Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/687093
ByAlannaDurkin Richer TheAssociatedPress RICHMOND, VA. A men- tally ill North Carolina man accused of trying to join al-Qaida-linked fight- ers in Syria can be forcibly medicated to see if that will make him competent for trial, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling order- ing Basit Sheikh to be forcibly injected with anti- psychotic medication so that he can be made com- petent to defend himself against prosecution. Sheikh's attorney urged the court last month to block the federal judge's involuntary medication order, arguing neither the public nor the govern- ment would be harmed if Sheikh was civilly com- mitted instead of prose- cuted. But Judge Dennis W. Shedd wrote in the pan- el's opinion Wednesday that the government's interest in prosecuting Sheikh goes beyond sim- ply protecting the pub- lic. Specifically, Sheikh's prosecution would send a message about the seri- ousness of the crime and potentially serve as a de- terrent, Shedd wrote. "Sheikh attempts to downplay this interest, arguing that the United States has prosecuted other individuals for sim- ilar attempts to support terrorist organizations. Regardless of any other prosecutions the United States may have con- ducted, we are not per- suaded that those prose- cutions diminish the se- riousness of this one," Shedd wrote. Sheikh can appeal to the full appeals court or the U.S. Supreme Court. His attorney didn't re- spond to a message left at his office on Wednesday. Sheikh, who suffers from schizophrenia, is charged with providing material support to a ter- rorist group for attempt- ing to join Jabhat al-Nusra militants. He was arrested almost two years ago in an FBI sting to find and arrest Americans before they fought in Syria. The three-judge panel said they understand that forced medication orders should be rare. But the judges said they believe that prosecutors have shown this case meets the requirements laid out in a 2003 Supreme Court ruling that restricted in- voluntary medication to certain serious criminal cases. There were only about 77 such cases in fed- eral courts nationwide in the nine years after the Supreme Court rul- ing through mid-2012, ac- cording to a 2013 study by Georgetown Univer- sity law professor Susan McMahon. Follow Alanna Durkin Richer on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ aedurkinricher. Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/ journalist/alanna- durkin-richer ORDER Court says man can be forcibly medicated in terrorism case JUSTICE DAVIDJOLES—STARTRIBUNEVIAAP Minneapolis NAACP President Nekima Levy-Pounds, center, speaks against police brutality during a press conference following U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger's announcement that no criminal civil rights charges will be filed against two white Minneapolis police officers in the November shooting death of Jamar Clark, Wednesday at the FBI local headquarters in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. By Jeff Baenan The Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS For the sec- ond time this year, authori- ties say there is not enough evidence to charge two white Minneapolis police officers in the November shooting death of a black man after a confrontation. Wednesday's announce- ment in the just-completed federal investigation an- gered activists who pro- tested 24-year-old Jamar Clark's death for weeks and remain outraged that both probes, the other released in March by a state pros- ecutor, came to the same conclusion. "We are tired of what is happening, and what feels like Jim Crow North," Min- neapolis NAACP President Nekima Levy-Pounds told reporters after U.S. Attor- ney Andrew Luger said there was insufficient evi- dence to support criminal civil rights charges against the two officers. The officers, Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze, were trying to ar- rest Clark when he was shot once in the head Nov. 15. He died a day later. A key issue in both inves- tigations was whether Clark was handcuffed when he was shot. The federal and state probes came to the same conclusion: Clark was not. "Given the lack of bruis- ing, the lack of Mr. Clark's DNA on the handcuffs and the deeply conflicting testi- mony about whether he was handcuffed, we determined that we could not pursue this case based on a prose- cution theory that Mr. Clark was handcuffed at the time he was shot," Luger said at a news conference. Hennepin County Attor- ney Mike Freeman declined on March 30 to file criminal charges against the officers, also citing forensic evidence and conflicting witness ac- counts. Federal authorities went a step further, seek- ing an independent review of the Hennepin County autopsy by the Office of the Armed Forces Medical Ex- aminer at the Department of Defense. Luger said "highly con- tradictory" testimony from witnesses would make it too difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ringgenberg and Schwarze acted outside the law. Clark's death set off weeks of protests, includ- ing an 18-day tent encamp- ment outside the police