Many of you lotto players out there may be familiar with the name Abraham Shakespeare. He won $30 million in the Florida Lottery in 2006. To most people that would be a life changing experience in a great way, however, for Abraham it was quite the opposite.
“Nine months ago, he vanished. Friends and family hoped he was on a beach somewhere in the Caribbean.” Reports the AP. Sadly that was not the case at all! On Friday January 29, 2010 Abraham Shakespeare’s body was found buried under a concrete slab in the back yard of a new found friend’s boyfriends house. No one has been charged with Shakespeare’s murder yet, nor do they have a cause of death. They do however believe that this woman who befriended Shakespeare a year after winning the lotto may know something about his death.
Robert Brown, Shakespeare’s brother, has stated that his brother often wished that he never bought the winning lottery ticket. His brother told the AP that Shakespeare believed he would ‘have been better off broke.’
You can read more detailed information on the very few facts known about Shakespeare’s death on MSNBC.MSN.COM.
Image: Red Huber / AP
"The real reason the state has asked for the death penalty is because they wish to get as biased a jury as they possibly can," Lyon said. "It has the effect of coercing pleas in cases where that may in fact not be appropriate."
This is a quote from Casey Anthony’s attorney. For those of you who do not know she is on trial for murdering her two-year-old daughter. They are unable to determine the exact cause of death for the young child, but the prosecution is still trying for the death penalty. They have their own theory of the crime, and they feel that it does fit Florida’s requirements for the death penalty. Anthony’s attorneys believe that because the cause of death is unknown the prosecution cannot prove that the death of her two-year-old daughter death was cruel, heinous or atrocious which they claim is standard in Florida. That is where the above quote comes into play. I would agree that in fact the death penalty is not appropriate when you have murdered your own two-year-old daughter! You deserve something far worse!
The prosecution believes that the child was drugged and then multiple pieces of duct tape were placed over her nose and mouth so that she would suffocate to death. They also believe that it is possible that the child was tied while given the substance that made her unable to resist while being duct taped. Even though the cause of death is unknown, they did find duct tape on the baby once she was finally found.
It is just amazing how this case has played out. Do you have any opinions? Do you believe that she killed her own child? Need more details? Read more about the pretrial here at MSNBC.
