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U.S. NEWSTuesday 15 September 2015
Kentucky clerk returns to work after 5-day stint in jail
CLAIRE GALOFARO A Democrat and Apostolic riage. She defied federal to media spectacles. and stood at the coun-
Associated Press Christian elected last fall, Judge David Bunning, lost The only couple to re- ter, microphones bobbing
MOREHEAD, Kentucky (AP) Davis rocketed to folk-hero a string of appeals, then ceive a license on Mon- above their heads.
— A Kentucky county clerk status among many Chris- sat in a jail cell for five days day walked into a sur- Deputy clerk Brian Mason,
returned to work Monday who began issuing licenses
for the first time since she Surrounded by Rowan County Sheriff’s deputies, Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, center, with her when Davis was hauled to
was jailed for defying a fed- son Nathan Davis standing by her side, makes a statement to the media at the front door of the jail, worked behind a sign
eral court and announced Rowan County Judicial Center in Morehead, Ky., Monday, Sept. 14, 2015. Davis announced that anointing him the “mar-
that she would no longer her office will issue marriage licenses under order of a federal judge, but they will not have her riage license deputy.” He
block her deputies from is- name or office listed. has issued a dozen licens-
suing marriage licenses to es since Davis was jailed
same-sex couples. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley) Sept. 8, eight of them to
Standing at the court- same-sex couples, and has
house door, Rowan County tian conservatives when as hundreds of protesters, real scene. Shannon and pledged to continue issu-
Clerk Kim Davis read from she refused to issue licenses news crews and politicians Carmen Wampler-Collins ing them despite his boss’s
a handwritten statement after the Supreme Court descended on this small, squeezed through a throng wishes.
and explained in a quiv- legalized same-sex mar- rural town unaccustomed of reporters and protesters Hecklers shouted “coward”
ering voice that she had at him from the side of the
been faced with a “seem- room. Mason, a 38-year-old
ingly impossible choice” former retail worker who
between following her unwittingly fell into the mid-
conscience and losing her dle of the firestorm, smiled
freedom. at them and turned back
So she agreed to an “emer- to his work.
gency stopgap” conces- “It’s a little crazy, but I try
sion, not to let it bother me,” Ma-
her lawyer later said: She son said.
did not stop her deputy One protester waved a
clerk from issuing licens- Bible and shouted. Eliza-
es edited to remove her beth Johnston from Ohio
name, her title and her au- screamed, “Don’t let Kim’s
thorization. five days in jail be in vain.”
But, she said, she had Marriage equality support-
“grave concerns” that the ers tried to drown them
licenses would be invalid out: “Love has won,” they
without her signature. chanted. q
Arizona man convicted of murder in deaths of brother, nephew
JACQUES BILLEAUD death. Jurors convicted The boy, surrounded by had argued Licon hadn’t Arizona State University,
Associated Press Licon of second-degree a pool of blood, was still proven that he suffered told investigators that he
PHOENIX (AP) — A jury con- murder in the death of his wearing his school uniform from a mental disease that was studying at a library in
victed an Arizona man of half-brother, Angel Jaquez. and had a Burger King kid’s would have prevented him Tempe at the time that his
murder Monday for killing He faces 16 to 25 years in meal nearby when his body from understanding that his half-brother was killed. He
his brother in a drug dispute prison in Angel Jaquez’s was found by sanitation actions were wrong. She said he came home to find
and then gunning down his death. The trial’s sentenc- workers. He also was shot in said Licon was well aware his brother’s body in the
6-year-old nephew, who ing phase begins Tuesday. the back of the head. of his actions when he car- townhome.
witnessed the death. Licon shot Angel Jaquez Licon, who provided an al- ried out the killings and took But authorities say Licon’s
Jurors rejected Christo- in the back of the head ibi to investigators, did not steps to protect himself, alibi collapsed quickly after
pher Rey Licon’s insanity as Jaquez watched TV at testify at his trial. such as breaking into an they interviewed neighbors
defense and will now de- their Phoenix townhome, His attorney, James Wilson, apartment where a hand- and gathered other evi-
termine whether he will be then kidnapped the child told jurors that his client was gun used in the crimes was dence.
sentenced to death or life — Angel Jaquez’s son — in the throes of a psychotic stashed. Authorities say two key
in prison for the December and shot him 20 miles (32 episode on the day of the Authorities say a neighbor pieces of evidence were
2010 killing of his nephew, kilometers) away in an al- deaths. Wilson said Licon witnessed Licon dragging found inside the car used
Xavier Jaquez. ley, authorities said. Licon had lost weight, experi- his nephew into a car that to bring the boy to the al-
The jury deliberated for was accused of killing his enced hallucinations and would be used to bring the ley: a 9 mm bullet casing
more than seven days be- nephew out of fear that the became detached and child to the alley where he that matched a casing
fore finding the 24-year-old child would snitch on him uncommunicative around was killed. found at Jaquez’s home
guilty of first-degree murder because the boy heard or the time of the killings. Licon, then a construction and a toy from the Burger
and kidnapping in Xavier’s saw his father die. Prosecutor Laura Reckart management student at King kid’s meal.q
