Delayed Justice

More excellent police work.  It didn’t come easy, it didn’t come fast, but it did come.  And now Robert Brown and Robert Gaines, have been accused in the Dec. 16, 1993. shotgun killing of 8-year-old Lativia Johnson.  These men were teenagers when the crime was committed.  They were beefing because they thought someone in Lativia’s house had been involved in their robbery the night before, an event that took place across the street.  Wasn’t so.  Didn’t matter.

Here is a listing in the Grand Rapids Press of all the related accounts…the arrests, the press conference, even a balloon release. 

The case had been worked and worked hard right from the shotgun blast.  One generation of investigators gave way to another.  Captain Jeffrey Hertel has had this case on his heart for a long time, and his chief, Kevin Belk, has held it there even longer: Belk was head of the major case team at the time of Lativia’s murder.  The latest in the series were  detectives Kristen Rogers and Pat Needham who had worked on nothing else since last October.

But we know there are a lot of people who made this happen…evidence techs, the pathologist (Dr. Stephen Cohle) and his staff, patrol officers, administrative support personnel…the list goes on and on.  Thank you one and all.  Thank you.

Captain Jeff Hertel of the Grand Rapids Police Department has long held a very special place in his heart for Lativia Johnson, an eight-year-old who was gunned down while she stood at the open refrigerator Dec. 16, 1993.  Somebody had to look down the length of a shotgun barrel, through a window, see this child standing there…and then pull the trigger.  Captain Hertel and I had spoken on this case as early at 2005.  During the last two years, though, whenever I’d bring up her name he had to stand (or sit) silently.  Oh, the case was being worked, all right, and there was a certain aura, almost a smile (not uncommon for him) about the progress being made.  I sensed it was slow, but it was sure.  I had done one interview relating to the case, and as soon as I learned it was being actively worked I stepped back and waited.  The police don’t need somebody mucking about while they are trying to follow trails.

There is a press conference this (Friday) morning at 9 a.m. concerning this case.  I have hope that her alleged killers will be made known, that all will be revealed.

A life sentence for convicted murderer Russell Vane. Another sentence for the full term of his natural life, no possibility of parole.  Reporter Barton Dieters of the Grand Rapids Press chronicled yesterday’s court proceeding.

Thank God for this measure of justice in the murders of Kathryn Darling and Diane Holloway.  Vane’s actions have left in their wake incalculable harm.  This is the lingering effect of murder and it extends from generation to generation.

When a friend contacted me yesterday about the links to pornographic sites at the very, very bottom of this website, I just about lost it.  WHAT??!!!???!!!  THERE ARE WHAT THERE???!!!??!?!!?!?!?!  WHERE?????

I couldn’t see ’em and they weren’t showing up on Macs.  But PCs?   Un-hunh.  Nasty, nasty, nasty.  Our website had been corrupted.  And not just ours but lots of others, too.

We THINK we have this fixed, but there is always the danger of a recurrence.  If you see any porn/porn links would you please give me a shout?  david.schock@delayedjustice.com.  It is obscene enough that we kill each other with almost a 50 percent chance of getting away with it.  But to add industrial porn to this site is most unwelcome.  Yuck.  If I were a casual visitor, I’d probably never come back.

And if you’re visiting because you are hoping to get your porn fix here…please, please, please just go away and never come back.  Oh, and tell your mother you’re a wrong’un.