Police in DeKalb County, Georgia, are on the hunt for gunmen who opened fire at a home in the early morning hours of Thanksgiving.
Four people were injured when the assailants opened fire, discharging more than 100 rounds at the home on Cascade Manor Drive in Decatur, Georgia, just before 3 a.m., Lieutenant. Shane Smith with the DeKalb County Police Department told Newsweek.
The victims, who range in age from 37 to 57, are all expected to survive. Three other people inside the home at the time of the shooting were uninjured.
“When officers arrived, they located four victims in the residence with various gunshot wounds,” Smith told Newsweek. “All four were transported to area hospitals for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. While two patients had critical injuries, all four are expected to survive.”
Smith said initial information obtained at the scene indicates everyone involved in the shooting was inside the residence when unknown perpetrators fired more than 100 rounds into the house.
Decatur is 6 miles northeast of Atlanta. The crime rate in DeKalb County, where Decatur is located, is 44.35 per 1,000 residents, according to data from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The violent crime rate in DeKalb is 4.411 per 1,000 residents.
No arrests have been made, and Newsweek will continue to follow this story.
Stock image of police tape. Police in DeKalb County, Georgia, are searching for suspects in a shooting that occurred in the early morning hours of Thanksgiving in which 100 rounds were fired into a home, injuring four people. Andri Tambunan / AFP/Getty
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Former president Donald Trump is seeking District Attorney Fani Willis‘ help to defend himself in the Fulton County election interference case.
Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has been indicted in four separate cases: two brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith at a federal level, one by the Manhattan district attorney, and another from prosecutors in Georgia.
In August, Smith charged Trump with four felony counts for his alleged illegal efforts to overturn President Joe Biden‘s 2020 victory in Georgia and other swing states. That case is set for trial in March 2024.
In Georgia, Willis charged Trump and 18 other defendants with participating in an alleged criminal enterprise to overturn Biden’s victory. Four defendants already have pleaded guilty. Trump has denied wrongdoing in all cases.
According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, attorney Steve Sadow, who is representing Trump in the Georgia case, asked Willis in a motion on Monday to contact Smith to see if he would share discovery letters and lists of evidence that she could then disclose to his attorneys in the Georgia case.
“President Trump is seeking fair and reasonable means to protect his right to due process of law under the U.S. and Georgia Constitutions,” Sadow said in a statement to the Journal-Constitution.
Newsweek has reached out to Sadow via email for comment.
Donald Trump on November 18, 2023, in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Trump is seeking District Attorney Fani Willis’ help to defend himself in the Fulton County election interference case. Jim Vondruska/Getty Images
The request comes as Sadow said he wants access to lists of evidence disclosed to Trump attorneys in the separate federal election interference case in Washington.
“We are confident that securing access to relevant discovery contained in the files of the special counsel’s office in D.C. will further support President Trump’s defense and make clear his innocence in the Fulton County case,” Sadow said.
Sadow clarified in a three-page filing sent to Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee that “Trump is not currently seeking access to the actual D.C. discovery material,” rather, he is seeking “a practicable way to determine if any discovery material disclosed in the D.C. case is arguably relevant to our case.”
On November 14, Willis requested that a judge issue a new protective order over materials related to her office’s investigation into Trump and his associates. The move came in the wake of various video interviews, including some featuring key figures like Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell, being leaked to the public.
If granted, the order would make it so Willis’ office would not have to produce copies of such video evidence, and would greatly limit the scope of the Trump defense team’s ability to view them.
Although Willis and Smith have taken different approaches to their cases, there is substantial overlap, with Smith arguing in his 45-page indictment against the former president that the former president repeatedly attempted to remain in power, despite losing to Biden in 2020, including by inciting the occupation of the Capitol building by Trump supporters while Congress was officially certifying Biden’s victory.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom released an ad Sunday attacking Florida’s six-week abortion ban as he and Gov. Ron DeSantis get set for a televised debate at the end of the month.
The ad, called “Wanted,” lays the abortion restriction on DeSantis, who in April signed into law the “Heartbeat Protection Act” prohibiting abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. DeSantis is also a Republican candidate for president.
The ad was set to run in Florida and Washington, D.C., television markets on NFL Sunday Night Football, as well as on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show on days leading up to the governors’ debate on Nov. 30. Hannity will moderate the 90-minute debate in Georgia, which will be broadcast on Fox News.
In the ad, which looks like a wanted poster, Newsom intones: “By order of Gov. Ron DeSantis, any woman who has an abortion after six weeks and any doctor who gives her care will be guilty of a felony. Abortion after six weeks will be punishable by up to five years in prison. Even though many women don’t even know they’re pregnant at six weeks. That’s not freedom. That’s Ron DeSantis’ Florida.”
The debate will come in the midst of a contentious Republican presidential contest, offering an odd sideshow in an already unusual political season dominated by former President Trump’s campaign to return to the White House while fighting criminal charges in Florida, New York, Washington, D.C., and Georgia.
Newsom posted his ad on X, formerly known as Twitter, where DeSantis has posted a video criticizing California and promoting Florida.
“Decline is a choice and success is attainable,” DeSantis said in a tweet accompanying the video. “As President, I will lead America’s revival. I look forward to the opportunity to debate Gavin Newsom over our very different visions for the future of our country.”
DeSantis will also appear at the next Republican presidential primary debate on Dec. 6.
Times staff writer Taryn Luna contributed to this report.
This story originally aired on Jan, 28. It was updated on Nov. 18.
Just an hour-and-a-half after Seth Perrault said his 44-year-old wife, Amanda, shot herself right in front of him, he was struggling to tell his story.
SETH PERRAULT (to Sheriff Howard Sills): I’m in shock. My wife of eight years, that I love more than anything in this world…
SETH PERRAULT (to Sheriff Sills): I don’t know even where to start, sir. … I’ve lost everything in my life.
Perrault, 44, then a police officer for the City of Eatonton, Georgia, told Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills that his wife Amanda had shot herself in the head.
Anne-Marie Green| “48 Hours” contributor: What did he say happened?
Sheriff Howard Sills: He said that they were in bed and … they were arguin’ … And then all of a sudden, she just produced the gun outta thin air and executed herself.
SETH PERRAULT (to Sheriff Sills): I just sat there and watched my wife execute herself.
Sheriff Howard Sills: In all my years of questioning anybody for … suicide … I have never heard anybody use the term “executed.”
Angie Johnson: I knew she hadn’t. I knew that he was lying.
“We all called … Sheriff Sills that night and said … “We know our sister didn’t do this. We know she didn’t take her own life, that he had something to do with this,” Alesha Johnson said of her sister Amanda Perrault’s death.
Angie Johnson
From the very beginning, Angie and Alesha Johnson say they had questions about what happened to their sister Amanda.
Alesha Johnson: We knew better. We knew our sister. … Amanda loved life.
Angie Johnson: She wouldn’t put us through this.
About eight years earlier, in the fall of 2011, a recently divorced Amanda met Seth Perrault online.
Alesha Johnson: I remember her being kind of excited about it. … he treated her differently from some of the past relationships she had been in where, you know, she wasn’t respected.
Seth, battling cancer and unemployed at the time, seemed to fall for Amanda fast and hard.
Angie Johnson: And they moved in fairly quick. Like, he had her move in within six months of them meeting.
Seth was living an hour away, with his mother, who was caring for him. But Angie says Amanda would quickly take over the role of Seth’s caretaker.
Angie Johnson: When she moved out there … he didn’t want her to work.
They say Seth’s parents were paying all of the couple’s bills – and helping with expenses for Seth’s daughter from a previous relationship.
Anne Marie Green: So, Seth was basically dependent on his family?
Alesha and Angie Johnson: Very much.
And Amanda was dependent on Seth.
Angie Johnson: For the longest time, like, he wouldn’t let her have any kind of … phone, cell phone or anything like that … It would be his phone or a landline.
Sheriff Howard Sills: She didn’t even have a car to drive. He monitored her constantly.
As time went on, Alesha and Angie say they saw less and less of their sister.
Angie Johnson: He kept us from bein’ able to see her.
Alesha Johnson: She didn’t come to, like, any of our Christmas events, or like, any of our events because she had to host for his family and cook for all of them.
Amanda and Seth Perrault on their wedding day.
Alesha Johnson
Amanda lived with Seth for five years. Then, on June 23, 2017, the couple surprised everyone when they quietly went to the local courthouse and got married. Angie and Alesha believe the only reason Seth married their sister was to help him get custody of his daughter.
Alesha Johnson: That’s why I feel like he asked her to marry him.
Seth’s custody battle had been going on for almost exactly a year at that point.
Anne-Marie Green: Do you think Seth marrying Amanda helped him gain custody?
Justin Kenney: Absolutely.
Seth’s attorney, Justin Kenney is Seth’s attorney.
Justin Kenney: If Amanda was going to be present in his daughter’s life they had to get married … I think that was one of the paramount issues for him to gain custody.
Kenney says Seth did love Amanda—and his daughter—and was just trying to do what he thought was best for everyone.
Justin Kenney: This was a guy that doted on his daughter. He was a family man. … he would dote on his wife. … I just thought he was a — a stand-up individual.
A few months after Amanda and Seth were married, he was granted custody of his daughter. A little over year later he was hired by the Eatonton Police Department, and his father bought him a house near Lake Oconee.
Alesha Johnson: She loved their new home.
Anne-Marie Green: This should have been everything she hoped for.
Alesha Johnson: Yeah, it was. You know, except for the relationship.
Alesha and Angie say they didn’t know just how bad things had gotten, but were hearing more and more stories of fighting, fueled by alcohol.
Justin Kenney: I’ve heard stories and interviews that, you know, when they were sober, they were loving toward one another. But it’s when alcohol came into the mix … that’s when it became toxic.
A little over a year after joining the police force, Seth fell down some stairs at the couple’s home and had to go on medical leave. Now, along with the alcohol, there were pain pills, and the sisters say the fighting seemed to be escalating.
Angie Johnson: You could hear it, like, on phone calls.
Alesha Johnson: His tone and demeanor around her.
Angie Johnson: I would ask. … “do you want me to call 911? Can I call 911?”
Alesha Johnson: She would tell you, “No, no, don’t call.” You know, “We’ve just been drinkin’. We’ll be — everything’ll be OK later on.” … Maybe she knew her situation would become even worse, you know.
Then, things did get worse. On Jan. 28, 2020, just days before her death, Amanda called 911.
911 DISPATCHER: Putnam County Sheriff’s Office will you hold please?
AMANDA PERRAULT: Yes, thank you.
Angie Johnson: She had barricaded herself in … a back bedroom.
AMANDA PERRAULT (911 call): It’s my husband, and he’s putting his hands on me.
Angie Johnson: She ended up havin’ to run next door.
AMANDA PERRAULT (911 call): He locked me out of the house and I’m just trying to get my things out of the house, please.
911 DISPATCHER: She’s at the neighbor’s house right now.
Another sheriff’s dispatcher was alerted.
SECOND 911 DISPATCHER: And she said her husband is … an officer with the Eatonton Police Department.
That second dispatcher said he knew Seth Perrault and said he had a reputation.
SECOND 911 DISPATCHER: I ain’t supposed to know this … but he’s been out of work with his back and apparently, he’s over their whoopin’ up on her ass.
Seth made local headlines when he was arrested on charges of simple battery and family violence.
Angie Johnson: She … told me … would I come get her the next mornin’? And I told her yes, to make sure to pack everything, have it ready.
Instead, Amanda decided to attend Seth’s bond hearing. When the judge agreed to release Seth on bail, he asked Amanda if she wanted a “stay away” order added. Amanda said no, and then let Seth come home.
Alesha Johnson: ‘Cause she was scared. … She knew he was mad, she knew that it was … public that he had been arrested. “He’s a police officer … You know, I have to bring him home and make this right.”
Alesha Johnson: I talked to her the day he got out. And … I said, “How are things?” And she said, “He’s bein’ unusually nice.”
Alesha says she doubted Seth’s new attitude and felt that underneath he must be seething —knowing that if he was convicted on abuse charges, he was in danger of losing custody of his daughter and his job.
Alesha Johnson: He knew it was gonna embarrass his family … And he had already put himself up here on this pedestal like he was king. And then to be humiliated in front of people … I think it made him very angry.
Alesha says Amanda was terrified and looking for a way out.
