Calista241
Calista241's JournalEXCLUSIVE: Ga. man walks free after 40 years due to 4 overturned convictions
Source: AJC
Terry Talley, a 63-year-old former factory worker who likes to sing Journey songs and write poetry, walked free from prison after 40 years for crimes he insists he didn’t commit. He smiled, glowing in the light of a vibrant sunset. He wiped a tear. He said he didn’t want to cry.
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Talley had been serving time in a series of 1981 sexual assaults in LaGrange, 70 miles southwest of Atlanta. He was originally sentenced to four life terms after convictions in six cases. A DNA test in 2009 proved he didn’t commit one of the crimes, but he still had three life sentences until Feb. 23, when a judge agreed to exonerate him in three separate cases.
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The LaGrange Police Department, which helped send Talley to prison, and the Georgia Innocence Project have been re-examining his case for years. The police got involved after the DNA test eliminated Talley in one of the sexual assaults that authorities long believed were committed by the same man. In 2020, partly because the Georgia Innocence Project had recently secured funding to hire an investigator, the lawyers and police embarked on a more intensive inquiry.
Police Chief Lou Dekmar said he was troubled by how weak the original evidence against Talley appears. Investigators also uncovered information about a new “person of interest,” said Dekmar, who joined the department 25 years ago.
The man hasn’t been named publicly, but a court filing says he worked in the local government back then and was accused of harassing women at LaGrange College, the small private Methodist school where the attacks started. The alleged harassment occurred at the same time as the string of assaults. But prosecutors violated Talley’s rights by failing to tell the defense about the worker, Talley’s attorneys say.
Read more: https://www.ajc.com/news/crime/exclusive-ga-man-walks-free-after-40-years-due-to-4-overturned-convictions/KGOGZBWTLNDCNFNIHS7IG2EGJY/
1 dead, 12 injured in shootings in just over 12 hours in Atlanta
Source: AJC
At least a dozen people were injured and one was killed in Atlanta overnight during a slew of shootings that happened in just over 12 hours.
The spurt of violence began when a man wielding a knife was shot by an off-duty Georgia State Patrol trooper about 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.
According to the GBI, the state trooper was getting gas at the BP on Boulevard near I-20 when he saw one man chase another into the store and followed them.
“Witnesses report that one man was armed with a knife and was attempting to stab the other man,” GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles said in a news release. “The trooper gave commands for the man to drop the knife. The trooper left the store, and the man with the knife followed him.”
Authorities said the man advanced toward the trooper as he backed away and told him to drop the weapon, prompting the trooper to shoot the man. The man, who has not been identified, was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital in critical condition.
Read more: https://www.ajc.com/news/1-dead-12-injured-in-shootings-in-just-over-12-hours-in-atlanta/EF5R5UY46ZAJHLXY4HW46GAQ6E/
Trump pardon unwinds some Manafort forfeitures
Found this from yesterday, and I don't think it was posted here:
The Justice Department has abandoned its efforts to seize three properties owned by Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, who received a pardon from the former president in December.
The real estate includes Manafort's 10-bedroom, 6-bath home at Bridgehampton, Long Island, valued at $11 million on Zillow, as well as an apartment in New York's Chinatown and a townhouse in Brooklyn.
"The department has determined that due to President Trump’s full and unconditional pardon of Paul Manafort, it is necessary to dismiss the criminal forfeiture proceedings involving the four assets which were the subject of the on-going forfeiture ancillary proceedings," a Justice Department spokesman said Friday afternoon, following a court filing announcing the decision.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/26/trump-manafort-pardon-471785
Shamima Begum cannot return to UK, Supreme Court rules
Source: BBC
Shamima Begum, who left the UK for Syria to join the Islamic State group as a teenager, will not be allowed to return and fight her citizenship case, the Supreme Court has ruled.
The court said in a unanimous ruling that her rights were not breached when she was refused permission to return.
Ms Begum, 21, wants to come back to challenge the home secretary's decision to remove her British nationality.
She is currently in a camp controlled by armed guards in northern Syria.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-56209007
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