Category: Justice

Drug Dealer with Long Criminal History Charged with Murder in Death of Customer Under Tennessee’s ‘Death by Distribution’ Law

Peter D'Abrosca

A fentanyl dealer from Crossville has been arrested and charged with Second Degree Murder after one of her customers overdosed and died.

“On September 14, 2021, officers with the Crossville Police Department responded to a 911 call at a home on Willow Street in Crossville. Samuel Mashburn … was found deceased in the driveway,” according to a press release from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI). “An autopsy determined Mashburn died from acute combined multiple drug intoxication.”

Read the full story

Ex-County Commissioner Pleads Guilty to Theft from Ohio Fair Group

The Center Square
Jessica Dicken

A former Ohio county commission admitted to racking up thousands of dollars worth of personal credit card charges in the name of a group that runs the county fair.

State Auditor Keith Faber said former Hocking County Commissioner Jessica Dicken pleaded guilty to two felony charges and one misdemeanor for misusing more than $19,000 in public funds while serving as secretary of the Hocking County Agricultural Society.

Read the full story

McCormick Brands Harris, Walz and Casey ‘Dangerously Soft’ on Crime in Ad Blasting 2020 Response to Riots

Tom Pappert
Dave McCormick, Tim Walz, Kamala Harris, Bob Casey

Republican U.S. Senate nominee Dave McCormick released a new ad for his Pennsylvania election that declares Vice President Kamala Harris, Governor Tim Walz, and Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) are “dangerously soft on criminals” and highlighted their response to the 2020 riots that followed the death of George Floyd.

“Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, and Bob Casey are dangerously soft on criminals,” wrote McCormick in a post to the social media platform X.

Read the full story

Kamala Harris Sent Agents to Raid Pro-Life Journalist’s Home After She Met with Planned Parenthood, Emails Show

Admin
David Daleiden

In March 2016, top Planned Parenthood officials in California eagerly emailed one another about an upcoming meeting with the state’s then-attorney general, Kamala Harris. The meeting carried so much import that the Planned Parenthood officials met with Harris’ staff ahead of time “to discuss prep,” emails reviewed by The Daily Signal show.

About two weeks later, on April 5, 2016, California Department of Justice authorities raided the home of a pro-life journalist in his late 20s—David Daleiden, the head of the Center for Medical Progress, who had recently published videos allegedly showing Planned Parenthood officials gruesomely describing how they extract aborted-baby body parts. Daleiden says the videos prove that Planned Parenthood was selling the aborted baby body parts for profit.

Read the full story

Chief Judge Silent on Apparent Leak of Sealed Info About FBI Search Warrant for Rep. Andy Ogles

Tom Pappert
Andy Ogles

Chief District Judge William Campbell, who oversees the Middle District of Tennessee for the U.S. District Court, did not respond to a Thursday inquiry from The Tennessee Star that sought information about the apparent leak of information related to the FBI search warrant executed on Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05).

Ogles confirmed on Tuesday the FBI executed a search warrant at his Maury County, Tennessee home to obtain his personal cell phone last Friday, less than 24 hours after he won the Tennessee Republican primary in a victory over his Never Trump-backed opponent.

Read the full story

New Audio-Video from Trump Rally Shows Local Law Enforcement’s Frustration with Secret Service

Just the News
Butler Township Police Department body cam footage

Newly acquired police body cam video includes audio in which a local police officer moments after the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Trump at a Pennsylvania campaign rally complains about the Secret Service not having cover the rooftop from which the sniper shot.

“I f—ing told them that they needed to post guys f—ing over here,” says a Butler Township officer in the audio of tape obtained by The Wall Street Journal on Thursday under a public records request. “I told them that f—ing Tuesday,” said a in audio captured on his body-worn camera. “I talked to the Secret Service guys. They’re like, ‘Yeah, no problem. We’re going to post guys over here.’”

