ALABAMA
County’s district attorney urges new trial for death row inmate
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A district attorney in Alabama says a black man who has spent two decades on death row should get a new trial amid questions about the fairness of his 1998 murder conviction.
Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr on Friday filed a brief supporting a new trial for Toforest Johnson who was convicted of the murder of Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff William Hardy.
Carr wrote that he took no position on Johnson’s innocence or guilt but said there are concerns about his trial. He wrote those include that a key witness was paid a $5,000 reward, a fact not mentioned at trial, and alibi witnesses place Johnson in another part of town at the time of the shooting. Carr said the original lead prosecutor had also expressed concerns about the case.
“A prosecutor’s duty is not merely to secure convictions, but to seek justice,” the brief stated. “It is the district attorney’s position that in the interest of justice, Mr. Johnson, who has spent more than two decades on death row, be granted a new trial.”
Carr, who was elected in 2018, was not the district attorney during Johnson’s trial.
Hardy was killed after being shot twice in the head while working off-duty security at a hotel in July 1995.
Johnson was later sentenced to death for the slaying. He has maintained his innocence and said he was at a nightclub at the time of the shooting.
At Johnson’s trial, Violet Ellison testified she eavesdropped on an August 1995 telephone conversation and that she heard Johnson say he and a friend shot Hardy.
Ty Alper, an attorney for Johnson, on Friday, said he was grateful to Carr for taking a look at the case.
“We’ve long known anyone who engages in a review of the case will conclude that Mr. Johnson did not receive a fair trial,” Alper said in a telephone interview.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2017 ordered a new hearing to take place on Johnson’s claim of suppressed evidence.
Jefferson County Circuit Judge Teresa T. Pulliam in March denied Johnson’s request for a new trial. Pulliam said Johnson’s attorneys had not established Ellison was motivated by the financial reward or that prosecutors knew about it.
The case is currently before the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Law school bearing Franklin Pierce name considering removal
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire law school bearing the name of the state’s only president, Franklin Pierce, is thinking about removing him from its title as part of the national conversation about systemic racism because he opposed taking steps to stop slavery.
Pierce, the country’s 14th president, served from 1853 to 1857. He was an accomplished attorney and brigadier general in the U.S. Army. He never owned slaves and expressed moral opposition to slavery, but he was concerned with keeping the nation unified.
“I support these calls to reconsider our relationship to an historical figure who was a part of our country’s painful history,” Megan Carpenter, dean of the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law, said in a statement Friday. “Our school has an incredible opportunity to become a meaningful part of the national dialogue. I’m personally inspired by the voices within our school community who are expressing their feelings on this issue.”
Carpenter added, “We will be a part of positive change toward racial justice and equality. The school will gather input and engage discussion on a variety of issues related to racial justice, diversity and inclusion, and the Franklin Pierce name will be a significant part of these discussions.”
A decision on whether to remove Pierce’s name from the Concord school will be made no later than Aug. 1, Carpenter said.
The move comes as protesters nationwide are calling for a reckoning with racism and police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police in Minneapolis.
The law school was originally known as the Franklin Pierce Law Center. The state approved a merger between the school and UNH in 2010. The school then was called the UNH School of Law; it was changed to its current name last year. At the time, the school said it made the change to reflect the reputation of the law center with respect to the study of intellectual property law.
MONTANA
Trump administration takes Keystone dispute to Supreme Court
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The Trump administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to revive a permit program that would allow the disputed Keystone XL pipeline and other new oil and gas pipelines to cross waterways with little review.
Earlier this year, a Montana judge suspended the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ permit program when environmental groups seeking to block construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline argued the permit process allows companies to skirt responsibility for damage done to water bodies.
The permit program, known as Nationwide Permit 12, allows pipelines to be built across streams and wetlands with minimal review if they meet certain criteria.
Canadian company TC Energy needs the permit to build the long-disputed pipeline from Canada across U.S. rivers and streams. Industry representatives said U.S. District Judge Brian Morris’ ruling blocking the program could also delay more than 70 pipeline projects across the U.S. and add as much as $2 billion in costs.
Morris ruled that Army Corps officials in 2017 improperly reauthorized the program, which he said could harm protected wildlife and wildlife habitat.
Last month, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied an emergency request to block Morris’ ruling filed by the U.S. government, states and industry groups.
On Monday, U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco asked the Supreme Court to do what the 9th Circuit court wouldn’t: block Morris’ ruling and let the permit program operate again while the lawsuit plays out in court.
The government’s application to the court says Morris shouldn’t have blocked the program, the which has been in effect since the 1970s, and the Army Corps and private companies “rely on it for thousands of activities annually,” the solicitor general wrote.
“The district court had no warrant to set aside NWP 12 with respect to Keystone XL, let alone for the construction of all new oil and gas pipelines anywhere in the country,” Francisco wrote.
The 1,200-mile (1,900-kilometer) pipeline from Alberta to Nebraska was stalled for much of the past decade before President Donald Trump was elected and began trying to push it through to completion.
