On Feb. 6, 2011, the Steelers lost Super Bowl XLV to the Packers 31-25. Five weeks later, Jarami Thomas paid for it with his life. The 20-year-old placed a $40 bet on the game over Facebook, according to the Tarrant County District Attorney's, and lost it to a member of an Arlington street gang called Lynch Mob. Another member of that gang, 19-year-old Clevin Earl Brown Jr., was sentenced today to 50 years in prison for shooting Thomas to death in front of an Arlington convenience store, the DA's office said in a release. Brown was one of several Lynch Mob members who ambushed Thomas and his friends in the 3200 block of Green Oaks Boulevard in the early hours of March 14, 2011, the release states. He had been lured there with the promise that he could settle his debt by fighting the man he lost the bet to. Instead, the gangsters blocked Thomas' car in, dragged him from it, and stood by as Brown shot him in the arm and chest. He died shortly after his friends drove him to a hospital. The man who actually made the bet with Thomas, 18-year-old Edward Washington, is still in jail -- awaiting trial on charges of engaging in organized criminal activity and murder. A jury found Brown guilty of those same charges last week, and deliberated less than five hours on Monday before sentencing him. Allowed to address Brown afterwards, Thomas' mother reportedly waved two $20 bills at him and screamed: "Is this all my son was worth to you?"
William (Billy) Bowden pleaded guilty in a Winnipeg courtroom today to carrying a firearm in a careless manner in January 2007
William (Billy) Bowden, 33, pleaded guilty in a Winnipeg courtroom today to carrying a firearm in a careless manner in January 2007 and skipping out on his preliminary hearing about a year later. Other drug and weapons charges related to the 2007 incident were stayed as part of a plea bargain securing the two convictions. Bowden remains in custody though, charged with manslaughter in relation to the November 2007 killing of Jeff Engen, who was fatally stabbed at the Empire Cabaret, prompting the club to close. That charge remains before the courts. Bowden has been in custody since he was arrested Feb. 14 in Whistler, B.C., and returned to Manitoba. The Crown and defence jointly recommended that time be noted in his sentence for carrying the firearm. That crime occurred around 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 20, 2007, as Bowden was leaving the NV lounge in a truck with friend Ken Houston, court heard. Police discovered a Glock 9mm handgun loaded with 18 bullets in a pile of garbage close to where the...
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