When Omaha put the 'drag' in Dragnet. Classic crime history.

How can a law enforcement agency capture a “degenerate?" In Omaha, 90 years ago, the answer was cops in drag.

The vintage headline alone is Twitter-worthy:

DEPUTIES ‘SPOON’ IN FUTILE EFFORT TO CATCH ‘TERROR’

Jimmie Lindsey, Impersonating Girl, Tells of Dodge Road Kisses.

This classic Nebraska crime-stopper story was reported by the Omaha World-Herald on the front page of the June 17, 1920 edition. Unfortunately, because the paper did not give reporters bylines at the time, I am unable to give full and admiring credit to the original writer; a master of leering innuendo. 

It seems during the spring of 1920 police heard several complaints about “the degenerate who has been terrorizing roadside lovers.” It’s not spelled out , but a reader assumes Omaha had a prowling “peeping tom” or what present day law enforcement officials characterize as “a perv.” The Douglas County Sheriff assigned two deputies to the case, Charles T. Johnson and James “Jimmie” Lindsay.

Here’s the World-Herald’s account:

Omaha World-Herald, June 17, 1920

It was decided that Lindsay should don the festive garments of a June girl and that Johnson, who lacks the primness and distinctive lines of his mate, should act as the ardent wooer. The deputies repaired to Lindsay's home. Mrs. Lindsay was aghast, but she was prevailed upon to produce an “outfit.”

It seems Deputy Jimmie’s wife did not share her husband’s taste in clothes. He rejected her choices as “not sufficiently ‘jazzy.’” Eager to make a good impression on the degenerate, Jimmie consulted the girl next door. She selected something more “chic” from her closet.

After a few moments in his boudoir, he appeared dolled out in a silk sports skirt, georgette blouse, silken petticoat, clocked stockings, white silk gloves, and earrings.   

(I had to check on the fashion definitions. Clocking a stocking means embroidering around the ankle. And the blouse? Georgette is a sheer, silky fabric with a crinkled finish. Now we both know. Back to the story.)

Deputy Johnson’s wife wasn’t buying her husband’s far-fetched explanation about spending the next several nights at work with a cute girl who was just a male officer in disguise.  Johnson took Deputy Jimmie home in full drag to prove it. Only after the decoy took off his ribbon-wrapped hat did Mrs. Johnson believe he was a he.  How successful was the sting?

For 10 nights the two have sat and spooned along the Dodge Street road with large caliber guns "planted." They sat and talked and giggled and kissed. Well it seems hard to believe of course but they say they were all for ‘art for art’s sake,’ as well as for the degenerate. 

They did admit kissing "a time or two." Both men blushed when they admitted it. "We didn't see the degenerate," they said. "But we certainly carried our part through."

The photo next to the article is precious. The poor quality of the archived scan makes it difficult to fully appreciate the beauty of the moment. Deputy Jimmie, in his ‘festive’ disguise, sits on the knee of Deputy Charlie. The couple, perched on the running board of a snazzy convertible, hold hands and gaze into each other’s eyes.

“Some Like It Hot” meets “Dragnet.”

Omaha World-Herald, June 17, 1920

Wed Lock: Two Nebraska Prison Inmates Sue for the Right to Marry

Love finds a way, even in jail. 

However two inmates in Nebraska prisons 50 miles apart can’t get married. Both are convicted murderers. The Department of Correctional Services declined to bring them together for a ceremony.  The determined couple is taking it to court.

In their complaint filed this morning in Lancaster County District Court, Paul Gillpatrick and Niccole Wetherell claim “the right to marry is a fundamental right protected by the United States Constitution that cannot be denied because the partners to the marriage are incarcerated.”  They request the judge find Corrections violated the constitution and require a wedding be accommodated.

The case boils down to who gets the bride to the church.   

The lawsuit claims the couple filled out the necessary paperwork, a “Marriage Intention Form,” but the request and an appeal through the prison grievance procedure were denied.  Wardens at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln and the Correctional Center for Women in York refused “to make arrangements to transport” Gillpatrick or Wetherell to the other prison for a ceremony and “refused to make alternative arrangements” which would permit a wedding to take place.  An alternative would include exchanging vows by video hook-up.

There is a policy for prison weddings in Nebraska.  It does not specifically block matrimony between prisoners.   

