By Alicia Cruz
The Black Urban Times
Listen to Lisa Taylor's journey to freedom despite her imprisonment in a Thai jail after she and her cousin's girlfriend, Kim Hood were caught trying to smuggle 14 kilos of Heroin out of Thailand.
Hood and Taylor's story was featured on the National Geographic show, "Locked up Abroad: Back-stabbed in Thailand."
Actress Noree Victoria plays Taylor. Keisha Tillis, actress, singer and Georgia native, plays Kim Hood.
After an abusive marriage ends in divorce, Taylor finds herself struggling to raise three children alone. Hoping to give her children a better life, Taylor jumps at a chance to make $15,000 by bringing "products" to the United States via Thailand.
During her first solo trip to Thailand, Taylor invites Kim, her cousin's new girlfriend. Kim, despondent and needing a break following an incident where she shot and killed the former husband of her girlfriend after he firebombed the women's cars and assaulted Kim with a brick, readily accepts Taylor's seemingly innocent offer to travel abroad on a "nail business trip."
Once in Thailand, bizarre things occur. Taylor's "business" connections seem to be taking the young women on a wild goose chase. Then, just before the ladies are scheduled to fly back to the United States, Taylor's connection surprises her with extra "baggage" he says she must carry.
Upset, Taylor refuses. Kim, fearful that this new bump in the road will prevent her from getting back to Alabama in time for her manslaughter trial, agrees to carry the extra "baggage."
It is at this moment Kim says she realized Taylor's "business product" trip was nothing more than a cover story Taylor created to hide the fact that she was a drug mule for a Nigerian "businesswoman."
The two women head for the airport hoping to make it aboard their return flight without their luggage raising the suspicions of Customs officials. Taylor and her bag pass through airport screening unnoticed, but Kim isn't so lucky.
Within hours, both women are caught with Heroin and sent to a Thai jail.
Following their convictions in Thailand, both women spent several years in Thai and American prisons.
Today, Taylor is a college graduate and an inspirational motivational speaker. At press time, I had not made contact with Kimberly Hood, but I am hoping to set up a brief interview with her to learn where her journey has taken her since her release from prison.
Hood is a military veteran who served her country honorably in the United States Army.
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Showing posts with label Alabama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alabama. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
British Grannny Sentenced to Death in Bali Drug Smuggle
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| Photo/mediacriminaljustice.blogspot |
Friday, January 22, 2010
Tornado Races Through Huntsville, Alabama Thursday
by Alicia Cruz
The Black Urban Times
The Black Urban Times
A tornado touched down in Huntsville, Alabama on Thursday causing widespread damage and knocking out power to over 9,000 homes.
No deaths have been reported, but several people, including 2 people who were injured when the truck they were in was hit by a tree and a woman and her daughter were injured.
By 8:30pm Thursday, 4,000 homes had power restored, but approximately 6,000 remain in the dark.
Alabama Governor Bob Riley says Alabama Emergency Management Agency has field coordinators in Northern Alabama assessing damages.
Officials say the tornado touched down around 5:30pm Thursday and some of the worst damage was done at buildings like the Johnson Towers where windows were blown out and another building on Butler Terrace lost their roof.
Neighborhoods like those in the historic districts, Old Town and Five Points, seemed to have sustained significant structural damages that were reported.
Bob Gathany/Huntsville TimesA local television network, WAFF 48, filmed the storm live, as it passed over their studio.
In May 1995, an F4 tornado dubbed the "Anderson Hills" tornado ripped through Huntsville killing one person and causing massive devastation notably the destruction of the Anderson Hills subdivision.
6 years earlier, in November 1989, another F4 tornado swept through Huntsville killing 41 people, and injuring hundreds. The F4 twister was packing winds of 260 mph and left millions of dollars in damages.
Click Here for Raw Footage of Huntsville Funnel Cloud and Tornado
Video courtesy of WHNT
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Former Judge Indicted on Sex Abuse, Sodomy Charges Against Inmates
(CNN) -- A former south Alabama judge is accused of checking male inmates out of jail and forcing them to engage in sexual activity including paddling, according to officials and court documents. Former Mobile County Circuit Judge Herman Thomas was arrested Friday after a grand jury returned the indictments against him. He was released on $287,500 bond later Friday.
The indictments total 57 counts, and the charges range from ethics violations to kidnapping, extortion, sex abuse and sodomy. If convicted on the most serious charge -- kidnapping, a Class A felony -- Thomas faces a prison sentence of 10 to 99 years in prison, Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Jr. said Monday.
But Thomas' attorney, Robert Clark, said Friday the accusations against the former judge amount to "a high-tech lynching."
