Category: Criminal Justice

I came across this piece of news in my feed the other day and had to blog it.

Woman who falsely accused Duke lacrosse players of rape released from prison following murder conviction

The woman who falsely accused Duke lacrosse players of raping her two decades ago walked free from a North Carolina prison on Friday after serving time for the slaying of her boyfriend.

Crystal Mangum, a 47-year-old former exotic dancer, wore a gray sweatshirt and khaki pants as she left the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women in Raleigh at about 9:49 a.m. ET.

First thing that came to mind is what did she do now?  But to refresh your memory Crystal Mangum is the woman who falsely accused the Duke lacrosse players of rape years ago as listed above.  Well, she apparently killed her boyfriend and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.  To help you understand just how much of a piece of trash this person is, look at the folks whose lives have been ruined around her.

First, while I do not condone her work as a stripper, my guess is when you have nowhere else to turn after your application to be a community organizer is turned down, you strip. 

She performed for the Duke lacrosse team and accused 3 boys of raping her.  The outcry was huge, as you could imagine.  In a state like North Carolina with a large black population, 3 white boys raping a poor black girl was huge news.  More so, Duke is a private and very wealthy prestigious university.   The local County District Attorney, Mike Nifong, picked up the case and charges were filed.  The boys were “convicted” long before the trial in the court of public opinion.  Oh, and this case was spoken about almost nightly on national cable networks.  These boys were dragged through filth, if memory serves correctly, they were kicked off the team and expelled. 

The DA essentially used this case to try to grab a higher office, he now had a very public profile. With all the attention, pressure is ratcheted up, he knew he could not lose this case.  Well, it backfired.  Mangum admitted the rape never happened, but not until about a year later.  The charges were dropped by the State Attorney General.  The boys were declared “innocent.”  Folks, one thing to remember is, in the case of OJ Simpson, he was declared “not guilty;” however, that is not the same as innocent. It means the state did not prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.  These boys were declared innocent, as in falsely charged.  Huge difference. 

DA Mike Nifong was investigated and tried for prosecutorial misconduct; he was subsequently disbarred (lost his law license).  He was charged with contempt and served a day in jail as a result.  Nifong was no saint in the matter, but I do feel a little bad for him.  This case attracted so much attention that he was under pressure for a conviction.  Local sergeant from the Durham police department, Mark Gottlieb, the head investigator of the case took heat too.  Again, he was no saint as he had an axe to grind with students at Duke University.  Again, there was immense pressure here. Does the white cop want to doubt a black girl’s story of rape by rich white kids?  Gottlieb later killed himself, likely due to his role in this and his life altering involvement.

The university settled with all 3 players for, I believe, 20 million each.  Compared to the hell they went through and likely continue to go through, that’s a pittance.

The coach of the team had to resign, another piece of collateral damage in this women’s bullshit life.  Oh, Mangum was never charged for her role in this made-up story. 

So, if you are keeping score at home:

3 lacrosse players live’s altered massively.
1 coach who had to resign and really never recovered.
1 DA disbarred and publicly shamed.
1 police sergeant who killed himself.
1 university that paid out likely over 100 million in damages.

She was never charged.

Oh, then she murdered her boyfriend:

Mangum was convicted in 2013 for second-degree murder in the stabbing of her boyfriend, Reginald Daye, to death in April 2011. She was sentenced to more than 14 years in prison.

Let us add him to the tally above.

She is out of prison on parole.  Somehow that feels really wrong that she can breathe the same air as you and I.  When you leave this many people in your wake, do you really deserve to be let out of prison?  Mangum is going to pull another stunt soon. When she does, I hope her and her abettors pay the price.  History has a weird way of repeating itself folks, just watch.  This woman is not sorry, she is lucky.  Not too many people get the same chance as her.  I would have given her life, no parole and ordered the department of prisons to bury her under the jail when she passes. 

Piece of trash!

By The Chief

PS, I am not excusing the behavior or DA Nifong or Sgt Gottlieb, I am just saying they were pawns in her game.  They were literally collateral damage.

