Charles Alan Dyer is an American convicted child rapist and a former Marine sergeant who operated as an advocate for the Oath Keepers. Dyer was charged in 2010 with child rape and illegal weapons possession. Dyer evaded authorities and a manhunt ensued, followed by capture ten days later. In 2012, Dyer was convicted of raping his seven-year-old daughter. Dyer served in the Marine Corps during the Iraq War. [1]
Dyer began producing YouTube videos in support of the Oath Keepers under the handle July4Patriot. Dyer at times recorded these videos in Marine Corps dress uniform and always wore a mask emblazoned with a grinning skull. Dyer said he wore the mask to protect his identity. Dyer claimed that military urban warfare drills had the covert purpose of preparing American soldiers to incarcerate citizens. Dyer's videos became viral in the Patriot and Oath Keeper subculture, several accumulating hundreds of thousands of views and thousands of comments. [2]
Dyer revealed his identity at an April 29, 2010, Tea Party event in Lexington, Massachusetts. He was among the most prominent Oath Keepers members at the time. [2]
Following news of the alleged crimes, the Oath Keepers distanced themselves from Dyer. Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes wrote on their website that Dyer had never been offered a leadership position and in fact had never been a member. [2] The American Conservative notes that this attempt to sever ties was not very effective. The group removed a notice that Dyer would "represent" the Oath Keepers at a Tea Party movement rally. Though the Conservative disputes the account of Dyer's involvement as showing a problem with the Oath Keepers as an organization, it notes that "Dyer was clearly associated with Rhodes's group [the Oath Keepers]" and "if Dyer is guilty of the weapons charge, that might seem to support the position that the Oath Keeper worldview encourages insurrectionary force". [3]
On January 21, 2010, Dyer was arrested by Stephens County sheriff deputies in his home in Marlow, Oklahoma. [2] [4] He was charged with rape and forced sodomy of his 7-year-old daughter. A search of his home revealed that he possessed a 40 mm grenade launcher and several firearms, resulting in an additional count of possession of an unregistered military weapon. [2] [4]
Prior to his August 15 court date, Dyer ran from the authorities, hiding in Texas until he was captured ten days later at a campground southwest of Houston. [2] Given a video by Dyer telling authorities of his intent to arm himself if they appeared at his home, law enforcement was concerned about the possibility of violence in their pursuit. They found Dyer's mobile home burned when they arrived at his property, while his followers and friends posted videos describing their intent to help Dyer evade capture. Residents of Pecan Grove, Texas, notified authorities of a strange man near a day-care center, leading police to find Dyer. Dyer told police that he had been hiding in brush near a creek for five or six days. [5]
Dyer was part of three trials, the first two of which were dismissed as mistrials in January 2010 and April 2011. He faced six charges, including kidnapping and second degree rape by instrumentation. In Dyer's third trial, the judge ordered that media and photography of the jury panel be prohibited. [6]
In April 2012, Dyer was convicted of the rape of his daughter. He was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment. [2] The conviction followed two prior mistrials. Judge Joe Enos presided over the trial. Following the conviction, Stephens County Sheriff McKinney described the "circus-like sideshows" that Dyer brought to the courtroom, including statements on his political views and his idea that the "prosecution was a government conspiracy". The trial took three days, and the jury deliberated for three hours before producing the guilty verdict. [7]
 | This article needs additional or more specific categories .(March 2022) |
In jurisprudence, double jeopardy is a procedural defence that prevents an accused person from being tried again on the same charges following an acquittal or conviction and in rare cases prosecutorial and/or judge misconduct in the same jurisdiction. Double jeopardy is a common concept in criminal law – in civil law, a similar concept is that of res judicata. The double jeopardy protection in criminal prosecutions only bars an identical prosecution for the same offence, however, a different offence may be charged on identical evidence at a second trial. Res judicata protection is stronger – it precludes any causes of action or claims that arise from a previously litigated subject matter.
Jury nullification, also known in the United Kingdom as jury equity or a perverse verdict, is when the jury in a criminal trial gives a verdict of not guilty even though they think a defendant has broken the law. The jury's reasons may include the belief that the law itself is unjust, that the prosecutor has misapplied the law in the defendant's case, that the punishment for breaking the law is too harsh, or general frustrations with the criminal justice system. Some juries have also refused to convict due to their own prejudices in favor of the defendant. Such verdicts are possible because a jury has an absolute right to return any verdict it chooses.
The Scottsboro Boys were nine African-American male teenagers accused of raping two white women in 1931. The landmark set of legal cases from this incident dealt with racism and the right to a fair trial. The cases included a lynch mob before the suspects had been indicted, all-white juries, rushed trials, and disruptive mobs. It is commonly cited as an example of a legal injustice in the United States legal system.
Henry Menasco Wade was an American lawyer who served as district attorney of Dallas County from 1951 to 1987. He participated in two notable U.S. court cases of the 20th century: the prosecution of Jack Ruby for killing Lee Harvey Oswald, and the U.S. Supreme Court case that held abortion was a constitutional right, Roe v. Wade. In addition, Wade was district attorney when Randall Dale Adams, the subject of the 1988 documentary film The Thin Blue Line, was wrongfully convicted in the murder of Robert Wood, a Dallas police officer.
Charles Chi-tat Ng is a convicted Hong Kong-born serial killer who committed numerous crimes in the United States. He is believed to have raped, tortured, and murdered between eleven and twenty-five victims with his accomplice Leonard Lake at Lake's cabin in Calaveras County, California, 60 miles (96 km) from Sacramento, between 1983 and 1985. After his arrest and imprisonment in Canada on robbery and weapons charges, followed by a lengthy dispute between Canada and the U.S., Ng was extradited to California, tried, and convicted of eleven murders. He is currently on death row at California Medical Facility.
