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by 82_28 » Wed Apr 03, 2013 3:51 pm
by seemslikeadream » Wed Apr 03, 2013 4:26 pm
‘I don’t represent the NRA,’ says ‘School Shield’ study director
Clare Kim, @clarehkim
12:23 AM on 04/03/2013
In an effort to develop a National School Shield Emergency Response Program, a report sponsored by the National Rifle Association proposed armed security officers in every school to increase school safety. Former Republican Arkansas Congressman Asa Hutchinson, who led the NRA task force and served as its national director, joined MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell Tuesday.
When asked by Lawrence O’Donnell about the independent standing and credibility of the report, Hutchinson refused to disclose how much he was getting paid as a consultant to direct this effort. “I’ve been very frustrated that we present a comprehensive report that will do something good for safety of our children across this country,” he said.
He mentioned Mark Mattioli, who lost his 6-year-old son James at Newtown, who has announced support for the proposal. ”Mark Mattioli, who came down as a Sandy Hook parent, and said ‘I want to express my thanks that someone is doing something about safety.’ I wish that the debate would move in that direction because that’s exactly what will save children’s lives,” Hutchinson said.
None of the members of the task force (all were selected by Hutchinson) “had an education background or experience as a teacher or school administrator,” said O’Donnell, who noted that all 13 members including Hutchinson himself held law enforcement or security backgrounds.
A former U.S. attorney, drug enforcement chief under President George W. Bush, and Under Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Hutchinson was selected by the nation’s top gun lobby to lead the “Shield Program” that aims to place armed guards or police offers in every school in America. In addition to serving as an NRA consultant, Hutchinson sits on the board of the American Conservative Union. Two other NRA directors and NRA President David Keene also serve on the ACU board.
Throughout his career, Hutchinson has maintained a relationship with the NRA and other gun groups. In his 1986 Senate campaign, he was endorsed by the Gun Owners of America of Washington. Hutchinson also received more than $30,000 in contributions from the NRA while running for state and federal office, according to the Sunlight Foundation.
But Hutchinson said on The Last Word Tuesday evening that he was not speaking on behalf of the NRA. “I’m not with the NRA nor do I represent the NRA, nor am I a spokesman for the NRA. So I’m in here just as the director of the task force that just looked at the school safety issues.”
O’Donnell asked about shooting massacres that occur outside the school, citing two victims of mass shootings: 6-year-old Veronica Moser Sullivan, who was killed in Aurora, Colo., and 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, who was shot to death in a shopping mall parking lot in Tucson, Arizona. Hutchinson responded that he was asked to exclusively deal with keeping children safe in schools.
“How do you respond as a society to those individual tragedies that we see? You respond by law enforcement, you respond by security, you respond by addressing the problems of society. I tackle one thing at a time in life and I’m tackling school safety and we believe we’ve made some very good recommendations. I wasn’t asked to look at the safety of movie theaters, I wasn’t asked to look at the safety of members of Congress. I was asked to look at the safety of schools, we have done that, we have performed that. We have made some very substantial recommendations that I hope will be considered by the federal Congress, by our states, and I hope the NRA.”
In 225 pages that cost the NRA more than $1 million, the report recommended eight target goals to improve school safety, including a 40-60 hour training program for school resource officers and armed school personnel, revisions to state laws allowing personnel to carry guns, improving cooperation between law enforcement officials and schools, giving schools access to online tools on safety policies. The study also proposed making school safety a priority of state educational requirements, increasing federal funding for developing school safety initiatives, turning the “Shield Program” into a permanent group, and creating a pilot program to assess threats and mental health.
Hutchinson guaranteed the report maintained “full independence” from the NRA, saying “there’s no guarantee the NRA will accept these recommendations.” The NRA itself issued a response: “We need time to digest the full report. We commend Asa Hutchinson for his rapid response in the aftermath of the Newtown tragedy, and we are certain the contributions he and his team have made will go a long way to making America’s schools safer.”
This isn’t been the first time armed school guards have been suggested to make “America’s schools safer,” as Hutchinson said Tuesday. Last December, after the Sandy Hook shooting, the gun lobby’s Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre called on Congress to place armed security in every school in the nation instead of changing any existing gun laws.
