The White House News

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch has asked the state Supreme Court to set execution dates for two men on death row.

Fitch’s office filed motions Thursday that asked the court to schedule executions for Willie Jerome Manning and Robert Simon Jr.

Manning, now 55, was convicted in 1994 on two counts of capital murder in the December 1992 killings of Mississippi State University students Jon Steckler and Tiffany Miller in Oktibbeha County. Simon, 60, and another man were convicted in the 1990 Quitman County slayings of a family of four.

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Manning and Simon were close to being executed more than a decade ago, only to have stays issued by the courts.

Krissy Nobile, Manning’s attorney and the director of the Mississippi Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel, said Manning’s defense team petitioned in September for post-conviction relief based on “newly discovered evidence and scientific developments undermining Manning’s conviction.” Attorneys submitted the petition days before the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request to have evidence in the case tested at a specialized laboratory.

The state has not responded to that petition or considered the evidence, Nobile said.

“The State instead is steamrolling toward execution even though there is compelling evidence that Manning may, in fact, be innocent,” Nobile said. “Executions are not the place to act first and ask questions later.”

In 2013, shortly before Manning was scheduled to be executed, the U.S. Justice Department said there had been errors in FBI agents’ testimony about ballistics tests and hair analysis in the case. Manning’s attorneys asked the Mississippi Supreme Court to stop the lethal injection, and justices voted 8-1 to delay the execution to allow the testing of evidence.

Manning’s attorneys said they hoped DNA testing would exonerate their client, who has maintained his innocence. In 2014, they sent a rape kit, fingernail scrapings and other items to a laboratory. In 2022, a majority of state Supreme Court justices wrote that Manning received “allegedly inconclusive results” after six years of fingerprint analysis and DNA testing.

Manning’s attorneys asked an Oktibbeha County circuit judge for permission to send items to a more specialized lab. The judge denied that request, and the ruling was upheld by the Mississippi Supreme Court.

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Nobile called into question the reliability of hair analysis and firearms identification used at Manning’s trial. She also said witnesses who had been incarcerated admitted their testimony was fabricated in exchange for money and sentence reductions.

Simon was just hours away from execution in May 2011 when a federal appeals court ordered a stay to ruling on a mental disability claim, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reported. The claim was later rejected.

An attorney listed for Simon, Johnnie E. Walls Jr., did not immediately respond to a phone message Friday.

Fitch’s separate motions called for the Mississippi Supreme Court to set the execution dates within the next 30 days. The motions say “no legal impediment exists” and since both Manning and Simon have “exhausted all state and federal remedies, this court should set an execution date.”

The motions were still pending before the court on Friday.

A former Indiana lawmaker has agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge alleging that he accepted promises of lucrative employment from a gaming company during his time in public office, federal prosecutors said Friday.

Sean Eberhart, 57, agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, according to court documents filed Thursday. The offense is punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in prison, three years of supervised release following any imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

Eberhart’s attorney declined to comment when reached by phone Friday. A plea hearing had not been scheduled for Eberhart as of Friday afternoon, according to court records.

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The former Republican state representative represented central Indiana’s House District 57 for 16 years before leaving office in November 2022.

He is accused of accepting compensation and the promise of future employment in exchange for favorable action in the General Assembly, prosecutors said.

In late 2018, a company called Spectacle Entertainment sought to purchase two casinos and their accompanying state licenses located on Lake Michigan in Gary, Indiana, and relocate them to locations to downtown Gary and in western Indiana’s Vigo County, according to court documents.

The purchases and relocating of casinos requires approval by the Legislature and governor, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a press release. Multiple phone numbers listed online for Spectacle were disconnected as of Friday.

A bill for the relocation was introduced and considered by the House Committee on Public Policy in 2019, which oversaw casinos and gaming in Indiana, and included a proposed “transfer fee.” Eberhart was a member of the House Committee on Public Policy, documents said.

According to authorities, Eberhart used his position to advocate and vote for the successful passage of the bill on terms favorable to Spectacle, including the successful relocation approval, reducing the transfer fee from $100 million to $20 million and enacting tax incentives that would benefit Spectacle.

