Gabriel Mahia

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Jury deliberations are set to begin in the trial of an inmate accused of leading a riot at Delaware’s maximum-security prison during which a guard was killed and other staffers taken hostage. Jurors were scheduled to start deliberating the fate of Roman Shankaras on Wednesday morning after hearing closing arguments from attorneys and receiving final instructions from the judge Tuesday afternoon. Depending on the jury’s verdict, Shankaras, 32, could soon walk out of prison, having recently completed a 7-year sentence for unrelated riot and robbery charges, or he could spend the rest of his life behind bars. RELATED:  Arizona Prisons Ban Book On Black Men In The Justice System Prosecutors acknowledged that there is no evidence that Shankaras participated in the killing of guard Steven Floyd during a February 2017 uprising in which two other guards were assaulted. They argued, however, that he can be convicted under the “accomplice liability” doctrine. Under th...

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Another Olympic medalist has criticized the IAAF’s testosterone regulations and said she will refuse to take hormone-reducing medication. Margaret Wambui of Kenya, who won bronze in the 800 meters behind Caster Semenya at the 2016 Olympics, said she is affected by the new rules but won’t take “any type of medication” to lower her natural testosterone. Without medication or surgery, some female runners won’t be allowed to compete at anymore international meetings this season, including this year’s world championships. RELATED:  Olympian Caster Semenya Loses Landmark Case Over Testosterone Levels “It’s wrong of (the) IAAF to ask us to take medicine to alter our natural body function,” Wambui said Tuesday, speaking Swahili in an interview in Kenya. She said she was unsure what side effects any medication or treatment might have on her. The 23-year-old Wambui, the world junior champion in the 800 in 2014, compared the regulations to “losing your job.” “This ruling...

(AP Photo) ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — For the first time in 42 years, the Bills have a player wearing O.J. Simpson ‘s former No. 32. Running back Senorise Perry wore the jersey number at Buffalo’s spring practices this week. Simpson, whose name remains on the Bills Wall of Fame, served nine years for armed robbery and assault after confronting two sports collectibles dealers at a Las Vegas casino hotel in September 2007. The Pro Football Hall of Famer was acquitted of two counts of murder in the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife and her friend Ron Goldman, but a civil court jury found him liable for wrongful death and ordered him to pay $33.5 million. [ione_media_gallery id="758119" overlay="true"] HEAD BACK TO THE BLACKAMERICAWEB.COM HOMEPAGE from News – Black America Web http://bit.ly/2Jxr6Og via IFTTT

(The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP) VISTA, Calif. (AP) — A female hitchhiker who accused former NFL player Kellen Winslow Jr. of raping her after he picked her up testified Tuesday that she did not flee or defend herself because the muscular football star had threatened to kill her. Winslow’s attorneys said the two had consensual sex and suggested she had a drinking problem. They said she has given inconsistent statements and lied to the jury about being sober for 30 years, pointing out that she has been arrested 11 times for public intoxication. The woman, identified as Jane Doe 1, is the first of five accusers expected to take the stand. RELATED:  Rape Trial Starting For Ex-NFL Player Kellen Winslow Jr. Winslow is accused of raping three women and exposing himself to two others. All are expected to testify. The former football star, and son of Hall of Famer Kellen Winslow, has pleaded not guilty to 12 counts. The 55-year-old Jane Doe 1 described in detail how Winslow drove her ...

