Calista241
Calista241's JournalMultiple Boston Cops Arrested for 'Stealing Taxpayer Money' Over the Course of Several Years
Source: Law & Crime
Nine current or former police officers were arrested for “stealing taxpayer money” through overtime pay fraud in a years-long scheme. U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Andrew Lelling said on Wednesday that although he supports police in general, official misconduct needs to be punished.
“I am a strong supporter of the police, especially in these difficult times. But all must be treated equally under the law, regardless of wealth, power or station,” Lelling said. “These officers are charged with stealing taxpayer money, year after year, through fraud. Beyond the theft of funds, this kind of official misconduct also erodes trust in public institutions, at a time when that trust is most needed.”
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According to the indictment, the defendants were assigned to Boston Police Department’s (BPD) Evidence Control Unit (ECU), where they were responsible for, among other things, storing, cataloging and retrieving evidence at the warehouse. ECU officers were eligible to earn overtime pay of 1.5 times their regular hourly pay rate for overtime assignments. It is alleged that beginning in at least May 2016, the defendants routinely departed overtime shifts two or more hours early but submitted false and fraudulent overtime slips claiming to have worked the entirety of each shift.
One overtime shift, called “purge” overtime, was focused on reducing the inventory of the evidence warehouse. The shift was supposed to be performed from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. on weekdays. On days which the defendants claimed to have worked until 8:00 p.m., the warehouse was closed, locked and alarmed well before 8:00 p.m., and often by 6:00 p.m. or before. Despite this, it is alleged that the defendants routinely submitted false and fraudulent overtime slips claiming to have worked from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. Supervisors, who also left early from this shift, allegedly submitted their own false and fraudulent slips and also knowingly endorsed the fraudulent overtime slips of their subordinates.
Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/multiple-boston-cops-arrested-for-stealing-taxpayer-money-over-the-course-of-several-years/
They were padding their overtime hours.
Overwhelmingly strong results could end COVID-19 vaccine trials early, Fauci says
Source: LA Times
A COVID-19 vaccine could be available earlier than expected if ongoing clinical trials produce overwhelmingly positive results, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease official, said this week.
Although two ongoing clinical trials of 30,000 volunteers are expected to conclude by the end of the year, Fauci said an independent board has the authority to end the trials weeks early if interim results are overwhelmingly positive or negative.
The Data and Safety Monitoring Board could say, “The data is so good right now that you can say it’s safe and effective,” Fauci said Tuesday. In that case, researchers would have “a moral obligation” to end the trial early and make the active vaccine available to everyone in the study, he said, including those who had been given placebos — and accelerate the process to give the vaccine to millions.
Fauci’s comments come at a time of growing concern about whether political pressure from the Trump administration could influence federal regulators and scientists overseeing the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and erode shaky public confidence in vaccines. Prominent vaccine experts have said they fear that President Trump is pushing for an early vaccine approval to help win reelection.
Read more: https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-09-02/covid-19-vaccine-trials-could-end-early-if-results-are-overwhelming
I suspected the conflict between Fauci and Trump could have been orchestrated with a result like this in mind.
In 'Stunning' 2-1 Decision, Appeals Court Says Congress Can't Enforce Subpoena Against Ex-WH Counsel
Source: Law & Crime
A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. on Monday ruled that the U.S. House of Representatives does not have any legal authority to enforce a subpoena against former White House counsel Don McGahn. In a 2-1 decision penned by Judge Thomas B. Griffith, a George W. Bush appointee, the court reasoned that the Constitution does not grant a congressional committee the power to enforce its own subpoenas, dismissing the case in favor of McGahn.
“Congress has no implied constitutional power to seek civil enforcement of its subpoenas. The Committee thus cannot identify an underlying judicial remedy that could authorize it to invoke the Declaratory Judgment Act,” Griffith wrote. “Because the Committee lacks a cause of action to enforce its subpoena, this lawsuit must be dismissed.”
Judge Griffith stated, however, that while the committee does not currently have such enforcement power, that could be rectified if Congress passed a law granting such authority.
