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PRATTVILLE - An Autauga County jury deliberated about an hour and a half Wednesday afternoon before convicting a Montgomery man of manslaughter and assault in connection with a 2020 deadly shooting in Prattville.

Sir James Edward Raby, 25, was originally indicted on murder and assault charges in the case, court records show. The verdicts came down after a day-and-a-half long trial. Circuit Judge Bill Lewis revoked Rabys bond and put him in the Autauga Metro Jail until sentencing.

Raby was found guilty of manslaughter in the death of Jerode Baskin and assault in the shooting or Jerreus Rudolph. The two are brothers, and Rudolph was shot in the ankle.

The defense originally argued self defense under Alabama's Stand Your Ground law, and a hearing was held before the trial. Lewis ruled the Stand Your Ground law did not apply to Rabys actions. If it had applied, the charges against him would have been dropped.

At trial, testimony came out that Raby and another man went to a Halloween night party held at Brantwood Apartments. Raby came to the party with an AR-15 style pistol tucked into the front of his pants, according to testimony.

It was a big ol gun, 24 inches long, stuck down the front of his pants, Chief Assistant District Attorney Josh Cochran told the jury in his opening statement.

Rudolph and another man were also at the party, and Cochran told the jury that a friend of Rabys bumped into Rudolphs friend in the apartment and words were exchanged. Rudolph and the man left the party and went to Baskins apartment, which was in the same apartment complex, to get his older brother.

The group returned to the party and met with Raby and the other man on the balcony to clear things up, Cochran said.

They had settled the matter, but Raby had that big ol gun drawn from the front of his pants and he started shooting, Cochran said.

Tom Azar, Rabys attorney, told the jury in his opening statemen that his client acted in self-defense.

James told police that someone stuck a gun in his belly and he heard several clicks, so he pulled his gun and fired, Azar said. They left and came back to the party with the victim. But for that we wouldnt be here.

Officers found a Glock 9 mm pistol under Baskins body when they rolled him over, Cpl. Mark Lively, one of the first officers to get to the apartment testified. It appeared the pistol had not been fired, because empty shell casings werenot found on the balcony, testimony brought out.

Baskin was shot five times.

When contacted by Prattville Police Department investigators, Raby turned himself in, turned over the AR-15 pistol used in the shooting and made a statement to detectives, testimony brought out.

If James had intentionally killed someone and shot someone, he wouldnt have shown up at the Prattville Police Department so quickly when asked, and he wouldnt have brought his gun, Azar said.

District Attorney CJ Robinson accepts the jurys verdict.

They weighed the evidence, and made their decisions, he said. We are satisfied with the verdict of manslaughter, a lesser charge, and assault. There is some justice for the families of Jerode Baskin and Jereus Rudolph.

Raby has four prior felony breaking and entering vehicle convictions from Lee County, court records show.

With his prior felonies, we will be asking the judge for the maximum sentence, Robinson said.

Raby could be sentenced to life in prison due to his prior felony convictions. The state offered him a 15-year sentence if he pleaded guilty to manslaughter, records show, but Raby wanted to take the case to trial.

We stand behind our assertation of self defense and expect to appeal, Azar said Thursday.

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Marty Roney at mroney@gannett.com.

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Montgomery man guilty of manslaughter in Prattville slaying - Montgomery Advertiser

Governor Greg Abbott (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

The benefit of control of the state is less the power to persecute the innocent; more the power to protect the guilty. Texas Governor Abbott is about to demonstrate what I had in mind. David Frum

Happy Thursday.

Well get to the Texas pardon story in a moment, but lets catch up a bit first:

The Wapo has the scoop: Leaker of U.S. secret documents worked on military base.

Grift watch: Special counsel focuses on Trump fundraising off false election claims.

Under oath again. What could go wrong? Trump to be deposed in New York AG's business fraud lawsuit.

Fox News has another epically sh*tty day in court: Judge Imposes Sanction on Fox for Withholding Evidence in Defamation Case.

My Kevins hostage crisis is about to get worse. Puck News: The Taliban 20s McCarthy To-Do List.

Theres no reason for the 20 to negotiate against what was already agreed to, [Matt] Gaetz told me, regarding the grab bag of promises they extracted in exchange for supporting Kevin McCarthys speakership in January. We shouldn't have to pay twice for the same hostage.

The fight over abortion pills remains a clusterf**k. Appeals court partially blocks federal judge's abortion pill ruling.

However, the three-judge panel determined that other parts of Kacsmaryk's ruling, which suspends changes the FDA later made to mifepristone's approved use and halts distribution of the drug by mail, could still go into effect at the end of the day Friday.