Read the full story

Judge Restores Freedoms to Alleged Cyberstalker McKenzie McClure, Who Visited Nashville School and Wrote About Gov. Bill Lee

Tom Pappert
McKenzie McClure

U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson ruled on July 29 that alleged cyberstalker McKenzie McClure, the transgender person who wrote publicly about Governor Bill Lee and left an unsettling voicemail before visiting the campus of the Christ Presbyterian Academy (CPA) elementary school in Nashville, will be allowed greater freedom at the East Tennessee psychiatric treatment center where she remains.

A student of CPA from 1999 until 2003, McClure was arrested in May on charges of cyberstalking after she wrote posts claiming Lee would not take action to undermine pro-Palestine protests because the governor “knows if he makes one wrong move it’s Joever for him and my 4th grade teacher… i.e., his WIFE.”

Read the full story

FBI Let Suspect in Plot to Kill Trump into U.S. on Parole Despite Terror Ties, Iran Trip, Memos Show

Just the News

The FBI allowed Asif Raza Merchant, the Pakistani man charged with plotting with Tehran to assassinate Donald Trump and others, to enter the U.S. in April with special permission known as “significant public benefit parole” even though he was flagged on a terrorism watchlist and recently traveled to Iran, according to government documents reviewed by Just the News.

Read the full story

America First Legal Sues Maricopa County for Refusing to Remove Noncitizens and Illegal Immigrants from Their Voter Rolls Before the Election

Rachel Alexander

America First Legal (AFL) filed a lawsuit on Monday against Maricopa County, including Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, for failing to remove noncitizens and illegal immigrants from their voter rolls. AFL sent letters to election officials in all 15 Arizona counties in July, demanding they fulfill their legal obligations within a week or AFL would sue them. 

The complaint says 35,273 registered voters in Arizona had failed to provide proof of citizenship and were registered as federal-only voters as of April 2024, a number that continues to increase, according to a report from Maricopa County. That report revealed that between April 1 and July 3, the numbers increased from 21,595 to 26,108, a jump of 21 percent. Additionally, the complaint cited a July 2024 survey of likely voters in Arizona and five other states, which found that over 1 percent said they are not U.S. citizens. AFL stated that recent races in Arizona have been decided by margins of less than 1 percent.

Read the full story

Judge Chutkan Faces Long Road to Get Trump Case Back on Track After Presidential Immunity Ruling

Admin
Judge Chutkan with Donald Trump in courtroom (composite image)

District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan will face challenges getting a Trump case that’s unlikely to proceed to trial before the election — or possibly ever — back on track.

After former President Donald Trump’s presidential immunity appeal brought on a months-long delay in the election interference case prosecuted by special counsel Jack Smith, the case finally returned to Chutkan on Friday. Though she wasted no time scheduling a hearing for August 16 and asking both parties to submit a schedule for pretrial proceedings by August 9, legal experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation that efforts to advance the case will meet continued challenges.

Read the full story

Mother of Pennsylvania Teacher Detained in Russia Reveals Son was ‘Completely Disheartened’ by Biden-Harris Prisoner Swap

Tom Pappert
Malphine Fogel and Dave McCormick

The mother of a teacher from Pennsylvania who remains detained in Russia joined Republican U.S. Senate nominee Dave McCormick on Monday to request the Biden-Harris administration designate her son as wrongfully detained.

Malphine Fogel joined McCormick at his family home, where the Republican said they visited about the recent return of American prisoners from Russia following a trade by the Biden-Harris administration.

Read the full story

Commentary: Media Continues to Ignore Kamala Harris’ DNC Pipe Bomb Scare

Julie Kelly

Confirmation last week by the Department of Homeland Security that Vice President Kamala Harris came within several yards of an explosive device on the afternoon of January 6, 2021 should be one of the hottest stories right now.

The fact that the installed Democratic candidate for president barely escaped an attempt on her life by an alleged MAGA terrorist during what she compares to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor makes for ripe clickbait. Further, her stoicism in the face of such a grave threat—she has never discussed the matter publicly—not just to herself but to her staff and police officers protecting her that day at the DNC is the stuff heroes are made of.

