Mississippi
Prosecutor who excluded Black jurors is resigning
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A white Mississippi district attorney has resigned after more than 30 years on the job, during which he prosecuted a Black man six times in the shooting deaths of four people and excluded Black people from juries in a practice that led the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the man’s conviction and death sentence.
Doug Evans is stepping down Friday, six months before his term ends. He did not immediately return a phone call Thursday seeking comment.
He unsuccessfully ran for a judgeship in 2022 and was not seeking reelection as district attorney this year in a north-central Mississippi district that covers seven counties.
Evans has been in office since 1992, and his jury selection tactics were scrutinized for years. His exclusion of Black jurors caused the Supreme Court to overturn the final conviction of Curtis Flowers in June 2019, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh citing a “relentless, determined effort to rid the jury of Black individuals.”
Flowers stood trial six times in the 1996 shooting deaths of four people at a furniture store in Winona, with four convictions and two mistrials. He has always maintained his innocence. Flowers remained in prison for six months after the Supreme Court overturned his final conviction because he was still under indictment, and he was released in December 2019 after a judge set bond.
Mississippi dropped charges against Flowers in September 2020, months after Evans turned the case over to the state attorney general.
The Supreme Court ruling that led to Flowers’ freedom came after American Public Media’s “In the Dark” investigated the case. The podcast recorded jailhouse informant Odell Hallmon in 2017 and 2018 recanting his testimony that Flowers had confessed to him. It also presented an analysis finding a long history of racial bias in jury selection by Evans.
Circuit Judge Joseph H. Loper Jr. on Wednesday appointed Mike Howie, who has been an assistant district attorney for 17 years, to temporarily succeed Evans in Attala, Carroll, Choctaw, Grenada, Montgomery, Webster and Winston counties.
Two other people are running for the district attorney position, both as Republicans. Loper said in his order that Republican Gov. Tate Reeves intends to appoint the winner of the Aug. 8 GOP primary to serve the final months of this term, through December, before beginning a new term in January.
North Carolina
Outgoing Supreme Court justice considering gubernatorial bid
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Supreme Court Associate Justice Mike Morgan, who announced last month he won’t seek reelection to the court next year, says he’s weighing a 2024 bid for governor.
Morgan, one of two registered Democrats on the state’s highest court, said this week that many within the party are asking him to look at a gubernatorial candidacy.
Attorney General Josh Stein has been the only high-profile Democrat to get into the race, announcing his plans in January. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is barred by term limits from running again now.
“I’ve been asked, quite frankly, to look at the race for governor,” Morgan told the NC Insider state government news service in a phone interview Wednesday. “And while I highly respect the declared candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor, I feel inclined to respect the calls that I’m getting.”
Morgan has been on the bench for over 30 years, serving as an administrative law judge, a Wake County District Court judge and a Superior Court judge before being elected to the Supreme Court in 2016.
At the time of his announcement last month to leave the court, Morgan told The Associated Press that he didn’t know whether he’d serve out the remainder of his term through the end of 2024 or step aside early. Morgan said then he was keeping his options open for future endeavors and didn’t rule out seeking another elected office. Cooper would appoint someone to serve out Morgan’s term should he step down early.
The Republican field for governor includes state Treasurer Dale Folwell, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson and former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker.
Morgan, who like Robinson is Black, told the NC Insider that Democratic voters need more than one option heading into next March’s primary given the full plate of GOP candidates and that his entry would enhance Democrats’ chances to retain the executive mansion.
“There are some disturbing voices that want to lead our state in a direction that’s backward, downward and wayward,” Morgan said. “If I would decide to run, it would strengthen our party going forward to the 2024 race and it would strengthen our ability to keep the governorship in a responsible leader’s hands.”
Morgan said he would evaluate his potential support and ability to raise campaign funds before deciding whether to get into the race.
Massachusetts
Prosecutors drop charges against 2 parents in college admissions bribery scheme
BOSTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors are dropping charges against two parents whose convictions in the sprawling college admissions bribery scandal were overturned by an appeals court, prosecutors said Thursday.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in May tossed all the convictions against Gamal Abdelaziz and all but one conviction of another parent, John Wilson. The Boston-based appeals court upheld Wilson’s conviction on a charge of filing a false tax return.
The Massachusetts U.S. attorney’s office told the judge in court papers that it’s dismissing those charges tossed by the 1st Circuit, and asked to set a new sentencing date for Wilson on the tax count.
