THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2012
COURT
PAGE 7
Mom guilty of promoting prostitution
NEW YORK A suburban mother of four charged with moonlighting as a multimillion-dollar madam pleaded guilty Tuesday to promoting prostitution as part of a plea deal.
Anna Kristina, a legal U.S. resident originally from the Scottish Highlands, made the plea in Manhattan court. The judge said she'll be sentenced Nov. 20 to time served and probation, and she could also be deported.
She spent four months in jail before being released on $250,000 bond in June.
Her lawyers said Cristina lived on a 12-acre property in Monroe, about 50 miles north of New York City, and rescued animals and
The DAs office countered in court papers that Gristina "has not produced a shred of evidence of actual vindictiveness."
A grand jury indicted Gristina before her arrest, undermining her argument that she was prosecuted because she didn't cooperate, Assistant District Attorneys Elizabeth Roper and Charles Linehan wrote.
helped abandoned pet pigs find new homes.
But prosecutors accused the 45-year-old Gristina of having a roster of wealthy, well-placed clients and boasting of law-enforcement connections during 15 years in a business that made her millions. She had said she was merely starting a dating service.
She had been charged with a single count of promoting prostitution, stemming from a July 2011 tryst that authorities say she arranged involving two women and an undercover officer posing as a client.
Co-defendant Jaynie Baker, a former matchmaking recruiter charged with helping Kristina set
Anna Gristina exits Manhattan criminal court in New York on Tuesday. The suburban mother of four charged with moonlighting as a multimillion-dollar madam pleaded guilty Tuesday to promoting prostitution. The judge said she'll be sentenced on Nov. 20 to time served and probation as part of a plea deal.
up sexual encounters, reached a deal to resolve her case. Baker, 31, is due back in court on Oct. 2.
Two accused prostitutes and an accused money-launderer also have been arrested in the case.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Gristina was arrested Feb. 22 as she left a friend's Morgan Stanley office after a fundraising meeting for her business, prosecutors say.
In trying to get the case dismissed, her lawyer, Norman Pattis, wrote that the district attorney's office "vindictively prosecuted her as a result of her failure to cooperate with investigators" during what he called an illegal interrogation.
Gristina said in court papers that investigators shrugged off her requests for a lawyer and told her they'd let her go if she gave them information about five men — not named in her filings, but described
as a financier, an international banker and a member of a politically connected family, among others.
Associated Press
EDUCATION
School district expands corporal punishment
SPRINGTOWN, Texas — Like many schools in Texas, "spare the rod and spoil the child" might be considered the motto at Spring-town High School.
But when two teenage girls there reportedly suffered bruises after being paddled by male assistant principals, some parents complained. They weren't upset about the punishment itself, but instead that the school violated the policy requiring an educator of the same sex as the student to dole out the paddling.
So the school district has changed its policy — to expand, not abolish, corporal punishment. Board members voted Monday night to let administrators paddle students of the opposite sex, after Superintendent Michael Kelley cited a lack of women administraftors to carry out spankings.
The new policy says a sambender school official must witness the paddling, which is just one "swat," and that parents also can request one spanking per semester. In all cases, a parent must give written permission and request it in lieu of another punishment, such as suspension or detention.
"I personally think Texas is getting a black eye because of this," Kelley told The Associated Press. "People are assuming a school district can do whatever it wants because of this. That's not the case."
Texas law allows schools to use corporal punishment unless a parent or guardian prohibits it in writing. The issue of the student or educator's gender is not addressed, and there are no state standards on the minimum or maximum ages of students who can be spanked, according to the Texas Education Agency.
Cathi Watt, whose daughter was one of the two girls recently paddled, said Tuesday that she's OK with paddlings in schools
"because they need it once in a while, and I got them when I was a kid." But she said the male administrator used too much force, so she does not support the new policy.
Watt said her 16-year-old daughter, Jada, deserved to be spanked after she spoke sarcastically to a teacher and an assistant principal, "but she did not deserve to be bruised."
