Jury Fails to Reach Verdict in Philly Cop Case
A Philadelphia Police officer, who has been in jail for the past year on charges that he used the cover of uniform to jack cash and narcotics from drug dealers, could be going home following a mistrial late Wednesday afternoon. The jury deliberated for two days before declaring that it was hopelessly deadlocked on four of the six charges in the case involving Officer Malik Snell. It founded him not guilty on two other counts, Philly.com reports. While federal prosecutors promise to retry the 36-year-old officer on the charges of robbery and conspiracy and a weapons offense in connection with a botched home invasion, Snell’s attorney says he will file a motion seeking bail. Prosecutors say they will oppose any bail for Snell. Among Snell’s charges, prosecutors say he invaded a home in Pottstown back in December 2007 and that he robbed an admitted drug kingpin of $40,000 during what authorities allege was a bogus police stop, also in December 2007. In October, the jury also hung in a case against Snell.

 
Report Details ‘Abuse’ in St. Louis Jails

Cases of inmate suicides, abuse and neglect in St. Louis jails have American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) officials calling for an independent investigation of the system. The latest suicide involved 29-year-old inmate David C. Dalton, who was found hanging from a bed sheet in his cell Monday evening. Dalton had been incarcerated since May, waiting to go on trial for robbery. More here.

Michelle Obama Immortalized
First Lady Michelle Obama is being immortalized in wax. In March, the famous Madame Tussauds wax museum will unveil its life-size figure of her. It will have spent six months on the figure, according to Janine DiGioacchino, general manager of the museum. Read more here.

Obama Haters Not Charged
The two men who hanged an image of Barack Obama from a tree at the University of Kentucky last fall will not be charged, a grand jury concluded Tuesday. Read the rest here.

Still no Power-sharing Deal in Zimbabwe
After a meeting on Monday, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai were unable to reach a power-sharing agreement, reports CNN. Both sides blamed each other for the failed talks. “The talks did not go very well,” said Mugabe after the 12-hour-long meeting. “MDC have a proposal which is in conflict with the SADC, and we opposed it and then the talks broke down.” After exiting the meeting, Tsvangirai told reporters, “For us as the MDC this is probably the darkest day of our lives. I am sure the whole nation is waiting anxiously for the resolution of this crisis. We are committed to this deal but subject to (ruling party) Zanu-PF conceding on these issues.” A power-sharing deal was actually signed back in September, but since then, both sides have not been able to agree on how to split key cabinet positions. Prior to Monday’s meeting, Mugabe said it would be the last one and that he’d form a government without the opposition. But on Monday Mugabe said, “We will continue with discussions here at home. We shall continue to exchange ideas and see where the differences are with the SADC proposal.” South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, who helped mediate the talks, called for a summit Jan. 26 in either his country or Botswana, and both sides are expected to attend.

Jamaican Child-killer to be Hanged
A Jamaican court has sentenced a convicted child-killer to be hanged, reports the BBC. Jeffrey Perry was convicted of killing a 15-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl and a 4-year-old girl; all of his alleged victims were his cousins. This is the first time someone has been sentenced to hang since the nation’s lawmakers voted to get the death penalty back in December. Perry’s execution date has not been set. The last hanging in Jamaica was in 1988.
 

Obama image found hanging on Kentucky campus

. Authorities at the University of Kentucky are trying to find out who hanged a life-sized stuffed doll of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on campus (the bottom of the display is pictured). The Obama likeness was found hanging from a tree on campus Wednesday morning, college spokesman Carl Nathe said. Police immediately took it down. School President Lee Todd says that he plans to personally apologize to the Obama family on behalf of the university and that he is “personally offended and deeply embarrassed by this disgusting episode.” It’s the second time an effigy has been found on a college campus recently. Earlier this week, George Fox University in Oregon said it was punishing four students who confessed to hanging a likeness of Obama from a tree. Obama wasn’t the only victim of such pranks. Secret Service agents recently visited a California home where a mannequin of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin hangs from a noose. The display also features John McCain surrounded by fake flames coming out of the bungalow’s chimney. Deputy Special Agent in Charge Wayne Williams told The Associated Press that so far that incident seems to be a harmless Halloween display. He said they are not treating it as a threat.

Obama assassination planners were “too disorganized.” Two White supremacists charged with plotting to shoot children, behead other Black Americans and assassinate Barack Obama while wearing White top hats and tuxes were likely too disorganized to carry out the plot, authorities said, and their planning was riddled with blunders. Paul Schlesselman, 18, of Helena-West Helena, Ark., and Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Ark., are accused of hatching the plot. While authorities say they had guns capable of creating carnage, documents show they never got close to getting off the ground. Among the blunders: They drew attention to themselves by etching swastikas on a car with sidewalk chalk, only knew each other for a month after meeting over the Internet, couldn’t even pull off a house robbery, and a friend ratted them out to authorities. Despite making sure the plot was stopped, authorities did not believe Cowart and Schlesselman had the means to carry out their threat to assassinate Obama, said a federal law enforcement official who spoke anonymously to The Associated Press. Asked whether the two suspects had Obama’s schedule or plans to kill him at a specific time or place, a second law enforcement official who also was not authorized to speak publicly said, “I don’t think they had that level of detail.”
 

Authorities are keeping an eye on a Hollywood, Calif., house where an effigy of the Republican vice presidential nominee hangs from a noose. The Halloween display showing a likeness of Sarah Palin hanging by a noose has angered some residents who reported it as a hate crime, authorities said Monday. But Los Angeles County Sheriff’s officials said the mannequin sporting a beehive hairdo, glasses and a red coat does not rise to the level of a hate crime because it was part of a Halloween display. Read the rest here. Get more at You(th) Vote.

Homeowner crisis is hitting Blacks and Hispanics harder. A report shows that the racial mix of new homeownership in New York City changed dramatically in 2007, with fewer Blacks and Latinos getting mortgages. The report, released Monday by the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University, says that new home loans to White borrowers remained steady, while new mortgages to Blacks and Latinos dropped 44 percent and 34 percent, respectively. It is based on an analysis of federal mortgage data. The center says the report puts the credit crisis into perspective by showing how it affects homeownership by different ethnic groups. Furman Center Co-director Ingrid Ellen says the numbers suggest “that it’s going to be increasingly difficult for Black and Hispanic borrowers to get mortgages.”