Read the full story

Former Atlanta Jail Guard Who Identifies as Transgender Man Sentenced to Prison for Strangling Female Inmate

Tom Pappert

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia confirmed on Wednesday that Former Fulton County Jail guard Monique Clark was sentenced to four years in prison and three years of supervised release after she strangled an inmate who was in handcuffs until the inmate lost consciousness.

The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to The Georgia Star News in September 2023 that Clark is a biological female, and was housed in a female unit of the Fulton County Jail, but government officials with the FBI and Department of Justice exclusively used masculine pronouns while describing her crimes in a press release.

Read the full story

U.S. Attorney Who Oversaw FBI Search Warrant Served on Rep. Andy Ogles Previously Served Under Jack Smith

Tom Pappert
Henry Leventis, Jack Smith

Henry Leventis, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee who oversaw the FBI search warrant served on Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) last Friday, previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney under special prosecutor Jack Smith.

Leventis supervised the FBI search warrant executed at Ogles’ Maury County home. In a statement, Ogles said the warrant was issued to obtain his personal cell phone due to well-reported issues with his initial campaign filings. Ogles filed amendments earlier this year that he claims corrected what were honest mistakes.

Read the full story

Commentary: The Reckoning Has Come for K-12 Sex Abuse, and You the Taxpayer Are on the Hook

RealClearWire
High School students in the classroom

The teenage female athletes at California’s Pomona High School said they felt special when a handful of coaches there took them under their wing, spending more time with them than others, providing extra encouragement, sharing personal stories and, sometimes, seemingly harmless flirtatious talk.

One track team member was amazed at a Nevada meet when she saw the coaches drinking, smoking marijuana, and sharing the party scene with teammates. But that attention turned to tragedy at a subsequent meet in Las Vegas when a coach brought the 16-year-old to his hotel room, plied her with alcohol, and, she says, raped her.

Read the full story

Miyares Joins 20 Other AGs in Support of Federal TikTok Ban

The Center Square
Jason Miyares

Republican attorneys general from 21 states, led by the attorneys general of Montana and Virginia, submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia defending the federal law banning TikTok in the U.S.

President Joe Biden signed the legislation into law in April due to concerns that through Chinese-owned parent company Bytedance, the Chinese Communist Party might be able to gain access to users’ private data or influence American youth toward communism. The law threatens to prohibit the app in the U.S. if Bytedance does not sell its shares in the social media company by Jan. 19, 2025.

Read the full story

Ex-Trump Lawyer Agrees to Cooperate for Dropped Charges in ‘Fake Electors’ Arizona Case

Admin
Jenna Ellis

Former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis agreed Monday to cooperate within Arizona’s ‘fake elector’ case, securing dropped charges in exchange, according to the state’s attorney general.

Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes released a press statement announcing the cooperation agreement between Ellis and the state in regards to an indictment claiming 18 people during the 2020 election had been involved in a “fake elector scheme.” Ellis’ nine felony charges, including fraud, forgery and conspiracy, will now be dropped, as Mayes called the announcement a “win for the rule of law.”

Read the full story

Former Secret Service Chief Wanted to Destroy Cocaine Evidence

RealClearWire
Kimberly Cheatle

Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and others in top agency leadership positions wanted to destroy the cocaine discovered in the White House last summer, but the Secret Service Forensics Services Division and the Uniformed Division stood firm and rejected the push to dispose of the evidence, according to three sources in the Secret Service community.

Multiple heated confrontations and disagreements over how best to handle the cocaine ensued after a Secret Services Uniformed Division officer found the bag on July 2, 2023, a quiet Sunday while President Biden and his family were at Camp David in Maryland, the sources said.