Alesha Johnson: We were all on — a chain message … and we were tellin’ her, “Just get out … divorce him, tell his father that you don’t want anything but a vehicle.” … And … she said, “I’m not trying to get killed.”
Just five days later, Amanda was dead.
QUESTIONS RAISED
Sheriff Howard Sills says that from the very start of his investigation into the death of Amanda Perrault, he wasn’t buying her husband’s story.
Sheriff Howard Sills: I knew somethin’ was wrong the day I walked in the house.
For starters, the position of Amanda’s body — depicted below in a “48 Hours” animation based on the crime scene photos — left Sills certain that Amanda could not have shot herself.
Also of concern to Sills was the way the Smith and Wesson .380, which belonged to Seth, was found lying next to Amanda’s body with its magazine ejected
The position of Amanda Perrault’s body — depicted in a “48 Hours” animation based on the crime scene photos — left Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills certain that Amanda could not have shot herself.
CBS News
Sheriff Howard Sills: The magazine … It was … near her right side, and the pistol itself, was way down here below her left foot.
What made the ejected magazine even more curious says Sills, is the fact that there was a bullet found inside the gun’s chamber.
Sheriff Howard Sills: It’s a semiautomatic gun. So, when it fires … the slide comes back. The spent cartridge casin’ is ejected, and it picks up the next round.
Because of that bullet in the chamber, the magazine had to be ejected after the gun was fired, says Sills. And, unless the gun is defective, the only way to eject the magazine is to push the button.
Sheriff Howard Sills: Now, don’t do this at home. But when you do this (puts gun to his right temple) how you gonna get your hand — your second hand around there to do it (reaches around with his left hand to try and reach the button)?
There was also no blood on Amanda’s hands or the long sleeves of her shirt. And something else caught the sheriff’s eye.
Sheriff Howard Sills: In the middle of the closet on the floor was a damp green towel … Somebody had dried off with it, no doubt about that.
One of the first deputies on the scene said Seth smelled like shampoo. Also alarming, the bedroom was littered with 20 miniature bottles of Fireball Whiskey — all of them empty. Sills says he didn’t have the manpower to process the scene, so he called in agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. While they collected physical evidence and Amanda’s body was transported to the state medical examiner, Sills focused on Seth.
Sheriff Howard Sills (in his office): He came in and sat right in this blue, leather chair.
Seth spoke to Sills in his office for over an hour without an attorney present.
SETH PERRAULT: I’m not gonna lie to you. I’m — I have no reason to lie to you.
Sheriff Howard Sills: I wanted to know what had happened that day. … how did the magazine get outta the gun? … How did the gun get where it was?
SHERIFF SILLS: Did you touch that gun today?
SETH PERRAULT: The .380?
SHERIFF SILLS: Yeah.
SETH PERRAULT: I mean, it’s been, like — no.
SHERIFF SILLS: Today?
SETH PERRAULT: No, sir.
Anne-Marie Green: How does her body get into that position —
Sheriff Howard Sills: He … No answer.
Anne-Marie Green: — because he never touched her?
Sheriff Howard Sills: No, never touched her.
But Sills says that didn’t make any sense, so he kept pressing. And then, Seth changed his story.
SHERIFF SILLS: Did you touch her?
SETH PERRAULT: Maybe I d — I don’t know… I probably did touch her. I was probably huggin’ the s*** out of her. And I was probably like, I’m so — like, “honey. What the hell’s going on?”
Sheriff Sills says Seth tried several times to deflect questions with his badge.
SETH PERRAULT: I take pride in being a good law enforcement agent.
Sheriff Howard Sills: I can’t rememberhow many times he looked me in the eye and said, “I’m a good police officer.”
Amanda and Officer Seth Perrault
Amanda Perrault/Facebook
Amanda, he said, also knew what a good cop he was, and how assault charges would ruin both their lives.
SETH PERRAULT: She h — hated to see my reputation destroyed on the news ’cause she knows what a good police officer I am. … And she was so worried I’d lose my daughter. … She wanted to come down here and tell you that it was a lie.
Seth insisted that Amanda had lied the day she called 911 andfelt so bad about it that she wanted to confess to perjury.
Sheriff Howard Sills: He said that she had written something that she intended to bring to me, recanting what she had told the deputies. And he told me where it was.
Amanda Perrault’s handwritten letter. “She wrote it, but she was coached. … I think what he was telling her — “I need you to write this to get me out of trouble,” said Angie Johnson.
Putnam County Sheriff’s Office
A handwritten letter was found in Amanda’s nightstand. It reads in part:
“I Amanda Perrault would like to retract my statement … My husband never put his hands on me ever. I feel horrible for the humiliation I have put my husband and my family through. I am willing to take any punishment I may deserve for what I have done.”
Sheriff Howard Sills (shows Green the letter): I don’t deny she wrote it. But look at the penmanship. There’s not the slightest error of any kind.
Sheriff Howard Sills: What we’ve got here is an inexperienced police officer dictating what’s to be written.
Like Sills, Amanda’s sisters are certain Seth was behind the letter.
Angie Johnson: She wrote it, but she was coached. … I think what he was telling her — “I need you to write this to get me out of trouble.”
But Seth told Sills he was not about to let Amanda confess to lying to authorities.
SETH PERRAULT (to Sheriff Sills): I knew if she came down here, it was a false statement and a felony. I knew it.
But according to Seth, Amanda couldn’t take the guilt anymore, so she put his gun to her head and pulled the trigger.
SETH PERRAULT (to Sheriff Sills): She looked at me and said, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I put you through this.” Boom. … I couldn’t even say a word, Sheriff. It was done.
Seth tried to convince Sills that Amanda killed herself, because her call to 911 had potentially ruined their lives. But the sheriff didn’t see that as a reason for suicide; instead, he saw a motive for murder. Believing that Amanda would never take her own life, this made sense to her sisters as well.
Alesha Johnson: He had to make it look like she took her life so that he could be cleared of all this wrongdoing.
Sheriff Sills says he was convinced that Seth Perrault was somehow involved in his wife’s death, but that day, he felt he didn’t have enough to arrest him.
Sheriff Howard Sills: I wanted to see if I could get some more evidence. And I did.
TROUBLING CLUES
One of the clues that convinced Sheriff Sills that Seth Perrault wasn’t telling the truth were his actions just 20 minutes before he reported his wife Amanda was dead. That’s when Sills’ deputy, Terrell Abernathy, arrived at Seth’s front door, trying to deliver paperwork on an upcoming case.
Deputy Terrell Abernathy: They had one of those video doorbell things, and I rang that.
Deputy Terrell Abernathy: I expected him to answer the door, and I expected him to hand him his copy of the subpoena … I mean, you’re a policeman. You know how this works.
Abernathy says he could tell someone was home.
A doorbell camera shows Putnam County Deputy Terrell Abernathy attempting to deliver a subpoena for an upcoming case to Eatonton, Georgia police Officer Seth Perrault.
Putnam County Sheriff’s Office
Anne-Marie Green: What’d you hear?
Deputy Terrell Abernathy: I heard footsteps or footfalls, heavy ones. … I’m announcing myself, who I am, what it is. I even turned my back to the door. … I don’t care if you’re in your underwear. Just answer the door and take the paper.
He waited seven minutes and then left — subpoena still in hand.
DA Wright Barksdale: In my heart, I believe that Amanda Perrault had already been shot when Abernathy rang the doorbell. … I think he was concerned that somebody heard the gunshot, and that’s why he didn’t go to the door.
District Attorney Wright Barksdale believes Seth was trying to figure out what to do next.
DA Wright Barksdale: Think about this: he’s in the process of staging this scene, and he hears the doorbell ring. Can you imagine what was goin’ through his mind?
But attorney Justin Kenney says that is not what happened.
Anne-Marie Green: Why didn’t they come to the door when Deputy Abernathy rang that bell?
Justin Kenney: Fear of what he’s bringing. … Seth is afraid that … his ex is about to serve him with custody modification paperwork.
Anne-Marie Green: What does Seth say happened after that?
Justin Kenney: So, I believe that there is a heated discussion that takes place. … He lays down … (to) diffuse the situation, he lays down to take a nap. … He awoke to Amanda mumbling something, whispering something … and— her pulling the trigger and shooting herself.
Kenney points out that Amanda was impaired by alcohol — three times the legal limit, when tested by the medical examiner. That and the escalating tension in her marriage, became a deadly combination.
Justin Kenney: The nice house … the daughter … the financial security, all of this was crumbling around Amanda. And then you tack on a .23 blood alcohol content … She thought that that was the only way to — to fix it, to — to end it.
Anne-Marie Green: She was really drunk.
Sheriff Howard Sills: Absolutely.
Anne-Marie Green: Maybe she accidentally shot the gun.
Sheriff Howard Sills: How’d she accidentally get the magazine out of it? … How’d she accidentally get posed as she was?
Sills was also very troubled because Seth didn’t call 911 when his wife allegedly shot herself. Instead, Perrault called his boss, the Eatonton chief of police, on his cell phone. “48 Hours” made several unsuccessful attempts to reach the former chief of police for comment.
Sheriff Howard Sills: Obviously, we’re not gonna have a recording of that. And they have at least a 20-minute conversation before I’m called.
Hoping the Perrault’s neighbors had heard something the day Amanda died, Sills had Deputy Abernathy go back to the Perrault house to question them. What he learned made Sills even more suspicious about Seth’s involvement in Amanda’s death.
Sheriff Howard Sills: We found out that there had been a true pattern of domestic violence for years and years.
Amanda and Seth Perrault
Amanda Perrault/Facebook
Neighbors said the couple could be heard fighting nearly every day. And in their eyes, Seth was almost always the aggressor.
DA Wright Barksdale: They told stories about a physical altercation between Seth and Amanda where he actually grabbed her by the back of the hair and pulled her down and pushed her into the driveway.
One neighbor told Abernathy that he would often stand by in case things got really violent.
Deputy Terrell Abernathy: He talked about how that at times he would just stand in the yard and just wait to see if he needed to call 911, because it was so violent over there.
Another neighbor said that Amanda had twice made this chilling comment:
Deputy Terrell Abernathy: That if she were to wind up dead … that Perrault is the one that did it, and … she made this neighbor promise … that she would insist that her death be investigated as a homicide.
Anne-Marie Green: Did anyone call the police?
Sheriff Howard Sills: No.
Anne-Marie Green: Why not?
Sheriff Howard Sills: Well, one of the answers was that “Well, we were scared to call because he was the police.”
Alesha Johnson: It’s hurtful — it’s hurtful. … and this is why I wanted to do this show, is to make sure that people know to speak up.
The day Amanda died, the neighbors said they didn’t hear a thing. The only witness to what happened was Seth Perrault — and Sills was sure he couldn’t trust him after the interview in his office.
Sheriff Howard Sills: According to Seth … they take the child to school, they come back home, and they go nowhere at all other than down the street to the convenience store. Well, that didn’t happen. He lied.
Sills says the proof was on surveillance camera footage of the couple found 12 miles away—at a drive-through liquor store, where Amanda bought those 20 miniature bottles of Fireball whiskey.
Sheriff Howard Sills (outside the liquor store): She drives up to this drive-in window.Right there’s the camera that catches the truck [points to the camera].
Surveillance video of Seth Perrault in a convenience store from the day of Amanda’s death would become a crucial piece of evidence because of what he was wearing.
Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office
Simultaneously, Seth was captured on a camera next door, in a convenience store.
Da Wright Barksdale (in the convenience store with Green): You see him walk and he actually comes down, I believe this aisle and he walks, and he gets something to drink.
The video, says Barksdale, would become a crucial piece of evidence not because of what was purchased, but because of what Seth was wearing: a Pink Floyd T-shirt and black athletic pants. Nearly four hours later, when sheriff’s deputies arrived at the Perrault home to investigate Amanda’s death, Seth was wearing something else.
Sheriff Howard Sills: When we get there he is dressed in shorts and a dark T-shirt.
And the clothing Seth was wearing in the video?
DA Wright Barksdale: We found those … in the washing machine.
Investigators found the The T-shirt Seth Perrault was seen wearing in the surveillance video earlier in the day in the washing machine.
Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office
The clothing was dry and had clearly not been laundered, but there was that deputy who had reported that Seth smelled freshly washed, and there was that damp towel that was found on the closet floor.
Justin Kenney: Seth says … he took a bath.
