The Navy To Borrow USS Gunston

[IN HOC SIGNO]

Dress with a difference tomorrow across Formation Halifax will be putting the proceeds towards this fund.

Even on ships, where we don't get to dress in Civies, there will be money collected.

NS

Yep....gonna wear red and put my toonie in the bucket for the cause....support our troops and our fallen comrade at the same time...I hope we really show this family that Canadian sailors care by a big donation. Ready Aye Ready 

 

[niner domestic]

The donation form on the website is quite easy to use.  However, it just takes MC or Visa. 

 

[navymich]

An update today about the fundraising: http://thechronicleherald.ca/Metro/552187.html

Local sailors raise cash for slain navy man’s family

By CHRIS LAMBIE Staff Reporter

The murder of a visiting sailor has touched the hearts and wallets of people at CFB Halifax.

Local sailors have raised $11,300 for the family of Petty Officer 1st Class Damon Crooks, a U.S. navy sailor who was fatally stabbed outside a Halifax nightclub in the early hours of Nov. 4.

"We did a pass the hat back in December," said Chief Petty Officer 1st Class Ian Ronaldson, the base chief.

Petty Officer 1st Class Crooks was on board the USS Doyle when the guided-missile frigate was in town last November for training exercises with the Canadian navy. He was out with several shipmates and became involved in an altercation outside Rain, an Argyle Street club.

The 28-year-old sailor was allegedly stabbed and robbed of a gold chain after he stepped in to try to stop some men from assaulting a shipmate and stealing his chain.

A lot of local sailors can picture themselves in the same position while visiting foreign ports, Chief Petty Officer Ronaldson said.

"It was the act of a Good Samaritan, and everyone has compassion for the PO," he said. "He was trying to do the right thing and ended up paying with his life for it. It struck home with a lot of folks. We all face this type of thing when we’re travelling."

The money will go to Schyla Washington, the dead sailor’s fiancee, who gave birth to their daughter, Damani Latrice, on Dec. 31 in Jacksonville, Fla.

"We think it is important that it be identified that the navy up here is also feeling her pain," Chief Petty Officer Ronaldson said.

Master Seaman Bryan Postma organized the fundraising drive at Fleet Maintenance Facility Cape Scott.

"I’ve been away on trips and left my wife when she was pregnant home here alone when I went to the (Persian) Gulf a couple of times," Master Seaman Postma said. "I know what it’s like to have family that’s without support. So anything you can do when someone else is in that kind of predicament, you will do."

HMCS Athabaskan was the host ship for the USS Doyle when it was in town. The Halifax-based warship’s crew raised more than $3,000 for Ms. Washington and her child.

"As the host ship we felt really, really bad about the whole thing happening," said Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class Lloyd Warren, the destroyer’s chief hull technician.

The fundraising drive on Athabaskan started among the ship’s hull technicians, who felt a bond with Petty Officer 1st Class Crooks because they shared the same trade.

"Once the whole crew found out about it, the money was just pouring in like crazy," Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class Warren said.

The young sailors who work in Athabaskan’s canteen donated their tips to the cause, he said. "Even the commodore dropped in $100 out of his pocket. It was amazing."

Corey Wright, 23, of Halifax, was charged in the sailor’s death. He appeared in court Thursday, where the charge was reduced to second-degree murder. Three other men face less serious charges.

Members of the Crooks family travelled to Halifax last month to look at the crime scene and to thank Nova Scotians for the support they’ve shown.

Members of the Crooks family also received a helping hand from Nova Scotians who donated more than $60,000 for the family through a fund set up by The Chronicle Herald.

( [email protected])

It is nice to see a community come together like this, both the city and the base.

 

[old medic]

http://www.calgarysun.com/news/canada/2009/06/12/9778446.html

15 years for killing of U.S. sailor in Halifax
By THE CANADIAN PRESS
Last Updated: 12th June 2009, 1:32pm

HALIFAX — A Halifax man convicted of manslaughter in the stabbing death of an American sailor was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison.

Cory Wright had pleaded guilty to the charge in the killing of Damon Crooks when a brawl broke out on Nov. 4, 2006, at a Halifax nightclub.