Witness intimidation in broad daylight. Trump sues ex-lawyer Michael Cohen after grand jury testimony.

The lawsuit comes as Cohen, who once said he would "do anything" to protect Trump, appears poised to become a star witness against him at a possible criminal trial in New York on the charges unsealed last week.

The DiFi drama deepens.

[Less] than an hour after POLITICO broke news of growing concerns about Feinsteins slow recovery from the shingles Rep. RO KHANNA (D-Calif.) tweeted something that many Democrats were saying privately:

Its time for @SenFeinstein to resign. We need to put the country ahead of personal loyalty. While she has had a lifetime of public service, it is obvious she can no longer fulfill her duties. Not speaking out undermines our credibility as elected representatives of the people.

Republican election denier expelled from Arizona House.

Liz Harris, an election-denying Republican lawmaker in the Arizona house of representatives, was expelled by her colleagues on Wednesday after she invited to a committee hearing a conspiracy theorist who accused elected officials of unproven corruption and bribery.

Republican and Democratic representatives joined together to expel Harris with a 46-13 vote

Meanwhile How Tennessee Became the Poster State for Political Meltdown.

Today, Tennessee represents the grim culmination of the forces corroding state politics: the nationalization of elections and governance, the tribalism between the two parties, the collapse of local media and internet-accelerated siloing of news and the incentive structure wrought by extreme gerrymandering. Also, if were being honest, the transition from pragmatists anchored in their communities to partisans more fixated on whats said online than at their local Rotary Club.

It was nearly seven years ago (in October 2015) that veteran journalist John Harwood asked Donald Trump: "Lets be honest: Is this the comic book version of a presidential campaign?"

And yet here we still are. We discussed that (and much more) on yesterdays Bulwark podcast.

You can listen to the whole thing here.

I am a bit late to this story because, I have to admit, part of me thought: Surely this cannot be as mind-bendingly awful as it sounds.

But it is.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott appears determined to pardon Daniel Perry, who was just convicted of murdering BLM protester Garrett Foster.

And so begins another chapter in our political devolution.

**

The jurys verdict was both reasonable and consistent with Texas law, writes Radley Balko, but the entire horrific incident is now firmly enmeshed in the culture war. As usual, Fox News has seized on the case with a torrent of misinformation, and Abbott has seized on the murder as an opportunity for tossing more bloody red meat to the base.

I suppose we could think of it as the Kyle Rittenhouse Effect, but this case is much worse.

The day the jury unanimously convicted Perry, Abbott declared on Twitter: Texas has one of the strongest Stand Your Ground laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney.

Nick Catoggio notes that Abbott makes no specific allegation of misconduct. The closest Abbott gets is accusing the jury and local district attorney of having nullified the states stand your ground law, which smells suspiciously like code for reached a verdict that offends my political prejudices.

Either Abbott is suggesting that Perrys account of what happened is so compelling that it should override the considered judgment of the D.A., a grand jury, and a trial jurywhich is unlikelyor he means to signal that anyone who kills a left-wing activist in Texas should and will be excused provided theres a fig leaf of self-defense.

And, indeed, that seems to be exactly what Abbott is signaling.

**

Radley Balko breaks down what we know about the case:

According to multiple witnesses, Perry ran a red light, then accelerated directly toward a group of protesters. He could easily have driven around the protest. He did not.

According to multiple witnesses, Perrys car nearly struck Fosters fiance Whitney Mitchell and the man who was pushing her wheelchair. (Mitchell is a quadruple amputee. Not related, but also awful year later, an Austin police officer would dump her from her wheelchair during a protest.)

According to multiple witnesses, protesters then surrounded Perrys car, some of them kicking or slapping at the outside of it. Foster stood next to the car, holding his rifle. Multiple witnesses say Foster never pointed his rifle at Perry, though its worth noting that these witnesses were protesters, and thus hostile to Perry. The only photo of the incident is ambiguous.

Perry himself initially said Foster never pointed the rifle at him. During his police interrogation, Perry said, I believe he was going to aim at me. I didnt want to give him a chance to aim at me. If someone is holding a rifle in your general vicinity, but not pointing it at you, you do not have legal cover to kill them.

According to multiple witnesses, Foster also gestured for Perry to move on. He also instructed Perry to stay in his car to avoid any further confrontation. Neither is consistent with someone who presented an immediate threat to kill or harm Perry.

Despite claims from right wing personalities, Foster never fired his gun.

Even if Foster had pointed his gun at Perry, he would not have been in violation of Texas law. Based on Perrys actions running a red light toward a group of protesters Foster had good reason to believe that Perry was attempting to harm Foster and those around him. He had the right to use lethal force to defend himself and others.