On Monday, Connecticut legislators announced a deal on what some called “the most comprehensive package in the country.” Sandy Hook gunman Adam Lanza fired off 154 shots with a Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle within five minutes. Lanza also went through six 30-round magazines, though half were not completely empty, and police said he had more than 100 rifle bullets at hand. Last week, search warrants revealed that Lanza had an arsenal of guns, knives, samurai swords and ammunition found at the school and at the home he shared with his mother, whom he also killed.
As the president heads to Denver on Wednesday, not far from the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., where shooter James Holmes killed 12 and injured 58 people, lawmakers are considering a proposed assault weapons ban, a ban on high-capacity magazine clips and another on tighter background checks, a step seen by gun control advocates as the piece of legislation most likely to pass through both chambers.
President Obama will meet with Colorado law enforcement and community leaders in an effort to spur national momentum for gun reform, and also plans to visit the Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut next week to add pressure on Congress.
by elfismiles » Wed Apr 03, 2013 5:19 pm
Suspect ID'd in W.Va. sheriff's fatal shooting
By JOHN RABY and VICKI SMITH | Associated Press – 20 mins ago..
...
Though there is no indication of a direct connection, Crum's killing comes on the heels of a Texas district attorney and his wife being shot to death in their home over the weekend, and officials suspect a white supremacist prison gang. Those killings happened a couple of months after one of the county's assistant district attorneys was killed near his courthouse office.
Colorado's corrections director, Tom Clements, was killed March 19 when he answered the doorbell at his home outside Colorado Springs. Two days later, Evan Spencer Ebel, a white supremacist and former Colorado inmate suspected of shooting Clements, died in a shootout about 100 miles from Kaufman. On Monday, judicial officials acknowledged Ebel was freed four years early because of a paperwork error.
http://news.yahoo.com/suspect-idd-w-va- ... 38080.html
by 8bitagent » Wed Apr 03, 2013 8:47 pm
Fresh off her remake of CARRIE with Chloe Moretz and Julianne Moore, Kimberly Peirce is back to the heavy material that her directorial career has been filled with, set to helm THE BRAND, which examines the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang's reign in spite of its leaders being held in solitary confinement over the years. The film comes from David Grann's 2004 article in The New Yorker on the subject, with Alessandro Camon having penned the script, per Deadline.
The Aryan Brotherhood managed to control drug dealing, prostitution and so much more in maximum security facilities, even as their leaders were seemingly cut off from the rest of the general prison population. This small group was known as "The Brand," and used a series of secret communication codes to maintain their power, all while being pursued by the U.S. Attorney trying to nab them on their in-house practices.
THE BRAND will focus on a young recruit into their system who eventually defects after rising up fairly high in their hierarchy.
by seemslikeadream » Wed Apr 03, 2013 9:16 pm
The NRA deploys its muscle at the National Press Club:
on April 03, 2013 at 3:10 PM
By Dana Milbank
WASHINGTON -- The gun-lobby goons were at it again.
The National Rifle Association's security guards gained notoriety earlier this year when, escorting NRA officials to a hearing, they were upbraided by Capitol authorities for pushing cameramen. The thugs were back Tuesday when the NRA rolled out its "National School Shield" -- the gun lobbyists' plan to get armed guards in public schools -- and this time they were packing heat.
About 20 of them -- roughly one for every three reporters -- fanned out through the National Press Club, some in uniforms with gun holsters exposed, others with earpieces and bulges under their suit jackets.
In a spectacle that officials at the National Press Club said they had never seen before, the NRA gunmen directed some photographers not to take pictures, ordered reporters out of the lobby when NRA officials passed and inspected reporters' briefcases before granting them access to the news conference.
The antics gave new meaning to the notion of disarming your critics.
By journalistic custom and D.C. law, of course, reporters don't carry guns to news conferences -- and certainly not when the person at the lectern is the NRA's Asa Hutchinson, an unremarkable former congressman and Bush administration official whom most reporters couldn't pick out of a lineup. But the NRA wasn't going to leave any doubt about its superior firepower.