Read the full story

Commentary: U.S. Government Still Waffling on 9/11 Plotters

Admin
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

This week, we were reminded again of the 9/11 attacks. First, it was reported that U.S. government lawyers and defense counsel reached a plea deal giving life imprisonment to the high-level al Qaeda prisoners that plotted the attacks. While life imprisonment is undoubtedly a serious punishment, 9/11 was a mass murder that cries out for the death penalty. The lack of proportionality to the offense was striking.

Worse, the family members of 9/11 victims were not given any forewarning or a chance to provide input on this decision, even though the government had promised to do so. They instead received an antiseptic letter explaining what happened after the fact.

Read the full story

Harris Released Illegal Immigrant Charged with Unlicensed Driving as San Francisco DA and He Killed Someone Shortly After

Admin
Robert Galo in a courtroom (composite image)

An illegal immigrant that then-San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris released from custody after police caught him driving without a license went on to kill a young law student months later with his car, the Washington Free Beacon reported on Tuesday.

Harris’ office dropped charges against Roberto Galo in June 2010 after he was stopped by police for driving the wrong way down a one-way road and arrested for operating a vehicle without a license, according to the Free Beacon. Months later, in November 2010, he slammed his car into 25-year-old law student Drew Rosenberg after making a left-hand turn at a yellow light, driving his car over his body multiple times in an apparent attempt to escape.

Read the full story

KamaLawfare: Politicized FBI Executes Search Warrant on GOP Rep. Andy Ogles, Who Leads Impeachment of VP Harris

Tom Pappert
Andy Ogles and FBI

The Tennessee Star learned the controversial and allegedly politicized FBI on Friday executed a search warrant at the Maury County, Tennessee, home of Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05).

Ogles confirmed in a statement provided to The Star that the FBI executed a search warrant for his personal cell phone in an apparent investigation of his campaign filings.

Read the full story

In Mesa County, Colorado Clerk Trial, Prosecution’s Partisan Witness Sobs, Other Witnesses Backtrack

Rachel Alexander
Stephanie Wenholz testifies

The third fully live streamed day of the trial against former Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters featured testimony from a partisan election employee who sobbed for about five minutes while speaking, as well as backtracking from other witnesses when cross-examined by Peters’ attorney. Peters is being prosecuted for her role in attempting to take a video of a software update on Dominion voting machines. She was concerned that overriding the election files with the upgrade would violate both state and federal law requiring retention of files for 22-25 months. 

Stephanie Wenholz, the elections manager for Mesa County, broke down in tears when asked about the day she found out that the Colorado Secretary of State’s (COSOS) office was investigating Mesa County over the incident. Although Wenholz admitted that Peters instructed employees not to speak with law enforcement, but to direct them to her and her attorneys instead, Wenholz said she contacted Detective James Cannon, the chief investigator for the Mesa County District Attorney. 

Read the full story

Acquitted Former Student Sues Fifteen Groups for Defamation After They Called Him a Rapist

Admin
Saifullah Khan

A former Yale University student who defeated claims of rape is continuing his legal battle to seek justice.

Saifullah Khan is suing fifteen organizations including the National Women’s Law Center, the Fierberg National Law Group, and the National Crime Victim Law Institute, along with attorney Jennifer Becker, for “defamation, false light, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and abuse of process action.”

Read the full story

Nashville Police Replace Internal Affairs Director Months After Retired Officer’s Complaint Sparked Investigation

Tom Pappert
Kathy Morante, Nashville City Hall

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) on Monday reportedly replaced the head of its internal affairs office in a decision that came months after retired Lieutenant Garet Davidson submitted a 61-page complaint naming the former official, prompting an investigation.

It was reported on Monday by Nashville Banner that Kathy Morante, the head of the MNPD Office of Professional Accountability since 2013, was replaced.

Read the full story

Former County GOP Chair Behind Pennsylvania Chapter of ‘Republicans for Harris’ Currently on House Arrest for DUI Conviction

Tom Pappert
Ann Womble in front of a rally for Kamala Harris (composite image)

One of the Pennsylvania Republicans selected on Sunday by the presidential campaign for Vice Presidential Kamala Harris to run the commonwealth’s chapter of Republicans for Harris is former Lancaster County Republican Committee chair Ann Womble, who pleaded guilty to driving while under the influence of alcohol in June.

