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SCOTUS rejects ousted county official’s appeal

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from a former New Mexico county commissioner who was kicked out of office over his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Former Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin, a cowboy pastor who rode to national political fame by embracing then-President Donald Trump with a series of horseback caravans, is the only elected official thus far to be banned from office in connection with the Capitol attack, which disrupted Congress as it was trying to certify Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory over Trump. At a 2022 trial in state District Court, Griffin received the first disqualification from office in over a century under a provision of the 14th Amendment written to prevent former Confederates from serving in government after the Civil War. Though the Supreme Court ruled this month that states don't have the ability to bar Trump or other candidates for federal offices from the ballot, the justices said different rules apply to state and local candidates. "We conclude that States may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office," the justices wrote in an unsigned opinion. The outcome of Griffin's case could bolster efforts to hold other state and local elected officials accountable for their involvement in the Jan. 6 attack. Griffin, a Republican, was convicted in federal court of entering a restricted area on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6 and received a 14-day prison sentence. The sentence was offset by time served after his arrest in Washington, where he had returned to protest Biden's 2021 inauguration. That conviction is under appeal. Griffin contends that he entered the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6 without recognizing that it had been designated as a restricted area and that he attempted to lead a crowd in prayer using a bullhorn, without engaging in violence. The recent ruling in the Trump case shut down a push in dozens of states to end Trump's Republican candidacy for president over claims he helped instigate the insurrection to try to prevent Biden, a Democrat, from replacing him in the White House in 2020. The accusations of insurrection against Griffin were filed on behalf of three New Mexico residents by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a left-leaning group that also brought the lawsuit in Colorado to disqualify Trump. CREW has outlined the case for investigating several current state legislators who went to Washington on Jan. 6. In Griffin's 2022 trial in state district court, New Mexico Judge Francis Mathew recognized the Jan. 6 attack as an insurrection and ruled that Griffin aided that insurrection, without engaging in violence, contributing to a delay in Congress' election certification proceedings. Griffin's appeal of the disqualification asserted that only Congress, and not a state court, has the power to enforce the anti-insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment by legislation, and it urged the Supreme Court to rule on whether the events on Jan. 6 constituted an "insurrection" as defined in the Constitution. It also invoked Griffin's rights to free speech protections. "If the decision ... is to stand, at least in New Mexico, it is now the crime of insurrection to gather people to pray together for the United States of America on the unmarked restricted grounds of the Capitol building," Florida-based defense attorney Peter Ticktin argued on behalf of Griffin in court filings. At trial, Mathew, the judge, called Griffin's free-speech arguments self-serving and not credible, noting that the then-commissioner spread lies about the 2020 election being stolen from Trump in a series of speeches at rallies during a cross-country journey starting in New Mexico, calling on crowds to go with him to Washington on Jan. 6 and join the "war" over the presidential election results. Mathew said recordings by a videographer accompanying Griffin outside the U.S. Capitol showed that the county commissioner "incited the mob, even after seeing members of the mob a short distance away attack police officers and violently try to break into the Capitol building." The New Mexico Supreme Court later refused to hear the case after Griffin missed procedural deadlines. On the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack this year, Griffin cast himself as the victim of political persecution as he spoke to a gathering in the rural community of Gillette, Wyoming, at the invitation of a county Republican Party. "God is really allowing me to experience some amazing days," Griffin said. "Jan. 6 was a day like no other. It was a day where a type of patriotism was expressed that I'd never seen before, and I was honored to be there." In 2019, Griffin forged a group of rodeo acquaintances into the promotional group called Cowboys for Trump, which staged horseback parades to support Trump's conservative message about gun rights, immigration controls and abortion restrictions. While still a county commissioner, Griffin joined with Republican colleagues in refusing to certify results of the June 2022 primary election based on distrust of the voting systems used to tally the vote, even though the county's election official said there were no problems. The board ultimately certified the election on a 2-1 vote with Griffin still voting no based on a "gut feeling." Griffin withstood a recall petition drive in 2021. After his disqualification from office, Griffin was tried and acquitted by a jury in his home county in March 2023 of allegations that he declined to register and disclose donors to Cowboys for Trump.      

