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Annika Östberg to be released in May 2011

Annika Östberg Deasy, who sat in a US prison for 28 years for her role in two murders, has had her life sentence reduced and will be released sometime in May 2011.

Published: 16 November 2009 14:25 CET
Annika Östberg to be released in May 2011

According to a ruling handed down on Monday by the district court in Örebro in central Sweden, Östberg needs a transitional period of one and half years before she can be allowed to return to society.

As a result, her life sentence has been reduced to 45 years.

According to Swedish law, convicted criminals are eligible for release after serving two-thirds of their sentence. In Östberg’s case, that corresponds with a release some time in May 2011.

The court gave great weight to the long time Östberg spent in prison and the limited number of furloughs she was granted. The court also took into consideration the fact that Östberg has a limited understanding of Swedish society after having been inside a US prison for so many years.

Östberg was transferred to Hinseberg women’s prison outside of Örebro from a prison in California last spring. In October she was moved to Färingsö prison, which is a lower security facility.

Prosecutors and the National Board of Forensic Medicine (Rättsmedicinalverket) argued during court proceedings last week that Östberg ran a medium- to high-risk of reverting to a life of crime upon release.

“As far as her punishment is concerned, Annika Östberg has paid for her crime. But the question has been raised as to whether it’s too early to change the sentence,” said prosecutor Gunnar Brodin at the hearing.

The Örebro District court ruled, however, that there is not a major risk of Östberg reverting to violent crime.

As a result, the court found that there was no reason not to reduce her sentence.

Östberg moved to California with her mother in the 1960s, and suffered from serious drug problems before running away from home as a teenager.

She later started a relationship with a drug dealer, Brian Cox. In April 1981, the couple argued with restaurant owner, Joe Torre, over money which resulted in Cox shooting Torre dead.

The next day, Cox and Östberg’s were fixing a flat tyre on the side of the road when Richard Helbush pulled over to help them. Thinking they were about to be arrested, Cox shot Helbush dead as well.

The couple fled in the police car and were later arrested after a police pursuit and a gunfight. Cox hanged himself in his cell prior to the trial, while Östberg was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murders.

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MUSIC

California radio station brings cool music and ‘cultural exchange’ to Berlin airwaves

Now you don’t just have to get your news fix from The Local. KCRW went on air in Berlin on Monday, promising award-winning music shows and plans to delve into local current affairs.

Published: 17 October 2017 13:57 CEST
California radio station brings cool music and ‘cultural exchange’ to Berlin airwaves
Photo: DPA
As Berlin’s intimidating winter spreads its chilly fingers over the city, it’s not only transplants from California who might start getting misty eyed at the thought of the balmy Pacific coast.

Luckily, Californian public radio broadcaster KCRW have chosen Berlin as the location for their first partner radio station outside the US.

“We wanted to continue the dialogue between the US and Germany, especially at this crucial time,” Susan Woosley, the station’s COO told The Local, explaining why they applied for the licence for the 104.1 FM airwave previously held by US public radio broadcaster NPR.

While she said that KCRW Berlin planned to “carry on the tradition of unbiased, intelligent reporting” that NPR stands for, they also want to bring in a broad mix of cultural and public affairs programming including “KCRW’s world renowned music offering”.

The Berlin broadcaster will be airing eight hours of music from the award-winning Californian mothership station every weekday, and even more on the weekends.

“We think we can add tremendously” to the Berlin radio landscape, Woosley says.

And while the vast majority of the programming will initially come from California and other public radio stations in the US, KCRW Berlin also has plans to bring in local programming.

“The idea is to help integrate the huge English-as-a common-language community here into the city itself, so they can better understand it and take part on a bigger scale,” says Woosley.

They became aware of the demand for more English-language news and information in Berlin when they ran a survey on their website asking people what they thought of Social Democrat leader Martin Schulz.

“One poignant reply was that ‘we’d love to have an opinion but there is not enough information in English’”, says Woosley.

KCRW will start by offering four minute segments four times a day on a range of local topics from politics, to film, to theatre, as well as weather. Starting in November they will also have a news round up.

Meanwhile they have two pilot shows in the pipeline, one on Berlin current affairs and one on Berlin culture. While these will initially be weekly affairs, they hope to eventually make them daily.

The plan, Woosley explains, is to “gradually add and build”.

At The Local, we’re excited to see how it turns out.