Judge Spares Cop Killer’s Life
A Superior Court judge decided Monday that a 31-year-old cop-killer should spend the rest of his life in prison instead of being executed for his actions, suggesting that he may have mental problems. “This is an inexplicable tragedy,” Superior Court Judge Alfred Dempsey said. “I’ve read over these (psychiatric reports) that the public will not necessarily see … that I will say justifies the plea we’re taking here today.” Six years ago, Kenneth Gerald Reese, 31, blasted 26-year-old Fulton County Police Officer Aaron Blount during a traffic stop. The case was unusual in that Blount had merely stopped Reese for driving erratically, and Reese had no history of violence or criminal behavior. It is still unclear why Reese, who confessed to the assault, emptied one 9-mm pistol into Blount’s shoulder and head before retrieving another 9-mm from his car, pressing it against the officer’s head and shooting him again, according to the autopsy report. District Attorney Paul Howard said he agreed to the life sentence after a state-hired psychiatrist reported that Reese — who weighed more than 300 pounds — had been taking a now-banned diet drug linked to causing psychosis. He found that Reese was not legally insane because he knew right from wrong at the time of the killing. “It was problematic for us because that report was presented by our own psychiatrist,” Howard said. “If it is true, then that is bizarre … and it was the only thing presented as a motive.” A psychiatrist hired by the defense team testified that Reese’s brain had a damaged frontal-lobe that caused him to be become psychotic. Howard did not buy that version.
Georgia National Guard Makes History
The Army promoted the first Black general in the history of the Georgia National Guard. Breaking the drought is Joe Wells, who served as director of intelligence at the Georgia Army National Guard Joint Forces headquarters in Atlanta. Before the pinning ceremony, he honored his wife, mother and daughters with roses for the sacrifices they made during his military career, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Wells is a pilot for Continental Airlines and flies the Boeing 777. He will now head to Fort Huachuca, Ariz., to serve as the Deputy Command General of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center.

Judge slaps Secret Service in racism case. The Secret Service scoffed at a federal court ruling that it turn over documents to the plaintiffs who are suing the agency for alleged racial discrimination in the eight-year-old case. Ignoring the decree, the judge said, undermined the ability of the African-American agents to put on their case. For its defiance, U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson, has barred the Secret Service from introducing rebuttal evidence during the civil trial. The penalty is just short of awarding victory to the Black agents, who say they were denied promotions because of their race. “No reasonable search for the documents responsive to plaintiff’s requests … was ever conducted” despite federal rules requiring it, nine separate court orders by Robinson demanding it and three previous penalties imposed by Robinson. The agency’s “substantial and prejudicial” stubbornness “virtually mandates a finding that defendant’s noncompliance … was willful,” Robinson wrote. Ed Donovan, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said that the matter is “far from over,” adding that he will appeal the decision. Robinson’s punishment doesn’t equal a guilty ruling, but the agency says she might as well have found it guilty since it prevents the Secret Service “from presenting evidence that particular promotion decisions were made for nondiscriminatory reasons and from presenting statistical evidence to rebut claims that bias affected an entire class of employees,” The Associated Press reports.

Judge rules no new trial for O.J. O.J. Simpson failed to win a new trial Friday from the judge who oversaw his conviction in the gunpoint robbery of two Las Vegas sports memorabilia dealers. Judge Jackie Glass said the issues raised by lawyers for Simpson and co-defendant Clarence Stewart were insufficient grounds for a retrial. The former American football star was found guilty of holding up two sports memorabilia dealers in a room at the Palace Station hotel and casino in Las Vegas before stealing items from them on Sept. 13 last year. Glass acknowledged during a hearing that the ruling paved the way for Simpson and Stewart to appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court. Simpson and Stewart were convicted of 12 charges last month, including armed robbery and kidnapping, and they face up to life in prison when sentenced in December. A jury of nine women and three men unanimously found Simpson guilty of all 12 charges after more than 13 hours of deliberations, 13 years after he was cleared of a double murder. Stewart’s lawyer, Brent Bryson, said the jury foreman was guilty of misconduct, quoting the foreman as saying he thought Simpson should have been given a life sentence in the Los Angeles case. 

Rapper C Murder wants his new trial for the death of a teenager postponed. The brother of entertainment mogul Master P a.k.a. P. Miller says the election year could influence his ability to get a fair trial following the 2002 Louisiana shooting of Steve Thomas, 16. The judge, who ordered a new trial for C Murder after learning that witness testimony was compromised, is facing accusations that she’s soft on crime. Jury selection was set for this week.

Beyoncé “Boy” issue is settled. Singer Beyoncé has reportedly settled a legal dispute about the publishing rights to her new hit “If I Were a Boy” with songwriter B.C. Jean. Be’s dad and manager Matthew Knowles is said to have hoped his eldest daughter would get a writing credit for the tune, but reports have it that Jean had already written and recorded the track for herself. When her record deal went bust, Jean was said to have been done with the song – until she heard Beyoncé singing it on the radio. Terms of the agreement between Be and B.C. are confidential.

Saggy pants are not police business, judge rules.

