Ghost in the House

[slaveplanet]

Students exploring a haunted house found a 91-year-old man. But when the law got involved, it got really scary.

Last September, after a night of listening for ghosts on Crybaby Bridge -- a legendary span in Massillon, where people claim to hear the cries of a dead child -- they drove past the old house. Through a second-story window, they spied a lonely picture of Jesus hanging on the wall. That night, no one dared approach the house, let alone step inside. But on January 7, eight of them had come back to claim the Jesus painting as proof of their fearlessness.-snip

The radio turned off and a metal work lamp clicked on. Sitting on his bed of birdseed bags was the old man. He was dressed in navy work pants, a flannel shirt, and a Slesnick Scrap Metal baseball cap. The bed was bare. Old newspapers jutted from his pant leg -- a feeble attempt at extra insulation. His dirty face hung in droopy jowls. He squinted toward the door."Who is it?" he asked, his voice muddled and tired.Nicholson, who worked in a home for invalids a few nights a week, stepped forward, offering a handshake and his name. "This is for you," he said, extending a crisp ten-dollar bill.
The old man looked at it strangely. "Paper money?" he said, handing it back. "I don't need nothin'." -snip

"I need your son to come to the car to give his statement," he said.
Vesco looked at his mother. "I don't want to go out to the car," he said.His father persuaded him to do as he was told. Vesco's sense of dread ticked toward panic as he climbed into the back of Tedrick's cruiser. The deputy reached for a coat lying on the back seat. "Don't want you to steal my jacket," Tedrick joked, then locked the cruiser's doors.He gave Vesco a sheaf of blank paper and asked him to write everything he had done at Ohms' house. He also wanted the names of everyone else who had been there. "I've already seen the tape, and I know what you did," Tedrick said, according to Vesco. (Tedrick did not return phone calls seeking comment.)Vesco wrote a three-page confession, but the deputy pushed him for more."You smoke weed, don't you?" Tedrick asked. "You and Beau do drugs, right?"Vesco refused to write down anything about drugs. Tedrick seemed to grow frustrated. Tey were at a stalemate. -snip


Deb Blough, a woman who brings Ohms food once a week, led a Scene reporter to the door. A sign read: "TAKE HAMMER AND TAP." Inside, Ohms was staring out a window, listening to oldies through the radio static.Ohms needed the reporter to shout within a foot of his face so he could hear. Yet when the message got through, he was surprisingly lucid. He remembered the kids who came to visit. "They didn't bother me," he said. He scoffed at the suggestion that he was ever in danger. "If they would have jumped me, I could have handled at least one," he said with a smile. "They didn't threaten me or nothing. They brought me food and money."And the Jesus painting? "I said he could have it," Ohms said. -snip


y'all have just got to read the rest of this saga, 4 snippets does not do it justice. Read how the prosecutor and detective royally screwed over this group of teens.
http://www.clevescene.com/issues/2005-04-13/news/feature_1.html

[vince3]

1. That prosecutor seems like a witch

[Generic Other]

2. And what ever happened to common sense?

Why didn't the judge order the kids to perform community service? Shovel some fossilized feces, for example? Or clean and paint an old man's house? It seems like in this case such restitution would have been more appropriate than jail time.

Isn't the real crime that the community let the man go back to living in squalor without really lifting a finger to help him? Where are the good Chritian folks of Cleveland with their faith based charity? At least the kids brought him potato chips.

[slaveplanet]

3. The real crime is

the father who urged his son to put trust and his life in the hands of the crooked cops. They can say there is no 5th ammendment all they want , but the fact is , it is still there.He needed to have his lawyer present. The old man was interviewed and that cop knew the real story before his report was submitted...

[thecai]

5. The Parents

... may have had "blind faith" in our "justice" system, as many parents and unsuspecting citizens do. I advise everyone to NOT talk to law enforcement without an attorney present, because this trickery is common practice. But most citizens are not aware of that fact, nor aware that it is "legal" for cops to lie to obtain confessions.

[thecai]

4. Common Injustice

This is a very sad story, but the injustice is so typical of this current "justice" system. More reason the entire "justice" system is in need of a complete overhaul.

[thecai]

6. Kick

This thread is worth kicking, IMO.