CrimeTimeNews (c)

Montreal, Canada - It was shortly before one in the morning, in an industrial area on the east side of the city, when Eric Gauthier, 26, decided to show his friend just how fast his new Sunfire would go. Eric's right foot was still plastered to the floor when he slammed into a Dodge Neon.
The cars collided with such force that they swung sideways and smashed together again. Then they flew into and knocked down the poles holding up the traffic signals.
As they began their investigation, officers immediately ran into a problem. Since there were no skid marks, it was impossible to use traditional means to determine speed. Instead, they did something unusual. They seized the odometer from Mr. Gauthier's car as well as a palm-sized device connected to his air bag.
The module, known in the industry as an EDR (event data recorder) was installed by the manufacturer to protect themselves in case they were ever sued should an air bag malfunction.
The little black box is designed to capture and hold information on the last 5 seconds before the bag is set off. When the data was downloaded, officers found that the Sunfire's speed was more than three times the 50K legal limit. In addition to RPM's, the chip showed that the accelerator was on the floor four seconds before the crash.
Because of the severity of the charges, the driver of the Neon was killed, a Quebec judge has ruled the evidence admissible. He said that despite the defense contention that such information violated rules against self incrimination, any infringement against Mr. Gauthier rights would be minimal.
Eric's friend is recovering from a broken arm.

Henan, China - Yang Xinhai, 38, had a lengthy criminal record before his latest conviction. He dropped out of school in 1985 and began to travel around China, working occasionally as a day laborer. When he tired of earning his way in the world, Yang turned to crime.
He was sent to re-education camps in 1988 and again in 1991 for theft. Then in 1996 he got five years for an attempted rape. It was upon his release in 2000 that Yang began a four year-four provience crime spree of horrible proportions.
By the time he was captured, he had killed 67 people, raped 23 women and left 10 other victims left for dead. According to Yang, "Killing people is usual, nothing special." He admitted guilt in only 17 cases and acknowledged that his weapon of choice is the hammer.
In one especially brutal case, Yang beat an entire family to death...a farmer in his 30's, his mother, wife, son and daughter. After the blood bath, Yang buried the iron hammer near a tomb and threw his bloody clothes in a river and then walked two hours into another town.
On Sunday the peoples intermediate court convicted the drifter of intentional homicide, willful and malicious injury, pillage and rape. His sentence? Death.
Unlike the US prison system of death rows, China employs the services of mobile execution chambers. Since Yang has stated that he does not intend to appeal, he can expect one to pay a visit to his prison soon.