TRUE CRIME TUESDAY JUNE 4, 2013

Federal Trial for Mobster Whitey Bulger Begins

Jury selection for the Whitey Bulger trial is slated to begin today in Boston. Bulger was on the run for 19 years after a rogue FBI agent warned him about an arrest warrant. Among the charges are indictments for money laundering, racketeering and over a dozen murders. Bulger was finally arrested in 2011 in California after witnesses spotted his long time girlfriend. The Wall Street Journal has an article about the trial at this link: Whitey Bulger Trial Starts.


Kansas City "Cold Case" Crime Fighter Retires After 30 Years

In 1984, long before Cold Case became a popular TV show, Janna Eikel began a career in law enforcement that would lead to the capture and conviction of some of the worst sex criminals ever to stalk the city. In the process she helped solved dozens of unsolved cold case crimes. She assisted in the capture of Kenneth McDuff, a serial killer from Texas who strangled over a dozen people, after he had been in Kansas City for a mere three weeks. Read more about this woman's remarkable odyssey, including why she was turned down by the Kanas City police department when she first applied for a job, in this article from the Kansas City Star.


DNA Gathering OK'd by Supreme Court

In a decision with profound implications for civil liberties, the US Supreme Court has ruled that states can gather DNA samples from people without a search warrant, even when that sample is used  to search for evidence in crimes unrelated to the original arrest, contrary to the fourth amendment to the US Constitution.  Ironically, the majority decision allowed the action by comparing DNA gathering to routine procedures such as mug shots and fingerprints, as an administrative tool, rather than justify its real intent...to find and identify suspects in other crimes.

The ruling was opposed by three liberal justices and joined by Antonin Scalia, normally a conservative law and order justice, who found the ruling hypocritical. In a scathing dissent which he read in open court, Scalia said “Make no mistake about it: because of today’s decision, your DNA can be taken and entered into a national database if you are ever arrested, rightly or wrongly, and for whatever reason,”. Read more about the decision at The New York Times.