In this 2010 photo, Kermit Gosnell is seen during an interview with the Philadelphia Daily News at his attorney's office in Philadelphia. He is charged with murder in the deaths of infants who died during late-term abortion. (Yong Kim/Philadelphia Daily News/AP)
Kermit Gosnell defense rests without calling any witnesses (+video)
The sensational and sometimes grisly trial of Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell reached an important point Wednesday when Dr. Gosnell’s defense team declined to call any witnesses – including the defendant himself.
Closing arguments in the trial, now in its sixth week, are scheduled to be heard next Monday, after which the controversial case goes to the jury.
Gosnell faces the death penalty if he is convicted in the deaths of four newborns. Prosecutors allege that the infants were born alive and viable during late-term abortions. Gosnell is also charged in the 2009 overdose death of a Nepalese refugee who overdosed on sedatives while awaiting an abortion.
Gosnell is also charged with racketeering, performing illegal abortions, and failing to counsel women 24 hours before a procedure.
Gosnell had been charged in the deaths of seven children, but on Tuesday Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Minehart ruled that prosecutors over the past month failed to make a case on three of the seven first-degree murder counts, involving aborted babies known as Baby B, Baby C, and Baby G.
Former employees called by the prosecution testified that Gosnell relied on untrained, unlicensed staff to sedate and monitor women as they waited for abortions – many of them beyond the 24-week limit under Pennsylvania law. Three workers have pleaded guilty to third-degree murder charges, admitting they helped medicate the adult victim or had a hand in killing infants born alive.
They told jurors that Gosnell had taught them the technique, and said they trusted that it was legal. At least one, though, admits she grew so concerned about conditions at the clinic that she took pictures of the outdated equipment, messy rooms, and stacked specimen jars containing the remains of aborted babies.
Defense attorney Jack McMahon has maintained that none of the infants was killed, reports CNN. Rather, he said, they were already deceased as a result of Gosnell previously administering the drug digoxin, which can cause abortion.
In what is likely a preview of his closing arguments, Mr. McMahon said, "There is not one piece – not one – of objective, scientific evidence that anyone was born alive.”
The only employee to go on trial with Gosnell, unlicensed physician Eileen O'Neill, is charged with theft for allegedly practicing medicine without a license. Her attorney called character witnesses to testify, but rested her case Wednesday without calling Ms. O’Neill to the witness stand.
Antiabortion activists say the case hints at widespread problems.
"This is a very dramatic case compared to what happens in some other clinics," Charmaine Yoest, president and CEO of the antiabortion group Americans United for Life, told NPR. "But in all honesty, it doesn't completely surprise us because we've been trying to get attention to low-grade conditions in abortion clinics across the country for many, many years."
"The fact that we regulate veterinary clinics and beauty parlors more than you do abortion clinics in this country, that's inexcusable," says Ms. Yoest. "And what it leads to is this kind of situation with Gosnell."
Abortion-rights advocates, on the other hand, see the Gosnell case – horrible as it is – as an argument for more publicly-supported facilities and services, especially for low-income women of the type drawn to Gosnell’s lower prices.
Carole Joffe, a sociology professor at the University of California, San Francisco, who specializes in reproductive health, says a new Pennsylvania law passed in the wake of the Gosnell revelations has resulted in many abortion clinics that were providing perfectly safe care having to shut their doors.
"Pennsylvania used to have 22 facilities; now they have 13," she told NPR. "The city of Pittsburgh used to have four clinics, now they're down to two."
• This report includes material from the Associated Press.
Paul Kevin Curtis (l.), who had been in custody under suspicion of sending ricin-laced letters to President Obama and others, hugs his attorney, Christi McCoy, during a news conference after his release Tuesday. The FBI is investigating a second suspect. (Bruce Newman/Oxford Eagle/AP)
Ricin suspect released, as FBI shifts to new 'person of interest' (+video)
Federal prosecutors on Tuesday dropped the charges against a Mississippi man accused of sending poisonous letters to President Obama and two other government officials, as the FBI inspected the home of a second suspect.
