#20jan22 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

masterofd1saster · 2 years

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CJ current events 26jan22

The whole world is an impact area

Kerri Gray had just parked outside an Atlanta food market she often visited when she turned around and saw her baby slumped over in his car seat.

When she noticed a pool of blood in his lap, her heart began to race. On Tuesday afternoon, less than 24 hours after the fatal drive-by shooting of 6-month-old Grayson Matthew Fleming-Gray, Atlanta’s mayor and police chief announced the arrest of 22-year-old Dequasie Jonathan Little. He is charged with felony murder and aggravated assault.

“What happened was the bullet had gone through the trunk and straight through my son,” Gray told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday, recalling the tragedy as she clutched her son’s favorite Pooh plush toy at her Cumming home. She said she knew Grayson was gone the moment she pressed him against her white fleece sweater, which remains stained with his blood. Gray had no idea what had just happened. Grayson had not cried, and the noise simply did not sound like a gunshot.***

Grayson was caught in the crossfire of a shootout between two drivers in southwest Atlanta on Monday shortly before 3 p.m., the latest example of a child’s life being cut short by gun violence in the city. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.***

“I think that if you get the opportunity, make better life choices, because those of us who become your collateral damage — that’s not fair,” Gray said. “You ruined my life.”***

Little has a criminal record that dates to 2018, when he was accused of aggravated assault, according to jail and court records. He was arrested in January 2019 and released less than two months later on $20,000 bond, records show. At the time, Little had pending charges in Houston and Peach counties.

In April 2019, he was returned to the Fulton jail and then back to Houston County, booking records show. Last year, Little was arrested in September in connection with the same case, which remains open.

Grayson’s death was the 12th homicide investigation of the year for Atlanta police.*** https://www.ajc.com/news/crime/mother-of-6-month-old-killed-in-drive-by-shooting-grieving-amid-mans-arrest/2AHG2DGFDJGJ7BD2OLGY2ZS2QE/

This morning the mom said in an interview "make better choices because the rest of the world can not be your collateral damage."

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TYLER, Texas – A federal grand jury has returned a 33-count indictment charging a Tyler man for fraud schemes in the Eastern District of Texas [around 20jan22.]

Derek Robert Hamm, 38, was named in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Tyler charging him with wire fraud, money laundering, violations of the Stolen Valor Act, using a fraudulent military discharge certificate, and being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition. The Stolen Valor Act of 2013 makes it illegal to fraudulently wear medals, embellish rank, or make false claims of military service to obtain money, employment, property, or some other tangible benefit.

According to the indictment, Hamm held himself out to be a former member of the Army Special Forces who had served multiple tours of duty in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other countries. He claimed to have been awarded a Purple Heart, a Silver Star, and a Bronze Star for his service. In reality, Hamm received none of those awards. Hamm also falsely claimed to be related to Harold Hamm, the billionaire oilman in Oklahoma, which he claimed gave him access to financial resources and oil industry expertise.

The indictment alleges that Hamm’s persona of being a wealthy war hero helped him create an extensive network of friends who introduced him to potential investors. Hamm then defrauded those investors in schemes related to the oil and gas drilling industry. Hamm did not invest funds as promised. Instead, once Hamm received investors’ funds, he spent the money on lavish personal gifts, including nearly $500,000 on jewelry and vehicles for himself and his family.*** https://www.justice.gov/usao-edtx/pr/tyler-man-indicted-using-stolen-valor-defraud-investors

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According to court documents, the guardsman allegedly claimed that he was a 2003 West Point Graduate who had spent 10 years in the Army serving multiple tours in Iraq, Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern countries. Prosecutors say he told people that he was a sergeant — despite having attended the service academy — with 1st Battalion, 5th Group, Delta Company.

Court documents allege that Hamm also claimed having received a Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart in addition to the Distinguished Service Cross. Hamm’s actual service record, according to the indictment, shows that he had instead received the non-valor related awards of the Iraq Campaign Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, Army Service Ribbon and the Global War on Terror Service Medal. He had also been discharged from the Oklahoma National Guard in 2007 after transferring following deployment.

Hamm also allegedly made claims that he was a “master Airborne soldier with 258 combat jumps,” according to court documents.*** https://www.navytimes.com/news/2022/01/25/he-told-investors-he-a-spec-ops-war-hero-prosecutors-say-it-was-a-ruse/

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Maj Dick Winters of Band of Brothers fame finished WWII with two combat jumps.

***

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will retire at the end of the high court’s current term — setting the stage for President Biden to replace him with another liberal jurist, according to reports Wednesday.

Breyer, 83, is the oldest member of the Supreme Court and has been under increasing pressure from liberal Democrats to step down in recent months.***

Biden said during his campaign for the White House that he would nominate a black woman if he got the chance.*** https://nypost.com/2022/01/26/supreme-court-justice-stephen-breyer-to-retire/

I seriously doubt that he would nominate The Honorable Janice Rogers Brown or anyone remotely like her.

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A 19-year-old South Florida man was charged with extortion and cyberstalking after allegedly threatening to leak nude images of Florida state Sen. Lauren Book.

Jeremy Kamperveen, of Plantation, was arrested back on November 17. Under Marsy’s Law, the senator’s name was redacted from Kamperveen's arrest report.***

According to the report, Book filed a complaint with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement after getting multiple text messages from an unknown number on Nov. 12, including two nude pictures that Book sent only to a close friend.

“The text messages stated the unknown person would leak the photos to Fox and her career would be over," the report read.

