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A grand jury has indicted an Elkton man on a murder charge, six weeks after police found his emaciated wife dead in a bedroom amidst squalid conditions. John Joseph Dougherty, 53, faces a second-degree murder charge in the indictment, handed up last week after the grand jury heard new evidence against him. Dougherty already faced manslaughter and abuse charges in an indictment handed up March 17. The new indictment, unsealed yesterday, included those charges and added the murder charge. Dougherty is accused of causing his wife's death by keeping her locked in a bedroom for six years without access to...

An Elkton man accused of murdering his brain-damaged wife by keeping her locked in a bedroom regained custody of his three daughters Wednesday. Judge Dexter M. Thompson Jr. returned the children to John Joseph Dougherty, 53, after a hearing that lasted all afternoon in circuit court. The county's social services department took custody of the children Feb. 25, after police found their mother dead on a mattress amidst squalid conditions in their Chestnut Drive home.

ELKTON - New evidence against an Elkton man accused of locking up the mother of his children for six years until her death has prompted a Cecil County grand jury to increase the charges against him from manslaughter to second-degree murder. John Joseph Dougherty, 53, told authorities that he started keeping Mary Elizabeth Kilrain, 46, in a bedroom in 1999 after she suffered an aneurysm and became verbally aggressive toward their daughters, according to police. He told authorities that he wanted to keep her from wandering around the house. Kilrain did not have access to food, water and hygiene, prosecutors...

I asked this on a thread but got no response and would really like an answer if someone could help. How come Jack Kervorkian got jailed for helping people to die (who admittedly ASKED to die) yet Michael Schiavo is getting away with it? Could this be a legal avenue for Terri's parents to go down? I mean, until a bill is passed that makes euthanasia illegal, killing someone (EVEN IF THEY ASKED FOR IT) is still a crime, right? Terri was not dying so this is a deliberate act of killing - euthansia (this can be certified even by...

WHAT BETTER WAY TO SPEND EASTER WEEK??? Everyone GO and try to give Terri water in person. They've already arrested one Catholic worker. Four other Saturday or Sunday. Are there only five trying? Imagine if by tonight tens and hundreds of THOUSANDS are showing up being arrested as they try to give this innocent woman water. And tomorrow. And the next day.

Freedom For Life ... I Am A Human ... Let Me Live By Kevin Fobbs March 22, 2005 Terri Schiavo's fight to live is the new civil right's cause for our century that we must embrace. Her stand for life must be preserved. Justice demands that we initiate a nationwide petition drive in every home, every community and in every meeting hall. Every office and every religious institution and place of worship should circulate petitions that acknowledge, "Freedom For Life...I Am A Human...Let Me Live" as the new rallying cry for our nation. Why now? We need it now, because...

In response to the GOP-led congressional action intended to restore Terri Schiavo's feeding tube, those Democrats in opposition have attacked Republican hypocrisy in the case. Why suddenly, they ask, is the party of federalism and hostility to an overweening federal judiciary interfering in a state matter and handing the Schiavo case to a federal judge? If it is disorienting to see Republicans scrambling for federal intervention, at least they are acting on their deepest pro-life convictions — life is to be treasured in whatever form it takes, and preserving it is a paramount value. The starkest inconsistencies are on the...

If, what Michael Schiavo is saying, is true, and his claim is supported truthfully by his brother and sister-in-law, regarding the statements that they allege to be made by Terri, and the Florida probate court has "found as the fact" of the case, that: "she would not want to live this way," then please, to examine a calendar, for every day, of every week, of every month from February of 1990 on through all of 1991 on through all of 1992 on through all of 1993 on through all of 1994 on through all of 1995 on through all of...

Terri Schiavo has NEVER had her own attorney representation, but it has always been through her husband/guardian. She has not had due process because it gives everyone the "right of counsel," which she has NEVER had. This bill will confer on the middle district of Florida this review, so it still IS a state's issue. Terri's tube removal is not "a family decision" because the way Judge Greer worded the removal of her food and water is a command written in the same wording as done with criminal prosecutions. There was not an option. Judge Greer is also wrong in...

YADKINVILLE A district-court judge in Yadkin County ruled yesterday that 11-year-old Micheal Beam should remain in the group home where he was placed after he found an unloaded BB pistol in his book bag and reported it to school officials. After a 40-minute hearing, Judge David Byrd said that he did not have the authority to "reverse a fellow judge's decision" that ordered Micheal to stay at Yadkin County Group Home for possessing a weapon at the school he attended, Yadkin Success Academy. Although Micheal's parents said that he has been depressed since living at the group home, Byrd said...