Named as one of two leaders of Republicans for Harris in Pennsylvania by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Monday, Womble will reportedly help the Biden campaign reach Republicans who supported former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley during the Republican Party’s primary.

Read the full story

TBI Investigating Officer-Involved Shooting of Alabama Fugitive

Peter D'Abrosca
crime scene

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) Sunday announced that it is investigating an officer-involved shooting of a wanted Alabama fugitive in Hardin County.

“Preliminary information indicates that deputies encountered an Alabama robbery suspect, later identified as Jonathan Schutte, in a parking lot … in Savannah,” TBI said in a release. “When [Hardin County] deputies approached the vehicle, Schutte reportedly exited his vehicle and fired his weapon at deputies, resulting in the deputies returning fire, hitting and killing 33-year-old Schutte.  No law enforcement officers were hurt in the incident.”

Read the full story

Memphis High School Student Charged, Immediately Expelled for Possession of Handgun on School Property

Peter D'Abrosca
Power Center Academy

A high school student in Memphis who was arrested Monday morning for possessing a firearm at school has been charged with carrying a weapon on school property and has been expelled. 

The unnamed 17-year-old attended Power Center Academy Hickory Hill High School, which is a charter school under the umbrella of Gestalt Community Schools, in Memphis.

Read the full story

Google Loses Major Antitrust Case to Department of Justice over Search Engine Monopolization

Just the News

Google lost a major antitrust case on Monday to the Justice Department, after a federal judge ruled that it has maintained an unfair monopoly when it comes to searching for things online.

US District Judge Amit Mehta Mehta ruled that Google must stop its anticompetitive behavior, where it monopolizes exclusive contracts that make it the default search engine on smartphones and computers.

Read the full story

VP Harris’ Tie-Breaking Vote Approved Appointment of Federal Judge Tied to Earlier Trump-Carroll Defamation Lawsuit

Just the News

Vice President Kamala Harris’s tie-breaking vote confirmed Judge Loren AliKhan to the federal bench for life after AliKhan helped along a defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump. Ironically, according to Politico, Harris has expressed support for President Biden’s plans to impose term limits on Supreme Court justices who at the moment, like AliKahn, enjoy lifetime tenure.

Read the full story

Apple Files to Dismiss DOJ Antitrust Case Against Its Smartphone Business

The Center Square
Person holding an iPhone

Apple has filed a motion to dismiss a case from the United States Department of Justice claiming that it monopolizes the smartphone market using anticompetitive practices making it harder to switch to another phone. Antitrust experts say this case, if won by the DOJ, could set dangerous precedent by granting the government power to more easily define companies as monopolies and practices as monopolistic, and determine what companies must do or cannot do to avoid the label. 

The United States Department of Justice and 16 Attorneys General — including California and the District of Columbia — filed a lawsuit in March alleging Apple illegally monopolizes the smartphone market, such as green boxes with “social stigma” for non-Apple text messages and Apple smartwatch incompatibility with other operating systems. 

Read the full story

Federal Judge Rules That New Jersey’s AR-15 Ban Is Unconstitutional

Admin
AR-15

On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled that the state of New Jersey’s ban on AR-15 rifles is unconstitutional.

ABC News reports that U.S. District Judge Peter Sheridan’s ruling was directly influenced by the precedent set by the Supreme Court in its landmark ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen in 2022. In that case, the Supreme Court determined that Americans do not have to show “proper cause” when seeking to obtain a concealed-carry permit, overturning a 100-year-old state law in New York.

