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Selasa, 06 Juni 2023

Missouri man set for execution on ‘emotional roller coaster,’ attorney says - KMOV4

An attorney for a man on Missouri’s death row says her client is on “an emotional roller coaster” amid efforts to spare his life with just a day to go before his scheduled execution

A man on Missouri’s death row is on “an emotional roller coaster” amid efforts to spare his life with just one day before his scheduled execution, his attorney said.

Michael Tisius, 42, is set to die by injection Tuesday evening at the state prison in Bonne Terre for killing two jailers in 2000 in an ill-fated effort to free a man from a county jail. He would be the third Missouri man, and the 12th nationally, put to death in 2023.

A clemency request was sent Republican Gov. Mike Parsons that focused on several issues. Among them: Tisius was just 19 at the time of the killings; he had been neglected as a child; and a juror at his 2010 resentencing may have been illiterate — in violation of Missouri law. Monday afternoon, Parson confirmed that the sentence would be carried out.

“Missouri’s judicial system provided Mr. Tisius with due process and fair proceedings for his brutal murders of two Randolph County jail guards,” Governor Parson said. “Having run a small county jail, I know firsthand the hard work and selflessness displayed by those who work there. It’s despicable that two dedicated public servants were murdered in a failed attempt to help another criminal evade the law. The state of Missouri will carry out Mr. Tisius’s sentences according to the Court’s order and deliver justice.”

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to halt the execution based on Tisius’ age when the crime occurred. A federal judge last week stayed the execution over the claim that a juror was illiterate, but an appeals panel reinstated it. The Supreme Court hasn’t yet ruled on that issue.

Elizabeth Unger Carlyle, an attorney for Tisius, said the ups and downs of the appeals are taking a toll on him.

“I think he’s sort of, frankly, on an emotional roller coaster,” Carlyle said. “He’s pretty anxious. He doesn’t want to die. I think he’s angry and frightened.”

A 2005 Supreme Court ruling prohibits executions for those who were under 18 at the time of the crime. But Carlyle said “emerging science plus information about Mr. Tisius’ own brain dictates that they should now change that rule to apply to Mr. Tisius.”

A court filing from the Missouri attorney general’s office noted that both the original trial jury and the jury at resentencing considered Tisius’ age and mental health, “yet both juries still decided to impose the death penalty.” The Supreme Court turned aside the appeal without comment.

Advocates for Tisius say he was largely neglected as a child and was homeless by his early teens. In 1999, as an 18-year-old, he was jailed on a misdemeanor charge for pawning a rented stereo system.

In June 2000, Tisius was housed at the small Randolph County Jail in Huntsville with Roy Vance. Tisius was about to be released, and court records show the men discussed a plan in which Tisius would help Vance escape.

Just after midnight on June 22, Tisius went to the jail accompanied by Vance’s girlfriend, Tracie Bulington. They told officers Leon Egley and Jason Acton that they were delivering cigarettes to Vance. The jailers didn’t know that Tisius had a pistol.

At trial, Bulington testified that she looked up and saw Tisius with the gun drawn, then watched as he shot and killed Acton. When Egley approached, Tisius shot him, too. Both officers were unarmed.

Tisius found keys at the dispatch area and tried to open Vance’s cell, but couldn’t. When Egley grabbed Bulington’s leg, Tisius shot him several more times.

Tisius and Bulington fled but their car broke down in Kansas. They were arrested in Wathena, Kansas, about 130 miles (209 kilometers) west of Huntsville. Tisius confessed to the crimes.

Bulington and Vance are serving life sentences.

Defense attorneys have argued that the killings were not premeditated. Tisius, they said, intended to order the jailers into a holding cell and free Vance and other inmates. Tisius’ defense team issued a video last week in which Vance said he planned the escape attempt and manipulated Tisius into participating.

The people executed in Missouri this year included Amber McLaughlin, who killed a woman and dumped the body near the Mississippi River in St. Louis. The execution was believed to be the first of a transgender woman in the U.S.

Raheem Taylor, 58, was put to death in February for killing his live-in girlfriend and her three children in 2004 in St. Louis County.

Four of the U.S. executions this year have been in Texas, and three in Florida.