Officials did not cite specific reasons for dropping criminal charges against Paul Kevin Curtis, a part-time Elvis impersonator from Corinth, Miss., but a court document said the “ongoing investigation has revealed new information,” reported The New York Times. A pretrial hearing in the case against him, which was under way, was canceled.
The FBI had testified Monday that no physical evidence of ricin or ricin-making materials had been found in Mr. Curtis’s residence or vehicle. Last week, letters addressed to Mr. Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker (R) of Mississippi, and a county judge in Mississippi, Sadie Holland, tested positive for ricin, a deadly biological toxin made from castor beans.
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“I thought they said rice and I said, 'I don't even eat rice,' “ Curtis said at a press conference after his release, referring to investigators’ questions. He added, “I respect President Obama. I love my country and would never do anything to pose a threat to him or any other US official.”
Since Curtis's arrest on April 17, his attorneys said their client did not send the letters and suggested that he was being framed. Defense attorney Hal Neilson said they gave a list of Curtis’s potential enemies to authorities.
J. Everett Dutschke, whose house and property the FBI searched Tuesday, is on the list.
“Dutschke came up,” Mr. Neilson told the Associated Press. “[The prosecutors] took it and ran with it. I could not tell you if he's the man or he's not the man, but there was something there they wanted to look into.”
The two men had a confrontation in 2010 when Mr. Dutschke threatened to sue Curtis for claiming to belong to Mensa, a group for people with high IQs, the Associated Press reported.
“I met the guy on two occasions. I wasn't going to be pulled into his fantasy world,” Dutschke said in an interview with the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal in Tupelo, Miss.
Dutschke has not been arrested, and no charges have been filed against him. The FBI did not comment on what agents found in Dutschke’s home Tuesday evening, but Dutschke told the Associated Press that the FBI had already searched his home last week.
“I don't know how much more of this I can take,” he said Tuesday.
Dutschke, a martial arts instructor and a one-time candidate for Mississippi’s House of Representatives, has faced previous allegations of child molestation, Roll Call reported. A possible motive for Dutschke to allegedly target Judge Holland, who received one of the ricin-laced letters last week, is that her son, Democratic Rep. Daniel Holland, defeated Dutschke in the 2007 state election.
"I'm a patriotic American," Dutschke told the Associated Press. "I don't have any grudges against anybody. I did not send the letters."
Law enforcement authorities investigated a possible fourth ricin letter attack, after a military base near Washington, D.C., went on alert during routine mail screening Tuesday.
The Defense Intelligence Agency said no suspicious letters were found at the Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, even though Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D) of Nevada said that ricin had been detected, Reuters reported.
The DIA said the FBI will conduct further tests, describing the investigation as “ongoing.”
– Material from Associated Press was used in this report.
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This undated handout image provided by the Transportation Security Administration shows a page from a TSA pamphlet of Changes to Prohibited Items List, of small knife guidelines allowed and not allowed on airplanes per a new policy that was to go into effect April 25. (TSA/AP)
Why TSA delayed its new rules allowing knives on airplanes
Bowing to pressure from flight attendants and members of Congress, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said it would delay implementation of new rules scheduled to take effect on Thursday that would have let passengers carry small knives and some sporting equipment onto airplanes.
TSA Administrator John Pistole sent word of the change in an e-mail to employees on Monday. Politico Pro obtained a copy of the message, which came after Mr. Pistole met with his Aviation Security Advisory Committee.
The agency later posted a brief statement on its website: “In order to accommodate further input from the Aviation Security Advisory Committee (ASAC), which includes representatives from the aviation community, passenger advocates, law enforcement experts, and other stakeholders, TSA will temporarily delay implementation of changes to the Prohibited Items List, originally scheduled to go into effect April 25.”
The agency did not link the change to the bomb attacks at the Boston Marathon, instead saying that the move “will enable TSA to incorporate the [advisory panel's] feedback about the changes to the Prohibited Items List and continue workforce training."
But critics of the loosened rules did make such a link. Sara Nelson, international vice president of the Association of Flight Attendants, told USA Today that "[i]n the wake of the terrorist bombing in Boston last week ... now is not the time to weaken transportation security.”