"Did you ever think of the fact that this is the only black circuit judge we've ever had in Mobile County and that the right-wing Republicans have gotten rid of him?" Clark said at a news conference, portions of which were posted on the Web sites of CNN affiliates WKRG-TV in and WALA-TV.
"This is racism at its very finest."
Thomas was arrested during that news conference; footage shows police walking up to Thomas, tapping him on the shoulder and leading him into the adjacent jail building without handcuffing him. Later Friday, Clark was threatened with arrest after refusing to leave Tyson's news conference, according to CNN affiliate reports.
The indictments total 57 counts, and the charges range from ethics violations to kidnapping, extortion, sex abuse and sodomy. If convicted on the most serious charge -- kidnapping, a Class A felony -- Thomas faces a prison sentence of 10 to 99 years in prison, Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Jr. said Monday.
But Thomas' attorney, Robert Clark, said Friday the accusations against the former judge amount to "a high-tech lynching."
"Did you ever think of the fact that this is the only black circuit judge we've ever had in Mobile County and that the right-wing Republicans have gotten rid of him?" Clark said at a news conference, portions of which were posted on the Web sites of CNN affiliates WKRG-TV in and WALA-TV.
"This is racism at its very finest."
Thomas was arrested during that news conference; footage shows police walking up to Thomas, tapping him on the shoulder and leading him into the adjacent jail building without handcuffing him. Later Friday, Clark was threatened with arrest after refusing to leave Tyson's news conference, according to CNN affiliate reports.
"The South hasn't changed all that much," Clark, described by the Mobile Press-Register as "a longtime and flamboyant fixture of the Mobile defense bar," told CNN on Monday.
He said Thomas denies all the charges, and he questioned the credibility of the alleged victims. "Everybody that's listed in the indictment is either serving life for murder or some other horrible crime." Some have already recanted, Clark said, adding, "None of this is new stuff." He pledged he would "fight till the last dog falls."
Meanwhile, the Alabama State Bar said its disciplinary commission suspended Thomas' law license Monday.
The indictment returned Friday, posted on WKRG's Web site, offers few details of the alleged offenses but makes several references to Thomas forcing people to expose their buttocks "to paddling and/or whipping."
The posted indictment had names of the alleged victims blacked out. But each of the nine alleged victims was in Mobile County Circuit Court on charges ranging from criminal mischief to murder, according to the Press-Register, which cited court records.
One of the inmates, according to the newspaper, went before Thomas on multiple occasions and faced several felony charges. He was sent to prison for a short time, but Thomas ordered him released early, according to the Press-Register. He was sentenced in federal court and later released and has since been accused of murder and attempted murder.
During Thomas' judgeship, he had a storage room furnished like an office near his eighth-floor chamber at Mobile's Government Plaza, the Press-Register said. Several criminal defendants have alleged, in affidavits and in court, that Thomas asked to paddle their buttocks in the room, and some said he suggested sexual encounters there, according to the newspaper.
Thomas resigned from the bench in October 2007 just before being scheduled to stand trial before the Alabama Court of the Judiciary on ethics violations charges. The complaint, dismissed after Thomas' resignation, accuses him of "extrajudiciary personal contact" with some defendants but does not refer to any sexual contact.
Asked about Clark's allegations of racism, Tyson told CNN, "In this case, as in every case, we try to react to the law and facts, and that's all. Anything else is outside our authority. I can assure anybody that's interested that this is not being pursued for some racial agenda."
Thomas' bail carried three conditions, Tyson said -- that the ex-judge have no contact with males under the age of 21, that he have no contact with the complaining witnesses or their families, and that he surrender his passport.
All the Mobile County Circuit judges have recused themselves from Thomas' case -- standard procedure for a case involving another judge, Tyson said. A judge from another county is being brought in to oversee the case. An arraignment date has not been set, Clark said.
But on March 9, another Mobile County Circuit judge barred Thomas from his courtroom. Judge Joseph S. Johnston wrote in an order that during Thomas' tenure on the bench he "used his office to threaten criminal defendants with jail time, penitentiary time and probation revocations if they did not engage in sexual acts with him."
Johnston attached to the order, under seal, a disc "containing the interviews of three criminal defendants who were subjected to the treatment described above," the order said.
Clark appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court, saying Johnson's suspension order "cites allegations and innuendo and rumors." He said Monday the high court hasn't weighed in on the matter.
He said Thomas denies all the charges, and he questioned the credibility of the alleged victims. "Everybody that's listed in the indictment is either serving life for murder or some other horrible crime." Some have already recanted, Clark said, adding, "None of this is new stuff." He pledged he would "fight till the last dog falls."
Meanwhile, the Alabama State Bar said its disciplinary commission suspended Thomas' law license Monday.