At Perrys trial, a defense expert testified that Foster could have raised his rifle and shot Perry in well less than a second. This is irrelevant. Texas is an open carry state. Anyone openly carrying a rifle could, in theory, point, aim, and kill someone in a fraction of a second. If what Foster did justifies lethal self-defense, you could plausibly argue the same about anyone carrying a rifle in public, particularly at a protest, or at any tense situation where theres the possibility of conflict.

The court record is filled with details about Perrys possible motivation. There is ample evidence, writes Balko, that Perry intended to harm the protesters.

In one Facebook comment responding to a post about protesters in another state, Perry wrote, send them to Texas. We will show them why we say dont mess with Texas.

A friend of Perrys also testified that a month before the incident, Perry had texted him to ask about other incidents in which someone had shot at protesters, and inquired if those shootings were legal.

In the weeks leading up to the incident, Perry had conducted internet searches on the phrases protest tonight, protesters in Seattle gets shot, riot shootouts, and protests in Dallas live.

After that latter search, Perry texted to a friend, I might go to Dallas to shoot looters.

Among the other messages and comments he had recently sent or left online: I might have to kill a few people on my way to work they are rioting outside my apartment complex, and No protesters go near me or my car.

**

But in the right-wing media ecosystem, it is Foster who is being demonized, while his murderer is lionized. Writes Balko: You only valorize Garrett Fosters killer if youve convinced yourself that Foster deserved to die.

If Abbott and the Texas pardon board want to free Perry and clear his record, they have the power to do it. But we ought to be clear about why theyre doing it. This isnt about the rule of law. Its the rule of ideology, enforced with violence.

Balkos analysis here is scorching:

For all the degeneracy on the political right in the Trump era, this is what I find most alarmingthe dehumanizing of political opponents to the point where violence isnt merely justifiable, its almost a moral imperative.

Their opponents arent just wrong, theyre criminal.

People accused of crimes arent just presumed guilty, they deserve to be abused by police. Immigrants arent just crossing the border illegally, theyre mostly rapists and criminals.

Protesters arent merely misguided, they should be flattened by big-ass trucks.

Exit take: This is how a cold civil war becomes a hot one.

Amanda Carpenter writes in todays Bulwark:

Scott declared his ambition to seek the highest office in the land on Wednesday, April 12, with an ad filmed at Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil War rang out 161 years earlier to the day. He wanted people to pay attention to that fateful anniversary.

Because the way Scott sees it, America is on the verge of another civil war. And if you think Scott is talking about the threat posed by Donald Trumps insurrectionist mob, well, HAHAHAHAHAHA. Wrongo!

Scott, that winsome, uplifting, inspiring, rising star of the GOP, is launching his presidential exploratory bid on the notion that its Joe Biden who is leading a new confederacy that threatens to tear the country apart.

Tim Miller in the Bulwark:

RON DESANTISS REMARKABLE 2023 legislative session is replete with compassionless quasi-conservative bills that he hopes will power an upcoming presidential campaign. The session is set to reach its apex this month with the signing of a Stephen Miller-style immigration law that targets immigrant communities in his not-really-a-border-state state.

HB 1617: An Act Related To Unlawful Immigration, has yet to garner a catchy Dont Say Gay-type moniker to describe its barbarism. My proposal, the Miep Gies Criminalization Act of 2023, probably wont be the one that sticks.

But the name of DeSantiss legislation matters less than the particulars. Among them: requiring hospitals to collect the immigration status of patients and report it to the government and preventing legal DACA recipients from obtaining law licenses.

But the most troubling provisions are related to the transport and harboring of immigrants.

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The stupid. It burns.

..

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Greg Abbott's Jury Nullification - by Charlie Sykes - The Bulwark

NEW YORK --Families of Black men and women killed by police held a discussion on reform during the National Action Network Convention Wednesday.

Rev. Al Sharptonwelcomed the relatives to his gathering at the Sheraton in Times Square.

AttorneyBen Crumpled a panel discussion on ways to enforce police accountability and prevent future tragedies.

The parents ofTyre Nicholswere among the speakers. Nichols was beaten to death by Memphis police officers earlier this year. As RowVaughn and Rodney Wells arrived in New York from Memphis, they learned their home city had just voted to outlaw frivolous traffic stops, as well as specialized police units like the one made up of the officers who killed Nichols.

"I truly believe that my son was here on a mission from God, and his assignment was completed," his mother, RowVaughn Wells, said, crying.