When time already served in jail on remand is taken into account, Wright’s sentence by Justice Felix Cacchione of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court is reduced to 11 years in prison.

Wright, 26, must serve a minimum of 5 1/2 years before he is eligible for parole.

Wright was charged with second-degree murder, but admitted to the lesser charge in court in March after defence lawyers reached a deal with the Crown.

Crooks, a 28-year-old sailor from Jacksonville, Fla., was visiting Halifax when he was stabbed in a fight outside a nightclub.

Crooks left behind a pregnant fiancee, Schyla Washington, who gave birth to a little girl almost two months after the killing.

Members of his family read victim impact statements that remembered Crooks as a hero who was attempting to help others when the brawl broke out and spilled onto the street on the night he died.

Crooks was in Halifax on board the USS Doyle when he was killed.

Wright, who was arrested within minutes of the stabbing, was on parole at the time for attempted murder in connection with a 2002 stabbing.

After Crooks was killed, Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly established a roundtable on violence to discuss crime in the city.

 

[old medic]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090612/ns_stab_090612/20090612?hub=Canada

Family of U.S. man killed in N.S. wanted harsher sentence
Updated Fri. Jun. 12 2009 5:50 PM ET
The Canadian Press

HALIFAX, N.S. -- Relatives of an American sailor who was stabbed in the heart during a brawl in Halifax said the sentence given Friday to the killer would have been much tougher had more witnesses come forward.

Following an emotional series of victim-impact statements, Justice Felix Cacchione sentenced Cory Wright to 15 years in prison in the Nov. 4, 2006, manslaughter death of Damon Crooks, a 27-year-old from Jacksonville, Fla.

The Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge said that when time already served is taken into account, Wright will be eligible for parole in just 5 1/2 years.

Corwin Gooden, the half-brother of the deceased U.S. navy petty officer, said outside court that the sentence was "lenient" when compared with U.S. justice.

Gooden and his brother Hurchel Crooks, both residents of Florida,

said the failure of key witnesses to help police is especially disturbing to the family.

They said more information might have led to a more serious charge or a longer sentence.

"We plea the next time that something like this happens that the community, the people who are out there and who were involved, should testify," said Gooden.

"A life was lost. A child is without a father."

As his parents and sister looked on, Hurchel Crooks warned that the city will continue to see a rise in violent assaults and crime unless citizens are more courageous about speaking to police.

"If no one wants to come forward and give witness and testify, the city will never get better," he said. "If crimes are being committed and nobody is willing to do anything about it, you're just giving the perpetrators of crime more power to do what they want."

After Crooks was killed, Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly established a roundtable on violence to discuss crime in the city.

In May, the chief of police acknowledged that violent crime has been increasing in the city, but said it's largely due to gang violence related to drugs and involves people who know one another.

Wright, 25, was charged with second-degree murder, but admitted to the lesser charge in court in March after defence lawyers reached a deal with the Crown.

According to the agreed statement of facts, Crooks had come off the U.S. naval ship Doyle to spend a night with shipmates at the Club Rain in the city's downtown.

As he stood outside on the sidewalk with four others after the club closed, a man "known to Wright" approached Crooks's shipmate, Alvin Leacock, punched him and grabbed at a chain around his neck.

Within seconds, 20 to 30 people were brawling outside the club with "kicking, punching, people being knocked to the ground ... property being dropped and stolen from various participants."

Wright was reported to have been swinging his knife widely "with the result that Damon Crooks, who may have been trying to break up the fighting, was stabbed four times."

One of the stab wounds struck the heavyset sailor in the heart and he died later from severe internal bleeding.

Some of the other events were less clearly defined. The statement of facts stated that Damon Crooks was seen a little later in the fight "trying to push several people away from him."

"It was at this time that Cory Wright came into possession of various pieces of Crooks's identification, which were found on him by police at the time of his arrest."

Wright was on parole at the time of the killing for an earlier attempted murder conviction in the 2002 stabbing of a Halifax man and his girlfriend.

Cacchione, in reading his verdict, conceded that some of Crooks's family would regard the sentence as too light.

