Tennessee
Court rules man who received clemency in Virginia still can’t register to vote
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against a man who sought to register to vote in the state after receiving clemency for a crime committed decades ago in Virginia.
Ernest Falls was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Virginia in 1986, according to court documents. He moved to Tennessee in 2018. In 2020, then-Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam granted Falls clemency, restoring his full rights of citizenship. But when Falls tried to register to vote in Tennessee, he was prevented from doing so. That’s because of a Tennessee law that requires people seeking to restore their voting rights to first prove they have paid all outstanding court costs, restitution and child support obligations.
At issue is whether that section of Tennessee law should be read together with another section that prohibits people who have been convicted of certain crimes in other states from voting in Tennessee unless their rights have been restored.
During oral arguments before the Tennessee Supreme Court last year, Falls’ attorney William Harbison argued that someone who has full rights of citizenship shouldn’t be subjected to having to get their voting rights restored. In a dissenting opinion on Thursday, Justice Sharon Lee agreed.
“Mr. Falls’ voting rights were fully restored; he should not be denied his constitutional right to vote,” she concluded.
But the majority ruled that the two sections of Tennessee law should be read together and that Falls must submit proof that he has none of the outstanding financial obligations that would disqualify him from having his voting rights restored.
The Campaign Legal Center brought the case on behalf of Falls. The nonprofit argues Tennessee has “likely the highest rate” of voter disenfranchisement in the United States — particularly among Black voters — after Florida voters approved a ballot initiative in 2018 that sought to restore voting rights post-felony sentence.
According to a 2016 report by The Sentencing Project, an estimated 421,000 Tennesseans cannot vote because of felony convictions — or about 8.2% of the state’s total voting-age population.
A separate lawsuit pending in federal court claims Tennessee’s process for restoring voting rights is unconstitutional and works to silence Black voters in particular. That case is also led by the led by the Campaign Legal Center and was filed on behalf of the Tennessee NAACP and five Tennessee residents who unsuccessfully attempted to restore their right to vote.
Missouri
Judge throws out suit filed by chess star over cheating allegations
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A judge last week dismissed a lawsuit filed by a 19-year-old chess grandmaster who alleged his career was ruined by allegations that he had cheated.
Last year, Hans Niemann sued former world champion Magnus Carlsen and the online chess organization Chess.com. He was seeking $100 million in damages for slander and libel.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court in St. Louis, Niemann also accused Carlsen and Chess.com of violating antitrust laws by merging online playing platforms and refusing to let him play on them.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Audrey Fleissig found Niemann’s antitrust claims had no merit. She also dismissed libel and slander claims because she said she didn’t have jurisdiction to oversee them, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
The lawsuit came after Niemann shocked the chess world by defeating Carlsen at the Sinquefield Cup last year in St. Louis, ending Carlsen’s world-record unbeaten streak. Carlsen accused Niemann of cheating and withdrew from the tournament.
Niemann said that after the cheating allegations were made, tournaments banned him, matches were canceled, and reputable chess schools wouldn’t hire him.
The lawsuit contends Carlsen, generally considered one of the greatest chess champions in the world, was trying to preserve his status as the “King of Chess” and to complete a deal with Chess.com to acquire Play Magnus for nearly $83 million.
Carlsen’s attorney, Craig Reiser, said Niemann’s lawsuit was an “attempt to recover an undeserved windfall” and “chill speech through strategic litigation.”
Chess.com was happy the controversy, which stunned the chess world, was ending and “are grateful that all parties can now focus on growing the game of chess,” said Nima Mohebbi and Jamie Wine, of the firm Latham & Watkins.
Niemann’s attorneys said they plan to pursue the libel and slander claims in state court.
Missouri
State ordered to pay $242K for open records law violations while Hawley was AG
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri attorney general’s office has been ordered to pay $242,000 in legal fees for violations of the state’s open records law that occurred when U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley held the office.
Circuit Judge Jon Beetem ruled in November 2022 that the attorney general’s office violated the open records law when documents were withheld from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee during the Republican Hawley’s successful Senate campaign in 2018.
Beetem ruled Wednesday that the office must pay $242,000 in legal fees, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
“A big win for transparency, election fairness, and the rule of law,” Mark Pedroli, who represented the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said on Twitter.
Pedroli suggested that Hawley should apologize and pay the bill with proceeds from his book, “Manhood: The Masculine Virtues America Needs.”
Hawley’s spokesman, Kyle Plotkin, responded that Democrats should return the money and apologize to Missourians for continuing the lawsuit after the requested documents were produced.
