life sentence.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office is seeking help from residents in capturing the two men and asks anyone who sees either of them to call 911 right away.
"These men have been convicted of major felony crimes and should not be approached as they are considered to be very dangerous," Jeff Williamson, public information officer for the Orange County Sheriff's Office.
Chief Circuit Court Judge Belvin Perry, who presided over the Casey Anthony trial, has criticized the inmate release process as being lax.
"One of the things we have never taken a close look at is the verification of a particular document to make sure it's the real McCoy," the Associated Press quoted Perry as saying.
Florida state attorney Jeff Ashton, who also played a role in the Casey Anthony case, said
The case has been brewing over the last few days, since it was first revealed that both men
-real McCoy - GS
The real McCoy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_real_McCoy
"The real McCoy" is an idiom and metaphor used in much of the English-speaking world to mean "the real thing" or "the genuine article", e.g., "he's the real ...
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19/10/13 14:10 from Top Stories - Google News
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Florida manhunt for convicted killers prompts officials to ponder what went wrong
ORLANDO, FLA.As authorities search for two convicted killers freed by bogus paperwork, questions linger about who created the legitimate-looking documents that exposed gaps in Florida's judicial system.
Within days of walking out of prison, Joseph Jenkins and Charles Walker, who had been sentenced to life, traveled about 300 miles to a jail an Orlando and registered as felons. They signed paperwork. They were fingerprinted, and they were even photographed before walking out of the jail without raising any alarms. Had one of the murder victim's families not contacted prosecutors, authorities might not have known about the mistaken releases.
"We're looking at the system's breakdown, I'm not standing here to point the finger at anyone at this time," Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said Friday as he appealed to the public to help authorities find the men. He said he believed they were still in the central Florida area.
In light of the errors, the Corrections Department changed the way it verifies early releases and state legislators promised to hold investigative hearings to figure out how the documents - complete with case numbers and a judge's forged signature - duped the system.
CBS News senior correspondent John Miller reported on "CBS This Morning: Saturday" that a similar order for Jenkins' release was filed in 2011.
"They've been creating these documents and sticking them in the files and hoping somebody would come across them and say, 'Hey, we've got to let this guy out,' for a while," Miller said.
Jenkins was released Sept. 27 and registered at the Orange County jail in Orlando on Sept. 30. Walker was set free Oct. 8 and registered there three days later.
Felons are required to register by law. When they do, their fingerprints are digitally uploaded to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and a deputy at the jail verifies that they don't have any outstanding warrants, said jail spokesman Allen Moore.
By registering as the law required, they likely drew less attention.
"If there's no hit that comes back, they're free to go," said Isaiah Dennard, theFlorida Sheriff's Association's jail services coordinator.
If felons do not register, a warrant is put out for their arrest, Dennard said.
The sheriff said there had been some sightings of the men, and "most" of their families were cooperating, but he didn't go into specifics about either detail. Police were offering a $5,000 reward for help and billboards were going up in the area.
Authorities learned about the mistaken release when one of the murder victim's families notified the state attorney's office. Dennard said victims' families are automatically notified when a felon is released, typically by a computer voice-generated phone call.
It's not clear exactly who made the fake documents ordering the release or whether the escapes were related. Authorities said the paperwork in both cases was filed in the last couple of months and included forged signatures from the same prosecutor's office and judge. Both orders also called for 15-year sentences.
"There's reason to suspect that these aren't the first occasions," Demings said later of the releases.
Miller reports that another defendant last spring had an order for early release from a life sentence for the attempted murder of a police officer until a detective found it and brought it to the attention of prosecutors just in time.
The state Department of Law Enforcement and the Department of Corrections are investigating the error, but so far have not released any details.
Chief Circuit Judge Belvin Perry, whose signatures were forged, presided over the highly publicized trial of Casey Anthony in 2011. His signature is widely available on public documents and easily accessible online.
"I think it was lifted off another document and placed on that document, which is not hard to do," he told CBS News this week.
Perry said there were several red flags that should have attracted the attention, including that it's uncommon for a request for sentence reduction to come from prosecutors.
The Corrections Department said on Friday it verified the early release by checking the Orange County Clerk of Court's website and calling them.
Corrections Secretary Michael Crews sent a letter to judges saying prison officials will now verify with judges - and not just court clerks - before releasing prisoners early.
Sen. Greg Evers, who chairs the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, said he spoke to Perry on Friday and that the judge will offer a proposal in which judges review all early release documents before court clerks send them to prisons.
"They're working on some failsafe plans," said Evers, a Pensacola Republican. "If the court administrator put these plans in place throughout the state it will solve the problem."
New measures were implemented in the Palm Beach County Clerk of Courts Office after workers there thwarted the release of a burglary suspect from forged paperwork in 2011. The changes included only accepting judge's orders from the judge's assistant and to treat them especially carefully, said Cindy Guerra, chief operating officer for the office.
"That situation in Orlando, that just doesn't happen here," said her colleague, Louis Tomeo, the office's director of criminal courts. "Our clerks, I venture to say, would have picked up on that easily."
As the Florida court system transitions into a paperless era, special email accounts have been set up for judges. The deadline to go completely electronic is February, though it has already been moved back several times.
Across the country, prisoners have had varying success trying to escape using bogus documents. In 2010, a Wisconsin killer forged documents that shortened his prison sentence and he walked free, only to be captured a week later. In 2012, a prisoner in Pennsylvania was let out with bogus court documents, and the mistake was only discovered months later.
Jenkins, 34, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the 1998 killing and botched robbery of Roscoe Pugh, an Orlando man.
State Attorney Jeffrey Ashton said he learned Jenkins had been released when Pugh's family contacted his office. They reviewed the paperwork and found that it was a fake, then notified law enforcement.
Later, they discovered Walker's release documents were also fake.
"It is now clear that the use of forged court documents to obtain release from prison is an ongoing threat which all law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, court clerks and prison officials must address and stop," Ashton said.
Walker, 34, was convicted of second-degree murder in a 1999 slaying in Orange County. He told investigators that 23-year-old Cedric Slater was bullying him and he fired three shots intending to scare him.
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