Category Archives: Crime-Courts

Anniversary of first “right to die” case

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December 26, 2005 marks the 15th anniversary of the death of Nancy Cruzan. Nancy Cruzan was a 25-year old southwest Missouri woman who was thrown from her car in 1983 when it flipped over. Paramedics found and revived her at leat 15 minutes after the crash. She never fully regained consciousness but did achieve a status that came to be called a “Persistent Vegetative State.” Five years after her accident, her family concluded she would never return to full consciousness. Thus began a long legal battle to have her feeding tube removed so she would die. The Cruzan case became the first “right to die” case to reach the United States Supreme Court, which ruled 5-4 against the family.

Missourinet News Director Bob Priddy interviewed Bill Colby, the Cruzan family lawyer during the ordeal. Runs 30 minutes but it’s damned fine radio. Before the web, an in-depth piece like this would simply have been tucked away in a desk drawer.

James Keown’s blog roll

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I arrived home this evening to find a message on our answering machine from a reporter for the Boston Herald. He said he was doing a story on James Keown who was arrested this morning (here in Jefferson City) for allegedly poisoning his wife with antifreeze in 2004. The reporter called me because smays.com was on James’ blog roll.

I met James eight or nine years ago when he was the assistant program director at KMBZ in Kansas City. I was still doing affiliate relations back then. James seemed like a bright, personable young man. I knew that he was back in Jefferson City but had had no contact with him in recent years. I was linked on his blog because he knew bloggers who knew me.

Once the story broke, it didn’t take reporters long to Google James and discover his blog. Others found it too and quickly began posting (anonymously) comments and some of were…harsh. The comments have been turned off but the blog is still up. The BostonHerald.com story included a link.

Most of today’s 600+ page views at smays.com have come from James’ blog. I suspect it will be a while before we see any new posts. If the charge against Mr. Keown is dismissed or he is tried and acquitted, will he blog his experiences?

Once again I am reminded of how connected we have become.

Lethal injection: Fatal if not painful

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Timothy Johnston was executed this morning at the state prison in Bonne Terre, Missouri. It had been delayed by appeals based on the argument that Missouri’s method of execution (lethal injection) is cruel and unusual punishment. Johnston seemed intent to prove his defense was true as he writhed on the gurney for what seemed like a minute. But some witnesses thought he was moving before the first drug was administered.

If his death was painful, it couldn’t have been much worse than being beaten and kicked to death which is how Tim dispatched his wife back in 1989.

But let’s assume he did fake the pain, as it were. You’re just seconds from crossing over to The Other Side, hoping you know what awaits but no way to know for sure… and you pretend to be in agonizing pain to…what? Make some kind of political statement?! That takes some real focus.

And having one of the corrections officers lean over and whisper, “Dude, we didn’t give you the shot yet” …would take me out of character.

Execution journal: Donald Jones

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In his capacity as news director for The Missourinet, Bob Priddy has witnessed 15 executions. The most recent was the April 27th execution of Donald Jones, for which Bob produced an “audio journal” that begins as he leaves his motel in Bonne Terre to go to the prison and ends as he prepares to leave the prison about two and a half hours later. Bob telescoped the audio down to about half an hour and some segments have been shifted for context purposes (the reading of the final statement of Donald Jones, for example).

Bob was not allowed to take his recorder to the execution witness area, so he summarizes the events that took place in that approximately 90-minute span. The main voices you will hear are those of Missourinet News Director Bob Priddy, Corrections Department spokesman John Fougere, and Corrections Director Larry Crawford. Voices of various other officers will be heard as part of the process.

Call me Omar

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A Sioux City man convicted of first degree murder in connection with a drug-related slaying will NOT get a new trial. Omar Rasheen Wilkins asked for a new trial because the prosecutor kept calling him “O-J” during the trial. The justices on the Iowa Supreme Court say the prosecutor’s conduct is “clearly subject to criticism” but probably did not affect the jury’s verdict. The justices also point out Wilkins’ own attorney slipped and called him O-J once during the trial, too.