"As we see his mother standing here weeping," Sharpton added, "that will never bring back her son, but her son has saved the lives of other sons and other daughters."

The loved ones ofGeorge Floyd,Eric Garnerand Trayvon Martin were also invited to the discussion.

Sharpton and Crump now aim to add the Memphis laws to the federal George Floyd Justice In Policing bill, which Congress has yet to pass.

"If they can make federal laws to protect a bird, which is the Bald Eagle, then they can make federal laws to protect people of color," said Floyd's brother Philonise.

These families describe themselves as a fraternity they never wanted to join, but longtime fighters like Eric Garner's mother, Gwen Carr, lead the way in the fight for change. The state of New York has a ban on chokeholds because of her son's case.

"It's good to take a step back sometimes and stay under the cover for a day," Carr admitted, "but then the next day, you've got to get up fighting again."

That is how action can happen. Ahmaud Arbery's mother successfully advocated to repeal Georgia's citizens arrest law and implement a hate crime law across the state. However, Trayvon Martin's mom is still trying to end Florida's Stand Your Ground law a decade after her son's death.

United as one, the families of those slain strengthen in voice to honor their names.

"This fight has just begun, and it's not going to end no time soon," concluded Nichols' stepfather Rodney.

"It's not by accident that we are facing the same crises in every city that we are in, and NAN is saying let's come together and come up with the solutions that we can implement," Mayor Eric Adams said.

The NAN Convention continues through Saturday, April 15, with conversations focusing on social justice and voting rights. Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to speak Friday at noon.

Jessi Mitchell joined the CBS New York team as a multi-skilled journalist in October 2021, focusing her reporting in Harlem.

Read more here:
National Action Network holds panel on police reform with families of Tyre Nichols, George Floyd and Eric Garner - CBS News

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The man called police to say he was following the car of people who had stolen money from him and was trying to stop the car near S. Lakeline Blvd. and Cypress Creek.

CEDAR PARK, Texas - The Cedar Park Police Department is investigating the shooting of a jugging suspect. Police said the victim shot the suspect while trying to pull them over on the road, himself.

The victim took matters into his own hands and an attorney said it was legal.

Jugging is when a suspect watches a victim withdraw money, follows them, and steals it from them.

The Cedar Park Police Department said thats what happened on April 10 when a man withdrew money from a Chase Bank and stopped at a gas station near S. Lakeline Blvd. and Cypress Creek. While he was inside, someone busted out his car window, stole the money, and took off.

Police said they got a call around 4 p.m. that the victim was following the suspects car and was trying to get them to pull over.

"I think somebody has the right to, to follow somebody and attempt to stop somebody who is stolen from them," Criminal Defense Attorney Sam Bassett said.

While tracking down the thieves, the man said they pulled out a gun, so he pulled out his and shot the other driver in the mouth.

"At what point could the use of deadly force be justified? It probably cant be justified simply to chase somebody down and shoot them because theyre fleeing the scene of a crime they committed," Bassett said.

But Bassett said because police said the suspects pointed a gun at the victim, that changes everything.

"You can certainly use deadly force if somebody's pointing a gun at you, and you have a reasonable belief that you could be uh seriously harmed or killed," Bassett said.

Investigators said the suspect who was shot drove to the hospital. Another suspect took a Lyft from Cedar Park to Houston where he was arrested, and the money was recovered.

Bassett said this case falls under the Texas Stand Your Ground Law which is the same law Governor Abbott is pointing to pardon Daniel Perry.

Perry was found guilty of murdering Black Lives Matter protester Garrett Foster back in 2020. The state claimed Perry intentionally drove into the crowd of protesters and killed Foster. The defense team claimed self-defense and said Foster was in a bladed tactical stance with his gun.

"So, it used to be, you would have to retreat unless you were in your home, you had a duty to try to retreat if it seemed like that could reasonably get you to safety. But that is no longer the law in Texas and in many states, so that's where the term stand your ground comes, you don't have a duty to retreat," Bassett said.

The jugging case is being investigated. No word on the suspects recovery.

See the original post here:
Jugging victim shoots suspect during attempt to pull them over himself, Cedar Park police say - FOX 7 Austin

Bruce MacKinnons cartoon would be funny if the guy in it were some obscure goofball prattling away about his own personal, paranoid fantasies in the corner of a neighborhood tavern at three in the afternoon.

Its not nearly so funny when the goofball is a former President of the United States with a significant following among voters and the slavish devotion of a major political party. When others pick up on his insane theories about the FBI and the Justice Department, were heading for serious trouble.

