The Daily Blog

Marie Lauradin Guilty: Mom Admits To Setting Voodoo Fire That Burned Daughter.

NEW YORK — Prosecutors say a New York City woman admitted setting fire to her young daughter during a voodoo ritual by pouring flammable liquid on the girl’s head and igniting it, scarring her body.

Marie Lauradin (lah-hahr-DAHN’) pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree assault by pouring the liquid on her then-6-year-old daughter at their Queens home in 2009.

Prosecutors say Lauradin poured the accelerant on her daughter’s head and in a circle on the floor as part of a voodoo practice involving a loa, or spirit.

Prosecutors say the judge indicated he would sentence her to 17 years in prison. She also faces possible deportation back to her native Haiti.

Defense attorney Jeff Cohen says his client admitted that her actions were reckless, but he would not comment on her motives.

Illinois Man Accused of Killing 3 Women, Taping Attack.

CHICAGO - Prosecutors said Wednesday that a suburban Chicago man charged with killing three young women, including two whom he met on telephone chat lines and a neighborhood teen he’s accused of having videotaped sex with after her death, may have more victims.

Sonny Pierce, 27, of the Chicago suburb of Blue Island, faces three counts of first-degree murder. A judge ordered him held without bail during a court appearance Wednesday. A public defender who was in court with Pierce declined comment.

Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, in announcing the charges, pointed to a “pattern” of behavior that allegedly stretched for about a year before Pierce’s arrest on another sexual assault. Authorities have not identified any victims besides the three at this time, but believe there could be more.

“We would like to hear from anyone out there who has had previous contact with Pierce or any other young woman who may have been potential victims, or any families who are missing a loved one,” Alvarez said at a news conference.

Investigators said the body of one of the women Pierce is charged with killing has never been found, and it took nearly a year to identify the remains of a second victim. This leads those working the case to think there might be additional victims.

“It is our obligation to try to identify any other women who may have been victimized,” Alvarez said.

Two of the young women were killed in August 2009. Prosecutors said Kiara Windom and Kimika Coleman, both 18, were slain within a span of about three weeks. Authorities allege Pierce lured both to his apartment, strangled them and dumped their bodies in alleys.

Alvarez said phone records show Pierce had conversations with both women. Windom’s cell phone records show she and Pierce talked about 20 times, the prosecutor said.

Investigators first interviewed Pierce in 2009 in the slaying of Coleman. They said Pierce admitted he had sex with her but told them he dropped her off on a street corner in Blue Island and drove back home.

Pierce’s name surfaced again in July of last year after investigators identified Windom’s body and determined she, like Coleman, had talked with Windom on the phone.

Around the same time, Pierce was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl. Authorities allege that he lured her into his car, drove her to his home, dragged her inside, choked her until she lost consciousness and sexually assaulted her.

The girl survived and authorities say she identified Pierce as her attacker. He was arrested a short time later.

Investigators made a chilling discovery when searching Pierce’s home, according to court documents. They said they found a videotape believed to be from July 2, 2010, that shows Pierce having sex with the lifeless body of a young woman.

She was later identified as 17-year-old Mariah Edwards, who lived in the same suburb as Pierce, Alvarez said.According to the court documents, Pierce admitted having sex with Edwards “despite her cries for help” in his apartment while other men looked on. Investigators said he told them he and the other men beat Edwards to death, put her body in a garbage bag and dumped it.

But authorities said Pierce has refused to say where the body was taken. No others have been charged.

In addition to the phone records, Alvarez said investigators have found DNA evidence linking Pierce to two of the slayings.

Alvarez also said the slayings, particularly the ones in which the victims allegedly met Pierce over the phone, underline concerns about the safety of young women.

“These are all young girls, and I think with the social media and network and chat lines it just reminds us how dangerous that is,” she said.

Prosecutors Seek Quick Start to Berlusconi Trial on Sex Charges.

Italian prosecutors today formally requested a fast-track trial of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for alleged abuse of power and sex with an underage prostitute.

Milan’s chief prosecutor, Edmondo Bruti Liberati, said in a statement that Berlusconi should head to the dock straight away and not be granted a preliminary hearing because of the “obviousness of the evidence” against him, Britain’s Guardian reported.

