Tag: Sentencing

Oscar Pistorius denied parole | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

Disgraced South African Paralympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius was denied parole on Friday, according to local authorities who said he has yet to complete his minimum sentence.

According to South African law, inmates can be considered for parole after serving half of their sentence if they meet conditions, like good behavior in prison.

The former Olympic sprinter shot his partner Reeva Steenkamp four times through the bathroom door of his house in 2013, denying that he killed her in a fit of anger and saying instead he had mistaken her for an intruder. He was originally sentenced to 13 years and five months imprisonment.

A spokesperson for South Africa’s Correctional Services, Singabakho Nxumalo, told CNN that Pistorius’ submission for parole was not granted because he was not yet eligible – an issue clarified by the country’s top appeals court earlier this week.

“The parole board has granted Mr. Pistorius a further profile for August 2024 and the reason behind that is that Mr. Pistorius is yet to serve a minimum detention period as per the clarification order provided by the Supreme Court of Appeal, which was only provided to the department on the 28th of March 2023,” Nxumalo said.

Pistorius must now continue to serve his sentence until a new parole hearing in August 2024.

The parole board’s decision was quickly hailed by Steenkamp’s parents, who had opposed an early release, according to their lawyer.

“While we welcome today’s decision, today is not a cause for celebration. We miss Reeva terribly and will do so for the rest of our lives. We believe in justice and hope that it continues to prevail,” their lawyer Tania Koen told CNN.

In 2018, the athlete’s father Henke Pistorius told the UK’s Times newspaper that he ran bible classes and prayer groups for prisoners, including the jail’s most feared gang leader.

To be eligible for parole, Pistorius had to participate in South Africa’s “Restorative Justice” process, which gives offenders the opportunity to “acknowledge and take responsibility for their actions.”

The athlete – once feted as an inspirational figure after competing in the 2012 Olympics – became the center of a trial that was followed around the world.

During the trial, Pistorius pleaded not guilty to one charge of murder and a firearms charge associated with Steenkamp’s killing.

Prosecutors argued her killing was deliberate and that the shooting happened after the couple had an argument.

He frequently broke down in court and his past behavior was closely scrutinized.

Pistorius was convicted of manslaughter in 2014 and sentenced to five years. But a higher court overturned the conviction and changed it to murder a year later, increasing his sentence to six years in prison.

The ruling was appealed by prosecutors who claimed the sentence was too lenient. Pistorius’ sentence was increased to 13 years and five months by South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal in 2017.

[ad_2]

Source link

March 31, 2023
Convicted ISIS supporter sentenced to additional year in prison over meeting with ‘American Taliban’ John Lindh | CNN Politics

[ad_1]

CNN
—

A Virginia man convicted of providing support to ISIS in 2015 was sentenced Thursday to serve an additional year in prison for breaking his release conditions after meeting multiple times with John Walker Lindh, the so-called “American Taliban” and sharing ISIS propaganda online in encrypted chats.

In 2015, Ali Shukri Amin pleaded guilty to providing support to ISIS – posting articles on how ISIS members could avoid detection in online communications and sharing instructions on how the terrorist group could use cryptocurrency for fundraising efforts, according to the plea agreement.

Amin, who was 17 years old when he pleaded guilty, served several years in prison before being released on supervision.

According to the government, Amin broke his release conditions when he met Lindh, a convicted felon, in person several times, communicated with him and others on an unmonitored device and shared and translated ISIS propaganda online.

One file stored on his device, which Amin attempted to share with others, according to the government, contained an ISIS propaganda video showing mass beheadings and attack instructions, prosecutors said.

“Now he has a network of like-minded convicted terrorists,” prosecutors said, adding, “Mr. Amin continues to support ISIS” and “remains a danger to society.”

Amin’s attorney, Jessica Carmichael, told the court that Amin also had anti-ISIS material on his computer and said that his conversations with Lindh online were largely about job searches.

“We’re talking about having dinner with John Walker Lindh three times,” Carmichael said, noting that Lindh was also on supervision at the time of the meetings in 2021 and was being supervised by the same probation officer as Amin.

Lindh, who was released in 2019, was also on supervised release and subject to the same condition as Amin at the time of the alleged meetings, but has not been accused of violating those terms.

Amin told the court the government had used “selective quotes” that were out of context but said he regretted “my poor decisions.”

“I will do better,” he told District Judge Claude M. Hilton.

Hilton also sentenced Amin to a lifetime of supervised release.

[ad_2]

Source link

March 30, 2023
Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates clash over 1849 abortion ban in lone debate | CNN Politics

[ad_1]

CNN
—

The two candidates battling for a seat on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court clashed Tuesday over the state’s 1849 abortion ban in their lone debate, underscoring the high stakes of an election that could decide the issue in one of the nation’s most important swing states.

Former Justice Daniel Kelly, a conservative, and liberal opponent Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz will square off April 4 in an election that will decide the balance of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. In a state where control is split between a Democratic governor and a Republican-controlled legislature, the high court could decide the outcome of legal battles over the state’s abortion laws, its legislative maps and more.

The debate – the only one scheduled between Protasiewicz and Kelly – took place on the same day Wisconsin voters began casting early ballots in person.

It’s the nation’s most expensive judicial contest on record, with about $30 million already spent on advertising and counting, as there are two weeks remaining in the campaign. Wisconsin is one of 14 states in the country that directly elects Supreme Court justice in this manner.

Protasiewicz focused her attacks on Kelly on abortion, with the state’s 1849 ban on nearly all abortions currently being challenged in court and likely to land before the state Supreme Court.

“If my opponent is elected, I can tell you with 100% certainty, that 1849 abortion ban will stay on the books. I can tell you that,” Protasiewicz said in Tuesday’s debate.

She said she is “making no promises” on how she would rule on the 1849 abortion law. But she also noted her personal support for abortion rights, as well as endorsements from pro-abortion rights groups. And she pointed to Kelly’s endorsement by Wisconsin Right to Life, which opposes abortion rights.

Kelly shot back that Protasiewicz’s comments are “absolutely not true.”

“You don’t know what I’m thinking about that abortion ban,” he said. “You have no idea. These things you do not know.”

The debate took place before a crowd of about 100 people who were seated in an auditorium at the offices of the State Bar of Wisconsin in Madison. The candidates answered questions from a panel of three Wisconsin reporters as the audience watched in silence.

The rhetoric grew increasingly bitter and testy, particularly on the topics of abortion, redistricting and criminal sentencing, with the two rivals standing several feet apart on a small stage. The differences that have been aired in a multi-million television ad campaign came alive.

Kelly looked directly at his opponent and repeatedly raised pointed questions about her integrity, saying at one point: “This seems to be a pattern for you, Janet, telling lies about me.” He called her by her first name, Janet, rather than judge.

Protasiewic only occasionally looked toward her challenger, but pushed back against an allegation that she is soft on crime: “I have worked very hard to keep our community safe, each and every day I’m on the bench.”

Kelly accused Protasiewicz of handing down light sentences to violent offenders.

He cited the case of Anton Veasley, who in 2021 was convicted of child enticement and third degree sexual assault and was released after Protasiewicz stayed his five-year prison sentence with four years of probation, giving him credit for 417 days he’d already spent in jail.

“We look at the sentencing she has composed and the reasoning she used to reach those conclusions, and that’s just irresponsible to allow dangerous convicted criminals back out so easily with no repercussions into the communities they just got done victimizing,” Kelly said.

