“Jury finds man guilty of 14 child sex crimes - White Mountain Independent” plus 3 more

Jury finds man guilty of 14 child sex crimes - White Mountain Independent
Have You Seen Him: 77-year-old man reported missing in Clayton County - CBS46 News Atlanta
Madonna Says She Lost Three Friends Including A Cousin In The Past 24 Hours During Coronavirus Pandemic - Celebrity Insider
The Latest: France has its highest 24-hour death toll - WFMJ

Jury finds man guilty of 14 child sex crimes - White Mountain Independent

Posted: 09 Apr 2020 05:00 PM PDT

HOLBROOK—Rick Pogue, 56, was sentenced Tuesday in the Navajo County Superior Court to seven consecutive life sentences after a jury of 12 found him guilty in February of seven counts of sexual conduct with a minor and seven counts of kidnapping. The victims were two family members and the crimes occurred over several years in Joseph City and Winslow. Pogue is also suspected of committing similar crimes in New Mexico. Of the two victims, one was 6 years old at the time of the abuse. Pogue still maintains his innocence.

A grand jury indicted Pogue in August 2018 for 8 counts of sexual conduct with a minor and 8 counts of kidnapping. He rejected a plea offer, and the case had been set to go to trial three times. Finally a five-day jury trial began on Feb. 4, during which the judge, Hon. Dale Nielson, dismissed two of the charges for lack of evidence. The state was represented by career prosecutor Lee White of the Navajo County Attorney's Office. Pogue's attorney is Bruce Griffen of Flagstaff.

At sentencing, Pogue was escorted into the courtroom by a sheriff's detention officer. He was dressed in standard jail issue orange jump suit, and was handcuffed. He is a relatively short, stout man, with a grey beard, thinning grey hair swept back and he wore black rimmed glasses. He declined to speak, but one of the victims took the stand. "You are a very sick individual," the now-adult victim told him, before Judge Nielson politely asked her to direct her comments to the court. "The truth has come out," she said, adding "I've waited my entire life." She praised the detective work and the effort by the prosecutor's office.

Defense attorney Griffen remarked about the two stark, incompatible versions of events in this case. One, either that his client committed an "epic" violation of the law, which Griffen seems not to believe, or the victim has told a story that insures that "a man will die in prison," he said.

In fact, after the jury's verdict, Griffen filed a motion for a new trial based on several grounds, some having to do with technical court procedures, and one argument that the verdict was simply against the weight of the evidence. One of the procedural matters has to do with the rule of criminal procedure which excludes from the courtroom up-coming witnesses while other witnesses testify. The reason there is such a rule is to ensure that when a witness testifies, he or she is recounting events as they remember them, and their memory wasn't influenced by listening to others testify. In Pogue's case, the mother of the victim testified, was released by the judge, stayed in the courtroom during other testimony, then was called back to the stand wherein she gave more testimony, favorable to the state.

Another evidentiary issue was a "transcript" of a telephone call in which Pogue presumably took part. It turns out there was not a recording of the call, and the "transcript" was merely someone's recollection of what was said during the call. The "transcript" itself was not admitted in evidence and the jury did not have it during their deliberations.

Then there was the issue of "burden shifting." It is bedrock doctrine in American criminal law that the state has the burden of proving the defendant guilty. The defense does not have to prove innocence, and has no obligation to even put on any evidence. In this case, the defense argued that Pogue had a "golfball-sized groin growth" that would have been noticeable by the victims if indeed he did what they said he did, and apparently, neither victim saw anything like that. During closing arguments, prosecutor White asked the jury to ask themselves why the defense presented no picture of the growth to prove that it actually existed. That, Pogue claims, was an impermissible shift of the burden of proof to the defendant and is grounds for a new trial.

Finally, Pogue argued that the weight of the evidence compelled a not guilty verdict; namely, that testimony about his "almost daily" abuse was impossible because of his chronic back problems which had required surgery. Also, testimony about acts happening on the edge of Pogue's bed could never had happened because Pogue had a waterbed.

In the end, Nielson denied the motion. Pogue has 20 days starting April 7 to file a notice of appeal.

Have You Seen Him: 77-year-old man reported missing in Clayton County - CBS46 News Atlanta

Posted: 07 Apr 2020 06:48 PM PDT

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. (CBS46) -- Police are hoping the public may be of assistance in locating a missing 77-year-old Riverdale man named Herman Bennet.

Mr. Bennet was last seen Tuesday, April 7, in the area of Upper Riverdale. He is described as a black male, 5'09", weighing around 145 lbs., is bald and has brown eyes.

He was last known to have on a white shirt, tan pants, tan shoes and black rimmed glasses.

Anyone with information of Mr. Bennet's whereabouts is asked to contact Clayton County Police at 770-477-3648.

Madonna Says She Lost Three Friends Including A Cousin In The Past 24 Hours During Coronavirus Pandemic - Celebrity Insider

Posted: 09 Apr 2020 05:28 PM PDT

Madonna has shared a troubling video on her personal Instagram account, where she has 15 million followers. Many people aren't sure what to make of the video as Madonna is seen typing at a typewriter while wearing a pair of black, horned-rimmed glasses and she makes the startling announcement that she's lost three friends in the past 24 hours. Though she doesn't specifically say that her friends died due to the Coronavirus pandemic, it appears that is the reference. She began by captioning the video with "Quarantine diary #9" and she included a black heart emoji. At 61-years-old, it's hard to discern whether Madonna is creating a theatrical piece in order to make a statement or if she is using art as a method for expressing her grief.

Madonna stated that she was "Over it" and stated the following.

"We can't always have a good day. In fact, it's past midnight so we can technically kiss today good-bye. I didn't sleep last night — not one minute.

The burning spear makes its way into the core of me and slithers down my leg. I can concentrate on nothing except the idea of a fix, and I wonder what form that will take. In the last 24 hours, my cousin has died, umm, my security guard's brother has died and Orlando Puerta, a very important person who played a very important role in my life in terms of getting my remixes to chart on the dance charts in a large part to Orlando's passion and commitment to my music. These three people, I have lost in the last 24 hours. It's having an effect on my mood. Let's just say today wasn't a good day — I'm over it."

You may see the video that Madonna shared below.

While it is unclear if the three people passed away due to the Coronavirus it seems that Madonna is expressing her grief and not just making some sort of statement.

She then spoke about one of her sons and said the following.

"If my son says I have a broken hip one more time, I might implode."

It's unclear why Madonna was referring to her son or which of her two sons she was speaking about.

What do you think about Madonna's video?

Post Views: 82

The Latest: France has its highest 24-hour death toll - WFMJ

Posted: 06 Apr 2020 12:09 PM PDT

The 165 signatories included former U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, 92 former presidents and prime ministers, the current prime ministers of Ethiopia and Bangladesh, Sierra Leone's president, philanthropist George Soros, former Irish president Mary Robinson who chairs The Elders, and Graca Machel, the group's deputy chair.