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A violent gang attack of two women on the Lewis McManus Trail in Beckley in May 2015 by the so-called "Knockout Boys" may have been a social media stunt that went too far, one of the suspect's defense attorneys told jurors during opening statements on Tuesday.

Yoshua "Yoshi" Dewall, now 20, was 18 when he was arrested by agents of Beckley Police Department and U.S. Marshals' Office in June 2015 on a charge of first-degree robbery, two counts of malicious wounding and one count of a conspiracy to commit a felony in connection.

His trial is before Raleigh County Circuit Judge Robert Burnside.

Police arrested Dewall and an alleged co-conspirator, Kasey Stewart, now 21, for the attacks on Crystal Stracener and Delia Marsh of Beckley. They are two of several men who allegedly participated in the beating of the two victims on the trail near New River Park. According to police reports, the men also laughed and danced in circles during the assault.

Stewart, who is serving a two to 10-year sentence for the attacks after pleading guilty in July 2015 to malicious assault, identified Dewall's role in the attacks.

Jerrad Alan McGhee, 30, and Wayne Scott Cassidy, 27, both of Beckley, were also charged with malicious wounding, first degree robbery and conspiracy to commit a felony for their alleged roles in the assaults.

Raleigh Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Brandon Steele said Dewall had conspired with Stewart to beat the two victims and stole property from them, but defense attorney Mike Froble told jurors there was no robbery.

"We know and we're not going to contest that these two girls got beat up," Froble said. "It was an attack.

"There is no robbery."

Froble also contested that prosecutors could prove that Dewall had conspired with Stewart to beat up the women and maliciously attack them.

"Was this a bunch of drunk and intoxicated kids putting something on youtube and media that they thought was funny ... and it got out of hand?" Froble asked jurors. "Maybe they didn't intend to beat them up that bad.

"Maybe they were doing what they thought was fun in their intoxicated state, and it got out of hand."

Froble also challenged what became known locally as the "Knockout Boys."

"There was no 'Knockout Boys,' " Froble said.

A "knockout game" on Facebook in 2015 encouraged players to randomly target and strike unsuspecting victims.

Police photos taken after the attack showed large, copiously bleeding wounds to Stracener's forehead and the back of her head and a dark, bloody gash on the back of Marsh's head.

In a photo displayed for jurors Tuesday, Stracener's face was covered in blood.

Stracener and Marsh were walking from Wilbrian Apartments on Ewart Avenue back to their home on May 26, 2015, when they encountered two men at the park entrance.

As the victims tried to walk by the men, several more men came out of the woods and surrounded them. According to courtroom statements, the men hit the victims in the head with a pair of brass knuckles, punched and kicked them and beat them with sticks.

The victims were able to reach Little General where they notified police of the attacks around 10:15 p.m.

"They said they'd been attacked with brass knuckles and sticks," BPD Officer Ryan Cuevas testified Tuesday. "They were going in and out of consciousness.

"They were bleeding profusely," he said. "They'd just been attacked, brutally."

Stracener, now 36, could identify only "Yoshi," or Dewall, on the night of the attacks, said Cuevas.

According to Steele, the two women were robbed of their cell phones, wallets, house keys and medications.

Stewart was arrested June 12 after he called the Beckley PD to see if he had any warrants on file. In an interview with BPD Detective Dave Allard, Stewart said he was under the influence of two different cough syrups and that he had been part of a group of men who had attacked the victims, according to statements by Steele.

Dewall was arrested June 11.

A witness told police that McGhee bragged to him about beating up two women near New River Park.

Later, Stewart identified Dewall, McGhee and Cassidy and two male juveniles who allegedly attacked Stracener and Marsh.

In his opening statement Tuesday, Steele said the attacks occurred after a suspect exchanged heated words with one of the victims.

"Brandon Steele says there's heated words," Froble said. "That's because there's a history."

He said there is no proof that Stracener and Marsh were robbed.

Froble said the attacks on Stracener and Marsh happened during a time that victims were reporting "knockouts" on several Beckley trails in the "Rails to Trails" system.

