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Ahmaud Arbery’s killers want their hate crime convictions overturned

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ATLANTA (AP) – Attorneys are asking a U.S. Court of Appeals to overturn the hate crime convictions of three white men who used pickup trucks to chase Ahmaud Arbery through the streets of a county in Georgia before considered one of them killed the fleeing black man with a shotgun.

A panel of judges from the eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta was scheduled to listen to oral arguments Wednesday within the case that followed nationwide protests over Arbery’s death. Lawyers for the white men argue that evidence of racist comments they’ve made prior to now doesn’t prove racist intent to harm.

On February 23, 2020, father and son Greg and Travis McMichael armed themselves with guns and chased Arbery after they spotted a 25-year-old man running through their neighborhood outside the port city of Brunswick. A neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, joined the chase in his own truck and recorded cellphone video of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery on the street.

More than two months passed with no arrests until Bryan’s graphic video of the killing was leaked onto the Internet and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case from local police. Charges were soon filed.

All three men were sentenced in a Georgia state court in late 2021.

In legal documents filed ahead of the appeals court hearings, lawyers for Greg McMichael and Bryan cited prosecutors’ use of greater than two dozen social media posts and text messages, in addition to witness statements, showing that every one three men used racial slurs or otherwise disparaged Black people.

Bryan’s attorney, Pete Theodocion, said Bryan’s past racist statements angered the jury while failing to prove that Arbery was prosecuted due to his race. According to AJ Balbo, Greg McMichael’s lawyer, Arbery was pursued since the three men wrongly suspected he was a fugitive.

Greg McMichael gave chase when Arbery ran past his house, saying he recognized a young black man from security footage that in previous months had shown him entering a neighboring house under construction. None of the videos showed him stealing, and Arbery was unarmed and had no stolen property when he was killed.

In written submissions, prosecutors said trial evidence showed “long-standing hatred and prejudice against black people” that influenced defendants to consider Arbery had committed crimes.

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In Travis McMichael’s appeal, attorney Amy Lee Copeland didn’t dispute the jury’s finding that he was motivated by racism. Social media evidence features a 2018 Facebook comment by Travis McMichael on a video of a black man pranking a white person. He used an expletive and a racial slur, writing: “I might kill it…. “

Instead, Copeland based her appeal on legal details. She said prosecutors didn’t prove that the streets of Satilla Shores County, where Arbery was killed, were public roads, as stated within the indictment used to charge the lads.

Copeland cited records from a 1958 meeting of Glynn County commissioners through which they refused to take the streets over to the district’s developer. During the trial, prosecutors relied on service request records and district official testimony to point out that district officials cared in regards to the streets.

Lawyers for the three also presented technical arguments for overturning their attempted kidnapping convictions. Prosecutors said the charge was warranted because the lads used pickup trucks to chop off Arbery from fleeing the realm.

Defense attorneys said the fees were improper because their clients weren’t attempting to capture Arbery for ransom or other advantage and the trucks weren’t getting used as a “tool of interstate commerce.” Both elements are required for attempted kidnapping to be a federal crime.

Prosecutors said other federal appellate districts have ruled that any automotive utilized in the hijacking qualifies as an instrument of interstate commerce. They also said that the profit the lads sought was “the satisfaction of their personal desires and the administration of vigilante justice.”

The trial judge sentenced each McMichaels to life in prison for the hate crimes and an extra sentence – 10 years for Travis McMichael and 7 years for his father – for brandishing a gun while committing violent crimes. Bryan received a lighter sentence for the hate crime of 35 years in prison, partly because he was unarmed and retained a cellphone video that became key evidence.

The three also received 20 years in prison for the attempted kidnapping, however the judge ordered that this time run concurrently with their hate crime sentences.

If either of the federal sentences is overturned by a U.S. appeals court, each the McMichaels and Bryan will remain in prison. All three are serving life sentences in Georgia state prisons for murder, and motions for a brand new state trial are pending before a judge.


This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Sean “Diddy” Combs faces five new sexual assault trials

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Several more plaintiffs got here forward this week accusing rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexual abuse. On November 19, three men and two women filed separate complaints against the Bad Boy Records founder through Tony Buzbee, a lawyer who previously said he would represent greater than 100 clients accusing Combs of misconduct.

“For years, Combs and his companies have engaged in a persistent and pervasive pattern of violence against women, men and minors,” the entire complaints read: in keeping with People magazine. “This abuse was at times verbal, emotional, physical and sexual. As part of his pattern of molestation, Combs manipulated both men and women into participating in highly orchestrated performances of sexual activity, with both prostitutes and unsuspecting partygoers.”

The new plaintiffs include an unidentified man who claims the rapper sexually assaulted him when he was 39 years old. At a house party in New York in 2022, the plaintiff alleged that he was given a drink that left him feeling disoriented and uncontrolled. his body, which ultimately caused him to lose consciousness.

Lawyers for Sean

When he regained consciousness, he recalls being in a “dark bedroom with black walls, on a bed with black sheets”, where he realized that Combs was “sodomizing him”. The plaintiff claims he fought with the rapper before leaving the party.

Other male plaintiffs, including an unnamed former actor, remember feeling disoriented, passing out and waking up as Combs sexually assaulted them. With allegations dating back to 2001, all five complaints said Combs’ alleged abuse was “shockingly typical” since the star believed he was “above the law.”

