Introduction

 Hi Everyone!  
I would like to introduce myself a little before we get started here.
I have actually had a blog for several years here at Blogger called True Crime Stories.  It was my first attempt at writing and boy, you can surely tell the difference in style from when I started way back in 2012 to my last blog in 2022.  That is not to say that I was perfect at it, but it did become a much better read.

So, why am I no longer using that blog?  There was apparently an issue that I could not get resolved with Blogger that was preventing my blog from being found.  I reached out and could not get it resolved. I guess your next question would be why would I continue to use this site if it caused issues.  That is because after looking through other sites I honestly could not find another that offered me the things that I wanted.  Now, to be fair that may just be because I'm an "old woman," set in my ways and I am very used to this format and how things work.

It has been nearly a year since I last blogged, way back in September of 2022 and I have been ready to dive back in but please be patient with me because I am starting from scratch, literally.  While I have several hundred posts on the blog and I make every effort to dig as deep as a possibly can and get the most accurate information I can find, I have to admit I have not always gotten it right.  What you will find from me is if there is an issue that I have found conflicting information about, I will state as such.  But, one thing I do need to remind myself is to dig deeper than I have in the past and double check a few things.  For example, and no, off the top of my head I do not remember what story it was, I did one once and announced that the perpetrator had died in prison in a particular year.  I would not have said this if I had not found something that stated this and at the time I was completely confident that the information was accurate.  I some readers come back and inform me that this was not true.  It bothered me and I was determined to prove that person wrong only to find out that it was me that had been wrong.  I had written the blog prior to the persons ACTUAL death so obviously when they did die that information was not yet available and shall we say at the top of the search list.  When I was informed of my mistaken the person HAD died, just not when I had reported, so the search at that point was bombarded with articles of their death and while it took me a while, I was able to find the article in which I had initially found the information.  It was a lesson for me, that is for sure.

So, with all of this being said I have absolutely no intention of doing any sort of copy/paste from my previous blog.  Does that mean that I may or may not read one over and refresh my memory and find points that I would like to make sure are made?  Absolutely not.  Also keep in mind if you were to come across a story that is both here, and there, that my opinion may have changed over time.  We all grow in different ways and oftentimes when I am talking about a crime I am a fence sitter and you will likely hear that phrase often.  So I may have written about a story several years ago and leaned one way about the case and today I may lean another.

There are a few things that you will hear from me often.  One is that I am really neither an advocate for or against the death penalty.  Personally I think it is warranted when the crime is extremely vicious but more importantly when there is absolutely no question that the person is guilty.  You will also often hear me say that while I am obviously interested in the crimes and all involved but I am also interested in the law and that it is followed.  There are going to be cases that you will hear me say that I believe someone that was acquitted was guilty, but that the jury still got it right.  A prosecutor's job is to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt in a criminal case.  You will likely see some civil cases also thrown in from time to time because crime is crime and does not always have to involve murder or even criminal actions or penalties.  

In that same realm you will likely hear me say that I believe a person to be guilty and they were found guilty but I disagree with how that conviction was obtained.  This too goes back to the law and how it is applied.  An example of that would be the Drew Peterson case.  He was convicted of murdering his ex-wife.  The prosecutors were allowed to bring in conversations that his then current, yet missing wife, had stated to people.  First, these comments would not have been allowed in any other courtroom and a special hearing and law was created to do so.  Secondly, there is the rule that a defendant has the right to face their accusers.  One can say "Who cares?  He's guilty."  It matters because when we let things go for one person there is a line of prosecutors (or defense attorney's depending on the situation) waiting to use that same tactic against someone else, and maybe that person is not guilty.  It's precedence and it means that an attorney can basically tell a court "Hey, it was done in this case so we should be allowed to do it here."  When we do this to "get our man" we are opening the door for it to be used on everyone.

A good example to explain precedence would be the cases involving grandparents rights.  Now, granted those are not criminal cases but precedence works the same regardless.  Someone sued in court to be given the legal right to have visits with their grandchildren.  When a case is filed, whether it be criminal or civil, the person bringing the claim has the "burden of proof."  This means that it is their job to convince the court that what they are asking for is reasonable or warranted.  What happened in the cases involving grandparents rights is that a judge somewhere (again, off the top of my head I do not recall where) decided that the parents were being unreasonable and granted the grandparents the legal right to visit their grandchildren.  Then someone somewhere else decided "hey, it worked there, lets try here."  Those attorney's could claim the previous case as precedence.  These cases, despite arguments such as the rights of parents being overruled and other things were being granted all over the country with few restrictions.  And they were not being appealed so the orders were being followed.  Much of the reasons they were not appealed was because often times the grandparents had more money to spend on attorney and court fees since they were older and were no longer raising families.  Many of them had a lot more time on their hands too as opposed to the younger parents, many or most who were working and juggling their bills, home life, and raising their children.  They just did not have the energy to fight it anymore.  And then someone did.  So the courts started looking at cases and lo and behold they discover that not only had these cases been granted, obviously against  the wishes of fit parents but that judges were making the parents explain to the court explain why having the grandparents in their lives was detrimental to the children and/or the family as opposed to making the grandparents show how their interaction would enhance the lives of the children.  So the law was not even being followed and it was taking away rights for parents to make the choice of who could or should be in the lives of their children.  Today most states still have laws that allows a grandparent to sue for visitation but they are much more restricted.  Most do not allow for "in-tact" families to be sued as it presumes that both parents have made these choices and even in cases of parents who have separated many are told they are entitled to see the children on their child's parenting time.  Most states do not allow grandparents to sue their own child in a case of divorced parents, although sadly a few still do.  But, in the end the fundamental rule is that they have to show that they do not cause harm emotionally or otherwise to the children and that the choice of the parent not allowing contact is unreasonable.  But, reality of it is that there are people all over this country that heard about grandparent right being given and often use it as a threat and often neither they, nor the parent being threatened, know the actual law and what it would mean.  In the end grandparents that are granted some visitation are rarely granted more than one overnight a month.  Whereas in the cases where they have pushed the parent to the point they had stopped contact if they had not done so they would have gotten a lot more contact than the courts are giving.

You will also find that I ramble, I just have, from time to time... maybe more than I would surely like to admit!

You will find a variety of cases here.  As I said you will see criminal cases, and not all will be murder cases; you will see some civil case, I already have one in mind to talk about at some point.  You will see famous cases that made national news; You will see cases that are rarely talked about; You will see cases that are taking place in this year of 2023 and you may seen a case that took place in 1923.  It is not even out of the realm of possibilities that you could see a case from 1823.  Just know the older the crime the harder it is to solidify facts.  The older crimes are almost always embedding in legend.  During the early to close to mid-1900's you also have the period of "yellow journalism" (which you'll hear about one day), where everything was sensationalized for the papers.  Some days I feel like we are encountering that time again but it was extreme at that time.  You will see how evidence collection, forensics and even interrogation methods have changed.  There will be cases in which I hope you will ask yourself "How did that happen?"  "Did they get the right guy?"  We need to know these cases because you cannot erase them; you cannot bring someone back from the grave that has been executed; you cannot give someone time back that they have lost. But, you will see many cases where you know justice has been served and lives were saved because of it.  

I wish you good reading and hope you enjoy.  I encourage comments and recommendations!