Protasiewicz acknowledged that “hindsight is 20/20.” But she said Kelly was mischaracterizing her record.

“I have sentenced thousands of people. And it’s interesting that a handful of cases have been cherry-picked and selected and twisted, and insufficient facts have been provided to the electorate,” she said.

[ad_2]

Source link

March 23, 2023
Your Trump questions answered. Yes, he can still run for president if indicted | CNN Politics
[ad_1]
A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.

CNN
—

Could he still run for president? Why would the adult-film star case move before any of the ones about protecting democracy? How could you possibly find an impartial jury?

What’s below are answers to some of the questions we’ve been getting – versions of these were emailed in by subscribers of the What Matters newsletter – about the possible indictment of former President Donald Trump.

He’s involved in four different criminal investigations by three different levels of government – the Manhattan district attorney; the Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney; and the Department of Justice.

These questions are mostly concerned with Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s potential indictment of Trump over a hush-money payment scheme, but many could apply to each investigation.

The most-asked question is also the easiest to answer.

Yes, absolutely.

“Nothing stops Trump from running while indicted, or even convicted,” the University of California, Los Angeles law professor Richard Hasen told me in an email.

The Constitution requires only three things of candidates. They must be:
A natural born citizen.

At least 35 years old.

A resident of the US for at least 14 years.
As a political matter, it’s maybe more difficult for an indicted candidate, who could become a convicted criminal, to win votes. Trials don’t let candidates put their best foot forward. But it is not forbidden for them to run or be elected.

There are a few asterisks both in the Constitution and the 14th and 22nd Amendments, none of which currently apply to Trump in the cases thought to be closest to formal indictment.

Term limits. The 22nd Amendment forbids anyone who has twice been president (meaning twice been elected or served part of someone else’s term and then won his or her own) from running again. That doesn’t apply to Trump since he lost the 2020 election.

Impeachment. If a person is impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate of high crimes and misdemeanors, he or she is removed from office and disqualified from serving again. Trump, although twice impeached by the House during his presidency, was also twice acquitted by the Senate.

Disqualification. The 14th Amendment includes a “disqualification clause,” written specifically with an eye toward former Confederate soldiers.

It reads:

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.

Potential charges in New York City with regard to the hush-money payment to an adult-film star have nothing to do with rebellion or insurrection. Nor do potential federal charges with regard to classified documents.

Potential charges in Fulton County, Georgia, with regard to 2020 election meddling or at the federal level with regard to the January 6, 2021, insurrection could perhaps be construed by some as a form of insurrection. But that is an open question that would have to work its way through the courts. The 2024 election is fast approaching.

If he was convicted of a felony – reminder, he has not yet even been charged – in New York, Trump would be barred from voting in his adoptive home state of Florida, at least until he had served out a potential sentence.

First off, there’s no suggestion of any coordination between the Manhattan DA, the Department of Justice and the Fulton County DA.

These are all separate investigations on separate issues moving at their own pace.

The payment to the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels occurred years ago in 2016. Trump has argued the statute of limitations has run out. Lawyers could argue the clock stopped when Trump left New York to become president in 2017.

It’s also not clear how exactly a state crime (falsifying business records) can be paired with a federal election crime to create a state felony. There are some very deep legal dives into this, like this one from Just Security. We will have to see what, if anything, Bragg adds if he does bring an indictment.

Of the four known criminal investigations into Trump, falsifying business records with regard to the hush-money payment to an adult-film actress seems like the smallest of potatoes, especially since federal prosecutors decided not to charge him when he left office.

His finances, subject of a long-running investigation, seem like a bigger deal. But the Manhattan DA decided not to criminally charge Trump with regard to tax crimes. Trump has been sued by the New York attorney general in civil court based on some of that evidence.

Investigations in Georgia with regard to election meddling and by the Justice Department with regard to January 6 and his treatment of classified data also seem more consequential.

But these cases are being pursued by different entities at different paces in different governments – New York City; Fulton County, Georgia; and the federal government.

“I do think that the charges are much more serious against Trump related to the election,” Hasen said in his email. “But falsifying business records can also be a crime. (I’m more skeptical about combining that in a state court with a federal campaign finance violation.)”

One federal law enforcement source told CNN’s John Miller over the weekend that Trump’s Secret Service detail is actively engaged with authorities in New York City about how this arrest process would work if Trump is ultimately indicted.

It’s usually a routine process of fingerprinting, a mug shot and an arraignment. It would not likely be a public event and clearly his protective detail would move through the building with Trump.

New York does not release most mug shots after a 2019 law intended to cut down on online extortion.

As Trump is among the most divisive and now well-known Americans in history, it’s hard to believe there’s a big, impartial jury pool out there.

The Sixth Amendment guarantees “the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed.”

Finding such a jury “won’t be easy given the intense passions on both sides that he engenders,” Hasen said.

A Quinnipiac University poll conducted in March asked for registered voters’ opinion of Trump. Just 2% said they hadn’t heard enough about him to say.

The New York State Unified Court System’s trial juror’s handbook explains the “voir dire” process by which jurors are selected. Those accepted by both the prosecution and defense as being free of “bias or personal knowledge that could hinder his or her ability to judge a case impartially” must take an oath to act fairly and impartially.

We’re getting way ahead of ourselves. He hasn’t been indicted, much less tried or convicted. Any indictment, even for a Class E felony in New York, would be for the kind of nonviolent offense that would not lead to jail time for any defendant.

“I don’t expect Trump to be put in jail if he is indicted for any of these charges,” Hasen said. “Jail time would only come if he were convicted and sentenced to jail time.”

The idea that Trump would ever see the inside of a jail cell still seems completely far-fetched. Hasen said the Secret Service would have to arrange for his protection in jail. The logistics of that are mind-boggling. Would agents be placed into cells on either side of him? Would they dress as inmates or guards?

Top officials accused of wrongdoing have historically found a way out of jail. Former President Richard Nixon got a preemptive pardon from his successor, Gerald Ford. Nixon’s previous vice president, Spiro Agnew, resigned after he was caught up in a corruption scandal. Agnew made a plea deal and avoided jail time. Aaron Burr, also a former vice president, narrowly escaped a treason conviction. But then he left the country.

That remains to be seen. Jonathan Wackrow, a former Secret Service agent and current global head of security for Teneo, said on CNN on Monday that agents are taking a back seat – to the New York Police Department and New York State court officers who are in charge of maintaining order and safety, and to the FBI, which looks for potential acts of violence by extremists.

The Secret Service, far from coordinating the event as they might normally, are “in a protective mode,” Wackrow said.

“They are viewing this as really an administrative movement where they have to protect Donald Trump from point A to point B, let him do his business before the court, and leave. They are not playing that active role that we typically see them in.”

The New York Times published a report based on anonymous sources close to Trump on Tuesday that suggested he is, either out of bravado or genuine delight, relishing the idea of having to endure a “perp walk” in New York City. The “perp walk,” by the way, is the public march of a perpetrator into a police office for processing.

“He has repeatedly tried to show that he is not experiencing shame or hiding in any way, and I think you’re going to see that,” the Times reporter and CNN political analyst Maggie Haberman said on the network on Tuesday night.

“I do think there’s a part of him that does view this as a political asset,” said Marc Short, the former chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence, during an appearance on CNN on Wednesday. “Because he can use it to paint the other, more serious legal jeopardy he faces either in Georgia or the Department of Justice, as they’re politically motivated.”

