Louisiana
Louisiana sorority student Madison Brooks fatally struck by car after alleged rape
4 male suspects have been arrested within the rape of a Louisiana State College sorority member after she was later dumped on the aspect of the highway and fatally struck by a automobile following an evening of ingesting, police stated.
Kaivon Deondre Washington, 18, Everett Lee, 28, and Casen Carver, 18, turned themselves in Monday, greater than every week after 19-year-old Madison Brooks was fatally struck in Baton Rouge, the Advocate reported.
A fourth suspect, a 17-year-old boy who had not been recognized as a result of he’s a minor, turned himself in on Sunday, the outlet reported.
Brooks had been ingesting at Reggie’s, a bar close to the LSU campus the place she met the 17-year-old suspect on Jan. 15, the newspaper reported.
She left between 1 and a pair of a.m. with the teenager and the three different suspects, based on an arrest warrant.
Carver admitted to police that Brooks “was very unstable on her ft, was not in a position to preserve her steadiness, and was unable to talk clearly with out slurring her phrases,” the doc states.
Carver instructed investigators he witnessed Brooks and the 17-year-old boy “hugging and strolling collectively,” saying she requested for a experience residence.
“He admitted that he agreed to present her a experience as a result of he didn’t wish to go away her whereas very intoxicated and the bar was closing up,” the arrest warrant says.
Carver instructed authorities that he sat within the driver’s seat and Lee was within the entrance passenger seat, whereas Washington and the 17-year-old have been within the again together with Brooks.
He stated he requested Brooks for her tackle, “however she fell over and couldn’t reply him.” the warrant says, “so he drove a brief distance and pulled over.”
Carver “said he overheard his 17-year-old juvenile pal as he requested the sufferer 5 instances if she wished to have intercourse with him,” to which Brooks “gave verbal consent,” based on the doc.
He stated the 17-year-old and Washington then had intercourse with Brooks earlier than he instructed them, “We obtained to cease this, let’s go,” the doc says.
When requested in the course of the police interview if he thought the lady was too impaired to present consent to intercourse, Carver stated, “I suppose.”
Police additionally interviewed Washington, who stated he was unhappy about Brooks’ loss of life, but additionally admitted that he laughed whereas he walked behind her earlier and thought, “How y’all meet a random woman and simply carry her residence?”
He stated they later dropped Brooks off at a close-by subdivision, the place she was struck round 3 a.m. by a rideshare driver on Burbank Drive close to Pelican Lakes Parkway.
Investigators stated she had a blood-alcohol content material of 0.319% — almost 4 instances the authorized restrict.
Washington and an unidentified 17-year-old have been charged with third-degree rape, whereas Lee and Carver have been charged with precept to third-degree rape.
In response to Louisiana regulation, a third-degree rape cost usually includes a sufferer who’s “incapable of resisting or of understanding the character of the act by motive of a stupor or irregular situation of thoughts produced by an intoxicating agent or any trigger and the offender knew or ought to have identified of the sufferer’s incapacity,” KSLA. reported.
Ron Haley, an lawyer for 2 of the suspects, instructed WAFB that this was “completely not a rape. Hear, this can be a tragedy, positively not a criminal offense.”
He instructed the outlet {that a} video taken in the course of the incident exhibits Brooks was coherent.
“Are you able to inform that she was intoxicated, sure. To the purpose beneath the regulation that you simply say you’re in a drunken stupor, to the purpose that you simply can’t lawfully give consent or reply questions, completely that was not the case,” Haley instructed WAFB.
The lawyer claimed Brooks and Carver obtained into an argument in his automobile.
“Based mostly on a disagreement, she obtained out of the automobile. She indicated she was getting an Uber. I need the general public to know, these younger males or actually the motive force of the automobile and the younger males that have been in there, didn’t put her off on the aspect of the highway,” he stated.
Brooks, a local of Covington, Louisiana, was a member of the Alpha Phi sorority, KSLA reported.
“Madi was a bubbly, loving, and selfless pal. She left an indelible mark on our chapter, we cherish our recollections collectively and we are going to always remember her. Our without end pal was additionally a hero, Madi donated her coronary heart and kidneys to save lots of others,” the sorority stated on Instagram on Monday.
“We ship our deepest sympathies to her household and mates throughout this extremely troublesome time. And we respectfully ask for time and house so we might assist one another in our therapeutic course of,” it added.
In an announcement, LSU president William Tate stated: “Madison was a daughter, a granddaughter, a sister, a niece, a classmate, and a pal to a lot of you. By all accounts, she was an incredible younger lady with limitless potential. She mustn’t have been taken from us on this approach. What occurred to her was evil, and our authorized system will parcel out justice.
“Our collective grief and outrage can’t be put into mere phrases. So what can we do? It’s time for motion. One place to focus on our consideration is the very place the place this encounter started,” Tate wrote.
