Washington
Supreme Court fencing removed, but building remains closed
WASHINGTON (AP) — The large fencing that has encircled the U.S. Supreme Court for months has now been removed.
The non-scalable fencing was gone Monday morning, leaving only small barricades blocking off the plaza and steps in front of the high court.
Court spokeswoman Patricia McCabe would say only that the fence came down sometime during the weekend. “The Court as a matter of policy does not discuss security arrangements,” McCabe said in an email.
The building, closed in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, remains off-limits to the public.
The fence had been installed in May as protests erupted outside the court and outside the homes of some Supreme Court justices after a leaked opinion signaled the justices were planning to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets outside the court in June after the court handed down its ruling, overturning a landmark case making abortion legal throughout the United States nearly 50 years ago.
The justices also faced increasing threats. A California man was arrested in June near the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh carrying a gun, knife and pepper spray after telling police he was planning to kill the justice.
The fencing that had been installed outside the court was similar to the fence put up for months around the U.S. Capitol in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack when supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the building.
Protests at the court have waned in recent weeks. Still, law enforcement officials have warned about the potential for attacks on police, judges and government buildings after the FBI searched Trump’s estate in Florida as part of an investigation into the potential mishandling of classified records.
While the court building has been closed to the public since March 2020, the justices heard arguments in-person for the past year, but only reporters, lawyers and court employees could attend.
The new term begins Oct. 3.
Georgia
Federal jury awards $100M in stun gun fall paralysis lawsuit
ATLANTA (AP) — A federal jury in Atlanta has awarded $100 million to a panhandler who fell and broke his neck after a police officer shocked him with a stun gun during a foot chase, news agencies report.
Jerry Blasingame now needs round-the-clock care costing $1 million a year, and has $14 million in medical bills so far, attorney Ven Johnson told jurors.
Jurors found that Officer Jon Grubbs used unreasonable force against Blasingame, who was 65 years old and had been asking drivers for money on July 10, 2018. He was paralyzed from the neck down and is now 69 years old.
Jurors found that the Atlanta Police Department should pay $60 million and Grubbs should pay $40 million, WXIA-TV and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
The city has filed a motion for a directed verdict. A ruling from a judge on that motion may amend the jury’s verdict.
Judge Steve Jones has not yet ruled on that request, online court records indicate. Jones ruled before deliberations began that jurors could reasonably find that Grubbs used excessive force, and that they could consider the city’s argument.
“The record would allow the jury to find that Mr. Blasingame had not been committing a serious crime before he was tased/ that Officer Grubbs did not fear for his safety and that the exigent circumstances were not otherwise so severe as to permit Officer Grubbs’s use of force,” Jones wrote Friday.
Blasingame’s conservator, Keith Edwards, sued the city of Atlanta and the officer, Jon Grubbs, for the cost of his past and future medical bills.
Johnson and civil rights attorney Craig Jones said Grubbs violated department policy by using a stun gun on an elderly man who was running away, the newspaper reported.
Edwards’ lawsuit said Blasingame was on the street and asking people for money when Grubbs and another officer arrived and saw him talking with a driver.
Grubbs stepped out of the patrol car and told Blasingame to stop, but he moved out of the street to a guard rail, and Grubbs ran toward him, according to the lawsuit.
“Grubbs gets out of the car and starts chasing my client — a 65-year-old man — and for what? For potentially asking people for money?” Johnson said.
Johnson said the city did not make a thorough enough investigation into Grubbs’ conduct and let him return to full duty six months after the incident and before the investigation was concluded.
“This is how an officer gets away with excessive force,” he told the jury in his closing argument. “You bury it.”
Staci J. Miller, one of the attorneys representing Atlanta and Grubbs, said Blasingame’s injuries were tragic, but city training and department policy were not to blame.
The City of Atlanta’s lawyers, who also represented Grubbs, were not available to comment on the verdict and a spokesperson for Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens declined to comment, the newspaper reported.
Grubbs joined the Atlanta Police Department as a cadet in December 2013, according to records of the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council. He became a full officer a year later and has served on the force since then.
He has no sanctions in his POST records and is listed as an officer in good standing by the state police certifying agency.
Maryland
Man charged with money laundering in romance scam
GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A Maryland man is facing federal money laundering charges related to an international romance scam.
Federal prosecutors announced that a criminal complaint has been filed against Charles K. Egunjobi, of Waldorf, Maryland, with operating an unlicensed money service business relating to numerous online romance scams.
Egunjobi had his initial appearance Friday in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gina L. Simms. He was released under the supervision of the United States pre-trial services.
Court documents say Egunjobi is a financial auditor for the District of Columbia, where he supports criminal investigations.
An affidavit alleges that between September 2019 and April 2020, Egunjobi facilitated the money laundering operations of a romance scheme involving co-defendant Isidore Iwuagwu, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
A news release from the Maryland U.S. attorney’s office says the alleged co-conspirators contacted victims on social media platforms and dating sites and engaged in online relationships with the victims. They then convinced victims to send large sums of money claiming the funds were needed for purported personal hardships.
