Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Crime Alert 12.19.24 | Man Walks Free on Plea Deal After Killing Pedestrian in Distracted Driving Crash

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

Man pleas down vehicular manslaughter case, will not serve any jail time. School bomb threat discovered to be a tasty treat. For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Alert, I'm Nancy Grace. Breaking crime news now. Brent Corennan spends a late night drinking with friends after work. He should not be behind the wheel. Driving through Moose Lake, Minnesota, he falls asleep and bumps into a state trooper's car. Sighted, but allowed to continue driving, he has a five-hour energy drink to pep him up. As he sets the cruise control at 52 in a 40, he plays air guitar along with a song on the radio. He is looking down and jamming

out when his car veers off the road and hits a man. Nancy, the 2 p.m. crash killed that pedestrian, 61-year-old Justin McNeil. Kiernan did not initially realize he hit anything and was confused when his airbags deployed. Kiernan actually tested below the legal blood alcohol limit, coming up at only.06. Kiernan blamed his long working hours for the crash, not his drinking. Kiernan was initially charged with four counts of criminal vehicular homicide, but when he accepted a plea deal, three of those charges were dropped. Despite admitting to distracted driving and impaired driving, he avoids jail time for the crash. I can't believe that.

A man arrives at John E. Smith Intermediate School in Butler Township, Ohio, carrying what appears to be a box from a donut shop. He asks for a tour of the school. He's denied entry, but before going on his way, he leaves the box outside the building. Following safety protocols, staff reports the incident and describes the man's car to police, students sheltering in place under lockdown, and what the superintendent calls an overabundance of caution, officers call in the Dayton Bomb Squad to scan the package. After careful examination, they confirm the box only contains donuts. Police later identify the man as a family member,

serving as a tutor for a student at the school, simply trying to bring donuts. I'm so glad they called in the Dayton Donut Squad. I mean the Dayton Bomb Squad. More crime and justice news after this. Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Limley. Indiana has carried out its first execution in 15 years, putting to death Joseph Corcoran,

convicted of killing four people in 1997, including his brother and sister's fiancée. The 49-year-old Corcoran was executed just after midnight Wednesday at the Indiana State Prison. Convicted of a 1997 quadruple murder in Fort Wayne, Corcoran declined final remarks, saying, quote, not really, let's get it over with. His attorneys argued he suffered from severe mental illness, but multiple appeals, including a last-minute request to the U.S. Supreme Court, were denied. Governor Eric Holcomb also declined to intervene. Indiana prohibits media witnesses at executions, but a reporter selected by Corcoran observed part of the process, which lasted eight minutes.

This marked the state's first execution since 2009 and the 24th in the U.S. this year. The Pentagon has announced the transfer of two Malaysian detainees from Guantanamo Bay Military Prison back to their home country. For the latest, we turn to Sydney Sumner of Crime Online. Mohamed Farik Ben Amin and Mohamed Nazir Ben Lep, both accused of roles in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, recently pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and other offenses. In exchange, they agreed to testify against the alleged mastermind of the attack, known as Hambali. Prosecutors allege that Hambali, an Indonesian leader of an Al-Qaeda-linked

group, orchestrated the deadly bombings and other attacks in Southeast Asia. Farik and Nazir reportedly assisted Hambali in evading capture following the Bali attacks. Their testimony will be pivotal in future legal proceedings against him. Humbali remains in Guantanamo, with a pretrial hearing scheduled to resume in January. The transfer of these two men reduces the number of detainees at Guantanamo to 27, a far cry from the facility's peak when it held hundreds of prisoners following the September 11, 2001 attacks. Among those still detained, only two are serving sentences, while seven face ongoing prosecutions delayed by legal and logistical challenges,

many stemming from their treatment in CIA custody. This week, another detainee, Mohamed Abdul Malik Bajabu of Kenya, was repatriated after 17 years in Guantanamo without being charged. Fifteen other detainees also remain held without charges as U.S. officials work to find stable countries willing to accept them. Thanks, John. June 2, 2017, police respond to reports of a naked man shouting in downtown Laredo, Texas. It's Dwayne Brian Murphy, the 39-year-old Georgia man traveling there on a routine trip with work colleagues. At the hospital, doctors conduct a psychiatric eval and find he's not a danger to himself or others. The next morning, he's released. He vanishes. His co-workers find his phone,

wallet, and keys in his hotel room. Authorities say he may have crossed into Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, but the circumstances of his disappearance are a mystery. His family insists he has no history of bizarre behavior. Murphy, African-American, 6'2", 220 pounds. He's 46 today. Anyone with information on this seemingly mild-mannered, regularly-employed man, please, please call Laredo PD, 956-795-2904. For the latest crime and justice news, go to CrimeOnline.com. And please join us for our daily podcast, Crime Stories. With this crime alert, I'm Nancy Grace. This is an iHeart Podcast.