Politics
An inmate murdered a prison guard and received no added punishment – a new bill could change that
EXCLUSIVE – Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz introduced a bill that would provide further justice to law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.
Cruz is pushing a new law that would give prosecutors more power to seek the death penalty in cases where someone is convicted of murdering a federal law enforcement officer.
Cruz told Fox News Digital the bill would prevent cases such as a 2013 incident in Pennsylvania, where an inmate serving a life sentence killed federal correctional officer Eric Williams – and received no additional punishment.
“Eric’s Law,” introduced Tuesday, is named after Williams, who was stabbed more than 200 times with two shanks by the inmate, who briefly paused during the 11-minute attack to take gum from the officer’s pocket and chew it.
The convict was already serving a life sentence for a gang-related murder when he killed the officer and received the same sentence for killing Williams because a jury was deadlocked over whether to sentence him to death.
“Eric Williams had his life taken from him through the actions of a vicious criminal. Eric’s family similarly had justice taken from them through the inability of a jury to reach a unanimous decision,” Cruz exclusively told Fox News Digital.
INMATE WHO PAUSED TO CHEW GUM WHILE KILLING GUARD GETS LIFE
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) addresses a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Oct. 6, 2021. (Reuters)
“Our brave men and women in uniform—like corrections officers, police, sheriff’s deputies, and federal law enforcement—undertake a tremendous risk to their safety each and every day, and this bill will ensure justice is done in those terrible instances where their life is taken from them,” Cruz said. “We must do everything in our power to prevent this kind of tragedy from recurring, and that is why I am proud to introduce this legislation.”
The inmate, Jessie Con-Ui, was found guilty in 2017 of murdering Williams, but he did not receive a death sentence for the killing because one juror out of the 12 was a holdout.
Prison officials spoke out soon after the sentencing, sounding off the lack of capital punishment in the case put a target on the backs of law enforcement officers and signaled “it’s OK to kill federal corrections officers,” the Times Leader reported at the time.
Eric Williams, a 34 year-old correctional officer from Jefferson Township, Pennsylvania, died at USP Canaan on Feb. 25, 2013. (Federal Bureau of Prisons)
The bill, which was co-sponsored by Republican Sens. Mike Braun of Indiana and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, would allow, but not require, federal prosecutors to impanel a second jury if the first jury is unable to come to a decision on a death penalty sentencing. The law would only apply to capital sentencing hearings.
INMATE CONVICTED FOR STABBING GUARD MORE THAN 200 TIMES
Sen. Mike Braun, a Republican from Indiana, speaks during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, May 25, 2022. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The bill has received support from various law enforcement groups, including the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, the National Council of Prison Locals, the National Association of Police Organizations, as well as the slain correctional officer’s father.
FEDERAL PROTECTIVE SERVICE OFFICER KILLED IN OAKLAND SHOOTING DURING GEORGE FLOYD PROTEST IDENTIFIED
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the conclusion of military operations in Afghanistan and plans for future counterterrorism operations on Capitol Hill. (Patrick Semansky)
FOP President Patrick Yoes told Fox News Digital that “when justice is not served in the murder of a federal law enforcement officer, it sends a message throughout the ranks of law enforcement that their sacrifice, up to and including the loss of their own life, is meaningless.”
“Under current Federal law, the murder of a federal law enforcement officer is a capital offense. However, if the officer’s killer is found guilty of murder and the federal prosecutor seeks the death penalty in the sentencing phase, the jury must consider and vote on whether to impose it. Unfortunately, the decision of the jury must be unanimous—a single dissenting juror can prevent justice from being served,” Yoes continued.
Don Williams – Eric Williams’ father and the president of the non-profit Voices of J.O.E., which stands up for fallen correctional officers and seeks to create safer prisons – said that under current federal law, “a lone juror can make a biased decision that becomes irreversible.”
“This is not in keeping with the spirit of our ‘trial by jury.’ Eric’s Law allows that, just as in the guilt phase of a trial, during the sentencing phase if a jury deadlocks, the prosecution has the right to retry the case. This allows for a fair and equal system in our courts for the victims’ family as it does for the accused,” he said.
FILING: AS GUARD LAY DYING, INMATE STOLE GUM FROM HIS POCKET
The new bill is modeled after state laws already on the books in California and Arizona. The presidents of both the Law Enforcement Officers Association and the National Council of Prison Locals said they “applaud” Cruz for introducing the bill.
“This essential piece of legislation brings a common sense approach to both Officer safety and the rights of the victims of violent crime,” Shane Fausey, the national president of the National Council of Prison Locals, said.
Larry Cosme, president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, said that if the bill is passed into law, it would “ensure the full weight of the justice system can be brought to bear against some of our nation’s most dangerous criminals, particularly those that target law enforcement.”
