Latest news with #legalteam
CBS News
a day ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Will Kilmar Abrego Garcia return to Maryland? His lawyers fight to keep him in the U.S.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia's legal team is so concerned about his deportation, they have asked for a pause on his potential release, and that could undermine the relevance of a Maryland judge's pending ruling on whether to order his return to Maryland. Judge Paula Xinis held several days of hearings on the case earlier this month in Greenbelt, Prince George's County, where she chastised Department of Justice lawyers for providing little information on their next steps in the case. Abrego Garcia's lawyers have asked her to rule on an emergency petition to stop deportation proceedings for three days if he is released and order the government to return him to Maryland. But in a Tennessee human smuggling case, Abrego Garcia's attorneys have asked the judge to take a 30-day pause before releasing their client. "Given the uncertainty of the outcome of any removal proceedings, Mr. Abrego respectfully requests that, should the court deny the government's motion for revocation, the issuance of an order releasing Mr. Abrego be delayed for 30 days to allow Mr. Abrego to evaluate his options and determine whether additional relief is necessary," they wrote. "It's hard to think about being in that position where you get dumped in a country where you have no contacts, have no language skills. It's a hard thought, and again, we're going to do everything we can to make sure he gets the due process he didn't receive before," said Benjamin Osorio, a member of Abrego Garcia's legal team. The Department of Justice did not object to the 30-day pause. Abrego Garcia's lawyers have previously argued the only way to right the government's initial wrongful deportation is to mandate his return to Maryland, where he was arrested in March. The government has admitted it made an "administrative error" and deported Abrego Garcia to his native El Salvador despite a Maryland court ruling he could not be sent to that country because he faced gang violence there. Abrego Garcia had been living in Maryland with his family illegally for more than a decade before his arrest shone a national spotlight on the Trump administration's immigration policies. Federal prosecutors have argued that when they returned Abrego Garcia to the United States in June, it rendered the Maryland case moot. They have claimed Judge Xinis no longer has jurisdiction. She ruled against them and kept the Maryland case alive. The government has continually called Abrego Garcia "dangerous" and said they will not release him. In a Maryland hearing earlier this month, the Trump administration said he will be transferred from U.S. Marshals' custody to ICE agents within the Department of Homeland Security. The government has fought attempts to release Abrego Garcia to home monitoring in Maryland. "Given that the entirety of the U.S. government has exercised its entire public relations apparatus to try to tar Mr. Abrego Garcia as an MS-13 member or leader, accusations of which they have provided no evidence, there are many, many countries in which he might well suffer persecution on those grounds," Abrego Garcia's attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said earlier this month. He told WJZ, "It's unclear in whatever country he would be sent whether he would be at liberty in that country, or whether he would be incarcerated, and it's unclear whether he would be allowed to remain in any such country or whether that country would simply really deport him onto El Salvador, his country of citizenship." Both Judge Xinis in Maryland and Judge Waverly Crenshaw, Junior in Tennessee said they will rule soon on the respective motions before them. Last week, Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, who visited Abrego Garcia in El Salvador, told WJZ, "I'm very glad Judge Xinis is trying to hold the administration's feet to the fire in the sense that she is trying to make sure that they uphold the law. That has been our goal all along." Abrego Garcia's wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, has been flanked by supporters from Maryland, including the advocacy group CASA, at court appearances in both states. She issued this message through CASA at the last Maryland hearing: "I want to start by thanking everyone for the immense support today and also for everyone who has supported us from day one in this fight," Vazquez Sura said. "Our family is extremely grateful for all that you do for us. The support is amazing. We will forever be thankful to each and every one supporting us as we continue with our faith high until Kilmar returns home to his children." Abrego Garcia's criminal trial in Tennessee is set for January.