Seth’s attorney Justin Kenney says Seth did wash up at some point.
Justin Kenney: If you take a bath — you’re gonna change clothes. …. there was no evidence that the washing machine had actually been turned on. … it looked like the washing machine … was being used as a — a laundry basket.
Only a tiny speck of blood was found on the backside of Perrault’s pants, and a trace amount of gun powder residue was found on his left hand when tested.
Justin Kenney: They did it three hours later after … potential contamination from being … at the police station.
Amanda’s hands were never tested—and the gun was never dusted for fingerprints. But Sills felt he now had enough evidence to make an arrest. Just two days after Amanda’s shooting, now former Eatonton Police officer Seth Perrault, was taken into custody.
Alesha Johnson: Sheriff Sills called me and let me know that they were going to arrest him for her murder. And I … My whole family w — just was so relieved and — and happy that – that –
Angie Johnson: She was gettin’ justice.
Alesha Johnson: Yes.
But before a grand jury could hear the evidence and decide if there was enough to go to trial, COVID shut down the courts. Seth would sit in jail for nearly nine months until that autopsy report was released by the medical examiner, declaring Amanda’s death a suicide. Her decision was based primarily on the lack of gunpowder around the wound, which meant the gun would had to have been right up against Amanda’s head when it went off — and there were no signs of a struggle.
Justin Kenney: Nobody is just going to allow somebody — to put a gun to their head and pull the trigger without putting up some sort of fight.
Sheriff Howard Sills: I was astounded. … First thing, I just called the DA. I said, “You’re not — (laughs) you’re not gonna believe this.”
Anne-Marie Green: Did you think maybe you made a mistake?
DA Wright Barksdale: Absolutely not. … We’re gonna take every bit of the evidence and try to piece this thing together.
But Justin Kenney did think the prosecution was making a mistake, and that the autopsy report was all the evidence needed to defend Seth Perrault.
Justin Kenney: I mean, it was — it seemed pretty open-and-shut to me.
THE TRIAL OF SETH PERRAULT
It was Nov. 3, 2020, and Seth Perrault, still unindicted, had been in jail for nearly nine months. When COVID restrictions finally eased, a grand jury was set to decide if there was enough evidence against him, to go to trial.
Sheriff Howard Sills: And you know the first thing I put up for that grand jury to see?
Anne-Marie Green: The crime scene pictures.
Sheriff Howard Sills: No, ma’am. … The autopsy report that said, “Suicide.” … “Ladies and gentlemen … The state crime lab medical examiner says this was a suicide. Now, I’m gonna show you the evidence I found.”
Seth Perrault was charged with malice murder, felony murder and aggravated assault in the death of his wife Amanda.
Putnam County Sheriff’s Office
Members of the grand jury did see the crime scene photos and heard evidence of domestic abuse and quickly decided that, despite the medical examiner’s report, Seth Perrault should face a jury of his peers.
Anne Marie Green: What were the charges?
DA Wright Barksdale: Malice murder … felony murder … and aggravated assault.
Perrault pleaded not guilty to all charges. At his trial in February 2022, he decided not to testify, leaving defense attorney Justin Kenney to tell his story.
Justin Kenney: I think there was a complete absence of sufficient evidence that Seth killed his wife.
The prosecution showed a jury of eight women and four men the crime scene photos, including the way Amanda’s body and the gun were found. They also heard testimony from that sheriff’s deputy who thought Seth smelled freshly showered. They watched the footage of Deputy Abernathy at the Perrault’s front door and listened to all 60 minutes of Perrault’s interview with Sheriff Sills.
SETH PERRAULT (to Sheriff Sills): I don’t know how this happened.
District Attorney Barksdale says that some of the most compelling evidence was found on Amanda’s cell phone. Like this video she recorded seven months prior to her death.
SETH PERRAULT: It’s sad. It’s sad because you know what, I married you and I’m — I’m not gonna — I’m — dude, you’re done.
AMANDA PERRAULT: I’m done?
Amanda’s sisters were seeing the video for the first time.
Alesha Johnson: It made me angry.
District Attorney Wright Barksdale says that some of the most compelling evidence was found on Amanda’s cell phone. Like this video she recorded seven months prior to her death. “It’s sad because you know what, I married you and I’m — I’m not gonna — I’m — dude, you’re done,” Seth said in the video to Amanda.
Putnam County DA’s Office
AMANDA PERRAULT: I wanna have a good weekend.
SETH PERRAULT: You burned that up when you tried to put that phone in my face.
AMANDA PERRAULT: What phone in your face?
SETH PERRAULT: Oh, right there. Oh, you’re videotaping.
AMANDA: Yeah, because you’re being a d*** and I’m gonna show you tomorrow.
SETH PERRAULT (yelling): Oh, so you didn’t videotape all the s*** when you hit me and smacked me –
AMANDA PERRAULT (yelling): Hit you? You f****** choked me eight f****** times!
Justin Kenney: The video … was problematic. … But it — it doesn’t show everything that took place … Seth also states that she had acted violently toward him as well.
There was no evidence of Seth having been abused introduced at trial. But Amanda’s phone also contained photos of her with bruises, a black eye and a split lip along with texts like this one to her sisters: “Seth just choked me till I nearly passed out, busted my lip wide open.”
Seth’s then-8-year-old-daughter was interviewed by a forensic child psychologist. Remember, she was a witness to what happened the day Amanda called 911.
Seth Perrault’s daughter being questioned by a forensic child psychologist about what the 8-year-old witnessed the day Amanda Perrault called 911.
Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office
PERRAULT’S DAUGHTER: I was scared that, um, one of them might get hurt.
PERRAULT’S DAUGHTER: They were cussing at each other. … Miss Amanda was cussing too, but she didn’t touch daddy at all. … Daddy was, like, touching her nose like this (demonstrates by pointing to her nose). Like, “Get out of my house right now.”
The jury was shown most of the videotaped interview.
PERRAULT’S DAUGHTER: She was on the floor like this (gets on her knees) … tryin’ to get her stuff. … then, all of a sudden, Daddy just started grabbing her arms. … and Daddy just pushed her over the laundry table. And then, um — opened the door … and pushed her out the door.
While her father spent the night in jail, she said Amanda begged her not to tell anyone what happened, or there could be deadly consequences.
DA Wright Barksdale: Amanda tells her that night, “If your daddy loses custody of you, he’s going to shoot me dead.”
PERRAULT’S DAUGHTER: “Your daddy would come shoot me dead.”
But when Barksdale called the now-10-year-old to the witness stand, she said she couldn’t recall what happened that day, or what she said in the interview.
Alesha Johnson: She, I think, felt really torn. I seen her look at her dad a couple times … And I felt like … she was more careful about what she was saying — like somebody had been coaching her.
In cross examination, the defense asked if anyone had coached her on what to say. She said no. But Justin Kenney says he believes another prosecution witness may have been coached: a jailhouse informant named Jack Faulk, who had shared a dorm block with Seth Perrault.
Justin Kenney: Jack Faulk has a criminal history, I believe 28 pages long. … numerous contacts with the police, and he had every incentive to lie, make up a story.
Faulk had come forward three weeks before the medical examiner’s report was released, claiming he had valuable information about Amanda’s death.
Sheriff Howard Sills: He knew things that only Seth Perrault could have told him.
In two hand-written letters, Faulk claimed that Seth told him, “The camera catching him with the clothes on was his biggest concern.” He also claimed that Seth said, “He had been giving (Amanda) pain killers all day” and that “she was passed out” at the time of her death.
Sheriff Howard Sills: I think he was in the bed with her after she was passed out … and held the gun against her head.
Anne-Marie Green: He was behind her?
Sheriff Howard Sills: Behind her or slightly to the side.
The defense argued that Amanda shot herself because her lies about Seth assaulting her had potentially ruined their lives. Furthermore, only that tiny trace of gunshot residue was found on Perrault’s left hand and there was just that one speck of blood found on his clothing.
Justin Kenney says the hardest thing for the defense to explain, was the way Amanda’s body was found.
Justin Kenney: We knew that it was gonna be a problem. … the body had to be moved in some way. Had to be touched in some way.
Kenney says there is one explanation that makes sense to him; something Seth Perrault said in his interview with Sheriff Sills.
SETH PERRAULT (to Sheriff Sills): I probably did touch her. I was probably huggin’ the s*** out of her.
Justin Kenney: And that would potentially account for her arms being, ah, by her sides.
As for the way Seth’s gun was found beside Amanda’s body with the ejected magazine by her side, the defense hired an expert who testified that he fired the gun six times and after one of those firings, the magazine spontaneously ejected.
Justin Kenney: It shows that that firearm can drop the magazine when it’s fired.
DA Wright Barksdale: Howard Sills took that very gun out and shot it several times. The GBI examined that gun, didn’t notate in their report any malfunctions whatsoever.
Then there was the medical examiner, Dr. Lora Darrisaw. Barksdale called her to the stand and asked her to explain how she came to her conclusion of suicide as the manner of death.
DA Wright Barksdale: What I wanted the jury and for her to see … she did not consider all the evidence. … She had not considered Seth’s daughter’s interview. She had not considered the cell phone data, the prior domestic abuse.
SETH PERRAULT (cell phone video): Oh, so you didn’t — you didn’t video tape all the s*** …
But Dr. Darrisaw defended her conclusion. And in this statement to “48 Hours,” the Georgia Bureau of Investigation backed her up: “Our agency stands behind the original expert opinion of Perrault’s death.”
Anne-Marie Green: Were you worried at all about the verdict?
DA Wright Barksdale: What I try … and remind myself, it is my job to pursue justice and to present a case for the jury to consider. … And if they were to walk him out the door, I would be able to look to Amanda Perrault’s family and say, “We did everything we could.”
THE VERDICT
It had been just under two-and-a-half-hours, when the jury in the murder trial of Seth Perrault announced that they had reached a verdict.
Alesha Johnson: When they called us all back in, we all just held hands … And … dropped our head. I just remember praying, sayin’, “God, you know, just please — you know, please do this for our family. … Let us have justice for our sister.”
Seth Perrault stands to hear the verdict in his murder trial on Feb. 25, 2022.
Eatonton Messenger
And justice is what they feel they got. The verdict: guilty of murder.
Alesha Johnson (emotional): It was bittersweet, because we got justice, but it didn’t bring her back. It didn’t bring our best friend back.
That same day, Perrault was sentenced to life, without the possibility of parole.
Alesha Johnson: I want many years of him prayin’ to God, and bein’ on his knees that he woulda took his own life instead of my sister’s.
Justin Kenney says he believes an innocent man is now behind bars, for life.
Justin Kenney: My heart sank. … I’ve known Seth for almost a decade now, and … I don’t think he did it.
Every August, on her birthday, Amanda’s sisters honor her memory by releasing love letters tied to purple balloons.
Angie Johnson: “I love you Amanda, and I hope you are having a beautiful birthday in heaven.”
Every August, on her birthday, Amanda’s sisters honor her memory by releasing love letters tied to purple balloons. n 2022, the notes also included the National Domestic Abuse Hotline number.
Angie Johnson: And hopefully this will find somebody that really needs it.
Alesha Johnson: We just wanna create … awareness around domestic abuse. And for people to — don’t sit back and just let it happen, no matter what the — the victim is telling you. Fight for them, you know? Help them. Help them any way you can. There’s so many things I wish I could go back now and do different (cries). I wish I could go back and save her.
Anne-Marie Green: You’re gonna save somebody with this.
Alesha Johnson: I hope so.
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic abuse, call 1-800-799-SAFE or visit thehotline.org.
Seth Perrault’s daughter is living with her mother, who has custody; his sister is petitioning to take custody.
“48 Hours” Post Mortem podcast
What happens when a toxic relationship turns deadly, especially at the hands of someone who is supposed to serve and protect? “48 Hours” contributor Anne-Marie Green and producer Judy Rybak discuss crossing the thin blue line, a questionable note left behind at the crime scene, the shocking report from the medical examiner ruling Amanda’s death a suicide and if this would be enough to find Seth innocent at trial.
Produced by Judy Rybak. Michelle Sigona and Anthony Venditti are the development producers. Shaheen Tokhi is the field producer. Lauren Turner Dunn is the associate producer. Jud Johnston, Marcus Balsam, Marlon Disla and Wini Dini are the editors. Anthony Batson is the senior broadcast producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.
