Bad Day for Samurai Wannabes

[GeneChing]

Should this go here?

Conviction Reversed in Samurai Sword Stepfather Slaying
By GREG CERGOL
Updated 4:20 PM EDT, Thu, Aug 12, 2010

A Long Island judge has reversed the 2007 murder conviction of a man accused of killing his stepfather with an antique samurai sword.

Zachary Gibian was 20-years-old when he was convicted in 2006 of second degree murder for killing his stepfather Scott Nager as he slept on the sofa in their Hauppauge living room. He may now get a new trial.

An Appellate Court judge reversed Gibian's original conviction, saying the trial was flawed when the court did not allow the defendant to testify about a statement that his mother allegedly made to him on the day of the slaying. The Suffolk County District Attorney will now ask the Court of Appeals to take a look a today's reversal. If it stands, it could head back to court for a new trial.

Gibian confessed to the slaying on videotape but later said he was lying to protect his mother, Laura Nager, who he claimed killed her husband because she discovered he was sexually abusing Gibian.

Gibian also testified under oath at that homicide detectives coached him to be convincing for the recording of his confession.

The defendant contended that only after his mother made this detailed statement to him that she had murdered her husband did he confess to police that he had killed his step-father in an effort to protect her.

The reveral also found that the original trial was marred by juror misconduct during deliberations and curtailment of the defense's closing statements.

"I believe there are significant issues that deserve to be heard by the highest court in the state. Accordingly, we will appeal this decision," District Attorney Thomas Spota said.

The 51-year-old Nager was a retired New York City police officer. He was nearly decapitated by two blows from an antique samurai sword swiped from his own collection of war memorabilia.
First Published: Aug 12, 2010 1:08 PM EDT

[Syn7]

"the officer had no choice and pulled her gun and used deadly force... unfortunately the officer wasnt harmed"

right, because if shes standing 20 feet away and takes out his sword arms or kneecaps he surely wouldve hulked over and killed everyone within 100 yards...

i mean really, find an angle where you wont kill bystanders if you miss and empty your clip towards his legs... i believe they now have a no kill policy in NYC... cops are advised to shoot to maim, not kill in situations like this... obviously if some1 points a gun at you you have to plug 3, center mass... no question... but like recently in my area, a man had a small 4 inch blade and was shot dead from 25 feet away because he didnt drop it after two requests... the guy had mental issues and was more than partially deaf... this shoot to kill policy isnt always the best idea imo...

[Syn7]

Should this go here?

if the guy wasnt a retired cop do you think people would have been more willing to believe he was an abuser??? prolongued sexual abuse is a valid psychological defence for 1st or 2nd degree murder to be dropped down to something like justifiable homicide... if the kid was mentally messed up from the abuse its possible he actually believed he was protecting himself and his fam even tho the man was sleeping when he was slashed...

[GeneChing]

Threatened to behead an 8-year-old? Yikes.

Huston Township stabbings linked to parolee
Sara Ganim
- sganim@centredaily.com
September 21, 2010 7:40am EDT

Two months after he was released from jail on charges he threatened to behead an 8-year-old boy with a 2-foot-long sword, 23-year-old Robert W. Quick was arrested again — this time after allegedly stabbing two men in the hand outside a party in Huston Township.

State police said it started around 11 p.m. Saturday at the 177 Martins Lane home. Initially, Quick left when he was asked to, but then returned with knives and scissors and a physical argument began.

Police said both victims, a 45- year-old man and a 36-year-old man, were stabbed in the right hand.

Quick was disarmed and held until police arrived. He was taken to jail pending arraignment on aggravated assault and other charges.

In April 2009, Quick was arrested on charges he threatened a boy who was playing outside with his younger brother in a wooded area in Snow Shoe Township.

Quick didn’t hurt the boy, but he stabbed the sword through the bottom of the 8-year-old’s worm bucket, then pointed it at the boy’s neck and threatened him.

Quick spent four months in jail, then was released at his sentencing, after telling the judge he was high on cold medicine and alcohol when the assault happened.

Two months later, in September 2009, he was sent back to jail for 191/ 2 months for violating his parole by continuing to consume drugs and alcohol.

Court records show he was paroled from jail in June.

As part of the sentence for violating parole in the sword case, Judge Bradley P. Lunsford added six additional years of probation.

In addition to the new charges, Quick is expected to be brought into court for a hearing on again violating his parole in the sword incident.