CBS News
a day ago
- Health
- CBS News
Tennessee inmate's heart device must be turned off before execution to avoid shock risk, judge rules
Tennessee officials must deactivate a death-row inmate's implanted heart-regulating device to avert the risk that it might try to shock him during his lethal injection, a judge ruled Friday. The order by Nashville Chancellor Russell Perkins comes ahead of the Aug. 5 execution of Byron Black. Black's attorneys have said that the implantable cardioverter-defibrillator could shock him in an attempt to restore his heart's normal rhythm after the single dose of pentobarbital, with the potential for multiple rounds of shocks and extreme pain and suffering. The order requires the state to deactivate the device moments before administering the lethal injection, including having medical or certified technician professionals, plus equipment, on hand. The lower-court judge said the order will not serve to delay the execution, something he said he does not have the authority to do. He also said it doesn't add an undue administrative or logistical burden for the state. Black's attorneys say the only surefire way to shut off the device is for a doctor to place a programming device over the implant site, sending it a deactivation command. It is unclear how quickly the state could find a medical professional willing to do the deactivation. Additionally, the state is almost certain to file a quick appeal. This latest ruling comes after extensive back-and-forth between Tennessee officials and Black's legal team, who have argued in a number of court filings that their client's cognitive disabilities mean he isn't competent for execution. One of them was a request sent to Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee for Black's clemency, asking the governor to commute his sentence to life in prison. "Mr. Black, who lives with an intellectual disability, has been on death row for 25 years," the letter read. "From infancy, he suffered from the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure, resulting in Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. As a toddler, he was exposed to toxic lead, compounding his lifelong cognitive and developmental impairments." Now 69 and wheelchair-bound, Black suffers from dementia, multiple organ failures, including heart failure, diabetes and prostate cancer, according to his attorneys, who also noted in their clemency request that the inmate has an implanted device to regulate his heart. The implantable cardioverter-defibrillator is a small, battery-powered electronic instrument that is surgically implanted in someone's chest, usually near the left collarbone. Black's was inserted in May 2024. It serves as a pacemaker and an emergency defibrillator. At a two-day hearing this week, experts offered clashing testimony on how it would act during the execution and what Black could feel if he is shocked. Attorneys for the state deemed it highly unlikely that the pentobarbital would trigger the device's defibrillating function, and if it did, they say he would be unconscious and unaware, and unable to perceive pain. The state also said the lower-court judge lacked authority to order the device disabled. Black's attorneys say the state is relying on studies that confuse unawareness with unresponsiveness. The inmate's team says research shows pentobarbital renders people unresponsive and causes them to experience amnesia after they undergo an operation, but it doesn't make them unaware or unable to feel pain.. Kelley Henry, an attorney for Black, said she is relieved by the ruling. "It's horrifying to think about this frail old man being shocked over and over as the device attempts to restore his heart's rhythm even as the State works to kill him," Henry said in a statement. "Today's ruling averts that torturous outcome." A Tennessee attorney general's office spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday evening. Its previous filings say Black is trying to further delay justice for brutal murders. Black was convicted in the 1988 shooting deaths of girlfriend Angela Clay, 29, and her two daughters, Latoya, 9, and Lakeisha, 6. Prosecutors said Black was in a jealous rage when he shot the three at their home. At the time, Black was on work-release while serving time for shooting and wounding Clay's estranged husband. Black has already seen three execution dates come and go, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and a pause on executions from Gov. Bill Lee after the Department of Correction was found to not be testing the execution drugs for potency and purity as required. Black's execution would be the second one under a pentobarbital protocol released in December. If Black's attorneys could prove their client's intellectual disability, executing him would violate Tennessee's Constitution. But the state Supreme Court recently declined to order a hearing over whether he is incompetent to be executed. A U.S. Supreme Court effort remains pending. The clemency request also said Black would have been spared the execution under a 2021 state law if he had delayed filing his intellectual disability claim. "If this execution is allowed to move forward, Mr. Black will be the first intellectually disabled person executed by Tennessee in the modern era of the death penalty," his attorneys wrote in that filing. Black's motion related to his heart device came within a general challenge he and other death row inmates filed against the state's new execution protocol. The trial isn't until 2026.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
South Korea's ex-president indicted for abuse of power
