Page 31 - Florida Sentinel 7-7-17

National
Grandmother Given Clemency By Then President Obama Is Back In Jail
PASADENA, TX —- A Texas grandmother given a life sentence for dealing drugs only to have her ex- treme punishment com- muted by then-President Obama has been ordered to return to prison.
In addition to getting ar- rested in Pasadena, Texas, for stealing $60 worth of laundry detergent, Carol Denise Richardson, 49, violated other conditions of her re- lease, the Houston Chronicle reports.
The mother of four was hit with life without parole on June 16, 2006.
With the help of the non- profit CAN-DO (Clemency for All Nonviolent Drug Offend- ers), she became one of 61 federal inmates whose sen- tences were commuted by Obama in March 2016.
In a statement, CAN-DO nonetheless defended Richardson, saying, “To be clear, Carol suffers from ad- diction. It was the reason she
Carol Denise Richardson will have to spend 14 months in prison for stealing laundry detergent.
was indicted, convicted and received a life sentence. It is also the reason why she has been sent back to prison.
For now, Richardson has been sentenced to 14 months in prison, after which she’ll placed be under supervised release for five years.
Texas Police Chief Resigns After Controversial Arrest
State Officials In Michigan Allocate $14M Towards Legal Fees In Flint’s Water Crisis
According NBC News, nearly $14 million of the state’s funds has been allo- cated towards acquiring lawyers from 33 law firms. The amount of money is ex- pected to rise as Attorney General Bill Schuette looks to prosecute former state em- ployees who are paying their criminal defenses with tax- payer money. NBC News re- ported that Schuette has gone through $4.4 million for his investigation.
The Department of Environ- mental Quality has spent close to $3.8 million on outside at- torneys to defend its employ- ees against lawsuits brought by Flint residents, writes the source.
Former department director Dan Wyant and former com- munications director Brad Wurfel, who both resigned two years ago, are having at least $463,000 of their legal fees covered by those funds.
The Health and Human Services Department has racked up nearly $1.1 million in legal fees for 18 of it’s cur- rent and former employees for not warning Flint residents about the lead levels in the
The water crisis in Flint, MI is still unresolved. In the meantime its state officials are paying law firms to prosecute and defend the people in- volved.
water, reports the outlet. Michigan Gov. Rick Sny- der’s office has reportedly spent $4.2 million on two law firms for civil cases and “records management issues
and investigations.”
On last Wednesday, the
state of Michigan filed a law- suit against Flint after the city failed to approve a contract for a clean water source in De- troit.
2016 Miss Black Texas U.S. Ambassador Carmen Ponder was arrested after a confronta- tion with School Board Trustee that led to her being arrested by the police chief.
Man Spends 3 Months In Jail After Arrested On Cocaine Charge That Was Really Drywall Powder
OVEIDO, FL —- Florida po- lice arrested and jailed Kar- los Cashe after confusing drywall dust found in his car as crack cocaine.
The handyman was pulled over by authorities back in March for driving without headlights, yet once police in- spected Cashe’s vehicle, they found drywall scrapping on the seat and floor. Cashe told a local news outlet he tried to ex- plain to police it was from the drywall.
The powder was allegedly tested by a K-9 unit and came back positive for cocaine, police said. Cashe was on probation for marijuana and cocaine charges stemming from 2015 and he also allegedly violated his curfew.
After sitting in prison for 90
Handy Man Karlos Cashe spent 3 months in jail.
days without bond, lab results showed the dust found in Cashe’s car was indeed dry- wall.
Cashe was released from prison, but says he wants to be compensated.
COMMERCE, TX —The po- lice chief for the city of Com- merce has resigned in the wake of last month's arrest of the 2016 Miss Black Texas US Am- bassador.
Chief Kerry Crews was not at Monday evening's special City Council meeting but an- nounced his resignation in a letter read by the mayor.
The announcement followed backlash from the May 20 ar- rest of Carmen Ponder, a 23- year-old pre-law student at Texas A&M University-Com- merce, who was detained at a Wal-Mart after an encounter with Commerce ISD school board trustee Michael Beane.
Ponder alleged that Beane cut her off on the road and noted that he was teaching his 14-year-old daughter how to drive. She said he called her a "black [expletive]" after she told him it was illegal for a child that age to be driving.
In a prepared statement, Ponder's attorney Lee Mer- rit alleged that Crews, who was off-duty at the time, ap- proached Ponder in the park- ing lot and demanded that she apologize to Beane. When she refused, she was detained.
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