Also on today’s menu:
Belmont Man Linked To Franklin Shooter
Record Snowfall On Mount Washington
‘Not Dead Yet’ In Ecuador
Donald Trump flew from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, to Miami, Florida, on June 12 to meet his court appearance today on charges of mishandling national security files.
Over the weekend, the former president said the criminal charges amounted to election interference by the “corrupt” FBI and Justice Department. His supporters have tried to portray the charges as political oppression by “Biden’s Justice Department” rather than acknowledging that it was a grand jury, and not the president, who found the allegations credible enough to merit a court trial.
Special Counsel Jack Smith, appointed to lead the case as a further way of insulating the prosecution from politics, urged Americans to review the indictments and judge for themselves how credible the charges are. There is ample evidence that Trump willfully retained classified documents, and the conspiracy and obstruction charges are supported by testimony from those close to him and even by Trump’s own recorded words.
That may be enough for conviction, but former U.S. attorney Joyce Vance has speculated that the government may want to avoid the potential release of the classified information at trial or by Trump’s own comments, and might want to work out a plea agreement that prevents him from serving actual jail time.
In her most recent post, Vance goes a bit into the weeds to explain the problems with bringing charges in classified documents cases.
Belmont Man Linked To Franklin Shooter
Police have connected 28-year-old Justin Gebo, 28, of Belmont with the CZ Scorpion EVO short-barreled rifle recovered from the scene of the fatal shooting on Elkins Street in Franklin that took the life of Nicole Hughes and her 18-month-old daughter, Ariella Bell, and injured Hughes’ five-year-old daughter. The shooter, Jamie Bell, was found dead alongside the Merrimack River, with the autopsy concluding that he died of a self-inflicted incised wound of the neck. (InDepthNH.org initially reported that he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.) Authorities have not yet said that Gabo’s gun was the one used in the shootings, but the U.S. Attorney-General’s Office investigating the case traced the weapon found at the scene to Gebo, who purchased it in January.
Gebo is a convicted felon and is facing three felony counts, being in possession of a firearm while under indictment, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and being a user of illegal drugs in possession of a firearm.
Investigators say Gebo and Bell had known each other for the last 20 years and that, according to Gebo, Bell was using methamphetamines and anabolic steroids at the time of the murders. He said Bell was paranoid and believed Ariella Bell was not biologically related to him.
Record Snowfall On Mount Washington
Mount Washington, known for its extreme weather conditions, has recorded its snowiest June in 91 years of record-keeping — 8.4 inches as of June 10 — and, with another low pressure system bringing cold air in the days ahead, that total could go higher.
The Mount Washington Observatory sits on the summit, at 6,288 feet. It has recorded the world’s worst weather conditions.
Saturday’s snowfall had mostly melted by June 12, as warmer weather returned, but there remains a chance of more snow before summer temperatures are more prevalent.
‘Not Dead Yet’ In Ecuador
A doctor at a hospital in Babahoyo, Ecuador, declared 76-year-old Bella Montoya dead following a suspected stroke, but following a five-hour vigil before her planned funeral, relatives opened the coffin to find the woman gasping for air.
After calling for an ambulance, firefighters arrived to take Montoya back to the hospital, where she was placed in intensive care. Her son, Gilbert Balberán, said she was placed on oxygen, and her heart was stable. “The doctor pinched her hand and she reacted. They tell me that’s good because it means she is reacting little by little,” he told the newspaper El Universo.
He said that, earlier, the doctor had issued a death certificate, saying she had died of cardiopulmonary arrest after suffering a stroke.
The BBC noted that, in February, an 82-year-old woman at a funeral home in New York had been found to be breathing after having been pronounced dead three hours earlier at a nursing home.
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