New charges in case of stolen ‘Oz’ ruby slippers

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A second man has been charged in connection with the 2005 theft of a pair of ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore in "The Wizard of Oz," according to an indictment made public Sunday. Jerry Hal Saliterman, 76, of Crystal, Minnesota, was charged with theft of a major artwork and witness tampering. He did not enter a plea when he made his first appearance Friday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul. The slippers, adorned with sequins and glass beads, were stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in the late actor's hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, nearly 20 years ago and their whereabouts remained a mystery until the FBI recovered them in 2018. The indictment says that from August 2005 to July 2018 Saliterman "received, concealed, and disposed of an object of cultural heritage" — specifically, "an authentic pair of 'ruby slippers' worn by Judy Garland in the 1939 movie 'The Wizard of Oz.'" The indictment says Saliterman knew they were stolen, and that he threatened to release a sex tape of a woman and "take her down with him" if she didn't keep her mouth shut about the slippers. Saliterman was in a wheelchair and on supplemental oxygen during his Friday court appearance. His oxygen machine hummed throughout the hearing and he bounced his knee nervously during breaks in the proceedings. He responded with "yes," when U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright asked whether he understood the charges against him, but he said nothing about the allegations. The case was not openly discussed in court. The magistrate ordered Friday that the indictment be unsealed, but it did not become publicly available until Sunday. Saliterman's attorney, John Brink, said after Friday's hearing that he couldn't say much about the case, but: "He's not guilty. He hasn't done anything wrong." Saliterman, who was released on his own recognizance, declined to comment to The Associated Press outside the courthouse. The man who stole the slippers, Terry Jon Martin, 76, pleaded guilty in October to theft of a major artwork, admitting to using a hammer to smash the glass of the museum's door and display case in what his attorney said was an attempt to pull off "one last score" after turning away from a life of crime. He was sentenced in January to time served because of his poor health. Martin's lawyer said in court documents that an old associate of Martin's with connections to the mob told him the shoes had to be adorned with real jewels to justify their $1 million insured value. Martin, who lives near Grand Rapids, said at an October hearing that he hoped to take what he thought were real rubies from the shoes and sell them. But a person who deals in stolen goods, known as a fence, informed him the rubies weren't real, Martin said. So he got rid of the slippers. Defense attorney Dane DeKrey wrote in court documents that Martin's unidentified former associate persuaded him to steal the slippers as "one last score," even though Martin had seemed to have "finally put his demons to rest" after finishing his last prison term nearly 10 years earlier. "But old habits die hard, and the thought of a 'final score' kept him up at night," DeKrey wrote. According to DeKrey's memo, Martin had no idea about the cultural significance of the ruby slippers and had never seen "The Wizard of Oz." The documents unsealed Sunday do not indicate how Martin and Saliterman may have been connected. In the classic 1939 musical, Garland's character, Dorothy, had to click the heels of her ruby slippers three times and repeat, "There's no place like home," to return to Kansas from Oz. She wore several pairs during filming, but only four authentic pairs are known to remain. The FBI never disclosed exactly how it tracked down the slippers. The bureau said a man approached the insurer in 2017 and claimed he could help recover them but demanded more than the $200,000 reward being offered. The slippers were recovered during an FBI sting in Minneapolis the next year. Federal prosecutors have put the slippers' market value at about $3.5 million. Hollywood memorabilia collector Michael Shaw had loaned the pair to the museum before Martin stole them. The other pairs are held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Smithsonian Museum of American History and a private collector. According to John Kelsh, founding director of the museum, the slippers were returned to Shaw and are being held by an auction house that plans to sell them. Garland was born Frances Gumm in 1922. She lived in Grand Rapids, about 200 miles north of Minneapolis, until she was 4, when her family moved to Los Angeles. She died in 1969. The Judy Garland Museum, which includes the house where she lived, says it has the world's largest collection of Garland and "Wizard of Oz" memorabilia.

Jury upholds insurer’s decision not to pay claim; Fire in 2019 damages commercial building

Action: Insurance coverage, bad faith, agency negligence, breach of fiduciary duty Injuries alleged: Nonpayment of insurance coverage Case name: A. Tebele & Sons v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's, London, et al. Court/case no.: Horry County Common Pleas Court / 2020-CP-26-08080 Judge: Alex Hyman Demand: $6 million-plus Amount of award: 0 Date: Dec. 13, 2023 Most helpful experts: James Twaddell, public adjuster, Gerald Finkel, law professor, and Fred Shenay, construction estimator (for the plaintiff); Bernd Heinze, insurance consultant and attorney, and Terry Tadlock, agency standard of care expert (for the defendants) Attorneys: Gene Connell of Kelaher Connell & Connor, Myrtle Beach, and Trey Deschamps of Deschamps Law Firm, Myrtle Beach (for the plaintiff); L. Andrew Watson and Roman C. Harper of Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Dominic A. Starr of McAngus Goudelock Courie, Myrtle Beach (for the defendants)   Plaintiff owned a commercial building in Myrtle Beach that suffered a large fire in 2019. The building did not have a sprinkler system. Plaintiff's insurance claim for the building damage was declined by the insurers because plaintiff did not comply with the policy conditions to have a sprinkler system. Plaintiff sued the insurers for breach of contract and bad faith and sued its retail agent, Crescent Coast Insurance, for negligence and breach of fiduciary duty.