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Sabtu, 03 Juni 2023

California is investigating after a private jet carrying migrants arrived in Sacramento, officials say - CNN

CNN —

An investigation is underway after over a dozen migrants arrived in Sacramento, California, by private jet “with no prior arrangement or care in place,” Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta said Saturday.

California state officials on Saturday met with the group, who had documentation “purporting to be from the government of the State of Florida,” Bonta said.

The immigrants were taken from Texas to New Mexico, then flown by private chartered jet to California, where they were “dumped on the doorstep of a local church without any advance warning,” Newsom said in a statement.

The attorney general is investigating the incident and “evaluating potential criminal or civil action against those who transported or arranged for the transport of these vulnerable immigrants,” Bonta said in a statement.

The circumstances around who paid for the group’s travel and whether the migrants were misled with false promises will be investigated, according to the governor. Authorities did not say what countries the migrants had traveled from.

CNN has reached out to state officials from Texas and Florida for comment.

It isn’t the first time a plane carrying migrants has arrived unannounced in a Democratic state. Late last year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent two planes carrying migrants to Martha’s Vineyard.

Migrants have also been bused to New York and other more liberal cities by Republican governors and local officials from southern states amid a humanitarian crisis at the southern US border.

Many who head to the US make long and dangerous treks in hopes of finding a better, safer life for their families. People immigrate to flee violence, for economic opportunities or to reunite with family members, experts say.

“California and the Sacramento community will welcome these individuals with open arms ad provide them with the respect, compassion, and care they will need after such a harrowing experience,” Bonta said.

The state is working with the Sacramento mayor’s office and local groups to make sure that the migrants “are treated with respect and dignity and get to their intended destination as they pursue their immigration cases,” Newsom said.

Bonta said the state will “continue to collect evidence, I want to say this very clearly: State-sanctioned kidnapping is not a public policy choice, it is immoral and disgusting.

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Suspect captured in fatal shooting of West Virginia officer - CBS News

A state police officer was fatally shot Friday in southern West Virginia, and a suspect was later arrested, authorities said.

Sgt. Cory Maynard was killed in the shooting, Gov. Jim Justice said in a statement, adding that he was "absolutely heartbroken." He and first lady Cathy Justice extended their sympathies to Maynard's family.

"The brave men and women of law enforcement, and all first responders who put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe, are an inspiration to us all," Justice said.

Officers responded to a complaint of a shooting in the Beech Creek area of Mingo County and were met with gunfire upon arrival, police said in a statement. Maynard initially was taken to a hospital in Logan.

I am absolutely heartbroken tonight to report that Sergeant Cory Maynard of the West Virginia State Police was fatally wounded in an incident this afternoon near Matewan.
— Governor Jim Justice (@WVGovernor) June 2, 2023

The suspect, Timothy Kennedy, 29, of Beech Creek, was taken into custody Friday night following an extensive search, state police said later in a brief statement.

The Mingo County School District announced on Facebook that a high school graduation ceremony scheduled for Friday night was postponed for safety reasons because of the manhunt for the suspect. During the search, residents in the Beach Creek community were told to shelter-in-place, the school district said.

The district later said that the graduation had been rescheduled for Saturday "out of respect" for the fallen officer.

No other injuries were reported, and further details on the shooting were not immediately made public. Justice ordered all flags statewide be flown at half-staff in honor of Maynard.

The shooting happened in the same county where Sheriff Eugene Crum was shot to death in April 2013 in a spot in Williamson where he usually parked his car for lunch. A suspect later was found incompetent to stand trial and was ordered to be committed to a state mental health facility for life.

Mingo and neighboring McDowell County are home to the legendary blood feud between the Hatfield family of West Virginia and the McCoy family of Kentucky.

Mingo County was dubbed "Bloody Mingo" during the early 20th century coal mine wars. Ten people were killed in a 1920 gunbattle known as the "Matewan Massacre," between miners led by a local police chief and a group of private security guards who were hired to evict the miners for joining a union.

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Jumat, 02 Juni 2023

Justice Department will not seek criminal charges in Pence classified document probe - CNN

CNN —

The Justice Department has closed its investigation into the possible mishandling of classified documents found at former Vice President Mike Pence’s home and will not bring any charges, according to a letter from the DOJ obtained by CNN.

