PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER JEREMY ROEBUCK A Pennsylvania state trooper accused of stomping a handcuffed man in the head during a botched 2009 drug raid was acquitted Monday of a federal civil rights violation charge. Cheers and applause erupted in the courtroom from more than two dozen of Kelly Cruz’s law enforcement colleagues as the jury delivered......
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER JAD SLEIMAN THE LINCHPIN witnesses in the racketeering/murder trial of reputed Philly drug boss Kaboni Savage were simply reading from the prosecution’s script, defense lawyer Christian Hoey said during his closing arguments yesterday. Hoey spent nearly five hours calling out the witnesses as “case jumpers” who used “trial magic” to get lighter sentences.......
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER GEORGE ANASTASIA Chester County defense attorney Christian Hoey is in. Veteran Philadelphia defense lawyer Christopher Warren is out. And convicted drug kingpin Kaboni Savage has withdrawn his request to represent himself in a racketeering-murder case that could carry the death sentence. Those were the developments yesterday in the high-profile drug-trafficking case wending its......
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER KATHLEEN SHEA Two Coatesville brothers accused of inciting a barber-shop brawl nearly a year ago that left one man in need of medical treatment were found not guilty Friday by a Chester County Court jury. After deliberating for more than two hours, a jury apparently decided that the version of events in which Raygiel......
DAILY LOCAL NEWS Jonathan Jones Sometimes, he would ride together on the train with 25-year-old Christoper Rhodes, also from Philadelphia, to the Paoli train station, where they would pick up a shuttle to take them to work. Then in December of last year, both men were placed in handcuffs by East Whiteland Police and accused......
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER JOHN P MARTIN A defense lawyer at the murder and conspiracy trial of drug kingpin Kaboni Savage hammered away Thursday at a key prosecution witness, trying to get the man to concede that others might have been behind the October 2004 firebombing that killed his mother, son, and four relatives. The witness, Eugene......
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER KATHLEEN SHEA A grand jury’s decision not to recommend charges against a state trooper following a police-brutality allegation was hailed as “total vindication” Tuesday by the trooper’s attorney. State Trooper Kelly Cruz, a veteran narcotics investigator, should soon return to regular duty, said attorney Christian J. Hoey. But Joseph P. Green Jr., who......
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER JOHN P MARTIN No one was awake – not the 57-year-old grandmother, her niece or the four children – when the two men carrying red cans full of gas climbed the porch of their North 6th Street house in the pre-dawn darkness. One kicked the door in, and fired gunshots up the stairs......
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER KATIE PECK Months after an episode of well-publicized bullying at Tredyffrin/Easttown Middle School, school district administrators have proposed changes to the district’s safety policy after meeting with parents and security experts over the summer. The proposed rules, made public Thursday night, address how educators should respond to student threats, notify the community about problem......
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Michaelle Bond The racist and sexist text messages shocked, angered, and saddened students, parents, and the rest of the Coatesville Area School District. Even worse was the realization that the superintendent and athletic director were the ones exchanging the messages about students and staff on district-issued cellphones. It’s been more than four years since......