A U.S. Army wife has been charged with murder after she killed her 11-month-old son at their home on a Georgia military base, saying she wanted to send the baby to “be with Jesus and God,” authorities said.
April Evalyn Short, 30, of Fort Eisenhower, Georgia, has been charged by federal complaint with murder, with an aggravating circumstance of the alleged crime occurring during an act of child abuse, according to a statement by Jill E. Steinberg, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.
Officials at Fort Eisenhower said in an online statement that the victim was the son of April Short and her husband, Staff Sergeant James Short. The couple’s two other children, ages 6 and 11, were home when their little brother was killed on Wednesday, authorities said.
April Short used a knife to cut the neck of her 11-month-old baby, who was rushed to Eisenhower Army Medical Center but unable to be saved, according to Steinberg.
April Evalyn Short, 30, of Fort Eisenhower, Georgia, is charged with murder after authorities said she cut her 11-month-old son’s neck, according to Jill E. Steinberg, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. Jefferson County Detention Center
Newsweek reached out via phone on Saturday night to representatives for Fort Eisenhower and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for comment. It was unclear at the time of publication if April Short had an attorney who could speak on her behalf.
Around 8 a.m. on Wednesday, James Short was on duty when he received a text message from his wife that caused him to become worried for the well-being of his children, according to the criminal complaint obtained by local media outlets The Augusta Press and WJBF.
The concerning message made references to God and said, “The days of darkness are upon us,” prompting him to call his wife who did not pick up, the criminal complaint states.
James Short returned home and found his wife barricaded in their primary bedroom with the baby and two other children. When he was unable to get into the adjoining primary bathroom, he called 911.
Officers with the Military Police and Department of the Army Civilian Police (DACP) arrived and were able to coax April Short out of the house but as police tried to detain her, she initially attempted to flee, the court documents state.
Authorities did not say if the two other children had suffered any injuries, but the criminal complaint states that April Short threatened to cut the 6-year-old girl if she didn’t stop crying.
When April Short was apprehended, James Short realized that his wife did not have their infant son with her, according to the criminal complaint. Around 9 a.m., he found the baby boy wrapped in a plastic shower curtain in the bathroom where he was bleeding from apparent neck wounds.
When FBI agents interviewed the older children, the 6-year-old said that her mother got knives and said she “was going to help” her little brother “be with Jesus and God.” April Short also told the children, “Don’t come into the bathroom because it might be really scary,” according to the court documents.
During an interview with investigators, April Short admitted to wrapping the infant in a shower curtain inside the bathtub and using a knife to cut his neck, saying that she knew what she did was “wrong” and “evil.”
While April Short made an initial court appearance on Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Brian K. Epps, she has not yet entered a plea, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
She’s been ordered by the court to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
“There is reasonable cause to believe [April Short] may suffer from a mental disease or defect rendering her mentally incompetent to the extent she is unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against her or to assist properly in her defense,” the court order states.
April Short is currently in the custody of U.S. Marshals and is being held at Jefferson County Detention Center to await further proceedings.
The case is being investigated by the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division with assistance from the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Henry W. Syms Jr. and Patricia G. Rhodes.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Children: Amy, October 19, 1967; Jeff, August 18, 1952; James Earl III (Chip), April 12, 1950; Jack, July 3, 1947
Education: Georgia Southwestern College, 1946
Founder of the “Rosalynn Carter Institute of Caregiving” at Georgia Southwestern State University. The mission of this organization is to help professional and family caregivers with the important role they play in our long-term health care system.
Advocate for mental health, early childhood immunization, human rights, and conflict resolution.
1953 – The Carters return to Plains, Georgia, and run the family peanut, seed and fertilizer business.
1962– Jimmy Carter enters politics and wins a seat in the Georgia Senate.
1977-1981– As first lady, she focuses national attention on performing arts and mental health.
1977-1978– Serves as the Honorary Chairperson of the President’s Commission on Mental Health, and is instrumental in the passage of the 1980 Mental Health Systems Act.
1984 – Her book, “First Lady from Plains,” is published.
1985 – Initiates the annual Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy.
1987– “Everything to Gain: Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life,” with Jimmy Carter, is published.
1991– Co-launches Every Child By Two, a nationwide campaign to promote childhood immunizations, with Betty Bumpers, the wife of Senator Dale Bumpers of Arkansas.
1991-1999– Serves on the policy advisory board of The Atlanta Project, a program of the Carter Center that addresses the social ills associated with poverty and quality of life around Atlanta.
1994– “Helping Yourself Help Others: A Book for Caregivers” is published.
1999– Is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
1999– The book, “Helping Someone with Mental Illness: A Compassionate Guide for Family, Friends, and Caregivers,” with Susan K. Golant, is published.
March 22, 2005 – Carter and her husband step down as the leaders of the Carter Center’s Board of Trustees.
2010– The book, “Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health Crisis,” with Susan K. Golant and Kathryn E. Cade, is published.
August 22, 2012– Speaks at the ribbon cutting for phase one of the Rosalynn Carter Health and Human Sciences Complex at Georgia Southwestern State University.
October 13, 2014 – Announces the next Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter Habitat Work Project will be building homes in Nepal. The Carters’ goal, with thousands of volunteers, is to help build shelter for 100,000 Nepali families by 2016.
February 18, 2018 – Undergoes surgery to remove scar tissue from a portion of her small intestine. The scar tissue formed after a cyst was removed many years ago.
October 17, 2019 – Having been married 26,765 days, Carter and her husband are now the longest-married presidential couple in history (George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush previously held the record).
February 18, 2023 – In a statement, the Carter Center says that Jimmy Carter will begin receiving home hospice care after a series of short hospital stays.
Authorities are investigating multiple deaths at Fort Stewart Hunter Army Airfield on Nov. 15, the base’s public affairs office said on Thursday.
According to a social media post from Fort Stewart, the installation’s law enforcement was “on the scene of an incident in on-post housing” at around 5:20 p.m. local time Wednesday.
Kevin Larson, the chief of public communications at the public affairs office, said in a statement that there “are deceased individuals,” but did not say how many people were dead, how they had died, or how the military was made aware of their deaths.
The identities of those who died will not be released until their next of kin have been notified, Larson said.
3rd Infantry Division headquarters at Fort Stewart, Georgia, January 6, 2017.
U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Erick Ritterby
The Facebook post and Larson both said that “there is no reason to believe that there is an extended threat to our community.”
The incident is being investigated by Fort Stewart law enforcement and the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division. Larson said no additional information would be provided due to the ongoing investigation.
Fort Stewart is about 40 miles southwest of Savannah, Georgia, and at 280,000 acres is the largest Army base east of the Mississippi River. The Third Infantry Division is based out of the fort.
In 2022, a soldier at Fort Stewart was killed on the base. The soldier, identified as 30-year-old Sgt. Nathan M. Hillman, was shot and killed inside the base’s 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team complex.
A 56-year-old Georgia woman was arrested on felony murder charges nearly 35 years after her 5-year-old daughter was found dead, officials announced Monday.
The girl has been known as Baby Jane Doe since her remains were found at an illegal dump site near Millwood, Georgia, in Ware County on Dec. 21, 1988, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Jason Seacrist said during a news conference. Her body was found wrapped up in a blanket inside of a duffel bag, which had been put in a TV cabinet encased in concrete.
The child was identified earlier this year as Kenyatta Odom, the bureau announced Monday. Her mother, Evelyn Odom, and 61-year-old Ulyster Sanders, who was Evelyn Odom’s live-in boyfriend at the time of the child’s death, were arrested Thursday without incident, officials said.
“Baby Jane Doe is no longer unnamed, is no longer unknown, the baby that was thrown out into a trash pile has been identified and we’re working to bring justice to her,” Seacrist said.
A medical examiner concluded in 1988 that the girl’s manner of death was homicide, but a cause of death was never determined, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Investigators were initially unable to identify the girl when her remains were found, officials said. She didn’t match any of the local missing children reports and investigators followed hundreds of leads and tips without success.
One lead, the discovery of an Albany Herald newspaper at the Ware County dumping site, pointed to Albany, Georgia — nearly 100 miles away from where Baby Jane Doe’s body was found.
In 2019, agents looked into genome sequencing to identify the girl, authorities said. They determined a certain family tree from the Albany area was likely related to the girl.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation shared a picture of Kenyatta Odom along with a rendering made based on her remains.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation
“The forensic technology has changed,” Seacrist said. “It has changed the investigative landscape. In 1988, I don’t even know that DNA was on anybody’s mind.”
Even with the genome testing, investigators still weren’t able to positively ID Kenyatta Odom until they got help from a tipster who contacted police after news reports aired on the 2022 anniversary of the girl’s death.
“She knew that there had been a child that had gone missing and that her mother said the child had gone to live with her father,” Seacrist said about the tipster. “This person never really believed that story.”
Evelyn Odom and Sanders were charged with felony murder, first-degree cruelty to children, aggravated battery, concealing a death and conspiracy to conceal the death of another person.
Sanders and Evelyn Odom were dating at the time of the girl’s death. Officials did not say what their current relationship is.
“We believe that there is evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that will lead to justice being found for Kenyatta,” Dougherty District Attorney Greg Edwards said.
Officials did not share a possible motive in the case.
Aliza Chasan is a digital producer at 60 Minutes and CBSNews.com. She has previously written for outlets including PIX11 News, The New York Daily News, Inside Edition and DNAinfo. Aliza covers trending news, often focusing on crime and politics.
The morning after Election Day, a county election worker in Washington state opened an envelope and found white powder. Election workers would later learn the envelope contained a typed threat: “end elections now.”
The threat was unusual for Pierce County election officials, but it was one of multiple jurisdictions that received letters in recent days containing powder.
After Election Day Nov. 7, the FBI told election officials that law enforcement is investigating multiple letters containing suspicious substances that were mailed to election offices in California, Georgia, Oregon, Nevada and Washington.
“In at least four instances, preliminary tests of the suspicious substance indicated the presence of fentanyl,” the Nov. 9 FBI notice said.
Linda Farmer, the Pierce County auditor, said her staff evacuated and returned to work in 2½ hours. “It was important to them to show democracy would not be deterred,” Farmer said. She added that initial testing showed the substance her office received was baking soda, but the investigation continues.
The letters are part of a pattern of threats election workers have faced since the 2020 election, as some politicians and pundits have spread misinformation about how election workers do their jobs.
Some election offices now stock Narcan, a medicine that reverses overdoses from opioids like fentanyl. However, merely touching fentanyl is not deadly.
Here’s what we know about the threats to election offices and the misinformation on fentanyl’s effects.
Letters sent to multiple states
Secretaries of state in Washington, Nevada and California confirmed this month that suspicious letters were sent or addressed to jurisdictions in their states.
Police in Washington’s King and Spokane counties said initial testing showed the letters contained traces of fentanyl.
King County election officials also received a letter during the August primary that had traces of fentanyl.
Authorities are investigating two letters in California that were intercepted before they reached election offices. A letter that arrived in Lane County, Oregon, is also under investigation.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Nov. 10 on X that law enforcement said that a letter sent to Fulton County had been intercepted.
You cannot accidentally overdose by touching powdered fentanyl or being in a room with it
Receiving letters with unknown powders is threatening and scary. Some powders, such as anthrax, can sicken people who come into contact with it. However, toxicology experts say that’s not the case with fentanyl.
Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid and its potency makes even a small amount of the drug lethal. However, fentanyl isn’t absorbed well by the skin; for fentanyl to physically affect the body, it must enter the bloodstream.
“It’s really hard to get fentanyl into your body unless you directly snort it into your nose, directly drink it or inject it with a needle,” said Robert Valuck, executive director of the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention at the University of Colorado.
People also cannot get sick by being in a room with powdered fentanyl. That’s because it doesn’t easily vaporize.
“People can snort (fentanyl), but this is intentional. It does not just get into the air,” Dr. Ryan Marino, a toxicologist and emergency room physician who studies addiction at Case Western Reserve University, said in a February YouTube video. “To cause toxicity from breathing it in you would probably have to be in a wind tunnel with dunes of fentanyl around you.”
Attacks on election officials threaten democracy
Many election officials have left their positions because of the threats to their safety.
Reports by advocacy groups show that a large percentage of election workers since 2020 are new in their jobs.
Election administration is a specialized field and it takes time for people to learn procedures and equipment.