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Trial begins for McManus Trail gang attackers - Beckley Register-Herald

Photo Credit Anthony Gerace, photograph by Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

To the Editor:

Re The Anti-Legacy, by Peter Baker (news analysis, Sunday Review, June 25):

Do you know why President Trump is working so hard to tear down former President Barack Obamas legacy? Because Mr. Obama represents everything that Mr. Trump is not: an articulate orator, a deep thinker and someone who is elegant in style, words and actions.

Mr. Obama brought grace, self-deprecating humor and sensitivity to our countrys deepest concerns, and a fearless commitment to public service. He risked his presidency over his signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act.

Barack Obama is the light, and Donald Trump is the dark, and all the world now knows it.

GABRIELLA EVANS, BELMONT, CALIF.

To the Editor:

Your online headline asks, Can Trump Destroy Obamas Legacy? Its a fair question, but the more important one is what parts of Barack Obamas legacy President Trump will keep.

Read the original post:
How Should We View the Obama Legacy? - New York Times

While the statement wasn't one of then-President Obama's most important pronouncements during his time in office, it was one of the most questionable, from a truth perspective. Said to Ryan Seacrest during a radio interview in March of 2014, it was a response to Obama's critics, those who mocked his denimwear, which, according to years of photographic evidence, leaned toward ill-fitting, stone-washed, and extremely "Dad"-like.

He again wore jeans on Tuesday, this time while on vacation with his family in Bali, Indonesia. The look was a definite upgrade, but the jury's still out as to whether jeans are, or should be, his thing.

"There was one episode like four years ago, in which I was wearing some loose jeans, mainly because I was out on the pitcher's mound and I didn't want to feel confined while I was pitching," Obama told Seacrest during that same conversation. The sartorial moment, which occurred in 2009, stuck with him. "I've paid my penance for that [look.] I got whacked pretty good. Since that time, my jeans fit very well." But, do they? Here's a look back; decide for yourself:

Here's the pitch in July 2009 that earned him the title of Dad jeans king:

In May of that year, cheering on the sidelines of one of his daughter's soccer games, things weren't much better. The super-wide leg, the monotone wash, the awkward length...hi, Dad.

The following year, vacationing in Martha's Vineyard, the jeans were better in the wash department -- more of a gray denim -- but the pairing of them with mandals brought the overall score down. Way down.

But sometime around 2013, he turned a corner. With Malia in Hawaii in July of that year, here's the then-president stepping up his demin game. The fit is tighter, the wash darker, the shoe far more acceptable.

He finished his presidency with no more headline-grabbing jeans debacles, and reemerged in March of this year a new (denim) man. Here he is in DC in March, after a visit to a museum with Michelle Obama. Leather jacket, T-shirt, button-down, good belt, tight jeans. Who is this guy, and what have you done with Barack Obama?

Which brings us to yesterday. The collared, short-sleeved shirt, tucked neatly into the waistband, the telltale sneakers -- it all still says "Dad," but in a far more stylish way. He's embraced a dark wash and he's acknowledged that legs have shape.

See more here:
Obama's jeans game gets strong(er) - CNN

(This story corrects typo in 10th paragraph.)

By Jessica Damiana

JAKARTA From white water rafting in Bali to visiting temples on Java, former U.S. President Barack Obama's private family holiday is being closely tracked in Indonesia where he spent four years as a child.

Obama was six when he moved to Jakarta after his American mother, Ann Dunham, married an Indonesian man following the end of her marriage to Obama's Kenyan father.

"I feel proud that my friend became a president," said Sonni Gondokusumo, 56, a former classmate of Obama at the Menteng 01 state elementary school in Jakarta.

Gondokusumo showed a class photograph of himself standing behind a young Obama, who was wearing a school beret.

"He was a clever boy. Whenever a teacher asked him to solve a problem in front of the class, he could do it," Gondokusomo told Reuters, adding he hoped to meet the former president again.

Obama remains popular in the world's most populous Muslim nation and his trip has been splashed across the media during an extended public holiday to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. The Rakyat Merdeka newspaper carried a headline "Obama loves Indonesia".