But Short argued voters will tire of the baggage Trump is carrying, particularly if he faces additional potential indictments in the federal and Georgia investigations.
[ad_2]

Source link
March 22, 2023
UN and US join chorus of condemnation against Uganda’s hardline anti-LGBT bill | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

The United Nations and United States on Wednesday added to international outrage over a hardline bill passed by Ugandan lawmakers that criminalizes simply identifying as LGBTQ+, prescribes a life sentence for convicted homosexuals and a death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.”

The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights asked Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni not to sign the bill passed by lawmakers on Tuesday. Volker Türk called the Anti Homosexuality Bill 2023 “draconian,” saying it would have negative repercussions on society as a whole and violates the nation’s constitution.

“The passing of this discriminatory bill – probably among the worst of its kind in the world – is a deeply troubling development,” said a statement from Türk’s office.

“If signed into law by the President, it will render lesbian, gay and bisexual people in Uganda criminals simply for existing, for being who they are. It could provide carte blanche for the systematic violation of nearly all of their human rights and serve to incite people against each other.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken slammed the bill, which would “undermine fundamental human rights of all Ugandans and could reverse gains in the fight against HIV/AIDS,” he tweeted on Wednesday. “We urge the Ugandan Government to strongly reconsider the implementation of this legislation.”

US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield spoke twice this week with Museveni to express “deep concern” about the legislation, a US official told CNN Wednesday.

The new legislation constitutes a further crackdown on LGBTQ+ people in a country where same-sex relations were already illegal – punishable by life imprisonment. It targets an array of activities, and includes a ban on promoting and abetting homosexuality as well as conspiracy to engage in homosexuality.

According to the bill, the death penalty can be invoked for cases involving “aggravated homosexuality” – a broad term used in the legislation to describe sex acts committed without consent or under duress, against children, people with mental or physical disabilities, by a “serial offender,” or involving incest.

The bill must now go to Museveni for assent. Last week he derided homosexuals as “deviants.”

Uganda made headlines in 2009 when it introduced an anti-homosexuality bill that included a death sentence for gay sex.

The country’s lawmakers passed a bill in 2014, but they replaced the death penalty clause with a proposal for life in prison. That law was ultimately struck down.

The new bill has wide public support in the highly conservative and religious East African nation, where anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment is deeply entrenched.

But it has drawn strong criticism from civil society groups and LGBTQ+ activists. “It is another way of using the law to punish people who cause no harm but for being who they are,” said a tweet from Pan Africa ILGA.

“As a community, partners and allies, we’ll do everything to ensure that the constitutional rights that are given to the LGBTI community are met and the legal provisions that are available for us will definitely be looked into if the president assents to this bill and it gets to be law,” activist Richard Lusimbo told CNN.

Pepe Onziema, a transgender LGBTQ rights activist and program director of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), a non-governmental organization for LGBTQ rights, whose operations were shut by authorities last year, told CNN members of the community were now living in fear.

“We’ve been having quite excruciating anxiety from the threats of the bill. And now that it has actually passed in Parliament, the (LGBTQ) community is quite in fear,” Onziema said. “There’s a large community of LGBTQ persons in the country, so we can’t just give up. We’ll find different ways of working. We might not be as visible as we’ve been because there are attacks online as well.”

African Rainbow Family, a UK-based charity that supports LGBTQ+ Africans seeking refuge in the UK, described the bill as an “assault” and “persecution” of Uganda’s LGBTQ community.

“African Rainbow Family condemns in its entirety, the passing of the Ugandan ‘Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023’ into law. The law is a violation of the fundamental human rights of LGBTIQ people in Uganda.

“African Rainbow Family sees this law as again, an assault and added layer of State and non-State agents’ persecution of Ugandan LGBTIQ community,” it told CNN.

Feminist writer and Human Rights Activist Rosebell Kagumire told CNN the new legislation could have other consequences beyond human rights violation.

“Seeking to strip LGBTQIA persons of their whole humanity, it extends to deny them housing, education and health care. In a country where AIDS is still an epidemic and men who have sex with men and trans women (and) sex workers are still faced with higher incidence, this law will criminalize health care provision and defeat the whole struggle to end AIDS,” Kagumire said.

For human rights lawyer Sarah Kihika Kasande, “If President Museveni assents to the bill, it will authorize state-sanctioned attacks and persecution against LGBTQ persons.”

Seeking refuge elsewhere might be the “last resort” for some members of Uganda’s LGBTQ community, Onziema says.

“Asylum is sort of a last resort for us, but for people who are really under a lot of threat and feel that they can’t live here anymore, as a leader in this community, I would definitely support them to seek refuge elsewhere.

“But it’s difficult to seek asylum, especially as a Black queer person. Your chances are sort of narrowed down even further. But I believe that the few people who are looking at that as an option, we are hoping that the countries that they choose to go to for refuge will actually accept them and not further marginalize them,” he told CNN.

[ad_2]

Source link

March 22, 2023
New Mexico governor signs bill ending juvenile life sentences without parole | CNN Politics

[ad_1]

CNN
—

New Mexico Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a bill into law Friday that prohibits sentencing juvenile offenders to life in prison without eligibility for parole.

Under SB64, the No Life Sentences for Juveniles Act, offenders who committed crimes when they were younger than 18 and received life sentences will be eligible for parole hearings 15 to 25 years into their sentences, depending on the conviction, according to the state’s legislative website.

The legislation also applies to juveniles who were found guilty of first-degree murder even if they were tried as adults. If any juvenile offender is denied parole, they will “be entitled to a parole hearing at two-year intervals,” according to the bill.

New Mexico joins a slew of states that have enacted similar sentencing measures following a 2021 Supreme Court ruling that made it easier for those who committed their crimes when they were younger than 18 to be sentenced to prison for life without parole.

“When children commit serious crimes, they should be held accountable, but they should not spend their entire lives in prison without a chance for redemption,” said Democratic state Sen. Kristina Ortez, one of the bill’s sponsors, in a Facebook post.

But Republican state lawmakers have argued that the bill will let juvenile offenders get away with serious crimes.

State Rep. John Block, a Republican, introduced an amendment to exclude perpetrators of mass shootings that did not make it into the final text, he said in a tweet. Other amendments suggested by Republicans that were also left out, according to Block, were an increase in parole timelines and the exclusion of rapists.

The legislation passed the state Senate in late February with bipartisan support, and passed in the House earlier this week along party lines.

Illinois also passed a bill last month banning juvenile life sentences without parole. At least 24 other states and Washington, DC, have similar laws, according to the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, a nonprofit advocacy organization.

The issue has been in the national spotlight in recent years as a result of several state laws and Supreme Court rulings.

The high court’s April 2021 opinion overturned its 2012 ruling that such sentences violated the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. In 2010, the Supreme Court held that the Constitution prohibits life without parole for offenders who were under 18 and committed non-homicide offenses.

[ad_2]

Source link

March 18, 2023
Texas veteran who entered Senate chamber in military gear on January 6 sentenced to two years in prison | CNN Politics

[ad_1]

CNN
—

A US Air Force veteran who entered the Senate chambers in military gear during the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol was sentenced on Friday to two years in prison.

Larry Brock, 55, was found guilty on six charges, including the felony of obstruction of an official proceeding, during a bench trial in November 2022.

“It’s really pretty astounding coming from a former high-ranked military officer. It’s astounding and atrocious,” US District Judge John Bates said Friday as he explained his sentence.

According to prosecutors, Brock walked around the Senate chamber for eight minutes during the Capitol attack, rifling through senators’ desks while wearing a helmet, tactical vest and carrying plastic flex-cuffs he found in the Rotunda that day.