The indictment returned Friday, posted on WKRG's Web site, offers few details of the alleged offenses but makes several references to Thomas forcing people to expose their buttocks "to paddling and/or whipping."
The posted indictment had names of the alleged victims blacked out. But each of the nine alleged victims was in Mobile County Circuit Court on charges ranging from criminal mischief to murder, according to the Press-Register, which cited court records.
One of the inmates, according to the newspaper, went before Thomas on multiple occasions and faced several felony charges. He was sent to prison for a short time, but Thomas ordered him released early, according to the Press-Register. He was sentenced in federal court and later released and has since been accused of murder and attempted murder.
During Thomas' judgeship, he had a storage room furnished like an office near his eighth-floor chamber at Mobile's Government Plaza, the Press-Register said. Several criminal defendants have alleged, in affidavits and in court, that Thomas asked to paddle their buttocks in the room, and some said he suggested sexual encounters there, according to the newspaper.
Thomas resigned from the bench in October 2007 just before being scheduled to stand trial before the Alabama Court of the Judiciary on ethics violations charges. The complaint, dismissed after Thomas' resignation, accuses him of "extrajudiciary personal contact" with some defendants but does not refer to any sexual contact.
Asked about Clark's allegations of racism, Tyson told CNN, "In this case, as in every case, we try to react to the law and facts, and that's all. Anything else is outside our authority. I can assure anybody that's interested that this is not being pursued for some racial agenda."
Thomas' bail carried three conditions, Tyson said -- that the ex-judge have no contact with males under the age of 21, that he have no contact with the complaining witnesses or their families, and that he surrender his passport.
All the Mobile County Circuit judges have recused themselves from Thomas' case -- standard procedure for a case involving another judge, Tyson said. A judge from another county is being brought in to oversee the case. An arraignment date has not been set, Clark said.
But on March 9, another Mobile County Circuit judge barred Thomas from his courtroom. Judge Joseph S. Johnston wrote in an order that during Thomas' tenure on the bench he "used his office to threaten criminal defendants with jail time, penitentiary time and probation revocations if they did not engage in sexual acts with him."
Johnston attached to the order, under seal, a disc "containing the interviews of three criminal defendants who were subjected to the treatment described above," the order said.
Clark appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court, saying Johnson's suspension order "cites allegations and innuendo and rumors." He said Monday the high court hasn't weighed in on the matter.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Alabama gunmen kills 9, himself in shooting spree
By JESSICA GRESKO and DESIREE HUNTER
Associated Press
Army has been called in to patrol, keep order
SAMSON, Ala. – A gunman killed at least nine people on a terrifying rampage across two Alabama counties Tuesday, burning down his mother's home, killing members of his own family on their porch and shooting apparent strangers as he drove by, authorities said. He then fatally shot himself.
Police were investigating shootings in at least four different locations in three neighboring communities, all of which were believed to be the work of a single gunman named Michael McLendon. Investigators declined to comment on a motive for the shootings, in which at least four other people were injured, including a child.
The afternoon of bloodshed began when McLendon burned down the house in Kinston where he lived with his mother, Lisa
McLendon, according to Coffee County Coroner Robert Preachers. Officials located Lisa McLendon's body inside the house, but they had not been able to get inside the still-burning house to determine a cause of death or whether she was a 10th victim of her son's killing spree.
Police were investigating shootings in at least four different locations in three neighboring communities, all of which were believed to be the work of a single gunman named Michael McLendon. Investigators declined to comment on a motive for the shootings, in which at least four other people were injured, including a child.
The afternoon of bloodshed began when McLendon burned down the house in Kinston where he lived with his mother, Lisa
McLendon, according to Coffee County Coroner Robert Preachers. Officials located Lisa McLendon's body inside the house, but they had not been able to get inside the still-burning house to determine a cause of death or whether she was a 10th victim of her son's killing spree.Army soldiers from Ft. Rucker patrol the downtown area of Samson, Alabama after a shooting spree last night. At least 10 people including the suspected gunman and his mother were killed in the shooting spree and car chase in southern Alabama. REUTERS/Mark Wallheiser (UNITED STATES CONFLICT SOCIETY IMAGE OF THE DAY TOP PICTURE)
He then headed about 12 miles 
southeast to Samson, in Geneva County, where he shot and killed five people — four adults and a child — at a home. He killed one person each in two other homes.
The identities of all the victims were unknown, but Preachers said they included other members of the shooter's family.
southeast to Samson, in Geneva County, where he shot and killed five people — four adults and a child — at a home. He killed one person each in two other homes.The identities of all the victims were unknown, but Preachers said they included other members of the shooter's family.
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