SHOOTING OUTSIDE PHOENIX US COURT WOUNDS FEDERAL OFFICER
The ADX Supermax Prison in Florence, Colorado is a state-of-the-art isolation prison for repeat and high profile felony offenders (Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Sygma via Getty Images)
Con-Ui, 46, is currently being held at ADX Florence in Colorado, a supermax prison nicknamed the “Alcatraz of the Rockies.”
This undated photo provided by State Correctional Institution-Dallas via The Citizens’ Voice shows Jessie Con-Ui. (State Correctional Institution-Dallas/The Citizens’ Voice via AP)
The inmate said during his trial he was “sorry” that the killing caused “heartache and pain” and that he will always “feel shame for taking an innocent man’s life.” In previous testimony, he indicated that he killed Williams because he felt disrespected, according to the Times Leader at the time of the trial and sentencing.
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“The goal of the legislation is to seek unanimity in sentencing recommendations, whether that recommendation be for capital punishment, life in prison, or a lesser punishment. NAPO thanks Senator Cruz for his leadership on this important bill,” Bill Johnson, the executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations, said.
Politics
House Republicans accuse NIH of ‘stonewalling’ on ‘supercharged monkeypox experiment’
House Republicans are pressing the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for answers after the agency funded research experiments they say could result in a “supercharged” monkeypox virus.
In a letter to acting NIH Director Lawrence Tabak, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and two subcommittee chairmen are demanding that the agency turn over documents and information regarding a government-funded experiment that reportedly involves swapping monkepox genes with a deadlier version of the virus. The lawmakers want to know whether this project was approved by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) review board tasked with oversight of research involving enhanced pathogens that could potentially cause a pandemic.
This letter is a follow-up to an October 31, 2022, letter to which Republicans say the NIH never responded. GOP lawmakers accused NIH of “stonewalling” in a press release.
“Based on the available information, it appears the project is reasonably anticipated to yield a lab-generated monkeypox virus that is 1,000 times more lethal in mice than the monkeypox virus currently circulating in humans and that transmits as efficiently as the monkeypox virus currently circulating in humans. The risk-benefit ratio indicates potentially serious risks without clear civilian practical applications,” the Republicans wrote.
This image provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) shows a colorized transmission electron micrograph of monkeypox particles (red) found within an infected cell (blue), cultured in the laboratory that was captured and color-enhanced at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. (NIAID via AP, File)
“Accordingly, this experiment would seem to involve risks reasonably anticipated to create, transfer, or use [potential pandemic pathogens] resulting from the enhancement of a pathogen’s transmissibility or virulence in humans. Thus, under the circumstances, we are interested in learning whether this experiment was reviewed under the HHS P3CO framework used to review research proposals posing significant biosafety or biosecurity risks.”
The project leader is Dr. Bernard Moss, a veteran poxvirus researcher at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. An article in Science magazine described his efforts to learn the differences between two variants of monkeypox virus: clade 2, the West African variant that caused a global outbreak last year, and clade 1, which is believed to be deadlier and has caused outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo for decades.
Moss’ research involves swapping the genes of the two variants, one at a time, to discover whether a specific gene in the clade 1 virus makes it deadlier. The Republicans want to know whether these lab experiments could artificially enhance the clade 2 variant.
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This 1997 image provided by the CDC during an investigation into an outbreak of monkeypox, which took place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), formerly Zaire, depicts the dorsal surfaces of the hands of a monkeypox case patient, who was displaying the appearance of the characteristic rash during its recuperative stage. (CDC via AP, File)
Such research, known as “gain-of-function,” is highly controversial, because it involves extracting viruses from animals to artificially engineer in a laboratory to make them more transmissible and deadly to humans. Proponents say these experiments can help scientists understand the nature of viruses and develop new treatments and vaccines. Skeptics warn that gain-of-function experiments are one lab accident away from causing another global pandemic.
Moss did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
FOX NEWS POLL: MAJORITY SAYS BIDEN TRYING TO COVER UP ORIGINS OF COVID-19
Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, led a letter to acting NIH Director Lawrence Tabak demanding answers on a government-funded project involving a manipulated monkeypox virus. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“Human disease associated with clade 2 or West African monkeypox virus infection is less severe and is associated with less than one percent mortality, whereas clade 1 or Congo Basin monkeypox infection has a 10 percent case fatality rate in unvaccinated persons,” the Republicans wrote. “Because of its significantly greater lethality, clade 1 or Congo Basin clade monkeypox viruses are regulated as select agents by the Federal Select Agents Program. Entities that possess, use, or transfer this agent must comply with the HHS Select Agent and Toxin Regulations unless there is an applicable exemption or exclusion.