“Those with less experience are more prone to making small mistakes based on lack of knowledge — mistakes that, however innocuous, may be interpreted by hyper-partisans as malicious acts,” said a September report by Issue One, a democracy-focused advocacy group.
Such mistakes can fuel misinformation, and that misinformation can trigger threats against election workers.
In 2020 and 2022, misinformation wrongly claimed that election workers and voting machines were flipping results.
But local election workers follow state laws and procedures that are designed to thwart voter fraud and include checks and balances to prevent workers from committing wrongdoing.
A Justice Department Election Threats Task Force formed in 2021 has charged 14 cases as of August involving threats against election officials and secured nine convictions. In one case, an Iowa man left death threat voicemails for a local and state official in Arizona, threatening hangings and “torches and pitchforks.” The man was sentenced to 2½ years in prison.
“Election officials are just doing their job — they are not putting their thumb on the scale, they are not in charge of what the results are,” said Suzanne Almeida, state operations director at Common Cause, a group advocating for accessible voting. “They are incredibly dedicated public servants, especially in the face of these threats.”
When rapper Young Thug goes to trial later this month on gang and racketeering charges, prosecutors will be allowed to use rap lyrics as evidence against him, a judge ruled Thursday.
Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Ural Glanville said in court he would allow prosecutors to introduce 17 sets of lyrics they have identified as long as they can show that the lyrics are related to crimes that the rapper and others are accused of committing. Defense attorneys had asked the judge to exclude them, arguing the lyrics are constitutionally protected speech and would be unfairly prejudicial.
Young Thug, whose given name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, was indicted last year along with more than two dozen others. After some defendants reached plea deals and others were separated to be tried later, opening statements are set to begin Nov. 27 in the trial of Young Thug and five others.
Prosecutors have said Young Thug co-founded a violent criminal street gang in 2012 called Young Slime Life, or YSL, which they allege is associated with the national Bloods gang. Prosecutors say the rapper used his music and social media posts to promote the gang, which they say was behind a variety of violent crimes, including killings, shootings and carjackings.
Young Thug has had enormous success as a rapper and has his own music label, Young Stoner Life. Defense attorneys have said YSL is just a music label, not a gang.
Artists on his record label are considered part of the “Slime Family,” and a compilation album, “Slime Language 2,” rose to No. 1 on the charts in April 2021. He co-wrote the hit “This is America” with Childish Gambino, which became the first hip-hop track to win the song of the year Grammy in 2019.
Young Thug performs at the Lollapalooza Music Festival in Chicago on Aug. 1, 2021.
Amy Harris/Invision/AP, File
Prosecutors used Georgia’s expansive gang and anti-racketeering laws to bring the indictment. All of the defendants were accused of conspiring to violate the anti-racketeering law, and the indictment includes rap lyrics that prosecutors allege are overt acts “in furtherance of the conspiracy.”
“The question is not rap lyrics. The question is gang lyrics,” prosecutor Mike Carlson told the judge during a hearing Wednesday, later adding. “These are party admissions. They happen to come in the form of lyrics.”
Carlson argued that First Amendment speech protections do not apply because the defendants are not being prosecuted for their lyrics. Instead, he said, the lyrics refer to the criminal act or the criminal intent related to the charges.
Prosecutor Simone Hylton separated the lyrics into three categories: those that prove the existence of YSL as an enterprise, those that show the gang’s behavior and actions, and those that show that Young Thug is a leader of the gang.
Defense attorney Doug Weinstein, who represents defendant Deamonte Kendrick, who raps as Yak Gotti, argued during the hearing that rap is the only art form or musical genre brought into court as evidence of crimes.
He said his client’s lyrics are a performance done as a character, not admissions of real-world things he’s done. But, Weinstein asserted, because of the nature of rap music, with its violence and extreme language, the lyrics will unfairly prejudice the jury.
“They’re going to look at these lyrics and instantly say they are guilty,” he said. “They are not going to look at the evidence that’s actually probative of their guilt once these lyrics get in front of them.”
Chuck Creekmur, cofounder and co-CEO of AllHipHop.com, told CBS News earlier this year that the use of lyrics in the trial is concerning.
“First of all rap is a very unique art — it’s a lot of first person, a lot of braggadociousness, people like to articulate the toughness of themselves or their home or where they live or their crew, and sometimes it’s exaggerated as well,” Creekmur told CBS News.
Creekmur also said there is a stereotype attached to rap music.
“Also with hip hop, it’s probably the only art on the planet that is sort of persecuted in this same way. If you have a country singer or a rock singer, they may have graphic lyrics as well, but it’s not as in your face as hip-hop. At least that’s the perception.”
In 2018, Young Thug was arrested at a Dave & Busters during his own party to celebrate his birthday and a new album. He was booked on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon. He posted $35,000 bail a few hours later and was released.
Los Angeles police sources told CBS Los Angeles at the time that the rapper and someone who works with him had been the focus of an ongoing weapons investigation.
People in Georgia will keep paying no state taxes on gasoline and diesel, at least until state lawmakers start a special legislative session.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp on Wednesday extended the fuel tax rollback of 31.2 cents per gallon of gasoline and 35 cents per gallon of diesel until Nov. 29.
Georgia’s governor can suspend the collection of taxes during an emergency as long as state lawmakers approve it the next time they meet. That next session had been scheduled for Jan. 8, but will now be Nov. 29. That’s when Kemp called a special session to redraw Georgia’s congressional and state legislative districts after a federal judge ruled some districts illegally diluted voting power of Black people.
It’s unclear if Kemp will ask lawmakers to extend the tax break by law during their special session. He could also declare another state of emergency after lawmakers leave and resume waiving taxes until January. Spokesperson Garrison Douglas said he had no information about what Kemp would request.
Kemp in September revived what was a campaign tactic during his reelection bid in 2022, when he signed a law suspending the gas tax with broad bipartisan support. Kemp signed seven separate extensions after that, with the state forgoing an estimated $1.7 billion in revenue from March 2022 to January 2023.
The second-term governor began waiving the taxes again in September when he issued a novel legal declaration finding that high prices were such an emergency. The 2022 suspensions came under a state of emergency related to COVID-19.
Kemp says tax relief for Georgians helps them deal with inflation that he blames on Democratic President Joe Biden, although most economists say giving consumers more money typically increases inflation as well.
“Thanks to our responsible approach to budgeting, we’re able to deliver relief to families fighting through the disastrous effects of Bidenomics,” Kemp said in a statement. “I’m proud this action has helped keep millions of dollars in hardworking Georgians’ pockets and look forward to continuing to see that impact with the Thanksgiving holiday approaching.”
The governor has been rolling back fuel taxes worth about $180 million a month at the same time that his administration has been emphasizing that tax collections are declining, a sign that Georgia’s economy may be slowing. Tax revenues fell about 3% in October even though some fuel taxes were still flowing into state coffers after Kemp’s September action. Fuel taxes in Georgia largely fund roadbuilding.
Despite revenue declines, the state remains on track to run another surplus this year, unless the economy declines more sharply or Kemp and lawmakers ramp up tax givebacks. That’s because Kemp set the ceiling on state spending more than $5 billion below the $37.7 billion that the state collected last year
On Tuesday, Georgia drivers were paying an average of $2.89 for a gallon of unleaded gasoline, according to motorist group AAA. That was the second-lowest lowest price among the states behind Texas, and down 68 cents since Kemp suspended the taxes. The national average of $3.41 has decreased 43 cents per gallon in the same time.
Pump prices also include a federal tax of 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon on diesel.
Here’s a look at controversial police encounters that have prompted protests over the past three decades. This select list includes cases in which police officers were charged or a grand jury was convened.
March 3, 1991 – LAPD officers beat motorist Rodney King after he leads police on a high-speed chase through Los Angeles County. George Holliday videotapes the beating from his apartment balcony. The video shows police hitting King more than 50 times with their batons. Over 20 officers are present at the scene, mostly from the LAPD. King suffers 11 fractures and other injuries.
March 15, 1991 – A Los Angeles grand jury indicts Sergeant Stacey Koon and Officers Laurence Michael Powell, Timothy Wind and Theodore Briseno in connection with the beating.
May 10, 1991 – A grand jury refuses to indict 17 officers who stood by at the King beating and did nothing.
May 1, 1992 – King makes an emotional plea for calm, “People, I just want to say, can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it horrible for the older people and the kids?”
August 4, 1992 – A federal grand jury returns indictments against Koon, Powell, Wind, and Briseno on the charge of violating King’s civil rights.
April 17, 1993 – Koon and Powell are convicted for violating King’s civil rights. Wind and Briseno are found not guilty. No disturbances follow the verdict. On August 4, both Koon and Powell are sentenced to 30 months in prison. Powell is found guilty of violating King’s constitutional right to be free from an arrest made with “unreasonable force.” Koon, the ranking officer, is convicted of permitting the civil rights violation to occur.
April 19, 1994 – King is awarded $3.8 million in compensatory damages in a civil lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles. King had demanded $56 million, or $1 million for every blow struck by the officers.
June 1, 1994 – In a civil trial against the police officers, a juryawards King $0 in punitive damages. He had asked for $15 million.
November 5, 1992 – Two white police officers approach Malice Wayne Green, a 35-year-old black motorist, after he parks outside a suspected drug den. Witnesses say the police strike the unarmed man in the head repeatedly with heavy flashlights. The officers claim they feared Green was trying to reach for one of their weapons. Green dies of his injuries later that night.
November 16, 1992 – Two officers, Larry Nevers and Walter Budzyn, are charged with second-degree murder. Sgt. Freddie Douglas, a supervisor who arrived on the scene after a call for backup, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and willful neglect of duty. These charges are later dismissed. Another officer, Robert Lessnau, is charged with assault with intent to do great bodily harm.
November 18, 1992 – The Detroit Free Press reports that toxicology tests revealed alcohol and a small amount of cocaine in Green’s system. A medical examiner later states that Green’s head injuries, combined with the cocaine and alcohol in his system, led to his death.
December 1992 – The Detroit police chief fires the four officers.
August 23, 1993 – Nevers and Budzyn are convicted of murder after a 45-day trial. Lessnau is acquitted. Nevers sentence is 12-25 years, while Budzyn’s sentence is 8-18 years.
1997-1998 – The Michigan Supreme Court orders a retrial for Budzyn due to possible jury bias. During the second trial, a jury convicts Budzyn of a less serious charge, involuntary manslaughter, and he is released with time served.
2000-2001 – A jury finds Nevers guilty of involuntary manslaughter after a second trial. He is released from prison in 2001.
August 9, 1997 – Abner Louima, a 33-year-old Haitian immigrant, is arrested for interfering with officers trying to break up a fight in front of the Club Rendez-vous nightclub in Brooklyn. Louima alleges, while handcuffed, police officers lead him to the precinct bathroom and sodomized him with a plunger or broomstick.
August 15, 1997 – Police officers Justin Volpe and Charles Schwarz are charged with aggravated sexual abuse and first-degree assault.
August 16, 1997 – Thousands of angry protesters gather outside Brooklyn’s 70th Precinct to demonstrate against what they say is a long-standing problem of police brutality against minorities.
August 18, 1997 – Two more officers, Thomas Wiese and Thomas Bruder, are charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon.
February 26, 1998 – Volpe, Bruder, Schwarz and Wiese are indicted on federal civil rights charges. A fifth officer, Michael Bellomo, is accused of helping the others cover up the alleged beating, as well as an alleged assault on another Haitian immigrant, Patrick Antoine, the same night.
May 1999 – Volpe pleads guilty to beating and sodomizing Louima. He is later sentenced to 30 years in prison.
June 8, 1999 – Schwarz is convicted of beating Louima, then holding him down while he was being tortured. Wiese, Bruder, and Bellomo are acquitted. Schwarz is later sentenced to 15 and a half years in prison for perjury.
March 6, 2000 – In a second trial, Schwarz, Wiese, and Bruder are convicted of conspiring to obstruct justice by covering up the attack. On February 28, 2002, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturns their convictions.
September 2002 – Schwarz pleads guilty to perjury and is sentenced to five years in prison. He had been scheduled to face a new trial for civil rights violations but agreed to a deal.
February 4, 1999 –Amadou Diallo, 22, a street vendor from West Africa, is confronted outside his home in the Bronx by four NYPD officers who are searching the neighborhood for a rapist. When Diallo reaches for his wallet, the officers open fire, reportedly fearing he was pulling out a gun. They fire 41 times and hit him 19 times, killing him.
