Latest news with #Shockley
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Justices Sotomayor and Jackson criticize court's refusal to clarify criminal appeal rights
The Supreme Court exercises power not only in how it decides cases but in which cases it chooses to decide. We were reminded of this reality by a new dissent from Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. That dissent came Monday on the court's order list, a routine document publicizing action in pending high court appeals. That action is mostly unexplained refusals to hear petitions for review. But sometimes the justices make their thoughts known. That's what happened in the case of Missouri death row prisoner Lance Shockley, whose petition the majority rejected over Sotomayor's dissent. It takes four justices to grant review. The two-justice dissent therefore reinforces the power the court has in shaping its own docket, as well as the importance of the court's membership to how that docket is shaped. Sotomayor and Jackson have previously called attention to criminal cases their colleagues have refused to hear. They're two of the three Democratic appointees on the nine-justice court with six Republican appointees. The legal issue presented by Shockley's appeal might sound dry, but it is quite important. It involves something called a 'certificate of appealability,' which state prisoners must secure in order to press appeals in federal court. The ability to obtain such certificates differs around the country, and by turning down Shockley's appeal, the justices turned down the opportunity to clarify the rules and make the law uniform. The federal circuit in which his case proceeded has a stricter process than other circuits. So even though a judge voted to grant him the ability to appeal, that judge was overridden by other circuit judges, thus depriving Shockley of an appeal. Sotomayor wrote that she would have granted review to resolve the differences among the circuits 'and decide whether the Courts of Appeal can dismiss an appeal after a judge votes to grant a certificate.' The Obama appointee wrote that Shockley's case 'exemplifies the problems' with the approach taken by the St. Louis-based circuit in his case. He was convicted of killing a police officer after the prosecution argued he committed the crime because the officer was investigating his role in a drunk-driving incident that resulted in the death of Shockley's sister-in law's fiancé. During jury selection, a potential juror said he had written and self-published a book, but Shockley's lawyer didn't follow up on what it was about. He became the jury foreperson. That unexplored aspect of the juror's background turned out to be important because, Sotomayor recounted, quoting a previous ruling in the litigation, the book was a 'fictionalized autobiography' describing the 'brutal and graphic revenge murder of a defendant who killed the protagonist's wife in a drunken-driving accident.' The book's protagonist was a fictionalized version of the juror who 'viewed the defendant as escaping justice in the court system because the defendant received only probation following his conviction,' Sotomayor recounted. The foreperson brought the book to deliberations and handed it out to other jurors. Yet 'inexplicably,' as Sotomayor put it, Shockley's counsel declined to take testimony from the foreperson or other jurors in support of a mistrial. 'As a result, the trial court did not hear evidence regarding the foreperson's alleged bias and misconduct or its effect on other jurors, ... some of whom later indicated that they had looked through the book,' the justice wrote. She called it 'difficult to see' how the defense's approach 'could fail to constitute ineffective assistance of counsel.' Nonetheless, Shockley couldn't press his claim on appeal due to the 8th Circuit's rejection of his certificate of appealability, even though a judge on the circuit wanted to grant him one. 'Had the Court instead followed the approach taken in the Third, Fourth, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits, that error would have been avoided,' Sotomayor wrote, joined by Jackson, a Biden appointee. Again, the legal question here isn't whether Shockley would ultimately succeed in his appeal but whether he could press it at all. The court's refusal to settle the matter one way or the other means that the rules will continue to operate differently in different courts around the country. Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for expert analysis on the top legal stories of the week, including updates from the Supreme Court and developments in the Trump administration's legal cases. This article was originally published on
New York Times
22-03-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Kristin Shockley Talks Trending Wedding Décor, Her Maximalist Style and More