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“Thus,” the letter continues, “under these regulations, it would appear the clade 1 monkeypox virus experiment is a restricted experiment that must be reviewed by the Federal Select Agent Program, and may be further reviewed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention‘s (CDC’s) Intragovernmental Select Agents and Toxins Technical Advisory Committee (ISATTAC).”
The Republicans want NIH officials and employees to testify about Moss’ project and other related matters. They gave NIH an April 13, 2023, deadline to respond to their inquiry.
Politics
DeSantis targets Biden in swing state Pennsylvania, says Democratic Party ‘dead’ in Florida
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took multiple jabs at President Biden on Saturday during a stump speech in Pennsylvania.
DeSantis, speaking at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference 2023, called Biden a “floundering leader” and said the president’s poor performance contributed to Republican gains.
“We are in the highest percentage of the vote that any Republican candidate for governor has ever received in the history of the state of Florida,” DeSantis told the audience. “We were able to flip Democrat counties or urban counties like Miami-Dade County. And not only did we flip it, we won it by double digits.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference. (Screenshot/)
“It’s been a massive defeat for the Democratic Party,” the Florida governor said. “They did not want to see Florida go red. They threw everything but the kitchen sink to stop us. And yet, we have left the Democratic Party for dead in the state of Florida.”
The Florida governor has been walking a political tightrope for months as he refuses to officially declare his candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
At the same time, he has butted heads with both the Biden administration and former President Donald Trump’s campaign — both of whom view him as a rival for the presidency.
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In speeches this year, the governor has pitched his numerous conservative policy victories in Florida as a roadmap for the entire nation.
Sources in DeSantis’ wider orbit have said that any presidential campaign launch would come in the late spring or early summer, after the end of Florida’s current legislative session.
However, the governor’s recent stops in the early-voting states of Iowa and Nevada and a trip next month to New Hampshire are sparking more 2024 speculation.
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President Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis touring an area impacted by Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers Beach, Florida, in October 2022. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
DeSantis said earlier this week that his state “will not assist” in any extradition request by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg amid what he called “questionable circumstances” while slamming the charges against Trump as “un-American” and a “weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda.”
The former president and 2024 Republican presidential candidate was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on Thursday after a years-long investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
Politics
Biden visits University of Pennsylvania campus for the first time since classified documents controversy
President Biden on Saturday visited the campus of the University of Pennsylvania for the first time since a controversy over the discovery of classified documents at the Penn Biden Center in Washington D.C.
Biden and first lady Jill Biden stopped by the university to visit Maisy Biden’s senior art show at a university gallery. It marks the first time Biden has visited the campus since the emergence in November of documents with classified markings at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, D.C.
Those documents were said to be from the Obama-Biden administration and were discovered “unexpectedly” by Biden’s personal attorneys. The emergence of the documents was followed by assessments by the FBI and Department of Justice.
BIDEN HAS ‘NO COMMENT’ ON TRUMP INDICTMENT
President Biden talks with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington Friday, March 31, 2023, before boarding Marine One. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
In January, the Department of Justice announced it was investigating the discovery of the documents, and Attorney General Merrick Garland said he was appointing Robert Hur as special counsel.
Attorneys also found batches of documents at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware. Four batches of classified materials have been found in Biden’s possession in total, dating from both his time as vice president and as a senator from Delaware.
DOJ SEARCHES BIDEN DELAWARE BEACH HOME AMID CLASSIFIED DOCUMENT INVESTIGATION
In February, FBI agents searched Biden’s vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, for three and a half hours but did not find additional classified documents. The search was carried out on Hur’s first day on the job as special counsel.
Biden has addressed the controversy, saying his team is cooperating fully with the DOJ and suggested that his staff was to blame for not finding the documents when he left office in 2017.
WHITE HOUSE STONEWALLS FOX NEWS’ PETER DOOCY ON BIDEN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS: ‘WHY DID HE DO IT?’
President Biden delivers remarks during a meeting with Democratic congressional leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House Jan. 24, 2023. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“But one of the things that happened is that what was not done well is as they packed up my offices to move them, they didn’t do the kind of job that should have been done to go thoroughly through every single piece of literature that’s there,” Biden said. “But I’ll just let the investigation, you know, decide what’s going on, and we’ll see what happens.”
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House Republicans have promised to investigate Biden’s handling of classified materials, with Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., telling Fox News that “nothing that Joe Biden’s done with respect to mishandling these classified documents is normal.”
Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo and Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report.
House Republicans accuse NIH of ‘stonewalling’ on ‘supercharged monkeypox experiment’
DeSantis targets Biden in swing state Pennsylvania, says Democratic Party ‘dead’ in Florida
Biden visits University of Pennsylvania campus for the first time since classified documents controversy
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