Paul Gillpatrick (DCS)

Weddings are allowed “unless  the Warden finds that the marriage presents a threat to security or  order of the institution or to public safety.”  DCS regulations  state corrections employees “will not transport inmates from one institution to another for the marriage ceremony.”  There lies the problem for the engaged couple.

Gillpatrick, 42, and Wetherell, 33, met through a mutual friend in 1998, before they both ended up in jail.  In a statement released by their attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, Gillpatrick is quoted saying “she makes me laugh, she brings smiles to my face every day and I want to marry her.”

In 2009 Gillpatrick, murdered Robby Robinson in Omaha.  It was a messy case involving meth.  He’d killed the man at the request of his sister, Jennifer Gillpatrick.  Both family members were guilty of second-degree murder.

 

Niccole Wetherell (DCS)

Wetherell went to prison ten years earlier.  In 1999 she and two other teenagers were convicted of participating in the murder of Scott Catenacci in Sarpy County.  Presiding Judge Ronald Reagan said the killing had no motive other than being “the result of idle minds with little or no moral or ethical guidance.”

She's got a life sentence.  He's in for 90 years.

The spokesperson with the Department of Correctional Services, as is standard procedure when lawsuits are filed, declined comment.  (Read the DCS marriage policy here)

Last year DCS also turned down the request of a transgender inmate, Gracy Sedlak, to marry a former prisoner.  A federal court judge rejected the lawsuit that also challenged the state’s ban on same sex marriages.

After 37 Years, A New DNA Test for a Convicted Rapist

The Nebraska State Legislature passed the DNA Testing Act in 2001 to open an avenue for appeal for those convicted of a crime before that technology even existed.  Few cases made it through the gauntlet of objections.  Juneal Pratt did it today.

A Douglas County District Court put Pratt in jail 37 years ago for a pair of rapes he claims he did not commit.  In a ruling handed down today the justices acknowledge improvements in DNA testing are reason enough to justify new testing of the victim’s clothing to determine if there is a clear match to Pratt.

Tracy Hightower-Henne, an attorney with the Nebraska Innocence Project, called the ruling  “incredibly exciting.”  Hightower-Henne, a volunteer who argued on Pratt’s behalf, said in a prepared statement “the Nebraska Supreme Court rightly recognized that state law requires broad access to DNA testing when it might show that someone was wrongly convicted.” (Read the court's ruling here.)

Omaha World-Herald 1975

In 1975, Pratt’s arrest and conviction barely caused a ripple in Omaha.  He was 19 years old “with a history of minor, petty crimes” according to Hightower-Henne. Police accused him of raping two sisters from Sioux City, Iowa staying at an Omaha hotel. The woman each pointed out Pratt in a police lineup and claimed to recognize his voice.  His shoes and a ring he wore also seemed familiar to the women. 

The case presented the jury was nearly all circumstantial but convincing enough that Pratt was found guilty.  In jail waiting for his trial he got in a fight with a guard, adding a charge of assault to the list.  In all, Pratt’s sentence totaled 95 years in prison. 

Through it all Pratt insisted he is innocent, making repeated attempts to get the evidence reviewed.  The State of Nebraska objected throughout. 

In 2005 the courts agreed to DNA testing of the clothing worn by the victims at the scene of the rape.  That type of sophisticated lab work did not exist in 1975. The Nebraska Legislature didn’t add post-conviction DNA testing into state law until 2001. 

Tests were done at the University of Nebraska Medical Center DNA laboratory.  As summarized in the Supreme Court’s brief “most of the 2005 DNA test results were inconclusive” in linking Pratt to the crime scene.  One stain on a victim’s shirt showed DNA originating from a male other than Pratt.  Prosecuting attorneys argued it was impossible to tell if the poorly stored evidence had been contaminated.  The District Court judge felt the evidence did not warrant overturning the original conviction and, at the time, the Nebraska Supreme Court agreed. 

Pratt and volunteer attorneys from the Innocence Project and the ACLU did not give up.  In 2011 they returned to district court with a nationally recognized DNA expert who testified significant advances in methods and research made it possible to identify and segregate DNA left behind by multiple individuals.  He also stated labs were better equipped to work with aging and degraded evidence.  “The previous test was not the final answer,” Hightower-Henne said.  “Scientific improvements in DNA testing mean that while the last test gave no definitive answer, a test today will show whether Mr. Pratt’s or another male’s DNA was present.” 

