Fresh Loaf

Several of my Facebook friends are members of a “Murder Kroger” fan group; the marketing-unfriendly unofficial nickname for the Kroger on Ponce DeLeon Avenue next to City Hall East.

I’ve heard people refer that Kroger as “Murder Kroger” since I moved to Atlanta in 1997, but cannot recall any notable violent crimes at the store.

Does anyone here know the origin of the name? Is it called “Murder Kroger” because of a specific crime? Is the name a grim comic riff on Buckhead’s so-called Disco Kroger?

Anyone?

(Photo Courtesy Flickr)

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OK, the headline oversimplifies things a bit. As with nearly everything that deals with the law, it’s a little more complicated.

The Georgia Supreme Court decided today 4-3 not to overturn a murder conviction for a DeKalb man who killed his girlfriend simply because the jury wasn’t told explicitly that, since the killing was motivated by the victim’s infidelity, they had the option to instead find the defendant guilty of voluntary manslaughter.

Told you it was complicated. The way I see the Supremes’ decision, it affirms that, as Presiding Justice Carol Hunstein wrote in her dissent, “adultery may constitute provocation sufficient to mitigate a killing.” In other words, if you killed your wife or significant other during a crime of passion because he/she was stepping out on you, it’s possible to get away with murder (although you’re still likely to go to prison on a lesser charge).

But today’s ruling also holds that the judge at your trial isn’t responsible for explaining all this to the jury. The moral of the story is, get a good lawyer!

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Timothy Thomas, one of two men charged with the April 5 gun murder of 16-year-old Nick Martin outside his Peoplestown home, has been in and out of prison and jail for violent offenses since he was a teenager.

In 1998, when Thomas was just 16, he falsely imprisoned someone. When he was 19, he committed aggravated assault. In 2003, he was convicted of two more aggravated assaults and obstructing a law enforcement officer. He was released from a state prison on September 2, 2008.

Here’s a PDF of his prison record. Georgia’s prison web site doesn’t allow links to individual inmate records.

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Falicia Blakely, in 2004

Back in 2004, CL Senior Editor Mara Shalhoup chronicled the story of Falicia Blakely, a young woman who’d pleaded guilty to the murders of three men.

Shalhoup interviewed Blakely at the DeKalb County jail, not long after her guilty plea. Here’s the ensuing two-part story, which earned first-place prizes for feature writing in the 2005 Clarion Awards and the 2005 Association of Alternate Newsweeklies Awards.

Learning to hit a lick

Falicia Blakely was a 16-year-old dancer when she met a pimp 11 years her senior. Within two years, she’d be a prostitute facing the death penalty for three murders.

Aug. 15, 2002

Falicia stretched out on the floor of the apartment and, finally feeling ready for anything, pulled from her purse a .32-caliber Sauer & Son pistol. Nobody seemed to care. Doc was on the phone. Ray and Pumpkin were playing solitaire on Ray’s laptop. In front of the four of them, the sliding glass door framed a sky about to reach out and swallow the sun, to take the edge off the heavy August heat. Since the afternoon, when they began partying, the cover of clouds had lifted, loosening the morning fog and mist so that only broken fragments remained. And still no rain. It hadn’t rained in weeks.

They’d kept it to tequila and weed for the most part, some ecstasy and blow for later. Falicia had shown up at Ray’s hours ago, under the pretense of bringing him ecstasy pills. But as always, it was expected she hang out when she delivered the drugs. With Ray she didn’t mind. They’d been doing business for more than a year. She liked him. Unlike most men she knew, Ray had helped her out of more than one bad scene, had picked her up when she was in trouble, had listened to her rant when she was scared or pissed off. He was a welcome change.

She herself was easy to do business with. All long legs and slow curves, eyes like a sphinx and skin like bitter Godiva. She was only 18 – not that she let on – and full of fast talk, a little ghetto at times, but tinged with just enough girlish sass to disarm.

But not today. Something was different about her today.

Continue reading ‘Learning to hit a lick’ …

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Mayor Franklin continues to remind everyone that she has a thin skin. This time, it comes in the form of open letter released minutes ago and addressed to Sgt. Scott Kreher, president of the Atlanta police union, who had publicly scoffed at her proposal to raise taxes to hire more cops.

“Can the mayor be any more full of hot air on that one?” Kreher was quoted as saying in today’s AJC.

Kreher dismissed Franklin’s proposal to add 400 officers to the APD by the end of the year as so much empty political rhetoric. Even if the city had the money, Kreher told the newspaper, the mayor knows it would take longer than that to recruit, train and certify so many new officers.

Here are some excerpts from Shirley’s fairly lengthy reply:

I have your public comments and I faithfully appreciate the frustration you must feel as you advocate for the officers and the International Brotherhood of Police Officers members in recent weeks. In spite of the divisive comments you have made about me I believe we share a common goal, which is a safe city. I think we both recognize the essential role our police officers contribute to achieving this goal.

(more…)

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As mentioned in Joeff Davis’ earlier post about this morning’s vigil at the Standard, local residents Kyle Keyser and Tessa Horehled have started an advocacy group for Atlantans to connect and stay informed about crimes and other issues affecting the community.

The group, called Atlantans Together Against Crime and Cutbacks, is in its beginning stages. (Residents can share stories and information about crimes with other members on the group’s Facebook page.)

Keyser writes:

The Facebook forum will be for sharing accounts of violent crime that effect those within our community, as well as posting updates on news, protests, and other tools to help bring awareness to this issue. The mailing list below will be used to share information on gatherings, protests, and lobbying efforts to fight cutbacks. You will not be inundated with email and will only notify you of big events (estimated at a few emails a month).