(AP Photo) WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris is offering a new bill to address racial disparities in maternal health care, one of several plans by 2020 Democratic presidential candidates on the issue. Harris’ bill, first introduced in 2018, would create some $150 million in grant programs to medical schools and states to fight implicit racial bias in health care for women. The legislation, co-sponsored in the House by Rep. Alma Adams, D-N.C., is aimed at improving medical care for groups of women who, research suggests, might be denied first rate care because of their race. The  government confirmed this month  that black women who bear children die at a rate that is three times higher than that of white women. Native American and Alaskan women die at a rate that is 2 1/2 times higher than that of white women. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about 700 women in the U.S. die from pregnancy-related complications annually. Tennis star  Serena Wil...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden would support Congress enshrining abortion rights into federal law “should it become necessary,” his presidential campaign said Tuesday, following several other Democratic candidates in promising to take that step if elected president. The hot-button issue has shot to the forefront of the Democratic primary following a spate of new Republican-backed state laws curbing access to abortion. With all the two dozen Democratic White House hopefuls supportive of abortion rights, the debate in the party has centered on how aggressive they should be if the Supreme Court were to eventually overturn legalized abortion nationwide. Biden released a video on Tuesday blasting the GOP-backed state laws as “pernicious” and “wrong.” He stopped short in the video of endorsing congressional action and offered no specifics on how he would defend Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that is now potentially threatened with new legal challenges. States across the n...

DALLAS (AP) — The shooting deaths of two transgender women and the stabbing of a third are being investigated to determine whether they are connected, police in Dallas said Tuesday. No arrests have been made. The most recent killing occurred over the weekend. “These cases, although not directly related at this time, do have some similarities the public needs to be aware of,” Maj. Vincent Weddington said during a news conference . He added that Dallas police will work with federal law enforcement officers to determine if any of the attacks should be considered hate crimes. Muhlaysia Booker, 23, was found shot to death Saturday in northeastern Dallas. Her death came a month after a cellphone video showed her being brutally beaten in a separate incident. The other killing occurred last October. A transgender woman was found shot to death in a vehicle parked near an elementary school in far southeastern Dallas, police said. In the stabbing, a transgender woman survived after being cut repe...

Dominique Clayton was a 32-year-old mother of four in Oxford, Mississippi. On Sunday, she was reportedly murdered inside her home. Her body was found by her children. WREG is reporting an Oxford Police officer named Mathew Kinne has been arrested and charged with murder. Investigators claim it is possible the two were in a relationship. Jeff McCutchen, interim chief with the Oxford Police Department said, “We want to assure you that we will not hide behind our badge. Our hearts go out to the family of Dominique Clayton. To the family, we thank you for your patience and your trust in us to see this through.” There have not been many details releases about her death but WREG says, “A family member said Monday that Clayton’s body was lying on her bed and there was a lot of blood on the back of her head.” Dominique’s sister Shyjaun Clayton said she’s disappointed there aren’t more details about Kinne’s arrest, saying, “Hopefully he’ll get convicted. We’ll get justice for my sister.” See...

VISTA, Calif. (AP) — The credibility of the first of five women expected to testify at the rape trial of former NFL player Kellen Winslow Jr. was called into question Tuesday after she testified she had been sober for 30 years and defense attorneys showed the judge she had been arrested 11 times for public intoxication since 2003. The woman testified that Winslow, 35, had raped her after he picked her up hitchhiking in March of 2018 in Encinitas, north of San Diego. She is one of three women who told authorities they were raped by Winslow. Two others say he exposed himself or acted lewdly. All are expected to testify. Winslow has pleaded not guilty to 12 counts. The 55-year-old witness, called Jane Doe. 1 in court, described fearing for her life after being picked up by Winslow and told he was going to force her to have sex with him. “He threatened to kill me, and I really believed that he would have,” she testified. Defense lawyers have argued the sex was consensual and told jurors t...

The California mother who confronted the racist bullies harassing her child inside their middle school classroom, is now speaking out to  Inside Edition  — claiming she was simply protecting her daughter. Christian Tinsley entered the 8th grade classroom at Niguel Hills Middle School during second period and threatened students she believed were bullying her 13-year-old daughter, Jade,  CBS Los Angeles reported. Tinsley said one of the male students had sexually harassed her child, and that was the final straw, promoting her to confront the situation head on. A mother has been banned from a Laguna Niguel school after she was caught on cell phone video Tuesday threatening a classroom full of students regarding the alleged bullying of her daughter. https://t.co/Ig2xXE5kMS — CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) May 15, 2019 “If you all bully my daughter, if you look at her the wrong way, if you breathe the wrong way, send your mom to me,” Tinsley can be heard saying in a vide...

