Crime Time

For the first time in 34 years, a Tarrant County District Attorney tries a case

Something notable is going on at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center in downtown Fort Worth:

A Tarrant County District Attorney is trying a case.

Joe Shannon’s presence in state district Judge Ruben Gonzalez's courtroom will mark the first time in 34 years that the top attorney in this county has prosecuted a case. 

The late Tim Curry - Shannon’s childhood friend and predecessor –  preferred to leave the courtroom work to his assistants, while he oversaw his staff and managed the office. The last time Curry tried a case was in 1977 when he famously lost the case of oilman Cullen Davis. (Incidentally, Shannon was also part of the team that tried Davis).

When Shannon was appointed in May 2009 to serve Curry’s unexpired term after he passed away, he was no stranger to the courtroom - or to high-profile cases.

In 2005, he sent Edward Lee Busby Jr. to Death Row for abducting retired TCU teacher Laura Lee Crane from a  Fort Worth shopping center, wrapping her head in 36 feet of duct tape and suffocating her in the trunk of her car.

And in 2003, Shannon got Curtis Wayne Pope a life sentence for stabbing a construction manager  46 times inside a padlocked office trailer at a construction sight.

He also routinely prosecuted economic crimes involving disabled, handicapped or elderly victims who were swindled by crooks and conmen.

Last year, when Shannon was elected to a four-year term, he publically stated that he planned to keep trying cases.

This week’s trial isn’t high profile. A 19-year-old Fort Worth man is being sentenced by a jury for breaking into the home of an elderly man, roughing him up and robbing him.

But it should be interesting.

Whereas Curry was quiet and reserved, Shannon is a firecracker who’s got the gift of gab.

- Melody McDonald

15 year old stabbed to death for iPod

Whatever the street value of an iPod might be, it's certainly not worth someone's life.

U.S. Marshals said that Hugo Gonzalez, 17, and Brian Johnson, 18, were arrested in Las Cruces, New Mexico on Wednesday in the stabbing death of a 15 year old boy in El Paso after a robbery that went terribly wrong.

According to officials, the two teens stabbed the unidentified boy as they robbed him of a cell phone and an iPod three weeks ago.

Apple's popular music player has sold in the millions since its debut in October 2001.

Report: Cowboys' Marion Barber detained in Beverly Hills

Cowboys running back Marion Barber, who had a few, shall we say, "self-control issues" last season, was detained but not arrested in Beverly Hills on Monday after accusations that he was disturbing the peace, according to TMZ.com.

Stepmom accused of killing, dismembering 10-year-old stepdaughter

Authorities in North Carolina say that a stepmother has been charged with second-degree murder after they said she killed her 10-year-old disabled stepdaughter and then dismembered her body in an attempt to cover up the killing, the Associated Press reported.

Elisa Baker was indicted Monday in the death of Zahra Baker, who disappeared four months ago. Her remains later were found in different locations around western North Carolina after Elisa Baker led them to the dump sites, the AP reported.

Zahra had used a prosthetic leg and hearing aids after she was stricken with cancer, the AP reported.

According to indictment, there were aggravating factors in the case. The indictment said that Elisa Baker had a history of psychologically, verbally and physically abusing the girl, according to the Associated Press.

-- Lance Murray

Investigators: Drunken mom fell on baby, smothering her to death

A West Virginia mother has been accused of drunkenly falling on her baby eight months ago and smothering the child to death.

She had claimed the 3-month-old baby had died mysteriously, but investigators charged her on Friday  after getting a fuller account from the woman's husband about what happened on the morning the baby died, CNN reported.

"She got wasted, she got drunk, she got high, and she fell asleep and rolled over on the child," Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Plant said on HLN's "Nancy Grace," show, CNN reported.

-- Lance Murray

53 murdered over three days in Ciudad Juarez

The numbers coming out of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, continue to be staggering.

The El Paso Times reported that between Thursday and Saturday, 53 people were murdered in that cartel-war ravaged city.

Among the dead were a Juarez police officer, a municipal patrolman and a state investigator, the Times reported.

Officials said it was the deadliest three-day period they could remember in the city where, on average, eight people are slain every day, the Times reported.

-- Lance Murray

Cat burglar's worst nightmare - getting stuck in a chimney

Justin James Cain of Arlington would have been better off on many levels if he'd just stayed in bed.

The 21-year-old was arrested early Wednesday after police say he got stuck in the chimney of the house he was trying to burglarize.

He was yelling for help when Arlington police arrived at the house on Glassboro Circle at about 1:47 a.m., Arlington police spokeswoman Tiara Richard said in this report in the Star-Telegram online.

He had to be cut out of the chimney by Arlington firefighters, Richard said.

Adding insult to injury, police also found a bag containing what they said was marijuana and drug paraphernalia in Cain's Jeep Grand Cherokee, which was parked nearby, according to the police report.

Details were still trickling in Wednesday. It wasn't clear how long Cain was stuck in the chimney or how he got up there in the first place. More is sure to come.

The homeowner where the burglary was reported had no comment.

A spokesman for the Arlington Fire Department was not available Wednesday afternoon.

Cain remains in custody at the Arlington Jail, according to jail records. His bail has been set at $11,500, jail records show.

-- Chance Welch

2nd man executed in torture killing of Arlington teenager

The second man convicted in the 1998 torture killing of 19-year-old Amy Robinson in Arlington has been executed.

Michael Wayne Hall, 31, was pronounced dead at 6:23 p.m. Tuesday at the Huntsville Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the Associated Press reported. Robert Neville, the other man convicted in the murder of the mentally challenged teen, was executed in 2006.

Before he was executed Tuesday, Hall apologized for what he'd done and repeatedly asked for forgiveness, the AP reported.

-- Lance Murray

Redskins' Haynesworth accused of sex assault by waitress

Controversial Washington Redskins defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth has been accused of sexual assault by a waitress, the Associated Press reported.

Haynesworth was accused of touching the waitress' breast while paying his bill at a restaurant, but the player's agent says there is no truth to the claim.

According to the AP, agent Chad Speck said: "There seems to be no truth to these allegations. And we are currently evaluating the facts and considering our own legal actions against those involved."

Police said that an investigation is under way, the AP reported.

-- Lance Murray

Flower-bearing man fatally shoots estranged wife at work

Police in the Queens, N.Y., say that a man walked into a pharmacy Thursday and handed his estranged wife a bouquet of carnations and sunflowers.

But it was no early Valentine's present. He then fatally shot her in the face, the New York Post reported.

Alexander Figueroa, 38, then fled to his nearby apartment and fatally shot himself in the head.

Police and family said that Figueroa, an ex-convict, was a violent man who had recently gone to his wife's work and beaten her. He threatened to kill her if she didn't go back to him, the Post reported.

"He beat her up just a week and a half ago at her job and told her he would kill her if she didn't go back with him," Villa's sobbing pregnant sister, Yajaira, told the Post. "He was angry she had rejected him."

The police identified the dead wife as Guimmia Villa, 32, the mother of Figueroa's two sons, the Post reported.

-- Lance Murray