09/26/24

Good morning! It’s Thursday, September 26th

Alpaca Day!

Hey, do you like llamas? Would you also like them to be more stout and fluffy? Well do I have the animal for you…

And now, the news.

Marcellus Williams

-via Washington Post

Let’s start with the story of Marcellus Williams.

On Tuesday, the state of Missouri executed a man named Marcellus Williams. He’d spent more than 20 years on death row after being convicted of a murder in 1998, that he says he did not commit.

Everyone needs to decide how they feel about the death penalty on their own. I have my feelings, but in this particular arena, I don’t want to push those onto anyone else. I mean, I’ll push my own feelings about other things on you, but not this.

However, here’s the thing about this case: not only did Williams maintain his innocence from the day he was arrested, but a lawyer from the office that convicted him, as well as the victim’s family, all said they wanted to reexamine the case.

Forensic evidence at the crime scene included fingerprints, footprints, hair, and DNA on a kitchen knife – none of which matched Williams.

There were two witnesses, around whom Williams’ current attorneys say the entire case was built, but who had very clear motives to point the finger at Williams – reward money and a bargaining chip for a shorter sentence for their own crimes.

A board of inquiry was appointed to investigate the case with new DNA testing abilities, but in 2023, Missouri’s governor disbanded the board before it could issue its final report. In July of this year, the state’s Attorney General asked the state supreme court, which had previously spared Williams from execution, to block a hearing to determine Williams’ innocence.

Last year, Governor Parson said it was time to move forward with the execution, and so on Tuesday night, the state of Missouri killed a possibly, if not likely, innocent Black man in what NAACP President Derrick Johnson called a lynching. “When DNA evidence proves innocence, capital punishment is not justice — it is murder.”

This case has really been sitting on my heart this week, and then I saw a tweet that only added to it. It said: “a black man gets lynched and yall are screaming vote vote.”

On Tuesday, the state of Missouri killed a man.

The governor of Missouri is Jim Parson. He is termed out next year but that is an elected position.

The attorney general is Andrew Bailey. He is on the ballot right now.

It is precisely because a man was killed that we are screaming vote.

From the tips of my toes to the top of my noggin. Until my voice gives out and then I’ll write it down…

Vote.

Vote vote vote

Hurricane Helene

-via AP News

After tearing its way through Mexico, Hurricane Helene is expected to make landfall in Florida tonight. It is expected to see storm surges of at least 18’.

Evacuations are in place, so please be mindful of those!

Also, very low on the list of priorities… last two games of the Mets and Braves series have been postponed due to heavy heavy rain in Atlanta.

Wild Times in Los Angeles

-via LA Times (bus hijacking), NY Times (courthouse)

Two stories out of Los Angeles and Santa Barbara…

Starting with a bus chase early Wednesday morning after a man hijacked a bus before shooting a passenger and leading police on an hour-long chase that ended with a SWAT standoff and spike strips.

Police were alerted to the hijacking after the driver had the bus display “emergency 911 call police” on the message board.

The passenger who was shot was pronounced dead at the hospital, the driver and only other passenger were treated and released, and the hijacker has been arrested.

A motive is still unknown.

And up north…

Two people were injured after a man, who has been detained, detonated some sort of explosive device in a courthouse just north of Santa Barbara.

The two people injured suffered only minor injuries.

There is no motive here either.

People – don’t do crimes. But if you must do crimes, which again, actually you must not… please make your motive clear.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

What a day!

I’m proud of alpacas. Not sure why, but I guess I don’t have a reason not to be…

But more than that, more than alpacas, because I always have a reason… I’m proud of you.