Read the full story

Catholic Group Urges DOJ to Investigate Pro-Abortion Attacks on Churches, Pregnancy Centers

Admin

A Catholic organization that tracks attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers and churches is urging the Justice Department to investigate over 400 known attacks since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

The organization, CatholicVote, requested a meeting to discuss probes of pro-abortion violations of the FACE Act in a letter to Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke that it shared with The Daily Signal.

Read the full story

Ohio Policy Group Says City, State Attempting to Deny Rights

The Center Square
Dave Yost

A Columbus-based policy group is calling the city of Columbus and the state’s attempt to move straight to the Ohio Supreme Court a fight for the rights of Ohio citizens.

In a brief filed with the Supreme Court, The Buckeye Institute wants the court to reject the argument from the city and state that preliminary injunctions can be appealed directly to the court rather than flow through the appeals courts.

Read the full story

Memphis Police Officer Killed in Crash After Responding to Shooting

Peter D'Abrosca
Demetrice Johnson

A Memphis Police officer died after a crash with an alleged suspect in a shooting early Friday morning.

“At 3:06 a.m., officers responded to a two-vehicle crash at Mississippi Boulevard and Danny Thomas Boulevard involving a gray Nissan and an MPD squad car,” MPD said in a statement. “Responding officers located three injured males, two of which are MPD officers, and the third male was the occupant of the Nissan. All were transported to Regional One Hospital in critical condition. An MPD officer and the driver of the gray Nissan were pronounced deceased at the hospital. The second MPD officer remains in critical condition.”

Read the full story

Prosecution’s Key Witness in Trial Against Former Mesa County Clerk Repeatedly Claims He Doesn’t Remember Much

Rachel Alexander

The trial against former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters wrapped up its first week on Friday, featuring testimony by witnesses for the prosecution including IT professional Gerald Wood. Peters, who is charged with crimes related to making a copy of an election database since she was concerned that not keeping the files for two years would violate the law, hired Wood to help her with technical issues, but Wood repeatedly stated he couldn’t remember much when her attorney cross-examined him. 

Wood, who ended up not performing any work for Peters, spent much of his time on the witness stand distancing himself from the appearance that he was involved with Peters bringing in an outside IT expert to observe an upgrade of the Dominion voting machine software, since prosecutors alleged that a leak of computer bios passwords took place after IT expert Conan Hayes allegedly used Wood’s key card to enter the area where the upgrade was performed.

Read the full story

Diabolical 9/11 Plotter with Plea Deal from Pentagon Planned Even More Carnage for United States

Just the News

As the passage of 23 years fades the nation’s memory, the terrorist who has now received a plea deal from the Biden administration was a diabolical plotter who planned even more insidious carnage than what the terrorists achieved in the September 11 attacks on the United States.

The U.S. Department of Defense announced Wednesday that it had reached a plea deal with notorious 9/11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two of his accomplices after more than 16 years after they were first prosecuted.

Read the full story

January 6 Bombshell: Secret Service Got Intel on ‘High Potential’ for Violence but Didn’t Tell Agents

Just the News
January Six Riot

The Secret Service developed intelligence that there was a “high potential for violence” before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot but failed to share that information with its agents guarding Donald Trump, Mike Pence or Kamala Harris that fateful day, according to a bombshell report delivered to Congress on Thursday that exposed a fresh round of failures by the presidential protection agency.

Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari’s report was forced into the public by pressure from House Administration Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., and it confirmed earlier Just the News reporting, including that the Secret Service whisked Harris, then the Vice President-elect, within 20 feet of an undetected pipe bomb at Democrat National Committee (DNC) headquarters in Washington because it failed to employ its normal explosive detection tools.

Read the full story

Florida Follow-Up Audit Finds Discrepancies with Economic Incentive Programs

The Center Square

The Florida Auditor General recently published a follow-up audit of the Sunshine State’s economic incentives programs and found some uncorrected issues remain.

The Florida Department of Commerce assists the governor in working with the Legislature, state agencies, business leaders, and economic development professionals. For fiscal 2023-24, state lawmakers appropriated approximately $1.8 billion.

Read the full story