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Saturday, December 24, 2005
The Year in Review

As the year draws to a close, it's time to reflect on the biggest headlines. We all know about Tom and Katie, Nick and Jessica, and the hurricanes. But did you hear about the golfer who claimed he made a hole-in-one with two shots? Or the retired nurse and 4-year-old boy who were both murder suspects?

Check out 2005's wackiest crimes and trials, courtesy of Court TV. Pay attention, because there will be a test afterwards. Below, a sampling of cases I helped find for the network.

A hole-in-one or a hole-in-two? Adam Fisher claimed he deserved a $10,000 prize for making the covetous shot in a charity golf tournament. The only problem: he took two swings because he used a mulligan, or a do-over.
DNA linked Gary Leiterman, a retired nurse and Little League organizer, to a 1969 college murder. The forensic evidence seemed airtight, until blood from a then-4-year-old boy also allegedly appeared at the crime scene.
In a case marked by jealousy, Shannon Walters and her friend Erin Wylie kidnapped Walters' boyfriend's dachshund and drowned it. Prosecutors said that Walters was angry over the attention that the dog received, but Wylie's attorney claimed it was a mercy killing.
In 2002, a bizarre attack left a respected medical examiner handcuffed to a window guard, wrapped in barbed wire and with a motion-sensitive bomb strapped to his chest. The prime suspect? The medical examiner himself. Prosecutors believed he faked his own attack.
A 16-year-old junior firefighter was accused of beating his girlfriend with a baseball bat to end her pregnancy. He originally claimed that he committed no crime because she consented. They both said they didn't want their parents to know about the baby.
Charles "Stan" Martin was believed to be the first person tried for murder in an amusement park death. Prosecutors said that he knowingly contributed to the death of a woman who fell from his ride.
Sheriff's deputy Chad Butler said he acted in self-defense when he shot who he believed to be an armed man. Unfortunately, Butler's judgment failed him: the man was unarmed, and the man died in what should have been a routine traffic stop. Butler ended up being thefirst Iowa law enforcement officer to be charged in a fatal shooting in 15 years.
A female teacher who allegedly wed a female student in a pagan ritual agreed to a plea deal just before the trial was to begin.

posted by Jessica at 8:38 PM | 0 comments

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