Ms. Nelson added that "[f]light attendants are breathing a sigh of relief that the weapons that led to the deadliest attack on US soil in our nation's history will not be allowed in the aircraft cabin this week."
The Associated Press quoted the flight attendants’ group as saying in a statement, “all knives should be banned from planes permanently.”
Pistole had announced the new regulations on March 5, saying they would allow airport security screeners to focus on items posing greater risks. The TSA proposal would have allowed passengers to carry knives with blades that were 2.36 inches long or less and less than half an inch wide through security checkpoints. Passengers also would have been allowed to carry on two golf clubs, hockey sticks, billiard cues, and toy plastic bats.
In addition to flight attendants, some members of Congress also criticized the TSA proposals. Massachusetts Democrat Ed Markey gathered 30 cosponsors for a bill to overrule the TSA. And some 133 House members signed a letter to Pistole asking him to change the policy, Politico reported. House Homeland Security ranking member Bennie Thompson (D) of Mississippi, who spearheaded the letter-writing effort, told Politico that “a knife 2.36 inches long is a weapon.”
Sen. Charles Schumer (D) of New York, who opposed TSA’s plan, said the agency’s reversal was an admission “that permitting knives on planes is a bad idea.” He told the AP that he favored a permanent ban.
In a breakfast meeting with reporters hosted by the Monitor on March 26, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano defended the new TSA policy on knives, while acknowledging the rollout could have been handled better.
“I think frankly it is the right decision from a security standpoint. We're trying to prevent a bomb from getting on a plane. And if you are talking about a small knife, there are already things on a plane that somebody can convert into a small, sharp object. From a security standpoint it is the right decision,” said Secretary Napolitano, whose department includes the TSA.
But she added, “Where we could have done better quite frankly was a little more legislative and public outreach before we announced the decision. Try to give it a softer landing as it were.”
This undated photo obtained from the Facebook page of Paul Kevin Curtis shows, according to neighbors, Paul Kevin Curtis. Curtis was arrested last Wednesday at his home in Corinth, Miss., near the Tennessee state line. He is accused of mailing letters with ricin to President Obama, a US senator, and a county judge. (AP)
Ricin investigation uncovers little physical evidence, testifies FBI (+video)
Federal authorities acknowledged that they have found little physical evidence to support their case against a Mississippi man who has been charged with sending poison-laced letters to President Obama and two other public officials.
Last week, letters addressed to Mr. Obama; US Sen. Roger Wicker (R) of Mississippi; and Lee County, Miss., Judge Sadie Holland tested positive for ricin, a potent toxin derived from castor beans.
Paul Kevin Curtis, a resident of Corinth, Miss., remains in custody after his April 17 arrest on federal charges of using the mail to threaten the life of the president and to injure others. A pretrial hearing to assess the evidence against Mr. Curtis enters its third day Tuesday, as prosecutors are expected to introduce evidence about the suspect’s mental state.
But defense attorney Christi McCoy said she hopes the charges will be dropped because investigators have not produced hard evidence linking Curtis to the attempted poisoning.
"The searches are concluded, not one single shred of evidence was found to indicate Kevin could have done this," Ms. McCoy told reporters after Monday's hearing.
An FBI agent testified Monday that investigators have found no traces of ricin or devices used to make it in Curtis’s home or vehicle. The FBI also did not find ricin-related searches on the suspect’s computer, the Associated Press reported.
"There was no apparent ricin, castor beans or any material there that could be used for the manufacturing, like a blender or something," FBI Agent Brandon Grant testified at the hearing.
Mr. Grant said that Curtis could have thrown away equipment used to make ricin, and that the agency is doing a deeper analysis of his computer. And despite the lack of physical evidence against Curtis, Grant said he is still the primary suspect.
“Given the right mindset and the Internet and the acquisition of material, other people could be involved. However, given information right now, we believe we have the right individual," he said.
The strongest evidence against Curtis is previous antigovernment writings and that he shares the same initials, K.C., that were used in the sign-off phrase in the letters: "I am KC and I approve this message."