“We note that this decision does not preclude Congress (or one of its chambers) from ever enforcing a subpoena in federal court; it simply precludes it from doing so without first enacting a statute authorizing such a suit,” he wrote. “If Congress (rather than a single committee in a single chamber thereof) determines that its current mechanisms leave it unable to adequately enforce its subpoenas, it remains free to enact a statute that makes the House’s requests for information judicially enforceable. Indeed, Congress has passed similar statutes before, authorizing criminal enforcement in 1857 and civil enforcement for the Senate in 1978.”
Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/in-stunning-2-1-decision-appeals-court-says-congress-cant-enforce-subpoena-against-ex-wh-counsel-don-mcgahn/
Man Exonerated in 1983 Rape and Murder After Almost Four Decades Behind Bars
Source: Law & Crime
A man convicted in a 1983 rape and murder in Tampa, Florida is set to be released on Thursday. Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Judge Christopher C. Nash found that the 1985 conviction of Robert DuBoise, 55, in the death of Barbara Grams, 19, is no longer supported by the evidence. This is a result of not just the man’s attorneys from The Innocence Project, but the local prosecutor’s office. They filed a joint motion.
“Today is an important day for justice — justice for the family of a victim and a man convicted of killing her,” Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren said on Wednesday, according to The Tampa Bay Times. “This is painful and tragic. But it’s the truth, and when you tell the truth, justice is done.”
Grams was beaten to death while she was walking home from work, authorities said. Her body was found outside of a dentist office. The state argued that DuBoise, his brother, and a third man all participated in the rape and murder; the brother and the third man were never charged.
Incidentally, a dentist’s expert testimony contributed toward the guilty verdict. Dr. Richard Souviron took the stand to say that a bite mark on Grams’s cheek matched Duboise’s teeth “to a reasonable degree of dental certainty,” according to the Tampa Bay Times. But another dentist who recently looked at the evidence reportedly said that the mark wasn’t from a bite.
Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/crazy/man-exonerated-in-1983-rape-and-murder-after-almost-four-decades-behind-bars/
NASA drops "insensitive" nicknames for cosmic objects
Source: CBS News
NASA is joining the ever-growing list of organizations and companies reexamining its naming system, removing names that are "insensitive" and "harmful" from its vocabulary. Aunt Jemima, The Chicks, Lady A, Mrs. Butterworth's, the Washington Football Team — and now, celestial objects — are all undergoing a rebrand.
"Eskimo Nebula" and "Siamese Twins Galaxy" are just two examples of nicknames that will be retired, the space agency announced this week. "Often seemingly innocuous nicknames can be harmful and detract from the science," it said.
Celestial objects such as planets, galaxies and nebulae are often given unofficial nicknames, since their official names are typically a series of letters and numbers. However, NASA said some of the names are offensive, and they plan to retire them.
"As the scientific community works to identify and address systemic discrimination and inequality in all aspects of the field, it has become clear that certain cosmic nicknames are not only insensitive, but can be actively harmful," the agency said. "NASA is examining its use of unofficial terminology for cosmic objects as part of its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion."
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa-drops-eskimo-nebula-insensitive-nicknames-cosmic-objects/
Gen. Charles Q. Brown takes over Air Force, makes history as first Black service branch chief
Source: Washington Post
Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown became the new chief of staff of the Air Force on Thursday, making history as the first Black chief of a military service and acknowledging the significance to himself and others.
“This is a very historic day for our nation, and I do not take this moment lightly,” Brown said, speaking in a hangar at Joint Base Andrews. “Today is possible due to the perseverance of those who went before me, serving as an inspiration to me and so many others.”
Brown cited as examples the Tuskegee Airmen, an all-Black unit of fighter pilots in World War II; Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr., who commanded them and went on to become a general; Brig. Gen. Charles McGee, one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen; and Gen. Daniel “Chappie” James Jr., the first Black four-star general in U.S. military history.
Seated in the audience as a special guest was Edward Dwight Jr., a former Air Force test pilot who became the nation’s first African American astronaut candidate. Brown called him “quite an inspiration."
