Category: Crime

‘How to Murder Your Husband’ Writer Sentenced to Life Nancy Crampton Brophy found guilty of killing her husband

Romance writer Nancy Crampton Brophy, left, accused of killing her husband, Dan Brophy, in June 2018, watches proceedings in court in Portland, Ore., Monday, April 4, 2022. (Dave Killen/The Oregonian via AP, Pool, File Photo)

(NEWSER) – Update: Nancy Crampton Brophy, self-published author of romance novels including The Wrong Husband and The Wrong Lover—as well as an essay titled “How to Murder Your Husband”—has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering her husband. The 71-year-old Oregon resident, who was found guilty last month of the 2018 slaying of chef Dan Brophy, will not be eligible for parole for 25 years, the BBC reports. Nathaniel Stillwater, Brophy’s son from a previous marriage, was among the relatives who spoke at Monday’s sentencing hearing. “You opted to lie, cheat, steal, defraud, and ultimately kill the man that was your biggest fan,” he said. “You were—to borrow from your catalogue—the wrong wife.” Our original story from May 25 follows:

The romance novelist who infamously wrote an essay titled “How to Murder Your Husband” was on Wednesday convicted of murdering her husband. Prosecutors say Nancy Crampton Brophy, 71, spent months collecting a ghost gun kit, a gun, and various gun pieces that could have been swapped out on the gun, including a piece to make sure bullets were not traced back to the gun, before shooting Daniel Brophy in his workplace where there were no cameras or witnesses. She then tried to collect on life insurance policies, the New York Times reports. The essay, written in 2011, had included tips about making sure such a murder was not traceable. Defense attorneys said that while acquiring the gun pieces, Brophy had been considering a story about a woman who built a gun to deal with her abusive partner. Brophy, too, said she bought the gun parts for research.

Hospital Shooter Was Strapped to a Gurney She was rapidly disarmed by quick-thinking EMT

Stock photo. (Getty Images/beerkoff)

(NEWSER) – An active shooter strapped to a gurney in a Houston-area hospital could have killed people if she hadn’t been disarmed by an EMT, police say. KHOU 11 reports that the woman, who had been taken to the HCA Conroe Hospital Emergency Room for a mental health evaluation, had her arms and legs secured on the gurney but was still able to fire two rounds from a small-caliber gun she had stashed in an elastic waistband-type holster under her dress. Police say the medical attendant disarmed the woman almost immediately and nobody was injured, reports the Houston Chronicle.

The woman, identified as 65-year-old Glendar Johnson-Jackson, had been brought to the hospital under an emergency detention order from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office says she was taken to the hospital after causing a disturbance at a business, ABC 13 reports. After the shooting, she received medical clearance and was taken to the Montgomery County Jail. Police say she will face charges including deadly conduct.

Conroe Police Chief Jeff Christy “commends the HCEC EMT that took quick, decisive and heroic action in disarming Jackson as she discharged the gun. His actions likely saved innocent lives,” police said in a statement. They said Conroe Mayor Jody Czajkoski “wanted to recognize the Conroe Police Department’s rapid and overwhelming response to the reported active shooter situation. He is thankful that the situation was resolved without casualties.” Authorites say they are looking into why the woman’s gun wasn’t found sooner. (Read more Texas stories.)

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Federal Court Drops All Restrictions on Hinckley Would-be presidential assassin tweets in celebration

US Marshalls escort John Hinckley Jr. as he returns to a marine base via helicopter in Quantico, Va., Aug. 8, 1981. (AP Photo/Barry Thumma, File)

Update: After keeping an eye on John Hinckley for decades, the federal courts dropped all restrictions Wednesday on the man who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. “After 41 years 2 months and 15 days, FREEDOM AT LAST!!!” Hinckley tweeted, per CNN. He no longer faces any restrictions on his internet activity or movements. When Hinckley opened fire in 1981, he also shot White House press secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy, and Washington police officer Thomas Delahanty, per NPR. Hinckley had planned to perform a concert in New York next month, but the venue canceled the show on Wednesday, per Rolling Stone. The Market Hotel’s Instagram post sounded like the decision was made reluctantly. Our story from June 1 follows:

The man who shot President Ronald Reagan in 1981 is set to be released from all remaining restrictive conditions on June 15. US District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman said in September that he would free John Hinckley from restrictions on that date as long as Hinckley continued to do well. Officials say Hinckley has, and Wednesday’s hearing did not alter those plans. CBS News reports federal prosecutors, mental health professionals, and lawyers for Hinckley said at the hearing that they have no worries regarding his mental state. The judge has said that Hinckley, who turned 67 on Sunday, has displayed no symptoms of active mental illness, no violent behavior, and no interest in weapons since 1983, reports the AP.

Hinckley was confined to a mental hospital in Washington for more than two decades after a jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity in shooting Reagan. But starting in 2003 Friedman began allowing Hinckley to live for longer stretches in the community with requirements like attending therapy and restrictions on where he can travel. He’s been living full-time in Virginia since 2016, though still under restrictions. Those include: allowing officials access to his electronic devices, email, and online accounts; being barred from traveling to places where he knows there will be someone protected by the Secret Service; and giving three days’ notice if he wants to travel more than 75 miles from his home.

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Rioter Who Brought Confederate Flag Convicted With Son Judge finds Kevin and Hunter Seefried guilty on felony count

Rioters move through the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. A Confederate battle flag is at right. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

(NEWSER) – Update: A federal judge on Wednesday convicted a Confederate flag-toting man and his son of charges that they stormed the US Capitol together on Jan. 6, 2021, to obstruct Congress from certifying President Biden’s electoral victory. US District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Donald Trump appointee, delivered the verdict after two days of testimony without a jury, the AP reports. Kevin Seefried and his adult son, Hunter, were both found guilty of a felony: obstruction of an official proceeding. The judge also convicted the two of misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and illegally demonstrating inside the building. Hunter Seefried was acquitted of other misdemeanor charges. Sentence hearings are scheduled for September. Our original story from Jan. 14, 2021, follows:

Kevin Seefried succeeded last week where Confederate troops had failed in at attack on the US Capitol in 1864. Facing less resistance than the rebel soldiers faced in the Battle of Fort Stevens, Seefried marched into the Capitol with a Confederate battle flag. “The Confederate flag made it deeper into Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, than it did during the Civil War,” a Penn State history professor told the New York Times last week. On Thursday, Seefried and his son, Hunter, surrendered to the FBI to face charges of entering a restricted building, disrupting government business, and disrupting congressional proceedings. They’d come to the FBI’s attention when a co-worker of the younger Seefried told the FBI he’d boasted about being in the Capitol during the riot with his father, per CNBC.

Doctor Who Hawked COVID ‘Miracle Cure’ Gets Jail Time Jennings Ryan Staley of San Diego sentenced to 30 days over hydroxychloroquine scheme

File photo of hydroxychloroquine pills. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

(NEWSER) – In the early days of the pandemic, a San Diego doctor offered a beacon of hope—more specifically what he called a “miracle cure” for COVID. Now, however, Dr. Jennings Ryan Staley is going to prison for 30 days over his purported remedy, reports Fox 5. Staley attempted to smuggle hydroxychloroquine into the US from China falsely labeled as “yam extract,” says the Justice Department. At the time, hydroxychloroquine was being touted by President Trump and others as a COVID remedy, though studies would later prompt the FDA to crack down on the malaria’s drug’s use for COVID. Staley began marketing $4,000 “treatment kits” out of his Skinny Beach Med Spa.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley told an undercover agent who bought a kit, per the Washington Post. “It’s hard to believe, it’s almost too good to be true. But it’s a remarkable clinical phenomenon.” The doctor said it was a “guaranteed” cure, but added that “there’s always exceptions.” Prosecutors say he sold a “family kit” to the agent without asking any questions about medical history. He also boasted of how he was acquiring the hard-to-find drug: He said he “got the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” and then “tricked customs” with the bogus label.