Senator Wicker's staff identified Curtis’s name from among a list of the senator’s constituents who had written the office before who also had the initials K.C. The FBI is still trying to figure out exactly where the letters originated from based on postal service processing codes, but the letters each had a Memphis, Tenn., postmark. There is no DNA evidence from the envelopes or stamps because they were all self-adhesive, Grant said in court Monday. The envelopes also lack fingerprints.
But the letters do refer to a book that Curtis self-published. The book, titled “Missing Pieces,” accuses the federal government of secretly selling human organs.
The Los Angeles Times reported that, on the day he was arrested, Curtis posted an unusual comment to his Facebook profile: "I'm on the hidden front lines of a secret war. A war that is making billions of dollars for corrupt mafia related organizations and people. (bone, tissue, organ, body parts harvesting black market) when we lay our loved ones to rest.”
Defense attorney McCoy said evidence based on online writings is not enough to convict her client, and because his writings are available online, it’s possible he is being framed.
"He is the perfect scapegoat, the perfect patsy, and it’s really sad because at first everybody’s like, you know, he’s kind of crazy, maybe he did it,” she told the Los Angeles Times. “But as the searches continued, there’s just nothing on this guy. Nothing on his computers, in his car, in his house.”
– Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
A 'For sale' sign hangs in front of a house in Plymouth, Mass., in March. (Steven Senne/AP/File)
Home prices up 12 percent as investors bet on real estate
Prices of existing homes in the United States rose 12 percent in March from the same month last year, as the real estate market continues to bounce back, providing much-needed help to the nation’s economy.
A key factor in housing’s recovery is strong demand from major corporate investors, who see profit in the combination of still-depressed real estate prices, near-record-low interest rates, and strong demand for rental housing. The Washington Post reported Monday that institutional investors are bidding on hundreds of homes each day and account for as much as 70 percent of sales in some Florida markets.
The National Association of Realtors says that the median price of homes sold in March, buoyed by strong demand, was $184,300, 11.8 percent higher than in March 2012. The March price increase is the biggest since November 2005.
The pace of sales activity in March actually slipped a bit, declining 0.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis to 4.92 million. But the rate of sales in March was still 10.3 percent faster than March 2012. Existing home sales have now been above year-earlier levels for 21 consecutive months.
In a statement, National Association of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun said there is more demand than supply in the housing market.
"Buyer traffic is 25 percent above a year ago when we were already seeing notable gains in shopping activity," he said. "In the same time frame housing inventories have trended much lower, which is continuing to pressure home prices."
Previous housing recoveries have been led by families and individuals looking to put a roof over their heads, but, as The Wall Street Journal recently noted, this recovery has been different.
“Investors – including some big Wall Street players – are leading the way,” the paper wrote. The Journal added that the phenomenon of strong investor participation is not without risk. “Their role is noteworthy given that flippers and speculators were blamed for helping to inflate the housing bubble of the past decade."
It is difficult to precisely measure the role of corporate investors. One proxy is those who buy homes in cash. The latest figures from the Realtors Association showed that all-cash sales of existing homes in March were 30 percent of transactions, down from 32 percent in February. By comparison, DataQuick MDA, a real estate research firm, told the Post that absentee buyers accounted for 31.4 percent of recent southern California sales – versus an average of less than 17 percent between 2000 and 2010.
Last year, investor Warren Buffett told CNBC: “If I had a way of buying a couple hundred thousand single-family homes I would load up on them. It is a very attractive asset class right now. I could buy them at distressed prices and find renters.”
Major investors have taken his advice. Blackstone has acquired a portfolio of 20,000 rental homes worth $3 billion, the firm told The Washington Post. Colony Capital told the paper it has spent more than $1 billion on 8,000 homes in seven states.
Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz pumps his fist in front of an American flag and a line of Boston Marathon volunteers after addressing the crowd before a baseball game between the Red Sox and the Kansas City Royals in Boston Saturday. (Michael Dwyer/AP)
David Ortiz forgiven by FCC for expletive Boston will never forget (+video)
On a day when the city of Boston came to Fenway Park for its collective exhale, honoring the governor and mayor and law enforcement officials who have served with such distinction during the past week of terror, it was the one indelible moment. The crowd roared louder than it had all afternoon. People on the Internet are already making T-shirts.