March 25, 1999 – A Bronx grand jury votes to indict the four officers – Sean Carroll, Edward McMellon, Kenneth Boss and Richard Murphy – for second-degree murder. On February 25, 2000, they are acquitted.
January 2001 – The US Justice Department announces it will not pursue federal civil rights charges against the officers.
January 2004 – Diallo’s family receives $3 million in a wrongful death lawsuit.
September 4, 2005 – Six days after Hurricane Katrina devastates the area, New Orleans police officers receive a radio call that two officers are down under the Danziger vertical-lift bridge. According to the officers, people are shooting at them and they have returned fire.
– Brothers Ronald and Lance Madison, along with four members of the Bartholomew family, are shot by police officers. Ronald Madison, 40, who is intellectually disabled, and James Brisette, 17 (some sources say 19), are fatally wounded.
December 28, 2006 – Police Sgts. Kenneth Bowen and Robert Gisevius and officers Robert Faulcon and Anthony Villavaso are charged with first-degree murder. Officers Robert Barrios, Michael Hunter and Ignatius Hills are charged with attempted murder.
August 2008 – State charges against the officers are thrown out.
July 12, 2010 – Four officers are indicted on federal charges of murdering Brissette: Bowen, Gisevius, Faulcon and Villavaso. Faulcon is also charged with Madison’s murder. Bowen, Gisevius, Faulcon and Villavaso, along with Arthur Kaufman and Gerard Dugue are charged with covering up the shooting.
April 8, 2010 – Hunter pleads guilty in federal court of covering up the police shooting. In December, he is sentenced to eight years in prison.
August 5, 2011 – The jury finds five officers guilty of civil rights and obstruction charges: Bowen, Gisevius, Faulcon, Villavaso and Kaufman.
October 5, 2011 – Hills receives a six and a half year sentence for his role in the shooting.
April 4, 2012 – A federal judge sentences five officers to prison terms ranging from six to 65 years for the shootings of unarmed civilians. Faulcon receives 65 years. Bowen and Gisevius both receive 40 years. Villavaso receives 38 years. Kaufman, who was involved in the cover up, receives six years.
March 2013 – After a January 2012 mistrial, Dugue’s trial is delayed indefinitely.
September 17, 2013 – Bowen, Gisevius, Faulcon, Villavaso and Kaufman are awarded a new trial.
April 20, 2016 – Bowen, Gisevius, Faulcon, Villavaso and Kaufman plead guilty in exchange for reduced sentences.
March 2007 – Three of the five officers involved in the shooting are indicted: Detectives Gescard F. Isnora and Michael Oliver are charged with manslaughter, and Michael Oliver is charged with reckless endangerment. On April 25, 2008, thethree officers are acquitted of all charges.
July 27, 2010 – New York City settles a lawsuit for more than $7 million filed by Bell’s family and two of his friends.
2009 – Oakland, California – Oscar Grant
January 1, 2009 – San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) officer Johannes Mehserle shootsOscar Grant, an unarmed 22-year-old, in the back while he is lying face down on a platform at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland.
January 7, 2009 – Footage from station KTVU shows demonstrators vandalizing businesses and assaulting police in Oakland during a protest.About 105 people are arrested. Some protesters lie on their stomachs, saying they are showing solidarity with Grant, who was shot in the back.
January 27, 2010 – The mother of Grant’s young daughter receives a $1.5 million settlement from her lawsuit against BART.
July 8, 2010 – A jury finds Mehserle guilty of involuntary manslaughter. At the trial, Mehserle says that he intended to draw and fire his Taser rather than his gun. On November 5, 2010,Mehserle is sentenced to two years in prison. Outrage over the light sentence leads to a night of violent protests.
June 2011 – Mehserle is released from prison.
July 12, 2013 – The movie, “Fruitvale Station” opens in limited release. It dramatizes the final hours of Grant’s life.
July 5, 2011 – Fullerton police officers respond to a call about a homeless man looking into car windows and pulling on car handles. Surveillance camera footage shows Kelly Thomas being beaten and stunned with a Taser by police. Thomas, who was mentally ill, dies five days later in the hospital. When the surveillance video of Thomas’s beating is released in May 2012, it sparks a nationwide outcry.
May 9, 2012 – Officer Manuel Ramos is charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, and Cpl. Jay Patrick Cicinelli is charged with involuntary manslaughter and felony use of excessive force. On January 13, 2014, a jury acquits Ramos and Cicinelli.
May 16, 2012 – The City of Fullerton awards $1 million to Thomas’ mother, Cathy Thomas.
July 17, 2014 – Eric Garner, 43, dies after Officer Daniel Pantaleo uses a department-banned chokehold on him during an arrest for allegedly selling cigarettes illegally. Garner dies later that day.
August 1, 2014 – The New York City Medical Examiner rules Garner’s death a homicide.
December 3, 2014 –A grand jury decides not to indict Pantaleo. Protests are held in New York, Washington, Philadelphia and Oakland, California. Demonstrators chant Garner’s last words, “I can’t breathe!”
August 9, 2014 – During a struggle, a police officer fatally shoots Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old.
August 9-10, 2014 – Approximately 1,000 demonstrators protest Brown’s death. The Ferguson-area protest turns violent and police begin using tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. Black Lives Matter, a protest movement that grew out of the Trayvon Martin shooting in 2012, grows in visibility during the Ferguson demonstrations.
August 15, 2014 – Police identify the officer as 28-year-old Darren Wilson. Wilson is put on paid administrative leave after the incident.
August 18, 2014 – Governor Jay Nixon calls in the Missouri National Guard to protect the police command center.
November 24, 2014 – A grand jury does not indict Wilson for Brown’s shooting. Documents show that Wilson fired his gun 12 times. Protests erupt nationwide after the hearing.
November 29, 2014 – Wilson resigns from the Ferguson police force.
August 9-10, 2015 – The anniversary observations of Brown’s death are largely peaceful during the day. After dark, shots are fired, businesses are vandalized and there are tense standoffs between officers and protestors, according to police. The next day, a state of emergency is declared and fifty-six people are arrested during a demonstration at a St. Louis courthouse.
June 20, 2017 – A settlement is reached in the Brown family wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Ferguson. While the details of the settlement are not disclosed to the public, US Federal Judge Richard Webber calls the settlement, “fair and reasonable compensation.”
October 20, 2014 – Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke shoots and kills Laquan McDonald, 17. Van Dyke says he fired in self-defense after McDonald lunged at him with a knife, but dashcam video shows McDonald walking away from police. Later, an autopsy shows McDonald was shot 16 times.
April 15, 2015 – The city agrees to pay $5 million to McDonald’s family.
November 19, 2015 – A judge in Chicago orders the city to release the police dashcam video that shows the shooting. For months, the city had fought attempts to have the video released to the public, saying it could jeopardize any ongoing investigation. The decision is the result of a Freedom of Information Act request by freelance journalist, Brandon Smith.
August 30, 2016 – Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson files administrative charges against six officers involved in the shooting. Five officers will have their cases heard by the Chicago Police Board, which will rule if the officers will be terminated. The sixth officer charged has resigned.
June 27, 2017 – Three officers are indicted on felony conspiracy, official misconduct and obstruction of justice charges for allegedly lying to investigators.
October 9, 2019 – Inspector General Joseph Ferguson releases a report detailing a cover-up involving 16 officers and supervisors.
April 4, 2015 – North Charleston police officer Michael Slager fatally shoots Walter Scott, 50, an unarmed motorist stopped for a broken brake light. Slager says he feared for his life after Scott grabbed his Taser.
April 7, 2015 – Cellphone video of the incident is released. It shows Scott running away and Slager shooting him in the back. Slager is charged with first-degree murder.
October 8, 2015 – The North Charleston City Council approves a $6.5 million settlement with the family of Walter Scott.
April 12, 2015 – Police arrest 25-year-old Freddie Gray on a weapons charge after he is found with a knife in his pocket. Witness video contains audio of Gray screaming as officers carry him to the prisoner transport van. After arriving at the police station, Gray is transferred to a trauma clinic with a severe spinal injury. He falls into a coma and dies one week later.
April 21, 2015 – The names of six officers involved in the arrest are released. Lt. Brian Rice, 41, Officer Caesar Goodson, 45, Sgt. Alicia White, 30, Officer William Porter, 25, Officer Garrett Miller, 26, and Officer Edward Nero, 29, are all suspended.
April 24, 2015 – Baltimore police acknowledge Gray did not get timely medical care after his arrest and was not buckled into a seat belt while being transported in the police van.
April 27, 2015 – Protests turn into riots on the day of Gray’s funeral. At least 20 officers are injured as police and protesters clash on the streets. Gov. Larry Hogan’s office declares a state of emergency and activates the National Guard to address the unrest.
May 21, 2015 – A Baltimore grand jury indicts the six officers involved in the arrest of Freddie Gray. The officers face a range of charges from involuntary manslaughter to reckless endangerment. Goodson, the driver of the transport van, will face the most severe charge: second-degree depraved-heart murder.
July 27, 2016 – Prosecutors drop charges against the three remaining officers awaiting trial in connection with Gray’s death.
August 10, 2016 –A Justice Department investigation finds that the Baltimore Police Department engages in unconstitutional practices that lead to disproportionate rates of stops, searches and arrests of African-Americans. The report also finds excessive use of force against juveniles and people with mental health disabilities.
2016 – Falcon Heights, Minnesota – Philando Castile
July 6, 2016 – Police officer Jeronimo Yanez shoots and kills Philando Castile during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights. Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, live-streams the aftermath of the confrontation, and says Castile was reaching for his identification when he was shot.
June 26, 2017 – It is announced that the family of Castile has reached a $3 million settlement with the city of St. Anthony, Minnesota.
November 29, 2017 – The city of St. Anthony announces that Reynolds has settled with two cities for $800,000. St. Anthony will pay $675,000 of the settlement, while an insurance trust will pay $125,000 on behalf of Roseville.
September 16, 2016 – Tulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby fatally shoots Terence Crutcher, a 40-year-old unarmed black man, after his car is found abandoned in the middle of the road.
October 28, 2019 – A $2 million settlement is finalized in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against Rosfeld and East Pittsburgh.
September 1, 2018 – During a traffic stop, O’Shae Terry is gunned down by an Arlington police officer. Terry, 24, was pulled over for having an expired temporary tag on his car. During the stop, officers reportedly smelled marijuana in the vehicle. Police video from the scene shows officer Bau Tran firing into the car as Terry tries to drive away. Investigators later locate a concealed firearm, marijuana and ecstasy pills in the vehicle.
October 19, 2018 – The Arlington Police Department releases information about a criminal investigation into the incident. According to the release, Tran declined to provide detectives with a statement and the matter is pending with the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office. Tran is still employed by the police department but is working on restricted duty status, according to the news release.
May 1, 2019 – A grand jury issues an indictment charging Tran with criminally negligent homicide. On May 17, 2019, the Arlington Police Department announces Tran has been fired.
March 13, 2020 – Louisville Metro Police officers fatally shoot Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT, after they forcibly enter her apartment while executing a late-night, no-knock warrant in a narcotics investigation. Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker III, is also in the apartment and fires one shot at who he believes are intruders. Taylor is shot at least eight times and Walker is charged with attempted murder of a police officer and first-degree assault. The charges are later dismissed.
April 27, 2020 – Taylor’s family files a wrongful death lawsuit. In the lawsuit, Taylor’s mother says the officers should have called off their search because the suspect they sought had already been arrested.
September 15, 2020 – The city of Louisville agrees to pay $12 million to Taylor’s family and institute sweeping police reforms in a settlement of the family’s wrongful death lawsuit.
May 27, 2020 – Gov. Tim Walz signs an executive order activating the Minnesota National Guard after protests and demonstrations erupt throughout Minneapolis and St. Paul.
February 24, 2022 –Lane, Kueng and Thao are found guilty of depriving Floyd of his civil rights by showing deliberate indifference to his medical needs. The jurors also find Thao and Kueng guilty of an additional charge for failing to intervene to stop Chauvin. Lane, who did not face the extra charge, had testified that he asked Chauvin twice to reposition Floyd while restraining him but was denied both times.
May 1, 2023 – A Minnesota judge finds Thao guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter, according to court documents. He is sentenced to four years and nine months in prison.