In exchange, Eberhart accepted the promise of future employment at Spectacle, which included annual compensation of at least $350,000, authorities allege.

Eberhart sent text messages regarding his efforts to secure legislation in favor of the company, saying he would “make it right for” the founder of Spectacle identified only in court documents as “Individual A.” The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond when asked whether Individual A is also under investigation or will face charges.

Other evidence obtained by investigators included call records, digital images of documents, “covert recordings of conversations with Eberhart,” and audio and video recordings and “other records of statements and actions in the Indiana legislature,” court documents said.

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Republican Speaker of the House Todd Huston said in a statement provided to The Associated Press that he is “beyond disappointed and extremely frustrated” in reaction to the news of Eberhart’s alleged actions.

“Any such conduct runs counter to our core values and everything our assembly stands for and strives to protect – a trusted, credible and transparent institution that’s responsible only to Hoosiers,” Huston said.

Spectacle has been embattled by federal investigations before. In 2022, longtime casino executive John Keeler was sentenced along with a former Indiana state senator, Brent Waltz, for their role in the illegal funneling of gambling money into the lawmaker’s unsuccessful 2016 bid for congress.

Keeler, who was a Republican legislator for 16 years in the 1980s and 1990s, was sentenced to two months in federal prison and fined $55,000. Spectacle, which was formed by a group led by Keeler and another longtime casino executive, was forced from ownership from two casino projects by the Indiana Gaming Commission following Keeler and Waltz’s indictments in 2020.

Waltz, a Republican from Greenwood, was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison for helping route about $40,000 in illegal contributions to his campaign and making false statements to the FBI.

A North Carolina state House member who won’t seek reelection next year says having to serve in the minority in the chamber has been “worse than a dental appointment.”

Mecklenburg County Democratic Rep. John Autry, who is among the more liberal members in the House, joined the General Assembly in 2017. Republicans have controlled the House and Senate since then, including veto-proof majorities in 2017, 2018 and 2023. Democrats have been unable to uphold any of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s 19 vetoes this year.

Autry, who announced this week he would not run for reelection, has spoken often in the House opposing Republican legislation perceived as harming the environment or restricting LGBTQ+ rights.

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Action at the legislature “doesn’t have anything to do with what is good policy. It’s just too frustrating for me,” Autry, a former Charlotte city council member, told WFAE radio. “You just walk around the building and feel like you get your teeth kicked in every 20 minutes.”

The 100th House District he represents remains heavily Democratic after the General Assembly enacted a new House map last month.

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Autry is the latest incumbent to announce they aren’t running again or are seeking another elected position in 2024.

Recently added to that list is Guilford County Republican Rep. John Faircloth, who has served as a chair of the House budget-writing committee and been heavily involved in law enforcement legislation. Now 84, Faircloth said his age and the demands of the job are driving him to retirement at the end of his seventh two-year term, The High Point Enterprise reported.

A former High Point police chief who later served on the city council, Faircloth was heavily involved with crafting the state law that says police body camera video is not a public record but lays out how it can be released with court approval.

The 62nd House District that Faircloth represents, as redrawn for the 2024 elections, appears to lean slightly Republican, according to statewide election data.

Washington state Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz is dropping her bid for the governor’s office to run for Congress.

Franz, a Democrat who lives in Grays Harbor County, is running to replace retiring Rep. Derek Kilmer, who has served the 6th Congressional District since 2013.

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In an announcement Friday, Franz said she decided to run for Congress after speaking with voters across Washington and learning of their concerns: rising prices, reproductive freedom and women’s rights, the future of democracy, the support of veterans and military families and the climate crisis.

“The challenges we face extend beyond the borders of Washington, and so must our solutions,” Franz said in a statement Friday. “I am running for Congress to bring my vision for bold, transformative action to our nation’s capital and keep fighting for families across our region.”

Franz has spent the last seven years leading the department responsible for millions of acres of public lands in Washington. She has touted her success in 2021 with securing $500 million from the Washington state Legislature to prevent and fight wildfires.

Franz, 52, served on the Bainbridge Island City Council, Puget Sound Transportation Futures Task Force and other panels before becoming commissioner. She was also the executive director of Futurewise, an environmental advocacy group.