The Daily Moth 11-26-19
Two major federal court decisions involving President Trump | Three Maryland men wrongfully convicted of murder is freed after 36 years | Mass. State Police tests out robot dog | Lewis the koala passes away; Trump signs animal cruelty bill | Distracted police officer crashes into deaf woman, causing traumatic brain damage
[Transcript] Hello, welcome to The Daily Moth! It is Tuesday, November 26. Ready for news?
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Two major federal court decisions involving President Trump
Here are two major federal court decisions on Monday that has to do with President Trump.
The first — Axios reported that the Supreme Court granted an emergency stay to block House Democrats from enforcing a subpoena for President Trump’s financial records and tax returns.
In October, a lower federal court said Congress could subpoena the tax returns, but with the Supreme Court’s emergency stay yesterday, Trump’s tax returns from his accounting firm will not be forced to be turned over for now.
NPR explained that Trump’s lawyers can file an appeal for a full briefing and hearing by the Supreme Court and then it will be up to the Court to hear the case this term.
Axios has predicted that the Supreme Court will take up the case sometime in January. The final decision will be issued by June.
Trump has also asked the Supreme Court to block a similar subpoena from the Manhattan district attorney in a case that is about hush payments to two women before the 2016 election. There is no update on that yet.
The second court decision is from D.C. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson about whether President Trump and the White House can stop their aides from testifying before Congress. This case is specifically about former White House counsel Don McGahn.
The judge said the president does not have the power to stop their aides from responding to Congress and that presidents are not kings. The judge clarified that McGahn can invoke executive privilege to protect sensitive information while testifying.
The Trump administration said they would appeal and requested Judge Jackson to put a temporary pause on her ruling.
McGahn was a key witness during the Mueller investigation on matters concerning whether Trump obstructed justice. House Democrats want him to testify about those things.
Trump tweeted today that he would prefer for both his former and current aides to testify, but he is fighting for the Office of the President and for future presidents, that what has happened to him should never happen to another president.
https://www.axios.com/supreme-court-trump-tax-returns-stay-066deaaa-bc71-42a7-954a-ed7ee5c9c356.html
https://www.npr.org/2019/11/25/782813946/u-s-supreme-court-temporarily-blocks-release-of-trumps-tax-records
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50554162
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/26/doj-moves-to-halt-judges-ruling-that-mcgahn-must-testify-073923
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump
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Three Maryland men wrongfully convicted of murder is freed after 36 years
Three men from Maryland who have been behind bars for 36 years have been released and exonerated of murdering a 14-year-old teenager student in Baltimore in 1983. Their names are Alfred Chestnut, Ransom Watkins, and Andrew Stewart.
The Baltimore prosecutor’s office reopened the case this year and found that detectives targeted the three men, who were 16 years old at the time, by coaching and coercing other teenage witnesses to speak against them.
The review found errors in the investigation and concluded that a different student, who was 18 at the time of the shooting, was the shooter. This is based on a witness who saw the shooter dump a gun when police arrived. That suspect has already passed away in 2002 — he was shot to death.
The three men were arrested on Thanksgiving day in 1983 and sentenced to life in prison in 1984, when they were still teenagers.
A Maryland judge told the three men that he apologizes on behalf of the criminal justice system, but admitted that he is sure that the apology means very little to them.
Watkins said after being released that this should have never happened and that someone’s got to pay for this, that the fight is not over.
Stewart said he couldn’t stop crying when he found out (he would be freed), but now he has to learn how to live now.
The Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said the three men were convicted as children because of police and prosecutorial misconduct, and that she plans to fight to make sure the three are compensated. She said the three are now free to spend the holidays with their loved ones for the first time in 36 years.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/baltimore-men-wrongfully-convicted-murder-freed-36-years-191126052153587.html#click=https://t.co/XF6PMmKVeY
https://wreg.com/2019/11/26/three-baltimore-men-freed-from-prison-36-years-after-they-were-wrongfully-convicted-of-murder/
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Mass. State Police tests out robot dog
WBUR in Boston reported that Massachusetts State Police is the first law enforcement agency in the country to use a dog-like robot made by Boston Dynamics. The dog is called Spot and is capable of walking up to a door and opening it. It has a 360-degree, low-light camera and can walk up to 3 mph and climb various terrain. Here is a video that shows what it can do.
[Video of two robot dogs opening a door]
WBUR reported that civil rights advocates are raising concerns on oversight on police using robots.
The Mass. State Police’s bomb squad is using the robot dog to help offices look at suspicious devices or hazardous locations and have used it in two incidents.
Boston Dynamics said they do not want the robot dog to have weapons and only allows other organizations to use it on a lease agreement with the agreement that it is not used in a way that can physically harm or intimidate someone. The company said they would take back the robot dog if the lease is violated.
Mass. State Police said they never put weapons on any of their robots.
WBUR pointed out that there was an instance of a robot being used to kill a person — this is when the Dallas Police sent a bomb disposal robot that was armed with C4 to go up near a sniper who killed five police officers. The sniper died when the bombs detonated.
WBUR said activists are concerned about the “deadly potential” and the lack of transparency about how police are using robots. They want a policy on use of robots.
Here’s another reason for concern — Boston Dynamics have developed a humanoid robot named Atlas. It can do a lot of things.
[Video of Atlas the robot walking, rolling around, and doing somersaults]
So, what do you think about police departments using robots?
https://www.wbur.org/news/2019/11/25/boston-dynamics-robot-dog-massachusetts-state-police
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlkCQXHEgjA&list=TLPQMjYxMTIwMTlubhoCM0k7Kw&index=2
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Lewis the koala passes away; Trump signs animal cruelty bill
Here are two news related to animals.