Folks, I feel for Samantha Guthrie. Having your 84-year-old mom disappear under suspicious circumstances has got to rock your world. Clearly foul play was involved. Whatever happened to Nancy, I don’t have any reason to think Samantha was involved. It’s just a feeling. I really don’t know anything about Samantha Guthrie except she works for NBC. She is a fellow human being made in the image of God, and I feel terrible for her.

I don’t think this was a kidnapping. If it is, it’s the weirdest story since Patty Hurst.

I think Samantha’s mom was killed the night that she disappeared. I also think the body is very near her mom’s home.

We have zero indication of “proof of life”. Also, bit coin ransom sounds bogus. It is a third party injecting themselves into a tragic situation or a deliberate misdirection by the perpetrators.

Was mom really the target? Just wondering? If so, why?  This thing stinks. Right now, law enforcement has too many cooks in the kitchen and I think that is making the case even more complicated.

I’m praying for Samantha and her mom but as you can see, I’m not hopeful that this will have a happy ending.

Well, another day, another unhinged Democrat decides to shoot up completely innocent people.  Nice work Matt Dowd. You successfully radicalized another whack job!  Dowd, as you may recall, was terminated from his job as a propagandist on MSNBC not long ago.  He thought Charlie Kirk deserved to die based on his beliefs. 

The bullets fired and unspent had anti-ICE messages on them. Similar to Charlie Kirk’s killer’s bullets.  Dowd you are doing great!  Let’s all come together and turn down the rhetoric, huh?  It doesn’t matter that the shooter likely has no connections to Matt Dowd, all that matters is Dowd and his ilk on the far left made ICE agents out to be the Gestapo or Nazis, and as a result, innocent people are being threatened and shot at.  For the sake of journalism, a trait Dowd will never be accused of having, this whacko had such a bad aim that he shot detainees not ICE agents. Wild plot twist there.  Hell, Dowd can’t even get folks to shoot the targeted folks he calls Nazi’s. 

Sure, I understand that Matt Dowd didn’t fire the bullet nor was he at the scene, but in my opinion, he is just as guilty as the shooter.  The statements he made for years on MSNBC, along with this fellow “journalists,” have caused folks to become radicalized.  Your hateful rhetoric about the President, Republicans in general, folks who hold different beliefs then you, folks who practice organized religion, and the everyday working man.  As a result, the whackos (they exist on both sides) have taken up arms and are using them. 

Now Dowd and his ilk want to use the “thoughts and prayers” and “let’s come together as a country and turn the temperature down” to try to take the moral high ground.  Dowd, you have blood on your hands!  You wanted this, and you got it.  There are now innocent people just working at their jobs being shot at by your disciples!

Let me address the whack jobs here for a minute.  President Trump quite literally ran on this, he said he was going to deport the folks here illegally, especially the criminals.  It’s a breath of fresh air seeing an elected actually do what he promised!  This should not have come as a surprise to anyone with an IQ north of single digits.  Mayors and governors not allowing the feds to do their jobs are seeing the National Guard deployed there.  It’s about safety, not deporting the guy who mows your lawn every other week! 

We will continue to call every shooter a Matt Dowd disciple, even though he is off the air. He wanted this, and he will get what he deserves.  Innocent people should never be gunned down, but in Dowd’s twisted fantasy land, he wanted this.

The Chief

Matt Dowd is a former talking head on MSNBC, a very large network that reaches millions each day.  He is a hateful, evil person who masquerades as a commentator.  Dowd has zero redeeming qualities in life. The only, and I literally mean only thing, he has going for himself is he was Former President Bush’s Chief Strategist for the 2004 election.  He since shed his Republican label and became Independent, he then re-registered as a Democrat.  However, at MSNBC, “former Republican” is a title that gets you job security as no actual Republican would want to work at that network.

Dowd would spew his verbal sewage daily about Trump/Republicans in general.  In the case of Trump or other electeds, while I disagree with the things that are said about them, I guess it’s the First Amendment, right?  Honest criticism, I’m ok with, but in the case of Dowd, it was pure hate speech. Yes, I believe Dowd is evil.  He made statements about someone who was not elected. 