Sara Ganim can be reached at 231-4616.

um, worm bucket isn't a euphemism for something, is it?

[GeneChing]

Again with the samurai swords. Who keeps a samurai sword in their shed?

Published September 23 2010
Police: Husband brandished samurai sword

After kicking in the door at his wife’s house, a jilted husband with a katana in hand had a message for the new boyfriend: “I could cut through you like butter.”

That’s what police allege Khna Chroeung said to the boyfriend while pointing a samurai sword at him on Saturday, allegations that prompted felony burglary and terrorizing charges to be filed earlier this week.

The 39-year-old native of Cambodia and co-owner of an Asian grocery store, Lotus Blossom, was also charged with carrying a concealed weapon due to a switchblade he allegedly had on his belt under his shirt when arrested.

Chroeung did not have a key to get into the house of his estranged wife, she told police. His son called 911 after seeing Chroeung grab the sword from a shed and kick down the wife’s back door, according to a police report included with the charges filed Monday.

The boyfriend told police he came downstairs to tell Chroeung to leave when he heard that he was breaking into the house and found him holding the sword. He claimed Chroeung swung the sword, knocking over a bottle of wine, before telling him he could cut him like butter.

Chroeung told officers he had no intention of hurting the man but was trying to scare him into leaving the house, which is owned by the mother of his wife.

He told police he accidentally broke the glass door of a china cabinet inside the home when he turned too quickly and hit it with the samurai sword.

A phone message left for Chroeung’s attorney, Mark Beauchene, was not returned on Wednesday.

Chroeung’s next appearance in court is scheduled for Oct. 21.

[GeneChing]

A real postal worker goes postal!

Samurai sword attack at deli
* From: NewsCore
* September 26, 2010 7:44AM

A FORMER postal worker accused of threatening a deli clerk with a samurai sword was arrested in western Washington after he led police on a wild pursuit that ended with them ransacking his house with tear gas, The Olympian reported today.

A five-hour standoff with an Olympia, Washington, SWAT team ended safely after the 59-year-old man, Michael Burr, was arrested on suspicion of two counts of felony assault. Mr Burr allegedly entered a deli near his house and swung the katana-style samurai sword at the clerk around 4am local time. No one was injured in the alleged attack, according to authorities.

Police investigating the assault went to Mr Burr's home around 7am, where the door was answered by a sword-yielding Burr, The Olympian reported.

When Mr Burr refused to drop the weapon, SWAT was called in to assist. Police attempted to negotiate with Mr Burr, but he refused to exit the house and surrender.

The heavily-armed specialty squad surrounded his home and shot tear gas through the windows, eventually forcing their way inside the home after Mr Burr threw items, including a photo album and a sword, from a second-story window.

“We got him out safely, and nobody got hurt. That’s the important thing,” Thurston County Chief Criminal Deputy James Chamberlain said, according to the report.

Mr Burr, who had recently been suspended from a job with the US Postal Service, was uninjured except for small cuts on his arm. He had recently begun to act strangely, neighbours said.

“He was a pretty normal guy until a couple of months ago,” coffee stand owner Larry Katzenberger said. "He thinks he’s discovered something about the moon that nobody knows.”

If for nothing else, it gives us an excuse to watch this again. Belushi was freaking brilliant.
SNL Samurai Delicatessen

[GeneChing]

...over a karaoke singer? oh phuket!

Phuket Pair Duel for Singer With Sword and Gun
By Phuketwan Reporter
Monday, October 4, 2010

TWO MEN who fought over a Phuket karaoke singer kept up their argument when both were admitted to a Phuket emergency ward with wounds last night.

Nurses at Vachira Hospital in Phuket City said the men, bloody from their sword and gun showdown, were placed on adjacent guerneys, where they continued to insult each other.

Both have since been charged with attempted murder.

Sarawoot Suttikan, 36, and Nipot Chairat, 38, first engaged in a fist-fight over the karaoke singer about a month ago, said police in the southern Phuket district of Chalong.

Khun Nipot lost that fight and on Sunday night went to Khun Sarawood's home in Chalong, challenging him to come outside, police said.

Khun Nipot, a Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation volunteer, was carrying a registered handgun. Khun Sarawoot came out swinging and clobbered Khun Nipot with a sword, police said.

Khun Nipot tried to pistol-whip Khun Sarawoot and fired the gun six times, managing to hit Khun Sarawoot once in an arm, police said.

Both men were taken to Vachira and at last report were still calling each other names.

[GeneChing]

...just heartbreaking.

