Former Green Party co-leader James Shaw has given his last speech in Parliament this evening, marking the end of nearly nine years as leader and almost a...
Often we learn as much from what is not done, as we do from what is done. Many saw this week’s failure to proceed with James Shaw’s bill to include a “right...
OPINION We only ask one question on our ballot papers: who are you voting for. (Admittedly, in this country we ask that question twice.) We don’t ask the far...
ANALYSIS The Greenie in a suit who kept the party afloat as it seemed to be sinking, brought it into government for two terms, and then as a minister reached...
shannon touchet left ammunition matching the fatal bullets in his gym bag. the murder weapons have never been found, nor the shoes that left the impressions inside the shaws' home. shannon touchet and reggie basile both pled guilty to first-degree murder and aggravated robbery and were sentenced to life in prison. ronald benson chose to go to trial. the jury found him guilty. he got the same sentence -- life in prison. >> the forensic efforts on the part of our crime lab were invaluable to the final conclusion in this case. without them, there would have been no conviction for any of the three defendants. >> it was amazing to me the -- about the dna, the shoe prints, all the evidence they can gather
when police interviewed the neighbors, several of them said they saw a burgundy-colored car parked a short distance away from the shaws' home. >> the vehicle was occupied by black males. either they observed these black males within the vehicle or standing outside the vehicle, but it was parked in front of a vacant lot in this particular neighborhood, so it did stand out. >> and about a mile from the crime scene, search dogs found a potentially crucial piece of evidence. >> while they were walking around in the roadway, they discovered a red ski mask with blue outlines on it next to the roadway, which was in direct line of sight to the rear of the victim's property. >> this ski mask, red with dark trimming around the eyes, was similar to the one described by rosana shaw. at ron's autopsy, the medical examiner confirmed that ron shaw was shot three times with
to me. he had some gold teeth. >> ron shaw was a successful oil man. he had developed the concept of placing global positioning satellite chips in his drill bits, which improved accuracy when drilling for oil. although the shaws were a wealthy couple, police weren't sure the motive was robbery. >> they left jewelry in the safe. they left an additional $5,500 in the safe, gold coins that were valuable. he had $1,133 in his pocket. he had a rolex watch on his arm. and none of these were taken. >> and police found the box full of jewelry several hundred yards behind the shaws' home. >> we had considered that the motive may have been a murder-for-hire, as opposed to a robbery. >> the question was, who wanted ron shaw dead?
people at the office, the architect, the construction workers, friends. there was a lot of people that could have known about the safe. >> the general contractor who built the shaws' home fully cooperated with authorities. >> ernest touchet revealed the names of several disgruntled employees that he felt might play a role. and later added that he also had two grandsons that had worked on the home and that had also recently had several run-ins with the law. >> but investigators dismissed that idea. the perpetrators were black, yet, ernest touchet, and presumably, his grandsons, were white, and ron shaw knew these boys personally. >> ernest touchet came to my husband and asked to hire his two grandchildren to keep them
the owner of the construction company who had built the shaws' new home, ernest touchet, told police he feared his two grandsons might have been involved in ron's murder. initially, police thought little of it, since the perpetrators were black and ernest touchet was white, until they looked at the mugshots of his grandsons. >> shannon touchet was a black male and was a product of an interracial marriage that his mother had had during her earlier years. >> 17-year-old shannon touchet had worked on ron shaw's home and would have known about the safe hidden in the master bathroom closet.