Brian Gene Nichols is a convicted murderer known for his escape and killing spree in the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 11, 2005. Nichols was on trial for rape when he escaped custody and murdered the judge presiding over his trial, a court reporter, a Fulton County Sheriff's deputy, and later an ICE special agent. Twenty-six hours after a large-scale manhunt was launched in the metropolitan Atlanta area, Nichols was taken into custody. The prosecution charged him with committing 54 crimes during the escape; he was found guilty on all counts on November 7, 2008, and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison.
The Liberty City Seven were seven construction workers and members of a small Miami, Florida-based religious group who called themselves the Universal Divine Saviors. Described as a "bizarre cult," the seven were arrested and charged with terrorism-related offenses in 2006 by a Federal Bureau of Investigation sting investigation although their actual operational capability was extremely low and their intentions were unclear. The members of the group operated out of a small warehouse in the Miami neighborhood of Liberty City.
Channon Gail Christian, aged 21, and Hugh Christopher Newsom Jr., aged 23, were from Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. They were kidnapped on the evening of January 6, 2007, when Christian's vehicle was carjacked. The couple were taken to a rental house. Both of them were raped, tortured, and murdered. Four males and one female were arrested, charged, and convicted in the case. In 2007, a grand jury indicted Letalvis Darnell Cobbins, Lemaricus Devall Davidson, George Geovonni Thomas, and Vanessa Lynn Coleman on counts of kidnapping, robbery, rape, and murder. Also in 2007, Eric DeWayne Boyd was indicted by a federal grand jury of being an accessory to a carjacking, resulting in serious bodily injury to another person and misprision of a felony. In 2018, Boyd was indicted on state-level charges of kidnapping, robbery, rape, and murder.
Crystal Gail Mangum is an American former exotic dancer from Durham, North Carolina, United States, who has been incarcerated for murder since 2013. In 2006, she came to attention in national news reports for having made false allegations of rape against lacrosse players in the Duke lacrosse case. Mangum's work in the sex industry as a black woman while the young men she accused were white generated extensive media interest and academic debate about race, class, gender, and the politicization of the justice system.
The James V. Allred Unit is a prison for males located on Farm to Market Road 369 in Wichita Falls, Texas, United States, 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of downtown Wichita Falls. The prison is near Iowa Park. The prison, with about 320 acres (130 ha) of land, is a part of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Region V.
Oath Keepers is an American far-right anti-government militia whose leaders have been convicted of violently opposing the government of the United States, including the transfer of presidential power as prescribed by the United States constitution. It was incorporated in 2009 by founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes, a lawyer and former paratrooper. In 2023, Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years for seditious conspiracy for his role in the January 6 United States Capitol attack, and another Oath Keepers leader, Kelly Meggs, was sentenced to 12 years for the same crime. Three other members have pleaded guilty to this crime, and four other members have been convicted of it.
Seditious conspiracy is a crime in various jurisdictions of conspiring against the authority or legitimacy of the state. As a form of sedition, it has been described as a serious but lesser counterpart to treason, targeting activities that undermine the state without directly attacking it.
Ewing Werlein Jr. is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Regina and Margaret DeFrancisco were two teenage girls who made national headlines for the high-profile murder of Oscar Velazquez, Regina's boyfriend, in Chicago in June 2000. The two women allegedly lured Velazquez to their home in the Pilsen neighborhood, where he was shot to death and his body was wrapped in a tarp and set on fire. Following the murder, the two teenagers gained national notoriety when they became fugitives from justice, and they were apprehended separately in 2002 after their story was broadcast on Unsolved Mysteries and America's Most Wanted. They were each convicted of first-degree murder in 2004.
The 2011–2012 Los Angeles arson attacks were a series of fires started on December 29, 2011, in Los Angeles, California. It was the worst case of arson reported in the area since the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Harry Burkhart, then 24, who was wanted in Germany on suspicion of burning down his home, was charged in Los Angeles in January 2012 with 28 counts of arson of property and nine counts of arson of an inhabited structure. Prosecutors said that Burkhart was "motivated by rage against Americans" and sought to terrorize as many people as possible when he torched dozens of cars, homes and garages late at night, when most residents were sleeping, to inflict maximum fear and damage.
Elmer Stewart Rhodes III is an American former attorney and convicted seditionist. He founded the Oath Keepers, an American far-right anti-government militia. In November 2022, he was convicted of seditious conspiracy and evidence tampering related to his participation in the January 6 United States Capitol attack culminating at the main campus of the United States Capitol complex. On May 23, 2023, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
On January 6, 2021, supporters of then President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol Building, disrupting the joint session of Congress assembled to count electoral votes to formalize Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 United States Presidential Election. By the end of the month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had opened more than 400 case files and issued more than 500 subpoenas and search warrants related to the riot. The FBI also created a website to solicit tips from the public specifically related to the riot and were especially assisted by the crowdsourced sleuthing group Sedition Hunters. By the end of 2021, 725 people had been charged with federal crimes. That number rose to 1,000 by the second anniversary of the attack, and to 1,200 by the third anniversary, at which point over 890 people had been found guilty of federal crimes. These federal cases are handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia (D.C.). State cases, of which there are fewer, are handled in the D.C. Superior Court.
Willie Roy Jenkins is an American murderer, rapist and suspected serial killer who was linked via DNA to a 1975 rape-murder committed in San Marcos, Texas, while he was imprisoned for four rapes committed in California during the 1970s. Convicted and sentenced to death for this crime, he has since been proposed as a suspect in three additional murders, but so far has not been charged with any of them.
Roberto Antonio Minuta is a tattoo artist and a member of the Oath Keepers, who in 2023 was found guilty of seditious conspiracy after forcing his way into the United States Capitol building during the January 6 United States Capitol attack in 2021.