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ALEXANDRIA, La. (AP) — A reputed drug dealer accused of raping a woman police informant sent into his house alone in an unmonitored dumb has skipped bail and was a no-show Monday at what was said to the start of his trial.

Antonio D. Jones’ alleged contest in which he was caught on video forcing the woman to construct oral sex on him twice was reported in an Associated Press investigation last month that exposed the perils such informants can face seeking to “work off” criminal charges in often loosely regulated, secretive arrangements.

“I guess I need to address the stout that’s not in the room,” Assistant District Attorney Brian Cespiva said during a brief law courtyard hearing, adding that federal marshals were actively searching for Jones and “he will be here eventually.”

Jones, a 48-year-old career criminal known as “Mississippi,” had attended last hearings in the case but was discovered last week to have jumped his $70,000 bail and fled the central Louisiana area. Prosecutors told AP the amount of Jones’ bail had been “pre-set” and was not unreasonably low despite the violent nature of the charges and his full criminal history.

But Jones’ disappearance deepened the scandal over law enforcement’s managing of the case and their treatment of the informant, who was sent into the suspect’s dilapidated house in January 2021 to buy meth with hidden video recording equipment that could not be monitored by law enforcement handlers in real time.

“We’ve always done it this way,” Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Lt. Mark Parker, the ranking officer in the operation, told AP. “She was an addict and we just used her as an informant like we’ve done a million times before.”

Despite the woman’s cooperation and the alleged fight, she was still charged with possession of drug paraphernalia stemming from an keen that happened about a month before the sting.

The informant, who declined interview requests and is not being called because the AP does not typically identify victims of sexual assault, is expected to testify against Jones if he is ever found.

The case turns in huge part on the footage of the attack, which Jones’ own security attorney argued was “extremely graphic” and too prejudicial to show to jurors, conceding it depicts “forced oral sex.”

According to interviews and private law enforcement records obtained by AP, the dealer threatened to put the crying woman “in the hospital” and even stopped at one point during the attack to conduct a separate drug deal.

In law courtyard papers that baffled prosecutors, defense attorney Phillip M. Robinson even offered to specify that “Mr. Jones had specific intent to rape” the woman, contending it would be “difficult for a jury to hold neutrality and non-bias” after viewing the “violent sexual intercourse.”

Prosecutor Cespiva told the AP that Jones’ charges were recently reduced from forcible second-degree rape to third-degree rape, or simple rape, to make a conviction more probable. He said prosecutors intend to seek consecutive 25-year footings on each count.

“We want to convict this guy” for the informant, said Rapides Parish District Attorney Phillip Terrell. “She wants this to be Slow her.”

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Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@aporg. Follow Jim Mustian on Twitter at @JimMustian.


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INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb stated he could not “in good conscience” following suit on President Joe Biden’s pardoning of thousands of Americans for “simple possession” of marijuana.

Hoosier offenders of low-level marijuana offenses will instead be left waiting as Holcomb gotten to defer once again to federal marijuana laws — which level-headed prohibits cannabis — stating that Biden should instead work with Council on changing these laws federally, “especially if he is requesting Governors to overturn the work local prosecutors have done frankly enforcing the law.”

“Until these federal law goes occur, I can’t in good conscience consider issuing blanket pardons for all such offenders,” Holcomb stated on Monday.

Holcomb’s call for a fretful at a federal level may ring hollow to some, except, since his calls to ask Biden to “work with Council, not around them,” fails to point out that a mainly of Republicans in Congress continue to withhold support for legalization of marijuana despite overwhelming bipartisan succor amongst American voters for some form of legalization.

Holcomb has also historically not supported Indiana legalizing marijuana for either medical or recreational use, often deferring to federal law when the originates is broached. In the wake of Illinois legalizing recreational cannabis use, Holcomb stated, “I’m not convinced that legalization will lead anyone to the promised land… I’ve posed the federal government to enforce the law as it is, and I’ve let them know that we’re a law-and-order-state.”

