TEXAS
Jail video released in response to rumors
Texas officials released hours of footage Tuesday showing Sandra Bland inside the Waller County Jail in the days before she was found dead in her cell. The release, officials said, was intended to combat unfounded rumors online that Bland was dead when her mugshot was taken.
Bland, a 28-year-old African American woman, was arrested July 10 after a routine traffic stop turned confrontational. She was found dead in her jail cell three days later.
Speculation about her mug shot began circulating last week, when some social media users claimed that Bland’s mug shot might have been a photograph of her corpse lying on the floor.
“You will see in the video today that shows Sandra Bland was alive and well when her mug shot was taken,” Waller County Judge Trey Duhon said at a news conference Tuesday. Duhon said that county officials received death threats after the rumors about Bland began circulating online.
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Bland’s death has been classified by the Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office as suicide by hanging.
The video shows Bland entering the facility in a police vehicle, then being processed at the booking desk. She is escorted into a bathroom, where she changes into an orange jumpsuit. Throughout the video, parts of which were played during the news conference, Bland appears to be wiping away tears.
— Abby Phillip
NEW YORK
Prison worker pleads guilty in escape case
A prison worker who was involved with two inmates convicted of murder tearfully pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of aiding them by smuggling hacksaw blades and other tools to the pair, who broke out and spent three weeks on the run.
Joyce Mitchell, an instructor in the tailor shop at the Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York, wore shackles and prison stripes as she entered the pleas in a barely audible voice.
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Mitchell’s attorney, Stephen Johnston, said afterward that she realizes she made a “horrible mistake” by getting involved with Richard Matt and David Sweat, who escaped from the maximum-security prison June 6.
Matt was shot and killed by searchers June 26, about 30 miles west of the prison. Sweat was captured near the Canadian border two days later and sent to another prison.
Share this articleShareMitchell, 51, faces a sentence of 2
to seven years in prison under terms of a plea deal with prosecutors. Sentencing is set for Sept. 28. Johnston said his client will not be able to post the bail of $100,000 cash or $200,000 bond.
— Associated Press
FLORIDA
23-year-old man faces terror charges
A man described by the FBI as an Islamic State sympathizer who hoped to mount attacks on U.S. soil was charged Tuesday with plotting to detonate a nail-filled backpack bomb on a Florida beach.
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A criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday charges 23-year-old Harlem Suarez of Key West with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in the United States. If convicted, he could face a maximum punishment of life in prison.
Authorities say Suarez came to the FBI’s attention through his Facebook posts praising the Islamic State group and containing extremist rhetoric.
Suarez made his first court appearance Tuesday in Miami and was being held without bail. A detention hearing is set for next week. His temporary attorney, Richard Della Fera, said in an e-mail that Suarez “may be a troubled and confused young man, but he is certainly not a terrorist.”
Suarez was arrested Monday after taking possession of an inert explosive device provided by an FBI informant
— Associated Press
Boy, 15, arrested in death of girl, 8: Authorities have arrested a 15-year-old boy in connection with the death of an 8-year-old girl missing since Sunday whose body was discovered in a recycling bin at a residential complex in Santa Cruz, Calif. Madyson Middleton was last seen Sunday evening riding a scooter at the Tannery Arts Center, which offers affordable housing to artists, Santa Cruz police said. Middleton knew the boy who lured her to his apartment and killed her, police said.
— Reuters
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