Wilson had been sentenced last year to 15 months in prison and Abdelaziz was sentenced to a year behind bars, after jurors found them guilty in 2021 of buying their kids’ ways into school in the first case to go to trial in the so-called “Operation Varsity Blues” scandal. A court later agreed that they could remain free while they pursued their appeals.
Abdelaziz, of Las Vegas, was accused of paying $300,000 to get his daughter into the University of Southern California as a basketball recruit. Authorities alleged that Wilson, a former executive at Staples Inc., paid $220,000 to have his son designated as a USC water polo recruit and an additional $1 million to buy his twin daughters’ ways into Harvard and Stanford.
The defense said the fathers believed their payments were legitimate donations to the schools, and pointed the finger at the corrupt admissions consultant at the center of the scheme: Rick Singer.
The three-judge panel of the 1st Circuit said the trial judge was wrong in instructing the jury that admissions slot constitutes “property” of the universities under the mail and wire fraud law. The judges found that the government also failed to prove that the parents agreed to join the “overarching conspiracy among Singer and his clients.”
Wilson said in an emailed statement last month that the appeals court’s decision proves his innocence, and that the donations he made to the athletic programs “were part of a legal system setup by these schools that does not guarantee admissions.”
The appeal court’s “ruling confirms what we’ve always argued — John Wilson’s children were all qualified for admission to these schools on their own athletic and academic merits, and none of his money went to enrich any coach,” Wilson’s attorney, Noel Francisco, said in an email Thursday.
Brian Kelly, an attorney for Abdelaziz, said in a text message that his client “looks forward to putting this case behind him” and is “enormously grateful for his family and friends who supported him throughout this four year ordeal.”
Prosecutors ultimately convicted more than 50 people — including prominent businesspeople, celebrities and other wealthy parents — in the scandal that exposed a scheme led by Singer to get undeserving kids into top schools with rigged test scores or bogus athletic credentials. Dozens of parents pleaded guilty, including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin and Loughlin’s fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli.
A spokesperson for the Massachusetts U.S. attorney’s office said they are “deeply proud” of the team who brought the cases and “the lasting and far-reaching impact these prosecutions have had.”
“From the outset, this case has stood for the principle that we do not have a two-tiered system of justice in this country and that everyone — regardless of wealth, power or fame — must operate under the same set of rules. These prosecutions have reaffirmed that principle,” Christina DiIorio-Sterling said in an email.
Alabama
Former lawmaker pleads guilty in kickbacks case
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A former Alabama lawmaker accused of misusing state grant money by paying kickbacks to a legislative assistant pleaded guilty Wednesday.
Former Rep. Fred Plump Jr., a Democrat from Fairfield, entered the plea to charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice in federal court in Birmingham. Plump resigned his seat May 31 as part of his deal with prosecutors.
Plump took about $200,000 of the $400,000 that was allocated to his Piper Davis Youth Baseball League by a state legislator and gave it to the legislator’s aide, prosecutors wrote in the plea agreement filed with the court. Plump was allegedly told by the assistant that he had to give the money.
“Plump understood that if he did not give half of the money to them, Legislator #1 would not direct Fund money to Piper Davis,” prosecutors wrote.
Court documents did not name the legislator, but Rep. John Rogers, a Democrat from Birmingham, has indicated it is him.
The payments took place between 2018 and 2022, before Plump took office. He was elected to the state House just last November.
Prosecutors said Plump tried to obstruct the investigation by texting the assistant “red alert” to warn her about the investigation.
Defense attorney Richard Jaffe said Plump, nicknamed “Coach” for his work in youth sports, has accepted full responsibility and “is committed to redeeming himself.”
“We are still baffled by the mistakes and misjudgments that ‘Coach’ made with respect to what led to these charges. How does someone, 76 years old, who has led an exemplary life of service where he and his organization have benefited thousands of disadvantage youth, end up in this predicament,” Jaffe wrote in an email.
Asked if the investigation is ongoing or if other arrests are possible, Jaffe said he was limited in what he could say.
“I don’t think we’ve heard the last of this discouraging turn of events but I am not comfortable giving any opinions about what the future holds,” Jaffe wrote.
Plump will be sentenced Oct. 23. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, but court documents show that prosecutors are recommending a more lenient sentence as part of his plea deal.