Overgrown botanicals or miniature jeweled crowns; faux-taxidermy birds; and small bust sculptures hidden like Easter eggs within lush, floral centerpieces are just a few of the design choices that have made Kristin Shockley's signature maximalist aesthetic hold steadfast through trends in minimalist wedding décor. 'I think with the evolution of weddings in the past 10 years, and how social media has come into play, people care about décor now more than ever,' said Ms. Shockley, the founder and owner of Lustre Theory, an event styling and design studio based in Norfolk, Va. Ms. Shockley, 40, founded her company after 15 years spent working in marketing and graphic design. In addition to working with couples, with fees starting at $10,000, Ms. Shockley has styled photoshoots, events, runway shows for the brands and campaigns for bridal fashion designers like Monique Lhuillier, Anne Barge, Rami Al Ali and tabletop brands Maison de Carine and Herend. Ms. Shockley gave us a peek into her creative process. This interview has been lightly edited for length. 'Couples who are drawn to my work normally tell me they connect with the dreamy, lush romanticism of the décor,' Ms. Shockley said. Credit... David Abel How is your work as an event designer different from that of an event planner, and how do you two work together? Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Mooresville school shooting plot shows long-term toll of Indiana's opioid crisis
In 2021-22, Indiana hit a record high number of Hoosier deaths due to drug overdoses, 2,755. According to last Friday's publicly available probable cause affidavit, one of those deaths was Trinity Shockley's mother. Shockley was a senior in Mooresville Schools until Feb. 20 when her plans for a Valentine's Day mass shooting in the cafeteria were discovered. This is the same school my daughter attends, the same cafeteria my daughter would have been sitting in with her friends during the planned attack. Hicks: How to create equal opportunities in post-DEI Indiana More than 320,000 children lost a parent to drug overdoses during the opioid crisis, according to the most recent data. Shockley's case is a stark reminder that efforts to combat the opioid crisis have entered a new phase. While the first two years of support have focused on supporting addicts directly, a better understanding of and support for the children of addicts deserves attention. More than 57,500 Hoosier children were affected by the opioid crisis, with the highest concentration in rural areas. This is more than the number of children affected by autism and childhood diabetes combined. The effects of having a parent that is an addict or has substance usage disorder is widely studied and very clear: Higher rates of child abuse and neglect Lower academic achievement Higher rates of family breakdown Higher rates of mental health issues Lower rates of family involvement and support Increased rates of incarceration as an adult Increased rates of addiction and substance usage disorder as adults The emotional and long-term toll of navigating life with a parent that is an addict is not just overwhelming Hoosier children and families, but also costing our state systems billions. According to the most recent estimates, children with a parent that's an addict cost our state $37,000 in health care, $44,000 in child welfare and social programs, and $186,000 in special education costs. Pediatricians, schools, therapists, and social services are increasingly seeing more high-need cases at greater frequencies than ever before. This means state agencies are overwhelmed by providing services and supporting kids displaying high acuity behaviors. These trends are not set to slow anytime soon. By 2030, the innocent victims of the opioid crisis are set to have cost the state $10.5 billion. Indiana received $980 million in opioid settlement dollars to be doled out over 18 years. If there is one thing we have learned from this crisis, it's that only treating the addict is ineffective because it leaves family members like Shockley untreated. We've also learned that rural areas were hit far harder than urban areas. The challenges to providing support in rural areas have proven to be far more difficult and have shown less efficacy to date. To curb the systemic impact and give these innocent victims a shot at a healthy future, we need to work smarter not harder. We need to be investing opioid settlement dollars into evidence-based, data-driven approaches that support inner agency collaborations of all the systems that support the children of addicts. We need infrastructure that ensures data from each of these agencies are talking to each other in tangible ways. We need to focus on efforts that coordinate data and responses across health care, law enforcement, child welfare agencies and education to reduce redundancies and ensure kids are getting the best we have to offer. We need to support innovative approaches that address academic achievement, health outcomes and workforce development needs in the professional areas meeting the needs of children who have a parent battling addiction. Most importantly, rural Indiana needs more support. As a Mooresville mom, it's difficult to express my gratitude to Mooresville Schools and the police department for their handling of last week's incident. Their quick and decisive action ensured that all the children in our community were safe. As an educational professional who has been working with kids with mental health needs for more than 20 years, I can't help but be impressed by the teachers, counselors, administrators, school nurses, coaches, staff members and officers who served bravely last week. If you follow Mooresville Schools on social media, you know their hashtag is #BeMoore. After last week, I would argue that their hashtag should be #DoingMoore because they are clearly doing more with less to support our kids. Addie Angelov is the co-founder and CEO of the Paramount Health Data Project. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Mooresville school shooting plot points to opioid crisis | Opinion
