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Archive for the ‘Crime and Punishment’ Category

Kimberly ThorpeCheck out more shots of this cruiser of the future in our slide show.​A few years down the road, you just may get pulled over by a Dallas Police officer driving this hot new number. If nothing else, it's on the DPD's wish list -- appropriate in the hometown of RoboCop.The first purpose-built police car is on a national tour and stopped this afternoon inside the Dallas Convention Center to see if DPD might be interested. And, indeed, they are. "Oh, heck, yeah," said Lt. A.J Crawford. Dale Barnard, who manages the department's 1,700 vehicles and attended today's show-and-tell, says he's already spoken to city officials about buying a few to test in 2012, when the vehicle is scheduled to go into production.Barnard likes a few things about the diesel-powered car: its fuel efficiency (said to be 40 percent above current police cars), its lifespan (250,000 miles, as opposed 100,000), and the fact the Atlanta-based maker has said it will restrict sales to law enforcement, even collecting the cars after use to keep them out of the public's hands (and away from their lead foots)."The car has incredible potential," Barnard tells Unfair Park. "It's the only vehicle anyone has tried to build to be nothing but a police car." However, Bernard wants to test the vehicles for at least three years before placing "any kind of bulk order."

​The U.S. Attorney's Office just sent word that former Dallas Cowboy hitting machine, 48-year-old Eugene Lockhart, is among nine people indicted by a federal grand jury. They're accused of a running a mortgage scheme out of Dallas between 2001 and '05 under such monikers as America's Team Mortgage, America's Team Realty and America's Team Funding Group. The entire release follows, as does the 33-page indictment itself, but here's an excerpt in advance of the nine-year Cowboys vet's scheduled 1 p.m. appearance in U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeff Kaplan's courtroom:The indictment alleges that the defendants ran a scheme in which they located single-family residences for sale in the Dallas area, including distressed and pre-foreclosure properties, and negotiated a sales price with the seller. They created surplus loan proceeds by inflating the sales price to an arbitrary amount substantially more than the fair market value of the residence.They recruited individuals to act as nominee or "straw purchasers" or "straw borrowers," promising to pay them a bonus or commission of between $10,000 and $20,000 for their participation in a particular real estate transaction. The conspirators caused the loan applications for each straw borrower to include false financial information, often including inflated false income figures to conceal the borrower's true financial condition so that the lender would more likely approve the loan. The conspirators concealed from the lenders the true status, financial condition and intentions of the named borrowers, knowing that loans would not likely be approved if the lender knew the true role, credit worthiness, and risk of each straw borrower. The conspirators falsely represented in loan documents that the straw purchaser intended to use the property as their primary residence, intentionally concealing from lender that each straw borrower, viewed himself as an "investor," who never intended to occupy the home.

How many witnesses until you take the stand, Don? Wrong. You're up!As expected, former Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill has taken the stand to defend himself against charges of corruption and extortion, as U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn reminded him that he has a constitutional right not to testify, which he waived. His attorney, Ray Jackson, just asked him to introduce himself to the jury. Hill says he was born in Austin on November 3, 1951, and he attended segregated schools until the seventh grade. His father was a delivery man -- high school educated, but "brilliant," according to Hill. "I may have grown up a little poor, but I didn't know it," he says.

Sam MertenOf course, Hill couldn't actually answer the question as he's restricted from speaking to the media, but this photo we snapped during the media frenzy that followed today's testimony from the former mayor pro tem tells the story. Sure, it was merely a verbal "Wikipedia entry" as Robert described, but it looks like Hill had a blast. Oh, and this tidbit from his wife's attorney, Victor Vital. "We're weighing our options," regarding whether or not to put Sheila on the stand. More pics after the jump.

Sam MertenAttorney Ray Jackson resumed the direct examination of his client, former Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill, this morning at approximately 8:45 a.m., as Jackson continued to ask Hill about his accomplishments as a Dallas City Council member. Hill says former council member Maxine Thornton-Reese urged him to accomplish two goals: "unite the African American council members" and revitalize downtown. Along with serving on downtown tax increment finance boards, Hill says he helped bring the Urban Market to downtown and renovated the Mercantile with support from former Mayor Laura Miller. Miller was the Merc's strongest advocate, Hill says, and "romanced it." "We still have a long way to go -- I admit that," Hill says of downtown revitalization. After reviewing some plaques, including one for U.S.-Taiwanese trade and another from Hunt Oil, Jackson showed Hill a photo from former council member Ed Oakley's 50th birthday party. Hill described the shindig as a roast and called Oakley a good friend. Of course, he endorsed Mayor Tom Leppert in the run-off between Leppert and Oakley after Hill finished third in the 2007 mayoral race. Hill added that Oakley's birthday is an annual event. Really? Mine too.