However, he told them the difficulty was that a charge of murder might have failed before a jury.

"In this case the evidence of many witnesses was flawed because of intoxication at the time of the event or because of a lack of precise observation of the events or, for a number of witnesses, because they were unco-operative and did not want to assist the authorities," the judge said.

The hearing was emotional as family members read letters describing their anguish at the loss of the quiet young man.

Most portrayed a gentle giant of a man with a tendency to help others when there were conflicts.

His mother described him as "a loving, giving young man with a heart as big as the world."

His sister, Erin Crooks, said she has struggled to cope with his death.

She said she'd lost her job, her health and her faith in God.

"I lost my spirit for life and most importantly I lost my big brother. My life has been taken from me," she said, holding up a photo of his funeral service for Wright to see as she walked through the courtroom.

Crooks left behind a pregnant fiancee, Schyla Washington, who gave birth to a little girl almost two months after the killing.

Hurchel Crooks struggled to read his statement, as Wright sat listening with his chin on his hands.

He said the hardest realization is that his brother will never have the chance to know or bring up his two-year-old daughter, who was born after Crooks's death.

"My beautiful niece Damani will never hear her Dad's voice saying 'I love you,"' Crooks told the court.

"She will never tell him where it hurts, or how was school today. ... None of those things, never, ever."

 

[X-mo-1979]

Sailor's killer gets 15-year jail sentence
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9012170.html

A Halifax man convicted of manslaughter in the stabbing death of an American sailor has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Cory Wright had pleaded guilty to the charge in the killing of Damon Crooks when a brawl broke out on Nov. 4, 2006, at a downtown Halifax nightclub.

When time already served in jail on remand is taken into account, Wright's sentence by Justice Felix Cacchione of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court is reduced to 11 years in prison.

Wright, 25, must serve a minimum of 5 1/2 years before he is eligible for parole.

Wright was originally charged with second-degree murder, but admitted to the lesser charge in court in March after defence lawyers reached a deal with the Crown.

Crooks,  a 28-year-old sailor from Jacksonville, Fla., was in Halifax aboard the USS Doyle when he died. He was stabbed after an altercation at the Rain nightclub spilled out onto the sidewalk on Argyle Street.

Crooks left behind a pregnant fiancee, who gave birth to a little girl almost two months after the murder.

Members of his family read victim impact statements that remembered Crooks as a hero who was attempting to help others when the brawl broke out and spilled onto the street on the night he died.
Wright was arrested within minutes of the stabbing and has been held at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth. He was originally charged with first-degree murder but the charge was reduced to second-degree murder a couple of months later.

He was on parole at the time for attempted murder in connection with a 2002 stabbing.

Mr. Crooks’ family said they were extremely disappointed when they were notified that the murder charge was reduced to manslaughter.

Mr. Crooks’ sister Erin Crooks noted that during the time of the attack on her brother, Mr. Wright was on parole for stabbing a Halifax man and his girlfriend repeatedly.

"With that type of track record and that type of heinous crime, and getting only manslaughter, it’s a slap on the hand," she said.

The killing prompted Mayor Peter Kelly to establish a roundtable on violence in 2007.

Nova Scotians reached out to Mr. Crooks’ family in the wake of the murder. A public memorial attended by family members was held in Halifax on the anniversary of Mr. Crooks’ death in November 2007.

And more than $60,000 was donated to a trust for Mr. Crooks’ fiancée Schyla Washington and her baby daughter.

 

[Kirkhill]

Wright was reported to have been swinging his knife widely "with the result that Damon Crooks, who may have been trying to break up the fighting, was stabbed four times."

Swinging a knife widely - establishing a defensive screen - results in slashes.  If one slash were extremely well placed/misplaced then, IMO an accidental death (manslaughter) may occur.

Perhaps, at the end of an arc, the knife might cause a stabbing wound, which might be fatal.  That too could be taken as a possible manslaughter.

But four stab wounds does not sound accidental.  Especially from someone who (inadmissible in court I believe) has a track record of violent stabbing attacks.

This guy needs to chucked away for good. He broke his parole (his word) to commit this crime.  What good will his word be in 5 and 1/2 years?