National Roundup

Massachusetts
Judge rejects appeal of ex-officer convicted of child porn
ATTLEBORO, Mass. (AP) — An appeal filed by a former Massachusetts police sergeant who pleaded guilty to child pornography charges was rejected.

Attleboro Sgt. Richard Woodhead’s request for his conviction to be thrown out was denied after a federal magistrate said it had no merit and missed the deadline, The Sun Chronicle reported Monday.

Woodhead, 57, also failed to show that his lawyers were ineffective, U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Patricia Sullivan wrote in a 21-page report.

The former sergeant filed the appeal in January, citing that federal prosecutors entrapped him and that he was only engaging in a fantasy.

He pleaded guilty in August 2017 in federal court in Providence and received a five-year sentence.

A previous appeal was denied in September 2019 because it was also not filed in a timely fashion.

He pleaded guilty to communicating with a federal agent posing as an 8-year-old girl’s stepfather in an attempt to get nude photos of the girl.

Georgia
Suit challenges halt in carry license issuance due to virus
ATLANTA (AP) — A gun rights group is suing over what it says in an improper suspension of the processing of gun carry licenses resulting from an emergency response to the coronavirus outbreak.

The chief judge of the Georgia Supreme Court last month declared a judicial emergency and instructed courts statewide to “suspend all but essential court functions” to help stem the spread of the virus. Among the resulting limitations listed on the Fulton County Probate Court’s website was a suspension of the acceptance of applications for weapons carry licenses until further notice.

GeorgiaCarry.Org and Fulton County resident Sara Carter on Thursday filed a federal lawsuit against Fulton County Probate Judge Pinkie Toomer and Gov. Brian Kemp.

Georgia law says gun owners don’t need a carry license to have weapons in their homes, cars and places of business. But if they want to carry a weapon elsewhere, they must have a carry license.

The lawsuit asks a federal judge to order Toomer to accept Carter’s weapons license application and to prohibit Toomer from refusing to accept weapons carry license applications. The lawsuit says other probate judges across the state have also concluded that issuing carry licenses “is not an essential function.”

Toomer did not respond to an email Monday seeking comment on the lawsuit. The notification on her court’s website says the court isn’t accepting carry license applications because area police departments had indefinitely suspended fingerprinting for the licenses.

The lawsuit also asks a judge to prohibit Kemp from allowing the state’s carry law to be enforced if it’s not possible to obtain a carry license.

The lawsuit says GeorgiaCarry.Org also wrote Kemp a letter last month asking him to use his emergency powers he has in a public health emergency to suspend enforcement of the carry law.

U.S. District Judge Steve Jones planned to hold a hearing Wednesday on the requests in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit notes that the U.S. Supreme Court has held that the Second Amendment “guarantees an enumerated, fundamental, individual right to keep and carry arms in case of confrontation.” It also says the Georgia Supreme Court has determined that “any law that purports to ban the open carry of firearms is unconstitutional and void” and that “the right to keep and bear arms is a civil right.”

By requiring a carry license to exercise a fundamental constitutional right but making it impossible to get a carry license and by effectively preventing her from carrying a gun outside her home, vehicle and place of business, Toomer and Kemp are violating Carter’s rights, the lawsuit argues.

Georgia
Ex-NSA contractor seeks prison release because of virus
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — A former National Security Agency contractor sentenced to federal prison for leaking classified government information is asking for a compassionate release due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Reality Leigh Winner has preexisting conditions that make her more susceptible to being infected with COVID-19, defense attorney Joe Whitley said in a motion filed Friday in federal court in Augusta, Georgia, the Augusta Chronicle reported.

The motion says Winner has a history of respiratory illness and an eating disorder. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, but also milder cases of pneumonia that sometimes requires hospitalization.

Winner, 28, is serving a sentence of five years and three months at Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, for a single count of transmitting national security information when she worked at a National Security Agency office in Georgia.

The prison is a “petri dish” for the new coronavirus that’s run out of hand sanitizer and has no way to carry out proper social distancing or self-isolation, Whitley stated.

The Bureau of Prison said two inmates at the prison tested positive for the new coronavirus, the Chronicle reported.

Earlier this year, Winner sought clemency from President Donald Trump. Her attorney, Alison Grinter Allen, announced in February an application with the Justice Department for early release that included about 4,500 letters of support.

Florida
Inmate released early due to COVID-19 accused of killing man
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A Florida inmate who was among those released last month in an effort to contain the coronavirus has been arrested on a murder charge, sheriff’s officials said.

Joseph Edward Williams, 26, was arrested Monday on a second-degree murder charge in connection with a fatal shooting March 20, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. He’s also charged with resisting an officer, being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession of heroin, records show.

Williams was among a group of inmates released from the jail in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus throughout the facility. The Tampa Bay Times  reports Williams is the only known inmate released early in the county who has been re-arrested for committing another crime.

On March 19, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a news release that 164 county jail inmates accused of low level crimes had been released. They included a housekeeper charged with drugs and a student facing burglary and petty theft charges. Williams, who had been arrested March 13 for possession of less than four grams of heroin and possession of drug paraphernalia, was among those released.

The next night, deputies received 911 calls about gunshots in a neighborhood. When they arrived, they found a man who had been fatally shot, sheriff’s officials said.