June 12, 2020 – Rayshard Brooks, 27, is shot and killed by Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe outside a Wendy’s restaurant after failing a sobriety test, fighting with two officers, taking a Taser from one and running away.
June 13, 2020 – Rolfe is terminated from the Atlanta Police Department, according to an Atlanta police spokesperson. A second officer involved is placed on administrative leave.
June 14, 2020 – According to a release from the Fulton County, Georgia, Medical Examiner’s Office, Brooks died from a gunshot wound to the back. The manner of death is listed as homicide.
April 11, 2021 –Daunte Wright, 20, is shot and killed by Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly Potter following a routine traffic stop for an expired tag.
April 12, 2021 – During a press conference, Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon announces Potter accidentally drew a handgun instead of a Taser. According to Gannon, “this was an accidental discharge, that resulted in a tragic death of Mr. Wright.” Potter is placed on administrative leave. According to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office, Wright’s death has been ruled a homicide.
April 14, 2021 – Potter is arrested and charged with second degree manslaughter. Washington County Attorney Pete Orput issues a news release which includes a summary of the criminal complaint filed against Potter. According to the release, Potter shot Wright with a Glock handgun holstered on her right side, after saying she would tase Wright. Later, the state amends the complaint against Potter, adding an additional charge of manslaughter in the first degree.
June 21, 2022 – The city of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, agrees to pay $3.25 million to the family of Wright. The sum is part of a settlement deal the family struck with the city, which also agreed to make changes in its policing policies and training, the Wright family legal team said in a news release.
April 13, 2022 – Grand Rapids police release video from police body camera, the police unit’s dashcam, a cell phone and a home surveillance system, which show the police officer’s encounter with Lyoya, including two clips showing the fatal shot. Lyoya was pulled over for an allegedly unregistered license plate when he got out of the car and ran. He resisted the officer’s attempt to arrest him and was shot while struggling with the officer on the ground.
January 7, 2023 – Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, is hospitalized following a traffic stop that lead to a violent arrest. Nichols dies three days later from injuries sustained, according to police.
January 26, 2023 – A grand jury indicts the five police officers. They are each charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, two charges of aggravated kidnapping, two charges of official misconduct and one charge of official oppression, according to both Shelby County criminal court and Shelby County jail records.
January 30, 2023 – Memphis police say two additional officers have been placed on leave. Only one officer is identified, Preston Hemphill. Additionally, the Memphis Fire Department announces three employees have been fired over their response to the incident: emergency medical technicians Robert Long and JaMichael Sandridge and Lt. Michelle Whitaker.
September 12, 2023 – The five police officers involved are indicted by a federal grand jury on several charges including deprivation of rights.
November 2, 2023 – Desmond Mills Jr., one of the five former Memphis police officers accused in the death of Nichols, pleads guilty to federal charges and agrees to plead guilty to related state charges as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.
John Eastman championed a radical legal theory to keep former President Trump in office. Now he’s facing charges in Georgia’s election conspiracy case. He has pleaded not guilty.
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The first defectors from Donald Trump’s Georgia criminal case pose significant risk to the former president because they include “senior participants” in the alleged scheme to overthrow the 2020 election, experts say.
Former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis was the latest to agree to testify in any trials related to the case, which revolves around efforts to thwart Georgia’s 2020 election after Trump lost. Trump and 18 others were charged Aug. 15 by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, and accused of operating a “criminal enterprise” that conspired to overturn the election.
Now, four members of that alleged racket have agreed to cooperate against the other 15.
Two other lawyers involved with the effort, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, and a bail bondsman named Scott Hall, also entered guilty pleas in recent weeks.
Attorney Norm Eisen described the lawyers as “senior participants” in two different facets of the alleged crimes: the effort to portray Trump as the winner, and the effort to have former Vice President Mike Pence use false electors to certify Trump as the winner.
“With the pleas of the three lawyers, the rug is pulled out from under both of those legs,” said Eisen, a co-founder of States United Democracy Center, a nonpartisan advocacy organization focused on elections. “That’s because Powell and Ellis were two of the primary pushers of the false facts, and Chesebro of the false legal theory.”
Ellis said at her sentencing Tuesday that “I failed to do my due diligence” in agreeing to work on Trump’s behalf in 2020.
“If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges. I look back on this whole experience with deep remorse,” Ellis said.
Georgia State University law professor Anthony Michael Kreis said Ellis’ and other confessions are “a huge boon for the D.A. when this goes to trial as prosecutors work to secure convictions.”
“It also makes the case harder to attack politically as individuals are now on the record about their culpability in the scheme to overturn the election,” Kreis said.
Dominoes falling toward Trump
Ellis, Powell, Chesebro and Hall all struck deals that included probation, but no jail time. Eisen said Willis’ history in major racketeering cases shows she pushes guilty plea dominoes toward high-profile or senior defendants.
As those pieces begin falling, other defendants often feel pressure to pursue deals of their own, he said.
“I would expect more dominoes at any time,” said Eisen, who served as special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during Trump’s first impeachment. “The deals get less good, because the reality is the prosecution doesn’t need more people to say the same thing.”
But guilty pleas involve more than just dealmaking. Prosecutors need good evidence to convince defendants they’re at risk of conviction, according to Noah Pines, a defense attorney in Georgia. Willis’ office began its investigation into Trump soon after the release of an infamous recorded phone call, in which he could be heard telling Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger he wanted “to find 11,780 votes,” the amount Trump needed to win the state.
In 2022, a special purpose grand jury spent months interviewing 75 witnesses and subpoenaing documents from more. It recommended charges against 39 people in January, and 19 were charged in August.
Now there are four former defendants who have agreed to bolster the evidence Willis’ office already compiled over more than two years of investigation. Pines said that may speak to the strength of the case.
“I would say the evidence is working more than a strategy,” Pines said, adding, “I don’t think that the D.A.’s office is giving away cases.”
Asked about the case’s plea deals on Oct. 25, Trump reiterated his claim that the election was stolen and said, “they’re taking deals. But from what I understand, they’re saying nothing bad about me at all, but they’re taking deals.”
Trump has denied wrongdoing and accused Willis of pursuing him for political gain. On Oct. 25 he said Willis’ office has “gone after people that have been trying to find out who rigged” the election.
Pines said he expects more defendants will enter guilty pleas, strengthening the case not only against Trump, but other defendants who have yet to be offered deals.
“In the end, I think only a handful of defendants will be left,” Pines said.
Risks to other prominent defendants
While Trump is at the absolute center of the case — the most prominent defendant and the person whose words sparked the investigation — there are other defendants near him on “the food chain,” according to Eisen and Kreis.
“After the former president it is Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman who are in the most peril here,” said Eisen, adding that they’re “on par” with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows “in overall culpability.”
Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who was Trump’s personal attorney at the time, spearheaded the effort to thwart the election nationally, and Eastman was a key contributor, according to prosecutors.
An attorney whose firm represents Giuliani, Arthur Aidala, told CBS News on Oct. 24 that prosecutors have not made any plea agreement offers.
George Terwiliger, an attorney for Meadows, was unequivocal when asked on Oct. 3.
“You must be kidding, or smoking something very weird,” Terwiliger said in an email. He has not responded to more recent follow-ups.
Buddy Parker, an attorney who represents Eastman, said prosecutors have not reached out. Parker acknowledged that Eastman is likely one of the higher-end targets in the case.
“They identified him ranking in the indictment as third, so that’s generally an indication of the view of significance or culpability or responsibility, or whatever the characterization one might want to place,” Parker said.
Parker said he doesn’t have “ill will” for the defendants who have entered guilty pleas.
“I don’t have any comments other than they made individual decisions about what they thought would be in their best interests,” Parker said.
At least one defendant has received an offer, but turned it down, according to her attorney.
Misty Hampton, a former elections supervisor for Coffee County, Georgia, maintains her innocence, said her lawyer, Jonathan Miller III. Hampton is accused of allowing two unnamed co-conspirators to enter non-public areas of the Coffee County Board of Elections and Registration office and facilitating their access to voting equipment.
Miller said when prosecutors verbally conveyed a plea offer, Hampton rejected it. He claimed special prosecutor Nathan Wade then said they “look forward to trying her.”
A spokesperson for the district attorney did not reply to a request for comment.
It remains to be seen whether other defendants follow Hampton’s lead, or those of Ellis, Powell, Chesebro and Hall.
If the list of guilty pleas grows, it could mean big problems for Trump.
“That would be a very troubling development for Donald Trump, who will likely have to face multiple self-admitted co-conspirators on the witness stand testifying about his role,” Kreis said.
An influx of Russians into Georgia has stoked fears of war. Many also fear it could hurt
Georgia’s chances of gaining membership into the European Union.
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Jenna Ellis, a former Donald Trump attorney who has pleaded guilty to a felony count in the Georgia 2020 election interference case, has been criticized regarding the apparent cost of her legal fees.
Ellis, who served as Trump’s lawyer during the 2020 presidential campaign, pleaded guilty to one felony count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings on October 24 after getting indicted alongside the former president and 17 others in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis‘ sprawling racketeering case. Trump has pleaded not guilty and has consistently denied wrongdoing in the case.
Prior to her guilty plea, Ellis had raised more than $217,000 in online donations to cover her legal fees after realizing the costs would not be covered by Trump. Ellis then faced calls for her to return the money, which was raised via a GiveSendGo page created by her lawyer, Michael Melito, after she became the fourth defendant to enter into a plea deal in the Georgia interference case before they went to trial.
On Saturday, Ellis thanked her supporters who had “helped me with prayers and support” while she faced charges in Georgia, while also sharing a statement from Melito, which aimed to “answer a question that has been raised” regarding the funds to support her legal defense.
Jenna Ellis reads a statement after pleading guilty to a felony count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings, inside Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee’s Fulton County Courtroom at the Fulton County Courthouse October 24, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. Ellis, an attorney and prominent conservative media figure, reached a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to a reduced charge over efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia having raised more than $200,000 in legal fees. John Bazemore-Pool/Getty Images
“The legal fees and costs significantly exceeded the amount raised by the fund,” Melito said. “Thank you for your continued support.”
The claim was doubted by some legal experts and met with anger from Trump supporters on X, formerly Twitter, who questioned how Ellis’ legal fees were so high.
Colorado-based trial attorney Craig Silverman posted on X: “No fast guilty plea should ever cost this much. Jenna Ellis did not litigate any motions. How hard can it be to take a ‘no jail’ plea deal? Over 200K? No way.”
X user Craig Voss, who has a photo of Trump as his profile, wrote in reply to Ellis: “‘Jenna’s legal fees and costs significantly exceeded the amount raised by the fund.’ What an absolute joke.”
Fellow X user Heather Carlile, who also has a picture of Trump for her profile, added: “Post the bills (detailed) this is absurd.”
Author and scientist Jonathan Sarfati wrote: “I do have a question for Michael Melito of Melito Law LLC: why were the legal fees so much more than the money raised by the fund? It seems like the only winners in the current American (In)Justice system are the lawyers. This means they have little incentive to fight to change.”
Another X user wrote in reply to Ellis: “So Jenna Ellis pleads guilty, which means she was guilty of what she did, yet got others to pay for her legal fees? What happened to personal responsibility? Is she on welfare now?”
Conservative pundit Carmine Sabia was one of those to defend the amount that Ellis and her legal team said they needed to fight her case.
“It is astounding that some people think in a RICO case that making a plea deal means you did not have massive legal debts,” Sabia posted on X.
Newsweek has contacted Ellis’ legal team for comment via email.
While appearing at the court in Fulton County to plead guilty, Ellis expressed “remorse” for being part of the attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in favor of Trump.
“I failed to do my due diligence,” Ellis said. “I believe in and I value election integrity.
“If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges. I look back on this whole experience with deep remorse.”
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for three men and their 31-foot-long fishing vessel after seven days of searching the ocean.
The agency said in a news release that its crews had searched more than 94,000 square miles, “an area larger in size than the states of Georgia and South Carolina combined.”
The three missing men have been identified as Dalton Conway, Caleb Wilkinson and Tyler Barlow. The three men were hired by the owner of the boat, a fishing vessel named the Carol Ann, and departed Brunswick, Georgia, on Oct. 14 to fish about 80 miles offshore. They did not return on their scheduled date of Oct. 18, and did not respond to attempts at communication.