Obama returned for an official visit as president in 2010 with his wife, Michelle, but this time has brought daughters Malia and Sasha as well.

Indonesians are avid social media users and snaps of the former U.S. president walking with his family in rice fields and rafting on Bali's Ayung River have gone viral.

Obama kicked off the holiday on the island of Bali, where he stayed at the luxurious Four Seasons Resort Bali near the cultural center of Ubud.

On Wednesday, Obama and his family arrived in the city of Yogyakarta on Java island, and visited the ancient temple of Borobudur.

According to CNN Indonesia, Central Java police deployed 700 officers to secure his visit to Borobudur, a Buddhist temple dating from the 8th and 9th centuries.

Obama is due to meet President Joko Widodo on Friday at the palace in Bogor, south of Jakarta, and visit the capital on Saturday.

(Additional reporting by Fransiska Nangoy; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Nick Macfie)

WASHINGTON Leaders of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee said on Wednesday they had reached an agreement that would allow them to see memos written by former FBI Director James Comey about his meetings with President Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON Four of Washington's largest business lobby groups urged Congress in a letter on Wednesday to settle their differences on government spending so they can move forward on overhauling the U.S. tax code in the next year.

Go here to read the rest:
Yes he can: 'Clever boy' Obama returns to Indonesia for family vacation - Reuters

Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday reiterated a promise to repeal former President Barack Obama's health care reforms by the end of the summer despite uncertainty over whether a Republican bill has enough votes to pass the Senate.

In a speech delivered at a Cleveland manufacturing facility, Pence defended the bill, saying its measures to expand health savings accounts and create tax credits would make insurance more affordable. He said the legislation would cut costs for businesses and give states flexibility to tailor Medicaid programs to local needs.

"(President Donald Trump) believes in state-based solutions, not one-size-fits-all Washington answers," Pence said.

After Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell abandoned plans to bring the bill to a vote this week, fresh GOP critics came forward to attack the bill, with the number of Republican senators publicly complaining about it hitting double digits.

But despite strong party opposition, Pence said the Trump administration is continuing to make "great progress every single day."

Pence's speech came a day after Ohio U.S. Sen. Rob Portman declared his opposition to the bill, catching the senator in the crosshairs of a high-stakes intraparty fight.

Portman is among Republican senators facing intense pressure back home, targeted by demonstrators, advertisement campaigns and a verbal onslaught from Gov. John Kasich, who has spearheaded GOP criticism of the Senate bill.

Pence didn't criticize Portman. Instead, Pence took aim at Democrats, saying Obama's health reforms had driven up insurance premiums and deductibles and blaming them for obstructing health care reform.

"Obamacare has failed, and Obamacare must go," Pence said. "You'd have to be a politician blinded by partisanship to believe otherwise. But, sadly, Congress is full of them."

Democrats have roundly criticized the Republican plan to scrap the Obama health care law. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has said, "Surely we can do better than what the Republican health care bill promises."

In a nod to Ohio's drug overdose problems, Pence singled out opioids in his speech Wednesday, saying the bill would provide new resources to help fight mounting death tolls. Portman has expressed concerns about the impact of slashed Medicaid funding on Ohio's ability to battle the epidemic.

Pence, toward the end of his speech, urged his audience of about 200 people to contact their representatives to put pressure on them to roll back Obama's health care law.

Steven Simons, a 57-year-old paint worker at the workshop where Pence made his speech, said he had faith in the Trump administration's ability to repeal the Democratic former president's health care reforms.

"I know they ain't got it right yet, but they will get it right," Simons said.

Simons said he's covered by employer health insurance and his coverage was reduced under Obama.

Pence also spoke about cutting taxes and bringing manufacturing jobs from overseas.

Earlier in the day, Pence participated in a round-table discussion with business leaders and toured the facility, Tendon Manufacturing, and spoke with workers who demonstrated a laser metal cutter and sheet metal fabricators.

Pence was on his fourth visit to Ohio since taking office in January.

The rest is here:
Pence: Trump will repeal Obama's health law by summer's end - ABC News