Latest news with #FultonCounty
The Independent
a day ago
- Health
- The Independent
COVID-related agreement continues to shield some on Georgia's death row from execution
The fact that the COVID-19 vaccine is not available for newborn babies is shielding a group of prisoners on Georgia 's death row from execution. Executions in Georgia were halted during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the state attorney general's office entered into an agreement with lawyers for people on death row to set the terms under which they could resume for a specific group of prisoners. At least one of those conditions, having to do with the availability of the COVID-19 vaccine, has not been met, and seeking an execution date for a prisoner covered by the agreement would breach the agreement, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shukura Ingram ruled. The agreement includes three conditions that had to be met before executions could be set for the affected prisoners: the expiration of the state's COVID-19 judicial emergency, the resumption of normal visitation at state prisons and the availability of a COVID-19 vaccine 'to all members of the public.' Once those conditions were met, the state agreed to give three months' notice before pursuing an execution warrant for one of the prisoners covered by the agreement and six months' notice for the rest. The state has argued that the agreement should no longer apply, contending the conditions have been met. But defense attorneys say it's still valid because the vaccine isn't yet available to infants under 6 months old, and visitation at state prisons has not returned to normal. Ingram's ruling, issued Friday, addressed only the vaccination question. She plans to handle the visitation issue separately. Ingram wrote that the state's arguments 'all boil down to an attempt to rewrite the Agreement.' The state is '(u)nhappy with the language it drafted' and wants to change it so that the condition would be satisfied once vaccines are available to 'most members of the public.' 'But courts cannot rewrite contracts to relieve a party of their regrets,' she wrote. She ruled that the agreement is 'binding and enforceable,' that the vaccination condition hasn't been met and that seeking an execution warrant before the requirements have been met would breach the agreement. The state attorney general's office plans to appeal, a spokesperson said Tuesday. Ingram noted that the Food and Drug Administration has approved clinical trials for infants under 6 months old, and newborns receive other vaccines. That shows it is possible for the COVID-19 vaccine to ultimately be available for that age group, and the state should have foreseen that that could take years, she wrote. Experts for both sides had testified that it was probable that the COVID-19 vaccine would eventually become available to babies under the age of 6 months, Ingram wrote. That was before Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was appointed U.S. health secretary. Kennedy last week announced that COVID-19 vaccines are no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant women. A few days later, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 's website, which had said those groups should get the shots, was revised to say the vaccinations 'may' be given to those groups. The agreement covers fewer than 10 of the 34 people currently on Georgia's death row. While Georgia stopped carrying out executions during the pandemic, death penalty cases continued to wind their way through the court system, and as people exhausted their appeals, they became eligible for execution. A committee of a judicial task force on COVID-19 in early 2021 instructed lawyers for people on death row and the state attorney general's office to come up with terms under which executions could safely resume. The two sides reached the agreement in April 2021. The agreement only applied to people on death row whose requests to have their appeals reheard were denied by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals while the judicial emergency was in place. The agreement was to remain in effect through Aug. 1, 2022, or one year from the date on which the conditions were met — whichever was later. The legal fight arose from a lawsuit filed when officials set a May 2022 execution date for Virgil Delano Presnell Jr. The Federal Defender Program, which represents Presnell, said the state had violated the agreement because the conditions hadn't all been met. Based on that argument, a Fulton County Superior Court judge halted the execution less than 24 hours before it was to take place, and the Georgia Supreme Court ruled in December 2022 that the agreement was a binding contract. People on death row who are not covered by the agreement have since become eligible for execution. One of them, Willie James Pye, was put to death in March 2024.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
New Presidential portrait of Donald Trump revealed by White House
Donald Trump's new official portrait pictures a stern-faced president over an all-black background – and shows indications of a heavy-handed photo-shop tools. The portrait replaces the one then president-elect Trump released three days before his inauguration. That portrait drew a striking resemblance to Trump's mugshot taken at the Fulton County jail during his reelection campaign after being charged with a racketeering conspiracy to overturn the state's election results. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ultimately dismissed several of the charges and the case stalled. The White House released a new official version Monday in the form of a video clip of an aide hanging the new portrait on a wall that was posted on X. It shows Trump looking straight ahead, and squinting, wearing a light blue suit and sporting an American flag pin. It reveals a slight downgrade in the intensity of his prior portrait, which captured Trump with an eyebrow raised and appearing to glower – after reclaiming the White House while railing against 'witch hunts' against him and enduring two assassination attempts. That portrait now hangs in government buildings around the country. Experts immediately pointed to hallmarks of photo-shop, including changes that could obscure loose skin below the president's chin. Trump, 78, prizes physical prowess and recently called former President Joe Biden a 'decrepit corpse.' The new portrait does show bags under Trump's eyes, which are somehow absent in the Trump portrait from January, which features much starker lighting. Topping both may be Trump's mug shot, which show Trump gazing downward the first time he was charged with a crime. Aides hanged a newspaper photograph of that portrait soon after Trump took office. It was one of many changes that Trump added to the Oval Office. has asked the White House for information on the new portrait. The earlier one was taken by chief White House official photographer Daniel Torok. In April, Trump hung a stark portrait of himself between paintings of former first ladies Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton.