Clay GrahamFrom left to right: James C. Giles, Thomas McGowan, James Waller and Charles Chatman -- all Dallas County DNA exonerees -- in April 2008​State Rep. Rafael Anchia filed House Bill 1736 in February; Governor Rick Perry signed the Dallas Democrat's legislation, which ups compensation for the wrongfully imprisoned, in late May; it took effect Tuesday. Which means all those exonerated by DNA evidence in recent years will receive $80,000 per year they spent in prison for crimes they did not commit, as well as lifetime annuity payments for most worth between $40,000 and $50,000 a year. They'll also receive job training, public college tuition and some medical services.This morning, the Associated Press checks in with several of those exonerated -- including Thomas McGowan, who spent 23 years behind bars after being convicted in Dallas County of a rape and burglary he didn't commit -- to see how they'll spend their money. Says McGowen, ''You're locked up so long and then you get out with nothing. With this, you might be able to live a normal life, knowing you don't have to worry about being out on the streets.''

Marlon Alfaro, killed in January in a Lower Greenville parking lot​Back in March we told you the story of Frank Farias, the airman arrested for murder after running over a man outside a Lower Greenville nightclub in January. There's an update: The 23-year-old is awaiting his first hearing in front of a military panel in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he's stationed at Kirtland Air Force Base. Locally, Farias faces a lesser charge: Per documents received by Unfair Park earlier this week, in April a Dallas County grand jury indicted him on the charge of failing to stop and render aid."We're really in a holding pattern as far as the Dallas case is concerned," says Farias's defense attorney, Frank Jackson. For now, Farias continues to serve with the 377th Medical Support Squadron in New Mexico. "He has a JAG officer who is his defense attorney, and I'm in communication with him, but they keep pushing that back too. That's just to determine whether they're going to sever him from the service.. ... We're waiting to hear what they're going to do."

Sam MertenSheila Hill's attorney says she'd be set free if the trial ended today, but she'll testify to restore her name.After speculation Thursday followed by a statement from Judge Barbara Lynn this afternoon regarding a potential appearance by defendant Sheila Hill as a witness in the City Hall corruption trial, we asked her attorney, Victor Vital, if she will take the stand in her defense. Vital tells us he indeed has plans to call Hill as one of his four witnesses, stressing that she won't be testifying to exonerate herself. She'll be trying to save her reputation. "You might recall O.J. Simpson was found not guilty, but the questions loomed because he didn't testify: Is he really innocent, or did the government not prove their case?" Vital says. Vital's convinced that if the trial concluded today, his client would be exonerated because of her constitutional right to have evidence presented beyond a reasonable doubt, which he says the prosecution has failed to do thus far. "What she wants to do, however, is tell her side of the story so the public knows she was not taking money without doing work; she was not taking money to facilitate a quid pro quo," Vital says. "She was taking money to fulfill a passionate desire of hers to help those who are underprivileged in society."

Sam MertenDon Hill's third day on the stand in the City Hall corruption trial began with his attorney, Ray Jackson, asking about statements he made in wiretaps about fairness concerning developer Brian Potashnik's decision to reject bids from Ron Slovacek and Andrea Spencer because they were too high. Hill says the fairness issue was related to ensuring minority participation in Potashnik's projects. Hill says in a case where a developer asks for something to help his bottom line and has expressed a desire to hire minority contractors, the developer needs to understand that the bids will be higher because minority companies typically can't match bids of larger companies. "I just saw that as a fairness issue that needed to be addressed in some way," he says. Jackson then asks Hill to elaborate on the Walker Consent Decree, which was discussed Friday afternoon. Hill says at the time Potashnik was asking him to make its removal retroactive, he was unaware that the contracts Potashnik was considering from Slovacek and Spencer were for his Laureland and Scyene projects. "I did not get into the specifics of it," Hill says of the contracts. "I did not get into the details of it."

Sam MertenD'Angelo Lee and Don HillAs testimony concluded yesterday in the City Hall corruption trial, it appeared as though the prosecution would begin its cross-examination of Don Hill after Doug Greene, D'Angelo Lee's attorney, finished what is expected to be his relatively short questioning of Hill, especially after Victor Vital told us he had no plans to examine the former mayor pro tem. However, Vital did stress that he reserved the right to question Hill, and he'll exercise that right after Greene wraps up, using up whatever remains of the defense's 18-hour allotment with Hill before prosecutor Marcus Busch sinks his teeth into Hill. "He's salivating like a junkyard dog staring at a T-bone steak," Vital tells Unfair Park of Busch's excitement at the thought of questioning Hill. Judge Barbara Lynn tells the jury that the Texas Rangers won a doubleheader against the Cleveland Indians last night and says the defense has used 13 hours and 21 minutes examining Hill. So Busch should be taking over at approximately 2 p.m. if Vital is able to run out the clock. Greene asks Hill if there are any prohibitions regarding employment for city plan commissioners, and he says there are none, only that commissioners can't participate in votes or discussions related to matters in which they have a financial interest. "We've got some fairly wealthy plan commissioners," Hill says after claiming there's no limit on how much money a commissioner can earn, citing Mitchell Rasansky as an example.