Thus has it gone so far in the gun debate in Washington. The legislation is about to be taken up in Congress, but by most accounts the NRA has already won. Plans for limiting assault weapons and ammunition clips are history, and the prospects for meaningful background checks are bleak. Now, The Washington Post's Philip Rucker and Ed O'Keefe report, the NRA is proposing language to gut the last meaningful gun-control proposal, making gun trafficking a federal crime. Apparently, the gun lobby thinks even criminals deserve Second Amendment protection.
If the NRA has its way, as it usually does, states will weaken their gun laws to allow more guns in schools. The top two recommendations Hutchinson announced Tuesday involved firearms in the schoolhouse. The first: "training programs" for "designated armed school personnel." The second: "adoption of model legislation by individual states to allow for armed school personnel."
Hutchinson claimed that his task force, which came up with these ideas, had "full independence" from the NRA. By coincidence, the proposals closely matched those announced by the NRA before it formed and funded the task force. The task force did scale back plans to protect schools with armed volunteer vigilantes, opting instead for arming paid guards and school staff -- at least one in every school. States and school districts "are prepared" to pay for it, Hutchinson declared.
The task force garnished the more-guns recommendations with some good ideas, such as better fencing, doors and security monitoring for schools, and more mental-health intervention. But much of that is in the overall Senate legislation that the NRA is trying to kill.
To close his case, Hutchinson introduced a secret weapon, "special guest" Mark Mattioli, the father of one of the Newtown, Conn., victims. Mattioli told reporters that there had been "nine school shootings since Newtown" but that Newtown was "off the bell curve, if you will, with respect to the impact."
Perhaps that's because the Newtown killer had a military-style gun with a 30-round magazine?
Hutchinson, queried by a reporter from Connecticut, said that limiting assault weapons is "totally inadequate" because it "doesn't stop violence in the schools." Likewise, he told CBS News' Nancy Cordes, limiting magazine clips won't work as well as his plan to "give the schools more tools" -- i.e., guns. And he told CNN's Jim Acosta that background checks weren't related to his focus of school safety.
Fox News' Chad Pergram mentioned the gun-control legislation. "Do you see any common ground?" he asked.
"This will be the common ground," Hutchinson said of his proposals.
If so, American schoolchildren may grow accustomed to the sort of scene Hutchinson caused Tuesday, protected by more armed guards than a Third World dictator.
Hutchinson, pressed by reporters about the armed goons, said: "You go into a mall, there is security. And so there is security here at the National Press Club."
A reporter asked Hutchinson what he was afraid of.
"There's nothing I'm afraid of. I'm very wide open," Hutchinson replied, separated from his unarmed questioners by an eight-foot buffer zone, a lectern, a raised podium, a red-velvet rope and a score of gun-toting men. "There's nothing I'm nervous about."
by Iamwhomiam » Thu Apr 04, 2013 2:10 am
by FourthBase » Fri Apr 05, 2013 11:56 am
The antics gave new meaning to the notion of disarming your critics.
Fox News' Chad Pergram mentioned the gun-control legislation. "Do you see any common ground?" he asked.
by elfismiles » Sun Apr 14, 2013 10:18 am
back to topic...
Mystery Texas killings 'solved': Disgraced court official to be charged with murders of Texas district attorney, his wife and assistant DA after they convicted him of theft
Eric Williams, 46, set to be charged with three murders
DA Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia were killed at their Texas home last month, and ADA Mark Hasse was shot dead in January
Authorities reportedly zeroed in on Williams after emails sent to other county officials were linked to him
Williams had been convicted of theft by McLelland and Hasse two years ago
By Associated Press and Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 00:03 EST, 14 April 2013 | UPDATED: 08:07 EST, 14 April 2013
A former justice of the peace is reportedly set to be charged with three murders, including a former Texas district attorney and assistant DA, after he was arrested on Saturday.
Eric Williams, 46, has been arrested by authorities investigating the murders of District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, last month - and the fatal shooting of ADA Mark Hasse in late January.
Williams was booked into Kaufman County Jail early Saturday morning for making terroristic threats and 'insufficient bond.' He is being held on a $3million bond.
