Florida Sentinel Bulletin

AURORA, COLORADO — The man accused of opening fire Friday in a packed movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, made his first court appearance Monday, giving the public its first look at the 24-year-old former doctoral candidate since his arrest.

James E. Holmes, his hair dyed various shades of red, looked downward, then straight ahead. He sat without blinking for long periods. At times, his eyes fluttered, then squeezed tight and reopened in a blank stare. Occasionally, his eyebrows arched over several days of stubble, giving his face a mournful mien.

But the man who identified himself to police as “The Joker,” dressed in a maroon jumpsuit over a white T-shirt, gave little indication that he was paying attention to the courtroom procedure that ensured he will continue to be held without bond.

He was then led from the courtroom and back to the Arapahoe County Jail, where he is being held in isolation.

“The charges on which the court found cause included first-degree murder,” Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers told reporters outside the courthouse. She said prosecutors have a lot of work to do. “I would say there’s no such thing as a slam-dunk case,” she said. “We’re still looking at the enormous amount of evidence.”

Deciding whether to pursue the death penalty is a long process and would involve input from victims and their relatives, she said.

A capital case would require a finding of either extreme indifference or deliberation, she said.

Holmes is being held in connection with the Friday shootings that left 12 dead and 58 wounded, and the subsequent discovery of his booby-trapped apartment, which authorities believe he rigged before leaving for the Century Aurora 16 multiplex.

When President Barack Obama signed a law last week banning bath salts and 31 other synthetic substances, Dr. Rani G. Whitfield of Baton Rouge, La., was just one of several medical doctors who breathed a sigh of relief.

“I’ve been practicing medicine for 12 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said. “When problems began surfacing in the emergency room a little over a year ago, we were seeing psychotic episodes and extreme agitation. The kids were telling us about a new drug called ‘bath salts.’ We didn’t know what it was. They were like, ‘No, it’s not what you put in your water. It’s not ‘Calgon take me away.’”

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved the first drug shown to reduce the risk of HIV infection, the latest milestone in the 30-year battle against the virus that causes AIDS.

The agency approved Gilead Sciences‘ pill Truvada as a preventive measure for healthy people who are at high risk of acquiring HIV through sexual activity, such as those who have HIV-infected partners. The decision comes less than two weeks after the agency approved another landmark product: the first over-the-counter HIV test that can be developed at home.

The two developments are seen as the biggest steps in years toward curbing the spread of HIV in the U.S., which has held steady at about 50,000 new infections per year for the last 15 years. An estimated 1.2 million Americans have HIV, which develops into AIDS unless treated with antiviral drugs. And an estimated 240,000 HIV carriers are unaware that they are infected.

A relative of George Zimmerman’s labeled him as harboring racial bias against Black people. A source said that prosecutors interviewed a woman who claimed that the 28-year-old was racist. The woman, labeled as “Witness 9” contacted police two days after Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin.

The woman called to speak with Officer Chris Serino, who was in charge of investigating the homicide. When Serino was unavailable, she spoke with Officer Trekelle Perkins on the matter. “I don’t know what happened,” she said, reportedly sounding emotional. “I don’t know at all who this kid was, or anything else. But I know George. And I know that he does not like Black people, and he would start something.”

According to the report, the woman was fearful of her identity being revealed, and explained that she had been estranged from Zimmerman. “I don’t talk to him because of the things that he says … the person he is … the things that he does. I know his mother, I know everybody and they’re all the same way, and I hate that. They’re just mean and [they’re] open about it.” Zimmerman was also labeled as “a very confrontational person.”

VIRGINIA — A Richmond woman was arrested for seducing a 15-year-old boy on Myspace and continuing the relationship until she eventually had a child with him.

Jessica Thompson, 23, was charged with sexual misconduct with a minor, a class-B felony.

She has been arrested on a warrant charging her with a felony sex crime after an investigation determined she was impregnated by a 15-year-old Richmond boy, court documents said.

Jessica M. Thompson, 23, of 256 S.W. Third St. in Richmond was charged with sexual misconduct with a minor (a Class B felony). A warrant was issued Monday, and Thompson had an initial hearing Friday morning in Wayne County Circuit Court. A trial date was set for 9 a.m. Oct. 9.