I am not sure the exact timeline of events, but it has been odd watching the change at cable news networks.  It used to be actual news, now it is quite literally politics and mass shooting coverage on a continuous loop.  Commentary has been added and name calling has taken a front seat.  Republicans have been called; Hitler, rapists, racists, Fascists, dumb, stupid, idiots.  It has expanded to include things that are flat out false like Republicans taking away Social Security, health care, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, welfare, work from home, free vaccines, etc.  The problem is none of those are true.

To be clear, I know Matt Dowd didn’t fire the gun, but his constant inflammatory statements caused someone to.  Here is the actual trash spewed by Dowd after the shooting went down.

During his appearance on Katy Tur Reports, Dowd suggested that Kirk’s rhetoric may have contributed to the violence that claimed his life. Kirk, 31, had a history of rightwing provocation an d Christian nationalism, and frequently espoused bigoted rhetoric about Islam, women , LGBTQ+ communities and people of color.

“Hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions,” Dowd said, adding: “You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and then not expect awful actions to take place.”

Dowd also speculated about the circumstances of the shooting, saying: “We don’t know if this was a supporter shooting their gun off in celebration. So we have no idea about this.”

So, his opinions warranted someone to murder him?  Really Dowd?  Maybe it was a celebratory bullet that was shot?  How does your brain even come up with this trash?  You obviously do not have a functioning brain.  Imagine if he was reporting on a rape investigation?  Dowd(probably): I’ve got to see a photo of what the victim was wearing as she may have wanted it or brought it on herself.

Dowd issued this statement after MSNBC terminated him, to their credit they did so immediately and yanked him off the air.

Writing on Bluesky, he said: “My thoughts & prayers are w/ the family and friends of Charlie Kirk. On an earlier appearance on MSNBC I was asked a question on the environment we are in. I apologize for my tone and words.

Let me be clear, I in no way intended for my comments to blame Kirk for this horrendous attack. Let us all come together and condemn violence of any kind.”

That last sentence, yikes.  His comments were intended to stir up hate, and evil on this earthly plane.  He is only sorry that he got fired.  He is trying desperately to save face; no major network will touch this guy for a long while.  He and his comments are all over the internet and social media.  Make no mistake Dowd and his ilk have been saying and doing this type of thing for about 20 years. This murder is the fruit of their labor.  As I have chronicled in other blog posts, how many political shootings need to happen before this rhetoric is changed?  Heck, a deranged whacko fired a bullet at the local ABC10 affiliate in Sacramento because he thought someone at that office was responsible for cancelling Jimmy Kimmel!  Oh, and the shooter had a note essentially naming Kash Patel and Pam Bondi as targets too.  Notice how Dowd stirred up the hornets’ nest and is now doing the “we need to come together as a country” BS?  Violence is terrible. The shooter is evil. Stop spending time trying to figure out if he is a Republican, Democrat or Independent. Stop the rhetoric and the shootings likely subside.

You see Dowd and his ilk didn’t fire the bullet, but as mentioned above, they stirred up the hornets’ nest.  We have too many people who are mentally whacked in this country, and sadly with easy access to firearms, this will continue to occur.  We have people who watch way too much tv; specifically, political type shows/news.  These folks are also in deep corners of the internet where conspiracies and flat out untruths are being told as gospel.  These folks become radicalized and then you get; January 6^th, political assassinations, mass shootings, and Charlie Kirk being killed.  The really sad thing is some folks cheered Kirk’s death, others took to social media and lost their jobs over what they said.  Celebrating someone’s death who isn’t Putin, Hitler, the Ayatollah or Castro is just plain wrong.

One day I hope this all changes for the better, but I do not see it happening.

The Chief

If this is America, I am happy I have no wife or kids.  It was Friday and the news of the day was Charlie Kirk’s killer was caught.  I was on a shuttle to the rental car lot in Seattle when this news broke.

