Trooper Disputes Story That Woman Was ‘Sucked Under’ car

A Fayette County man’s version of how his wife ended up underneath his car while he was driving it on Route 40 last summer defies the laws of physics, according to a state trooper who testified yesterday during a pretrial hearing in the homicide case.

 Ronald Lee Higinbotham’s attorney disputed the trooper’s finding, and yesterday asked a judge to bar his client’s statements at trial because the Brownsville man is borderline mentally retarded.

 Higinbotham, 45, is charged with criminal homicide in the June 20 death of his wife, Carmen Higinbotham, 30. Police allege Higinbotham ran her over with his lime-green 2000 Hyundai Tiburon just before midnight in Menallen.

 Higinbotham told troopers his wife was “sucked under” the vehicle after she jumped from the passenger side, Trooper John Weaver testified during a hearing yesterday to determine whether evidence, statements and scientific tests will be admissible at trial. But that scenario is impossible, Weaver said, according to both the laws of physics and tests he conducted using Higinbotham’s car and a crash-test dummy.

 For Carmen to have been sucked under the car after she purportedly jumped away from it, some “magical” force outside the moving vehicle would have been required to stop her momentum and push her back toward the vehicle, Weaver testified.

 In addition, Weaver said, tests he conducted by tossing a 95-pound, anatomically correct dummy from Higinbotham’s car as it traveled at 55 mph on a runway at Connellsville Airport disproved Higinbotham’s story.

 ”That is not possible, according to the laws of physics,” Weaver said. He said the dummy was not pulled under the vehicle in any of the seven tests he conducted at the airport.

 Higinbotham’s attorney, Sam Davis of Uniontown, questioned the validity of the tests, pointing out that Carmen weighed 210 pounds while the dummy was only 95 pounds. In addition, he noted that police have no written documentation to show that the vehicle was going 55 mph when Carmen exited it.

 ”You have to think, how can a 95-pound dummy replicate a 210-pound woman?” Davis said. “If that leg doesn’t fit, the whole table has to fall.”

 Weaver testified that regardless of the dummy’s weight or the speed of the car during the tests, the outcome would have been the same because of the laws of physics. In addition, he said blood spatter that was found on the front of the car and its undercarriage point toward a different scenario than was given by Higinbotham.

 ”The victim was struck with the front of the vehicle, and completely run over, with her body rolling under the vehicle as it traveled over her,” Weaver testified.

 A defense expert testified yesterday that because Higinbotham has an IQ of only 62, he could not have understood the implications of waiving his Miranda rights when he spoke to troopers on June 21 without an attorney present.

 Dr. Antoinette Petrazzi-Woods said Higinbotham was in the special education program when he attended classes in the California Area School District. The district tested Higinbotham’s IQ at between 72 and 80 between 1975 and 1980, Petrazzi-Woods said.

 She said Higinbotham scored a 62 on an IQ test she administered to him on Sept. 24 in the county jail. The score puts Higinbotham at borderline mental retardation, Petrazzi-Woods said, and as such, he lacks abstract reasoning.

 Although Higinbotham signed a rights waiver when he spoke to troopers, Petrazzi-Woods said, more extensive questioning would have been necessary to determine whether he fully understood the rights he was giving up.

 Yesterday, Davis argued that Higinbotham’s low IQ, combined with his blood-alcohol level of 0.14 percent in the hours after Carmen’s death, must be weighed when determining whether his statements are admissible.

 In addition, Davis questioned whether police should have obtained a search warrant before they had Higinbotham’s vehicle towed from his residence.

 Trooper Andre Stenson testified he had the vehicle towed after Higinbotham advised him he believed he had run over Carmen. Stenson said he didn’t want to leave the car unsecured while he transported Higinbotham to Uniontown Hospital for a blood-alcohol test.

 The vehicle was not examined until after search warrants were obtained, said Trooper John F. Marshall.

 Judge John F. Wagner Jr. delayed ruling on the motion to give Davis and District Attorney Jack Heneks time to file legal briefs in support of their positions.

Feds Release Indictment Against Michigan Militia

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
March 29, 2010

In the wake of the FBI and Homeland Security raid on the Hutaree militia in Michigan over the weekend, the government has released its indictment.

“Nine members of a Lenawee County-based militia group were planning to ‘levy war’ against the United States and ‘oppose by force’ the nation’s government, according to an indictment released this morning in U.S. District Court in Detroit,” reports the Detroit News. “The five-count indictment was unsealed this morning and alleges that between August 2008 and the present, the defendants were attempting to use bombs and other weapons to oppose the U.S. government.”

In addition to weapons charges and use of a “weapon of mass destruction” (sic), the government plans to charge the defendants with sedition.

Sedition is regarded as falling one step short of the more serious crime of treason.

