Free Republic

A Colorado woman was sentenced Friday to 38 years in prison for beating a man to death with a baseball bat because she wrongly suspected him of molesting a child, The Denver Post reported. Forsythia Owen, 32, of Englewood, was convicted of second-degree murder, first-degree assault and tampering with evidence in the September 2013 death of Denzel Rainey, 42. Owen told authorities she repeatedly struck Rainey with a Louisville Slugger bat as he was sleeping in an alley because her 4-year-old daughter claimed he had touched and sexually abused her.Rainey was found with a skull fracture, cuts to his head,...

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. -- A West Ashley man has been charged with animal cruelty after authorities say he hit a seagull with a bat. The Post and Courier of Charleston reports Sunday that a witness called police June 18 and said she had seen a man smack the flying bird with a baseball bat. The woman took the bird to an animal shelter, and it died later of head trauma.

The Boston Red Sox will produce an online video for the “It Gets Better Project,” an anti-bullying project aimed at helping gay youth. The announcement that the team would be the third major league baseball team to participate in the campaign came today in response to a petition started by a 12-year-old New Hampshire boy that garnered nearly 10,000 signatures in a matter of days. “The Red Sox organization takes the issue of bullying seriously,” the team said in a statement yesterday released by spokeswoman Leah Tobin. “It is something that has touched many of us and those we love,...

HELENA, Mont. -- A jury on Wednesday found that the maker of Louisville Slugger baseball bats failed to adequately warn about the dangers the product can pose, awarding a family $850,000 for the 2003 death of their son in a baseball game. The family of Brandon Patch argued that aluminum baseball bats are dangerous because they cause the baseball to travel at a greater speed. They contended that their 18-year-old son did not have enough time to react to the ball being struck before it hit him in the head while he was pitching in an American Legion baseball game...