The ensuing “autopsy on the fly” as I call it left me speechless.  This is something news agencies and political groups have become famous for lately.  I call it “trying to justify a wrong.”

I communicate with my friend group mostly through WhatsApp, here is a sampling of messages that were coming through.  Mind you I do not subscribe to hivemind, so friends of varying backgrounds are in these chats.

#1 The killer’s parents were MAGA… so he must have been a Republican!

 False, and this is a horrible jumping to conclusions.  Turns out the kid had become radicalized on the internet/news media and took action.  He is not a Republican or MAGA.  Sadly, he brought unwanted attention to his family. I can guarantee you that they are/were being looked at as accomplices to the crime.

#2 The killer’s roommate was a male to female trans lover.

True, but really how is this relevant?  Sure, there was a “Charlie Kirk hates this person’s lifestyle component” but it doesn’t mean the roommate had anything to do with it. 

#3 Kirk trafficked in hate speech, and he deserved it.

 Again, unnecessary commentary.  If you don’t like his views/beliefs change the channel. Last time I had cable, there was a ton of channels to watch, surely something else would pique your interest.

#4 Utah’s universities are deeply conservative

 Whether this is true or not again, I’m not seeing relevance here.  Texas is a red state; Austin is very blue. 

The point of this blog is simple.  Check out the mental gymnastics done here to try to place blame on an ideology rather than the shooter themselves.  Folks, does it really matter if Charlie Kirk was killed by a; Republican, Democrat, Independent, straight, gay, trans, male, female, non-binary, etc.?  It doesn’t.  A wife is without her husband; she is now tasked with raising 2 children aged 1 and 3.  These children could very well grow with hate in their hearts when they find out their dad was murdered simply for having an opinion that differed from the garbage spewed on tv and the internet.

Nowadays, it’s more important to be first than to be right.  What happened to Charlie Kirk should scare everyone. The subsequent media reaction should as well.  The killer was a radicalized Leftist.  His roommate being trans just made him collateral damage.  The text exchange confirms it.  The roommate/lover didn’t care much for Kirk nor his views yet was furious when he heard his roommate/lover killed him.  This is the correct response.  Unfortunately, the killer’s family, friends, and acquaintances are getting a full proctology exam.  No stone will be unturned here and there will be more arrests; mark my words.  The old man who claimed to have shot Kirk was just arrested because when authorities detained him and searched his phone they found images on underage naked children. 

Folks, does it really matter the personal life/beliefs of the person who pulled the trigger?  It doesn’t.  It won’t bring back Kirk, and now a family is more known for their son being a killer than anything else.

Sad all around.

The Chief

Today had to have been painful for the families of the four students killed by Kohberger, even more painful for the two survivors.  The families are going through a constant hell, get togethers with empty seats, personalities missing from parties, weddings/birthdays/milestones never to be celebrated.  Sure, they got their day in court today, to face the monster who killed their loved ones/friends.  He sat there stone faced, not a care in the world.  Sure, the speakers could beat him up verbally and call him all the names they wanted, but it doesn’t and won’t matter.  Kohberger got exactly what he wanted out of this whole ordeal.

He will die famous in the small town of Moscow, Idaho.

Sure, he will be spending his remaining years in a supermax outside of Moscow, but still, everyone in the US knows who Bryan Kohberger is.  Similar to Charles Manson, The East Area Rapist, the Unabomber, Whitey Bulger; these folks get/got to die famous. 

What’s my point?  No one will remember who I am outside of close family and friends when I leave this earthly plane.  The entire USA knows who Bryan Kohberger is.

From the day of the quadruple murders to the media circus that followed, to the day of his arrest, he got what he wanted.  Everyone was glued to the TV, who done it?  Why?  How come?  Who could be so evil?  Was there a serial killer on the loose?  Believe me when I say this Kohberger may have been on the run, but he was likely watching the coverage of his murders.  It was calculated and planned out, he was studying criminology or something at Washington State University, I say or something because I do not care about him.  He wanted attention because he is a sociopath; he knew after committing this heinous crime that he would be featured on; Nancy Grace, Greta Van Susteren, and Ashleigh Banfield (newsnation) nightly for weeks on end.  Even though those news hosts claim not to care about him, they covered him extensively for the last 3 years. (This the old news axiom, if it bleeds, it leads.)

