Daily Rotten Archives February 16, 2005 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 Mayor reportedly attempts courtroom suicide Wire Services | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "Faced with a guilty verdict for masterminding a double homicide, a mayor of a remote Andean village swallowed a flask of poison in open court rather than face a 20-year sentence... Reportedly proclaiming that he could not receive justice, [Florencio Valverde] reached into his pants pocket, pulled a small bottle of an unidentified liquid and swallowed it before guards could get to him... Media reports said Valverde had accused the judges hearing his case of finding him guilty after he refused to pay them a $5,000 bribe." Read article... Suspected suicide bomber beaten to death News Corporation | Submitted by: Bawdymonkey "A crowd of Shiite Muslims marking a religious ceremony spotted a suspected suicide bomber amongst them and, fearing he might blow himself up, beat the man to death, Iraqi police said today. The incident occurred in the western Baghdad neighbourhood of Bayaa, a largely Shiite district, where residents were celebrating Ashura, a religious ritual honouring the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed. The police said the crowd spied a man mingling amongst them who appeared to be wearing a vest strapped with explosives, like those used in suicide bombings. 'They attacked him and beat the man to death,' a police source said, adding that security forces had been powerless to prevent the mass onslaught. It was not clear if the man had actually been planning a suicide attack." Read article... White supremacist arrested, sqalid house raided Seattle Post-Intelligencer | Submitted by: Yo $$, U R My Ho "Neo-Nazi Keith Gilbert had just left his home in Seattle's Roosevelt neighborhood to walk his German shepherd Blondie early yesterday morning when federal agents, including the FBI SWAT team, made their move. The 65-year-old Gilbert - a veteran race warrior who once bragged that he planned to blow up the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with 1,400 pounds of TNT and did prison time for threatening black children - was arrested without incident on multiple weapons charges including selling machine guns and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Agents later removed a small arsenal from his home... Agents wore protective suits because the house was 'disgustingly filthy.' ... Gilbert, who has a lengthy criminal history, once bragged to a Chicago Tribune reporter that he 'was planning to blow up Martin Luther King when he was speaking to 5,000 Jews at the Palladium in L.A.'" Read article... Mom pleads guilty to possible Munchausen incident Indianapolis Star | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "A woman accused of injecting human waste into her 21-month-old daughter pleaded guilty to two counts of battery Monday in Marion Superior Court. Tracie L. Fleck, 34, admitted injuring her daughter, Kennedy Fleck, in January 2004 while the toddler was a patient at Riley Hospital for Children... The hospital's security camera videotaped Fleck tampering with her daughter's intravenous tube on Jan. 8, 2004. Police say they found a substance consistent with human waste in the child's IV, but Fleck said she was giving her daughter a combination of baby formula, water and a pancreas medicine in an effort to help the child... The injection caused an infection, court records show. The bacteria and fungus that caused the infection are the same germs found in fecal matter." Read article... Nutball allegedly severs tongue, self immolates Minneapolis Star Tribune | Submitted by: Mrs. Erickson "David Strom, 33, was hospitalized Oct. 19 after paramedics found him in a farmhouse that he shared with his grandmother near Underwood. He was handcuffed and suffering from severe burns from head to toe, and the tip of his tongue had been cut off... According to authorities, Strom initially told his mother three masked intruders attacked him in a pole barn near the farmhouse and mutilated his tongue before setting him on fire... In the meeting with investigators, Strom said he has an alter ego named 'Tyler,' the name of the protagonist in the 1999 film Fight Club, Schlueter said. Strom 'had more than an average interest in' the film, the sheriff said. In the film, disillusioned young men meet in an underground club for fights. Strom told investigators he was alone at the farm and 'it was Tyler who did this to him.'" Read article... Patients allege Dead Ringers-style hijinks Wire Services | Submitted by: captain mal "An attorney has filed the latest in a series of civil lawsuits against twin physician brothers, accusing them of impersonating one another and sexually assaulting female patients in an obstetric-gynecology practice... six female patients of Charles Momah said they were sometimes deceived into being seen, examined, operated on and sexually fondled by his twin, Dennis Momah, a general practitioner who is not certified in obstetrics and gynecology. Charles Momah, who had gynecological practices in Burien and Federal Way, two suburban cities south of Seattle, pleaded not guilty last fall to criminal charges of rape, indecent liberties and insurance fraud." Read article... Alan Keyes daughter officially a dyke ABC TV affiliates | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "The daughter of former Republican Party senate candidate Alan Keyes publicly acknowledged Monday that she is a lesbian. During the Republican National Convention, Alan Keyes made headlines when he condemned gays and lesbians. His daughter says she has been ostracized from the family... At a gay rights rally in Annapolis, Md., Maya Keyes said she is coming out as a lesbian in response to escalating tensions with her parents, including her arch-conservative father, whom she worked for in last year's Illinois senate race... During last year's senate race, Keyes referred to gays and lesbians as 'hedonistic sinners' and talked hypothetically about his own family. 