It was, in five words, the encapsulation of a city's defiance – bowed, but never broken. Not even close.
It also happened to be NSFW (not safe for work). Or children. Or anyone in Mr. Rogers' neighborhood.
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It was the declaration by legendary Red Sox slugger David Ortiz in pregame ceremonies Saturday, which were broadcast nationwide.
"This is our f------ city, and nobody's going to dictate our freedom."
In recent years, the Federal Communications Commission has taken to calling such incidents "fleeting expletives," and has grown increasingly grumpy about them. For years, the major television networks behaved themselves, pushing any potentially objectionable content past 10 p.m., when kids who might ask "Mommy, what is cow s---?" had already gone to bed.
Then came reality TV star Nicole Richie, who said live during the December 2003 Billboard awards show on Fox, "Have you ever tried to get cow s--- out of a Prada purse? It's not so f------ simple."
Or U2 singer Bono, who said during NBC's broadcast of the Golden Globes awards show earlier that year: "f------ brilliant."
For these incidents and others, the FCC responded by fining networks more than $1 million. Though the fines were later overturned by the Supreme Court, the point was made. There was a new sheriff in town. The networks have responded, running awards shows on several-second delays so they can beep out any offenders.
But on Saturday, no one beeped out Mr. Ortiz – known to Bostonians as "Big Papi." And within the hour, FCC chairman Julius Genachowski had taken to Twitter to say that was just fine.
"David Ortiz spoke from the heart at today's Red Sox game. I stand with Big Papi and the people of Boston - Julius," the tweet read.
Mark Townsend of Yahoo's Big League Stew blog added his 2 cents: "There's a right time, and there's a wrong time to be too emotional. Today was definitely the right time (and yes, I know there were children in the building)."
Commenters largely agreed. One, named Hawk, summed up the sentiment this way: "I'm gonna go ahead and vote Papi for MVP. Most Valuable Phrasing!" Another, named Ted, added: "When Papi said that, I got goosebumps."
On a joyous day to end a tragic week that Boston – and the world – will not soon forget, Ortiz's expletive was anything but fleeting, it seems.
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James Oliver, left, hugs his brother and fellow Eagle Scout, Will Oliver, who is gay, as Will and other supporters carry four boxes filled with a petition to end the ban on gay scouts and leaders in front of the Boy Scouts of America headquarters in Dallas, Texas, in February. (Tony Gutierrez/AP/File)
Boy Scouts proposal to allow gay youths draws fire from both sides
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) is proposing to lift its ban on gay youths, but not gay adults, the organization announced Friday, responding to pressure from gay rights advocates to drop restrictions in its membership policies.
The proposal, which will be put to a vote at its National Council meeting in May, is a change of course from the plan it floated earlier this year, which would have given local units the option to either include or exclude gay members. The new policy states that "no youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone," Deron Smith, the organization's spokesman, told Reuters.
The new position is already drawing criticism from groups on both sides of the issue. Gay rights advocates say the BSA should lift the ban for both youths and adults, while conservative groups and churches support keeping the ban in place.
"By refusing to consider an end to its ban on gay and lesbian parents, the Boy Scouts have missed an opportunity to exercise leadership and usher the organization back to relevancy," Rich Ferraro, a spokesman for GLAAD, which promotes lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights, told Reuters.
GLAAD, together with Scouts for Equality, supported campaigns that amassed 1.6 million signatures for an online petition on Change.org that calls for an end to banning gays from the Boy Scouts.
The Scouts are taking a "step in the right direction," said Rick Jacobs, founder of the Courage Campaign, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
"We are seeing a rapid and historic shift toward equality for all," Mr. Jacobs said in a statement. "The Boy Scouts are now beginning to catch up with this reality."
For John Stemberger, an Eagle Scout and founder of OnMyHonor.net, a coalition of parents and Scouts who support the ban on gays, the proposal raises many concerns.