Government doesn’t have the right to penalize folks for wearing saggy pants, a Florida judge ruled Tuesday. “Somebody help me,” Palm Beach Circuit Judge Paul Moyle, said mockingly before delivering his decision. “We’re not talking about exposure of buttocks. No! We’re talking about someone who has on pants, whose underwear are apparently visible to a police officer who then makes an arrest and the basis is he’s then held overnight, no bond.” Get more on that case at BET.com/News.  Should government be able to dictate what people wear?

The ex- New York Giants wide receiver has had a troubled post-football life.
Mark Ingram, a former New York Giants wide receiver who starred in the 1991 Super Bowl, will spend the next seven and a half years behind bars for his latest crime spree that includes money laundering and bank fraud. Read more at BET.com/News.  What would make a former super star athlete jump from the limelight to the crimelight?

 Accused murdered doesn’t seem crazy, judge says

Attorneys for Brian Nichols, the 36-year-old Atlanta man accused of killing his judge, a court reporter and two law-enforcement officials during a daring courthouse escape three years ago, does seem as insane as he wants everybody to believe, the presiding judge said Tuesday. Superior Court Judge James Bodiford did not hear expert psychiatric testimony, but he said he also hasn’t heard anything that would lead him to accept Nichols’ claims that his diminished mental state is the reason for his testimony. Nichols had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. The fact that defense witness Vincent Velazquez, an Atlanta Police detective, testified that Nichols was not only coherent but clear and articulate following the alleged murders helped undermine the insanity argument “that Nichols had suffered from a delusional compulsion at the time of the killings,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. “He was very up front and very detailed and meticulous in telling me what happened,” Velazquez said. “It was one of the easiest interviews I’ve ever done.” 

Anti-affirmative action measure dies in its tracks. Advocates of an Arizona initiative aimed at doing away with affirmative action programs have finally given up the fight – at least for now. Last week, the head of the Arizona Civil Rights Initiative – which critics say is deceptively labeled – told the East Valley Tribune that Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Edward Burke gave supporters until this week to prove that a major chunk of the signatures they had accumulated to force a ballot initiative were not bogus. Max McPhail had claimed that he had garnered more than enough signatures from registered voters, and that Proposition 104 had earned a rightful spot on the November ballot. He apparently no longer thinks so. “Because of the upcoming primary, Maricopa County said we could have only two computers to check 4,000 signatures,” he said. “It takes about six minutes to check each signature. It’s not humanly possible to check all the remaining signatures (the county declared invalid) to present on Tuesday.” But the fight isn’t completely over, McPhail says. He says that a new ballot initiative will be introduced in the 2010 election. If passed, the measure would prohibit the consideration of race or gender in any state hirings or college admissions. However, state Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Phoenix) says the initiative won’t pass now or ever because she’ll work to expose it for the divisive program it is. “When they understand it’s going to eliminate programs that help, for instance, young Latina women prepare for college, like the Mother-Daughter Hispanic Program, they don’t want to eliminate those programs,” she said.

Hijacked Sudanese plane lands in Libya. A plane, hijacked not too long after leaving Sudan’s Darfur region, landed in Kufra, Libya, reports CNN. The plane, believed to be hijacked by rebels, had about 87 passengers and 10 crew members on board, although the number of hijackers onboard is not known. Some of the passengers on the plane were officials from Sudan’s interim government, according to a Sudanese news service. They originally had wanted to land the plane in Egypt, but the Egyptian government would not give them permission, said Sudan’s U.S. ambassador, John Ukec. But at least one Egyptian official is saying that story is not true. “The hijacked plane never entered Egyptian airspace. It never requested to land on Egyptian soil …We understand that it had a tank that would allow it to fly for four hours. It flew directly toward Kufra,” said the leader of Egypt’s civil aviation control. The airline says passenger safety is their number one priority. “We are in contact with Libyan officials because of this dangerous event. We want to resolve the situation as soon as we can in a way where we can guarantee the safety of all our passengers,” an Sun Air airlines official told a Sudanese news service.

Castro says judge deserved to get kicked in the face

Cuba’s former leader, Fidel Castro, stuck up for an athlete who kicked an Olympic judge in the face, reports The Associated Press. Angel Matos, who competed for Cuba in this year’s Olympics doing taekwondo, was so mad he was disqualified from a match that he kicked the judge in the face. Officials of the sport would like him to be banned for life for the conduct, but Castro is standing strong behind Matos, saying he “was predisposed and indignant” when he was unfairly disqualified. “He couldn’t contain himself.” Matos was actually winning the match when, after a hard fall to the mat, he had to take an injury timeout. Competitors are only allowed one minute, so he was disqualified when he took more time than allotted. Cuba’s showing in boxing also got Castro heated and crying foul. “I saw when the judges blatantly stole fights from two Cuban boxers in the semifinals. Our fighters … had hopes of winning, despite the judges, but it was useless. They were condemned beforehand,” he wrote in a newspaper editorial. Cuba, considered an Olympic boxing powerhouse, took home no boxing golds this year. (They won four silver and four bronze boxing medals).  Overall, the nation only took home two golds in this year’s games, which is less than the nine they won in Athens.