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Rubi Cuautle, at a vigil for John Henderson

Tears, laughs, prayers, cigarettes and calls for organizing against crime were the orders of business this morning at a vigil in front of the Standard Food & Spirits — where, one day earlier, 27-year-old bartender John Henderson was murdered during an armed robbery.

Police estimated that more than 200 people, including Henderson’s friends and supporters, gathered to celebrate his life and discuss the tragedy at the popular bar and restaurant on Memorial Drive, near historic Oakland Cemetery in north Grant Park. Community residents circulated sign-up sheets and fliers for community action groups. Local filmmaker Kyle Keyser — himself a victim of a crime eerily similar to the one that took Henderson’s life — handed out a flier for a new group he’s forming, called Atlantans Together Against Crime and Cutbacks. Keyser said he decided to form the group last night, after hearing about Henderson’s death.

According to the AJC, Henderson and a female bartender were closing up the Standard at about 4 a.m., when four armed men threw a brick through the glass door and ordered them into the bar’s office. Henderson was shot four times execution-style — twice in the head and once in each leg. He later died at Grady Memorial Hospital.

Brandon Barr, a regular at the Standard, stared off into space under the Standard sign as he recalled his memories of Henderson. “He was a great guy,” Barr said, “and I came here to pay my respects.” Rubi Cuautle choked back tears and called for a boycott “of establishments that do not provide adequate security for their employees.” Kelly Dugan held a candle as she accepted deep hugs from well-wishers. “John was one of my really good friends,” she said.

More photos from the vigil at our Sideshow Atlanta Blog

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Management and employees of Standard Food and Spirits have established a memorial fund for John Henderson, the 27-year-old bartender who was murdered at the restaurant after a robbery early Wednesday morning.

“We are offering what help we can financially and emotionally to his family,” Chris Johnson, owner and general manager of Standard Food and Spirits, said in a press release from the city. “John was very outgoing and very lively and supportive. Our hearts go out to his parents, extended family and his many friends. It’s unfortunate that someone would take another life in such a senseless crime.”

Tomorrow from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., Southeast Atlanta residents will hold a vigil for Henderson at The Standard. Management and staff are also planning a memorial service at the restaurant in the near future.

To contribute funds to the John Henderson Memorial Fund, visit the Grant Park Neighborhood Association website and follow the link to make a donation via credit card. Checks and money orders, noted as “John Henderson Memorial Fund,” can be mailed to the Grant Park Neighborhood Association, PO Box 89235, Atlanta, GA 30312.

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UPDATE: Standard Food and Spirits’ management request the event be a vigil, not a protest, and that participants do not bring signs or placards. Participants are encouraged to bring candles to light as a tribute to the victim. The post below has been edited to reflect the Standard’s request.

Southeast Atlanta residents shaken by the this morning’s murder of a bartender at Standard Food and Spirits will hold a 7 a.m. vigil tomorrow at the Memorial Drive restaurant.

Rally participants are encouraged to bring candles to light.

For driving directions to The Standard, visit here. To find the nearest public transit that serves the restaurant, visit here.

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Chicago police and U.S. Marshals arrested Shakir Cole yesterday in Chicago for a 2006 Atlanta murder.

Does anyone know which murder he is suspected of committing? I’ve called around a bit, but nobody who I know knows, ya know.

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(Photo by Joeff Davis)

Jerry Turner is president of Advanced Bio-Treatment, a company that specializes in cleaning the mess left behind by murder and suicide. The company also cleans up urine and feces, as well as old meth labs.

“Suicide from firearms are difficult because the splatters are small and located all over the place.”

The most gruesome place he’s cleaned: “A suicide with a [large caliber rifle]. It looked like 15 bodies had been slaughtered, not just one head.”

On telling people his job: “I pass out my business card and all kinds of cool conversation happens. It’s like my bar trick.”

“I have empathy for people. I understand how it affects people to lose a loved one. But death just doesn’t bother me at all. It’s a part of life. Everybody dies.”

On what he looks for when hiring: “They need to be meticulous and not squeamish. Most of my workforce is women. I guess they’re used to dirty diapers. And they’re typically cleaner than men.”

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In Atlanta, “Every Day Is An Opening Day.”

Unfortunately, the openings are increasingly bullet holes.

Atlanta’s murder rate for the first half of 2007 was 21 percent higher than during the same period in 2006, and 46 percent higher than the same period in 2005.

According to statistics I gathered from eight separate reports on the Atlanta Police Department website, there were 51 murders in the city during first six months of 2007. That number may be higher because the APD’s crime map appears to record multiple homicides as single murders. The murder of two teens at Greenbriar Mall last month is noted on the APD crime map as one murder.

During the same period in 2006 and 2005, there were 42 and 35 murders, respectively. Last year, Atlanta had the fourth-highest murder rate in the nation.

Murder isn’t the only serious crime on the rise in the city.

According to the APD’s first-quarter report, robbery was up 16 percent, burglary, 13 percent; rape, 9 percent; and theft from coin-operated machines was up 23 percent.

Not even our candy and soda are safe.

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Number of murders in Atlanta in 2006 and 2005, respectively: 110, 90

Percentage increase of homicides in the past year in Atlanta: 2

Percentage the murder rate increased nationwide in the last year: 0.3

Percentage the murder rate increased in large cities with 1 million people or more in the last year: 6.7

Overall violent-crime percentage increase in Atlanta in the past year: 4.6

Overall violent-crime percentage decrease in New York in the past year: 5.3

Number of years that crime has declined in Atlanta, according to a Georgia State criminologist: 10

Number of murders in the first quarters of 2006 and 2007, respectively: 21, 21

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