“This cleverly-worded resolution tries to dodge criticism from gay activists but still creates a myriad of problems for how to manage and ensure the safety and security of the boys in the program,” Mr. Stemberger said in a statement. “The current membership policy of Scouting, which is backed by more than 100 years of tradition, allows anyone to participate irrespective of sexual orientation, but only disallows the open and aggressive promotion of homosexuality and political agendas."
Leaders of the Mormon Church, which does not support same-sex relationships, will review the new proposal and its implications before taking a position on it, said Michael Purdy, spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on Friday. There are more Mormon Boy Scouts nationally than any other religious denomination, the Associated Press reported, and 99 percent of the troops in the Great Salt Lake Council are sponsored by the Mormon Church.
In February, the BSA sent surveys to about 1 million members, receiving approximately 200,000 responses. Dozens of churches and religious organizations were included in the BSA survey because they sponsor a majority of Scout units. Many of the survey responses from religious institutions were concerned about allowing gay adult leaders but not about gay youth participants.
The Scouts executive committee drafted the proposal after it "embarked on the most comprehensive listening exercise in its history to consider the impact of potential changes to its membership standards policy on the organization," said a statement released Friday.
Overall, 61 percent of survey respondents supported the current policy of excluding gays, and 34 percent – including a majority of younger parents and teens – opposed the current policy.
"Scouting’s review confirmed that this issue remains among the most complex and challenging issues facing the BSA and society today," the statement said. "Even with the wide range of input, it is extremely difficult to accurately quantify the potential impact of maintaining or changing the current policy. While perspectives and opinions vary significantly, parents, adults in the Scouting community, and teens alike tend to agree that youth should not be denied the benefits of Scouting."
If the BSA allowed gay adults to be leaders, it could lose 100,000 to 350,000 members, the Associated Press said, citing BSA estimates. Thus, the BSA opted to include gay youths, but still exclude gay adults.
"The proposed resolution also reinforces that Scouting is a youth program, and any sexual conduct, whether heterosexual or homosexual, by youth of Scouting age is contrary to the virtues of Scouting," the statement said.
• Material from the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Florist sued again for refusing to provide flowers for gay wedding
A Washington florist is being sued by both the American Civil Liberties Union and the state attorney general for refusing to provide service to a gay couple planning their wedding, a legal tangle that has pitted antidiscrimination policy against religious freedom.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington filed a lawsuit Thursday, claiming that Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene's Flowers and Gifts in Richland, Wash., discriminated against Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed, who are longtime patrons of the shop. Last week, state Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a consumer protection lawsuit against Ms. Stutzman, the first discrimination case based on sexual orientation brought by the Attorney General's Office, reports the Seattle Times.
In court documents, Stutzman said she would not sell flowers for a same-sex wedding because of her religious beliefs, reports Reuters.
“The refusal to sell flowers to the couple is a disturbing reminder of the unequal treatment that gay men and women have experienced over the years,” said Sarah Dunne, ACLU of Washington legal director, in a statement. “When a business serves the general public, the business owner’s religious beliefs may not be used to justify discrimination.”
Washington law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, which applies to businesses selling goods and providing services, the ACLU statement said.
“Under the Consumer Protection Act, it is unlawful to discriminate against customers on the basis of sexual orientation,” Mr. Ferguson said in a statement on April 9. “If a business provides a product or service to opposite-sex couples for their weddings, then it must provide same-sex couples the same product or service.”
Ferguson sent a letter to Stutzman in March asking her to reconsider her decision, but her attorney said she would challenge the state action and ACLU lawsuit, Reuters reported.
Attorney Justin Bristol, who is representing Stutzman, told Reuters that his client expects a long legal fight, but she believes the cases violate her First Amendment rights.
"She is one of the few people left today willing to stand by her convictions rather than compromise her beliefs," Mr. Bristol said. "She's a very nice lady and doesn't have a discriminatory bone in her body, but she doesn't want to be forced to participate in an event that she doesn't believe in."
