Rapper ‘Tim Dog’ Reportedly Faked His Own Death To Avoid Paying Thousands Of Dollars In Restitution

A Mississippi woman claims rapper Tim Dog faked his own death to avoid making payments to her. Here, Tim Dog appears in 1992 at Wetlands in New York City.

 

A Mississippi woman is claiming that a popular 1990s rapper faked his own death to get out of paying her thousands of dollars.

On Feb. 14, rapper Timothy Blair, better known as “Tim Dog,” reportedly died from a seizure following a battle with diabetes. Rolling Stone reported this news via a report from The Source, but that link is now disabled. Southaven, Miss., native Esther Pilgrim may know why such news disappeared. She is claiming the rapper actually faked his death to swindle her out of $32,000.

Two years ago, Blair pleaded guilty to grand larceny for defrauding Pilgrim, KABC previously reported. The two met through an online dating site and he scammed her into thinking he needed investors to restart his music career. This left Pilgrim with $32,000 in credit card debt. A judge ordered him to pay her $19,000 in restitution within the five years of his probation period.

Pilgrim told CBS Memphis affiliate WREG earlier this month that Tim Dog could owe upwards of $2 million to other people he allegedly scammed around the world. Pilgrim received the payments from Blair up until he was reported dead. After he died, she couldn’t find any information surrounding the circumstances of his death, like witnesses or a location. She also claims there is no death certificate.

Pilgrim is not the only one who thinks the rapper faked his own death. Prosecutor Steven Jubera, who helped get Blair convicted in 2011, filed a petition to have Blair’s probation revoked and there is now a warrant out for his arrest.

“I need proof,” Jubera told WREG this week. “I need a death certificate showing that’s he’s dead because as far as I’m concerned, he’s alive.”

Journalist Drew Millard, who works for Vice’s music section, Noisey, looked into the story of the East Coast rapper’s death and came up with more dead ends. Despite the cluster and chaos, Millard says “the issue of Tim Dog’s life or death needs to be resolved as soon as humanly possible in order for both his victims and family to have closure.”

“In the eyes of the law, until he is proven dead, they have to treat him as if he is alive. And he is in contempt of court because he has not been making his monthly payments,” Pilgrim told Millard. “It’s not really about the money. This affected me long term — financially, emotionally, physically, everything.”

Bronx-born Blair rose to fame in 1991 with the track “F**k Compton,” a diss at West Coast rappers Dr. Dre and N.W.A., Rolling Stone notes. His name has been dropped in tracks by Eminem and Nas.      source

 

Drummer Lee Rigby Identified As Killed Soldier In London Attack

 

The soldier killed in Wednesday’s brutal attack in London’s Woolwich neighborhood has been identified by the U.K. Ministry of Defense as Drummer Lee Rigby, Sky News reports.

According to the outlet, the 25-year-old from Manchester was part of the 2nd Batallion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. He is leaving behind a 2-year-old son, Jack.

In a profile released on Thursday, the British Ministry of Defense noted that Rigby or ‘Riggers’ was born in July 1987 and had joined the army in 2006.

Rigby served in Cyprus, Germany and Afghanistan’s Helmand province and had taken up a recruiting post in London in 2011.

The profile adds:

An extremely popular and witty soldier, Drummer Rigby was a larger than life personality within the Corps of Drums and was well known, liked and respected across the Second Fusiliers. He was a passionate and life-long Manchester United fan.A loving father to his son Jack, aged 2 years, he will be sorely missed by all who knew him. The Regiment’s thoughts and prayers are with his family during this extremely difficult time. “Once a Fusilier, always a Fusilier.”

The commanding officer of the Second Fusiliers, Lieutenant Colonel Jim Taylor MBE, told the BBC that Rigby was a “dedicated and professional soldier” and a “real character.”

British Defense Minister Philip Hammond said he was “shocked and saddened” by the “senseless murder of a soldier who served the army faithfully,” The Guardian reports. “Our thoughts today are with his family and loved ones who are trying to come to terms with this terrible loss,” Hammond added.