Conspiracy theories may be fun for disaffected college sophomores to kick around, but when influential conservatives begin to babble about local prosecutors they believe are backed by George Soros and start seeing communists behind every bush, its time to take them seriously, not in the sense of accepting their lunatic delusions but in the sense of working to deny them power.

You cant look for help from the Republican Party, who, after a flirtation with Ron DeSantis, seem to be turning back to Donald Trump, and backing draconian laws, as Ann Telnaes notes, to eliminate womens rights to make their own medical decisions.

The handmaids and their allies are fighting back, however, and weve already seen victories in Kansas and Wisconsin against those who would oppress them.

And, by the way, while I appreciate that Ed Hall is sympathetic to womens current plight, let me point out that the common image of cavemen dragging women off by their hair does not match anything Ive ever read or heard about hunter/gatherer societies.

Some were actually matriarchal, most were matrilinear and in all of them, women were respected and given significant power in decision-making.

Its only in relatively modern times that women became subservient. That may be, in Western culture, a matter of a few thousand years, but it is still reversible, and it starts in the voting booth.

We need to maintain the voting trend already seen in Kansas, in Michigan and in Wisconsin, and the fury of young reformers in Tennessee.

Prickly City (AMS) has been peeking behind the curtain lately, and more true conservatives need to begin rejecting dogmatic answers and party-line loyalty if they truly want to make America great again.

Antagonizing women over control of their bodies is bad strategy, and, while Kari Lake came within a hairs breadth of becoming governor and Elise Stefanik has morphed herself into Trumps Mini-Me, there are far more credible women rising through the ranks, at least on the other side of the aisle.

Theres also reason to hope, first of all in the rising anger over Pro Publicas revelations about Clarence Thomas and the billionaire who, Lalo Alcaraz (AMS) notes, has showered him with expensive privilege for a quarter of a century, but also in the fact that Pro Publica was able to uncover and make public the scandal.

And if Elon Musk is able to rouse the rabble with nonsensical accusations that NPR is corrupted by the one percent of its budget that comes from the federal government, the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit still looks ready to take a great deal more than one percent of Rupert Murdochs vast fortune from him, with Smartmatic in the wings preparing to use the same information in their lawsuit against Fox.

Responsible mass media is facing challenges, certainly, but there are signs of it rising to those challenges, not only in NPRs ethical stance against Musk and Foxs apparent coming defeat in court, but in the rise of small, independent news organizations that are rising in communities around the country.

What would we know about the Uvalde murders if not for the incisive, independent Texas Tribune?

And speaking of Uvalde, there seems to be a rising insistence on doing something about guns.

The incredible, rising death toll is finally not going unnoticed, and both Judge and Murphy point, accurately to the problem of massive spending by the NRA not just to promote their ammosexual appeal to the public but to ensure a solid, faithful Republican base in national politics.

As noted before, I was a member of the NRA as a kid, before the Revolt at Cincinnati turned it from a gun-safety group into a gun-crazed Second Amendment lobbying group. I shot for badges and was part of a competitive rifle team.

But that was then and this is now, and Politico has a good history piece about how the NRA elevated a forgotten, outdated Second Amendment into a national, blood-soaked obsession.

As for that solid Republican support, Open Secrets shows that its no accident, and the NRA no longer even bothers to carry the fig leaf of claiming it supports both parties.

They know who will be hewers of their wood and drawers of their water, and they dont waste money trying to win over those who refuse to believe that drag queens and gay penguins are more dangerous for children than being blown to bits in their classrooms.

And who wont legislate as they are told to.

As Scott Stantis explains, its a matter of priorities.

However, if editors have the courage to run them, there are plenty of cartoons out there questioning that priority, and plenty of people willing to gather in places like Tennessees capitol building to try the matter with those well-compensated legislators.

Theres even a touch of good news in the bad news. Nick Anderson derides Texas Governor Greg Abbott for uncritically echoing Tucker Carlsons demand to pardon Daniel Perry, an Uber driver who drove into a BLM crowd, then shot and killed a demonstrator who was carrying an AK-47.

Abbott insists that the states Stand Your Ground law should override the jurys decision of a murder conviction.

The good news in this is that, by Abbotts logic, if you see someone open-carrying an assault rifle, you can legally shoot and kill him on the basis of the Stand Your Ground law, even if he hasnt threatened you with the gun.

Thats in Texas, mind you.

In Florida, you still have to check and make sure hes carrying a bag of Skittles.

HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIMEHURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIMEGoonight Bill. Goonight Lou. Goonight May. Goonight.Ta ta. Goonight. Goonight.Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies, good night, good night.

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CSotD: Time has come today The Daily Cartoonist - The Daily Cartoonist