"And what kind of message does it send these boys?" Watt said. "Is it telling them that it's OK to hit a girl?"
Texas is one of 19 states allowing schools to spank students, but 97 of the nation's 100 largest school districts have banned corporal punishment, according to the Center for Effective Discipline.
About 75 percent of the state's school districts use corporal punishment, including Springtown, a town of about 2,700 located about 30 miles northwest of Fort Worth, according to People Opposed to Paddling Students, a group based in Houston. Some of the major districts, including Fort Worth, don't paddle students.
"It is never OK to hit a child. . Men should not be padding teenage girls, because there is a sexual connotation with teen girls but also with teen boys," said Jimmy Dunne, president of People Opposed to Paddling Students.
State Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston, thinks schools should never spank children, but her bill to abolish corporal punishment in Texas schools never passed. She said the compromised version of her bill, which did become law, was that parents could opt in.
"Parents can choose whether to spank their children at home," Allen said. "When you send a child to school, it should be a place to be motivated — not a place to be beaten."
Associated Press
EXTREME SPORT
Skydiver plans 23-mile jump
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The countdown is on for skydiver Felix Baumgartner.
In just two weeks, Baumgartner will attempt to go supersonic when he jumps from a record altitude of 23 miles over New Mexico. Project managers announced Tuesday the feat will take place Oct. 8.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Austrian parachutist jumped from 13 miles in March and 18 miles in July. This time, he hopes to break the all-time record of 19.5 miles set in 1960.
A giant helium balloon will hoist a pressurized capsule with Baumgartner inside, dressed in a pressure suit.
Baumgartner expects to reach a top speed of 690 mph and break the sound barrier with only his body, less than a half-minute after he hops from his capsule.
On Monday, a crew member adjusts the space capsule of the Red Bull Stratos mission in the pressure chamber at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. Skydriver Felix Baumgartner will attempt to go supersonic when he jumps from the capsule at a record altitude of 23 miles over New Mexico.
The same capsule was used for
Baumgartner's two practice jumps but was damaged in the latest touchdown. It smashed down hard despite its parachute, and the outer
shell had to be replaced with parts from a backup capsule. The entire craft was taken apart and reassembled.
The repairs and retesting pushed the final flight from August to October.
"I feel like a tiger in a cage waiting to get out," Baumgartner, 43, said in a statement.
Project officials note that excellent weather will be needed to launch the 30 million-cubic-foot helium balloon from Roswell. Early fall is generally an optimal time for such endeavors.
The entire flight will be monitored by a NASA-like Mission Control; the mission is known as Red Bull Stratos, short for stratosphere. The effort is privately funded by the energy drink maker.
Associated Press
CRIME
Woman stays in prison because of threatening letter
BOISE, Idaho — A woman who was about to be released from an Idaho prison will stay behind bars a while longer because federal prosecutors say she mailed a threatening stick figure drawing to a relative.
Linda Joyce Lakes was serving time at the Pocatello Women's Correctional Center on probation violations stemming from a 2007 grand theft sentence, and she was scheduled to be released last Friday. But earlier this month, the U.S. attorney's office charged her with mailing threatening communications, a felony.
Prosecutors say that in 2010, Lakes mailed a drawing that apparently depicted a battered stick figure alongside threatening phrases such as "No tears," "No hiding," and "No more you."
Kyle Wright, an FBI agent in Pocatello who investigated the
case, described the drawing in a court document.
Wright also said in his affidavit that Lakes sent a letter with the drawing that indicated her prison sentence was coming to an end and that the recipient should be prepared for his final moments.
"One stick figure appeared to be lying down with his face smashed. The baseball bat was lying nearby with damage that appeared to be consistent with its use on the first stick figure. The second stick figure appeared to be walking away with a smile," Wright wrote.
The FBI agent also said that Lakes told the FBI her drawing symbolized her hate for a man who had abused her in the past, and that
one day she wanted to beat and possibly kill him.
Lakes was released from the state prison and taken into federal custody. She waived her preliminary hearing on the charge and has not yet entered a plea.
Associated Press
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