History can be fun. Years after deaths and triumphs, the challenges that were endured to get from way back then to now can provide hours of entertainment to readers and even viewers of historical events translation to film, music or art. History can also dredge up horrible memories of horrible, torturous events when many of us felt that the very streets we lived and worked on had become a battle ground in a struggle between religious and philosophical beliefs.

It’s been just over 7 years since Lee Boyd Malvo and John Allen Muhammad were arrested, sleeping in their 1990 Chevrolet Caprice Sedan. The murder weapon the two had used to kill ten people, a Bushmaster .223 rifle was found inside the car, and was later conclusively linked through ballistics to 8 of the 10 shootings, though the eventual conviction that led to Muhammad’s death sentence relates to only a single shooting, that of Dean Harold Meyers, a 53 year-old man who was just pumping his gas.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE PRESS RELEASE

Lake Tapps Pilot Pleads Guilty to 35 Counts of Production of Child Pornography, Sex Traveling, and Obstruction

April 24, 2009 — Weldon Marc Gilbert, 48, of Lake Tapps, Washington, pleaded guilty yesterday evening to 35 counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor in the Production of Child Pornography, Transportation of a Minor to Engage in Illegal Sexual Activity and Obstruction of Justice.  U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez remained at the Seattle federal courthouse into the evening hours to conduct the plea hearing, to ensure GILBERT knowingly and voluntarily entered his guilty plea.  GILBERT remains detained at the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac, and will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle in Tacoma on August 17, 2009.  Under the terms of the plea agreement, GILBERT must be sentenced to between 19 years and 25 years in prison.  Prosecutors will ask for a 25 year prison term.  The plea is also dependent upon GILBERT’s guilty plea to charges in Pierce County Superior Court.  He will serve both sentences concurrently.

JURY FINDS ZEIGLER GUILTY OF CAPITAL MURDER
from an article by Harvey Rice – The Houston Chronicle

A Galveston County jury deliberated for more than fours hours today before finding Royce Clyde Zeigler II guilty of capital murder in the death 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers, who became known as Baby Grace.

Prosecutors portrayed Zeigler as helping his wife kill his stepdaughter during a cruel disciplinary session and then concocting elaborate lies to help cover up the slaying and disposal of the body.

The defense countered in final arguments that Zeigler, 26, was a good man who had nothing to do with the death of Riley Ann Sawyers, but loved his wife so much that he helped her pack Riley’s body in a box and eventually toss it into the Gulf of Mexico.

PROSECUTORS MUST PROVE THEY CAN KEEP LEON DAVIS IN JAIL
by Suzie Schottelkotte – The Ledger.com, Lakeland FL

June 12th, 2009–State prosecutors will unveil the crux of their case against accused murderer Leon Davis in a hearing next month, although the hearing essentially has nothing to do with proving him guilty or innocent.

Circuit Judge Michael Hunter ruled Friday that prosecutors must prove that they have enough evidence to keep Davis in jail. When he was arrested on Dec. 13, 2007, the day two women were fatally burned during an attempted robbery at a Lake Wales insurance office, prosecutors had 21 days to officially charge him with those crimes.

Hunter ruled Friday that the state missed that deadline, which means Davis is eligible for a preliminary hearing on the allegations against him.

CAT-KILL DEAL SCRATCHED
by Denise Buffa – The New York Post

A judge yesterday tossed a one-year prison deal offered to a teenage girl accused of burning her ex-lover’s cat to death.

Judge Margaret Clancy, who had earlier approved the plea deal, said “nobody realized” at the time that reducing a violent felony charge to a nonviolent charge was illegal.

Prosecutors in July let Cheyenne Cherry, 17, plead guilty to attempted burglary and animal cruelty after investigators said her 14-year-old accomplice was the one who put the helpless Tiger Lily in the oven.

The judge yesterday said Cherry could plead guilty to a reduced charge and still be sentenced to a year in prison.