The seditious conspiracy charge carries a maximum prison term of 20 years. The charge of using a “weapon of mass destruction” may result in a life sentence for the defendants.

The accused include: David Brian Stone, 45; his wife, Tina Stone, 44; his son, Joshua Matthew Stone, 21, all three of Clayton; and his other son, David Brian Stone Jr., 19, of Adrian. Also, Joshua Clough, 28, of Blissfield; Michael Meeks, 40 of Manchester; Thomas Piatek, 46, of Whiting, Ind.; Kristopher Sickles, 27, of Sandusky, Ohio; and Jacob Ward, 33, of Huron, Ohio.

“This is an example of radical and extremist fringe groups which can be found throughout our society,” Andrew Arena, FBI special agent in charge, told the newspaper. “The FBI takes such extremist groups seriously, especially those who would target innocent citizens and the law enforcement officers who protect the citizens of the United States.”

The Department of Homeland Security has worked closely with the Southern Poverty Law Center, long a source of conspiracy theories about militias.

In 2004, the FBI revealed the SPLC was involved with government operative and convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and the Aryan Republican Army at Elohim City. McVeigh’s contact at Elohim City was Andreas Carl Strassmeir, a former German intelligence officer. Peter Langan, the son of a retired U.S. Marine intelligence officer and said to be the leader of the Aryan Republican Army, was a government informant.

Radio talk show host and racist firebrand Hal Turner recently admitted in federal court that he worked for the FBI as a “National Security Intelligence” asset. “Turner also claims the FBI coached him to make racist, anti-Semitic and other threatening statements on his radio show, but the newspaper also found many federal officials were concerned that his audience might follow up on his violence rhetoric,” the Associated Press reported in November, 2009.

Turner’s code name was “Valhalla” and “he received thousands of dollars from the FBI to report on such groups as the Aryan Nations and the white supremacist National Alliance.

The FBI, under its long-running COINTELPRO, subsidized, armed, directed and protected the Klu Klux Klan and other racist groups.

“Because the Hutaree had planned a covert reconnaissance operation for April, which had the potential of placing an unsuspecting member of the public at risk, the safety of the public and of the law enforcement community demanded intervention at this time,” said Barbara McQuade, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Hutaree means “Christian soldier,” according to the group, and members say they are preparing for battle with the Anti-Christ.

The indictment accuses the Christian group of planning to kill a member of law enforcement, possibly after a traffic stop, to “prompt a response by law enforcement.” The alleged goal of this murder, according to the government, would be to “intimidate and demoralize law enforcement, diminishing their ranks and rendering them ineffective.”

The indictment says the group then intended to use the incident to spark a “war” against law enforcement, using bombs, ambushes and prepared fighting positions.

It remains to be seen if the FBI had informers and agents provocateurs in the Hutaree militia.

Militia Raids Part Of Government Effort to Provoke Violence, Purge Dissent

Steve Watson & Paul Watson
Prisonplanet.com
Monday, March 29th, 2010

Related: Feds Release Indictment Against Michigan Militia

News of a bust on nine members of a militia group in Detroit who were planning to “levy war” against the United States and “oppose by force” the nation’s government, should be treated with extreme suspicion, given that every major terror bust in the U.S. in recent years has been contrived.

According to an indictment (PDF) unsealed this morning in U.S. District Court in Detroit, eight men and one woman were training in modern combat techniques for a prophesized battle with the anti-Christ.

The indictment described the nine as gearing up to use bombs and other weapons to kill local, state, and federal law enforcement officials in an effort to act as a “catalyst for a more wide-spread uprising against the government.”

The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force carried out a series of raids on group members in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio over the weekend.

Known as the “Hutaree” militia, each of the nine faces three to five charges, including sedition, attempts to use weapons of mass destruction, teaching/demonstrating use of explosive materials and two counts of carrying weapons in relation to a crime of violence.

Seven of the defendants appeared in court this morning and were ordered held without bond until Wednesday.

“This is an example of radical and extremist fringe groups which can be found throughout our society,” FBI special agent Andrew Arena told The Detroit News.

“The FBI takes such extremist groups seriously, especially those who would target innocent citizens and the law enforcement officers who protect the citizens of the United States.” Arena added.

Comments made by a well known former militia leader indicate that the Hutaree were regarded by other militia outfits as radical and reckless “low-hanging fruits”.

Mike Vanderboegh, who has close connections with the militia movement in Michigan and all over the country, was critical of the Hutaree, saying that they “have indicated in the past that, much like John Brown, they WANTED to start a civil war, which is why no responsible militia group in Michigan was willing to ally with them.”

Vanderboegh described the group as “a perfect target” for the feds, adding that the raids could have provoked a nationwide uprising if they had turned violent.

