Page 33 - Florida Sentinel 12-16-16 Online Edition

National
Baton Rouge Elects First Black Female Mayor
Wrongly Convicted Man Who Spent 30 Years
In Prison Wants Compensation
LAWRENCE MCKINNEY
MEMPHIS, TN --- Ten- nessee man is fighting to re- ceive rightful compensation after wrongfully spending more than 30 years in prison, CBS News reports.
In 1978, Lawrence McK- inney was convicted by a Memphis, Tenn. jury of rape and burglary. The victim identified McKinney as one of two men who attacked her in her bedroom, and he was sentenced to 115 years in prison.
30 years later, in 2008, DNA testing of evidence sci- entifically excluded McKin- ney as a suspect in the case, CBS notes, leading prosecu- tors to acknowledge that “if this evidence had been avail- able ... there would have been no prosecution.”
The following year, McK- inney was released and given $75. But now he and his lawyer are fighting for him to receive more compen- sation, as under Tennessee law he could be eligible for up to $1 million. However, the parole board which makes the decisions on compensa- tion has rejected his request twice.
According to prosecutors, two samples that were not tested either had no DNA or were so degraded that tests could not be done.
“It is not justice for him not to receive compensation for being wrongfully impris- oned,” Jack Lowery, McK- inney’s lawyer, insisted.
Lowery has appealed the case to Gov. Bill Haslam who will have the final say.
LAPD Wound Alleged Gang Member Gunman
The scene after the shooting in L.A.
BATON ROUGE -- It now falls to Sharon Weston Broome to lead and calm a city still trembling from an unforgettable summer of bloodshed, racial tension and catastrophic flooding. Broome was elected mayor- president of Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish on Saturday (Dec. 10), defeating state Sen. Bodi White in a tight runoff election that failed to generate much buzz after the 12-candidate pri- mary shared Nov. 8 the ballot with the U.S. presidential race.
Broome, a native of Chicago, got her political start on the Baton Rouge Metro Council and had a two- decade career in the Louisiana Legislature. Before entering politics she worked for five years as a reporter for
Sharon Weston Broome was elected mayor/presi- dent.
WBRZ television in Baton Rouge.
She will succeed the term- limited Kip Holden, who served 12 years and was the city's first African-American mayor. Holden over the past two years has lost races for lieutenant governor and, in November, for U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond's House seat. Broome becomes the first woman to be elected mayor of Baton Rouge.
LOS ANGELES, CA --- Los Angeles police officers shot and wounded a gunman who allegedly opened fire on them at a reported gang party in South Los Angeles Sunday, police said.
Los Angeles Police Depart- ment spokeswoman Officer Norma Eisenman told the Los Angeles Times that offi- cers were in the area Sunday when they saw a large group of gang members gathered at
a party outside a home. Eisenman said that’s when the gunman fired at the officers. Police told re- porters at the scene that the officers fired back, striking the gunman in the right
shoulder.
During the shooting, par-
tygoers dispersed, and some tried to leave, but police de- tained several partygoers and talked to them. A gun was recovered in the area.
Official That Called Mrs. Obama ‘An Ape In Heels’ Gets Job Back
Investigator: Dylann Roof Had List Of Other Black Churches
Dylann Roof is on trial for killing 9 members of Emmanuel A.M.E. Church last year.
The director of a
state and federal-
funded nonprofit in
West Virginia will
return to work after
she was temporarily removed from her
job for calling first
lady Michelle
Obama an “ape in
heels,” the Charleston Gazette-Mail re- ported.
Following Donald Trump’s presidential victory, Clay County Development Corp. Director Pamela Ram- sey Taylor posted to Face- book, “It will be refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, digni- fied First Lady in the White House. I’m tired of seeing a Ape in heels.”
Pamela Ramsey Taylor gets her job back.
Kroger Set To Buy Walgreens/Rite Aid
Rather than condemn Tay- lor’s racist comment, Clay Mayor Beverly Whaling replied, “Just made my day Pam.” Whaling later stepped down from her post.
Meanwhile, Taylor deleted her comment and seemed to deactivate her Facebook ac- count after gaining widespread attention. But screenshots of the post continued to circulate.
CHARLESTON, S.C. --- The man accused of killing nine Black parishioners at Emmanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston last year had a handwritten list in his car noting other Black churches in the area, according to tes- timony shared in his death penalty trial on Monday.
Dylann Roof faces 33 counts of murder, attempted murder and committing a hate crime that resulted in death following the June 2015 massacre that stunned the nation. Monday’s devel- opments in the trial, which began Dec. 7, revealed that
Roof had named Morris Brown AME, Calvary Episco- pal, Central Baptist, Ebenezer AME and a house of worship whose name on the note was smeared by water damage, in addition to Emanuel AME where the shooting occurred.
Investigators also discov- ered lists by Roof of differ- ent cities and towns in the state, noting the ratios of black to white people living in each, according to South Car- olina Law Enforcement Divi- sion agent Brittany Burke, who processed Roof’s car after the shooting.
CINCINATTI,
Kroger Co. could be close to wrapping up a deal to buy some of the Walgreens and Rite Aid stores that Walgreens needs to divest when it com- pletes its acquisition of the drug store chain.
The deal involving multi- ple buyers for nearly 1,000 stores should be finalized by
year-end, an attorney told mergers and acquisitions re- porting website CTFN.
One investment analyst said close to 1,000 Walgreens stores are likely to be sold. Re- ports have ranged from 500 to 1,000. Many of those are in the Northeast, an area where Kroger doesn’t operate super- markets.
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