Maryland prison inmate killed in his own cell by another prisoner
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(CUMBERLAND, Md.) — A 28-year-old prison inmate has been killed in his own cell by another prisoner who was serving time in the same facility, police said.
The inmate, identified as Robert Warren — a state prison inmate serving time at the North Branch Correctional Institution in Cumberland., Maryland — was declared deceased in his cell on Monday by emergency medical service personnel, according to a statement from the Maryland State Police released on Wednesday.
A suspect, also an inmate, has been identified but police have not released his identity since he has not yet been charged at this time. Authorities are expected to release more information once the suspect has been charged, police said.
Maryland authorities did not say how the man was killed or how long they suspect he had been dead for when his body was discovered in his cell but they did confirm that Maryland State Police investigators are “continuing an investigation into the death of a state prison inmate in Allegany County.”
“The Maryland State Police Homicide Unit was contacted by investigators from the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Internal Investigative Unit (DPSCS IID) about an inmate death,” according to the Maryland State Police. “Autopsy results from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled Warren’s death as a homicide.”
State Police Homicide Unit investigators are continuing the investigation and assistance is being provided by State Police crime scene technicians and investigators with the DPSCS Internal Investigative Unit.
“Upon completion, the investigation will be presented to the Allegany County State’s Attorney’s Office for review regarding charges,” police said.
(CAPE CORAL, FL) — A 22-year-old social media influencer on TikTok with nearly 300,000 followers has been arrested after using fake barcodes to steal from Target and filming herself getting ready before the alleged theft, police say.
The Cape Coral Police Department in Florida responded to a Target branch located at 1890 NE Pine Island Road in Cape Coral last Wednesday regarding a past retail theft that occurred on Oct. 30, according to a statement from the Cape Coral Police Department.
“Loss Prevention at Target stated that on October 30, 2024, an unknown female entered the store and selected items listed for sale,” police said. “Once at the self-checkout register, the female suspect did not scan the items’ barcodes, instead scanning a false barcode with cheaper prices.”
In total, 16 items of miscellaneous household goods and clothing were stolen with a total retail value of $500.32, which was verified by officers via Target’s security cameras.
In an attempt to help identify the suspect through public assistance, the Cape Coral Police Department’s Facebook and Instagram accounts posted the female’s picture, describing her as appearing to be “approximately 20-35 years old, had long black hair, and was wearing a tan shirt, tan pants, and glasses.”
An anonymous caller who saw the post on social media subsequently contacted the police and gave the possible identification for the suspect as Marlena Velez and informed them of her social media profiles.
“Officers then found Marlena’s TikTok account, which documents her getting ready on October 30, 2024, in the same outfit and glasses and going to Target,” police said. “Marlena documents herself picking out items inside the store and placing them in her car after exiting the store. Marlena appears to be a content creator with almost 300,000 followers.”
Velez has since been arrested and taken to the Lee County Jail and charged with petit theft of less than $750.
(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) The Suffolk County District Attorney’s office in New York lacks the resources to meet “ambitious” deadlines imposed by the judge overseeing the Gilgo Beach serial killing case, DA Ray Tierney said Wednesday.
Tierney called on the Justice Department to release some money tied up in an ongoing investigation into the office to help defray the cost of a prosecution that he said presents “a singularly unique strain on our budget.”
Heuermann is charged in the murders of six women: Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Costello, Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla. The first victim was found in 1993 and the last victims were found in 2010.
He has pleaded not guilty.
Judge Timothy Mazzei said he wants to set a trial date at the next hearing, which is scheduled for Dec. 17.
Tierney called the schedule “ambitious” because of the large amount of evidence amassed in the case against Heuermann.
“I think the timeline right now is very ambitious and very compressed given the ridiculous nature of our discovery laws, where I have to provide every single piece of paper that was generated in a case that started in 1993,” Tierney said.
Tierney is asking for millions in federal asset forfeiture proceeds frozen by the Justice Department as part of an ongoing investigation into a previous district attorney. He estimated about $13 million is tied up in that investigation.
(NEW YORK) — In its first note of the day, the jury in Daniel Penny’s manslaughter and negligent homicide trial reported that it is “unable to come to a unanimous vote” on whether Penny committed second-degree manslaughter in the death of Jordan Neely, a homeless man, on the New York City subway.
“We the jury request instructions from Judge Wiley. At this time, we are unable to come to a unanimous vote on court one,” the note said.
Judge Maxwell Wiley gave the jury an Allen charge, which refers to the jury instructions given to a hung jury that encourages them to continue deliberating despite the deadlock. He is giving the lawyers time to consider the next steps.
Penny’s lawyer, Thomas Kenniff, unsuccessfully moved for a mistrial, arguing that the Allen Charge would be “coercive.”
Wiley disagreed, saying that it was “too early” to declare a mistrial before encouraging the jury to continue their deliberations.
Since the jury got the case on Tuesday, they have deliberated for more than 20 hours.
Penny, a 25-year-old former Marine, put Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man, in a six-minute-long chokehold after Neely boarded a subway car acting erratically, according to police. Witnesses described Neely yelling and moving erratically, with Penny’s attorneys calling Neely “insanely threatening” when Penny put Neely in a chokehold.
The city’s medical examiner concluded Penny’s chokehold killed Neely.
Penny pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and negligent homicide charges.
The verdict form asks the jury to decide the first count – second-degree manslaughter – before potentially moving to the second count of criminally negligent homicide. Only if it finds Penny not guilty on the first count, can it consider the second count of criminally negligent homicide.
The second-degree manslaughter charge only requires prosecutors to have proven Penny acted recklessly, not intentionally.
“It would be a crazy result to have a hung jury just because they can’t move on to the second count?” prosecutor Dafna Yoran said.
Yoran also told Wiley that a new trial would “ultimately [be] the case if they hang the case.”
Wiley left unanswered the question about whether the jury could move onto the second count if they are unable to reach a verdict on the first count. He said he believed the jury moving to the second count is possible but needs to find the legal authority to do so.
“I think ultimately we are going to have to answer the question of whether they can move to count two,” he said.
Twenty minutes after the judge encouraged them to continue deliberating despite their deadlock, the jury sent back another note requesting more information about the term “reasonable person” in their instructions.
“Ultimately, what a reasonable person is up to you to decide,” Wiley told the jury in response to their note, referring them to a two-part test in jury instruction.
To convict Penny of manslaughter, the jury must be convinced Penny acted recklessly and grossly deviated from how a reasonable person would behave, knowing the risk his conduct posed.
“Would a reasonable person have had the same honestly held belief as the defendant given the circumstances and what the defendant knew at that time?” Wiley asked, referring to the second part of the test.
Before the jury entered, Wiley noted how the “reasonableness” standard was established in People v. Goetz – another high-profile New York trial after Bernhard Goetz shot four teenagers on a New York subway in 1984 after they allegedly tried to rob him. A New York jury convicted Goetz for one count of carrying an unlicensed firearm but acquitted on the more severe charges, and the trial sparked a nationwide debate about race and crime that has echoed forty years later in Penny’s case.