Judge rules in Kwame Kilpatrick’s favor this time around

Embattled Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick remains free after facing the same judge on Tuesday who ordered him to jail last week on a bond violation. A Detroit news outlet had published a photo of Kilpatrick at his mother’s home at the same time that his sister visited the house, raising questions of whether his presence there violated court restrictions.  Get the latest details at BET.com/News.

Money for MLK Memorial pours in.

The money keeps on pouring in for the historic Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C. On Tuesday, organizers announced that donors, including $3 million from Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, had compelled them to raise the fundraising goal from $100 million to $120 million. Contributions for the memorial, which will be built on the National Mall, already has reached $99 million, according to Harry E. Johnson, Sr., president of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, the private group in charge of the effort. So why the new money goal? There are “a number of variables,” including changes in the structural plan, the addition of a bookstore and security costs as well as inflation for the rising cost estimate, Johnson says. After a stormy past few months over the design of the 28-foot statue of King, to be sculpted by Chinese artist Lei Yixin, the project appears on a positive track. Still, the project must win final approval for all aspects of the memorial site before construction can begin. The memorial is expected to take about 18-20 months to complete.

Muslim hate-crime victim leaves the hospital. The Muslim native of Uzbekistan, who was shot repeatedly while pumping gas at a Cleveland gas station, left the hospital Monday, nearly eight weeks after the tragic episode was captured on videotape. Police have been investigating the incident as a hate crime. As he left the MetroHealth Medical Center, 49-year-old Fazliddin Yakubov offered “a million, million thanks” for all the support he has received, The Plain Dealer newspaper reported Tuesday. He had been shot three times in the abdomen while his son was pumping gas. The video led to the arrest of 18-year-old William Neal of Cleveland, who’s charged with felonious assault and attempted murder. He’s being held in a Cuyahoga County jail on $250,000 bond.

Latinos, Blacks squeezed hard in tight job market.

As the nation’s job market grows tighter, Latinos and Black workers are suffering disproportionately, according to employment specialists and figures from the Department of Labor. While employment shrank by 51,000 jobs in July and nationwide joblessness rose to a four-year high of 5.7 percent, Latino unemployment was 7.4 percent last month, according to the Labor Department. Black joblessness was 9.7 percent in July. It was 9.2 percent in June. The overall teen jobless rate was 20.3 percent in July. It was 27.3 percent for Latino teens and 32 percent for Black teens. Analysts attribute much of the Latino job loss to ongoing contraction in the construction industry. A Labor Department report said the construction industry “has shed 557,000 jobs since its September 2006 employment peak, with nearly three-quarters of the decline occurring since October 2007.” A Pew report and other studies have found that for Black workers and their families, the picture is especially bleak. An Aug. 1 report by the Joint Economic Committee of Congress said that one in four Blacks lived in poverty in 2006. Black lost 55,000 jobs since December and wage growth continued its stall. “During the 2000s’ economic recovery, African American workers’ inflation-adjusted wages grew at an annual rate of only 0.2 percent, after having grown four times as much (0.8 percent) per year during the 1990s recovery,” the congressional committee reported. Between 2000 and 2006, median Black family income fell by 2.9 percent to $39,367, according to federal statistics.

Widow of slain Atlanta judge gets $5 million settlement. The widow of the Atlanta judge who was allegedly shot to death by a defendant during a daring escape from a courtroom three years ago will be paid more than $5.2 million by Fulton County. Under a settlement made public Thursday, Claudia Barnes, the wife of slain judge Rowland Barnes, the county will $5 million to settle lawsuits against itself and Sheriff Myron Freeman. The county will also pay a one-time annuity of $246,000 in a separate benefits case filed by Barnes, a former Fulton County employee. “I miss my husband every day, and this won’t take that away,” Barnes said Thursday. “I’ve had so many irons in the fire. This just closes another chapter of things I have to do.” Rowland Barnes was shot in March 2005 as he presided over a hearing involving convicted rapist Brian Nichols. The defendant allegedly wrested a sidearm from a deputy and shot to death the judge, a court reporter, a sheriff’s sergeant and, later, a federal agent. Nichols’ capital trial for the three deaths has been delayed several times. “Now I can focus all my attention on the criminal trial,” Barnes said.

Even the Klan ads didn’t help the Black challenger win. A nasty Democratic primary came to a close in Tennessee Thursday as the White incumbent congressman had a runaway win against his African-American challenger in a majority-Black district. Rep. Steve Cohen took an astounding 79 percent of the vote, compared with 19 percent for Nikki Turner, a Black lawyer, who throughout the campaign tried to convince voters that they should stick with their own race. In a particularly controversial campaign moment, Tinker ran an ad linking Cohen, a Jew, to the Ku Klux Klan. Sen. Barack Obama even entered the mix on that one, condemning the ad, which juxtaposed Cohen’s picture with that of a hooded Klansman. Cohen has long civil rights record. Just last month, he introduced a resolution to get Congress to issue an apology to African Americans for this nation’s imposition of slavery and Jim Crow.