The decision comes ahead of Pence’s planned announcement next week that he will run for president in 2024. It allows Pence to offer an additional contrast between himself and former President Donald Trump, his political rival who’s under serious investigation by the Justice Department and others.

“The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department’s National Security Division have conducted an investigation into the potential mishandling of classified information,” the Justice Department wrote to Pence’s attorney. “Based on the results of that investigation, no criminal charges will be sought.”

In January, Pence’s attorney found about a dozen documents marked classified in Pence’s Indiana home after the former vice president asked his lawyer to search his records following the disclosure of classified documents in Joe Biden’s possession in Delaware.

Pence turned over the classified records to the FBI following their discovery, and the FBI and Justice Department’s National Security Division launched a review of how they ended up at Pence’s home. Pence has said that he had been unaware the documents were at his home but said that “mistakes were made” and took responsibility for it.

The Justice Department is still investigating the handling of classified records by Trump and Biden. Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel in each investigation, citing the fact that they are candidates for president.

DOJ declined to comment but confirmed sending the letter.

Pence and his team were pleased but not surprised by the DOJ decision, a Pence adviser said.

Pence’s advisers say they felt the former vice president’s discovery of classified documents stood in stark contrast to Trump’s, both in terms of the original process Pence’s team followed when his documents were packed up at the end of the Trump administration – when a small number of classified papers were accidentally packed – and Pence’s immediate cooperation with the FBI and the National Archives.

While Pence’s attorney contacted the National Archives and quickly returned the documents to the FBI, Trump resisted turning over the classified documents in his possession, eventually leading to a subpoena last year and the court-authorized August 2022 FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago resort.

Special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents and possible obstruction of investigators has resulted in interviews with dozens of Trump’s aides and employees and extensive grand jury activity in recent months, signaling a charging decision could be near. The FBI retrieved more than 100 classified documents when it searched Mar-a-Lago last August after Trump’s attorneys had attested the former president had turned over the classified material in his possession following a subpoena.

This week, CNN first reported that prosecutors obtained an audio recording from summer 2021 in which Trump acknowledges he held onto a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran.

When Garland appointed Smith in November to oversee both the classified documents and January 6 investigations into Trump, he said he did so “in the public interest” because Trump was now a presidential candidate.

Two months after Smith’s appointment, Garland appointed special counsel Robert Hur in January following reports that classified documents were found at Biden’s home and former private office.

Hur is still overseeing an active investigation into the classified documents found in Biden’s possession, and he has been in touch with at least one witness in that investigation since being appointed in January.

Biden’s team says that when the classified documents were first discovered last fall, they immediately notified the National Archives, which then informed the Justice Department. Biden’s attorneys have asserted that the documents were “inadvertently misplaced” and not illegally mishandled.

CNN will host a town hall with Pence on June 7, the day he is expected to announce his presidential campaign.

CNN’s Paula Reid, Evan Perez and Jamie Gangel contributed to this story.

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CIA chief made secret visit to China in bid to thaw relations - Financial Times

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Scripps National Spelling Bee finals: Top speller to be crowned - The Associated Press

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — Fifteen months ago, Dev Shah spent a miserable five hours spelling outdoors in chilly, windy, damp conditions at a supersize regional competition in Orlando, Florida, only to fall short of his dream of returning to the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

“Despondent is the right word,” Dev said. “I just didn’t know if I wanted to keep continuing.”

Look at him now.

Soft-spoken but brimming with confidence, Dev asked precise questions about obscure Greek roots, rushed through his second-to-last word and rolled to the National Spelling Bee title Thursday night.

Dev, a 14-year-old from Largo, Florida, in the Tampa Bay area, first competed at the national bee in 2019, then had his spelling career interrupted. The 2020 bee was canceled because of COVID-19, and in the mostly virtual 2021 bee, he didn’t make it to the in-person finals, held in his home state on ESPN’s campus at Walt Disney World.

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Then came the disaster of last year, when he was forced to compete in the Orlando region because his previous regional sponsor didn’t come back after the pandemic.

“It took me four months to get him back on track because he was quite a bit disturbed and he didn’t want to do it,” said Dev’s mother, Nilam Shah.

