TX Inmate Facing Execution Files Last Minute Appeal: A Texas man set to be executed Tuesday evening is making a last minute appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to consider whether his life should be spared because he is mentally impaired. The AP reports that 33-year-old Adam Ward was sentenced to death for the 2005 murder of 44-year-old code enforcement officer Michael Walker, who was taking photos of junk outside the Ward family home when Ward fatally shot him nine times. Ward argues that he was defending himself when he killed Walker, though Walker was found with no weapons on him. State attorneys say the evidence shows Ward's IQ is as high as 123 and that the late appeal is improper and without merit because it did not raise a new issue. If the high court does not intervene, Ward will be the fifth person executed this year in Texas and ninth nationally. Update: The U.S. Supreme Court has denied two petitions from Ward, along with accompanying motions for stay of execution: a petition to review the decision of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and a habeas corpus petition filed directly in the Supreme Court.
MS-13 Linked to 8 D.C.-area Homicides: Authorities have linked at least eight homicides in Virginia and Maryland to the notoriously violent MS-13 street gang, also known as Mara Salvatrucha, sparking renewed concern that the gang is reasserting its dominance in the Washington metropolitan area. Andrea Noble of the Washington Times reports that gang analysts attribute the recent spike in MS-13 violence to a failed gang truce in El Salvador as well as the surge in unaccompanied minors from Central America, who make "prime recruitment targets." The discovered connection between MS-13 and the D.C.-area murders comes as one of the largest trials of MS-13 gang members in Northern Virginia begins this week, involving 13 gang members facing charges related to three murders and an attempted murder.
Little Done to Degrade ISIS, says ex-CIA Director: On the heels of Tuesday's deadly terrorist attack in Brussels that killed dozens and injured hundreds, for which the Islamic State claimed responsibility, former CIA deputy director Michael Morell said that the Obama administration has "done very, very little to degrade" the terror group since the November Paris attacks. Jenna Lifhits of the Free Beacon reports that Morell says it is safe to assume that ISIS is in the process of attempting to building a "large" and "sophisticated" network in the U.S. as it has in Europe, and though it will be difficult to establish the same kind of presence it has in Europe, it is still possible. Morell noted that although the Obama administration did ramp up its fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria following the Paris attacks, it still has not done enough "to degrade their ability to attack us in the West."
MS-13 Linked to 8 D.C.-area Homicides: Authorities have linked at least eight homicides in Virginia and Maryland to the notoriously violent MS-13 street gang, also known as Mara Salvatrucha, sparking renewed concern that the gang is reasserting its dominance in the Washington metropolitan area. Andrea Noble of the Washington Times reports that gang analysts attribute the recent spike in MS-13 violence to a failed gang truce in El Salvador as well as the surge in unaccompanied minors from Central America, who make "prime recruitment targets." The discovered connection between MS-13 and the D.C.-area murders comes as one of the largest trials of MS-13 gang members in Northern Virginia begins this week, involving 13 gang members facing charges related to three murders and an attempted murder.
Little Done to Degrade ISIS, says ex-CIA Director: On the heels of Tuesday's deadly terrorist attack in Brussels that killed dozens and injured hundreds, for which the Islamic State claimed responsibility, former CIA deputy director Michael Morell said that the Obama administration has "done very, very little to degrade" the terror group since the November Paris attacks. Jenna Lifhits of the Free Beacon reports that Morell says it is safe to assume that ISIS is in the process of attempting to building a "large" and "sophisticated" network in the U.S. as it has in Europe, and though it will be difficult to establish the same kind of presence it has in Europe, it is still possible. Morell noted that although the Obama administration did ramp up its fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria following the Paris attacks, it still has not done enough "to degrade their ability to attack us in the West."
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