Fairfield twins allegedly killed with sword
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle October 14, 2010 08:35 PM
Friday, October 15, 2010

(10-14) 20:35 PDT FAIRFIELD -- A Fairfield woman stabbed her twin 3-year-old daughters with a samurai-style sword and then tried to take her own life by slashing her throat and setting her apartment on fire, authorities say.

Monica Christine McCarrick, 28, is facing charges of murder, child abuse causing death, arson and evidence destruction.

McCarrick, who has lived in Contra Costa County and San Diego, was to be booked at Solano County Jail after being treated at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek for stab wounds and cuts.

The bodies of Lily and Tori Ball were found by firefighters when summoned to the blaze Tuesday night. Neighbors reported seeing the weapon and a bottle of pills inside the apartment.

[GeneChing]

what a horrible ugly story...

'Ugly Betty' Actor Murdered Mom With Samurai Sword While Screaming Bible Passages
11:35 AM 11/23/2010 by Lindsay Powers

Police had to taser Michael L. Brea to subdue him before bringing him to a Brooklyn hospital with a guard.

Michael L. Brea, who has appeared on episodes of Ugly Betty and in Step-Up 3D, brutally murdered his mother with a Samurai sword while screaming biblical passages, police confirm.

Police were called to Brea's Brooklyn, New York apartment after neighbors heard screaming around 2:20 a.m. Tuesday morning.

"I hear the brother chasing her [his mother] through the house and he's just saying a bunch of [Bible] passages like, 'Repent, Repent, Repent,'" neighbor Gregory Clare told local television station WPIX 11 News. "I heard him chasing her through the house and I hear a loud scream and so I have my father call the cops, call 911."

Brea, who also appeared in Coke commercials, had decapitated and stabbed his mother, 55-year-old Yannick, multiple times. Police said he was emotionally disturbed and they had to taser him to subdue him. They described the apartment as “extremely bloody.” He was taken to Kings County Hospital with a police guard.

NYPD spokeswoman Officer Doris Otero tells The Hollywood Reporter, "They found a black female, Yannick, with multiple stab wounds on her body. EMS pronounced her DOA."

"I had just dozed off to go to sleep and then I woke up to somebody screaming," said Bernard Bent, another resident. "It sounded like a lady's voice and after a while I just didn't hear the woman's voice again."

Brea, who was described by neighbors as "quiet," was into martial arts. He has a twin brother, and also owned a Subway restaurant shop, giving away 300 sandwiches for free on Thanksgiving in 2008.

"I remember growing up and my mother was always feeding people who were less fortunate," Brea once told Haitian movie site BelFim.com. "My parents raised me to always share and to give charity in the name of God."

[doug maverick]

this was a strangley morbidly amusing article..interestingly enough they say he was in ugly betty and step up 3d but ive yet to find his name on imdb, if he was just an extra shame on thewrap.com for reporting as such.

Michael Brea, an actor who had roles on "Ugly Betty" and "Step-Up 3D," was arrested in Brooklyn, New York early Tuesday, after police say he "held his mother hostage and then murdered her with a samurai sword while screaming Bible passages."

Neighbors heard screams coming from an apartment at about 1:30 a.m. (ET), according to WPIX, a local New York television station.

Responding officers found Brea, 31, in the apartment, and had to subdue him with a taser.

The body of 55-year-old Yannick Brea "was found badly hacked, decapitated and stabbed multiple times in another room."

Neighbors said "spattered blood was visible on the apartment windows," according to the Daily News.

Brea was transported to Kings County Hospital for a psychiatric exam "with a police guard assigned to him," according to the report.

The investigation is ongoing and charges are pending, police said.

* 'Ugly Betty' to Fold in April

According to an online biography, Brea was born in New York City to Haitian-American parents Marcel and Yannick Brea.

Before becoming an actor, Brea opened a Subway restaurant in Brooklyn in 2007, according to Belfim.com. On Thanksgiving 2008, Brea's Subway gave away 300 footlong turkey sandwiche, according to that site.

"I remember growing up my mother was always feeding people who were less fortunate," Brea reportedly said. "My parents raised me to always share and to give charity in the name of GOD!"

[GeneChing]

I posted this on our Bad Day for Samurai Wannabes thread. I thought about posting it here, just like I thought about moving the Wesley Snipes is headed to prison here.

Extra points to you for double checking on IMDB.