The first — the koala that was rescued by a woman during Australia’s bushfires, named Lewis, has passed away because it was not recovering from its wounds.
The Port Macquarie Koala Hospital said they had to put it down because their number one goal was animal welfare.
Lewis was estimated to be 14 years old and was badly burnt. Yesterday I reported that it was thought he would have a 50-50 chance of survival, but sadly he’s gone.
It is estimated that more than 350 koalas have died from fires in New South Wales.
The second news — yesterday afternoon President Trump signed a bill into law that makes animal cruelty a federal felony. The bill had bipartisan support through Congress.
The bill, named the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act (PACT), will make it a federal crime for anyone to intentionally cause serious harm to mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians. The penalty can include a fine, a prison term of up to seven years, or both.
Every state already have laws that say animal cruelty is a crime, but this federal legislation makes it easier to prosecute instances of animal cruelty that spans different states or jurisdictions.
Lawmakers and some law enforcement groups said there is a link between extreme animal cruelty and violence against people.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50553859
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/26/australia/lewis-koala-dead-intl-hnk-scli/index.html
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-trump-sign-animal-cruelty-bill-law-making/story?id=67295654
https://www.npr.org/2019/11/25/782842651/trump-signs-law-making-cruelty-to-animals-a-federal-crime
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Distracted police officer crashes into deaf woman, causing traumatic brain damage
Last week news outlets in Georgia reported that a deaf woman, Sarah Wood, was driving her SUV in stop-and-go rush hour traffic on Interstate 85 on April 1 when she was struck in the back by a Gwinnet County police cruiser that was going 68 mph.
The impact was very severe. Pictures of the SUV show the rear part completely crushed.
Sarah was taken to a hospital with a traumatic brain injury and was in a coma for four weeks. It took her another week to finally be conscious enough to be able to communicate with her family. She told “The Daily Moth” in a video interview that she doesn’t even remember the impact.
SARAH WOOD:
My name is Sarah Wood. (Signs name)
BRIAN BOOZER:
Hi, my name is Brian Boozer. I’m her fiancé.
WOOD:
On April 1, I worked for 8 hours. It was almost overtime. I was ready to go home. I texted him to let him know I was on the way home. I got out of the building and got in the car and drove.
[Image of gray SUV that is wrecked in the back]
SARAH:
It is a big shock what happened. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s tough that it happened. I just don’t want it to happen to other people.
ALEX:
Channel 2 Action News said the police officer, Todd Ramsey, appeared to be dipping tobacco and his laptop was playing a “Grand Theft Auto” video. The officer was able to talk after the crash and said he didn’t know who he hit. He said he had a problem with his eye or contact.
See this video from WSB-TV 2 News.
Video: [Police body camera video showing a Gwinnet County officer responding to the scene of the crash. He asks Ramsey, who is dazed and in the passenger seat with a deflated airbag in front of him, “How you holding up, boss?” The video angle shifts back and forth to show an interstate. The responding officer asks, “Do you remember which car it was?” Then he says, “He says he don’t know.”]
ALEX:
Ramsey got a citation for following too closely. A news investigation found that this was his eighth at-fault accident. He was demoted in September and is now prohibited from driving or operating a Gwinnet County vehicle for any reason.
Sarah is now working with an attorney named Susan Witt to try and resolve a claim with Gwinnet County. She told “The Daily Moth” in an email that if they can’t resolve the claim, they will file suit in the near future and pursue it to the fullest extent.
WSB-TV 2 News reported that Sarah can no longer work because of the traumatic brain injury she suffered. Sarah told “The Daily Moth” that her life has changed after the crash.
SARAH:
I’ve noticed that I am a lot different now than before the accident. Before, I was just fine, but now I feel fearful, unsure of what to do, I have to ask him for help and he is willing to help me out with things. He’s helped so much. But when it’s by myself, I can’t handle it. That’s why he’s here with me.
BRIAN: It’s tough for her now. Also she struggles to use hearing aids. Can you explain?
SARAH:
Sometimes when I wear my hearing aids, it causes pain. It’s something with the nerves. I understand that it happens, but when I put it on, I have to take it off to stop the pain. It’s on and off. It’s really annoying, the pain.
ALEX:
Sarah’s fiancé said he had a difficult time to decide if he wanted to bring their daughter to the hospital to see her.
BRIAN:
Yeah, it was a tough decision with my daughter on what to do as she really wanted to see her mother when she was in a coma. I made a decision to bring her and it ended up being a blessing because she was really excited to see her and help her out. She was ready to help out when she woke up and she helped a lot. But she had to go through counseling because of what happened to her. She is in a deaf school and they helped out with bringing her to a counselor.
ALEX:
Sarah’s attorney said that this is the first time she has had a “case with a police officer as the cause of the collision due to distracted driving” and that it is “beyond understanding” how the officer, who is supposed to enforce a Georgia hands free law, was “using his device in the manner he was.”
Gwinnet County police did not provide a comment or answer questions to WSB-TV 2 News when they asked why Ramsey did not face any other charges.
Sarah’s medical bills are more than $500,000 and growing.
Sarah and her fiance said because the crash happened on April 1, many people thought it was a joke when they tried to tell others about the incident.
Witt said she hopes “the media coverage of this event will help bring awareness of this dangerous situation and that police departments will examine their policies regarding electronic use and will better monitor their officers’ use of electronics while driving.”
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/2-investigates/cop-crashed-into-car-while-playing-grand-theft-auto-video-investigation-finds/1009924685
https://www.wjcl.com/article/police-georgia-cop-had-grand-theft-auto-playing-when-he-hit-driver-putting-her-in-a-coma/29841865
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That is all for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!
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