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Yahoo
Mooresville shooting suspect appears in court
HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) — The Mooresville, Indiana high school student accused of plotting to kill her classmates on Valentine's Day appeared in a bond hearing on Tuesday. 18-year-old Trinity Shockley is charged with multiple felonies, including conspiracy to commit murder and terrorism. During the hearing, evidence was presented to the court arguing why Shockley is a danger to society if bail is met. Shockley's bond is set for $250,000. Prosecutors requested that Shockley be given mental health treatment. A pre-trial conference is scheduled for mid-May and a jury trial is set for June 10. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Yahoo
Washington County Sheriff's Office helps thwart school shooting plot in Indiana, authorities say
Wisconsin authorities helped avert catastrophe on Valentine's Day by assisting with an investigation that thwarted a teenager's school shooting plot in Indiana. Earlier that week, the Washington County Sheriff's Office investigated a 19-year-old woman from the Town of Addison who ultimately was not behind the plot but helped lead authorities to the main suspect, according to a Feb. 14 news release from the sheriff's office. The Addison woman had been part of Discord group about school shooters with the main suspect, who had possessed weapons and photographs of previous mass shooters, according to an anonymous tipster. On Feb. 12, Trinity Shockley, 18, was arrested in Mooresville, Indiana, and confessed to both the school shooting plot and a desire to murder her friend, according to the sheriff's office. Shockley, who goes by the name Jamie, was charged with one felony count of conspiracy to commit murder that does not result in death, according to Indiana court records. She also faces two felony counts for threats to commit terrorism. She is being held without bond, although a contested bond hearing is scheduled for Feb. 18. According to the Washington County Sheriff's Office: An anonymous tip about threats to commit a school shooting on Valentine's Day was received on Monday, Feb. 10, by the Sandy Hook Promise Violence Hotline, an anonymous tip line launched by parents who lost children in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Hotline operators forwarded the tip ― which attributed the shooting threats to two social media accounts on Discord and Snapchat ― to the FBI. The FBI had a difficult time tracking the Discord account, but was able to trace the Snapchat account to the 19-year-old woman from the Town of Addison, Washington County Sheriff's Lt. Tim Kemps told the Journal Sentinel on Monday. The agency passed the tip to the Wisconsin Department of Justice and the Washington County Sheriff's Office Dispatch Center, the release said. The 911 dispatcher working at the time recognized the seriousness of the threat and immediately contacted the shift supervisor to place the Addison suspect's house under surveillance. Investigators worked throughout the evening on Feb. 10 to communicate with the tipster who was in real-time communication with the actual suspect in Indiana and shared screenshots of their conversations that included pictures of weapons, magazines, a tactical vest, and screenshots of the suspect's bedroom which had numerous photographs of past school shooters. The next morning, the Sheriff's Office Multi-Jurisdictional SWAT team conducted a search warrant on the 19-year-old's residence. She fully cooperated with authorities, and investigators quickly learned that she was not the person making the reported threats, and there were no local schools at risk of being targeted. Instead, she was connected to the actual suspect via a social media chat group about school shooters. Investigators returned to the informant and coached them into obtaining the true suspect's phone number, which revealed their actual location in Indiana. This information was forward to the FBI's Indianapolis Field Office. Shockley was arrested in Mooresville on Feb. 12. Washington County Sheriff Martin Schulteis expressed deep gratitude toward both the tipster and his own agency. 'As I sit back and think about the gravity of this investigation and what horrific outcomes could have occurred if it does not play out the way it did, I cannot help but be humbled by the dedication and performance of my staff,' Schulteis said in the release. The Sheriff's Office said no charges related to the shooting threat are expected to be filed against the 19-year-old from Addison, as authorities have not uncovered evidence to suggest she was connected to the school shooting plot, Kemps told the Journal Sentinel. On Monday, Kemps said the Sheriff's Office is still conducting a threat assessment but has so far not uncovered any threats of violence from the Addison woman. Asked about the tipster, Kemps said they were a person involved in these groups out of interest in true crime. "It was someone monitoring these groups, I think, to do good," Kemps said. "They certainly did good in this instance. When they were concerned that there was actually something going on, they reported it immediately." Contact Claudia Levens at clevens@ Follow her on X at @levensc13. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin authorities helped thwart a school shooting plot in Indiana