“That said, Mr. Combs vehemently and categorically denies as false and defamatory any claim that he sexually abused anyone, including minors,” attorney Erica Wolff added in a press release. “He looks forward to proving his innocence and defending himself in court where the truth will be determined by evidence, not speculation.”

Combs is currently in federal custody awaiting trial on criminal charges including sex trafficking and racketeering. The star’s trial is scheduled to happen in May 2025.

Prosecutors say Sean

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Founder of an AI Tech startup accused of fraud and combining numbers with investors

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Joanna Smith-Griffin, 33, CEO of startup AllHere Education, Inc. dealing with AI education accused of defrauding investors.

The Southern District of New York prosecuted Smith-Griffin securities fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. The grand jury indictment alleged that Smith-Griffin lied concerning the education platform’s funds and posed as a financial consultant to supply false information to investors. While acting as a financial consultant for AllHere Education, Smith-Griffin is accused of falsifying the corporate’s financial records mislead potential investors and inflate the worth of her company and its revenues.

AllHere Education is an AI-powered learning platform utilized in primary and secondary schools. Smith-Griffin has had little success integrating the K-12 platform into individual school districts in California and Georgia. However, the principal didn’t secure long-term contracts with school districts. She used these short-term partnerships to misrepresent to investors the reach and financial success of AllHere Education.

Smith-Griffin told potential AllHere investors that AllHere generated about $3.7 million in revenue in 2020, about $2.5 million in money and has major school district customers similar to New York City Department of Education (“NYC DOE”) and Atlanta Public Schools. In fact, AllHere generated roughly $11,000 in revenue in 2020, had roughly $494,000 in money, and had no contracts with many of the clients it represented, including the NYC DOE and Atlanta Public Schools.

Smith-Griffin continued to boost capital to support the startup, raising one other $10 million in funding. When the corporate collapsed financially, Smith-Griffin allegedly used the money injection to pay for an extravagant three-day wedding in Florida and a residence in North Carolina.

FBI Deputy Director James E. Dennehy commented on Smith-Griffin’s decision to prioritize her personal aspirations over the needs of an educational platform.

“Her alleged actions impacted the potential to improve the learning environment in core school districts by selfishly prioritizing personal expenses,” he said.

Smith-Griffin faces a compulsory two years in prison for the identity theft charge and a maximum of 20 years for every fraud charge. AllHere Education is currently in Chapter 7 bankruptcy.


This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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Prosecutors say Sean “Diddy” Combs is trying to obstruct justice by heading to prison

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NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs was trying to reach potential witnesses and influence public opinion while in prison in a bid to influence potential jurors in an upcoming sex trafficking trial, prosecutors said in a court filing during which they urged a judge to deny his latest bail request.

The government charges were filed Friday evening in federal court in Manhattan, which opposed the music mogul’s latest offer of $50 million bail. A bail hearing is scheduled for next week.

Prosecutors wrote that a review of recorded phone calls Combs made while in prison shows that he asked relations to contact potential victims and witnesses and urged them to create a “narrative” to influence the jury pool. They say he also encouraged the use of promoting strategies to influence public opinion.

“The defendant has demonstrated time and time again – even while in custody – that he’ll flagrantly and repeatedly disregard the foundations so as to improperly influence the consequence of his case. In other words, the defendant has demonstrated that he can’t be trusted to abide by the terms and conditions,” prosecutors wrote in a press release containing redactions.

Prosecutors wrote that from his behavior it might be inferred that Combs wanted to blackmail victims and witnesses into remaining silent or providing testimony helpful to his defense.

Combs’ lawyers didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Whoopi Goldberg says she can't afford to take a break from work

Prosecutors said Combs, 55, began breaking the foundations almost immediately after being taken into custody Metropolitan Prison Center in Brooklyn after his September arrest.

He pleaded not guilty to the costs brought against him he abused and molested women for years with the assistance of a network of collaborators and employees, while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.

Two judges found he was a danger to the community and a flight risk.

His lawyers recently filed a 3rd bail application after rejecting two previous attempts, including a $50 million bail offer.

In their motion, they cited modified circumstances, including latest evidence, that they believed justified Combs’ release so he could higher prepare for his May 5 trial.

However, prosecutors said defense lawyers created the most recent bail proposal based on evidence provided to them by prosecutors, and the brand new material was already known to defense lawyers after they submitted previous bail applications.

In their presentation to the judge, prosecutors said Combs’ behavior in prison shows he must remain locked up.

Mary J. Blige and Giuseppe Zanotti announce a new release from their boot collaboration

For example, they said, Combs asked relations to plan and execute a social media campaign around his birthday “with the intent of influencing a potential jury in this criminal proceeding.”

He encouraged his children to post a video on their social media accounts of them gathering to have a good time his birthday, he added.

He then monitored statistics on the jail, including audience engagement, and “explicitly discussed with the family how to ensure the film would have the desired impact on potential jury members in this case,” they said.

The government also alleged that Combs made clear in other conversations that he intended to anonymously publish information that he believed would help him defend against the costs.

“Defendant’s efforts to impede the fairness of these proceedings also include his persistent efforts to contact potential witnesses, including victims of violence, who could provide strong testimony against him,” prosecutors wrote.

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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