 

Juneal Pratt (Dept. of Corrections)

The District Court denied the request for additional testing.  The Supreme Court disagreed. Relying on the language in Nebraska’s DNA Testing Act the court’s majority wrote “the district court clearly erred in determining that test results that could identify another male’s semen on the victims’ clothing would have no bearing on Pratt’s guilt or culpability.”

While the court ordered an immediate, updated inventory of all the evidence still being held in the original rape case, it is not clear how quickly the new tests can be performed.  

Listen to the original oral arguments before the Nebraska Supreme Court here.

BREAKING NEWS: No Lethal Injection Drug Supply in Nebraska.

The Department of Correctional Services confirmed to NET News this afternoon that Nebraska has no drugs with which to carry out a death sentence. 

Responding to email questions NET News submitted this afternoon, Dawn-Renee Smith, the Public Information Coordinator for DOC confirmed that the supply of sodium thiopental acquired by the state expired in December of 2013.  Smith added:  "The Department has not secured additional chemicals."


 

Smith was also asked if the state had identified any new suppliers for the drugs.  In her emailed reply she stated:  "We are looking at all aspects of the lethal injection process. I don’t have anything definitive on that at this time."


The questions followed today's hearing before the Nebraska Supreme Court (reported here earlier) at which the State Attorney General's Office said they were not sure if the a legal source for the lethal injection drugs had been secured. 

Drug Courts: Five things you didn’t know

I'd heard about them but knew nothing about them.

The  past couple of weeks I talked to the judges and staff who run Drug Courts and other problem solving courts in Nebraska.  The people who have been through them have a lot to say too.  They’re promoted as good for the participants, good for the community, and a bargain.  The numbers in studies done both nationally and in Nebraska seem to back that up.

They get a HUGE turnout when they hold Drug Court Graduations. (Photo: Lancaster Co. Court)

Here are five surprising things I learned about them:

1. The people who volunteer to take part start out going back to court every week to report back to the judge.  It’s a weird combination of being talked to by a parent, a psychologist, and a cop who happens to be wearing a judge’s robe.   Every participant gets called up for a chat… in public, so there are no secrets. 
   
2. Only 5% of the people who graduate from a drug court program commit another crime within a year later.  Compare that to 32% who re-offended after being released from a state prison.
3. Even the people who wash out of the program are way less likely to commit a crime after they’ve been through part of the program.  Only about 7 out of one hundred reoffend.
4. Keeping someone in drug court is way cheaper than prison or county jail.  Nebraska spends about $70 dollars a day on every prison inmate.  It costs about $45 dollars a day to house and feed someone in a county jail.  Someone in the Drug Court program costs between $20 to $40 a day.  Individual drug courts around the state set up their own budgets.
5. Participants may get a drug test two or three times a day.  That can be at home, or work, or wherever one of the staff ask them to fill up the cup.  About the worse thing a participant can do is try to cheat a drug test.

Click here to check out the story I filed this morning on NET News: 

Nebraska Ranks #1 In Rate of Black Homicides

The report came out the same day North Omaha held the funeral for 5-year-old Payton Benson; killed by a random bullet fired during a gun battle outside her home.  

A national organization campaigning against gun violence, The Violence Policy Center, released a study claiming Nebraska "leads the nation in the rate of black homicide." The study, based on FBI crime statistics from 2011, the most recent data available, puts the states murder rate for African Americans in the state at a rate of 34.43 per 100,000.  The organization said at the numbers place Nebraska's rate at "nearly two times the national black homicide victimization rate and more than seven times the overall homicide victimization rate nationwide."
(Read the full report here.)

There were states with many more total murders of black residents (Michigan totaled 447 compared to Nebraska's 30) but the study uses the number of deaths in comparison to the population as its basis for the claim.   Other points raised by the Center's study:

• Of the 28 black homicide victims killed with guns, 89 percent (25 victims) were killed with handguns. There were 2 victims killed with firearms where the type of gun was not stated. There were 2 victims killed with knives or other cutting instruments.

• Two black homicide victims (7 percent) were less than 18 years old. The average age was 28 years old.

• For homicides in which the victim to offender relationship could be identified, 78 percent of black homicide victims (7 out of 9) were murdered by someone they knew. Two victims were killed by strangers.

• For homicides in which the circumstances could be identified, 94 percent (17 out of 18) were not related to the commission of any other felony. Of these, 18 percent (3 homicides) involved arguments between the victim and the offender.