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona has banned prisoners from reading a book that discusses the impact of the criminal justice system on black men, drawing outcry from First Amendment advocates who say the move is censorship. The American Civil Liberties Union called on the Arizona Department of Corrections this week to rescind the ban on “Chokehold: Policing Black Men.” The book by Paul Butler, a former federal prosecutor, examines law enforcement and mass incarceration through its treatment of African American men. (The New Press via The AP) “In order for them to ban a book, they have to show the restriction is related to a legitimate prison interest,” said Emerson Sykes, an ACLU attorney. “There’s no interest to keep inmates from learning about the criminal justice system and policing.” RELATED: 3 Strikes Sentencing Reform Leaves Out Washington Inmates Butler, a criminal law professor at Georgetown University, said his publisher was notified by email in March that his book had “unauthorized con...

(AP Photo) JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge who struck down Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban last year is hearing arguments about a new law that puts the ban even earlier. The law would prohibit most abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, at about six weeks, when many women may not know they’re pregnant. Republican Gov. Phil Bryant signed it in March, and the state’s only abortion clinic, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, sued the state. U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves is hearing arguments Tuesday on the clinic’s request that he block the law from taking effect July 1. It was unclear whether Reeves would issue an immediate decision. Governors in Kentucky, Ohio and Georgia have signed bans on abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected. Alabama’s governor signed a measure making abortion a felony in nearly all cases. The Mississippi law says physicians who perform abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected could face revocation of their state medical licenses...

                         (The Fort Worth Police Department via AP) FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Authorities say police visited the motel room of a Texas man suspected of kidnapping an 8-year-old girl but didn’t see the child, who was eventually found safe about two hours later. Michael Webb is charged with aggravated kidnapping after authorities say he snatched the girl as she walked with her mother Saturday night in Fort Worth. The child was found early Sunday at the motel in nearby Forest Hill. The Star-Telegram reports Forest Hill officers questioned the man after a motel clerk called police, but they left when they didn’t see the child. Officers returned at about 2 a.m. Sunday after receiving another tip and found the girl inside the room. Forest Hill Police Chief Dan Dennis says the department is looking into the officers’ handling of the earlier call. [ione_media_gallery id="260086" overlay="true"] HEAD BACK TO THE BLACK...

( Simon & Schuster via AP) NEW YORK (AP) — Susan E. Rice , the former national security adviser and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has a book coming out this fall. “Tough Love” will be published Oct. 8, Simon & Schuster announced Tuesday. She will reflect on challenges and controversies that arose during the Obama administration , including the deadly 2012 raid on a diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. Conservatives would accuse her of making misleading remarks about the attack, the subject of extensive, Republican-led investigations. Rice said in a statement that becoming “synonymous with Benghazi” made her anxious to tell her story. According to the publisher, she has written an “inspiring account” of her public and private life and will offer advice on how an African-American woman can compete in a field where few share her background. [ione_media_gallery id="44472" overlay="true"] HEAD BACK TO THE BLACKAMERICAWEB.COM HOMEPAGE from News – Black...

The uplifting news this week is about Theo Shaw , a member of the Jena 6, who has been sworn in as an attorney. In 2006, Shaw and five other Black teenage boys made national headlines after they were charged with attempted murder following a fight with a White student from their Jena, Louisiana high school. Unable to make bail, Shaw spent seven months in jail awaiting trial. The original felony charge was lowered to misdemeanor simple battery. He pleaded no contest, and his record was later expunged. Inspired by that experience to help fix the criminal justice system, Shaw later went on to study law at the University of Washington on a full scholarship. After completing a clerkship with Louisiana Chief Justice Bernette Johnson, Shaw was recently sworn in to the bar of the District of Columbia. Shaw said, “Being wrongly arrested and incarcerated as a teenager motivated me to become a lawyer.” Congratulation Mr. Shaw on your major success! Your heroic efforts can help push against the cr...