de- partment's 4th Precinct on the city's north side, located blocks from the shooting. According to a Minne- sota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investiga- tion, Clark refused to re- move his hands from his pockets. The officers tried to handcuff him but failed. Ringgenberg wrestled Clark to the ground but wound up on his back atop Clark and felt Clark's hand on his weapon, according to the investigation. Schwarze then shot Clark — an encounter that lasted barely more than a minute from the time the officers arrived. "There are no winners here." Luger said. "A young man has died. And it is tragic." Schwarze's attorney, Fred Bruno, noted the two in- dependent investigations reached the same conclu- sion, saying: "The chances of that happening are pretty slim unless the facts are the facts and the officers are justified in doing what they did." Ringgenberg's attorney, Bob Sicoli, said he hoped a pending internal investiga- tion by the police depart- ment would be over quickly. The U.S. Attorney's Of- fice in Minnesota and the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division conducted the federal civil rights in- vestigation on the request of Mayor Betsy Hodges, and were to determine whether the officers intentionally violated Clark's civil rights through excessive force. That's a high legal stan- dard because an accident, bad judgment or simple negligence is not enough to bring federal charges. With the federal investi- gation completed, Hodges said the city will proceed with the internal investi- gation. "I understand this deci- sion has struck at the heart of a painful tension in the community," Hodges said in a statement Wednesday. "What we can do now is move forward together to build a city that is safe and equitable for everyone." The DOJ is also review- ing how the city responded to the protests. Though largely peaceful, one dem- onstration on Nov. 18 in- cluded some skirmishes between officers and pro- testers. At least one federal lawsuit has been filed ac- cusing officers of excessive force during that demon- stration. A few days later on Nov. 23, five demonstra- tors were also shot and lightly wounded in what a county prosecutor said was a racially motivated attack. Four men — three white, one Asian — were charged. Those cases are pending. Clark's death spurred state lawmakers to examine longstanding complaints of racial inequities, par- ticularly on the impover- ished north side of Minne- apolis. Advocates requested more investment in minor- ity-owned businesses and a summer job program for black teens, and lawmak- ers this spring set aside $35 million to tackle racial dis- parities. Second probe: No charges in shooting of Minneapolis black man By josh Lederman The Associated Press ELKHART, IND. President Barack Obama went on a "myth-busting" mission Wednesday aimed at un- dermining Republican ar- guments about the econ- omy, working to give cover to Democrats to embrace his policies ahead of the presi- dential election. Officially, Obama came to this hardscrabble town in northern Indiana to il- lustrate how steps he took in the first days of his pres- idency had ultimately paid off and pulled the econ- omy back from the brink. Yet his rally at a high school in Elkhart blurred the lines betweengoverningandcam- paigning, marking the pres- ident's most aggressive and direct foray to date into the roaring campaign to replace him."Theprimarystorythat Republicans have been tell- ing about the economy is not supported by the facts. It's just not," Obama said. "They repeat it a lot, but it's not supported by the facts. But they say it anyway. Now what is that? It's because it has worked to get them votes." When Obama came to Elkhart seven years ago on his first major presidential trip, the unemployment rate was soaring and the White House struggling to secure support for injecting hun- dreds of billions of federal dollars into the economy. Thoughtheeconomyhasim- proved measurably, Republi- cans have been reluctant to give Obama credit. As Obama returned to In- diana, GOP Gov. Mike Pence said the state had recovered "inspiteofObama'spolicies" — not because of them. And the Republican National Committee dismissed his visit as a "campaign trip" de- signed to help Hillary Clin- ton sell a weak Obama re- cord as if it were "really a success story." So with all the vigor he displayed on the campaign trail years ago, Obama at- temptedanearlyline-by-line takedown of claims Repub- licans have made about his policiesholdingtheeconomy back. He dismissed those GOP voices as "anti-govern- ment, anti-immigrant, anti- trade and let's face it, anti- change." "My bigger point is to bust this myth of crazy, lib- eral government spend- ing," Obama said. "Govern- ment spending is not what is squeezing the middle class." He avoided mentioning Donald Trump by name, re- ferring instead to "the Re- publican nominee," but was met with shouts of "Don- ald's crazy" from some of the 2,000 people packed in a brightly lit gymnasium. POLITICS 'Myth-busting' Obama tries to debunk GOP on the US economy | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2016 8 A