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Trump replaces his official portrait
Donald Trump has updated his official portrait just months after taking office, in an apparent bid to appear less menacing. The new image, as displayed on the White House's social media channels, casts Mr Trump in a warmer light and softens his expression from his first portrait in a break from presidential tradition. The other changes in the picture include swapping out a turquoise tie for his favoured red power tie, and changing the background – the US flag in what appears to be a state room – to black. It is uncommon for a US president to change their portrait so soon into their term, but Mr Trump, a former reality TV star, is famously conscious of his appearance. In his first portrait, published a few days before his inauguration in January, he appeared stony-faced, with his right eye narrowed and squinting, while his lips were pressed together tightly. It drew comparisons to the mugshot released by authorities in Georgia after his arrest on racketeering charges in 2023. The Republican is famously image-obsessed and reportedly practised how he would pose for the mugshot which was later released by Fulton County Sheriff's Office. He subsequently claimed it was the 'number-one selling mugshot' in history which 'beat Elvis' and 'beat Frank Sintara', and later installed it on a wall in the Oval Office after winning the presidential election last year. He appears to have been less enamoured of his official portrait, however. It's not the first time the president has sought to remove an unflattering portrait. Colorado removed the portrait of Mr Trump hanging in its state capitol in March when the president complained about its appearance and called on Governor Jared Polis to 'take it down'. That painting was by Sarah Boardman, a British artist, who after being commissioned for the piece in 2018 described it as showing the president with a 'serious, thoughtful, non-confontational' expression. But Mr Trump called it 'truly the worst'. 'Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves, but the one in Colorado… was purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before,' he wrote on his Truth Social platform. 'The artist also did President Obama, and he looks wonderful, but the one on me is truly the worst. She must have lost her talent as she got older. 'In any event, I would much prefer not having a picture than having this one, but many people from Colorado have called and written to complain. In fact, they are actually angry about it!'
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
White House reveals brand new official Trump portrait with very telling detail
Donald Trump 's new official portrait pictures a stern-faced president over an all-black background – and shows indications of a heavy-handed photo-shop tools. The portrait replaces the one then president-elect Trump released three days before his inauguration. That portrait drew a striking resemblance to Trump's mugshot taken at the Fulton County jail during his reelection campaign after being charged with a racketeering conspiracy to overturn the state's election results. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ultimately dismissed several of the charges and the case stalled. The White House released a new official version Monday in the form of a video clip of an aide hanging the new portrait on a wall that was posted on X. It shows Trump looking straight ahead, and squinting, wearing a light blue suit and sporting an American flag pin. It reveals a slight downgrade in the intensity of his prior portrait, which captured Trump with an eyebrow raised and appearing to glower – after reclaiming the White House while railing against 'witch hunts' against him and enduring two assassination attempts. That portrait now hangs in government buildings around the country. Experts immediately pointed to hallmarks of photo-shop, including changes that could obscure loose skin below the president's chin. Trump, 78, prizes physical prowess and recently called former President Joe Biden a 'decrepit corpse.' The new portrait does show bags under Trump's eyes, which are somehow absent in the Trump portrait from January, which features much starker lighting. Topping both may be Trump's mug shot, which show Trump gazing downward the first time he was charged with a crime. Aides hanged a newspaper photograph of that portrait soon after Trump took office. It was one of many changes that Trump added to the Oval Office.
Associated Press
3 days ago
- General
- Associated Press
Police officer fatally shoots person at Atlanta apartment complex
ATLANTA, Ga. (AP) — A police officer handling security at a southwest Atlanta apartment complex shot and killed a person Sunday morning who was breaking into the officer's patrol car and charged at him with a metal pipe, authorities said.. The Fulton County officer confronted the individual at around 7:40 a.m. at Heritage Station Apartments, officials said. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting. The Bureau is also investigating the death of Carrie Hall, 50, who was shot last week during an encounter with Bartow County deputies and a Cartersville police officer and later died at a hospital. Authorities say Hall did not comply with orders to drop a gun.