Disgraced South Korean ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol was indicted for abuse of power Saturday over his declaration of martial law last year, as investigators widened an insurrection probe. Yoon plunged South Korea into a political crisis when he sought to subvert civilian rule on December 3, sending troops to parliament in a bid to prevent lawmakers voting down his declaration of martial law. He became the first sitting president in the country to be taken into custody when he was detained in January after resisting arrest for weeks, using his presidential security detail to thwart investigators. He was released on procedural grounds in March, even as his trial on insurrection charges continued. Last week he was detained again after an arrest warrant was issued over concerns he might destroy evidence in the case. The prosecution "indicted former President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges including abuse of power and obstruction of special official duties", prosecutor Park Ji-young told reporters Saturday. Park said Yoon also did not follow the required procedure to declare martial law, including holding a meeting with all cabinet members of the government. Yoon was also charged with "drafting and discarding a false document" that stated the prime minister and defence minister had endorsed martial law. Yoon has refused to attend questioning since he was detained, but appeared in court on Friday at a hearing to argue for his warrant to be cancelled. The ex-president's legal team told reporters that Yoon defended himself for over 30 minutes, and mentioned his "limited physical mobility and the challenges he was facing". The court denied the request. Yoon is being held in solitary in a cell which has a fan but no air-conditioning, as a heat wave grips South Korea. hs/fox
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
South Korea's ex-president indicted for abuse of power
Disgraced South Korean ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol was indicted for abuse of power Saturday over his declaration of martial law last year, as investigators widened an insurrection probe. Yoon plunged South Korea into a political crisis when he sought to subvert civilian rule on December 3, sending troops to parliament in a bid to prevent lawmakers voting down his declaration of martial law. He became the first sitting president in the country to be taken into custody when he was detained in January after resisting arrest for weeks, using his presidential security detail to thwart investigators. He was released on procedural grounds in March, even as his trial on insurrection charges continued. Last week he was detained again after an arrest warrant was issued over concerns he might destroy evidence in the case. The prosecution "indicted former President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges including abuse of power and obstruction of special official duties", prosecutor Park Ji-young told reporters Saturday. Park said Yoon also did not follow the required procedure to declare martial law, including holding a meeting with all cabinet members of the government. Yoon was also charged with "drafting and discarding a false document" that stated the prime minister and defence minister had endorsed martial law. Yoon has refused to attend questioning since he was detained, but appeared in court on Friday at a hearing to argue for his warrant to be cancelled. The ex-president's legal team told reporters that Yoon defended himself for over 30 minutes, and mentioned his "limited physical mobility and the challenges he was facing". The court denied the request. Yoon is being held in solitary in a cell which has a fan but no air-conditioning, as a heat wave grips South Korea. hs/fox
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Sean Combs May Need to ‘Dial' Lavish Lifestyle ‘Back' as He Racks Up ‘Massive' Legal Bills: Source
Sean 'Diddy' Combs scored a victory when he was only found guilty of two out of five counts in his high profile trial – but the disgraced music producer is still facing a mountain of debts that could radically affect his lavish lifestyle in the future, according to a source. 'Even though it's looking likely he'll get to keep his assets, that doesn't mean it's smooth sailing from here on out,' a source exclusively dishes to the National Enquirer. 'His legal bills are going to be so massive it's hard to even estimate how many tens of millions he'll be on the hook for with that.' His payments to his lawyers for his criminal case aren't the only ones the hip hop artist has to worry about in the future. Since his September 2024 arrest, Diddy has been hit with dozens of civil suits accusing him of sexual assault, harassment, making violent threats and more. His legal team has repeatedly slammed the lawsuits as a money grab and maintained his innocence. 'Only time will tell what those will cost him, but people are predicting it will be a whole lot,' continues the source. 'He's used to living like a king, private jets, tons and tons of staff, throwing money around like it's nothing. But the reality is he won't have that kind of money anymore so he'll need to dial things back in a big way.' The court of public opinion could also be 'very unforgiving' to Diddy, which could affect his 'earning power' over the rest of his career – even if he manages to dodge a significant amount of prison time, the source speculates. 'Any good advisor is going to be telling him he needs to scale things way back once he's out,' the source adds. 'If he fails to listen and keeps his spending where it was at pre-trial, it could lead to disaster.' Earlier this month, celebrity financial advisor Devin White told the Enquirer that he thinks Diddy's 'Sean John business deals with Macy's and other stores are going to be finished' once everything is said and done. As the National Enquirer reported, Diddy was found guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution on July 2. He was found not guilty on his sex trafficking and racketeering related charges. He'd previously pleaded not guilty to all charges. Following the verdict, Judge Arun Subramanian ruled that Diddy would not be released on bail as he awaits his sentencing hearing in October. He is set to remain in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York. Solve the daily Crossword