Williams was charged with making a 'terroristic threat' after federal and local authorities searched his home as part of an investigation into the deaths of DA Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia
Williams was charged in connection with the deaths of DA Mike McLelland, his wife Cynthia and assistant DA Mark Hasse
Sources tell CBS11 that he will be charged with capital murder in the deaths of Mr and Mrs McLelland and the assistant attorney.
Williams had previously been successfully prosecuted by the murdered officials.
Police reportedly zeroed in on Williams after several emails making threats to other county officials were linked to him.
A police source told The Dallas Morning News: 'We can sleep a lot better tonight.'
Williams' wife, Kim, told the paper: 'I'm really tired. I was up almost all night. I'm not ready to talk.'
A neighbor told the Dallas Morning News that he knew Williams to be a 'nice guy' who was known in the neighborhood for riding around town in his Segway.
Fears: District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia were gunned down at their ranch-style bungalow on Saturday
Fears: District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia were gunned down at their ranch-style bungalow last month
Williams was convicted in March 2012 by the district attorney's office of burglary of a building and theft by a public servant, the station reported.
Surveillance cameras caught Williams taking computer equipment from a county building. As part of his appeal, Williams claimed McClelland and Hasse didn't like him.
He was sentenced to two months of probation and lost his justice of the peace position as a result of the conviction.
Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse, 57, was shot and killed in Kaufman, Texas in January
Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse, 57, was shot and killed in Kaufman, Texas in January
Federal and local authorities searched Williams' home Friday as part of an investigation into the McLellands' deaths.
Williams' attorney, David Sergi, released a statement at the time, saying his client 'has cooperated with law enforcement and vigorously denies any and all allegations.'
'He wishes simply to get on with his life and hopes that the perpetrators are brought to justice,' Sergi said.
Earlier this month, Williams said he voluntarily submitted to a gun residue test and turned over his cellphone after authorities contacted him while investigating the deaths of the McLellands.
Authorities have released little information about the case except to say they continue to follow leads, including possible ties to a white supremacist gang.
One month before Hasse's death, the Texas Department of Public Safety issued a warning to authorities statewide that the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas could retaliate for an October indictment that targeted some of its leaders.
McLelland's office was involved in that investigation.
Earlier this month, a speaker had drawn applause from mourners at the McLelland's funeral, when he said of their killers: 'Chase 'em down. Go get 'em. Bring 'em to justice... Take them out of the hole they come from.'
Chris Heisler made the remarks as he led an emotional memorial service on April 4 for the couple who had been murdered at their Texas home near Forney on March 31.
Loved ones remembered the couple's love, warmth and public service. Dozens of law enforcement officers and public officials, including Texas Governor Rick Perry, were among the hundreds who attended the service.
Authorities search a storage unit at Gibson Self Storage as they continue to investigate the slayings of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife
Authorities search a storage unit at Gibson Self Storage as they continue to investigate the slayings of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife
Grief: Shirley Woodward, mother of Cynthia McLelland, holds a flag after a memorial service for her daughter and son-in-law DA Mike McLelland on Thursday. The couple were shot dead on Saturday at their home in Texas
Grief: Shirley Woodward, mother of Cynthia McLelland, holds a flag after a memorial service for her daughter and son-in-law DA Mike McLelland earlier this month
Honored: An image of Kaufman County DA Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia is unveiled beside their coffin at a memorial service in Mesquite, Texas on Thursday
Honored: An image of Kaufman County DA Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia was unveiled beside their coffin at a memorial service in Mesquite, Texas on April 4
Friends reportedly found the bodies of the DA and his wife after going to their home on March 31, having not heard from them in almost 24 hours. They were found with multiple gunshot wounds.
At their funeral service on April 4, Mr and Mrs McLelland shared a single, flag-draped casket inside the suburban church.
Mrs McLelland had been cremated and an urn with her remains was placed inside her husband's coffin.
McLelland had addressed many of the same people two months earlier, after the slaying of Mark Hasse, one of his prosecutors. Hasse was gunned down near the Kaufman County courthouse while going to work.