He famous that three of the suspects are underage, “but have been in a position to eat alcohol at a neighborhood bar. As such, our motion plan begins with a deep and relentless deal with any institution that earnings off our college students by offering alcohol to underage people.”
Louisiana
Normal is unremarkable in and of itself: 2024 Inspirit winners are 'doing something bigger'
The Inspirit Award winners seem to have found ways to thrive in the work they do that is bigger than themselves.
Louisiana
Merry Christmas: good luck with right gift
Ho, Ho, Ho oh no, it’s time to get that last-minute gift for your favorite hunter and fisher.
It’s a challenge, if only because most of these folks are particular about the things they use to pursue game and fish — “persnickety” was the way old folks described this trait decades ago.
What it means is unless you know — and really know — your outdoors recipient then don’t presume the guy or gal at the local or big-box store will know anything more about them than you do.
What it means is don’t buy fishing line, or lures, or shotgun shells, or bullets, or rods, or reels, or firearms cases, or those silly T-shirts with a stunned-looking bass and “Fish Fear Me” written underneath.
That T-shirt thing only makes your favorite angler the target for his sharp-tongued fishing buddies, who will tell him the thing he feared most was being afraid to tell his gift-giver that the T-shirt was going to be a target for barbed comments. Oh, he’d wear it for you, but not around his buddies.
So, what’s left?
Size matters, and it’s important when trying to make a gift of the just-right hunting jacket, warm boots, cooling fishing shirts and shorts, warm gloves and hats.
And don’t buy that tackle box because it “looks big,” unless you were with your fishing-frenzied, Christmas-present target and he or she admired it with piscatorial lust in their eye.
That leaves us with gift cards. Sure you can go shopping and make a reasonably good guess about hunting things and fishing things, and here’s where you find prices and buy a gift card for that amount.
It’ll send them to a store where they can get the just-right fit, the just-right style, the just-right camo pattern, the perfect handle, weight and length for a fishing rod, and things like the fishing line, lures and boxes they want.
What’s best is you’ll send them to a Christmas-night rest with all kinds of sugared thoughts that will turn into dreams of that hopefully marked-down shopping spree.
Merry Christmas!
Under the tree
An important bill awaits President Biden’s signature to take hold for our country’s anglers, and another is moving forward after passing a committee vote.
ACE — America’s Conservation Enhancement Reauthorization Act — passed a U.S. Senate vote last week and sits on the president’s desk.
This act continues the National Fish Habitat Partnership, a voluntary, non-regulatory, and locally driven program that has funded more than 1,300 on-the-ground aquatic habitat improvement projects throughout the country.
“The $230 billion sportfishing industry and America’s 57.7 million recreational anglers applaud Congress’ efforts to advance fish habitat restoration and conservation,” American Sportfishing Association spokesman Mike Leonard said.
Included in its many pages is reauthorization of the North American Wetlands Conservation Act and a provision that traditional tackle will not be banned by the Environmental Protection Agency for five years.
The second bill, EXPLORE — Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences — had the backing of more than a dozen hunting and recreational organizations. This new bill is designed to expand recreation opportunities, improving infrastructure and removing barriers to allow more access to federal lands for hiking, camping, fishing and hunting.
Striped bass
Yes, Louisiana waters, mostly from the Mississippi River east into the Pontchartrain Basin and to the Pearl River, has an annual fall-winter run of sea-run striped bass.
Now, Wildlife and Fisheries wants fishermen taking to those waters to help collect striped bass samples.
More than 20 years ago, a mid-fall trip to the Mississippi River produced three striped bass among the largemouth, spotted and white bass and redfish caught near Fort Jackson.
This project is one of four main items currently listed on the agency’s website.
To get details, description of this species and instructions, go to the LDWF website: wlf.louisiana.gov
Expertise needed
The Committee on National Statistics has a call-out for nominations for “experts” to review the standards and evaluate the survey and data standards of the Marine Recreational Information Program, the long-debated federal fisheries data collections and reporting plan.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine has formed the committee and has a Dec. 31 deadline for nominations. Google this organization for details.
Louisiana
Louisiana Tech transfer DT David Blay commits to Miami
Miami received a commitment from its first defensive lineman of the winter transfer portal window. Louisiana Tech transfer David Blay pledged to Miami Saturday afternoon.
He chose Miami over Illinois, Oklahoma, Penn State, and USC.
In three seasons, the 6’4″, 300-plus pounder recorded 101 tackles, 23 tackles for loss, and 11.5 sacks. He played 443 snaps in 2024.
According to Pro Football Focus, Blay has a 76.9 run defense grade, an 80.2 tackling grade, and a 64.7 pass rush grade.
Blay is a Philadelphia (PA) native and played for D-2 school West Chester University before transferring to Louisiana Tech.
According to Rivals.com Blay was an unrated player coming out of Truman High School in Levittown, PA.
Blay will join an interior defensive line group in Miami that includes Ahmad Moten and Justin Scott.
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