In 2017, the Democrats sought records of correspondence between Hawley’s political consultants, OnMessage Inc., and employees of the attorney general’s office.
The correspondence involved public business, Beetem said in his ruling. The judge said the then-records correspondent, Danie Hartman, has the records and knew his responsibilities under the law but told the Democrats the office had none of the requested records.
Beetem said the office also had documents corresponding to the Democrats’ second request in March 2018.
Beetem noted that The Kansas City Star obtained records between the attorney general’s office and OnMessage Inc. and reported in October 2018 that political consultants had helped to lead Hawley’s office.
“By failing to produce the requested records, Mr. Hartman and the AGO prevented an opposing party committee from accessing documents potentially damaging to then-Attorney General Hawley’s political campaign,” Beetem wrote.
The American Democracy Legal Fund then complained to Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft that Hawley appeared to have used public funds as attorney general to support his Senate campaign.
Ashcroft, a Republican, investigated the complaint but cleared Hawley’s campaign of any misconduct.
Money to pay the fees typically comes from the state’s Legal Expense Fund, which is financed by the state’s general tax dollars.
Missouri
Governor allows death penalty case to continue
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A death penalty case will continue against a Missouri man who is citing new DNA evidence in his innocence claim for the stabbing death of a former newspaper reporter, the governor announced Thursday.
Republican Gov. Mike Parson dissolved a panel of five former judges who had been tasked with reviewing Marcellus Williams’ case and ended a stay on his execution. No execution date has been set yet.
Williams was convicted of killing former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Lisha Gayle during a 1998 burglary at her home in University City. Gayle, 42, was a reporter at the Post-Dispatch from 1981 to 1992 before leaving to do social work.
“This Board was established nearly six years ago, and it is time to move forward,” Parson said in a statement. “We could stall and delay for another six years, deferring justice, leaving a victim’s family in limbo, and solving nothing. This administration won’t do that.”
Parson said “everyone will receive certainty” once the case is settled in court.
Williams’ lawyer did not immediately return an Associated Press request for comment Thursday.
Williams was hours away from execution in 2017 when former Gov. Eric Greitens stepped in and ordered the investigation.
Greitens’ action followed the release of new DNA testing unavailable at the time of the killing: DNA found on the murder weapon matched another unknown person, not Williams.
The former St. Louis County prosecutor has said that there is no chance Williams is innocent, citing ample amounts of other evidence.
Prosecutors said Williams broke a window pane to get inside Gayle’s home on Aug. 11, 1998, heard water running in the shower, and found a large butcher knife. When Gayle came downstairs, she was stabbed 43 times. Her purse and her husband’s laptop were stolen.
Authorities said Williams stole a jacket to conceal blood on his shirt. Williams’ girlfriend asked him why he would wear a jacket on such a hot day. The girlfriend said she later saw the laptop in the car and that Williams sold it a day or two later.
Prosecutors also cited testimony from Henry Cole, who shared a St. Louis cell with Williams in 1999 while Williams was jailed on unrelated charges. Cole told prosecutors that Williams confessed to the killing and offered details about it.
Williams’ attorneys responded that the girlfriend and Cole were both convicted felons out for a $10,000 reward.
Wisconsin
Man sentenced to a year in prison after threatening Governor Evers
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A woodworker from Wisconsin who threatened the governor and several other officials was sentenced to a year in prison Thursday after taking a plea deal.
Michael Yaker, 53, will likely serve only a few months because he’s been in jail for most of the past year, the Wisconsin State Journal reported. He pleaded guilty to a federal charge in March for threatening a former Dane County official in May 2022.
Yaker will be released on supervision and required to get mental health treatment.
Although he only pleaded guilty to threatening the county official, Yaker has admitted to making the other threats — including Democratic Gov. Tony Evers — as part of his deal with prosecutors.
Over eight months he made dozens of threats via email and Facebook, among other methods, detailing violent acts against the recipients. Some contained racial slurs.
In a call to the Dane County Board of Supervisors, Yaker said “I’m holding an axe in my hand. I’ve been sharpening it the whole time.”
Yaker’s mental health struggles and threatening behavior began after the county’s decision not to award him a contract to build a park shelter more than a decade ago, according to court documents.
He had pleaded guilty in 2016 to making violent threats, including a bomb scare, and was sentenced to probation. Yaker said Thursday that his feelings of “rage” and “manic madness” returned as he was coming off probation in 2019, and he began threatening government officials again.
“I don’t want to hurt anybody,” Yaker said in court. “I don’t want these people to fear me.”