Liberty and Justice for All A Few Who has the right to decide who lives and dies? Apparently, America's courts feel fit to take on the conundrum. This week, the United States Supreme Court vacated a stay that blocked the execution of serial killer Michael Ross. This effectively removes the obstacles between the convicted killer and his own date with death. Michael Ross, by his own acknowledgment, killed eight women in Connecticut and New York, and had been scheduled to die by lethal injection the previous Wednesday. Because of the ongoing legal battle, the Department of Corrections postponed the execution...

*Michael, HAVE A HEART !!!!!For Valentines Day give Terri back to her MOM & DAD, The Schindlers!!!!!!!!* The Terri Schindler Schiavo Daily Threads are created month to month as we watch local and national news regarding Terri and her family. Since Terri's supporters are in every time zone, you may see something FIRST. Please share news with us that you don't see here already. Now, why would you want to do that? Terri's Daily Thread for September/October of 2004 was viewed over 15,000 times. Terri's November Daily Thread was viewed over 6,000 times. December's thread is over 3,000 views. January...

The headline in the New York Sun reads like a bad joke but makes perfect sense: "Venezuela Outsources Intelligence Activities To Cuba." In a global society, where what economists call 'comparative advantage' rules, each country does the most of its specialty. And in Cuba, its only production of note is its repressive police state. This is the only product it can credibly export, and quite an economically damning fact. But the substance of its number one export is very disturbing. It has a buyer in Venezuela's Marxist dictator, Hugo Chavez. The details of this new law that Chavez has passed...

The Groningen Protocol is the proposal of doctors in the Netherlands for the establishment of an "independent committee" charged with selecting babies and other severely handicapped or disabled people for euthanasia. The original article provides some of the key details: Under the Groningen protocol, if doctors at the hospital think a child is suffering unbearably from a terminal condition, they have the authority to end the child's life. The protocol is likely to be used primarily for newborns, but it covers any child up to age 12. The hospital, beyond confirming the protocol in general terms, refused to discuss its...

Last week, in the first presidential debate, candidate John Kerry did what most expected him to do. He presented a polished argument. He seemed confident and knowledgeable. For sure, on style alone, John Kerry has the natural political talent to score points. In the debate, Kerry skillfully wove as many words as possible into every one of his 90-second responses. Do not for an instant, however, permit Kerry’s natural political skill – further refined over a lifetime in Washington D.C. – to fool you. It is easy to allow Kerry’s slick rhetoric to conceal his radical ideas. When it comes...

A federal appeals has tossed out a ruling issued last year by U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab of Pittsburgh after ruling that the judge had copied his opinion, nearly word-for-word, from a memorandum written by one of the attorneys in a case. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Schwab made only two substantive changes to the memo, other than minor changes for grammar and style, then signed it as his own opinion. In doing so, the court said, Schwab failed to show that he put the necessary thought and jurisprudence into the ruling. ~~~SNIP~~~ Schwab was appointed...

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed yesterday to decide whether the federal government can strip an American of his right to possess a firearm based on a felony conviction in a foreign court. Under federal law, no one "who has been convicted in any court" of a crime punishable by a year or more in prison can legally own a firearm. In 2000, Gary Sherwood Small was indicted for violating this law in 1998, when a search of his apartment turned up a pistol and 335 bullets. Small argues that the indictment should be dismissed because his only criminal conviction came...

American Constitutional Research Service Florida Judge, George Greer, orders Terri Schiavo to die without trial by jury! For background see Terri Schiavo wants to live It is a fundamental and constitutional right to have a trial by jury, the “opportunity” to defend one’s self and confront one’s accusers, before being sentenced to death. It is also a fundamental right to have an attorney at that trial, to be an advocate and speak for those accused, and then, it is up to a jury to make a decision based upon the evidence presented. The judge in Terri's case has bypassed a...

Iraqis and coalition forces provide legal due process to oil smugglers at seaby Journalist 2nd Class Denny Lester MANAMA, Bahrain - The chaos of war sometimes creates openings for opportunists in search of quick riches. In the case of Iraq, the opportunists are smugglers who are trying to illegally smuggle oil – oil that belongs to the Iraqi people. Coalition efforts since the end of major combat operations have been directed at intercepting the smugglers, then detaining them and the oil until Iraqi authorities can pass down judgement. Coalition naval forces have conducted maritime intercept operations in the Arabian...

A Glimmer of Hope Dear A-Letter Reader:In the April 17, 2002 A-Letter, I wrote about an obscure type of treaty called a "MLAT," or Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty. MLATs give governments the right to gather evidence and seize assets without a judicial hearing and in some cases, with no right of appeal to any court. The treaties essentially override all confidentiality laws that might otherwise apply. And their one-sidedness is an invitation to serious abuse.The US has more than 50 MLATs in effect, more than any other country. Since the first MLAT came into effect in 1977, they have been...