Prosecutors also allege that Brock attempted to unlock a door that was used minutes earlier by then-Vice President Mike Pence.

“Brock was a part of a larger mob that stopped the proceeding from taking place,” prosecutor April Ayers-Perez said during sentencing. “They were continuing to stop the proceeding just by being there. Brock was on the Senate floor where they were supposed to be debating Arizona at that very moment.”

During sentencing, the government also said Brock used extreme rhetoric following the results of the 2020 election. The judge read some of Brock’s social media posts during the hearing, including one that said: “I bought myself body armor and a helmet for a civil war that is coming.”

“I think it’s fair to say his rhetoric is on the far end of how extreme it is,” Bates said.

The judge went on to emphasize the seriousness of the Capitol attack before imposing a sentence. “The conduct we are talking about, the events of January 6, were extremely serious. Extremely serious,” he said. “It was a mob, engaged in a riot, and all of that has to be taken serious by the criminal justice system.”

Brock did not address the court at the advice of his defense attorney, Charles Burnham.

“He’d love to address the court, but since we are planning on appealing, I’ve asked him to not address the court,” Burnham said.

[ad_2]

Source link

March 18, 2023
Former UGA football star Jalen Carter sentenced to probation in crash that killed teammate and team staffer | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

Former University of Georgia football standout Jalen Carter was sentenced to probation on Thursday for his role in the January crash that killed his teammate and a team staffer.

The crash happened hours after the Bulldogs’ national championship victory parade.

Carter entered pleas of no contest Thursday to charges of racing and reckless driving, according to his attorney, Kim Stephens.

Carter was then sentenced to 12 months of probation, a $1,000 fine and 50 hours of community service and completion of a state-approved defensive driving course, the attorney said.

“Mr. Carter is happy and relieved to get this matter behind him, so now he can do what he needs to do for the NFL draft,” the lawyer said.

“He continues to grieve for the loss of his friends,” Stephens added.

Athens-Clarke County Solicitor General Will Fleenor confirmed the sentence and said Carter’s privilege to drive in Georgia has been suspended for 120 days.

Fleenor, in a statement, acknowledged questions about the severity of the charges and “whether more serious offenses occurred.” He said law enforcement officers evaluated the appropriateness of more serious charges.

“However, after consultation with the District Attorney’s Office, the Solicitor’s Office, and the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council, based on the evidence and applicable laws in this case, it was determined that the appropriate charges were the two traffic offenses that were resolved in court this morning,” the statement said.

Carter has been projected as a top pick in the NFL draft next month.

CNN has reached out to Athens Solicitor’s Office for comment.

Carter’s teammate Devin Willock and football team staff member Chandler LeCroy were killed in the January 15 crash, which happened hours after the team participated in a parade through campus to celebrate its second consecutive national title.

Carter turned himself in at the Athens-Clarke County Jail earlier this month on charges of reckless driving and racing.

LeCroy was driving a Ford SUV near the campus with Willock and two other members of the football program also in the vehicle, police said. The SUV was traveling “about 104 miles per hour” before it veered off the road and slammed into two power poles and several trees, Athens-Clarke County police said.

Authorities said Carter was driving a separate vehicle and he and LeCroy appeared to be racing.

Police said “both vehicles switched between lanes, drove in the center turn lane, drove in opposite lanes of travel, overtook other motorists, and drove at high rates of speed, in an apparent attempt to outdistance each other.”

Toxicology results show LeCroy, who was driving a university vehicle not authorized for use at the time of the crash, had a blood alcohol concentration of .197 – more than twice the legal limit in Georgia, police said.

Willock was ejected and died at the scene and LeCroy died at a local hospital. The two other passengers in the vehicle were injured, officials said.

Carter was a key part of Georgia’s vaunted defense that allowed the fewest rushing yards per game (77.1) in 2022 and was named to several All-America teams.

More than four months before the fatal crash, Carter had been issued three traffic citations – including one for speeding at nearly twice the legal limit, according to documents and body camera video obtained by CNN from the Athens-Clarke County Police Department.

On September 22, Carter was stopped for speeding. An officer is heard on body camera footage telling him that he was “reckless,” and issued three traffic tickets

One ticket showed Carter was driving at 89 mph in a 45 mph zone. A second ticket cited him for having “material affixed” to his car which “obstructs vision.” A third citation was for an illegal windshield tint.

Bodycam video from the stop showed Carter in the driver’s seat of a Black Jeep. The officer held up a radar gun showing a speed of 89 mph, according to the video.

Carter is seen on video, expressionless, as the officer named two other UGA athletes who he said he had recently stopped.

“Y’all need to slow down dude,” the officer is heard telling Carter, who didn’t respond.

“Look I don’t know if y’all need to send out a text or something to other teammates, but slow down,” the officer said, adding, “That was reckless.”

“When you’re around your teammates, tell them to slow down,” the officer said.

The officer then tested the tint on Carter’s vehicle – which he said is illegal in the state of Georgia. “The front windshield can’t have nothing on it. No material on it whatsoever, OK?”

“Your break is you’re not going to jail. That’s your break. Because that would make all kinds of news, alright?” the officer is heard telling Carter in the footage.

The player smiled nervously. “You’re getting a ticket for speeding,” the officer said.

The officer added, “Slow down OK. That’s all I ask.”

[ad_2]

Source link

March 16, 2023
Ohio man who falsely claimed to be Ghanaian prince sentenced to 20 years in prison | CNN Politics

[ad_1]

CNN
—

An Ohio man was sentenced to 20 years in prison Wednesday for pretending to be a Ghanaian prince and swindling more than a dozen victims out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Daryl Robert Harrison, who went by Prince Daryl R. Attipoe and Prophet Daryl R. Attipoe, conned at least 14 people out of more than $800,000 according to evidence shown at his trial.

Harrison was convicted in September of mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and witness tampering.

For several years, Harrison stole money from people who believed they were investing in African mining and trucking companies, prosecutors said. Harrison falsely claimed that he was a prince from Ghana and had connections to those companies, according to the Justice Department.

Several of Harrison’s victims were congregants of the Power House of Prayer Ministries, where Harrison and his stepfather claimed they were ministers. According to prosecutors, Harrison and his stepfather used the investment money for personal expenses, including renting a house in Colorado and purchasing luxury cars.

District Judge Michael J. Newman gave Harrison the maximum sentence allowed under the law – 20 years behind bars – more than the 14-year sentence prosecutors had asked for.

“Each of the Defendant’s fraud crimes were committed in a cold, calculated and premeditated fashion,” prosecutors wrote in court filings, describing Harrison as an “extremely selfcentered, self-possessed sociopath who has no respect for societal rules or norms, and further lacks any empathy or sympathy for his victims” that “intimidated and threatened his victims to establish and maintain control over them.”

Harrison had asked the judge for a much lower sentence, highlighting supportive letters written by parishioners and family members. Harrison’s defense attorney also noted that his wife, who is taking care of their six children, is battling stage IV cancer.

Harrison’s stepfather, Robert Shelly Harrison, Jr., pleaded guilty to one felony charge in December. He will be sentenced later this month.

[ad_2]

Source link

March 15, 2023
Mississippi man sentenced to more than 3 years in prison for burning a cross to intimidate Black family | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

A Mississippi man has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for burning a cross in his front yard to intimidate a Black family, according to a news release from the US Justice Department.

