Man kills mother, then still wants inheritance

Joshua Hoge, a schizophrenic confined to Washington’s Western State Hospital, is claiming at least part of his late mother’s estate even though he’s the one who killed her in 1999. Washington law prevents profiting from the “unlawful” and “willful” taking of another’s life, but Hoge was found “not guilty by reason of insanity,” and the legal issue is still unsettled. Furthermore, according to a January report in The Seattle Times, it appears that the mother’s estate consists almost totally of the $800,000 the estate won in a lawsuit against a county health clinic because it was negligent in delaying Joshua’s medications, which probably led to his killing her.

Inexplicable

In November, accused armed robber Steven McDermott, 49, was finally captured after leading California Highway Patrol officers on a high-speed chase in a commandeered taxicab, causing two minor collisions before McDermott fled on foot. When McDermott was finally cornered, officers said, he reached toward his waistband, leading one officer to shoot him, though the object McDermott was reaching for turned out not to be the gun used in the robbery but a sex toy, tethered to his belt loop.

Chutzpah!

Ingrates: (1) “Get in here and do your jobs, you dummies,” said Donald Reidnauer Sr., 56, after summoning police to investigate a BB pellet fired at his house in Richland Township, Pa., in November. “I pay taxes. I am your boss. Get in here and do your jobs.” Reidnauer then lunged at officers and was arrested.

(2) Marjorie Kelley, 50, called 9-1-1 in Sarasota, Fla., in January after feeling chest pains, but she requested that no sirens or lights be used by the ambulance. When EMTs arrived using sirens and lights, Kelley reportedly jumped up and chased them down the street, wielding a rolling pin, according to WWSB-TV.

Injudicious Judges

Judges Fond of Probation: (1) An unnamed Children’s Court judge in Melbourne, Australia, sentenced eight boys to probation in November even though he had found them guilty of sexually assaulting a teenage girl, setting her hair on fire, spitting and urinating on her, and filming the episode. There was no jail time, but the youths were assigned to a rehabilitation program.

(2) Britain’s Judge Francis Gilbert in November sentenced a 28-year-old woman to probation for her eighth conviction for false claims of rape, involving seven men over a six-year period. In one case, police said, she called them “every two or three days” to keep the investigation alive.

‘ A Jury Fond of Probation: A Brownsville, Texas, jury in December found Traci Rhode guilty of shooting her husband to death in his sleep, but rejected the prosecutor’s recommended sentence of 60 years, opting instead for 10 years’ probation and a $10,000 fine.

She did serve two days in jail after the guilty verdict was announced, but before sentencing, but Rhode’s lawyer was outraged even at that: “Can you imagine the shock,” he told the jury, “of being locked up for two days in a 4-by-8 cell with cement walls, in isolation?” Texas subsequently passed a law banning probation as the punishment for murder.

People With Issues

Bill Long, a former member of the county council in Daytona Beach, Fla., was charged with DUI in December after he, allegedly speeding, hit another car. “When officers arrived at the scene,” reported WKMG-TV (Orlando), “Long was found drinking … suntan lotion.”

Least Competent Persons

Ronald Stach, 41, climbed to the roof of the Canton Station bar in Baltimore on Dec. 11 and remained until Christmas Day, protesting the poor showing of the Baltimore Ravens football team. As such, Stach called attention not just to the Ravens, but also to himself, and thus inadvertently alerted his former wife as to his whereabouts so that she could renew her years-long quest for at least $40,000 in back child support. Kelly Stach said she was especially incensed at a TV interview in which Ronald lamented how much money he had spent on Ravens memorabilia. Shortly after that, a second woman came forward, claiming Ronald also owed her $12,000 in back child support.

People With Too Much

Time on Their Hands

(1) According to a report in Britain’s Bolton News in December, the House of Lords has recently been discussing the need to reduce the thickness of slices of bread, which Baroness Gardener of Parkes said would help alleviate Britons’ alarming levels of obesity. (2) TV’s Weather Channel recently released a CD comprising 12 of what it called the most popular jazz selections that play on its “Local on the 8s” weather screens (tunes presumably requested by those who watch the Weather Channel often enough to actually have favorites).

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