He told the Seattle Times, “I one hundred percent believe this is a freedom-of-expression and free-exercise-of-religion issue. What the government is saying here is that you don’t have the right to free religious exercise.”
The Seattle Times also reported that the case is reigniting the gay marriage debate in the state where 54 percent of residents voted to legalize gay marriage in November. Washington is one of nine states, along with the District of Columbia, that have legalized gay marriage.
Conflicts like this have been rare since same-sex unions have become legal in other areas of the US during the past decade, Equal Rights Washington spokesman Josh Friedes told the Seattle Times.
In Washington, “there have been thousands of weddings ... and this is one of very few negative stories we’ve heard,” he said.
Mr. Ingersoll and Mr. Freed told the Associated Press that they plan to get married in September. They were customers of Stutzman's shop for years, but only when they told her of their wedding plans did she refuse to sell them flowers.
"The florist discriminated against us as a result of our sexual orientation. Because we're a gay couple, she chose not to serve us. We feel like that's something she should not be allowed to do," Freed said.
They said they, too, are prepared for a long legal battle. The ACLU lawsuit seeks damages for Ingersoll and Freed, as well as a court order barring Stutzman from discriminating against customers. The state seeks $2,000 in penalties from the business and a permanent injunction, which would require Stutzman to comply with state laws.
Second suspect charged in revenge killings of Texas prosecutors
A Texas couple have been charged with capital murder in the deaths of a Kaufman County district attorney, his wife, and an assistant district attorney, law enforcement officials announced Thursday.
Former Kaufman County justice of the peace Eric Williams is being held on a $23 million bond, and his wife, Kim Williams, is being held on a $10 million bond in Kaufman County Jail, Sheriff David Byrnes told reporters at a news conference.
Mrs. Williams, who was arrested Wednesday, told police that she drove a getaway car for her husband when he shot Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse outside the courthouse on Jan. 31, Sheriff Byrnes said. She also admitted to being in the car when her husband shot District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia McLelland, in their home on March 30, he said.
“It was basically a collaborative effort between Eric Williams and his wife,” Sheriff Byrnes said. He said he does not believe there are “any other major actors in the case.”
Mr. Williams was arrested Saturday on a “terrorist threats” charge. He is alleged to have sent an anonymous e-mail from his personal computer to local law enforcement a day after the McLellands’ murders, threatening more attacks. Authorities added the capital murder charges Thursday in light of his wife’s confession, CNN reported.
“The murder of a public official, such as a judge, a prosecutor, or a law enforcement officer, is an assault on all the people of the state, because it's an attack of the rule of law,” Kirby Dendy, chief of the Texas Rangers, said at the press conference.
Motives for the killings, the sheriff said, can be traced to Mr. William’s legal problems in 2012, when he was found guilty of theft. Williams lost his license to practice law and his position as justice of the peace. Mr. McLelland and Mr. Hasse prosecuted the case.
Williams appealed the verdict, reports the Associated Press. A state appeals court had agreed on March 29 to consider the appeal, a day before the McLellands were found.
The McLelland family released a statement Wednesday after speaking to the sheriff’s office about developments in the case, reported WFAA-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth.
“We are happy an arrest has been made. We would like to thank all of the law enforcement agencies, local, state, and federal, for all of their hard work and long hours spent on this case,” they wrote. “We understand this is just the beginning of a long judicial process. We want to thank everyone for their continued support during this ordeal.”
Law enforcement officials said the Williamses’ arrests will deliver justice for the citizens of Kaufman.
“I think a lot of us thought Mexican drug cartel or the Aryan Brotherhood, something like that. I never dreamed it would be three houses down from us,” Diane Childs, a neighbor, told WFAA.
Ballistics experts are testing at least 20 weapons found in a storage unit believed to belong to the Williamses, a law officer told the Associated Press under condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. Police also found a white Ford Crown Victoria in the unit, which matches a description of a vehicle seen near the McLellands’ neighborhood about the time they were killed and also near the courthouse the day Hasse was killed.
Mr. Williams told prosecutors he was at home at the time of the killings and proclaims his innocence, reported the Dallas Morning News Thursday. The Texas public defender’s office said it expects to be appointed to the Williamses’ cases.