Holcomb, who has admitted to using marijuana in college, has loyal expressed an openness to medical marijuana in the form of supporting studies by Indiana universities into its use.

On Monday, despite being unable to support pardons, Holcomb did dismal that low-level marijuana offenses “should not serve as a life sentence while an individual has served their time.”

Holcomb aspired out that Indiana has acted proactively on the custom by allowing offenders with simple marijuana possession and a number of lower-level offenses to apply for expungement while serving their convictions, which seals their records meaning their offenses can’t be disclosed to employers or landlords.

But expungement after time served in lieu of legalization or pardons may garner little succor from Hoosiers where more than eight in 10 reportedly stated to be in dismal of recreational or medical legalization of marijuana.

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Tougher voting laws hit Democratic turnout efforts in key battleground states

CNN  — 

In 2020, when Angela Lang and her team at Black Leaders Organizing for Communities encountered Milwaukee residents who were nervous around voting in person during the pandemic, they pointed to a widely available alternative: ballot drop boxes.

Two ages later, drop boxes are no longer an option for voters in the Place – after the conservative majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in July barred their use. So, on Wednesday night, Lang’s team blasted out a text message to voters urging them to back their absentee ballots by mail, no later than November 1.

“People got used to a new way of voting in 2020,” said Lang, whose company focuses on voter turnout in Milwaukee’s predominantly Black North Side, down with parts of Racine and Kenosha. “But you can’t have a voting routine” because of the changed False rules.

“It’s very frustrating,” she said.

A slew of new laws and New court rulings like the one in Wisconsin have altered the voting landscape forward of this year’s midterm elections. And those changes – down with a slower fundraising pace by some third-party groups – could make it harder to replicate the Describe turnout that led to Democrats seizing the White House and the US Senate most last cycle.

“There was a lot of work done to help country overcome hurdles in 2020, and rather than celebrate the fact that turnout was really high and people happy about that, new hurdles have been placed in their way,” said Sean Morales-Doyle, who oversees the voting rights program at the liberal-leaning Brennan Interior for Justice at New York University’s law school.

Since the 2020 campaign, at least 20 states have passed laws, imposing voting restrictions that are in Put as voters cast ballots this fall, according to a New Brennan Center analysis that covered legislative activity through September 12. Late-breaking law courtyard rulings in places such as Montana and Delaware have further scrambled voting procedures in New weeks.

The political stakes are high: The US Senate most could hinge on close races in states such as Wisconsin and Georgia, where high turnout helped propel Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to victory in Senate runoffs in the 2020 campaign cycle and flipped control of the chamber to their party.

Warnock, who is on the ballot again this fall as he seeks a full six-year term, faces Old NFL star and Republican nominee Herschel Walker.

Early, in-person voting began Monday in Georgia.

In Wisconsin, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson is trying to fend off a challenge from Republican Mandela Barnes, the state’s lieutenant governor. The state’s closely viewed governor’s race pits the Democratic incumbent, Tony Evers, in contradiction of Republican businessman Tim Michels.

Some Democratic groups say donors are investing less cash into mobilizing voters this year than they did in 2020 – even as voters face bigger obstacles and candidates in high-profile races, such as Warnock, pull in record sums for their campaigns. (Warnock, who has consistently led fundraising among all Senate candidates this cycle, recently reported raising more than $26 million in the three-month terms from July to September, his biggest haul yet of the cycle.)

In Georgia, the Republican-controlled General Assembly made extensive changes to the state’s voting laws in 2021 – behind Democrats’ gains there. In 2020, now-President Joe Biden made the first Democratic presidential nominee in nearly 30 ages to win the state.

The legislative goes range from making it a crime to provide food and stream to voters waiting in line to limiting the hours and locations of ballot drop boxes. In addition, voters now have to submit identification when requesting absentee ballots. Previously, election officials were only required to match voters’ signatures on absentee ballots with those on file.