His pretrial hearing was insane, the motions to dismiss or disregard evidence that was damning was just a pivot.  He had made up several conspiracies about how a friend of the deceased actually killed them not him.  It was all a ruse, just a way to keep him in the news.  He loved this, he was likely watching from his jail holding cell in county lock up each night.  Oh yeah, they get cable tv and access to the internet via iPad type devices…. Paid for by Wiliam’s tax dollars! (Idaho taxpayers) .

If he wanted fame and notoriety, why did he take the plea deal?

Isn’t it obvious?  Idaho has the death penalty, oh and by the way they actually use it, unlike the Peoples Republic of California.  Oh, and Idaho has the firing squad, good luck saying that’s cruel and unusual punishment like lethal injection.  Also, unlike lethal injection, with the firing squad you won’t see a botched execution, they will just shoot you again!  So, Kohberger needed to take the plea, no one wants to exhaust their appeals and know death is around the corner.  Plus, it was unlikely Kohberger had any appeals that would be heard.

But taking a plea means no appeals, so what was the point in sparing his own life?

Correct, he cannot appeal his sentence, he spared his own life so he can continue to use the media while in jail.  Look for Kohberger to run a drill by writing letters to local papers/journalists throughout the area to tell his story.  You have large markets like Boise, smaller markets like, Spokane and Pullman, and very small markets like Moscow or Nampa.  He only needs one to write back to him.  Remember he never spoke at his sentencing hearing nor during the trial, it’s a total mystery as to; how, when, why and what for.  He can and will attempt to spill the “tea” by promising to tell all about his murders and the motive in exchange for something.  Likely to have his commissary account (food) loaded with money etc.  You have to remember jail is no fun, but he gets 3 warm meals a day, a bed, and access to cable and internet in his room.  All that is missing is better food, and the attention that will come from the media! 

But he cannot get out?  Right?

Well yes and no.  Sure, life without parole is the sentence (X4 actually, plus ten years) but things can change.  They never found the murder weapon, and they have no motive for the killings…. Think the Innocence Project could take this one up at some point?  Look in my home state, convicted double murderer Scott Petersen might get a new trial because the Innocence Project took up his case.  Political risk is a thing as well; Idaho might be dark red right now but who knows what could happen in 15-20 years?  Get a little bluer?  Look at the Menendez brothers in California, it’s looking more and more like they will walk free here someday under some sort of “compassionate release program.”  (Blogger note: it appears one brother’s health took a fatal turn so that might be driving the release of him.)  The Menendez brothers got life without parole, as did quite a few others who are having their sentences re-visited.  Kohberger could one day walk free.  Likely?  Maybe not, but it could happen.  Far better chance than being on death row.

The plea deal was a joke, brought by a weak-kneed prosecutor.

While I will admit most of this evidence was circumstantial, they did have DNA and lots of cell phone pings around the scene of the murder in the weeks leading up to it.  In a small town like Moscow, you need to pursue the death penalty.  The “we didn’t want to put the families through a trial and years of appeals” is BS.  If you believe this plea deal was about saving money for the state, you are gullible.  This was a Scott Adams (aka Dilbert creator) special…. The prosecutor took the weasel way out.  His crying during his statement during the sentencing hearing was for the camera folks, he could and should have gone for the jugular but he refused.  He never even let the families of the deceased know.

The judge didn’t have to accept the plea deal either

This is a little-known fact, judges can; accept, deny, or enhance any plea deal.  He chose not to.  Then he, like the prosecutor, choked up for the camera to put on a show during the sentencing hearing. 

