Federal prosecutors recognized In D.C. - dailypress.com

Federal prosecutors recognized In D.C. - dailypress.com

Four federal prosecutors were recently given Attorney General Awards for their work securing convictions in several Somali pirates' cases, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Managing Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin L. Hatch, Justice Department Trial Attorney Paul G. Casey and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph E. DePadilla and Brian J. Samuels were each awarded The John Marshall Award for Trial of Litigation.
That was for their prosecution of 14 sea-based Somali pirates and one land-based Somali pirate leader in the capture and murders of four Americans aboard the sailboat Quest off the coast of East Africa on Feb. 22, 2011, according to the release.
The prosecutors were recognized during a ceremony last week in Washington, D.C. Samuels is based in Newport News, working out of the federal prosecutor's office in Oyster Point.
A 2013 capital trial in Norfolk against three Somali pirates did not lead to the death sentences that prosecutors had sought — but did result in 21 life terms for each defendant. The group's on-shore negotiator — said to be the first Somalia-based pirate leader ever brought to the U.S. for trial — got 12 life terms.
The other 11 pirates pleaded guilty and were also sentenced to life behind bars.
"This prosecution demonstrates our commitment to obtaining justice for victims of piracy affecting the United States and the international community, and it sends a strong message that Somali pirates and their land-based leaders are not beyond the reach of U.S. and international law," Dana J. Boente, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District, said in the news release.
Mother calls seven-year sentence inhumane
The mother of a woman sentenced last week to seven years in prison in the death of a 75-year-old man called the sentence inhumane.
Jennifer Mangum, 40, was convicted in Newport News of aggravated involuntary manslaughter and DUI maiming in the death of Charles Kent Stitt Sr. in his Kiln Creek home.
"We're in shock," said Patricia White, Mangum's mother. The judge "has sentenced my daughter honestly to die. … He gave her a death sentence. He wants her to die, and I don't know why. … You're putting a girl in jail because she made a huge mistake for seven years?"
Stitt and his wife, Sharon, were in the kitchen of their Timberneck Lane home when Mangum's car crashed through their house at 3:45 p.m. on May 27, 2013. Stitt's wife was injured in the crash. Mangum's blood-alcohol content was 0.27 at the time — more than three times the legal limit.
Mangum suffers from severe liver disease as a result of alcohol use. White said Newport News Circuit Judge H. Vincent Conway Jr. should have sentenced her daughter to house arrest because of her condition.
Conway said he had struggled to see a just decision in the case but ultimately said that despite Mangum's declining health, she must be held accountable for her actions.
"None of us is perfect, and you have struggled with a number of issues," Conway said during the hearing. "At the same time, I think regardless of our difficulties, you deal with the problem — you don't kill your neighbor. … The question for the court is, 'What is justice?' And while as a human being I would like to do everything to support Ms. Mangum … the question is what is justice for Mr. and Mrs. Stitt?"
Newport News double murder trial set to begin
A murder trial is scheduled to begin in Newport News on Tuesday for a Hampton man charged with killing two teens in 2008.
Floyd Taybron, 21, is charged with killing Barry Eugene Richardson, 16, and Keon Otis Flemming, 15, in the Dec. 30, 2008, shooting on 35th Street. Prosecutors say three people shot at the two teens in a gang dispute, with Richardson managing to fire two shots back before he died.
The jury trial, expected to last four days, will be heard before Newport News Circuit Judge H. Vincent Conway Jr.
Taybron, who was 16 at the time of the homicides, is the second of three defendants slated to go to trial in the double slaying. Last month, Marcus T. Williams, 23, was convicted of two first-degree murder counts and other charges, with a jury recommending he get two life terms, plus 23 years. Another man, Tyrone D. Batten, will go to trial early next year.
Before their arrests, Taybron and 20-year-old Tyrek Allen, of Newport News, were named as two of the "most wanted" fugitives by the Newport News and Hampton police.
Allen was found guilty of murder in the July 2010 killing of Dantrell Belle in Newport News, and was sentenced to 59 years. Belle, 22, of Newport News, was shot multiple times on 36th Street.
Peter Dujardin and Ashley K. Speed cover courts and crime for the Daily Press. Dujardin can be reached by phone at 757-247-4749, and Speed can be reached by phone at 757-247-4778.