We Are A Nation of Laws And The Jury Has Spoken

President Obama has made the following statement concerning the "NOT GUILTY" verdict in the murder trial of George Zimmerman:

The death of Trayvon Martin was a tragedy.  Not just for his family, or for any one community, but for America.  I know this case has elicited strong passions.  And in the wake of the verdict, I know those passions may be running even higher.  But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken.  I now ask every American to respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son.  And as we do, we should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities.  We should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis.  We should ask ourselves, as individuals and as a society, how we can prevent future tragedies like this.  As citizens, that’s a job for all of us.  That’s the way to honor Trayvon Martin.

I am so glad that Obama is concerned about gun violence and preventing tragedies that he addressed the 1.5 murders a day that occur in Chicago. It is estimated that about 80% of the homicides in Chicago are gang related.

It broke my heart when Obama talked about the tragic death of Jonylah Watkins who was only six-months old.  She died when Koman Willis tried to shoot her father Jonathan Watkins.  Don't wait for Al Sharpton, et all to tell you that the alleged motive for this shooting was that Willis believed that Watkins had stolen a video game system and drugs from him.

Surely you remember the protest marches with people chanting "No justice. No peace."  You don't?  Well maybe you remember how there was a bounty put out on Willis.  You're right, that didn't happen either.  Surely you remember when the President said, "If I had another daughter, she would look just like Jonylah Watkins." I didn't hear that either.  

I also NEVER heard Obama express concern about the violence that occurs on a daily basis in his adopted hometown of Chicago using the public platform that is afforded a President.

Last night, defense attorney Mark O'Mara was asked if George Zimmerman had been black and Trayvon had been white how would the case have been different.  I was kind of surprised when he articulated what many people suspect.

Mr. O'Mara said, "I think that things would have been different if George Zimmerman was black for this reason.  He never would have been charged with a crime."

O'Mara also acknowledged the racial elements of the case and blamed the media and civil rights group attention on this case for twisting the course of justice.

Now today, the President of the United States speaks out about this case asking people to honor the decision of the court.  This may be laudable until one realizes that the Attorney General Eric Holder continue this circus by bringing forth civil rights charges against Zimmerman.

I for one would NOT be surprised in the least since we already know that the Department of Justice under the direction of Eric Holder joined the NAACP, Al Sharpton, and others in creating pressure to prosecute Zimerman despite the fact that the investigating officers did not feel they had the evidence to go forward in the case.

We have also been assured by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) that this isn't over and he has asked the Justice Department to prosecute George Zimmerman.

This despite the fact that the Justice Department has already conducted an exhaustive investigation to determine whether Zimmerman killed Martin out of racial animus  Yes I said NO EVIDENCE.

But don't worry, Obama has assured us that we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken.

Michael Plumadore Admits He Killed Aliahna Lemmon

When I arrived home from dropping Darryl off at the airport yesterday I arrived just in time to see the second half of the Nancy Grace Show. The story was about a missing Indiana girl named Aliahna Lemon.

Aliahna has several disabilities/emotional problems: She is partially blind and has hearing problems; she suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD).

From what I could gather Aliahna and her two younger sisters were staying with Plumadore for about one week because their mother, Tarah Souders, had been sick with the flu.

Plumadore claimed that on Sunday Aliahna disappeared from the home Friday morning while he was sleeping after having gone to a gas station about a mile away to buy a cigar. Authorities have said the Marathon Gas Station's surveillance video shows him there about that time.

He said he smoked his cigar and went back to sleep, then woke up about 10 a.m. when Aliahna's mother called. After that call, he realized the door to the home was unlocked and that Aliahna was gone. He said Aliahna's 6-year-old sisters told him Aliahna had left with her mom.

The story then seemed to morph into the claim that she left the home in the middle of the night while she was sleep walking. Aliahna's Grandmother even professed that they absolutely believed that Plumadore did nothing, could never have done anything to her precious grandchild. After all Plumadore had gained the trust of the family after befriending her grandfather James Lemmon.

Oh wait, did I mention that they met IN JAIL? That's right, you see James E. Lemmon was convicted March 6, 2006, of child molestation.

Aliahna wasn't reported missing until Friday night when he spoke with Aliahna's mom about 8:30 PM.

Today I learned that Michael Plumadore has confessed that he bludgeoned nine-year old Aliahna to death with a brick then dismembered her, hiding her head, hands and feet at a home where he was staying and dumping the rest of her remains in a nearby dumpster at a convenience store.

Allen County sheriff's investigators said in an affidavit that 39-year-old Michael Plumadore admits he killed Aliahna Lemmon on Thursday.

According to the affidavit, Plumadore told police that after beating Aliahna to death on the front steps of the home in the early morning hours. Plumadore then stuffed her body into trash bags and hid her remains in his freezer. He said he later chopped up her body with a hacksaw and stuffed her remains into freezer bags.

This is such an incredibly horrifying and heartbreaking act. A beautiful little angel left this world far too early at the hands of a vicious murderer. She never really stood a chance did she. I pray that justice is done for Aliahna.

The Death Of Lindsey Blake Householder

The case of Kathleen Householer still haunts me all these years later. At the time I had an infant son and the fact that a mother's worst fear struck so close to home was unnerving. I can still remember watching Kathleen's tearful pleas for the kidnappers to return her baby and I felt her pain.

At the time I had a brother serving on the police force in Winchester, Virginia. When my asking my brother what the police were doing to find poor Lindsey he told me that he couldn't talk about the case but that he could tell me that there's more to the story than meets the eye.

I knew enough not to ask anything else. It was obviously confidential and he couldn't discuss it but at the time I didn't follow his comment to the next "logical" step. It never occured to me that the mother would lie about her child being kidnapped.

When Kathleen was charged after her daughter's body was found in a garbage bag in the Shenandoah River, I remember doing an almost instant 180 from disbelief to outrage.

How could she have possibly done such a thing to her child and then gone on TV, tears streaming down her face, begging for her child's return while she knew all the while her daughter was already dead.

How quickly we were all willing to reach out to her in her pain as two-week old Lindsey's picture was broadcast by Washington television stations, and the National Missing Child Search Society offered a $15,000 reward for information leading to her recovery.

When police pulled Lindsey's body from the river, one of the officers said she looked like a little doll. The icy waters had kept her little body in a pristine condition and she appeared to be sleeping and you almost expected her to awake at any moment.

In the end, Kathleen Householder, 22, admitted in court Wednesday that she threw a rock at her 2-week-old daughter, Lindsey Blake, and threw her body in the Shenandoah River. She pleaded guilty in West Virginia to voluntary manslaughter after spending a year in jail.

The Rippon, W. Va., woman spent the year in the Jefferson County Jail and will receive credit for the time when she is sentenced March 9, the Morning Herald in Hagerstown, Md., reported.

Voluntary manslaughter carries a penalty of one to five years, so Householder could be released just after her sentencing, because she was given credit for time served while awaiting trial.

Householder said she fatally injured Lindsey on January 3, 1985, as she was preparing to take the baby and her brother Dustin to the pediatrician.

''They were both crying, and I just lost my temper. I grabbed a rock and threw it. I had no intention of doing what I did,'' she said. Dustin, who was three, was not hurt.

It still amazes me to learn that an innocent child's life is only worth a year in jail. Then again I suppose in light of the Casey Anthony trial, I suppose she's served at least some time for her crime

For a long while Lindsey was burried in an unmarked grave just outside of Berryville, Viriginia. It is my understanding that some local people raised money to mark her final resting place.