As we highlighted earlier this month, following the highly suspicious Pentagon shooting, recent history proves that domestic terror, far from being a militia plot or an “extremist fringe” threat, is a government specialty.

Just a brief reprisal of the last handful of major terror cases in the United States instantly reminds us that in every single instance the plot was artificially engineered by the federal government and then later seized upon, with the enthusiastic support of the corporate media, as justification for more funding, more power, and more authority to denounce critics of the war on terror and dissent against the state in general.

From ensuring known extremist Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, now known as the underwear bomber, was able to board Flight 253 in Amsterdam last December, to allowing Fort Hood shooter Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan to remain on a U.S. Army base, and even to participate in Homeland Security exercises, the actions of Federal authorities have provoked often tragic newsmaking incidents.

Dozens of terror busts and stings since 9/11 have been orchestrated by handlers aiding the accused terrorists at every turn. We have never come across a major case where the terrorists involved in a plot were not being prodded by the FBI and federal informants, or where clear prior knowledge and forewarning was not evident.

Lawyers in a case relating to the much vaunted 2007 terror plot to attack Fort Dix and kill “as many soldiers as possible” concluded that FBI informants were the key figures behind the operation and that the accused, six foreign-born Muslims, were merely bungling patsies.

Similarly, the “Toronto 18″ terrorists turned out to be “a bunch of incompetent guys who were primarily misled by a delusional megalomaniac”. The explosive fertilizer material the terrorist cell apparently planned to use was in fact purchased by an informant working for the RCMP who had radicalized the group.

In the media-lauded Miami terror case in 2007, the supposed ringleader Narseal “Prince Marina” Batiste “had heard of Al-Qaeda, but wasn’t sure what it stood for. The FBI instigators made Batiste swear loyalty to al-Qaida; then had him call on his local buddies to form an ‘Islamic army’ in Miami. None had military training. Some could barely read. But Batiste assured the group in the midst of its collective marijuana buzz of greatness ahead,” wrote Saul Landau.

These were the men who comedian John Stewart referred to as “seven dipshits in a warehouse” after Attorney General Alberto Gonzales had ludicrously told the press that the group of semi-retarded gang-bangers had planned to “wage a ground war against America”.

One of the more recent examples was the case of the so-called Muslim terrorists busted in New York, who supposedly wanted to blow up synagogues in the Bronx and shoot down military airplanes flying out of the New York Air National Guard base. The men were provided with fake explosives and inactive missiles by an FBI informant, reported the Christian Science Monitor. Two of the ringleaders of the “deadly” plot which was endlessly hyped by the media turned out to be semi-retarded potheads, exactly as we had predicted would be the case due to the innumerable past cases with the exact same modus operandi.

Then we have the most deadly and contrived “christian-patriot” terror plot – the OKC bombing of 1995. While the SPLC, the ADL and similar organizations are happy to play the Timothy McVeigh card over and over again, to back up the notion that hate-filled right wing extremists are taking over the country, they are less enthusiastic to mention the fact that McVeigh planned his deadly assault on the Alfred P. Murrah building under the intimate direction of a high-level FBI official. This according to McVeigh’s co-conspirator Terry Nichols, a claim voluminously backed up by a plethora of evidence that has been presented in court on several occasions.

Time and time again it is revealed that the only prominent people who call for violence in the patriot movement turn out to be working for the feds.

Radio talk show host and racist firebrand Hal Turner recently admitted in federal court that he worked for the FBI as a “National Security Intelligence” asset. “Turner also claims the FBI coached him to make racist, anti-Semitic and other threatening statements on his radio show, but the newspaper also found many federal officials were concerned that his audience might follow up on his violence rhetoric,” the Associated Press reported in November, 2009.

Turner’s code name was “Valhalla” and “he received thousands of dollars from the FBI to report on such groups as the Aryan Nations and the white supremacist National Alliance.

The FBI, under its long-running COINTELPRO, subsidized, armed, directed and protected the Klu Klux Klan and other racist groups.

In light of all these cases, and the ongoing effort to re-direct the focus of the war on terror away from foreign muslim terrorists to “home grown” American “extremists”, the question must be explored – were the FBI actively involved in radicalizing the “Hutaree” militia? Were any of the militia members FBI informants?

Count the hours until the links emerge.

Police: Drive-By Shooting Involved Known Gang Member

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Police said the man involved in a Saturday drive-by shooting is a known gang member who has been arrested several times in the last two years.

 A woman was shot early on Saturday at the intersection of WT Harris Boulevard and Interstate 85.

 Police said the intended target was a known gang member named Edison Argueta. They said Argueta was about to turn onto I-85 South when a car pulled up next to him and 18-year-old Jesus Rodriguez fired a shot. The bullet hit a woman riding in the front seat.