The missing crew and boat were reported to the Coast Guard, spurring the massive search, which involved multiple helicopter and aircraft crews, several Coast Guard boats, and searchers from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
The Carol Anne, a 31-foot fishing vessel.
U.S. Coast Guard
“Despite the unwavering dedication of our crews, regrettably, we have not been able to uncover any traces of the vessel and have made the difficult decision to suspend the search for three beloved family members,” said Capt. Frank DelRosso, commander of Coast Guard Sector Charleston, in the news release. “We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our partner agencies and the countless volunteers who have lent their assistance in this arduous search. Undoubtedly, they, like us, share in the deep sympathy we hold for the families of the missing individuals.”
Anyone with new information about the case is asked to contact the Coast Guard.
According to CBS News affiliate WTOC, the family of Barlow has set up a GoFundMe and intends on using the money raised to help with the search.
Washington — A federal judge ruled Thursday that some of Georgia’s congressional, state Senate and state House districts were drawn in a racially discriminatory manner and ordered state lawmakers to draw an additional Black-majority congressional district.
U.S. District Judge Steve Jones, in a 516-page order, also said the state must draw two new Black-majority districts in Georgia’s 56-member state Senate and five new Black-majority districts in its 180-member state House.
Jones ordered Georgia’s Republican-controlled General Assembly and GOP governor to take action before Dec. 8, saying he wouldn’t permit 2024 elections to go forward under the current maps. That would require a special session, as lawmakers aren’t scheduled to meet again until January. If the state fails to enact remedial plans by his deadline that provide Black voters the opportunity to elect their favored candidates, Jones said the court will draw or adopt its own maps.
The judge’s ruling
“After conducting a thorough and sifting review of the evidence in this case, the Court finds that the State of Georgia violated the Voting Rights Act when it enacted its congressional and legislative maps,” Jones wrote. “The Court commends Georgia for the great strides that it has made to increase the political opportunities of Black voters in the 58 years since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Despite these great gains, the Court determines that in certain areas of the State, the political process is not equally open to Black voters.”
The judge sought to dispel concerns about the Dec. 8 deadline he set for the new maps, writing that he is “confident that the General Assembly can accomplish its task” by then.
“The General Assembly enacted the Plans quickly in 2021; the Legislature has been on notice since at least the time that this litigation was commenced nearly 22 months ago that new maps might be necessary; the General Assembly already has access to an experienced cartographer; and the General Assembly has an illustrative remedial plan to consult,” he wrote.
Jones’ ruling follows a September trial in which the plaintiffs argued that Black voters are still fighting opposition from White voters and need federal help to get a fair shot. The state argued court intervention on behalf of Black voters wasn’t needed.
The move could shift one of Georgia’s 14 congressional seats from Republican to Democratic control. GOP lawmakers redrew the congressional map from an 8-6 Republican majority to a 9-5 Republican majority in 2021.
Rulings in other states
The Georgia case is part of a wave of litigation after the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year stood behind its interpretation of the Voting Rights Act, rejecting a challenge to the law by Alabama.
Courts in Alabama and Florida ruled recently that Republican-led legislatures had unfairly diluted the voting power of Black residents. Legal challenges to congressional districts are also ongoing in Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.
In the Alabama dispute, a three-judge district court panel said it was “deeply troubled” after the state redrew its map following the Supreme Court’s June decision but failed to provide a remedy for the likely Voting Rights Act violation. Alabama Republicans sought emergency relief from the Supreme Court again, but the justices declined their request to use the redrawn congressional map in upcoming elections.
New voting lines selected by the judges in October give the state a second district where Black voters make up nearly 50% of the voting-age population.
Orders to draw new legislative districts could narrow Republican majorities in the state House and Senate. But on their own, those changes are unlikely to lead to a Democratic takeover.
Jones, who sits on the federal district court in Atlanta, reiterated in his opinion that Georgia has made progress since 1965 “towards equality in voting. However, the evidence before this Court shows that Georgia has not reached the point where the political process has equal openness and equal opportunity for everyone.”
He noted that despite the fact that all of the state’s population growth over the last decade was attributable to the minority population, the number of congressional and legislative districts with a Black majority remained the same.
That echoes a key contention of the plaintiffs, who argued repeatedly that the state added nearly 500,000 Black residents between 2010 and 2020 but drew no new Black-majority state Senate districts and only two additional Black-majority state House districts. They also said Georgia should have another Black majority congressional district.
Cooperation time: In August, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis brought racketeering charges against former President Donald Trump and 18 of his associates under Georgia’s statute, on charges relating to their efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Over the last few days, three guilty pleas have followed: Sidney Powell to misdemeanor charges and Kenneth Chesebro and Jenna Ellis to felony charges. Now, Ellis, Chesebro, and Powell will cooperate with prosecutors.
“Proof of criminal intent is indispensable to the criminal cases against Trump, both in Georgia and in the federal election case,” writes David French for The New York Times. “While the specific intent varies depending on the charge, each key claim requires proof of conscious wrongdoing—such as an intent to lie or the ‘intent to have false votes cast.’”
The lawyers flipping “may grant us greater visibility into Trump’s state of mind during the effort to overturn the election,” adds French. “The crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege prevents a criminal defendant from shielding his communications with his lawyers when those communications were in furtherance of a criminal scheme.”
Some, like Andrew McCarthy writing for National Review, argue that “Willis wildly overcharged the election-interference case and is now picking off some defendants on minor charges.”
The upshot from French:
“As a general rule, when evaluating complex litigation, it is best not to think in terms of legal breakthroughs (though breakthroughs can certainly occur) but rather in terms of legal trench warfare. Think of seizing ground from your opponent yard by yard rather than mile by mile, and the question at each stage isn’t so much who won and who lost but rather who advanced and who retreated. Willis has advanced, but it’s too soon to tell how far.”
Speaker update: Rep. Mike Johnson (R–La.) was chosen last night to be the new nominee for speaker of the House. This is after Minnesota’s Tom Emmer dropped out, having spent much of yesterday securing votes.
Johnson, who is serving his fourth term in the House, was named to Donald Trump’s impeachment defense team and “played a leading role in recruiting House Republicans to sign a legal brief supporting a lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2020 election results,” reportsThe New York Times. He’s a member of the House Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government and is broadly well-liked by colleagues.
The House will probably vote on Johnson today; 217 votes must be secured to become speaker.
Make no mistake: “The United States does not seek conflict with Iran,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the United Nations Security Council yesterday. “But if Iran or its proxies attack US personnel anywhere, make no mistake: We will defend our people, we will defend our security, swiftly and decisively.”
“To all the members of this council: If you, like the United States, want to prevent this conflict from spreading, tell Iran, tell its proxies—in public, in private, through every means—do not open another front against Israel in this conflict,” Blinken continued.
Blinken is referring to the possibility of strikes escalating between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah on the much-watched northern front. Many observers fear that a ground invasion of Gaza with the intent of wiping out Hamas could trigger entry into the conflict from Hezbollah, seeing a weakened Israel and pushing them to fight on two fronts at once.
Officials also report that strikes from other Iran-backed groups on U.S. targets have ramped up in recent days; back-channel talks with Iran have been ongoing, but Blinken’s admonition yesterday was significant due to its public, urgent nature.
Scenes from New York:
Regulating skyline views would “guarantee a collective experience, a sense of shared identity and civic meaning, which can bind New Yorkers across generations and centuries,” Jorge Otero-Pailos, the director of Columbia’s historic preservation program, tells The New York Times.
The best part is that this is mentioned immediately after a few paragraphs on how unaffordable the city has become. If only we could grasp the connection between the two!
QUICK HITS
Due to her posts on Hamas, the Israeli Ministry of Education will be removing any references to Greta Thunberg in school curricula. Forgive me, but I don’t think Greta Thunberg should ever have been taught in Israeli schools.
“Mr. Emhoff, the husband of Kamala Harris, is the first Jewish spouse of a president or vice president,” reads a New York Times subheading. “He has focused on providing comfort to people in pain after the Hamas attack.” Doesn’t this read like a press release?
Bad move by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis:
NEW: Governor DeSantis just ordered the University of Florida and the University of South Florida to deactivate their “Students for Justice in Palestine” groups for violating Florida’s laws against antisemitism. pic.twitter.com/Y3B6hLnRJZ
Color me skeptical that Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, misheard that recent question on antisemitism.
In Spain, the workweek will drop from 40 hours to 37.5, at least if acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Labor Minister Yolanda Diaz (“a card-carrying Communist,” perBloomberg) get their deal passed. “The minimum wage has risen by about 47% since Sanchez first formed a government in 2018.” Amusingly, a 2019 report from BBVA Research notes that “productivity growth has been one of the Spanish economy’s chronic weaknesses.” What a stumper!
“Who is the Greatest Economist of all Time and Why Does it Matter?” Check out economist Tyler Cowen’s generative book. “This book is not just the text, it’s the text plus what you use AI to do with it,” writes Cowen.
A Georgia mother was arrested on murder and arson charges after firefighters found her 5-year-old son with multiple stab wounds at a home while battling a fire at their home, according to local police.
The little boy, identified as 5-year-old Jayveon Pruitt, was found unresponsive with stab wounds on October 19 as firefighters responded to a fire at the apartment he shared with his mother in Peachtree Corners, Georgia, according to the Gwinnett County Police Department (GCPD). Jayveon was taken to a nearby hospital, where police said he was pronounced dead.
On Tuesday, GCPD announced that Jayveon’s 23-year-old mother A’zaria Shante Burton, was arrested and faces numerous charges, including murder, first-degree arson, aggravated assault, tampering with evidence, possession of a knife during the commission of a crime and first-degree cruelty to children. Burton was booked into the Gwinnett County Jail and is being held without bond.
While GCPD listed Jayveon’s age as 6 in an online statement, his father Daquarius Pruitt told local media that the boy was 5 when he died and was a few weeks shy of his sixth birthday.
The Gwinnett County Medical Examiner’s Office is conducting an autopsy and has not determined Jayveon’s official cause and manner of death as of Tuesday night.
Newsweek reached out via email on Tuesday to the GCPD for comment. It was unclear at the time of publication if Burton had retained an attorney who could speak on her behalf.
A’zaria Shante Burton (pictured), 23, of Peachtree Corners, Georgia, has been arrested on murder and arson charges after firefighters found her 5-year-old son with stab wounds while responding to a fire at the apartment he shared with his mom, according to local police. Gwinnett County Police Department
Shortly before 8 a.m. on October 19, the GCPD and the Gwinnett County Fire Department were dispatched to an apartment fire at an apartment on Springs Lane in Peachtree Corners, which is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area.
The 911 call alerting Gwinnett County authorities about the situation came from a resident on the upper level of the building, GCPD said in an online statement.
When members of the fire department arrived at the scene, they heard an “audible” fire alarm coming from a unit on the first level, police said. After making entry into the apartment, firefighters discovered an “unresponsive boy who appeared to have multiple stab wounds.” The boy was the only person inside the home while it was on fire, police said.
GCPD launched a criminal investigation and began searching the area. Around 9:15 a.m., officers found a woman, later identified as Burton, behind the apartment building.
“Her clothing was wet, and she was wearing only one sock,” GCPD said, adding that she was taken into custody at the scene.
Detectives worked to determine her involvement and announced that Burton had been charged on Tuesday. The motive for Jayveon’s slaying and the fire is still under investigation, GCPD said.
While police believe that Burton stabbed her son to death before setting their Peachtree Corners apartment on fire, Jayveon’s family told local media they’re struggling to understand what happened.
The little boy’s dad, Daquarius Pruitt, told Atlanta station WXIA that Jayveon was supposed to visit him in Mississippi in a few weeks to celebrate his sixth birthday. He referred to his son’s death as “mind-boggling” and a “nightmare,” the station reported.
“He was very energetic,” Pruitt said of Jayveon. “He just loved life. He loved playing. He loved his mom, he loved his dad, he loved everybody.”
Pruitt told the station that he was still trying to come to terms with what happened to his son, saying that Burton loved the boy and took care of him.
“He was just a great kid,” Pruitt said. “He never was trouble or anything like that, so that’s why I’m just trying to see how all this happened.”
Chastidy Brown, identified as Pruitt’s paternal grandmother who also lives in Mississippi, told Atlanta radio station WSB that the little boy loved his parents and “even said he had the best mom ever.”
“That’s what’s hurting the most is because everything was so normal,” Brown said, adding that she talked to Pruitt the day before he was killed.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