Axel Cox, 24, was sentenced to 42 months in connection to the cross burning, which happened in December 2020 and violated the Fair Housing Act, the release said, adding Cox “admitted that he lit the cross on fire because the victims were Black and that he intended to scare them into moving out of the neighborhood.”

Justice Department leaders condemned Cox’s actions, with Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division calling them “an abhorrent act that used a traditional symbol of hatred and violence to stoke fear and drive a Black family out of their home.”

According to the Justice Department, Cox “wedged two pieces of wood together to form a cross, placed it in clear view of the victims’ residence,” following a dispute with the victims and “doused it in oil and set it alight. During this incident, Cox yelled threats and racial slurs toward the occupants of the house.”

In September 2022, a federal grand jury indicted Cox for interfering with the victims’ housing rights and using fire to commit a federal felony. An attorney for Cox, who did not immediately response to a request for comment Sunday, filed a notice of intent to change his plea in November 2022, and court documents indicate Cox pleaded guilty to the first count.

Cox’s prison term is set to be followed by three years of supervised release, per the Justice Department. He was also ordered to pay $7,810 in restitution.

“While one might think cross-burnings and white supremacist threats and violence are things of the past, the unfortunate reality is that these incidents continue today,” Clarke said.

“This sentence demonstrates the importance of holding people accountable for threatening the safety and security of Black people in their homes because of the color of their skin or where they are from.”

[ad_2]

Source link

March 12, 2023
The 3 White men who killed Ahmaud Arbery are appealing their federal hate crime convictions. 2 of them say race didn’t play a role in their actions | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

The three White men who killed Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black jogger, are appealing their federal hate crime convictions, with two of the three arguing the government did not prove they chased the young man because of his race.

The men’s attorneys, who filed the appeals earlier this month, all asked for an opportunity to present their case in court.

Travis McMichael, his father Gregory McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan were found guilty of murder in a Georgia court in 2021 and sentenced to life in prison.

In their federal trial that followed, all three were found guilty of interference of rights, a federal hate crime, and attempted kidnapping, while the McMichaels were also each convicted on a weapons charge. The father and son were sentenced to life in prison and Bryan was sentenced to 35 years, to be served at the same time as his state sentence.

In their appeals, the elder McMichael and Bryan both challenge whether prosecutors proved the men acted the way they did “because of” Arbery’s race and color. Travis McMichael’s appeal instead focused on more technical matters to do his convictions of attempted kidnapping and weapons use charges.

“The evidence against Bryan did not present a man who saw the world through a prism of racism. He was not obsessed with African Americans such as his codefendant Travis McMichael,” Defense attorney J. Pete Theodocion, who filed an appeal on behalf of Bryan, wrote in the filing.

“There is simply not sufficient evidence in the record to suggest Bryan would have acted any differently on the day in question had Arbery been white, Hispanic, Asian or other,” the attorney wrote. “Every crime committed against an African American is not a hate crime. Every crime committed against an African American by a man who has used racist language in the past is not a hate crime.”

See the moment judge holds moment of silence for Ahmaud Arbury

Arbery was shot dead on February 23, 2020, while he was out on a jog – something he was known to do, according to his loved ones – in the Satilla Shores neighborhood, outside the city of Brunswick in south Georgia.

Video of the fatal shooting sparked nationwide outrage after it was released in May 2020, weeks before the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis that set off a summer of widespread protests against racial injustice.

The federal trial of the three men featured testimony from witnesses who spoke about racist messages the men used.

The remarks witnesses shared in court, which had been made privately and publicly, revealed the men talked about Black people in derogatory terms and used racial slurs in conversations with others – key evidence prosecutors used to prove they acted out of racial animus.

Defense attorneys during the trial acknowledged their clients used racist language but denied that’s what motivated their actions.

[ad_2]

Source link

March 10, 2023
Alex Murdaugh’s risky testimony ultimately brought him down | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

Convicted former attorney Alex Murdaugh’s decision to take the stand at his double murder trial was not entirely surprising given his family’s legal legacy stretching back to the early 1900s in coastal South Carolina.

But legal experts say it was ultimately a costly maneuver for the scion of the well-connected Murdaugh clan, which prosecuted crime for three successive generations across the state’s rural low country.

“Being a skilled attorney, I think he thought he could outsmart the jurors,” attorney and legal affairs commentator Areva Martin said.

On Friday, one week after Murdaugh, 54, spent hours on the witness stand trying to convince a jury of his innocence, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders of his wife and son.

“He had to testify. There were too many lies,” CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson said Saturday. “Obviously the jury felt that he was conning them.”

Murdaugh’s biggest lie perhaps was denying for a year and half that he was anywhere near his wife, Maggie, and 22-year-old son, Paul, when they were fatally shot on the family’s Islandton property on June 7, 2021.

On the stand, Murdaugh maintained he didn’t kill them but found their bodies after returning from a brief visit to his sick mother that night.

A key piece of evidence came from Paul Murdaugh, who recorded a video moments before he was gunned down and killed. It showed a family dog near the kennels on the property. It also captured his father’s voice in the background, placing Alex Murdaugh at the scene of the crime.

The video, which Murdaugh didn’t know existed before the trial, eliminated his alibi. The longtime lawyer took the stand in a courthouse where a portrait of Murdaugh’s grandfather had adorned a wall before the trial. He sought to explain why he lied about his whereabouts.

“He had never faced accountability in his life and had always been able to escape that – and that was more important to him than anything,” lead prosecutor Creighton Waters told CNN.

“That’s why I was always convinced that he would testify in this case. That he was assured that he could talk his way out of it one more time. Not out of all the trouble but certainly talk his way out of this. Obviously the jury saw otherwise.”

Within moments of taking the stand, Murdaugh acknowledged his voice is heard in the video that appeared to be taken at the dog kennels where the bodies were found, saying he lied to investigators about being there earlier that evening because of “paranoid thinking” stemming from his drug addiction.

Over the course of the trial, numerous witnesses identified Murdaugh’s voice in the background of the footage. But Murdaugh was emphatic that he “didn’t shoot my wife or my son. Anytime. Ever.”

Craig Moyer, a juror who helped convict Murdaugh on Thursday, told ABC News it took the panel less than an hour to reach a unanimous decision.

The video was crucial.

“I could hear his voice clearly,” Moyer told ABC. “And everybody else could too.”

Murdaugh was “a good liar,” Moyer said, “but not good enough.”

Moyer told ABC he “didn’t see any true remorse or compassion” from Murdaugh. On the stand, Murdaugh “didn’t cry,” Moyer said. “All he did was blow snot.”

Waters said he simply wanted to get Murdaugh talking during cross examination. And he did.

“We have to remember this guy was an experienced lawyer,” Waters said. “He’s a part-time assistant solicitor and there’s 100 years of prosecution legacy in his family… I felt like he believed he could look at that jury and really convince them. But I felt if I got him talking he would eventually lie and they would get to see that in real time.”

Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian defended the decision to let Murdaugh testify, saying his credibility was under question because of financial wrongdoings. He said the defense team plans to appeal the sentence within 10 days.

In a separate case that has not yet gone to trial, Murdaugh faces 99 charges stemming from a slew of alleged financial crimes, including defrauding his clients, former law firm and the government of millions.

“Once they got that character information – ‘he’s a thief, he’s a liar’ – then this jury had to think that he’s a despicable human being, and not to be believed,” Harpootlian told reporters after sentencing, referring to evidence about the financial crimes introduced at the murder trial. Murdaugh, he added, always wanted to take the stand.

Harpootlian told CNN it was “inexplicable that he would execute his son and his wife in that fashion, in my mind.”