Texas district attorney and his wife remembered
Tragic day: An honor guard moves the remains of of the murdered couple. Police are still hunting for their killer
Tragic day: An honor guard moves the remains of of the murdered couple
Sorrow: Texas Governor Rick Perry takes a flag to present to the family of Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia. He added $100,000 to the reward for finding the couple's killer
Sorrow: Texas Governor Rick Perry takes a flag to present to the family of Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia
Final salute: A police officer salutes as mourners file one-by-one past the remains of Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia
Final salute: A police officer salutes as mourners file one-by-one past the remains of Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia
Emotional tribute: Texas Governor Rick Perry spoke of the couple's public service as hundreds attended a memorial today
Emotional tribute: Texas Governor Rick Perry spoke of the couple's public service as hundreds attended a memorial on April 4
The deaths were feared to be planned attacks by violent white supremacist gang, the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas.
McLelland in particular was pivotal in the prosecution of a senior member of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas last year who received two life terms following a shoot out.
In the months after Hasse was killed, McLelland began to carry a gun everywhere and took extra caution when answering his door.
He told The Associated Press in an interview shortly before his death that he was warning his employees that they needed to be more cautious as well.
'The people in my line of work are going to have to get better at it,' he said of dealing with the danger, 'because they're going to need it more in the future'.
Read more:
JP Eric Williams To Be Charged With Murders In Kaufman County
Ex-justice of peace is prime suspect in Kaufman DA slayings
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... stant.html
by elfismiles » Sun Apr 14, 2013 10:29 am
FourthBase wrote:I see common ground.
How about: Tasers. Everywhere.
by FourthBase » Wed Apr 17, 2013 3:20 am
by justdrew » Wed Apr 17, 2013 4:23 am
by seemslikeadream » Wed Apr 17, 2013 10:13 am
UPDATE: Wife of ex-judge arrested in slain Texas DA case
KAUFMAN — North Texas authorities have arrested the wife of a former justice of the peace who was charged with making a terroristic threat in connection with the killings of a district attorney and his wife.
Kim Lene Williams was arrested early Wednesday. Online jail records do not list charges against her. Officials in Kaufman County wouldn't immediately comment on the reason for her arrest.
A law enforcement official has said authorities are trying to build a case against her husband, Eric Williams, in the deaths of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, who were found slain March 30.
A probable cause affidavit says Eric Williams sent an email days after the McLellands' deaths implying there would be another attack if authorities didn't respond to various demands.
Kaufman residents anxiously waiting to see if murder charges will be filed
Posted Tuesday, Apr. 16, 20131 Comment PrintReprintsMore Sharing ServicesShare
After home searched, Texas man charged with threat
Dallas News: Capital murder charges expected to be filed against former JP
By BILL HANNA
billhanna@star-telegram.com
KAUFMAN -- While Eric Williams sits in the Kaufman County Jail on accusations of making a terroristic threat, residents are anxiously waiting to see if the former justice of the peace is going to be charged with last month's killing of the county's district attorney and his wife.
Williams is accused of emailing an anonymous threat to law enforcement officers on March 31, the day after Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were gunned down in their home.
The threat said that "unless law enforcement officials responded to the demands of the writer, another attack would occur," according to an arrest warrant affidavit. The affidavit said Williams used "unique identifiers" found at his home to send the message. Williams, 46, a graduate of TCU and the Texas Wesleyan University law school, was arrested Saturday and is being held on $3 million bond.
At a brief courthouse ceremony Tuesday, where he accepted 172 prayer cards from the Terrell ministerial alliance, Kaufman County Judge Bruce Wood said residents are anxious for a suspect to be charged.
"We do need this nightmare to start ending and that's what we're hoping and praying for," Wood said. "We need something to occur that we will feel good about."
Lt. Justin Lewis, a Kaufman County sheriff's spokesman, said investigators were still "working leads and tips like we have been since the onset of the investigation," but declined to comment further.
Law enforcement sources have said that investigators are focused on trying to build a case against Williams in the death of McLelland and his wife, who were killed about two months after Kaufman County prosecutor Mark Hasse was gunned down while walking to work on Jan. 31.
'He never wavered'
Wood said that McLelland was steadfast in his belief that Williams was responsible for Hasse's killing, something he reiterated to Wood the Wednesday before he was killed.
"He thought that from day one," Wood said. "He never wavered. ... He said he knew he did it but he just couldn't get the evidence to prove he did it."
