Tag: pennsylvania

Three Pennsylvania men who have spent decades in prison for rape and murder of elderly woman in her home have their convictions overturned

Three Pennsylvania men who were imprisoned for decades in the 1997 slaying of a 70-year-old woman – despite their DNA never matching that found at the scene – have had their convictions overturned by a judge.

The Delaware County judge threw out the convictions for Derrick Chappell – who was 15 when he was arrested – and first cousins Morton Johnson and Sam Grasty. The District Attorney is now reviewing the case to see if a new trial is necessary.  

Chappel, Johnson, and Grasty were each convicted in separate trials for the murder of Henrietta Nickens, a 70 year old woman who was brutally killed at her home in Chester, Pennsylvania, on October 10, 1997.

Nickens was savagely beaten and had had her underwear removed. Investigators found her home ransacked and blood on the walls and bedding. 

A mysterious green jacket, in the pocket of which was cocaine, was found on top of Nickens’ television set.

Investigators discovered semen in the woman’s rectum. They tested the semen and found that it didn’t belong to any of the three arrested individuals.

The prosecutors, who have been characterized as pugnacious, sought to separate the recovered semen from the crime. They affirmed that the semen might have originated from consensual intercourse and was unrelated to the murder. 

Nickens had been chronically ill and had no known sexual partners. 

The prosecution’s case against Chappel, Johnson, and Grastly hinged on the testimony of key witness Richard McElwee, who was 15 years old at the time of the crime.

McElwee testified that he functioned as a lookout while the three older boys pilfered Nickens of $30.

In exchange for his testimony, McElwee pled guilty to third-degree murder, as well as other charges. He was sentenced to serve six to 12 years in prison in 1999.

In 2000 and 2001, Chappel, Johnson, and Grasty were each convicted of second-degree murder, and they were sentenced to life in prison.

Over the course of their more than two decades-long prison stint, the three men have continued to protest their innocence.

Each of them filed pro se petitions in federal court over the years saying they were wrongly convicted, but their petitions were denied.

The fate of Chappel, Johnson, and Grasty drew the attention of many organizations dedicated to freeing wrongly convicted men and women.

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Court Rules Undated Ballots CANNOT BE COUNTED in Pennsylvania Elections – Sanity Prevails!

The Third US Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday ruled that mail-in ballots with no dates cannot be counted by Pennsylvania election officials.

Democrats use this tactic frequently to add more ballots to their candidate’s totals following election day.

This stops the Democrat Party insanity and lawlessness for now...

The entire ruling is linked below.

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‘Major Win’ – Amish Farmer Persecuted By Feds Can Now Sell Raw Milk Out-of-State

Amos Miller, an Amish farmer in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, will be allowed to sell his raw milk products out-of-state following a ruling this week by Lancaster County Judge Thomas Sponaugle.

Attorney and podcast host Robert Barnes, who represents Miller in the case, labeled the decision a “major win” for the farmer.

“Court agreed to modify injunction so that it only applies within the state of Pennsylvania removing the ban on sales to customers outside state,” he wrote, thanking Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for their support.

The Kentucky congressman responded on X, writing, “Congrats! A small win, but a win nonetheless for Amos Miller . Why is the government is spending resources prosecuting an Amish farmer who sells to willing buyers when we have so many real problems at the moment? We should empower small farmers instead of prosecuting them.”

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The Witch Hunt Begins In Pennsylvania – The Thought Police Are Coming For You

You probably know that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has the charge to protect America’s “critical infrastructure”. You probably also understand that to mean they should be stopping terrorists from blowing up things like nuclear power plants, bridges and dams. You are unlikely to understand that DHS believes it is supposed to “protect” America’s “cognitive infrastructure” and that this means censoring your free speech and preventing you from disseminating ideas or opinions with which DHS disagrees.

DHS believes it has the power to silence you, and it has been doing so for some time now.

Within DHS is an entity called the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). CISA has for some time now been working with private entities to silence anyone who strays from the official government-approved narrative. The Attorney General of Louisiana described it this way in testimony before Congress.

