Crime

The Associated Press reports: The FBI has opened a hate-crime investigation after a man was accused of pouring boiled water on two gay men inside a suburban Atlanta apartment. Authorities say 48-year-old Martin Blackwell, the boyfriend of the mother of victim Anthony Gooden, told investigators he was disgusted with Gooden’s relationship with Marquez Tolbert and poured “a little hot water …

Paying somebody else to pray that you win the lottery seems about as effective as praying yourself. From Seattle’s ABC affiliate: A Seattle man accused of deceiving people with online Christian websites has agreed to pay consumers $7.8 million. The Washington State Attorney General says the Christian Prayer Center website, where you had to pay to receive prayers, was one …

From Atlanta’s ABC affiliate: A young couple is recovering from severe burns after police say a man threw burning water on them — because they are gay. The victims told Channel 2’s Nicole Carr that they were sound asleep, resting after a long day at work, when they were attacked. “The pain doesn’t let you sleep. It’s just, like, it’s …

Kathryn Knott is staying in prison. Via the Philly Voice: Judge Roxanne Covington on Monday denied a request to reconsider the sentence of Kathryn Knott, the Bucks County woman convicted of simple assault and related charges in the 2014 beating of a homosexual couple in Center City. “The sentence is well within the guidelines and is as appropriate as I …

And they threw in anti-gay and racist slurs as well. The Chicago Tribune reports: A Cook County judge on Saturday lashed out at two Northwestern University freshmen accused of spray-painting racist and homophobic messages along with the name of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump inside a nondenominational chapel on the university’s campus. “These allegations are disgusting to me,” Judge Peggy …

The Florida gun rights activist who was shot in the back by her toddler son earlier this week has a record for shoplifting clothes that she hid in her son’s stroller. Via the Daily Mail: Jamie Gilt, 30, was arrested by Jacksonville Sheriff’s Department on April 4, 2013 after she was detained by security guards at Dillard’s department store in …

The jury took less than a day to find him guilty. GOOD. Via the New York Daily News: A crazed killer was convicted Wednesday of gunning down an unarmed gay man in the West Village nearly three years ago — and the murder was deemed a hate crime. Elliot Morales, 36, now faces up to life in prison for the …

Philly.com reports: The football players at Conestoga High School had a nickname for the rituals they performed each week, according to prosecutors. No-Gay Thursday. Some players avoided the locker room that day, when players considered certain sexual behavior permissible. The hazing at the elite Chester County public school, routinely ranked near the top academically in national ratings, escalated into assault …

Whoa. From the Los Angeles Times: In another twist in the long-running O.J. Simpson saga, Los Angeles police are investigating and testing a knife that was reportedly recovered on property once owned by the former football star. The elite Robbery-Homicide Division is investigating a buck knife now in the department’s possession. The knife was apparently turned over to a police …

This is an interesting development. The New York Post reports: A killer who shot a man on a Manhattan street after hurling gay epithets has a longtime transsexual lover who insists the defendant is no bigot. Elliot Morales, acting as his own lawyer for the hate-crime slaying of gay stranger Mark Carson, called as his first witness a former flame …

From the Philly Voice: Judge Roxanne Covington will hear a resentencing motion next week for Kathryn Knott, the Bucks County woman convicted of simple assault and related charges in the 2014 beating of a gay couple in Center City. Last month, Covington sentenced Knott last month to 5-to-10 months in prison and two years of probation for her role in …

From the New York Post: Manhattan jurors were shown a cellphone video Thursday of homophobic killer Elliot Morales confessing to his crime before trying to lick the sidewalk in front of cops. “I fucking shot him dead!” Morales shouts, cackling, as several NYPD officers restrain him face-first on the pavement. “Diagnosis dead, doctor!” he continues, laughing to the police. “They …

As I reported yesterday, confessed killer Elliot Morales is finally on trial for the May 2013 hate crime slaying of Mark Carson, a black gay man Morales shot to death on a West Village corner. Morales, who is representing himself in the trial, yesterday questioned Carson’s companion on the night of the murder, declaring that the pair had instigated the …

The trial has finally begun for Elliot Morales, who bragged and laughed to arresting officers after gunning down a gay black man, Mark Carson, on a West Village corner in May 2013. The New York Daily News reports: The best friend of a 32-year-old gay man killed by a hate-filled sicko in the West Village in 2013 tried in vain …

The Associated Press reports: A judge on Friday sent the Texas teenager who used an “affluenza” defense in a fatal drunken-driving wreck to adult court, raising the possibility that he could get jail time for the 2013 crash that killed four people. Ethan Couch was 16 at the time of the crash. During his juvenile trial, a defense expert invoked …

Over 600K views at this writing. From the Sydney Morning Herald: Comedian Tim Minchin has taken aim at Cardinal George Pell in a provocative song in which he calls Australia’s highest-ranking cleric in the Catholic Church scum, a coward and a pompous buffoon. The musical attack aired on Network Ten’s The Project on Tuesday night and immediately attracted a swell …

CBS News reports: A federal grand jury in Nevada indicted Cliven Bundy and four others on 16 charges related to an armed standoff near his ranch in 2014 over unpaid grazing fees. Ammon Bundy, of Idaho, Ryan Bundy, of Nevada, Ryan Payne, of Montana, and Peter Santilli of Ohio, were also indicted by the Nevada grand jury Wednesday. The charges …

Oh, brother. From the Philadelphia Voice: Kathryn Knott is asking Judge Roxanne Covington to grant her a resentencing hearing. Attorney Bill Brennan, who replaced Knott’s former defense attorney Louis Busico, filed a motion for reconsideration Wednesday with the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. Brennan said late Wednesday afternoon that he is requesting the court consider alternatives to incarceration, contending that …

JUSTICE! Philly.com has the news: A Philadelphia Common Pleas judge on Monday sentenced Kathryn Knott, 25, of Bucks County, to 5-10 months in jail for participating in an attack on a gay couple in Center City in 2014. Knott, of Southampton, wept heavily when Judge Roxanne Covington announced her sentence. Her parents rose to console her. She was convicted by …

The infamous dildo-hating Oregon militant has been denied bail until the judge is convinced that he isn’t a potentially murderous flight risk. The Associated Press reports: U.S. Magistrate Eileen Willett explained her decision by saying Jon Eric Ritzheimer had weapons in his possession when he took part in the standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Ritzheimer faces a charge of …