Georgia
Judge upholds Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green's eligibility
ATLANTA (AP) — A judge in Atlanta has rejected an appeal by a group of voters and affirmed the Georgia secretary of state's decision that U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is eligible to run for reelection.
The five voters from Greene's district sought to have her removed from the ballot, saying that she played a significant role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol that disrupted Congress' certification of Biden's presidential victory. That was a violation of a rarely invoked provision in the 14th Amendment against insurrection or rebellion, they argued.
Represented by Free Speech for People, a national election and campaign finance reform group, the voters filed a complaint with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in March.
Greene was questioned extensively during a daylong hearing in April before Georgia Administrative Law Judge Charles Beaudrot, who ruled on May 6 that Greene should not be disqualified. Raffensperger immediately affirmed the decision.
The voters appealed in Fulton County Superior Court, where Chief Judge Christopher Brasher affirmed Raffensperger's adoption on Monday.
The voters said Beaudrot made four legal errors, but Brasher found that Beaudrot acted properly.
Free Speech for People said in a statement that Brasher ruled "with minimal legal analysis," and that it has not decided whether to appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court.
The challenge to Greene's eligibility was based on a section of the 14th Amendment that says no one can serve in Congress "who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress ... to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same."
Ratified shortly after the Civil War, it was meant in part to keep representatives who had fought for the Confederacy from returning to Congress.
Beaudrot found that the voters hadn't produced sufficient evidence that Greene's actions before, during and after the Capitol siege encouraged and helped facilitate a violent attack on the U.S. government and democracy in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Greene won about 70% of the vote in the May Republican primary, easily defeating five challengers who tried to unseat her. She faces Democrat Marcus Flowers in November's general election.
New York
DA: Guards failed to act as inmate attempted suicide
NEW YORK (AP) — Four New York City jail guards have been indicted for failing to intervene in an inmate's suicide attempt until it was too late to save the teenager from serious brain damage, authorities announced.
The correction captain and three correction officers waited nearly eight minutes before providing any assistance to 18-year-old Nicholas Feliciano at the Rikers Island jail complex on Nov. 27, 2019, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said Monday.
Prosecutors said the officers can be seen on surveillance video walking past Feliciano and taking no action for seven minutes and 51 seconds.
"The defendants ignored their duty as correction officers to maintain custody, care and control of the person incarcerated, by allegedly waiting nearly eight minutes until they rendered assistance to the inmate whom they saw hanging," Clark said. "The young man is now living with extensive brain damage."
Correction Capt. Terry Henry and Officers Daniel Fullerton, Kenneth Hood and Mark Wilson were arraigned Monday on charges of first- and second-degree reckless endangerment and official misconduct. They were released without bail and are due back in court on Sept. 15.
A spokesperson for the correction department said Fullerton and Wilson resigned from the department in February, Hood has been suspended and Henry is on modified duty.
Benny Boscio, president of the Correction Officers' Benevolent Association, said the union would defend the officers vigorously. "Today's indictment of our officers, stemming from an incident that occurred over three years ago, is further evidence that this case is being driven more by politics than by facts," Boscio said.
Boscio said the district attorney's office should prosecute "the nearly 800 inmates who've committed vicious crimes in jail, including the slashing and stabbing of inmates and officers."
The charges against the four officers come as federal authorities are considering a takeover of the troubled Rikers Island complex to institute reforms.
David B. Rankin, an attorney for Feliciano, said the indictments are "another example of the festering sore that is Rikers Island." He said Rikers "is a disgrace to our city and needs to be shut down immediately."
Feliciano has been in a hospital brain injury unit since the suicide attempt.
"Every day I see Nicholas fighting and it's been traumatic seeing the pain of him even trying to breath, eat, talk, and to learn how to live again," Feliciano's grandmother, Madeline Feliciano, said in a statement. She said the officers who failed to help her grandson "need to be held accountable for their actions."
Oregon
Cop pleads guilty to official misconduct
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A now-retired Portland, Oregon, police officer has pleaded guilty to official misconduct and assault related to an incident during a protest against police brutality.
Scott Groshong, 52, pleaded guilty on Monday and was sentenced to three years of probation and 80 hours of community service, Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt said in a statement. Groshong's police certification was also revoked.
He was employed by the Portland Police Bureau and working during a June, 15, 2020 protest when prosecutors said he drove an unmarked police van into a man seen running with an item from a skateboard shop that was vandalized. A resident recorded video of the incident, prosecutors said.
"Groshong recklessly drove his vehicle into the man, striking him and causing him a serious physical injury," according to the District Attorney's office.
Groshong failed to stop or try to help the man, didn't report the collision, didn't mention the crash in a police report, or to a supervisor or the state Department of Motor Vehicles, according to prosecutors.
The man as well as other Portland police officers, testified before a Multnomah County grand jury in October 2020, leading to a nine-count indictment against Groshong.
Groshong retired in August 2020 after a 27-year career. His lawyer, Brian Scott Davidson, told The Oregonian/OregonLive that Groshong is working in the construction industry. Davidson said he had no comment on the plea or sentencing.
The man who was hit has not been charged with crimes stemming from the alleged theft from the skateboard shop. The Multnomah County District Attorney's office said that case is still under investigation.
