Woman pleads guilty to poisoning salsa: How much was healthcare tab for victims?

Yini De La Torre, 19, has pleaded guilty to putting poison in salsa served to patrons at Mi Ranchito restaurant in Lenexa (Kan.). An account of the case from the US Justice Dept. reads like a novella. And it begs the question how much does one act by an individual cost us in terms of healthcare. De La Torre’s actions made at least 48 victims sick.

De La Torre pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to tamper with a consumer product. In her plea, she admitted that while working as a waitress at the Mi Ranchito restaurant in Lenexa she twice added Methomyl-based pesticide to salsa she prepared. On Aug. 11, 2009, during the lunch rush, 12 diners at Mi Ranchito suffered nausea, abdominal cramps, weakness, sweating and chest discomfort after eating salsa.

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Sleepy SC town where 'Strangler' struck unnerved by serial killer

Updated on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 9:21AM by Kay B. Day, Editor

This sketch of the suspect in a series of murders in Gaffney, SC, was released by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Dept. Mention the city of Gaffney to a South Carolinian and the first thought will probably be about peaches. You can see the town’s giant peach tower from I-85 and the community has a nationally touted peach festival every summer. It’s normally a quiet city strategically located between Charlotte (in the other Carolina) and Greenville. It’s the official seat of Cherokee County. And within the last week, 5 people have been killed, shot dead for no apparent reason. One victim, a 15-year-old girl shot with her father on Thursday at the family business, died Saturday. Her mother and sister discovered the teen as she clung to life. Her father was already dead.

Gaffney’s other brush with a serial killer occurred in the 60s when Lee Roy Martin, dubbed ‘The Gaffney Strangler,’ killed 4 women. Martin was convicted and died of stab wounds several years after going to prison. Many of us who grew up in South Carolina remember the Strangler, even if we were young. Fear rippled through many small towns at that time.

The latest killings have turned a bucolic town into a frightened city where the sheriff is warning salesmen and travelers not to knock on doors

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Felony murder rule case in Florida: revenge or justice?

Ryan Holle is serving a life sentence at Wakulla Correctional Institute in Crawfordville, Fla., after he lent his car to friends who committed burglary and murder.The felony murder rule offers prosecutors in states like Florida and approximately 30 others the option to punish all actors in a crime as though their guilt is identical—the hand of one is the hand of all. But some cases, such as Florida’s prosecution of Ryan Holle, raise questions. Does the rule deliver justice or revenge? For a conservative to write those words is unusual—after all, aren’t we staunch advocates of law and order? Ironically, it is because I am a strong advocate of law and order that I am disturbed by Holle’s case.

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Huffington Post writer may have killed ex-lover in rage, then killed herself

(Boyton Beach, Fla.) Jessica Kalish, 56, was stabbed 200 times with a screwdriver.Carol Anne Burger, 57, of Boyton Beach, Fla., is suspected of killing her ex-lover the day after writing about presidential candidate Barack Obama at the Huffington Post website. Jessica Kalish, communications director for a spyware company, was found dead late Thursday evening. Kalish, 56, had been stabbed 222 times with a screwdriver. Kalish’s body was found in her BMW at Boyton Beach Open Imaging Center. Burger’s body was found the next afternoon in the back yard of the home she shared with Kalish. Police say Burger shot herself. Investigators believe Burger killed Kalish at home and then moved the body.

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Ongoing dialog about felony murder rule in majority of US states

The felony murder rule is an American institution many legal authorities date to English common law, and a 26-year-old Florida man named Ryan Holle is one who, despite no criminal record, was handed a harsh sentence by the court because of the rule. The crime was pretty simple. Holle lent his car to a roommate. The roommate connected with others who went to a drug dealer’s home to steal a safe containing drugs. The group killed the dealer’s daughter during the robbery. Holle never went near the dealer; he was nursing a hangover from the night before, 1 ½ miles away from the crime scene.

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