When he decided to try again, he added an exercise routine to help sharpen his focus and lost about 15 pounds, she said.

Dev got through his region. He flexed his knowledge in Wednesday’s early rounds by asking questions that proved he knew every relevant detail the bee’s pronouncers and judges had on their computer screens. And when it was all over, he held the trophy over his head as confetti fell.

“He appreciated that this is a journey, which sounds very trite but is really quite true,” said Dev’s coach, Scott Remer, a former speller and study guide author. “I think the thing that distinguishes the very best spellers from the ones that end up not really leaving their mark is actually just grit.”

Dev’s winning word was “psammophile,” a layup for a speller of his caliber.

“Psammo meaning sand, Greek?” he asked. “Phile, meaning love, Greek?”

Dev soaked up the moment by asking for the word to be used in a sentence, something he described a day earlier as a stalling tactic. Then he put his hands over his face as he was declared the winner.

“I would say I was confident on the outside but inside I was nervous, especially for my winning word — well, like, before. Not during,” he said.

Runner-up Charlotte Walsh gave Dev a congratulatory hug.

“I’m so happy for him,” said Charlotte, a 14-year-old from Arlington, Virginia. “I’ve known Dev for many years and I know how much work he’s put into this and I’m so, so glad he won.”

The winner’s haul is more than $50,000 in cash and prizes. When Charlotte returned to the stage later to congratulate Dev again, he reminded her that the runner-up gets $25,000.

“Twenty-five thousand! What? I didn’t know that,” Charlotte said.

Earlier, when the bee was down to Dev and Charlotte, Scripps brought out the buzzer used for its “spell-off” tiebreaker, and Dev was momentarily confused when he stepped to the microphone.

“This is not the spell-off, right?” Dev asked. Told it was not, he spelled “bathypitotmeter” so quickly that it might as well have been.

“I practiced for the spell-off every day, I guess. I knew it might happen and I prepared for everything, so I kind of went into spell-off mode,” he said. “But I also was scared for the spell-off.”

Dev is the 22nd champion in the past 24 years with South Asian heritage. His father, Deval, a software engineer, immigrated to the United States from India 29 years ago to get his master’s degree in electrical engineering. Dev’s older brother, Neil, is a rising junior at Yale.

Deval said his son showed an incredible recall with words starting at age 3, and Dev spent many years in participating in academic competitions staged by the North South Foundation, a nonprofit that provides scholarships to children in India.

The bee began in 1925 and is open to students through the eighth grade. There were 229 kids onstage as it began — and each was a champion many times over, considering that 11 million participated at the school level.

The finalists demonstrated an impressive depth of knowledge as they worked their way through a sometimes diabolical word list chosen by Scripps’ 21-person word panel, which includes five past champions.

This year’s bee proved that the competition can remain entertaining while delving more deeply into the dictionary — especially early in the finals, when Scripps peppered contestants with short but tough words like “traik” (to fall ill, used in Scotland), “carey” (a small to medium-size sea turtle) and “katuka” (a venomous snake of southeastern Asia).

“There are a lot of hard words in the dictionary,” Dev said. “There are realms of the dictionary that the word panelists need to dive into and I think they did a great job of that today.”

With the field down to four, Shradha Rachamreddy was eliminated on “orle,” a heraldry term that means a number of small charges arranged to form a border within the edge of a field (she went with “orel”). And “kelep” — a Central American stinging ant — ousted Surya Kapu (he said “quelep”).

While sometimes Scripps’ use of trademarks and geographical names can anger spelling traditionalists who want to see kids demonstrate their mastery of roots and language patterns — and even the exceptions to those patterns — Scripps has made clear that with the exception of words designated as archaic or obsolete, any entry in Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged dictionary is fair game.

Dev is happy to be closing that book for now.

“My main priority is sleep. I need to sleep. There have been a lot of sleepless nights these last six months,” he said. “I need to sleep well tonight, too. There’s a lot more sleep debt.”

