Wisconsin
Armed man who demanded to see governor pleads guilty to misdemeanor
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A man who twice brought guns to the Wisconsin state Capitol building looking for Gov. Tony Evers has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.
Prosecutors accused Joshua Pleasnick of coming to the Capitol on Oct. 4 and demanding to see the governor while armed with a handgun. He was arrested, posted bail and returned to the building that night with a rifle and a baton hidden in his backpack.
He again demanded to talk to Evers but the building was closed. He was arrested again and charged with carrying a firearm in a public building, a misdemeanor.
Online court records indicate Pleasnick, now 44, pleaded guilty to that charge on May 24 and was sentenced to 30 days in the Dane County Jail with work-release privileges.
Pleasnick told The Associated Press in a telephone interview about three weeks after he was arrested that he wanted to talk to Evers about why he believed men aren’t taken seriously when seeking protection orders against women.
He said he thought it was legal to openly carry a weapon in a public building and he had no intention of hurting anyone. He said he had moved to Nebraska and planned to stay away from Evers.
Pleasnick’s attorney, Michael Covey, said Monday that Pleasnick never threatened or intended to threaten anyone and complied with officers.
Arizona
Trump advisers plead not guilty in fake elector case
PHOENIX (AP) — Lawyers Boris Epshteyn and Jenna Ellis and former U.S. Senate candidate James Lamon have pleaded not guilty to nine felony charges for their roles in trying to overturn former President Donald Trump’s Arizona election loss to Joe Biden.
The hearing Tuesday in a Phoenix courtroom marked the last of 18 arraignments in the fake elector case. Fifteen other people, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Epshteyn, a Trump adviser, is accused of assisting Giuliani in carrying out the scheme to submit fake electors for Trump in Arizona and obstruct the certification of election results by Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.
Prosecutors in Michigan, Nevada, Georgia and Wisconsin have also filed criminal charges related to the fake electors scheme.
Arizona authorities unveiled the felony charges in late April against 11 Republicans who submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring Trump had won Arizona. The defendants include five lawyers connected to the former president and two former Trump aides. Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes.
Trump himself was not charged in the Arizona case but was referred to as an unindicted co-conspirator in the indictment.
Arizona authorities say Ellis made false claims of widespread election fraud in the state and six others, encouraged the Arizona Legislature to change the outcome of the election and encouraged then-Vice President Mike Pence to accept Arizona’s fake elector votes.
Lamon, a businessman who lost a 2022 Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat in Arizona, is accused of falsely stating he was a duly elected and qualified elector. Prosecutors have pointed out that Lamon didn’t withdraw his vote even though no legal challenge had successfully changed the outcome in Arizona. Last year, Ellis was charged in Georgia after she appeared with Giuliani at a December 2020 hearing hosted by state Republican lawmakers at the Georgia Capitol during which false allegations of election fraud were made. She pleaded guilty in October to one felony count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings after reaching a deal with prosecutors.
The 11 people who claimed to be Arizona’s Republican electors met in Phoenix on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign a certificate saying they were “duly elected and qualified” electors and asserting that Trump carried the state.
Florida
Plastic surgeon charged in death of wife who went into cardiac arrest while he worked on her
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — A plastic surgeon in the Florida Panhandle was charged with his wife’s death after she suffered a cardiac arrest and died days after he performed after-hours procedures on her in his clinic last year, authorities said.
Benjamin Brown was arrested Monday on a charge of manslaughter by culpable negligence, which is a second-degree felony. He was released from the Santa Rosa County Jail after posting a $50,000 bond.
Brown’s wife, Hillary Brown, went into cardiac arrest in November while her husband was performing procedures on her at his clinic in Pensacola, according to the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office. She was taken to a hospital and died a week later, the sheriff’s office said.
Last month, the Florida Department of Health filed an administrative complaint before the state Board of Medicine, seeking penalties against Brown up to the revocation or suspension of his license. The complaint involved his wife’s case and other cases.
Unsupervised by her husband or any other health care practitioner, Hillary Brown prepared her own local anesthesia and filled intravenous bags for the procedures, which included arm liposuction, lip injections and an ear adjustment, according to the Department of Health complaint.
She also ingested several pills, including a sedative, pain killer and antibiotic, before falling into a sedated state, though the consumption of those pills wasn’t documented, the complaint said.
During the procedures, Hillary Brown’s feet began twitching and she told her husband that her vision was starting to blur and that she saw “orange.” Benjamin Brown injected more lidocaine, an anesthetic, into her face. The Department of Health said she became unresponsive and had a seizure.
A medical assistant asked Benjamin Brown if they should call 911, and he said “no,” according to the complaint. Over the next 10 or 20 minutes, the medical assistant repeated her question about whether they should call for paramedics, and he said, “no” or “wait,” the complaint said.
When Hillary Brown’s breathing became shallow and her pulse and blood oxygen levels became low, after about 10 to 20 minutes, Benjamin Brown told his assistants to call 911 and he began performing resuscitation efforts on her, the complaint said.
Addressing the procedures involving his wife last November, the order noted that muscle twitches and blurred vision are early signs of lidocaine toxicity. The order described Benjamin Brown’s treatment of his wife as “careless and haphazard.”