COLORADO — Shun Jones, 48, and Amanda Omo-Iyamu, 38, were struck and killed Saturday morning by a 16-year-old youth driving a tractor-trailer as they were pulled to the side of a Colorado highway while changing a flat tire.

The two women, who were cousins, were on their way from Texas to visit family members. They were accompanied by Shun’s 18-year-old son, Lamarcus Lockett, who remained in the vehicle and was unharmed.

The pair was struck by a truck that had been towing a full cargo of horses in a trailer.

Upon striking the women, the truck reportedly stopped about a half mile down the road. There were two people in the truck, Tristan Martin, 16, and 37-year-old Michel Martin of Sulphur, La. When police questioned both parties, Michel told them he had been driving the truck. After further questioning, investigators discovered Michel had lied and that the youth had actually been the one operating the rig when it struck the two women.  Both Michel and the teen sustained no injuries.

One woman died at the scene and the other was airlifted to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Tristan was charged with two counts of leaving the scene after an accident involving a death, felony, and two misdemeanor counts of careless driving involving death.  Michel was charged with one count of false reporting.

Apparently, threatening to shoot the First Lady will only get you transferred to an office space. Authorities are investigating threatening comments made by a D.C. police officer who worked as a motorcycle escort for the White House.

The unidentified officer is said to have made the comments Wednesday, allegedly telling another officer that he would shoot First Lady Michelle Obama. As if his words weren’t incriminating enough, the officer followed them up by pulling out a cell phone to show a picture of the gun he would use to carry out the violent act.

After hearing the threat, another officer reported it to a lieutenant who notified superiors.  “We received an allegation that inappropriate comments were made. We are currently investigating the nature of those comments,” said spokeswoman for the D.C. police, Gwendolyn Crump in an email.

While the Secret Service was notified of the threat, they did not indicate that Mrs. Obama was in any immediate danger. Also, the officer has been moved to administrative duty, and will likely be unable to carry out his plans while sitting at a desk.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.  — An ongoing criminal case against a former top aide to Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll is transforming into a swirl of allegations about improper relationships, widespread illegal taping and other incidents inside Carroll’s office.

The allegations, which Carroll denies, were included in a court filing made late last week by the attorney representing Carletha Cole, who was arrested last October on charges that she gave an illegally taped conversation with another Carroll aide to a newspaper reporter.

Cole’s attorneys made the filing in response to prosecutors’ attempts to seal some evidence in the case.

In the filing, Cole contends that she witnessed Carroll and a top aide, Beatriz Ramos, in a “compromising position” inside Carroll’s office, that Carroll’s chief of staff secretly recorded conversations routinely at the direction of those working for Gov. Rick Scott, and that the trash can at Cole’s desk might have been deliberately set ablaze following an argument between her and Ramos.

Cole also said Ramos was living at Carroll’s home and at one point she was ordered by Ramos to find adjoining hotel rooms for Carroll and Ramos when they traveled. Cole said that she was “scolded” by an agent with Carroll’s security team when she placed Ramos next door to Carroll when the lieutenant governor and her husband traveled last summer to Puerto Rico. The agent told her to not do it again, Cole says, although he did not explain why.

Carroll, a former Navy officer who is also a mother of three, says the allegations are all lies.

BROOKLYN, NY — Cindy Gaston, a 25-year-old Brooklyn woman who works as a nanny, plucked the four-year-old boy she was caring for from the path of a stolen jeep that almost killed them both.

The near-death accident took place on Thursday when Gaston and the boy, Jonathan Meltzer, were waiting on a corner for a bus that was bringing his sister home from a camping trip. Gaston saw a green vehicle coming at them and instinctively yelled “Run!” The vehicle careened across traffic, jumped the sidewalk and crashed through a traffic pole. It clipped Gaston in the back of the leg, injuring her.

Witnesses quickly came to her aid until an ambulance arrived. Once inside of the emergency vehicle, Gaston had the wherewithal to call the boy’s mother to assure her that the boy was OK.