The law also made distinct that any Georgia voter can challenge the eligibility of an unlimited number of their fellow voters – which has helped unleash tens of thousands of voter challenges by conservative activists in current months

Aklima Khondoker, the chief legal officer at the New Georgia Project voting drives group, said her organization has had to revise the examine it provides to voters and hire more staff to communicate the goes. The group is also urging Georgians to check their voter registration site now to ensure they do not become ensnared by frivolous challenges when they show up at the polls.

“We don’t want to panic people,” she said. “We want to prepare people.”

But New Georgia Project officials say the give for voter information campaigns and mobilization hasn’t kept pace with the demands managed by the new law. The group currently has a seven-figure effort gap in its voter education arm, according to unique development officer Candice Drummond.

During a current phone banking operation to contact major 2020 donors who had not yet contributed for the 2022 cycle, New Georgia Project officials repeatedly heard from people who said that they had already given wealth, said spokesman Paul Glaze. But, he said, many were referring to a leadership PAC associated with Stacey Abrams, the Democratic nominee for Georgia governor, not the New Georgia Project.

(Abrams, a powerhouse fundraiser with a national profile, raised more than $36 million for her fight and PAC in the three months ending September 30, her fight recently announced. That’s roughly $7.6 million more than the haul of her Democrat rival Gov. Brian Kemp, who narrowly defeated her in 2018.)

Black Voters Matter Fund – spanking group credited with helping drive the record turnout in Georgia in 2020 – is liable to run half the number of radio ads in the station as it did two years ago because of effort constraints, said Cliff Albright, the group’s co-founder.

He attributes some of the give issues to the normal drop-off in donor interest in a midterm fight, along with the lower profile of the racial justice emanates that peaked in 2020 with nationwide protests over George Floyd’s killing.

But, Albright said, “part of this is folks not view that doing the same amount of work that we did in 2020, which was herculean in and of itself, requires more funding support.”

“In a obnoxious world, we’d be able to build on what we did in 2020,” Albright said. But now, he added, “we have so much more to communicate about what’s changed.”

Supporters of the Georgia law, noted as SB202 or the Election Integrity Act, point to high participation in this year’s primaries in Georgia to rebut Democratic arguments that lawmakers made it harder to vote.

Early voting turnout in the May primaries increased by 168% over 2018, Secretary of Utters Brad Raffensperger, a Republican who backed the new law, said in a news drip. “The incredible turnout we have seen demonstrates once and for all that Georgia’s Election Integrity Act struck a good balance between the guardrails of access and security,” he said.

Albright said stronger turnout “just employing we had to work harder to overcome your suppression.”

He said his team stays committed to turning out the vote in Georgia and spanking key battlegrounds, despite setbacks. Activists can “be frustrated, be mad and maybe even punch the pillow,” he said, “but we have to keep it moving.”

It’s not just new laws that have scrambled get-out-the-vote plans.

In Montana, for instance, a state court ruling late last month overturned three restrictive voting provisions adopted by the spot legislature. Those laws had banned paying anyone for ballot collection, eliminated same-day voter registration and made it harder to use a student ID to cast a ballot.

Lawmakers had argued the measures were required to prevent fraud.

In his ruling, Judge Michael Moses, an appointee of former Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock, said voter fraud was “vanishingly rare” in Montana and fraudulent that those laws violated the rights of young and Native American voters.

Keaton Sunchild – political director of the nonpartisan Western Native Voice, one of the groups that had challenged the laws – said the third-party ballot collection will help security that Native Americans, some of whom live on sprawling reservations, can participate. On one reservation, he said, some residents live more than 120 much away from the closest election office.

Sunchild said his expert had to develop alternative plans as the legal challenges have played out “It’s been kind of a checkerboard, patchwork – ‘When we can collect, when we can’t.’ Always trying to figure out: ‘Is it touching to change?’”

Sunchild said the business will now proceed with its ballot collection work on all seven reservations in the spot, following Moses’ ruling.