“The First Amendment clearly states that “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech.” This means that the government has no power to restrict expression because of its message, ideas, subject matter, or content. The U.S. Supreme Court also firmly established that “the Constitution ‘demands that content-based restrictions on speech be presumed invalid … and that the Government bear the burden of showing their constitutionality.” United States v. Alvarez, 567 U.S. 709, 716-717 (2012) (plurality op.). Yet in our lawsuit we have uncovered a censorship enterprise so vast that it spans over a dozen significant government institutions, including the White House, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Department of State’s Global Engagement Center (GEC), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Publicly, these federal actors have justified their deeds in the name of protecting the public against “misinformation” and “disinformation,” when in fact it is done to suppress disfavored views…”

“To understand the framework of these activities, we must first look at the way censorship has been approached by those actively engaged in it. For example, CISA — an agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — has classified the thoughts, ideas, and beliefs of the American public as “critical infrastructure.” In an effort to control, manage, and maintain these cognitive assets, CISA serves as a “switchboard” for sending disfavored information from state and local officials to the necessary social media company to ensure content-moderation policies are applied. As a result, America’s “cognitive infrastructure” can be maintained in the same way that the DHS might protect the nation’s physical infrastructure from outside threats; but in this case, CISA aims to protect our collective consciousness from independent thought and inquiry at the individual level…”

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Pennsylvania Police Settle Lawsuit With Woman Forced to Undergo ‘Humiliating’ Strip-Search

Pennsylvania police officers have reached a settlement with a woman who says she underwent an unnecessary and humiliating strip-search after she was pulled over for a minor traffic violation. 

According to a lawsuit filed in 2021, Holly Elish was traveling through Bentlyville, Pennsylvania, on her way home from work when she was pulled over by local police officer Brian Rousseau.

When Rousseau pulled Elish over, he quickly asked for consent to search her vehicle, which Elish denied. According to the lawsuit, Rousseau responded that “he had the right to search her vehicle.” Soon after, a second police officer arrived on the scene. The two men again asked to search Elish’s vehicle, telling her that even more officers would soon arrive.

“Fearing for her safety and knowing that the police did not have justification to search her vehicle yet were insistent and intimidating in attempting to do so, Ms. Elish allowed the vehicle search to occur under duress and coercion,” the complaint states.

The officers searched Elish’s car but found no sign of drugs, illegal weapons, or other contraband. However, that wasn’t enough for the officers to let Elish go. A female police officer—unnamed in the suit—had arrived on the scene, and after having a brief conversation with the other officers began to strip-search Elish.

The officer “began the strip search by physically and visually inspecting Ms. Elish’s breasts,” according to the complaint. Elish then had “to remove her pants and underwear to her ankles and ‘squat’ to the ground, during which she bent down to the ground with one knee and performed a visual cavity inspection.”

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PEMA Director Reports There Have Been UFO Sightings In Pennsylvania

A Pennsylvania House Appropriations Committee hearing meeting last week left some lawmakers laughing, though maybe a little nervously. 

Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency Director Randy Padfield, in response to a Democratic lawmaker’s question, said Wednesday:

“We have had reports of unidentified flying objects in the past. Sometimes they are attributable to astronomic [sic] phenomena, or astrologic [sic] phenomena. But we look at actually making sure that we’re sharing that information with the proper authorities. We have a great relationship with the Pennsylvania State Police and obviously local law enforcement.”

This seemed to have left Majority Appropriations Chair Jordan Harris (D-Philadelphia) a bit gobsmacked at the revelation, who asked Padfield to elaborate a bit, as the two had a light back and forth about what “most” sightings, and those not included in “most,” can be attributed to. 

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Police: Pennsylvania Judge Shoots Ex-Boyfriend in Head, Shot Ex-Husband 5 Years Earlier

A Pennsylvania judge is accused of shooting her ex-boyfriend in the head while he slept — just a few years after being cleared of criminal intent for shooting her ex-husband.

Michael McCoy, 54, is now blind in one eye after being shot in his Harrisburg-area home on February 9, reports the New York Post. 

Dauphin County Magisterial District Judge Sonya M. McKnight, 57, was arrested Thursday and has been charged with first-degree attempted murder and aggravated assault, court records show.

A Susquehanna Township Police arrest affidavit obtained by the outlet stated that McCoy had made “numerous” attempts to end the year-long relationship with his live-in girlfriend when she allegedly tried to kill him. 

“McCoy had returned home from a tavern to find McKnight relaxing on his couch in her pajamas and again told her she needed to leave, saying he would enlist the help of her mother to get her out of his home if he had to,” the Post reported of that Friday’s events. “She allegedly agreed to go.”

“Michael McCoy stated that it was like she finally understood that it was over,” police said in the affidavit.

McCoy then went to bed around 11:00 p.m. with the understanding that McKnight realized that the pair were broken up.

Sometime later that night, he woke up with a “massive head pain” and could not see.

While he screamed in pain, McKnight reportedly came into the bedroom and asked, “Mike, what did you do to yourself?” 

The judge called 911 shortly before 1:00 a.m. reporting McCoy’s injuries, but police said she “could not explain what happened and stated that she was sleeping and heard him screaming.”

A gunshot wound to McCoy’s right temple that had exited his left temple was found after first responders rushed him to the hospital.

The bullet left him blind in his right eye.

The affidavit also stated that a gun registered to McKnight was discovered at the scene, and her hands were positive for gunshot residue.