Another defense lawyer, Jim Griffin, said putting Murdaugh on the stand showed the jury his client’s “emotions about Maggie and Paul, which are very raw and real.”

Still, putting Murdaugh on the stand was a risky move, according to legal experts.

“His testimony was very poor. In fact, I think it was borderline atrocious,” jury consultant Alan Tuerkheimer told CNN. “Jurors don’t like it when witnesses are being questioned and they don’t answer and what he kept doing continually was going beyond the scope of the questions.”

Tuerkheimer added that Murdaugh “kept trying to interject his own narrative. He was evasive, I thought he prevaricated a lot and his testimony was self serving and jurors do not like that. He should have stuck to quick yes or no answers when he was being crossed.”

Tuerkheimer also questioned the effectiveness of Murdaugh frequently referring to his dead wife and son as “Mags” and “Paul Paul.”

“It’s effective if it’s genuine and it just did not come off as genuine. Look, lawyers love to testify. They use words to persuade people. And once he was on the stand, he just couldn’t contain himself,” Tuerkheimer said of Murdaugh.

“And when he was using those terms in trying to endear himself with the jury, they just didn’t think that it was authentic. They rejected it and it was a Hail Mary that he had to testify. And, like most Hail Marys, it didn’t work.”

On Thursday, after more than a month and dozens of witnesses, the jury convicted Murdaugh of two counts of murder in the June 2021 killings, as well as two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

The next day, after his sentencing, Murdaugh – wearing a brown jumpsuit and handcuffs – was escorted out of a courthouse that once symbolized his family’s history of power and privilege in the region.

“For him the chance of convincing one or two jurors that he might be a liar, he might be a thief, but he’s not a killer, was worth taking that risk,” defense attorney Misty Marris told CNN Saturday. “But in my opinion, the testimony was what actually sunk him.”

[ad_2]

Source link

March 5, 2023
Why Biden flipped a 180 on DC’s ability to self-govern | CNN Politics

[ad_1]

A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.

CNN
—

President Joe Biden is siding with Republicans and moderate Democrats to slap down local leaders of Washington, DC, as they try to update a 100-year-old criminal code that is showing its age.

Progressive Democrats are furious about the message this sends on criminal justice reform, and some DC residents feel betrayed by the president who lives in their midst.

But the headline version of this story, while it neatly fits the Republican political narrative that American cities are crime-infested and rotting, is incomplete.

Except for Biden’s move betraying DC residents who want to govern themselves. That part is hard to argue with.

The basic points are these:

DC’s local government has been trying for years to update its antiquated criminal code, much of which was written before anyone alive today was born.

For more on just how old and bizarre some of DC’s criminal laws sound today, I recommend reading this story from DCist’s Martin Austermuhle. He mentions laws about archaic stickball games being played in the city’s streets and regulating the movement of livestock through the city.

The criminal code reform passed by DC’s city council would have ended many mandatory minimum sentences and lowered sentence maximums, even for violent crimes like carjackings.

The updates have split local leaders on the council, which is dominated by Democrats. The most notable opponent of the new criminal code is DC’s Democratic mayor Muriel Bowser, no ally of national Republicans. In fact, DC’s council overrode her veto of the proposal earlier this year.

Bowser agrees with most of the measures but has questioned the lowering of some maximum sentences and greatly increasing the number of jury trials.

A special commission that has been working for years on the new code has argued the new maximum sentences are more in line with sentences that judges actually impose. Bowser has argued that lowering the maximum will lead judges to impose lower sentences too.

While Democrats want to make DC a state, the Constitution gives Congress control over the federal district that houses the seat of the US government.

Republicans in Congress, joined by some Democrats, have vowed to use their power over the capital city to throw out the criminal code reform.

Under the home rule law that gave DC’s local government more autonomy back in the ’70s, Congress can review legislation passed by the city council, and simple majorities can reject anything.

The House, in a bipartisan but mostly Republican vote, rejected DC’s new criminal code in a vote last month. The Senate could vote next week, and with Democrats like Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia on board, is on track to reject the new criminal code.

Biden could allow the new criminal code to take effect by vetoing the measure running through Congress. It would only take 34 Democrats to sustain the veto. Instead, he’s made it clear he’ll kill the new criminal code reform.

Here’s how Biden explained his position in a tweet, as noted in the last edition of What Matters, but which is no less hard to follow today:

I support D.C. Statehood and home-rule – but I don’t support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayor’s objections – such as lowering penalties for carjackings.

If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did – I’ll sign it.

If you are confused about how a person can both be for home rule and yet willing to side with his normal political enemies to not let DC rule itself, you’re starting to understand why this move feels to a lot of Democrats like a betrayal.

“Any effort to overturn the District of Columbia’s democratically enacted laws degrades the right of its nearly 700,000 residents and elected officials to self-govern,” said the district’s attorney general Brian Schwalb in a statement.

It’s all created a weird situation where Bowser, the mayor, opposes both the council’s new criminal code and Biden’s decision to kill it.

“Until we are the 51st state, we live with that indignity,” Bowser told the local NPR station WAMU, referencing the “effects of limited home rule.”

Two words: Lori Lightfoot. She’s the Chicago mayor who was unceremoniously defeated in her reelection campaign when she finished third in voting this week. The main issue in the campaign was crime and controlling it, a turnaround from four years ago when Lightfoot was elected on promises to pursue police reform.

Crime is turning into a potent issue in local city elections, and Republicans are primed to use it against Democrats in the coming presidential election.

CNN’s Kyle Feldscher, Manu Raju and Kevin Liptak write that Biden’s move “reflects a rising desire among more moderate Democratic lawmakers to avoid being seen as soft on crime.”

They note that Biden was actually for home rule before his decision to oppose the reform of DC’s criminal code. The official statement laying out his administration’s policy said Congress should respect DC’s autonomy.

Even Sen. Tom Carper, the Delaware Democrat who in January reintroduced a bill to grant DC statehood, would not call out Biden for rejecting the decision of DC’s city council.

Carper appeared on CNN on Friday morning and made clear he would support Biden’s decision to side with Republicans and throw out the new criminal code.

“What needs to happen here is the Washington, DC, council and the mayor need to work together,” Carper said. “The criminal code hasn’t been updated for 100 years. They didn’t get it entirely right when they went through the exercises over the last year.”

[ad_2]

Source link

March 4, 2023
Two men sentenced to probation after bringing guns to 2020 vote count site in Philadelphia | CNN Politics

[ad_1]

CNN
—

Two men were sentenced Wednesday to two years of probation after being convicted of bringing guns to a Philadelphia vote counting center while 2020 presidential votes were being tallied.

Antonio LaMotta, 63, and Joshua Macias, 44, both of Virginia, were found guilty in October of two counts each of Violations of the Uniform Firearms Act. The two approached the Pennsylvania Convention Center on November 5, 2020, with firearms while election workers inside were counting votes for the 2020 presidential election, according to evidence at trial. LaMotta and Macias were also sentenced to prison time that had been served prior to sentencing.

Court of Common Pleas Judge Lucretia Clemons emphasized to LaMotta and Macias during the sentencing that while on their probation they are not allowed to possess any guns – even though they live in a different state.

“That means I do not want to see you on social media with a gun. I don’t want to see you in a car with a gun. There are no guns while you are on my supervision. I do that with every single gun case that comes before me,” Clemons said.

Macias apologized to the judge, saying, “I will make sure this type of situation will never happen again.”