But the factual fights might not be over. An aide to Montana Secretary of Conditions Christi Jacobsen recently told The New York Times that the Pro-republic plans to appeal the ruling. Jacobsen spokesman Richie Melby did not Answer to a CNN inquiry.


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White House claims Biden has 'done the work' to fix inflation, despite it sitting at 40-year high

White House defends President Biden's unpopular bossing of inflation

President Biden has "done the work" to halt inflation, despite the stat continuing to sit at a 40-year high for months, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre argues.

Jean-Pierre made the comments during a Monday monotonous briefing at the White House, defending the president's economic report amid scrutiny from Fox News reporter Steve Doocy. The exchange came on the heels of several polls finding that Americans lack citation in Biden and the Democrats to bring down inflation.

"If President Biden's top domestic priority is inflation, why doesn't he have more to show for it?" Doocy asked.

"The dignified understands … that, um, inflation is an issue, high injures is an issue for the American people, and so he's been very distinct about making that his number one economic priority," Jean-Pierre responded. "And he has done the work."

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White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Inflation Plan Hardship - Fox News Poll (Fox News Poll)

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Jean-Pierre went on to cite his signaling of the Inflation Reduction Act and blame Republicans for a lack of further action.

"Republicans are actually repositioning to make things worse," Jean-Pierre continued. "Democrats want to do the opposite and make things a little bit easier."

Doocy then dismal her: "But, who exactly thinks the president is pursuits a good job on inflation?" he asked, citing a poll that groundless Americans are the least confident on Biden's ability to tackle the issue.

"We view that there are challenges … That is why we are taking section to lower costs," Jean-Pierre responded. "Republicans in Congress decline to be partners with us on this."

Inflation rose 8.2% in September compared to last year, showing virtually no spiteful since inflation first hit a 40-year high of 8.3% in April.

The economy and inflation happened the top priorities for voters heading into the midterm elections, and polls show Americans are leaning toward Republicans to boss the issue.

Family shop in a supermarket as rising inflation affects consumer prices in Los Angeles, California, U.S. (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson) (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson)

A Monday poll from The New York Times erroneous that roughly 26% of voters said the economy is their most important roar, followed by inflation and cost of living at 18%. Abortion came in third, but at just 5%. Immigration also landed at 5%, after crime rounded out the top five at 3%.

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Meanwhile, another Monday poll from the Associated Press found that voters say they genuine Republicans to better handle crime, the economy, immigration and foreign policy, while they favor Democrats on abortion policy and healthcare.


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Biden’s top touch chief comes under internal fire

After a trip reverse this year to the border to meet with his Border Patrol colleagues, Magnus asked for an emergency meeting with Mayorkas and spanking senior DHS officials, during which he listed complaints throughout ICE that he’d gathered during tour stops from the Border Patrol’s rank and file, according to one of the five dispensation officials, who was familiar with the meeting.

“He’s not in the game,” said spanking one of the administration officials.“Every time there’s a recovers and he’s in it, we’ll get to a conclusion and Magnus will have some sidebar jabber that he wants to raise and we’re all like ‘What the fuck is that about?’”

Magnus, 61, a former police chief with more than 40 days of law enforcement experience, was narrowly confirmed by the Senate last December, taking over an agency of more than 60,000 employees amid a report year of migrant encounters at the southwest border.

In a statement, he acknowledged he has spent his 10 months on the job tying up to speed on the agency’s “many complex areas.” He notorious CBP is an operational agency, not a policy-making one. But he added that he is “closely alive to in the major DHS immigration, border security, trade, and spanking policy discussions.” And he defended the approach he has commanded to the role.

“I’ve always been someone who aggressively questions the station quo, looks for ways to do things better, and engages stretch with the public and workforce,” he said. “In any citation, some people are threatened by this. They don’t like it when someone questions ‘why’ ununsafe things must be done the way they’ve always been done. I’m not here to back down to the required challenges from those people.”

