You may have issues with the current politicians in Washington, but at least, to our knowledge, none of them have ever been charged with murdering a lover 33 years ago. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that Bridgewater Councilman Gregory Scott Hopkins, a 65-year-old building contractor, has been charged with homicide of a young woman in 1979, thanks to a break-through in DNA evidence linking the legislator to the murder. “Councilman Gregory Scott Hopkins, 65, a building contractor, was charged with homicide because DNA evidence linked him to the slaying of Catherine Janet Walsh, 23, of Monaca, District Attorney Anthony J. Berosh said. Her father found her in her bed, bound and strangled with a bandana, on Sept. 1, 1979. Defense attorney James Ross said Hopkins is innocent, adding: ‘We intend to fight (these charges) vigorously.’ Police found DNA evidence on Walsh’s nightgown, the white rope that bound her hands behind her back and the bedsheet that covered her body, according to the criminal complaint. New tests of the evidence established a link to Hopkins, prosecutors said. The complaint indicates that when police interviewed Hopkins seven hours after Walsh was found, he acknowledged that he and Walsh had been lovers but said that it had been a month since they had been intimate in her home.” Residents of the small community of about 850 were reportedly shocked to hear the charges. “When I heard (about the arrest) on the news, it shocked me. I couldn’t believe it,” said one of Hopkins’ neighbors, Tim Phillippi to the Tribune. “I always thought he was a real nice guy. I never in a million years would have thought this.” Rod Weaver, who lives next door to Hopkins, said the councilman “was always very friendly to me. I would see him in the backyard and he would say, ‘Hi! How are you doing?’ We never had any problems.” Hopkins is a Republican and was appointed to the borough council in 2010. A federal grant in 2010 gave troopers the money to resubmit evidence from this and other cases for DNA analysis, which wasn’t available in 1979. The Tribune reports that Andrew J. Gall Jr., who was the first Monaca police officer to respond to Caltury’s initial call and is now a county detective, spent hours tracking similar, unsolved murders around the country. Before the crime lab analysis was finished last week and warrant for Hopkins obtained Sunday, DNA samples were obtained for Hopkins and others — some now living in Massachusetts, California and elsewhere — who police interviewed initially about Walsh’s murder. “Because of your dedication, professionalism and your relentless pursuit of justice, today has brought a measure of comfort, relief and satisfaction to our family,” ABC News reports Walsh’s brother, Francesco Caltieri, 52, said at a news conference Monday. Hopkins is being held in the Beaver County Jail without bond. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Monday.
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DNA Evidence Links Small PA City Councilman With 1979 Homicide
AP – Former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray’s contentious tumble onto the national stage has been anything but typical for the intelligent, mild-mannered public servant who occasionally pads about his office in sock feet.
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Consumer watchdog Cordray called smart, tough
(AP)
Photoshop credit: VVM Obama’s Super-Czar Is on the Loose by Michelle Malkin Creators Syndicate Copyright 2012 Here is the operating motto of the Obama White House: “So let it be written, so let it be done!” Like Yul Brynner’s Pharaoh Ramses character in Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments,” the demander in chief stands with arms akimbo issuing daily edicts to his constitution-subverting minions with an imperious wave of his hand. His entourage of insatiable usurpers never rests. Can’t delude legislators into adopting a $1.5 billion Kabuki summer-jobs makework boondoggle? Create an unfunded program through executive fiat. Can’t muster up a filibuster-proof majority for radical nominees? Czar-ify ‘em. Can’t get Congress to approve vast wild lands designations? Grab them under cover of a holiday lame-duck session. Can’t get the illegal alien bailout DREAM Act passed on Capitol Hill? Executive-order it. “So let it be written, so let it be done!” In keeping with the dark and defiant habits of this administration, the new head of the half-billion-dollar Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was sworn in behind closed doors on Wednesday night. The nomination of former Democratic Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to serve as Dodd-Frank regulatory enforcer had been soundly defeated in the Senate before Christmas. But as I reported last month, progressive zealots funded by billionaire George Soros goaded Obama to ignore the Senate’s constitutionally grounded advice and consent role. At his left flank’s urging, Obama vowed to follow in President Theodore Roosevelt’s footsteps (TR recess-appointed 160 officials during a recess of less than one day) and install Cordray even though the Senate technically remained in pro forma session. Fresh from his Hawaii vacation, Obama returned to Washington and for once delivered on a promise. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters Thursday that the administration expects no retaliation for the end-run around the deliberative process. Playing the pharaoh’s helper, Carney airily dismissed widespread bipartisan questions about the legality of the power grab as “esoteric discussion.” The GOP knew the installation of Obama’s latest super-czar was coming a month ago, but is now scrambling to respond. Republicans will get clobbered with the class warfare card again unless they forcefully counter the Democrats’ narrative of the president’s “bold” actions for “middle-class Americans.” Obama’s liberal media supporters have rationalized the tyrannical maneuver as a response to GOP “ nullification .” But it’s those who oppose common-sense reforms of the gravely flawed Dodd-Frank law — a 2,600-page monstrosity that no lawmaker read before passing it — who are obstructing good government. As Senate Republicans have been pointing out for months, Dodd-Frank threw out judicial review, removed CFPB from the congressional appropriations process, provided five-year tenure protection for the director and transferred the agency from the Treasury Department to the opaque and unaccountable Federal Reserve. Obama and Democratic leaders themselves recognize the recklessness of vesting so much unfettered power in a single individual. In 2009, Obama floated a bipartisan board to oversee enforcement. Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Charles Schumer of New York and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island all co-sponsored legislation backing a commission. Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Barney Frank was also an original sponsor of a bill creating the very kind of five-member panel Republicans have proposed. The House passed these and other structural reforms last year, but the Senate has failed to act, and the White House insists on demagoguing reformers. Moreover, taxpayers remain in the dark about how and how much the CFPB is spending, because Dodd-Frank allows the agency to draw funds from the Federal Reserve’s operating expenses. Out of sight, out of mind. This is not “bold.” It’s jackboot. It won’t benefit “middle-class Americans.” It’ll line lobbyist pockets, soak taxpayer dollars and fuel a Beltway rule-making bonanza. It’s not about reining in Wall Street abuses. It’s about consolidating bureaucratic authority and granting unprecedented immunity to a single super-cop from congressional and public oversight. Where, ahem, are those Occupiers when you need them? *** Related – John Yoo on Cordray and the use and abuse of executive power.