McCoy also asserted multiple times that he had not shot himself.

The ex-lovers both said that no one else was home at the time of the incident. 

While McKnight claimed to police that she did not leave the house that night, this was disputed with footage from a neighbor’s security camera showing the judge leaving the home at some point.

According to McCoy, his ex-girlfriend may have followed him to the tavern before he returned. 

McKnight has since been suspended from her judiciary duties and is being held at the Dauphin County Prison with a $300,000 bail.

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Pennsylvania Governor Says Lawmakers ‘Don’t Even Have A Choice’ But To Legalize Marijuana As Other States Move Ahead

Pennsylvania’s governor says he thinks officials in the state “don’t even have a choice anymore” on legalizing marijuana, and he feels there’s bipartisan momentum that lawmakers should leverage to get the job done.

With neighboring states such as Ohio enacting legalization in recent years, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) said last week that “this really comes down to an issue now of competitiveness,” as the state is currently “losing out on 250 million bucks a year in revenue that could go to anything from economic development, education, you name it.”

“The reality is, as long as we have safeguards in place to make sure our children aren’t getting their hands on it—it’s just like, we don’t want our kids out drinking, right?” he said. “And a lot of that is going to be a burden on parents and schools and others to make sure we educate on that. Then I think this is something we’ve got to compete on.”

“I actually think we don’t even have a choice anymore given the way in which this is moving so quickly across our region and across the country,” Shapiro told WILK News Radio, adding that he’s personally “evolved on” the issue and wants a legal cannabis market “focused on lifting up Pennsylvania businesses in the process—not these big national conglomerates—and we’re empowering people in local communities to it that I think some good can come from it.”

The governor made the comments days after unveiling a budget proposal that calls for marijuana legalization to be enacted this year, with sales beginning as early as next January.

Cannabis reform has stalled in the Pennsylvania legislature over recent sessions, but Shapiro said he sees a path forward this year.

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Pennsylvania District Attorney Sues Federal Government Over Gun Ban For Medical Marijuana Patients

A Pennsylvania district attorney and gun rights advocates have filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to overturn the ban preventing medical marijuana patients from buying and possessing firearms—the latest in a series of legal challenges to the policy.

Warren County, Pennsylvania District Attorney Robert Greene, a registered medical cannabis patient in the state, teamed up with the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) to file suit against the federal government in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on Tuesday.

This comes as the question over the constitutionality of the federal gun ban for people who use marijuana is now before the U.S. Supreme Court, which is considering taking up the issue.

The new lawsuit names U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, as well as the heads of the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), as defendants. This represents what the lead attorney for the plaintiffs believes to be the first civil, rather than criminal, challenge to the federal statute.

Greene’s participation in the case is especially notable. The court filing states that the local prosecutor “intends to lawfully purchase, possess, and utilize firearms and ammunition so that he may exercise his constitutional right to keep and bear arms for self-defense and all other lawful purposes.” But he’s barred from doing so under federal statute because of his status as a state-certified medical cannabis patient.

The prosecutor announced late last month that he will not be seeking re-election and will be turning his focus to advocacy on medical cannabis patient rights issues.

Unlike the various previous court cases challenging the constitutionality of the gun ban for plaintiffs who have been criminally prosecuted, with a civl suit like this, “you’re looking at a challenge on behalf of people that are just asserting that this prohibition is unconstitutional, either on its face or as applied—’as applied’ meaning to that individual only,” Adam Kraut, lead attorney for the plaintiff and executive director of SAF, told Marijuana Moment on Tuesday.

“What I’m hoping is not only to win in our lawsuit, but that it sparks the federal Congress to do something and solve this problem because you have millions of Americans who are disenfranchised from their Second Amendment rights, being forced to choose either between treating their symptoms with medical marijuana or exercising their constitutionally guaranteed right,” he said. “That’s not an acceptable.”

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Biden Admin Reverses Decision to Remove William Penn Statue

The Biden administration has reversed a decision by the National Park Service to remove a statue of William Penn from a park in Philadelphia. Penn was the founder of Pennsylvania (named for his father) in the late 1600s and is a revered figure in the state.

(Previous TGP report on the planned removal of the statue posted by David Greyson at this link.)

The Park Service recently announced plans to renovate the park where the statue is located, Welcome Park, to make it “inclusive” of Native Americans, even thought the park is built where Penn’s home once stood and is named after the ship, the Welcome, that brought Penn to the New World from England in 1682. The Park Service also planned to remove a replica of Penn’s home, the Slate Roof House, as well as a Penn timeline on a wall at the park. In other words, the Biden administration was erasing Penn.

The Interior Department, which oversees the National Park Service, is led by Biden appointee Secretary Deb Haaland, a radical progressive who is the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary.

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