Birdsong now rolls out a few more weird criminal law stories for your reading enjoyment:
July 2008. In Los Angeles two elderly women were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering two indigent men and then collecting on their insurance policies that the women had taken out on their lives. The evidence at trial revealed that the women, Helen Golay, age 77 and Olga Rutterschmidt, 75, a native of Hungary, befriended the two men, took out life insurance policies on them and then staged their deaths to look like hit and run auto accidents. Prosecutors alleged that the women collected $2.8 million from the scheme.
They sound like Black Widow Spiders!
July 2008. Only in Florida…or maybe Haiti!
In Deltona, Florida a voodoo doll with a picture of a Deltona city commissioner’s face on it was found in her yard. The 5 inch doll found in Zenaida Denizac’s yard had several pins stuck in it. Denizac’s husband found the doll on their front lawn near the mailbox. He at first thought it was trash but realizing it was a voodoo doll he called police.
Police say it is too early in their investigation to determine whether this was a hate crime. No suspects yet.
July 2008. Cesar Villazano, age 19 was sentenced to life in prison for fatally shooting a cross-dressing male outside a Daytona Beach nightclub one year ago, Villazano was found guilty of second degree murder when he shot and killed Mario Oscar Mosqueda. Testimony at trial revealed that Villazano was trying to pick up another cross-dressing (unnamed) male outside the dance club that caters to a gay and cross-dressing crowd. The unnamed cross-dresser spurned Villazano’s advances. Villazano , in a fit of anger, opened fire at him with a handgun, missing the intended target but striking Mosqueda in the back of his head.
Talk about your transferred intent!
We wonder whether his attempts at dating will be spurned in prison?
July 2008. An Orlando woman, Jackeline Villa, returned home from vacation recently to find that her pets, an African grey parrot, a cockatoo, three cockatiels and two parakeets had been stolen from her home. Ms. Villa has called police and is offering an unconventional reward for tips leading to the whereabouts of the birds.
The reward: One month of free gas to anyone who has information regarding the missing birds.
A sign of the times!