'If my own daughter were a homosexual, or a lesbian, I would love my daughter, but I would tell my daughter that she was in sin,' Keyes said in August... Maya told the Washington Post Monday her parents kicked her out of the house and will not pay her college tuition." Read article... Cop allegedly beats crap out of carjacker Wire Services | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "Prince George's County prosecutors on Tuesday showed jurors a videotape that allegedly shows a county police officer kicking and striking a handcuffed suspect after a police chase. The tape, shown on the second day of Cpl. Bryan K. Addis's trial for second-degree assault and making a false entry on a public record, is central to the prosecution's claim that the officer used excessive force while arresting the carjacking suspect Oct. 5, 2003... Addis appears to kick Bullock as he lay on the ground and swing his baton at him several times. It is not clear whether the kicks or baton blows landed. Addis then walks away for a short while, during which time Bullock is handcuffed and propped up on a curb. Addis then returns, and appears to strike Bullock several times with his knee and again with the baton." Read article... British ambassador vows to sue federal official Daily Record | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "A former British ambassador who claimed the Government turned a blind eye to torture yesterday vowed to sue Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. Craig Murray was recalled from his posting after alleging British security services used intelligence obtained under duress in Uzbekistan. The Scot claims he suffered a nervous breakdown after being hauled back to London from the former Soviet republic... The Government had levelled 18 misconduct charges against him following his outburst, in which he claimed Uzbeki dissidents were 'boiled alive'. Mr Murray said: 'Jack Straw must be held accountable for his actions. He is the Foreign Secretary who expressly agreed that MI6 should use intelligence material obtained under torture... I shall now take legal action against them which will be in the public gaze.' ... Mr Murray was accused of disciplinary offences including drinking excessively, sexual misconduct and driving an embassy vehicle down a flight of steps. He was cleared of all accusations." Read article... Tippi Hedren testifies in animal cruelty trial KNBC-TV 4 Los Angeles | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "Tippi Hedren, operator of the Shambala Animal Preserve in Acton, testified in the tiger abuse trial of John Weinhart... Weinhart, 62, is on trial for 16 felony animal cruelty counts, one count of felony child endangerment and 44 misdemeanors stemming from an April 2003 raid on his property. He allegedly mistreated 11 tiger and leopard cubs found in his attic, two alligators in a bathtub, two young tigers on a patio and several other animals. Hedren said her visit in 1998 left such an indelible impression that she made room for a lion at her sanctuary to keep the animal from being sent to Weinhart's Tiger Rescue facility... 'It was disturbing,' Hedren said, adding she was shocked by the emaciated appearance of the cats, mounds of trash, feces, dead chickens and feathers." Read article... Woman convicted of canine cannibalism Wire Services | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "A woman convicted of animal cruelty after an emaciated pit bull was discovered eating at the carcass of another dog in her backyard was sentenced Monday to two days in jail. Karen Lee Morris, 37, of Manassas, also was barred from ever possessing another companion animal in Virginia... In December, animal control officers found three pit bulls in deplorable conditions in a tiny backyard to Morris' townhouse. Officers observed Meeha, an extremely thin pit bull, cannibalizing the carcass of another pit bull, Bean." Read article... NASA scientists see signs of Martian life Space.com | Submitted by: Jonny Plasma "A pair of NASA scientists told a group of space officials at a private meeting here Sunday that they have found strong evidence that life may exist today on Mars, hidden away in caves and sustained by pockets of water. The scientists, Carol Stoker and Larry Lemke of NASA's Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, told the group that they have submitted their findings to the journal Nature for publication in May, and their paper currently is being peer reviewed. What Stoker and Lemke have found, according to several attendees of the private meeting, is not direct proof of life on Mars, but methane signatures and other signs of possible biological activity remarkably similar to those recently discovered in caves here on Earth." Read article...