 “[Rodriguez] has been a problem on the east side of Charlotte for about three or four years now,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Sgt. Scott Sherwood said.

 A search warrant said Rodriguez goes by the nickname Blue and that he’s been a documented member of the Sureno gang since 2005.

 Since then, he’s been involved in 14 gang incidents, police said.

 Jail records show he’s been arrested at least five times in the last two years. But police said charges were dismissed each time, probably because victims wouldn’t testify.

 But this time, Sherwood said he hopes Rodriguez will stay behind bars.

 “I think we’ll be able to convict him on a felony in this case,” he said.

Mom Locks Herself, Kids in Walmart Restroom With Stolen Merchandise

By Kimberly Dick
(Rock Hill) Herald

Posted: Tuesday, Mar. 30, 2010

A mom locked herself in a bathroom at a Rock Hill Walmart with two children and nearly $1,000 in merchandise, police say.

A 24-year-old Fort Mill woman was charged with shoplifting Friday after police say she spent more than two hours in Walmart’s restroom, according to a Rock Hill police report.

She is accused of taking tags off and trying to take $977.46 worth of merchandise from the store.

Police were called to the store around 7:30 a.m. Friday on a report of a woman and two children, ages 7 and 2, locked inside the restroom.

The store manager told police the woman took a shopping cart with merchandise into the restroom around 5 a.m. and refused to leave, the report said.

An officer knocked on the door and said, “Rock Hill Police, open the door.” Officers could hear movement, but it took a couple of minutes for her to open the door.

When she did, police saw various clothing items were spread over the floor and a shopping cart full of merchandise was inside the bathroom with her and the two children, the report said.

The woman told police, “Sorry, I fell asleep … let me get my kids’ things,” as she put merchandise in two bags, according to the report.

Police noticed the items appeared to be new, but were missing price tags, the report said.

The girl was wearing pants from the store that were not paid for.

The woman admitted to removing the price tags, according to the report. She was arrested and charged with shoplifting, and the children were released to a family member. All of the merchandise was returned to the store.

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/03/30/1345887/mom-locks-self-kids-in-walmart.html#ixzz0jfHQHGvs

CMPD Sergeants Sue City for Overtime Pay

by GLENN COUNTS / NewsChannel 36
E-mail Glenn: GCounts@WCNC.com

Posted on March 29, 2010 at 7:00 PM

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Thirty-two current and former Charlotte-Mecklenburg police sergeants are suing the city for overtime pay.

The sergeants have been negotiating with the city for more than a year now.

“Finally realized we weren’t getting anywhere in talking with the city. We felt like we didn’t have a choice,” said attorney Lou Lessene, who is representing the sergeants.

The city contends that the sergeants are supervisors and are paid a salary, which is not subject to overtime pay. But the Department of Labor says the sergeants are also eligible for hourly pay, including overtime.

Lessene filed the lawsuit Monday “to recover overtime pay and compensatory time off owed, but never paid to plaintiffs as employees of the city of Charlotte.”

Now, the city must decide whether to settle or go to court.

“The Department of Labor investigated and found that the city was violating the law. The city agreed to pay some amounts and this lawsuit is about what’s left,” Lessene said.

The city agreed to pay $500,000, but Lessene says he doesn’t know how big the bill will be for the sergeants who are named in the lawsuit.

“The city has all the documents and all the paperwork, so we can’t know that until we see what they got,” Lessene said.

City attorney DeWitt F. McCarley released this statement late Monday: “We have been negotiating with the attorney for the officers for over a year, and thought we were close to reaching a resolution. We’re disappointed the officers chose to file suit instead of continuing discussions. I hope negotiations can be re-opened soon.”

2 Adults, 2 Children Found Dead

NEWS@WCNC.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A woman and two of her children were found dead after her husband shot and killed himself in southeast Charlotte, police say.

Officers tell NewsChannel 36 that they received a call at about 11:15 p.m. Monday from the woman’s uncle requesting that they check on her. When officers got to the apartment on Providence Square Drive that she shared with her husband and four children, they found the door open and the husband standing at the top of the stairs inside. Shortly after they attempted to call him outside, they heard two gunshots. Two young children, who had not been harmed, ran out of the apartment.

According to police, when officers entered the apartment, they found the man suffering from a gunshot wound to the head and two children, ages one and 12, who had likely been dead for several days. The man died at the scene.

A few hours later, officers found the woman they were originally trying to check on dead in a nearby apartment that she was leasing on Via Romano Drive, police say. Investigators think that she had also been dead for some time.

Police say they’re now looking into the possibility that the man killed the two children and his wife. The Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner’s office will investigate to determine how the woman and two children died.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call 704-432-TIPS and speak directly to a Homicide Unit Detective, or you may also call Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.