It goes on to say an FDLE agent pretending to be Book reached out to the suspect from an undercover phone.*** https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/man-accused-of-sexually-harassing-florida-state-senator/2633683/

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***Book is taking action as only a legislator can. While the pain came rushing back, so did her spirit to fight, and she’s seeking a new law to try to prevent others from being victimized.

The bill sponsored by Book, a Democrat, gets its first committee hearing Tuesday. It would strengthen Florida’s revenge porn law by making it a felony to buy, sell or trade stolen sexually explicit images from someone’s phone or other digital devices. It would also make disseminating altered or created sexually explicit images, known as deepfakes, a felony.*** https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-sen-lauren-book-fights-back-nude-images-stolen-rcna13492

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Democratic lawyer Marc Elias, infamous for funding British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s discredited dossier, gave grand jury testimony as part of special counsel John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the flawed Trump-Russia investigation.

The revelation was made in a Tuesday court filing by Durham’s team in the case against Elias’s former Perkins Coie law firm colleague Michael Sussmann, who was indicted last year. Durham said in the filing that the special counsel team “maintains an active, ongoing criminal investigation of the defendant’s conduct and other matters.”*** https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/steele-dossier-funder-marc-elias-testified-before-john-durhams-grand-jury

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An Afghan evacuee was convicted of having sexual contact with a toddler while they resided on a U.S. military base that was providing temporary housing for those who departed Afghanistan at the end of the war.

Mohammad Tariq, 24, was convicted on charges of abusive sexual contact with a 3-year-old girl on Monday, and he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. He will be sentenced on April 26.

“Marines observed Tariq pat [the child] on the head, kiss her around the neck, face and top of her head, and firmly caress her on her chest, back," and other places on Sept. 22, 2021, though they noted this contact was “over her clothes," an affidavit from Master Sgt. Kyle Skalsky, the operations chief of the Provost Marshal’s Office at Marine Corps Base Quantico, reads.

The two of them, who are not related, were among thousands of others living at Camp Upshur, on Marine Corps Base Quantico, following their evacuation from Afghanistan.

The child “tried to push away from Tariq and leave, but Tariq grabbed [her] arm and brought [her] back to him and continued to touch her,” per Skalsky's affidavit, and the Marines then intervened.*** https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/afghan-evacuee-convicted-of-sexual-contact-with-toddler-at-military-base

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Check out https://epic.org/documents/epic-comments-to-the-u-s-postal-investigative-service-on-using-u-s-p-s-customer-data-for-law-enforcement/ for comments on a Postal Service proposal to "to expand its system of records to include data from USPS customers who have done nothing to warrant law enforcement surveillance."

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NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- NYPD officer Wilbert Mora, who was shot and his partner killed while responding to a domestic call in Harlem, has died from his injuries, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell announced Tuesday.

"It's with great sadness I announce the passing of Police Officer Wilbert Mora," she said. "Wilbert is 3 times a hero. For choosing a life of service. For sacrificing his life to protect others. For giving life even in death through organ donation. Our heads are bowed & our hearts are heavy."*** https://abc7ny.com/nypd-officer-shot-wilbert-mora-harlem-police-shooting-killed/11508216/

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Opening statements began Monday in the federal trial of three former Minneapolis police officers charged in the death of George Floyd, a case that will focus on the responsibility fellow officers have of reining in colleagues when they witness misconduct.

Former Minneapolis Police Department officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas K. Lane, and Tou Thao were at the scene during the May 25, 2020, arrest-turned-killing of Floyd, a black man who begged for his life while ex-officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes. Floyd's death, which was videotaped by a bystander and went viral, triggered coast-to-coast protests on police brutality and racial injustice.*** https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/federal-trial-of-three-officers-accused-in-george-floyds-death-begins

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NEW YORK - Once-prominent California attorney Michael Avenatti took over representation of himself Tuesday at his latest criminal trial, setting the stage for him to directly confront former client and porn star Stormy Daniels over her claims that he stole some of the money she was owed for her autobiography.

U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman granted Avenatti's request at his Manhattan trial on wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges after he cited a "breakdown" with his lawyers over trial strategy, particularly on how to question a former longtime office worker for Avenatti who was testifying at the trial by video.

Daniels was expected to take the witness stand at the trial as early as Wednesday.Avenatti, 50, has vehemently asserted his innocence on the claims that he pocketed nearly $300,000 of the $800,000 advance paid to Daniels for her 2018 book "Full Disclosure."

Although Furman told Avenatti earlier that his right to represent himself was "sharply curtailed" once his trial began, the judge granted Avenatti's request after Avenatti insisted he wanted to act as his own lawyer, as he did at a trial in California for six weeks last year.At that federal trial, he represented himself against criminal charges that he cheated clients of millions of dollars, and the proceedings ended in a mistrial.Before, in early 2020, Avenatti was convicted of trying to extort up to $25 million from sportswear giant Nike by threatening to tarnish the company's reputation if it didn't meet his demands. He was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison. At that trial, he did not testify and was represented by lawyers. *** https://www.fox5ny.com/news/michael-avenatti-representing-himself-in-case-vs-stormy-daniels

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Jussie Smollett will be sentenced on March 10 after he was convicted of five of six counts in his hate crime hoax case, Fox News Digital can confirm.

There will also be a status hearing on Thursday, Jan 27.

In December, a jury found Smollett guilty on the first five counts, and he was acquitted on a sixth count of lying to a detective weeks after he said he was attacked. *** https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/jussie-smollett-march-sentencing-hate-crime-hoax-case

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