___

Ben Nuckols has covered the Scripps National Spelling Bee since 2012. Follow him at https://twitter.com/APBenNuckols

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Kamis, 01 Juni 2023

Body of Missouri ER doctor found in Arkansas lake had apparent gunshot wound - The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A missing emergency room doctor from Missouri was found dead in Arkansas from an apparent gunshot wound, authorities confirmed Wednesday. But they are still investigating what happened in the week since he was last seen.

A kayaker discovered the body of 49-year-old Dr. John Forsyth on Tuesday in Beaver Lake, a large reservoir in northwestern Arkansas, the Benton County Sheriff’s Office said. No further information would immediately be released, authorities said, and they didn’t specify if he was shot by someone else or if the wound was self-inflicted.

The doctor’s unlocked vehicle with his wallet, two phones, a laptop and other items had been found Sunday near a city-run public pool in Cassville, the town in the Missouri Ozarks where he worked, said his brother Richard Forsyth. The body was found at a location about 20 miles (32 kilometers) away, Arkansas authorities say. Cassville is about 200 miles south of Kansas City.

Surveillance video from the pool shows John Forsyth’s black Infiniti pulling into the parking lot, and a white SUV can be seen parking near him a few minutes later, his brother said in an interview Wednesday.

“We’re devastated, especially at the nature of his passing,” Richard Forsyth said. He said Wednesday evening that police had given the family no new details other than investigations into his brother’s death and how he went missing were continuing in both states.

The last time the two brothers met in person was at dinner on Wednesday, May 17.

“I told him this is the happiest I’d seen him in a long time. His divorce was final May 11, and I think that gave him energy for the future,” Richard Forsyth said in an earlier interview.

John Forsyth had recently become engaged to be married, his brother said, and his fiancée was the last known person to communicate with him, texting at around 7 a.m. on Sunday, May 21.

The doctor was reported missing that same day when he didn’t arrive for work at Mercy Hospital, police have said.

Richard Forsyth said the family was mystified by his brother’s death and rejected the theory that he might have taken his own life.

“I don’t believe it,” he said. “John would never do that. I won’t accept that possibility.”

John Forsyth was the father of eight children, his brother said, and was so dedicated to his work that he never missed a day, stayed in an RV near the hospital when he was on call, and was never late for his difficult shifts in the emergency room.

His brother-in-law Jason Musgrave in a call with The Associated Press Wednesday from Ozark, Missouri, also rejected the idea of John Forsyth dying by suicide.

“I feel like it is foul play. I feel like it has to have been,” Musgrave said, adding that it was also hard to imagine that anyone who knew him would want to hurt him.

“He was funny and engaging and the life of a party,” Musgrave said. He said the news that his brother-in-law’s body had been found had hit the family like a “bus full of bricks.”

Messages seeking comment from the Missouri State Highway Patrol and Cassville police on Wednesday were not immediately returned.

When the doctor’s vehicle was found, several law enforcement agencies searched about a 9-mile (15-kilometer) radius around the aquatic park using people, dogs and drones. Forsyth’s family set up a Facebook page seeking information.

Gina Forsyth-Farlaino said her brother was smart, confident, loved to help people and was devoted to his family. In the days since his disappearance, she said the family has heard at least three stories of people who he persuaded not to take their own lives. But Forsyth never mentioned those cases to his family, she recalled in an interview Wednesday from Price, Utah.

“I miss him terribly,” Forsyth-Farlaino said. “And I’m devastated that he’s not here.”

___

Associated Press writer Lisa Baumann contributed from Bellingham, Washington.

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Line Fos News

Selasa, 06 Juni 2023

Missouri man set for execution on ‘emotional roller coaster,’ attorney says - KMOV4

Sabtu, 03 Juni 2023

California is investigating after a private jet carrying migrants arrived in Sacramento, officials say - CNN

Suspect captured in fatal shooting of West Virginia officer - CBS News

Jumat, 02 Juni 2023

Justice Department will not seek criminal charges in Pence classified document probe - CNN

CIA chief made secret visit to China in bid to thaw relations - Financial Times

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Scripps National Spelling Bee finals: Top speller to be crowned - The Associated Press

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Kamis, 01 Juni 2023

Body of Missouri ER doctor found in Arkansas lake had apparent gunshot wound - The Associated Press

Three-quarters of Americans think Trump isn’t focusing on top US issues – poll - The Guardian

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