In closing Kohberger got what he wanted. He got life in prison, hopefully a fellow prisoner will “Epstein” him.  But we have not heard the end from him yet. He will make attempts to tell his story to local reporters, or national ones for that matter.  He will try to get his case looked at by the Innocence Project, anything to keep his name in the news.  He will torment the families of the deceased for decades.  In a just world Kohberger would have been sentenced to death, and the deed done within a decade.  The scum wiped from this earth.  A deterrent for all who seek to be like him.  Commit this crime in Idaho, we will remove you from earth, quickly.  But no.  He got what he wanted.  The families, friends, and people of Idaho now get to pay for this man’s food, shelter, and healthcare for life, oh, include cable and internet as well.  Oh, and perhaps most ironically, they will be paying the prison guards to keep him safe from other prisoners who will be trying to kill him.

Even worse, he got to sit in on hours of victim impact statements from families trying to make him cry. Kohberger is evil. He wanted this.  He loved every minute of it.  He sat there stoic, emotionless, and with no emotion.  He loved every minute of it.  He knew Van Susteren, Grace, and Banfield would be showing it on tv nightly.  He got what he wanted.  The lawyer from the local firm Dewey, Screwem, and Howe told me the best thing to have done would have been to not show up. An empty courtroom would have sunk Kohberger. He wanted folks to cry and pour out statements about the folks he killed. The people that he snuffed-out were going to do big things, but for him.  Kohberger got his rocks off on the pain that he caused.  He loved every minute of it. He uttered 3 whole words during the entire hearing.  When the judge asked if he wanted to speak, he said “I respectfully decline.”  It was a charade for him; he got what he wanted.

He gets to die famous… doesn’t seem very just to me.

By The Chief

One of the holy grails of conspiracy theorists and disillusioned conservatives is who were Epstein’s clients and was he a Massad agent?

The second question seems to be “yes”, as I hear nobody disputing that Israel was a sponsor of his “pleasure island”. In fact, I think portions of our government were in on it too.

As for the client list, that is a bit richer. For years we have heard that not only is there a list, but each sexual encounter was video taped and carefully catalogued. Jeffrey Epstein was running a “honey trap” and a blackmail operation. Whether and to what extent the information was used to shape government policy and manipulate corporations, and government interests is not known.

Now, after campaigning on it, Trump and his minions now says there is no list! WTF? This is totally not credible. Trump got scammed on Covid in his first term and this is a scam that won’t go away. This Epstein issue is toxic and will erode his support in ways that the Democrats have been unable to do.

If Epstein had no clients, then there would be no victims, and no crimes. Thus, his assistant, Ghislaine Maxwell should be released from jail ASAP.

This is the flaw in the Trump Administration’s new claims that there is no list. They have the conviction of Maxwell, but she is now innocent!? Sorry, but the court and jury said evidence existed, hence a guilty verdict, then but there’s none now!? Are we to believe now that Hillary wiped the list with bleach and a battery-operated drill?

Help me out. We have a list of victims and criminal masterminds but no perpetrators.

Then there is the issue of Epstein’s murder. The proof of suicide, like the guy on the grassy knoll, seems to be cut from the video at exactly the critical moment of truth. The timecodes on the cell video are broken. Did the Swamp Rats, flip Trump again? Something stinks in this whole thing.

I really want some folks to go to jail, get divorced by their wives, and have their reputations destroyed. After what happened to the young girls who were victimized, such might be a downpayment on the justice they deserve.

The truth is that whoever releases a list first, it will be up to everyone else to decide if it’s valid and complete or not. Setting the narrative will be the benchmark in the court of public opinion.

Allan Dershowitz claims there never was a client list, but he knows the names that have been redacted in previously released documents. Dershowitz maintains that federal judges in the southern district of New York are blocking the release of information.

The alternate way of doing this is to follow the money and trace Epstein’s financial transactions.

This is why the whole record needs to be on the record. I don’t think Bill Gates and Prince Andrew should be the only guys on the hook. The amount of justice being obstructed fuels the speculation that Epstein ran a lucrative operation. He certainly rubbed shoulders with the rich and powerful and did “favors” for them.

Is the public argument now whether Epstein kept a spreadsheet or rolodex of names or just knew who was writing checks to him for pimping out young girls. I wonder if we are parsing words. Clearly there are lists, partial or otherwise.