Rigby was killed in a brutal assault in London’s Woolwich neighborhood on Wednesday. Two men are suspected of having butchered the soldier with a knife and a meat cleaver while bystanders watched. The AP reported on Thursday that both suspects had been part of previous terror investigations.

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Mississippi Case Could Lead To Prosecution Of Women Who Have Miscarriages

Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Jess H. Dickinson, left, listens as Justice Ann H. Lamar asks questions of Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood

 

Mississippi’s state Supreme Court is considering a case that could open the door for women who have miscarriages to be prosecuted for manslaughter, Mother Jones reported on Thursday.

The case involves Nina Buckhalter, a woman who gave birth to a stillborn girl in 2009 after she used methamphetamine during her pregnancy. A grand jury in Lamar County, Miss., indicted Buckhalter for manslaughter two months later, claiming that she killed the baby by “culpable negligence.”

Buckhalter’s attorneys challenged the case, arguing that if Buckhalter can be prosecuted for homicide for using meth during her pregnancy, a pregnant woman could be prosecuted for all kinds of unhealthy behaviors that may or may not lead to the termination of her fetus, including smoking cigarettes or exercising against a doctor’s orders. The Mississippi Supreme Court heard Buckhalter’s case on April 2 and is expected to rule soon.

“Doctors say women should avoid herbal tea, things like unpasteurized cheese, lunch meats. Exactly what are the boundaries?” Supreme Court Justice Leslie D. King asked during oral arguments.

Abortion rights advocates have argued that if states are allowed to jail women for stillbirths and miscarriages, that will set the precedent for fetal personhood laws that ban abortion and emergency contraception.

Virginia’s Republican candidate for attorney general, state Sen. Mark Obenshain, introduced a bill in 2009 that would require women to report their miscarriages to the police. And an Alabama chemical endangerment law that was written to protect children from exposure to methamphetamine laboratories is being used by prosecutors to put women behind bars if their newborns test positive for drugs.

Buckhalter’s defense attorney, Mississippi civil rights lawyer Robert McDuff, told Mother Jones that since the incident in 2009, Buckhalter has completed a drug rehabilitation program and earned an associate’s degree at a community college. He said putting her in jail for a stillbirth “is just crazy.”      source

 

Maryland Parking Garage Collapse: One Dead, Another Injured At Westfield Montgomery Mall (UPDATED)

 

Fire and rescue officials say a parking garage that was closed to the public has partially collapsed outside a shopping mall in Bethesda, Md., killing one construction worker and severely injuring another man.

Montgomery County fire spokeswoman Beth Anne Nesselt says rescuers were at the Westfield Montgomery Mall in suburban Maryland Thursday.

Earlier, Assistant Fire Chief Scott Graham said two men were trapped and had severe injuries. Nesselt says one died. Rescuers are trying to free the other.

Officials say it appears a 50,000-pound section of the parking deck collapsed outside the Macy’s store.

Graham says rescuers have confirmed there are no other people inside the structure.

The parking deck is under construction and not open to the public.    source

 

New Trayvon Martin Case Evidence: Defense Team Releases Photos, Texts That Teen Had On His Phone

Data released Thursday by the defense from slain Florida teenager Trayvon Martin’s cellphone includes texts with a friend about fighting, smoking pot and being forced to move out of his mother’s house because of trouble at school, as well as photos of a gun and what looks to be a potted marijuana plant.

A hearing next week will decide if the information can be used at the trial for George Zimmerman, who is charged with fatally shooting the unarmed 17-year-old last year during a confrontation at a gated community in Sanford. Prosecutors want the negative evidence omitted, but Zimmerman’s defense attorney said if they try to portray his client as the antagonist and Martin as the victim, he wants to show the jury that Martin has talked about fighting before.

“If they had suggested that Trayvon is nonviolent and that George is the aggressor, I think that makes evidence of the fighting he has been involved with in the past relevant,” said Mark O’Mara.