LaMotta did not address the court, but his lawyer Lauren Wimmer suggested to the judge that her client was being targeted for his political views – an allegation prosecutors vehemently denied.

Following their conviction in October 2022, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said in a statement that LaMotta and Macias’ actions would serve as a lesson.

“Let this be a lesson not to illegally bring firearms to Philly’s elections. If you commit a crime while seeking to undermine people’s right to vote, and to have their votes appropriately counted, you will be held accountable,” Krasner said.

LaMotta has also been charged with four misdemeanor counts for his alleged participation in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. He has pleaded not guilty.

[ad_2]

Source link

March 2, 2023
A man already serving 3 life sentences for murder has been charged in 2004 homicide cold case | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

A man serving life sentences for three 2005 Las Vegas-area murders has now been charged in a 2004 killing there, authorities said Thursday.

Investigators determined Norman Flowers, 48, is a suspect in the 2004 death of Keysha Brown after they asked for more forensic testing during a July 2022 cold-case review of the killing, Las Vegas police said Thursday.

The police department’s forensic laboratory in December gave detectives a report “confirming … Flowers was the suspect” in Brown’s death, police said in a news release.

Details about what the forensic testing entailed or why any such testing didn’t help identify a suspect years ago weren’t immediately available. CNN has sought comment from Las Vegas police.

Flowers has been charged with open murder and sexual assault in the 2004 case, according to court records and police.

Flowers is serving three life sentences at Nevada’s High Desert State Prison on convictions of first-degree murder in the 2005 killings of three women in the Las Vegas area: Sheila Quarles, Marilee Coote and Rena Gonzalez, authorities said.

Brown was found dead a few blocks east of the area’s famous strip of casino hotels and miles south of downtown Las Vegas on October 19, 2004, police said.

Brown had been stabbed, beaten, strangled and sexually assaulted, police said.

At the time, detectives couldn’t identify a suspect, police said.

Police have not said whether they know of a motive in Brown’s death.

As for Flowers’ open murder charge: In Nevada, that charge is a general homicide allegation that would allow a jury to decide the level of the offense at conviction, including first-degree murder, second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter.

[ad_2]

Source link

February 23, 2023
Capitol rioter who tweeted threat to Rep. Ocasio-Cortez sentenced to 38 months in prison | CNN Politics

[ad_1]

CNN
—

A Texas man was sentenced to more than three years in prison Wednesday for assaulting police officers during the US Capitol riot and threatening Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter shortly after the attack.

Garret Miller, 36, pleaded guilty in December to charges related to his conduct on January 6, 2021. He was arrested weeks after the riot – on Inauguration Day – while wearing a shirt that said: “I was there, Washington, D.C., January 6, 2021.”

According to court documents, Miller brought gear with him to DC, including a rope, a grappling hook and a mouth guard, and prosecutors said he was “at the forefront of every barrier overturned, police line overrun, and entryway breached within his proximity that day.” Miller was detained twice during the riot, according to court documents.

When he left the Capitol building, he took the fight to Twitter, according to court documents. In response to a tweet from Ocasio-Cortez calling for then-President Donald Trump’s impeachment, Miller responded: “Assassinate AOC.”

“At the time that I tweeted at the Congresswoman, I intended that the communication be perceived as a serious intent to commit violence against the Congresswoman,” Miller said in court documents as part of his guilty plea. He also levied threats against the officer who shot and killed a pro-Trump rioter during the melee, according to court documents, saying that he wanted to “hug his neck with a nice rope.”

Clint Broden, Miller’s laywer, said in a statement to CNN that the sentence “ultimately reflects Judge Nichols careful consideration of the case,” and said that his client “has expressed his sincere remorse for his actions.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the nature of Garret Miller’s guilty plea.

[ad_2]

Source link

February 22, 2023
Iran pardons or commutes sentence of ‘large’ number of prisoners, state media reports | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

Iran will pardon or commute the sentences of a large number of prisoners as part of an annual amnesty, state media reported Sunday, although it is unclear how this will apply to people arrested in the recent wave of protests.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has approved a proposal to “pardon or commute” the sentences of thousands of prisoners, state media reports, but with notable exceptions that will likely exclude many imprisoned protesters.

According to semi-official Tasnim, the amnesty does not apply to those sentenced or facing charges of “espionage for outsiders, direct links with the foreign intelligence services, murder or intentional injuries, as well as vandalism or arson attack on governmental, military and public sites” – all charges regularly levied against protesters and foreign nationals imprisoned in Iran.

Referring to protesters, Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei said “a number of convicts jailed following the recent riots in Iran had been deceived into wrongdoing under the influence of the enemy’s propaganda campaign” and have “asked for forgiveness,” Tasnim reported.

At least one Iranian human rights organization dismissed the move as “propaganda.”

“The #HypocriticalPardoning of protesters by Khamenei is an act of propaganda. They used their self-right to protest and their arrests and sentences are not justified. Not only should all protesters be released, but in the path of justice, the trials of the perpetrators and agents of repression is also a universal right,” Iran Human Rights said on Twitter.

A New York based NGO, the Center for Human Rights (CHRI) in Iran, described the move by Khamenei as a “PR stunt” with “no grounding in reality.”

The deputy director of the CHRI, Jasmin Ramsey, told CNN in a statement Sunday that the Iranian regime has a “documented history of making lofty declarations about releasing political prisoners and not following through.”

“What we expect is that some will be released while many others, especially prominent political prisoners who’ve been unjustly jailed for years, will remain imprisoned,” Ramsey said.

“This is a PR stunt that has no grounding in reality by a regime that has lost legitimacy amongst its people. The political repression, the imprisonments after sham “trials” led by kangaroo courts, the criminalization of dissent remain,” she continued.

Semi-official news agency Mehr claimed “tens of thousands” of prisoners could be pardoned or have their sentences commuted but provided no details.

Khamenei made the announcement ahead of the 44th anniversary of the “victory of the Islamic Revolution” marked on February 11. It is customary for Khamenei to grant amnesty to some prisoners to make this occasion.

Anti-government protests, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish-Iranian woman in September 2022, have resulted in tens of thousands of people being arrested through the country.

Last month, Iran executed two protesters charged with killing security personnel, causing an international outcry. Critics said the executions were a result of hasty sham trials. At least 43 people are currently facing execution in Iran, according to a CNN count, but activist group 1500Tasvir says the number could be as high as 100.

[ad_2]

Source link

February 5, 2023
Jan. 6 rioter who assaulted Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick sentenced to over 6 years in jail | CNN Politics

[ad_1]

CNN
—

A man who assaulted United States Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick with pepper spray on January 6, 2021, was sentenced on Friday to 80 months behind bars.

Julian Khater pleaded guilty in September to two counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon. His co-defendant, George Tanios, pleaded guilty last summer to disorderly conduct and entering and remaining in a restricted building. Khater was also ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and $2,000 in restitution.

Tanios was sentenced to time served and one year of supervised release. He previously spent more than five months behind bars.

The day after the attack, Sicknick died after suffering several strokes. Washington, DC’s chief medical examiner, Francisco Diaz, determined that the officer died of natural causes and told The Washington Post that the riot and “all that transpired played a role in his condition.”

Sicknick’s family and partner were present for the sentencing and law enforcement officers dressed in uniform filled the courtroom.

According to the plea agreements, Tanios bought two cans of bear spray in preparation for his trip with Khater to Washington on January 6. During the Capitol attack, when the two men arrived near a line of police officers by the steps of the Capitol, Khater said to Tanios, “Give me that bear s**t,” according to the plea.