(AP Photo) OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — A small group of inmates , disproportionately black, are set to stay in Washington state prisons for life — left out of the latest in a multi-year wave of reforms easing tough-on-crime “three strikes” laws around the U.S. At least 24 states including Washington passed such laws during the 1990s, embracing tough-on-crime rhetoric. But nearly half have since scaled them back amid concern that habitual but less-violent offenders were being stuck behind bars for life with hardcore felons . RELATED:  Judge Orders More Sleep For San Francisco Area Jail Inmates Washington’s 1993 three-strikes law was among the first and stands out as among the nation’s strictest. But lawmakers targeted it for reform this year with legislation removing second-degree robbery — generally defined as a robbery without a deadly weapon or significant injury — from the list of crimes qualifying for cumulative life sentences. But while the original reform included a retroactive cla...

(Rachel Short via AP) ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Seniors from a Colorado high school where a student was killed trying to stop a shooting nearly two weeks ago graduated Monday. STEM School Highlands Ranch held its commencement ceremony at a Denver Broncos training facility and honored 18-year-old Kendrick Castillo , who was fatally shot when he and two classmates tackled one of the two gunmen May 7. The shooting came during the last week of classes for Castillo and his fellow seniors. Valedictorian Emma Goodwill said Monday the attack does not define the school, although she will take the events with her through life. “It was an attack on so many things, but it was also an attack on this common ideological foundation that was fundamentally the center of our school: mutual respect for our peers’ individuality. A love for each student’s personal and particular nature,” she said. “However, Kendrick’s personal nature was not shaken. He continued to love and to protect just as he had. Kendri...

(Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office via AP) PHOENIX (AP) — A former nurse charged with sexually assaulting an incapacitated woman who later gave birth at a Phoenix long-term care facility has appealed a court order requiring a test to determine if he has HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases . A lawyer for Nathan Sutherland says in an appeal filed last week that a lower-court order should be overturned because there is no evidence to suggest his client has a sexually transmitted disease. Attorney Edwin Molina says such a test would violate Sutherland’s constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting Sutherland, declined to comment on the appeal. Prosecutors have previously cited a state law that says people accused of sexual assault are subject to tests to determine whether they have a sexually transmitted disease. Such results are to be released to the victims. Authorities say Sutherland, 37, was ...

Magic Johnson definitely has more to say about his time with the Los Angeles Lakers as President of Basketball Operations and his stunning, out of nowhere, resignation. Back on April 25 that he shocked that Lakers fans and the NBA with his announcement at what’s being infamously referred to as the “I’m not gonna be here” press conference. Shortly afterwards, he tweeted these words: “The truth will always come to light.” Well, today we’re finding out just exactly what he meant. Johnson appeared on ESPN’s “First Take” and wasted no time coming with the goods. First,  he pointed the finger at GM Rob Pelinka, who he said was the source of his “betrayal” within the Lakers organization. Johnson claimed Pelinka said – behind Johnson’s back – that he wasn’t working hard enough and wasn’t in the franchise’s office enough. “If you’re going to talk betrayal, it’s only with Rob [Pelinka].” — @magicjohnson on the Lakers pic.twitter.com/K0sSLK2rhB — First Take (@FirstTake) May 20, 2019 ...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders made an appeal Monday to black voters in the Deep South, stopping at a historically African American church and calling health care a “human right” that he equated to the civil rights movement. Speaking before a racially diverse crowd at Mt. Zion Church AME Church in Alabama’s capital, Sanders renewed his calls for extending health care coverage to all Americans and reducing student debt. “Just as civil rights is a human right, health care is a human right,” Sanders said to loud applause. The crowd for his midday speech was about half white despite the church’s deep ties to the civil rights movement. Wrapping up a four-state swing that included stops in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, the Vermont senator is working to strengthen his support among black voters who comprise most of the Democratic primary electorate in many Southern states. Mt. Zion’s old location played a key role in the 1950s’ Montgome...