Colombian Drug Boss Dies in US Prison Gilberto Rodriguez-Orejuela helped run Cali cartel in Colombia

Update: Gilberto Rodriguez-Orejuela, who helped lead Colombia’s Cali cocaine cartel, has died in an American prison, two years after losing his bid for compassionate release because of his poor health. The cause was lymphoma, the Guardian reports. Rodríguez Orejuela, who was extradited to the US in 2004, built his organization with his brother, Miguel, and they battled Pablo Escobar and the Medellín cartel for dominance in the illicit drug trade. Our story from March 2020 follows:

Coronavirus has become a “get out of jail” card for hundreds of low-level inmates across the country, and even hard-timers are seeking their freedom with the argument that it’s not a matter of if but when the deadly illness sweeps through tightly packed populations behind bars. Among those pleading for compassionate release or home detention are the former head of the Cali drug cartel, President Trump’s former personal attorney, and America’s most infamous Ponzi schemer. A sampling of their arguments, per the AP:

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‘Using the more favourable law’

Bader Khamis

In September 2020, his lawyer appealed the verdict and the Appeals Court reduced the fine to Dh5,000, but retained the deportation order.

Lawyer Bader Khamis from World Centre Advocates and Legal Consultant then appealed that decision too and pleaded with the judges to implement Article 75 of the new UAE Decree No 30 of 2021 on narcotic and psychotropic substances, which came into effect on January 2 this year.

“I asked the court to use the law for the accused,” Khamis told Gulf News.

The new amendment says that deportation is not mandatory in cases of personal use or possession of drugs and the amendment leaves it up to the judge to decide if someone convicted in a narcotics case can be allowed to stay on in the UAE.

UAE court abolishes deportation order against Dubai-based drug user Appeals Court upholds Dh5,000 fine, but allows man to remain in UAE based on new law

Picture for illustrative purpose Image Credit: Shutterstock

Dubai: A Dubai-based man, who was about to be deported from the UAE for consuming drugs, has had his deportation order abolished by the court on the basis of a recent amendment to UAE’s anti-narcotics law.

The man, arrested by Dubai Police for consuming illegal drugs, was found guilty by a court and handed a Dh10,000 fine, to be followed by deportation. The man was convicted during the movement restrictions that were in place in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and could not be deported.

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Dubai Police warn against hiring absconding domestic workers 948 runaway maids arrested in Dubai since the beginning of Ramadan

Image Credit: Dubai Police/Facebook

Dubai: The Dubai Police General Command has warned members of the public against hiring runaway domestic workers, especially during Eid and other occasions, as they could pose a serious risk to society.

The police also urged the community members to immediately report absconding domestic workers to maintain the security and stability of the community.

Colonel Ali Salem, Director of the Infiltrators Department at Dubai Police, said they arrested 948 runaway domestic workers of different nationalities since the beginning of Ramadan as part of a campaign they had launched against all types of violators who breach the employment contract for domestic workers.

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The ‘Dark Truth’ Behind America’s ‘Vaccine Court’ In an interview with The Defender, Wayne Rohde, author of “The Vaccine Court 2.0: Revised and Updated: The Dark Truth of America’s Vaccine Injury Compensation Program,” explained how the program protects government agencies and corporations, not vaccine-injured children.

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Wayne Rohde knows what it’s like to have a child injured by a vaccine — his son was diagnosed with an encephalitic brain injury at 13 months old, after getting the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

Rohde also has personal experience navigating the process of trying to get financial compensation for a child’s vaccine injury.

The author of “The Vaccine Court 2.0: Revised and Updated: The Dark Truth of America’s Vaccine Injury Compensation Program” (2021) sat down with The Defender to discuss how the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) has evolved — or devolved — in the last two decades to protect government agencies and corporations rather than the health of vaccinated children.

The revised and updated edition of “The Vaccine Court,” first published in 2014, includes a foreword by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., chairman of Children’s Health Defense (CHD).

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