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Obama’s super-czar is on the loose
**Written by Doug Powers Possible good news for any GOP candidates not named Mitt Romney or Ron Paul that might still be in the running by the time March rolls around: Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is intervening in the Virginia presidential primary dispute and plans to file emergency legislation to address the inability of most Republican presidential candidates to get their name on the ballot, Fox News has learned. Only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul qualified for the Virginia primary, a contest with 49 delegates up for grabs. The failure of other candidates to qualify — notably Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry — led to complaints that the 10,000-signature requirement is too stringent. Cuccinelli, who is a Republican, shared the concerns. “Recent events have underscored that our system is deficient,” he said in a statement. “Virginia owes her citizens a better process. We can do it in time for the March primary if we resolve to do so quickly.” Sources told Fox News that Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell is expected to support the emergency legislation as well. As we talked about a few days ago concerning the Rick Perry lawsuit , changes would have to take place quickly : Section 24.612 of the Virginia State Code says: “The electoral board shall make printed ballots available for absentee voting not later than 45 days prior to any election.” That means absentee ballots must be mailed to voters – such as Virginians serving in the military — no later than Jan. 21. The legislature does not convene until Jan. 11. To make the change, lawmakers would have to pass emergency legislation — a bill that goes into effect immediately upon the governor’s signature, rather than on the customary enactment date of July 1. Update: Cucinelli has second thoughts . **Written by Doug Powers Twitter @ThePowersThatBe
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Virginia Attorney General Intervenes in Primary Ballot Dispute; Update: Maybe Not
The current US Attorney General is probably the last person who should be discussing illegal guns, er, undocumented boom sticks, but, then, Fast and Furious seemed to be more about creating a situation to implement more gun controls on legal owners (Politico) The number of officers killed in the line of duty jumped 13 percent in
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Suddenly, Eric Holder’s Worried About “Undocumented” Guns
Since this blog was founded in 2005 and before that, since the publication of Invasion in 2002, I’ve covered the blood-boiling deaths of law enforcement and border security officials who put their lives on the front lines for us — only to lose them in part because of government negligence, malfeasance, and refusal to do what needs to be done to keep America safe. We have mourned murdered National Park Service ranger Kris Eggle . And Denver detective Donnie Young . And Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy David March. And Houston police officer Rodney Johnson. And so many more. All are etched in my consciousness permanently, but none have shaken me more than the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry one year ago today. The systemic incompetence, callousness, and corruption that created the conditions for his murder are unfathomable. The cover-up that continues today in the White House is unconscionable. Look back at how Agent Terry’s death was first reported 12 months ago: A Border Patrol agent was shot and killed Tuesday night near Rio Rico after encountering several suspects, federal authorities said Wednesday. Agent Brian Terry was killed just 10 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, north of Nogales. Four suspects are in custody and one is being pursued, according to a press release from Customs and Border Protection. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office are investigating. Now, reflect on the extent of the lies , leaks , deception , and obstruction in the investigations of Agent Terry’s murder. Now, imagine the suffering of the Terry family a year later — still seeking answers and the truth about Operation Fast and Furious — as they endured the vile, cynical exploitation of the case by Attorney General Eric Holder, who released his Kabuki “apology” letter to the media before they had even received it. Border security activists, Second Amendment activists, anti-corruption advocates, and all Americans who care about the security and sovereignty of this country owe this family their thoughts, prayers, and gratitude as they continue to fight for the truth. *** Neil McCabe at Human Events has a moving tribute and retrospective. Katie Pavlich at Townhall.com remembers. Vigilant national security/second amendment blogger David Codrea at Sipsey Street Irregulars marks the anniversary: A year. And still we wait for the FBI to figure out a way to prosecute the one wounded killer they were forced to retain without compromising their cover-up of the involvement of their one-armed paid snitch. A year. And still we wait for the much ballyhooed Office of Inspector General Report. You know, the one that the administration always uses to justify not telling you anything about the Gunwalker Scandal. A year. And still we wait for the “mainstream media” to actually engage on the story of the greatest scandal of federal misadventure to date. Watch this video from the House GOP Oversight and Reform on Brian Terry’s service to our nation: More calls for Holder’s resignation. And the no-confidence tide swells. FBI Director Bob Mueller may get Fast and Furious questions today. Bob Owens spotlights Mother Jones trying to shoot the messenger on F&F. How long will national media outlets keep up the Fast and Furious blackout? Mary Chastain is keeping tabs .
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The murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry: One year ago today
It appears one of my Twitter comments prompted Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla, to explicitly compare Attorney General Eric Holder to George Costanza from Seinfeld, considering the similarity between their creative definitions of “lie.” Keep reading this post . . .
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Attorney General Costanza
ContributorNetwork – COMMENTARY | The United States Senate has blocked the appointment of failed Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
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Cordray Blocked; Obama Spends
(ContributorNetwork)
