Rev. Al Sharpton: Contraception Isn't a PR Game; It's a…
Suge Knight Arrested After Cops Find Weed
When three college students were murdered execution-style in a Newark playground in 2007, the brutality of the killings shocked the city and led investigators to initially believe that the attackers must have known their victims.
But as the trial begins in one of Newark's most heinous crimes, prosecutors are saying the victims simply were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
It is that scary aspect of the case -- that anyone could have suffered the fate of murder victims Dashon Harvey, Iofemi Hightower, Terrance Aeriel and surviving victim Natasha Aeriel -- that provides a sad and sobering element to the murder trial.
The victims were all students at Delaware State University, and Natasha Aeriel was scheduled to attend the following year. The Newark natives never got in trouble with the law. In short, they were the type of Newark resident the city should salute.
The case will turn on the testimony of Natasha Aeriel, who was shot during the attack, and whether she places defendant Rodolfo Godinez (pictured above right), a recruiter for a violent MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, street gang that spread from Central America to the United States in the 1980s, as her attacker.
We can only hope that Aeriel's memory of that tragic day is clear and that she can piece together what happened well enough to accurately recall whether Godinez was in fact part of the gang that hurt her and killed her friends.
A very small positive came from this tragic case: Newark residents, fed up with street violence, demanded action from their elected leaders, and the city implemented several anti-crime programs credited with lowering the murder and violent crime rate in the city.
In March, Newark was murder-free for the first time since 1966. Watch Mayor Cory Booker talk about it here:
But that probably means little to the family and friends of the victims. They are looking for justice and may get some measure of it at the conclusion of this trial.
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Comments: (4)
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By: Juana on 4/29/2010 11:44PM
Amazing, yet Al Sharpton dumbass is out in Arizona fighting for illegals while they are using us for gang pratice. Pathetic
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By: Marcelle on 4/29/2010 5:57PM
READ THAT STORY AGAIN, & AGAIN, & MAYBE ONE MORE TIME!!!!!!!!! THIS IS HAPPENING IN ARIZONA, CALIFORNIA, TEXAS, ALL OVER, & GUESS WHAT MY PEOPLE.. THEY MOSTLY ARE ***ILLEGAL ALIENS***, NO PAPERS, NO DOCUMENTS, NOT GIVING A DAMN FOR ANY AMERICAN BLACK, BROWN, WHITE, MIXED, ASIAN... YES MANY ILLEGALS ARE HARD WORKING, BUT THEY DO NOT CARE ONE BIT FOR US...***AMERICANS***!!!! AND AL SHARPTON WANTS TO WALK HAND IN HAND WITH THEM?? IN ARIZONA THE ILLEGAL ALIENS TREAT ESPECIALLY BLACK AMERICANS WITH NO RESPECT, & EVEN DEATH... BETTER WAKE UP MY AMERICAN, LEGAL RESIDENTS, & WORKER PERMIT PEOPLE WHO LIVE LIFE THE PROPER WAY...WAKE THE HELL UP!!!!!!!!!!!
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By: Gwenola on 5/01/2010 1:20PM
When you get in trouble Rev Al will be the first there to help your smelly behind. You need to be protesting the gang violence and the killings for nothing, just because someone happened to be at the wrong place. Work on bringing the so called gang bangers together. Unity should be our focus. They will only go to prison and learn how to kill again. YOU get out there and help bring PEACE.
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By: Kai on 12/10/2010 11:55PM
My Blood boils when I read this story.
These Nicaraguan punks who did this to these young college bound students should not be able to live while in prison. The savagery and barbaric acts they committed should Not go unpunished in Jail!
This is the primary reason why so many people want these Hispanics out of this country, illegal immigration should have never been allowed to get this far out of hand. Most of the country supports deportation of Illegal Immigrants!
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