Zimmerman, 29, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, claiming self-defense and his trial starts next month. O’Mara also filed a motion Thursday asking for a delay in the start of the trial so the defense team can talk at length with an expert witness for the prosecution.

The photos released by Zimmerman’s defense team also show Martin blowing smoke and extending his middle finger to the camera.

In the text messages, Martin tells a friend that his mother has told him he needs to move in with his father since he was caught skipping school. He also talks with a friend about smoking “weed.”

In another section, he describes being in a fight where his opponent got more hits than he did in the first round.

Prosecutors have filed a motion asking Circuit Judge Debra Nelson to prevent the photos, texts and other personal information from being used at the trial. The hearing is set for next Tuesday when the judge also will consider the motion to delay the trial.

Attorneys for Martin’s parents said in a statement that the photos and texts were irrelevant to the trial and could pollute the jury pool.

“Is the defense trying to prove Trayvon deserved to be killed by George Zimmerman because (of) the way he looked?” they said. “If so, this stereotypical and closed-minded thinking is the same mindset that caused George Zimmerman to get out of his car and pursue Trayvon, an unarmed kid who he didn’t know.”

As for the delay, O’Mara said he needed more time to review the qualifications of a prosecution witness with an expertise in speech identification. O’Mara said prosecutors only made him aware of the expert a short time ago. The expert could be used to testify whose voices were on 911 calls that captured the fatal fight between Zimmerman and Martin.

O’Marasaid in an interview that he needed another month or two to prepare.

O’Mara also said in the interview that he is going to ask a judge to sequester not only the jury but the jury pool in the upcoming trial. That may involve sequestering 500 potential jurors in order to find six people who can serve on the jury, O’Mara said.

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Follow Mike Schneider at http://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP
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KKK Memphis Rally Profiled In VICE Documentary ‘Triple Hate’ (VIDEO)

In March 2013, a gathering of Ku Klux Klan members rallied in Memphis to protest the renaming of the renaming of Nathan Bedford Forrest Park, Jefferson Davis Park and Confederate Park.

The Memphis City Council received backlash after voting to change the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest Park, originally named for a man who was the first Grand Wizard of the KKK, a Confederate general in the Civil War and a slave trader.

“Nathan Bedford Forrest was a racist. He was head of the Klan — ‘Oh, no, it isn’t the same Klan today as it was yesterday’ — it was still the Klan,” Memphis City Councilman Myron Lowery told VICE. “I’ve referred to the Klan as a terrorist organization. In fact, I call them the ‘American Taliban’ because of who they are and what they do.”

VICE got an inside look at the KKK rally and included the footage as part of a full-length piece on the subject of racism and hate in the United States called “Triple Hate.”

Watch the trailer for “Triple Hate” above, and click here for more from VICE.      source

 

New evidence in Zimmerman case: Trayvon texted about fighting, smoking marijuana

The friend responded, “Ok so wen u comin bck 2 skool.”

Trayvon’s response: “Da 29^th.”

The defense evidence packet also includes other information from Trayvon’s school records, among them five videos from a Miami-Dade schools police investigation that turned up several pieces of women’s jewelry in Trayvon’s backpack and a screwdriver, what authorities there described as a burglary tool.

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Those records were not made public because of student-privacy laws.

In a prepared statement, Benjamin Crump, the attorney for Trayvon’s family, described the new pieces of evidence as “irrelevant red herrings” and “a desperate and pathetic attempt by the defense to pollute and sway the jury pool.”

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Pictures: Evidence photos released in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin

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He predicted the judge would find them irrelevant and ban them at trial.

After Zimmerman’s attorneys released the text messages and photos, Assistant State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda filed a new motion asking for a gag order that would prohibit attorneys from discussing the case with reporters.

That’s his third such request. The judge is expected to take up the issue Tuesday.

And late Thursday, Zimmerman’s attorneys filed paperwork asking the judge to delay the start of his trial for six weeks.

His attorneys said last week they would ask for a delay because they need more time to hire an audio expert to counter the testimony of a state witness expected to testify that the voice heard screaming for help in the background of a 911 call was Trayvon’s.         source