This undated photo was obtained from the Facebook page of Paul Kevin Curtis, arrested Wednesday at his home in Corinth, Mississippi. He is accused of mailing letters containing suspected ricin to President Obama and US Sen. Roger Wicker (R) of Mississippi. (AP Photo)
Mississippi man charged in ricin attacks was an Elvis impersonator
A fuller picture is emerging of the ricin attacks on public officials and private individuals, including confirmation of the poisonous substance and a portrait of the alleged attacker.
Paul Kevin Curtis is being held in the Lafayette County jail in Oxford, Miss. He was arrested Wednesday at his home in Corinth, near the Tennessee state line. He has been charged with making threats against the president and sending letters threatening to injure other persons, the FBI and the US Attorney’s office announced Thursday.
Officials are awaiting the results of laboratory tests to determine whether ricin in fact was the substance contained in letters sent to US Sen. Roger Wicker (R) of Mississippi and to President Obama. Both letters were intercepted at a government mail screening facility before they reached their intended recipients, and initial field testing indicated the presence of ricin, a poisonous substance made from castor beans.
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Such off-site screening has been conducted on mail addressed to the White House and members of Congress since the anthrax attacks of 2001, which targeted Sen. Patrick Leahy (D) of Vermont, and then-Senate majority leader Tom Daschle (D) of South Dakota. Media organizations were targeted as well, killing five people and infecting 17 others.
While government officials have yet to release the results of the lab testing for ricin, US Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer tells the Associated Press that testing confirms that the letter to Senator Wicker did contain ricin.
"Our field tests indicate it was ricin. Our lab tests confirm it was ricin. So I don't get why others are continuing to use equivocal words about this," Mr. Gainer told the AP.
On Thursday, the Navy evacuated all 800 people from a naval support facility in Arlington, Va., after an envelope containing a white powder was delivered to the mail processing facility there, CNN reports. But initial testing indicated that the substance was not poisonous.
Another apparent recipient of a letter containing ricin has been identified as Lee County Justice Court Judge Sadie Holland, whose son Steve Holland is a Mississippi state lawmaker.
Although Judge Holland opened the letter herself on April 11, she has shown no signs of poisoning, Mr. Holland told the AP.
Like the letters to Wicker and the president, the letter to Judge Holland had a threatening message and was signed “K.C.”
Neighbors said “K.C.” – who officials say is Mr. Curtis – did not seem violent, although they were concerned about their safety and worried by the idea that someone was making poison in a house that sits so close to their bedrooms and front yards.
A church and a community center with an outdoor children's play area are just steps from Curtis's house. The home also is near an area with several mailboxes for the community. But neighbors said they rarely saw him retrieve mail and didn't speak with him much.
"He was quiet. He pretty much stayed to himself," neighbor Lacey Ross told the AP.
Ricky Curtis, who said he was Kevin Curtis's cousin, said the family was shocked by the news of the arrest. He described his cousin as a "super entertainer" who impersonated Elvis and numerous other singers.
"We're all in shock. I don't think anybody had a clue that this kind of stuff was weighing on his mind," Ricky Curtis said in a telephone interview with the AP.
Ricky Curtis said his cousin had written about problems he had with a cleaning business, and that he felt the government had not treated him well, but he said nobody in the family would have expected this.
The full details of the charges Curtis faces are yet to be presented, but the Clarion-Ledger newspaper in Jackson, Miss., reports on a possible range of serious charges as outlined by Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson during a press conference Wednesday night.
“If it is [ricin], there’s a possibility of three charges, one is aggravated assault toward a public official, and the outspread of that could be the investigation into how many people this could have possibly affected that did actually handle it and there could be multiple charges as far as that,” Sheriff Johnson said. “Depending on the outcome of the test, it could also be distribution of a WMD, which is a weapon of mass destruction.”
Curtis was to appear in federal court Thursday. If convicted on the federal charges announced Thursday, he faces maximum possible penalties of 15 years in prison, $500,000 in fines, and three years of supervised release.
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