Khater took a white can of bear spray from Tanios’s backpack, walked up to the line of officers and, as rioters started pulling on the bike rack barrier separating them and the police, Khater sprayed multiple officers – including Sicknick – who had to retreat from the line.

One of those officers, Caroline Edwards, gave a witness impact statement before DC District Judge Thomas Hogan during the sentencing hearing.

“I felt like the absolute worst kind of officer, someone who didn’t help – couldn’t help – their friend,” she said of not being able to help Sicknick after being sprayed herself seconds later by Khater. “Sometimes when I close my eyes I can still see his face, white as a sheet.”

Hogan called Khater’s actions that day “inexcusable,” adding that “three officers (who) were doing their duty … are suddenly sprayed directly in the face.”

“I’m not going to give a lecture on the riot,” Hogan said, adding that “every time you see the video you’re shocked over again” and that “something has come out of this country that is very, very serious.”

After recovering from the bear spray attack, Sicknick continued to help protect the Capitol that day, according to court documents, remaining on duty until late into the evening.

“Just before approximately 10:00 p.m., Officer Sicknick began slurring his speech while talking to fellow officers,” court documents state. “He slumped backwards and lost consciousness, and emergency medical technicians were summoned for assistance. He was transported to the George Washington University Hospital where he remained on life support for nearly 24 hours and was pronounced dead at 8:51 p.m. the following day.”

Khater’s defense attorney said that Hogan should not sentence his client for the death of Sicknick, which the attorney noted was determined to be of natural causes. The judge agreed, noting he “can’t sentence Mr. Khater (for) causing officer Sicknick’s death.”

Calling his client “sheepish” and “sweet and gentle,” Khater’s attorney said his actions that day amounted to seconds of “emotionally charged conduct” from a man who suffered from anxiety.

In his statement to the judge, Khater began by highlighting how long he had already served behind bars and how it had “taken a huge toll” on him. “I wish I could take it all back,” he said. “It’s not who I am.”

Hogan pressed Khater on why he did not expressly apologize to the officers in the courtroom and Sicknick’s family. “Somewhere along the lines we lost the sense of responsibility,” the judge said.

“It’s the elephant in the room,” Khater said, adding that “there’s a civil thing going on” – in reference to a civil lawsuit from Sicknick’s estate – and that his lawyer had warned him about what to say in court Friday.

“You should be afraid,” Hogan said of the lawsuit.

Sicknick’s partner, Sandra Garza, had asked the judge to impose the maximum sentence for both men.

“I realize it will not bring back Brian, nor give him peace in his last moments on earth, but it will give some sense of justice in my universe,” Garza wrote to the judge.

“The only thing that surpasses my anger is my sadness,” Sicknick’s brother, Kenneth, wrote in his statement to the judge. “Sadness that the only time I can communicate with Brian is to speak into the nothingness and hope that he is listening.”

Kenneth continued, “Brian was never one for the spotlight. He preferred to go about his business, not bringing attention to himself. My family and I quietly smile at each other when we attend an event honoring and remembering Brian and the weather turns bad. We know it’s Brian telling us that it is OK, he is OK, please don’t make a big deal about me, take care of the others that need it. That’s what he would have done.”

This story has been updated with additional details.

[ad_2]

Source link

January 28, 2023
Chinese engineer sentenced to 8 years in US prison for spying | CNN Politics

[ad_1]

CNN
—

A former graduate student in Chicago was sentenced to eight years in prison Wednesday for spying for the Chinese government by gathering information on engineers and scientists in the United States.

Ji Chaoqun, a Chinese national who came to the US to study electrical engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2013 and later enlisted in the US Army Reserves, was arrested in 2018.

The 31-year-old was convicted last September of acting illegally as an agent of China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) and of making a material false statement to the US Army.

According to the Justice Department, Ji was tasked with providing an intelligence officer with biographical information on individuals for potential recruitment as Chinese spies. The individuals included Chinese nationals who were working as engineers and scientists in the US, some of whom worked for American defense contractors.

Ji’s spying was part of an effort by Chinese intelligence to obtain access to advanced aerospace and satellite technologies being developed by US companies, the Justice Department said in a statement.

In 2016, a year after graduation, Ji enlisted in the US Army Reserves under a program in which foreign nationals can be recruited if their skills are considered “vital to the national interest.”

In his application to join the program, Ji falsely stated that he had not had any contact with a foreign government within the past seven years. He also failed to disclose his relationship and contacts with Chinese intelligence officers in a subsequent interview with a US Army officer, according to the Justice Department.

In 2018, Ji had several meetings with an undercover US law enforcement agent who was posing as a representative of China’s MSS. During these meetings, Ji said that with his military identification, he could visit and take photos of “Roosevelt-class” aircraft carriers. Ji also explained that once he obtained his US citizenship and security clearance through the Army Reserves program, he would seek a job at the CIA, FBI or NASA, the Justice Department said, citing evidence at trial.

Ji intended to perform cybersecurity work at one of those agencies so that he would have access to databases, including those that contained scientific research, the Justice Department said in the statement.

Ji was working at the direction of Xu Yanjun, a deputy division director at the Jiangsu provincial branch of the MMS, the statement said.

Xu, a career intelligence officer, was sentenced last year to 20 years in prison for plotting to steal trade secrets from several US aviation and aerospace companies. Xu was also the first Chinese spy extradited to the US for trial, after being detained in Belgium in 2018 following an FBI investigation.

[ad_2]

Source link

January 25, 2023
3 family members sentenced to life in the 2020 shooting death of a Family Dollar security guard over a face mask dispute | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

Three family members who were charged with murder in the shooting death of a Family Dollar security guard in Flint, Michigan, in May 2020 have been sentenced to life in prison, court records show.

The security guard, Calvin Munerlyn, was shot after telling a customer she needed to wear a mask in the store, prosecutors have said. The altercation occurred when retail employees and customers were required by a state-wide executive order to wear masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Sharmel Lashe Teague, Larry Edward Teague and Ramonyea Travon Bishop were each convicted on murder and felony firearms charges in connection with the shooting, sentencing documents show. Larry Teague was also convicted of a habitual offender offense.

Sharmel, 47, and Larry Teague, 47, are married, and Bishop, 26, is Sharmel’s son, according to the Genesee County Prosecutor’s Office.

A jury sentenced each of them to life in prison on the murder charge and two years in prison on the firearms charge, according to the sentencing document filed in Genesee County circuit court.

Munerlyn got into an argument with Sharmel Teague after telling her daughter she needed to wear a mask in the store, police have said, citing surveillance footage.

Though her daughter left the store, Sharmel Teague began yelling at the security guard “who then told her to leave the store and instructed a cashier not to serve her,” prosecutors said in 2020.

Sharmel Teague left the Family Dollar. But about 20 minutes later, Bishop and Larry Teague arrived, prosecutors said. Larry Teague yelled at Munerlyn, saying the guard had disrespected his wife.

Bishop then shot Munerlyn in the head, prosecutors said, and the security guard later died at a hospital.

An attorney for Larry Teague had no comment on the sentencing when reached by CNN. CNN has also reached out to attorneys for Sharmel Teague and Bishop but has not heard back.

Sharmel Teague’s daughter, Brya Bishop, was charged with tampering with evidence, lying to police investigating a violent crime and being an accessory after the fact to a felony, prosecutors said. She was sentenced in November to serve probation, state correction records show.

[ad_2]

Source link

January 19, 2023