North Carolina
Republicans retake control of state high court
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Two Republicans running for seats on the North Carolina Supreme Court beat their Democratic opponents Tuesday, flipping the partisan makeup of the high court in Republicans’ favor for the first time since 2016. Republicans now hold a 5-2 majority on the panel.
Republican Trey Allen, general counsel for the state court system, defeated sitting Democratic Associate Justice Sam Ervin IV for his seat. And Republican Court of Appeals Judge Richard Dietz beat Democratic Court of Appeals Judge Lucy Inman for an open seat. Dietz will succeed retiring Associate Justice Robin Hudson, a Democrat who has served on the panel since 2007.
Democrats held a slim 4-3 majority on the panel heading into this year. With two Democrat-held seats up for election, Republicans only needed to win one to retake control. The victories will give the party a majority for several years, as the next two seats up for reelection are also held by Democrats.
Democrats have warned that Republican control of the court could push state law to the right on a number of key issues, including abortion access, redistricting and gun control. It may also open the door for Republicans to draw a more politically beneficial congressional map after this election cycle and create a new avenue to weaken Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s policy initiatives.
The judicial elections come in the final months of a tumultuous two-year court term distinguished by several split decisions favoring the Democratic majority. These high-profile rulings, some involving redistricting, criminal justice, education and voter ID laws, have drawn criticism from both sides that the judiciary has become too politicized.
All four supreme court candidates ran on a similar platform: a vow to keep their personal politics from interfering with their rulings.
North Carolina introduced partisan state supreme court elections following the 2016 cycle after the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed legislation to list the judicial candidates’ party affiliations on the ballot. Lawmakers introduced the bill shortly after Democrats gained a majority on the high court that November.
While Democrats have been able to quash many GOP bills in recent years, mainly with the threat or application of Cooper’s veto, that power now hangs in the balance as Republicans aim to pick up the few additional seats they need for a supermajority in the General Assembly.
Voters in 32 states cast ballots this year in state supreme court contests, which became spending targets for interest groups nationwide. North Carolina — one of the most closely watched states due to its fragile partisan balance — drew millions in outside spending for the judicial races since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June to let states decide the legality of abortion.
Abortions are legal in the Tar Heel state until 20 weeks of pregnancy, as of an Aug. 17 federal court ruling, with narrow exceptions for medical emergencies that threaten the life of the pregnant person. North Carolina remains one of the few abortion access points in the Southeast as its neighboring states slash abortion protections. Republican legislative leaders have said they plan to consider further abortion restrictions in 2023.
While none of the judicial candidates directly stated their positions on abortion, Ervin and Inman received endorsements from abortion rights proponents, including Planned Parenthood Votes! South Atlantic.
Indiana
Man gets 91 years for death of man shot to death
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — A Fort Wayne man convicted of murder in the April shooting death of a man whose body was discovered in a wooded area was sentenced to 91 years in prison Tuesday.
A jury last month also found Anthony J. Lopez, 42, guilty of illegal possession of a firearm in the death of William Jeffrey Kintzel, 63, of South Whitley.
Allen County Superior Court Judge Fran Gull sentenced Lopez to 65 years for the murder, 20 years for a sentence enhancement for using a gun in the crime and six years for carrying a handgun with a felony conviction within the previous 15 years.
Kintzel was facing an upcoming trial for cocaine possession when his body was discovered April 14. Police believe the slaying occurred days earlier.
Prosecutors said a nearby resident’s surveillance camera captured footage of Kintzel driving Lopez and another man near the wooded area, parking, and the man waiting in Kintzel’s SUV while the victim and Lopez head into the woods and then Lopez runs out of the woods.
Lopez’s attorney, Richard Thonert, has said he will appeal the verdicts.
The driver of the SUV was Michael Allen Barker, 42, of Fort Wayne, investigators have said.
There’s a warrant for Barker’s arrest charging him with murder and felony robbery resulting in serious bodily injury.
Georgia
Judge orders Gingrich to testify in election probe
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A judge on Wednesday ordered former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to testify before a special grand jury in Atlanta that’s investigating whether then-President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to influence the 2020 election in Georgia.
Gingrich, who lives in northern Virginia, had argued that the federal law that normally requires states to honor out-of-state grand jury summonses should not apply in this case because the special grand jury lacks the power to indict. He also argued that the subpoena would be unnecessarily duplicative and burdensome because he has already agreed to testify in front of a congressional select committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and that his testimony in both matters would essentially be the same.
But Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Robert Smith sided with prosecutors who said the subpoena should be enforced. The judge said the law doesn’t parse out a difference between regular grand juries and special grand juries, as Gingrich’s lawyer argued.
“I think I have to read the statute as written,” the judge said.
Gingrich’s lawyer, John Burlingame, said he expects to appeal the ruling. If the appeal fails, Gingrich will be required to testify to the special grand jury on Nov. 29.
Gingrich, a Republican, is one of several high-profile Trump allies who have unsuccessfully tried to avoid testifying.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis opened the investigation early last year, shortly after a recording of a call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was made public. In that call, Trump urged Raffensperger, the state’s top elections official and a fellow Republican, to “find” the votes needed to overturn his narrow loss in the state to Democrat Joe Biden.
The scope of the investigation has broadened considerably since then, and Willis, a Democrat, has sought the testimony of dozens of witnesses, including numerous Trump attorneys, advisers and associates since the special grand jury was seated in May. It is among several cases that have the former president in potential legal jeopardy as he prepares to launch a 2024 presidential campaign.
Because Gingrich lives outside Georgia, Willis had to use a process that involves asking a judge where he lives to order him to appear.
Willis filed that paperwork in court in Atlanta last month, and Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who’s overseeing the special grand jury, certified that Gingrich is a “necessary and material witness for the investigation.” In her petition seeking Gingrich’s testimony as a witness, Willis said she relied on information made public by the House committee that’s investigating the Jan. 6 attack.
The petition says Gingrich was involved along with others associated with the Trump campaign in a plan to run television ads that “repeated and relied upon false claims about fraud in the 2020 election” and encouraged members of the public to contact state officials to push them to challenge and overturn the election results based on those false claims.
Gingrich was also involved in a plan to have Republican fake electors sign certificates falsely stating that Trump had won the state and that they were the state’s official electors even though Biden had won, the petition says.
Special grand juries in Georgia are generally used to investigate complex cases with many witnesses. They can compel evidence and subpoena testimony from witnesses, but they cannot issue indictments. Once its investigation is complete, a special grand jury can recommend action, but it remains up to the district attorney to decide whether to then seek an indictment from a regular grand jury.
Oklahoma
Ex-undersheriff faces prison for inmate assault
MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) — A former undersheriff in southeast Oklahoma has pleaded guilty in federal court to a civil rights violation for repeatedly striking a handcuffed inmate in 2017.
Federal prosecutors said former LeFlore County Undersheriff Kendall Morgan, 44, faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. A sentencing hearing has not yet been set.
According to a plea agreement signed by Morgan, the then-undersheriff struck the handcuffed inmate, identified in court records only as “D.P.,” several times even though the inmate was not resisting arrest.
“The defendant’s actions in this case were illegal, immoral, and unethical, and justice demands he face the consequences for his acts,” U.S. Attorney Christopher Wilson of the Eastern District of Oklahoma said in a statement.
Arizona
New trial denied for man convicted of killing girl
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A judge has denied a new trial for a man convicted in the first of two murder cases in Tucson.
Pima County Superior Court Judge James Marner ruled Monday that the prosecutors’ case was still strong enough to leave the conviction in place.
He also denied a defense motion for judgment of acquittal notwithstanding the verdict.
Christopher Clements was convicted Sept. 30 of first-degree murder and kidnapping in the death of 13-year-old Maribel Gonzalez.
He’s scheduled to be sentenced Monday and is facing life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Lawyers for Clements also sought a change of venue for their client’s other murder trial, scheduled to be heard by a new jury starting Feb. 2 involving the death of 6-year-old Isabel Celis.
Clements, a 40-year-old convicted sex offender with a long criminal record, was arrested in 2018 and indicted on 22 felony counts including two counts each of first-degree murder and kidnapping in the girls’ deaths.
Celis vanished from her parents’ Tucson home in April 2012 while Gonzalez disappeared while walking to a friend’s house in June 2014.
Authorities said Gonzalez’s body was found days after her disappearance while Celis’ remains weren’t recovered until 2017 after Clements led federal agents to the location.
Clements currently is serving a prison term of up to 35 years for a Maricopa County burglary in 2017.