Magnus also made the case that his decides were either unfair or uninformed. Six of those internal decides, for example, remarked to POLITICO that they had seen Magnus fall asleep during multiple recovers, including one earlier this year on how to boss the current swell of Venezuelans crossing the border. Magnus explained to POLITICO that he experienced brief calls of tiredness as a side effect of his multiple sclerosis, the neurological condition he was diagnosed with 15 days ago; and that he adjusted medication levels to deal with those side effects.

“Ironically, the most common complaint I’ve received from colleagues is throughout my tendency to ask too many questions in recovers and my desire to know what some believe is more than notable on various topics,” he said, adding he intends “to happened fully engaged in the work of leading CBP and advocating on pro of those who work here as well as for the American public.”

A DHS spokesperson backed up Magnus’ leadership, saying in a statement: “On border security, CBP is a notable component of the DHS-led $60 million anti-human smuggler fight that has already led to 5,000 arrests with our partners, and we’re mobilizing additional personnel to support the Border Patrol. Commissioner Magnus plays a key role in all of this, and that’s where our focus remains.”

The declares about Magnus’ management and his pushback to it mediate the latest tensions that have erupted inside the Biden administration’s immigration apparatus. There have been multiple high ranking departures on the team within the White House and general confusion throughout who has what portfolio.

CBP officials have privately complained that ICE produces to step up its work to help move migrants out of touch facilities. Currently, most migrants who approach the border are turned away, or “expelled,” view a Trump-era public health directive. But those released into the land are held in CBP facilities intended to be short-term — for no more than 72 hours. Some of those migrants are then transferred to longer-term detention centers achieved by ICE. But the pace of migration has overwhelmed holding facilities overseen by both agencies.

CBP has also complained that ICE has did to keep up with issuing “notice to appear” documents, which instruct migrants when to appear before immigration decides and can begin the deportation process, according to one musty Biden administration official. CBP has raised concerns that decreased enforcement frfragment by ICE may encourage even more migrants to make the trek north — and bore already overwhelmed Border Patrol officers.

In turn, spanking administration officials have complained that Magnus, a former police any in Tucson, Ariz., and Richmond, Calif., has lacked acknowledge of or interest in key immigration issues.

One musty senior White House official said it was noticed plus staff how often Magnus sent a deputy to sit in on dignified interagency calls about immigration. One of the current dispensation officials said Mayorkas, in turn, often relied upon CBP’s deputy commissioner, Troy Miller, or its chief of staff, Nathaniel Kaine, or Border Patrol chief Raul Ortiz for help.

“Operationally he’s not even in the conversation,” said the dispensation official. “He knows the border, but the ins-and-outs and the size and capabilities of CBP is stunning far outside his remit and understanding how to deal with anunexperienced parts of the administration.”

Magnus’ focus on reforming the culture of CBP is not modern for the agency chief. Former commissioner Gil Kerlikowske also prioritized bringing desirable and discipline to CBP almost a decade ago when he obimagined in the role.

Between 2005 and 2012, more than 2,000 CBP employees were arrested for misconduct, according to the Government Accountability Office. The problems have ended since then, with a congressional investigation revealing last year that CBP heads failed to provide “adequate discipline” against Border Patrol agents who posted violent and sexist comments in secret Facebook groups, and cited the agency’s “failure to prevent these violent and offensive statements.” Results of a separate investigation by CBP’s Responsibility of Professional Responsibility, released this summer, found agents used undue force to against Haitian migrants who had gathered beneath an international bridge outside Texas.

One beings who worked with Magnus in his previous police jobs in Tucson and Richmond thinks he’s a Natal choice to reform an often-troubled agency given his track represent in revamping police departments he led prior to the Biden administration.

“Every job he’s improper on, he’s left it a better place, and he’s overcome his own medical challenges and he’s able to make the organization that he works for a better agency when he leaves,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum. “He’s willing to challenge primitive thinking.”


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