August 15 top stories
It is August 15. Here are today’s top stories.
Donald Trump indicted for a fourth time
Former President Donald Trump is facing criminal charges for the fourth time this year.
A grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia (Atlanta area) indicted Trump and 18 other people with violating Georgia’s RICO Act (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations). RICO charges are usually associated with mobs/mafia and organized crime.
Trump himself is facing 13 counts.
Trump’s attorneys said the indictment is bogus and that the investigation relied on witnesses that have their own personal and political interests.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said she wants to try all the defendants together in a trial within six months.
The indictment said Trump and his allies created a “criminal enterprise” in which they pressured election officials in Georgia and elsewhere to change the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia and other states so Trump would win instead of Joe Biden.
Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani and Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows are among those charged.
Trump and the 18 other defendants are accused of committing various forms of fraud by making false statements to government officials (such as 10,000 dead people voting), creating false Electoral College documents, and false allegations of vote rigging.
The indictment charged a man with traveling to the home of Ruby Freeman, a Georgia election worker who Giuliani falsely accused of altering ballots, to try and influence her testimony to authorities.
The indictment said Trump and his allies were involved in a plan to illegally access voting equipment and voter data in Coffee County, Georgia.
The charges Trump is facing in the Georgia case are somewhat similar to the election fraud case brought forth by Special Counsel Jack Smith of the Department of Justice (on the federal level). If Trump wins the presidency in 2024, Trump can pardon himself on the federal level, but he wouldn’t be able to pardon the Georgia charges.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) said on X that the 2020 election in Georgia was not stolen. He said for almost three years now, anyone with evidence of fraud has failed to come forward - under oath - and prove anything in a court of law.
Five people killed in Pennsylvania house explosion
On Saturday in Plum, Pennsylvania, a house explosion killed five people, including a child, and damaged several other homes. The scene looked like a neighborhood was hit by a bomb with multiple debris and burned-out vehicles.
The local fire marshal’s office said it is investigating multiple possibilities, including the homeowners having hot water tank issues. The tank was in the basement of the home.
The victims included a 38-year-old father and his 12-year-old son, Casey and Keegan Clontz.
Mom of elementary student who shot teacher pleads guilty
The mother of the 6-year-old boy who shot his elementary school teacher in Virginia in January has pleaded guilty to felony child neglect. The mother’s name is Deja Taylor. She will be sentenced in October.
The teacher who was shot is Abby Zwerner. The bullet traveled through her hand and into her chest. Police said the boy brought the gun to a classroom and intentionally shot the teacher. The school’s name is Richneck Elementary School.
State prosecutors said they wouldn’t charge the boy because of his age. The boy has an acute disability and emotional issues but is reportedly doing better with therapy and family support.
The teacher filed a $40 million lawsuit against the Newport News School District in Virginia and school officials for ignoring multiple warnings about the student’s behavior and concerns that the boy brought a gun.
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Father kills driver who fatally struck son
Police in Person County, North Carolina said they arrested a father for shooting and killing a driver who hit and killed his son with a truck.
This happened on Monday early morning. The father, Chad Woods, was walking with his teenage son on a road because their car ran out of gas.
As the two walked home, a man driving a Department of Corrections truck struck and killed the teenager. The driver, Jeffrey McKay, stopped and called 911. Police said the father pulled out a gun and killed McKay, then took his truck and drove home, leaving his son and McKay on the street.
The father was later arrested and charged with second-degree murder and stealing a vehicle.
A police officer said this is a “first” for him because he has responded to people being struck by cars and to shootings, but he hasn’t seen both happen at the same time. He said it was a sad situation for all the families.
“The Blind Side” subject Michael Oher sues family
Michael Oher, a former NFL player and the subject of the 2009 film, “The Blind Side,” is suing the family that was thought to have adopted him when he was a teenager and struggling with poverty.
Oher said the “adoptive parents” Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy never adopted him but tricked him into signing a document making them his conservators after he was 18. This means the Tuohys had legal authority to make business deals in his name.
Oher said he signed the conservatorship papers when he was a high school senior and thought that it meant the same as an adoption process.
Oher said the Tuohys earned millions of dollars in royalties from the film while he got nothing. The Tuohys have continued to use the Oher adoption story to promote their foundation and work by providing motivational speeches.
Sean Tuohy told a reporter that he was stunned by Oher’s allegations and that they did not make any money from the film. The Tuohy family attorney said they would file a legal response to the lawsuit in the next few weeks.
Actress Sandra Bullock won a Best Actress Oscar for her role as Leigh Anne Tuohy in the film.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.axios.com/2023/08/15/trump-indictment-georgia-election-probe-latest-news
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/15/us/politics/trump-georgia-indictment-annotated.html
https://abc11.com/nc-dad-shoots-driver-son-killed-by-truck-person-county-deadly-shooting/13647219/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/08/15/pennsylvania-house-explosion-plum/70593924007/
https://abcnews.go.com/US/mom-6-year-accused-shooting-teacher-pleads-guilty/story