[Jimbo]

This story is tragic and more than a bit creepy. This guy seems way beyond simply mentally disturbed. It kind of reminds me of the news story that I heard took place on a cross-country bus ride in Canada a year or two ago; One man (I think his name was Li Weiquang?) suddenly took out a combat-style knife and began stabbing the man sleeping in the seat next to him, then cut his head off. The other passengers and driver fled the bus, and they could see him inside the bus through the windows. At one point he held up the victim's head. All this seemed to happen out of nowhere, according to the other passengers.

[GeneChing]

Accused murderer just 'Ugly Betty' extra
By SEAN DALY
Last Updated: 10:23 AM, November 30, 2010
Posted: 10:33 PM, November 29, 2010

Michael Brea -- the sword swinging " 'Ugly Betty' actor" accused of beheading his mother in a gruesome, religious sacrifice -- turns out to be no more than a $10-an-hour background extra.

"He worked two days on the first episode we filmed [for] Season 4," second assistant director Jim Nickas tells The Post.

The scenes for the episode titled "Blue On Blue" were shot at the former Craftsteak restaurant on 10th Avenue and 15th Street.

"We have 90 background actors the first day and 70 the second day," Nickas says. "Some [posing as] restaurant staff, but mostly patrons. So it is pretty lame that the headlines have read: ' "Ugly Betty" actor Michael Brea.' "

Before consulting the show's casting records, Nickas admits, "I had never heard of him.

"He has also been reported as being on 'Step Up 3D', which is kind of funny because my wife worked on that movie, and she didn't remember him, either."

The mystery behind Brea's showbiz credentials has been growing since a Hollywood trade magazine first reported the story last week.i

Doug questioned his creds on the parallel file under weird but true.actor kills parents with samurai sword. thread

[GeneChing]

You were right. See Bad Day for Samurai Wannabes

[GeneChing]

Brave 75-year-old disarms sword-wielding intruder in his home

AN elderly couple were terrified when two men armed with swords raided their Lincoln home.

The husband, who had just celebrated his 75th birthday, courageously disarmed intruder Matthew Saunders, but was struck on the head by accomplice Paul Fellowes.

Christopher Kessling, prosecuting at Leicester Crown Court, said the elderly man and his 73-year-old wife were awoken at their bungalow in Lindum Terrace, Lincoln, early on June 7, last year.

The husband jumped out of bed and saw Saunders coming towards him with an ornamental samurai sword, taken from the shed.
Click Here to Order

He demanded the victim's car keys.

Despite fearing for his safety, the victim grappled with Saunders and managed to disarm him in the kitchen.

Fellowes, armed with another sword from the shed, was standing outside the broken window, and struck the victim on the head, causing blood to pour down his face.

The injured pensioner ended up grappling on the floor with Saunders, who punched him repeatedly, as he demanded money.

The wife ran to a neighbour's but Saunders followed her and tried to drag her back.

Her husband came outside with the sword he'd taken from Saunders and hit Fellowes, making him drop his sword. The attackers then fled in the couple's car.

Fellowes, of Brisco Avenue, Loughborough, was previously found guilty of aggravated burglary, wounding and possessing a knife when arrested.

Saunders, formerly of Loughborough, but recently of Mablethorpe Chalet Park, Links Avenue, Mablethorpe, pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary, wounding and causing an affray prior to arrest.

Mr Kessling said police spotted the Rover later that morning in Belton Road, Loughborough, and pursued the defendants to Shepshed.

Fellowes was chased and caught. Saunders ran into his sister's flat in Brook Street and grabbed hold of her, threatening to hold her hostage. He then went onto a balcony with a knife screaming at the police.

Firearms officers attended and there was a stand-off before Saunders was arrested.

Fellowes, 29, from Loughborough, was jailed indefinitely for public protection at the court on Friday and will serve at least six years behind bars.

Sword disarm - impressive. Too bad he didn't indicate he had any training.

Woman charged after threatening ex-boyfriend with sword
November 28, 2010

An enraged woman brandished a sword as she threatened her ex-boyfriend at a West Side convenience store, prosecutors allege.

Sylvia Anderson, 31, is charged with aggravated assault after she allegedly held the medieval weapon above her head at the store where her ex-boyfriend worked at 2200 South Central Park on Saturday.

She also threatened a woman she believed to be the 34-year-old man's new girlfriend with the sword, according to a police report.

Judge Israel Desierto ordered Anderson, of the 2200 block of South Homan, held on bail of $5,000 during a hearing Sunday morning.