Berlusconi responded to the filing at a press conference in Rome this afternoon, calling the prosecutors’ move “shameful and disgusting,” according to The Associated Press. He added that the case “offended the dignity of the country” and was intended to undermine his government.Prosecutors allege that Berlusconi paid an underage prostitute and then used his political power to cover up the crime. Over the past eight months, investigators have reportedly collected hundreds of pages of evidence allegedly detailing how the prime minister invited dozens of women — including numerous call girls and exotic dancers — to dinners at his villa near Milan.The prime minister’s supporters say these were “peaceful, elegant” dinners, filled with intelligent banter and beautiful music. But prosecutors say they have testimony proving that these meals descended into bacchanalian sex- and alcohol-fueled “bunga bunga” orgies.

A former glamor model, whose telephone calls were tapped by the police, reportedly described how women dressed as nurses and police officers stripped and rubbed themselves against the premier and his cronies.

It was a “scene of desolation, cheap vulgarity, a caricature; he really is sick,” she said, according to a transcript cited by The Telegraph.

Among the Italian leader’s guests was a young Moroccan runaway called Karima el-Mahroug, who went by the nickname Ruby the Heart Stealer, according to prosecutors. They allege that Berlusconi started paying Mahroug for sex when she was 17.

Although prostitution is legal in Italy, having sex with a prostitute under the age of 18 is a crime, punishable by a maximum jail term of three years. It is expected that Berlusconi’s legal team will argue that the young Moroccan is older than indicated on her official documents.

Mahroug — who has since turned 18 — says she did not sleep with Berlusconi. But she admits that the prime minister paid $9,700 the first time she attended a party last spring. The belly dancer says Berlusconi handed her the cash after she told him about her money woes. The young woman’s former roommate, however, has told prosecutors that she confided in her and confessed to having a sexual relationship with the premier.

Berlusconi’s involvement with Mahroug is alleged to have continued after the parties ended. Last May, she was arrested on suspicion of stealing $4,200 from a friend and held at a Milan police station. Because she was a minor, police should have passed her over to local care workers, who would look after her while officers investigated the charges. But according to prosecution documents, Berlusconi phoned a senior official working for Milan’s police chief and asked that Mahroug not be released to social services.

She was then handed over to Nicole Minetti — a onetime showgirl who attracted the attention of Berlusconi and was elected to Lombardy’s regional assembly earlier this year. Minetti has since been placed under investigation on suspicion of supplying prostitutes for Berlusconi’s “bunga bunga” parties. She denies any wrongdoing.

If the phone call took place as prosecutors claim, Berlusconi may have abused his position — an offense under Italian law that carries a jail term of up to 12 years. His supporters have argued that the prime minister made the call because, at the time, he believed the girl was the niece of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and he was keen to avoid an international incident. Prosecutors say that Milan police had already established that Mahroug was the daughter of Moroccan immigrants living in Sicily.

Milan Judge Cristina di Censo now has five days to make a decision on how to proceed. She could approve or dismiss the prosecutors’ request or refer it to another court. Berlusconi’s lawyers say the case shouldn’t be handled by a civilian court but by a special tribunal set up to deal with alleged offenses by government officials.Remarkably, despite the thick air of scandal surrounding Berlusconi — he could also be hit with three corruption and fraud cases in the coming months — he still has a firm hold on power. A recent poll conducted for Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera showed that public support for his People of Freedom party increased from 27.6 percent to 30.2 percent in December. Support for center-left parties, meanwhile, fell by around 2 percentage points.

That surprising result could be due to the fact that voters realize Berlusconi is the only viable leader capable of lifting the country out of its economic malaise. The parties of the center-left are hopelessly fragmented, and any left-leaning coalition would likely implode soon after taking office.

The only likely replacement candidate from the center-right, meanwhile, is Gianfranco Fini — onetime leader of the fascistic Northern League party and a former Berlusconi ally. Fini, whose Future and Freedom party left Berlusconi’s ruling coalition last November, has renounced his radical ways, but his past might continue to scare off moderate voters.