Kaufman resident Rita Ferguson, who lives about a mile from Williams' home, said she really doesn't feel any safer than she did when Hasse was shot in January.
"I really don't know what to think," said Ferguson, 60. "I used to think we were safe out here away from all of the problems, but it doesn't seem that way. It seems like bad stuff happens everywhere whether it's here or Boston. You aren't really safe."
If Williams is eventually charged, Ferguson said she might feel a little more relaxed, but she really isn't sure if that will be the case.
"I have mixed feelings about it," she said. "I guess it would be good to know whoever did this is off the streets. But if it is one of our own, what does that say about us? Are we really any safer than anyplace else in the country? I don't think so."
Praying for an arrest
Williams, a former Kaufman County justice of the peace, was convicted last year of stealing county computers in a case prosecuted by McLelland and Hasse. As a result, he lost his peace officer's license and his law license was revoked.
Glenda Rand, a Kaufman native and owner of Daisy's clothing store on the town square, said she is sleeping better since Williams' arrest, but has mixed feelings.
"But I don't know how I feel that it might have been one of our own who did this," Rand said. "Could three people all be dead because someone stole a computer?"
Keith Head, pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Terrell, was one of the ministers who came to Kaufman to present the prayer cards. The McLellands were members of his church and Mike McLelland was a Sunday school teacher.
"They were active in the church," Head said. "They were there every Sunday."
Since their deaths, church members have prayed for the McLelland family and tried to make sense of their deaths.
"We have done a lot of talking -- a lot of visiting," Head said. "But I think we do take some comfort that this may be close to a resolution. We have been praying for authorities to catch whoever did this."
by Pele'sDaughter » Wed Apr 17, 2013 12:24 pm
by seemslikeadream » Wed Apr 17, 2013 2:35 pm
by seemslikeadream » Wed Mar 19, 2014 10:01 pm
Evan Ebel's hit list suggests ongoing threat to officials
By Kirk Mitchell
The Denver Post
POSTED: 03/17/2014 12:01:00 AM MDT6 COMMENTS| UPDATED: 3 DAYS AGO
Evan Ebel in photos from 2005, 2009, 2011 and 2013. New details into the investigation of the murder of Colorado prisons director Tom Clements by parolee
Evan Ebel in photos from 2005, 2009, 2011 and 2013. New details into the investigation of the murder of Colorado prisons director Tom Clements by parolee Ebel indicate that Ebel didn't act alone and that nearly two dozen people were targeted.
Watch: Evan Ebel in high speed car chase and shootout with Texas authorities
Stevie Vigil gets 27 months for giving murder weapon to Evan Ebel
New details are emerging in the investigation into the murder of Colorado prisons director Tom Clements that indicate parolee Evan Ebel didn't act alone and that nearly two dozen people were targeted.
Among new findings by The Denver Post:
• A federal official who had no dealings with Ebel said he was named on a hit list found in Ebel's black Cadillac DeVille two days after Clements was killed on March 19, 2013.
• Another government official said Ebel's hit list contained the names of more than 20 officials — far higher than previously known.
• That same source said one official on the hit list is concerned about the lack of information coming from the El Paso County Sheriff's Department, the lead investigative agency in the Clements case.
Those whose names appeared on the hit list remain fearful a year later because of a mystery that Ebel, a parolee who was killed in a shootout with Texas authorities on March 21, 2013, can't answer. Did Ebel act alone, on behalf of a prison gang "shot caller" or at the behest of someone else?
Some have suggested the threat of danger might have died with Ebel, but one man on the hit list doesn't buy it.
"There is a murderer at large," said the federal official, who spoke to The Denver Post on condition of anonymity because of a continuing threat against his life and the lives of family members.
"My name was one of the names on the list," the federal official told The Post on Thursday. "I didn't know Evan Ebel, and I had no contact with Evan Ebel."
The official did, however, have some involvement with Homaidan al-Turki, a Saudi inmate who has been considered a person of interest in the Clements investigation.
Without pointing fingers at anyone in particular, the official said that the appearance of his name on the list was telling from a purely investigative standpoint.
"Pretty interesting," he said.