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2020/08/06/gen-charles-cq-brown-takes-over-air-force-makes-history-first-black-service-branch-chief/
Killings of Police Officers Are Up 28% So Far in 2020: Reports
Source: Law & Crime
The killing of a Washington State police officer on July 13 marked the death of the 32nd U.S. law enforcement officer in 2020 — a year which has seen violent protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd and a 28% increase in “felonious officer deaths over the same period in 2019.” That’s according to ABC News, which cited a review of FBI data. Seven of those 32 officers were “ambushed,” the report says.
Accompanying the cries for police reform in the wake of Floyd’s death “was a rise in an anti-police sentiment that, experts say, manifested itself in attacks on officers, patrol vehicles and precinct stationhouses, leaving cops around the country feeling under siege,” ABC said.
It is unclear to some experts whether correlation necessarily means causation: though the Floyd death and the spike in officer deaths are temporally related, a professor of political science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York told ABC that it is probably too early to draw a direct link between the two data points.
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ABC’s review found that police killings this year were “primarily . . . linked to traffic stops and responses to domestic violence calls,” but that “FBI data doesn’t directly link the slayings to . . . civil unrest or anti-police rhetoric.”
Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/police/killings-of-police-officers-are-up-28-so-far-in-2020-reports/
Judge asks full appeals court to review panel's dismissal of Flynn case
Source: Axios
D.C. District Judge Emmet Sullivan on Thursday petitioned for the full D.C. Court of Appeals to rehear a three-judge panel's decision to order the dismissal of the case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Why it matters: The panel's 2-1 decision could be overturned by the full 11-judge appeals court if it decides to take up the en banc review.
The backdrop: The Justice Department under Attorney General Bill Barr moved to dismiss the charges against Flynn in May, following a review that alleged prosecutorial misconduct by the FBI agents who had interviewed Flynn.
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The appeals panel's majority opinion, authored by Trump appointee Neomi Rao, argued: "In this case, the district court’s actions will result in specific harms to the exercise of the Executive Branch’s exclusive prosecutorial power."
Read more: https://www.axios.com/michael-flynn-dc-appeals-court-43deefca-2ac6-4ea8-8b3c-8b4ad365de68.html
Chief Justice John Roberts was hospitalized last month after injuring his head in a fall
Source: Washington Post
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. suffered a fall at a Maryland country club last month that required an overnight stay in the hospital, a Supreme Court spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday night.
The 65-year-old chief justice was taken by ambulance to a hospital after the June 21 incident at the Chevy Chase Club, which was serious enough to require sutures. He stayed at the hospital overnight for observation, and was released the next morning.
Roberts has twice experienced seizures, in 1993 and in 2007, but Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathleen Arberg said doctors ruled out that possibility in the latest incident. Doctors believe he was dehydrated, she said.
Roberts did not publicly disclose the matter, and the court’s confirmation came in response to an inquiry from The Washington Post, which received a tip.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/john-roberts-hospitalized-supreme-court/2020/07/07/6bc230ae-c0a0-11ea-b4f6-cb39cd8940fb_story.html
Georgia man sentenced to 1,000 years for child porn gets parole
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A former Troup County commissioner once called a prolific collector of child pornography will have a chance to spend the rest of his 1,000-year prison sentence on parole.
The State Board of Pardons and Paroles released Peter Mallory on parole May 27, three weeks after an appeals court found the sentence for Mallory’s 2012 conviction was appropriate. District Attorney Herb Cranford said he opposed the decision “but was powerless to stop it.”
Cranford on Tuesday released a statement explaining his opposition after he said several members of the Troup County community expressed concern over Mallory’s release. Mallory, 72, a former owner of LaGrange television station WCAG-TV, was convicted of 60 counts of sexual exploitation of children, three counts of invasion of privacy and one count of tampering with evidence in December 2012 after a three-week trial.
Read more: https://www.ajc.com/news/crime--law/georgia-man-sentenced-000-years-for-child-porn-gets-parole/Uie7PYeixE4bTkt9nCZJvM/
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