The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that a Minnesota man, Danny Heinrich, confessed in federal court to abducting, sexually assaulting, and killing Jacob Wetterling nearly 27 years ago. Heinrich’s confession was part of a child pornography plea deal in which he will not be prosecuted for his crimes against Wetterling. Following Wetterling’s abduction, Congress enacted the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act which required states to implement sex offender registries. Keep reading for more news.
SOG Staff
News Roundup
Labor day weekend has arrived and it’s time to kick back, relax, and be incredibly safe while navigating the roadways of the Old North State. The Charlotte Observer reports that the number of U.S. and North Carolina traffic fatalities rose significantly in 2015, reversing a decades-long decline. Take Shea’s advice and don’t speed on your way to show off your new swimwear while lounging landward of the mean high-water mark of the State’s beaches. Planning to booze it in the Land of the Sky? Make safe transportation choices or you’ll lose it because law enforcement is cracking down on drunk driving over the holiday. Enjoy the long weekend and keep reading for more news.
News Roundup
The ABA Journal reports that the U.S. Department of Justice has filed an amicus brief in a Georgia civil class action asserting that the use of money bail violates arrestees’ due process and equal protection rights when there is no meaningful consideration of their ability to pay and alternative methods of assuring their appearance at trial. The plaintiff in the case is a schizophrenic man who was arrested for public drunkenness and could not afford $160 in bail. Unable to make bail, the man was held for six days in the local jail. The challenged system differs from North Carolina’s pretrial release procedure which, in many cases, expresses a preference for unsecured or non-monetary conditions of pretrial release. Keep reading for more news.
News Roundup
On Thursday, the United States Olympic Committee issued an apology to Brazil for a “distracting ordeal” involving U.S. Olympic swimmers, bathroom vandalism, and a false report of armed robbery. Earlier in the week, swimmer Ryan Lochte claimed that he and a few other U.S. teammates were robbed at gunpoint in Rio. The purported robbery was a high profile example of security concerns at the Brazil games. As it turns out, the swimmers had drunkenly vandalized a gas station bathroom and concocted the robbery story to avoid getting in trouble. As their story started to unravel, a Brazilian judge ordered the swimmers’ passports seized. Lochte escaped Brazil before his passport was taken, but has not escaped merciless criticism from media outlets at home and abroad.
News Roundup
A shooting that occurred early Sunday morning in Raleigh has made its way into the national news this week. As CNN reports, Chad Copley has been charged with fatally shooting Kouren-Rodney Bernard Thomas after calling 911 to report that “a bunch of hoodlums” were in front of his house. Copley then told the dispatcher that he was on neighborhood watch, was “locked and loaded,” and was “going to secure [his] neighborhood.” Shortly thereafter, a different person called 911 to report a shooting. The News & Observer reports that investigators allege that Copley fired a shotgun from inside his garage and hit Bernard who was outside. The case is drawing comparisons to the incident where Trayvon Martin was shot by George Zimmerman. Keep reading for more news.
News Roundup
As the News & Observer reports, late last week the Fourth Circuit struck down significant portions of the Voter Information and Verification Act, legislation passed in 2013 that, among other things, required photo ID at polls and shortened the early voting period. The Fourth Circuit concluded that certain provisions of the legislation were enacted with racially discriminatory intent, and enjoined the implementation of those provisions. The News & Observer article says that politicians who support the Act, claiming that it is designed to prevent voter fraud, intend to appeal the decision and consider it to be politically-motivated. Election officials reportedly are “scrambling to comply” with the ruling. Keep reading for more news.
News Roundup
The Baltimore Sun reports that prosecutors have dropped all remaining charges against police officers in cases related to the 2015 arrest and death of Freddie Gray. The decision to end the prosecutions was motivated by the fact that no officer who had already faced trial had been convicted. Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby reportedly decided that it was unlikely that convictions could be secured in the remaining cases, but defended the decision to bring charges given that the medical examiner’s office classified Gray’s death as a homicide. Though the state criminal cases are resolved, administrative investigations of the officers are ongoing and the Justice Department is expected to release the results of a civil-rights investigation of the Police Department soon. Keep reading for more news.
News Roundup
Six police officers were shot on Sunday in Baton Rouge in yet another targeted attack on law enforcement officers. Three of the officers died and the gunman later was killed in a shootout. Early reports suggest that the shooter, like the perpetrator of the attack in Dallas earlier this month, may have been motivated by recent officer-involved shootings of black men. President Obama wrote an open letter to law enforcement expressing his support, thanking officers for their service, and urging the nation to come together in a trying time. Keep reading for more news.
News Roundup
Late last week five Dallas police officers were shot and killed in an ambush attack while working at a protest against the officer-involved shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota that the News Roundup reported last week. In addition to the officers who were killed, nine other officers and two civilians were injured. The Dallas Morning News has comprehensive coverage of the attack here. It has been reported that the gunman, Micah Xavier Johnson, “was upset about the recent police shootings” and said that “he wanted to kill white people.” Johnson had served in the military and carried out the ambush from an elevated position using an assault rifle; he was killed by police using a bomb robot after a standoff. The incident reportedly is the deadliest attack on U.S. law enforcement since September 11 and is a reminder of the danger officers across the country face while they work to keep communities safe. Keep reading for more news.
News Roundup
Two officer-involved fatal shootings are making national headlines this week, in part because video of each shooting has been published on the internet. On Tuesday, Alton Sterling was shot and killed by a Baton Rouge police officer during an encounter at a convenience store where Sterling made a living selling CDs in the parking lot; Sterling reportedly had brandished a gun which prompted a 911 call and the police response. The front page of The Advocate, a Louisiana newspaper, has comprehensive coverage of the story. Wednesday, Philando Castile was fatally shot by a police officer during a traffic stop in a suburb of Saint Paul, Minnesota. Details of the story were developing at the time of writing. The New York Times has an early report here which suggests that a passenger in the car livestreamed the aftermath of the shooting to Facebook.