The official said he's very eager to see authorities catch whoever else might have been involved. He also said he has been forced to take unusual security measures.
Another government official who also spoke to The Post on condition of anonymity said Friday that Ebel's hit list had more than 20 names on it. The source, who has been privy to details of the investigation, declined to discuss the identities of those on the list.
Timeline
Major dates in the Evan Ebel case
Explore an interactive timeline of major dates in the Evan Ebel case.
So far, only one person has faced prosecution in connection to the murders of Clements and pizza-delivery driver Nathan Leon. Stevie Marie Vigil, a longtime friend of Ebel, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 27 months in prison for giving Ebel the 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun he used to kill both men.
But the investigation continues, and detectives are vigorously following leads, El Paso County sheriff's spokesman Lt. Jeff Kramer said. The investigation has twisted into so many tangents requiring hundreds of interviews both inside and outside of prison that it has extended the length of the already "massive" investigation, he said.
"The scope of this case is going to be much larger than most cases," Kramer said, explaining that many gangs and inmates potentially had reason to kill Clements. "We have to answer with a level of certainty. That's a daunting task. It's hard to put a timetable on this."
Kramer said several sheriff's investigators are trying to determine whether Ebel had co-conspirators, including fellow members of the 211 Crew, a white supremacist prison gang. Al-Turki, who has been moved from a Colorado prison to a federal facility in Arizona, has not been eliminated as a person of interest, he added.
"We are considering a number of groups and a number of people," Kramer said.
In 2006, al-Turki was convicted of sexually assaulting his Indonesian housekeeper. Al-Turki, who says he is innocent of sex assault and denies involvement in Clements' death, is serving an eight-years-to-life prison sentence.
Al-Turki was identified as a person of interest early on in the Clements murder. A week before the murder, the prisons chief had denied a request by al-Turki to be transferred to Saudi Arabia for the rest of his prison sentence.
Other court documents give indications of where the ongoing murder investigation is headed and that authorities fear others could still be involved.
El Paso County Judge Jonathan L. Walker went into hiding in early August after he was warned that 211 Crew leaders had ordered a "hit" against him in retaliation for his part in the investigation of Clements' murder, according to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The judge had signed about 20 search warrants that each said Benjamin Davis, the founder of the 211 Crew, had a possible role in ordering Clements' murder.
According to a key source, investigators are looking into whether evidence exists that Davis ordered Ebel to kill Clements to repay a debt. Davis protected Ebel when the two were both at Sterling Correctional Facility, the source said.
Following Ebel's parole, he was in frequent contact with 211 Crew members including parolees James Franklin Lohr, 47, and Thomas Guolee, 31, who were arrested and are currently in solitary confinement. Authorities believe gang members gave Ebel money to buy a car, got him his mismatched license plates and helped arrange the pizza theft in which Ebel shot Leon on March 17, the source said.
After killing Clements, Ebel set out for Texas and the home of a paroled 211 Crew member, the source said.
Davis is serving a virtual life prison sentence for his leading role in a widescale prison conspiracy involving drugs and assaults on prisoners from the late 1990s to 2004. He is being held in a general population unit at Buena Vista Correctional Facility.
Clements' successor, Rick Raemisch, said Davis is not being held in administrative segregation because "he's behaving himself."
Raemisch added that gang leaders use young prisoners like "sacrificial lambs to do their bidding."
One year after Clements' murder on March 19, some state officials and those on the hit list remain on edge. Few are willing to talk about the list publicly, worried they could raise their profile or inspire copycats.
Raemisch and other state authorities, including Gov. John Hickenlooper, have been under special protection since Clements was killed.
One government official said one of those on the hit list is concerned about the pace of the investigation and the lack of information from the El Paso County Sheriff's Department.
"We would like to have better input into it, in terms of how things are going," the source said.
Former Department of Corrections Parole Director Tim Handsaid 211 Crew members targeted him in an assassination plot. After being fired in June, Hand told The Post that he had no doubt others were involved in the murder plot.
"Evan Ebel killed Clements and the pizza-delivery driver, but there were a lot of other people who had their fingerprints all over this," Hand said. "This is big-time. This is a bunch of 211 Crew members who were doing this. It wasn't Ebel working alone."
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