Armed man who demanded to see governor pleads guilty to misdemeanor
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A man who twice brought guns to the Wisconsin state Capitol building looking for Gov. Tony Evers has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.
Prosecutors accused Joshua Pleasnick of coming to the Capitol on Oct. 4 and demanding to see the governor while armed with a handgun. He was arrested, posted bail and returned to the building that night with a rifle and a baton hidden in his backpack.
He again demanded to talk to Evers but the building was closed. He was arrested again and charged with carrying a firearm in a public building, a misdemeanor.
Online court records indicate Pleasnick, now 44, pleaded guilty to that charge on May 24 and was sentenced to 30 days in the Dane County Jail with work-release privileges.
Pleasnick told The Associated Press in a telephone interview about three weeks after he was arrested that he wanted to talk to Evers about why he believed men aren’t taken seriously when seeking protection orders against women.
He said he thought it was legal to openly carry a weapon in a public building and he had no intention of hurting anyone. He said he had moved to Nebraska and planned to stay away from Evers.
Pleasnick’s attorney, Michael Covey, said Monday that Pleasnick never threatened or intended to threaten anyone and complied with officers.
Arizona
Trump advisers plead not guilty in fake elector case
PHOENIX (AP) — Lawyers Boris Epshteyn and Jenna Ellis and former U.S. Senate candidate James Lamon have pleaded not guilty to nine felony charges for their roles in trying to overturn former President Donald Trump’s Arizona election loss to Joe Biden.
The hearing Tuesday in a Phoenix courtroom marked the last of 18 arraignments in the fake elector case. Fifteen other people, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Epshteyn, a Trump adviser, is accused of assisting Giuliani in carrying out the scheme to submit fake electors for Trump in Arizona and obstruct the certification of election results by Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.
Prosecutors in Michigan, Nevada, Georgia and Wisconsin have also filed criminal charges related to the fake electors scheme.
Arizona authorities unveiled the felony charges in late April against 11 Republicans who submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring Trump had won Arizona. The defendants include five lawyers connected to the former president and two former Trump aides. Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes.
Trump himself was not charged in the Arizona case but was referred to as an unindicted co-conspirator in the indictment.
Arizona authorities say Ellis made false claims of widespread election fraud in the state and six others, encouraged the Arizona Legislature to change the outcome of the election and encouraged then-Vice President Mike Pence to accept Arizona’s fake elector votes.
Lamon, a businessman who lost a 2022 Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat in Arizona, is accused of falsely stating he was a duly elected and qualified elector. Prosecutors have pointed out that Lamon didn’t withdraw his vote even though no legal challenge had successfully changed the outcome in Arizona. Last year, Ellis was charged in Georgia after she appeared with Giuliani at a December 2020 hearing hosted by state Republican lawmakers at the Georgia Capitol during which false allegations of election fraud were made. She pleaded guilty in October to one felony count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings after reaching a deal with prosecutors.
The 11 people who claimed to be Arizona’s Republican electors met in Phoenix on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign a certificate saying they were “duly elected and qualified” electors and asserting that Trump carried the state.
Florida
Plastic surgeon charged in death of wife who went into cardiac arrest while he worked on her
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — A plastic surgeon in the Florida Panhandle was charged with his wife’s death after she suffered a cardiac arrest and died days after he performed after-hours procedures on her in his clinic last year, authorities said.
Benjamin Brown was arrested Monday on a charge of manslaughter by culpable negligence, which is a second-degree felony. He was released from the Santa Rosa County Jail after posting a $50,000 bond.
Brown’s wife, Hillary Brown, went into cardiac arrest in November while her husband was performing procedures on her at his clinic in Pensacola, according to the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office. She was taken to a hospital and died a week later, the sheriff’s office said.
Last month, the Florida Department of Health filed an administrative complaint before the state Board of Medicine, seeking penalties against Brown up to the revocation or suspension of his license. The complaint involved his wife’s case and other cases.
Unsupervised by her husband or any other health care practitioner, Hillary Brown prepared her own local anesthesia and filled intravenous bags for the procedures, which included arm liposuction, lip injections and an ear adjustment, according to the Department of Health complaint.
She also ingested several pills, including a sedative, pain killer and antibiotic, before falling into a sedated state, though the consumption of those pills wasn’t documented, the complaint said.
During the procedures, Hillary Brown’s feet began twitching and she told her husband that her vision was starting to blur and that she saw “orange.” Benjamin Brown injected more lidocaine, an anesthetic, into her face. The Department of Health said she became unresponsive and had a seizure.
A medical assistant asked Benjamin Brown if they should call 911, and he said “no,” according to the complaint. Over the next 10 or 20 minutes, the medical assistant repeated her question about whether they should call for paramedics, and he said, “no” or “wait,” the complaint said.
When Hillary Brown’s breathing became shallow and her pulse and blood oxygen levels became low, after about 10 to 20 minutes, Benjamin Brown told his assistants to call 911 and he began performing resuscitation efforts on her, the complaint said.
Addressing the procedures involving his wife last November, the order noted that muscle twitches and blurred vision are early signs of lidocaine toxicity. The order described Benjamin Brown’s treatment of his wife as “careless and haphazard.”
