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The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Thursday, November 8, 2018 5A
NEVADA
Brothel owner wins legislative race after death
BY MICHELLE L. PRICE
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — Nevada brothel
owner and reality TV star Dennis
Hof died last month but still won a
heavily GOP state legislative dis
trict after fashioning himself as a
Donald Trump-style Republican
candidate.
County officials will appoint a
Republican to take Hof’s place in
the state Assembly. He was found
dead Oct. 16 after a weekend of
parties celebrating his 72nd birth
day. Officials are still
determining his cause of
death, but they don’t sus
pect foul play.
He beat Democratic
educator Lesia Romanov
for Nevada’s 36th Assem
bly District, which includes
rural communities and
large stretches of desert in
the southern part of the state.
Hof owned a handful of broth
els in Nevada, the only state that
allows them to legally operate.
He starred in the HBO adult real
ity series “Cathouse” and
wrote a book titled “The
Art of the Pimp,” akin to
Trump’s book “The Art of
the Deal.”
Porn actor Ron Jer
emy and a prostitute
discovered Hof dead at
Hof’s Love Ranch brothel
about an hour outside Las
Vegas. He had spent the four pre
vious days partying with notables
from the sex industry and political
world. The brothel is where NBA
player Lamar Odom was found
unconscious in 2015.
About 20 brothels operate in
Nevada, mostly in rural areas. They
are banned in the counties that
contain Las Vegas and Reno. The
state doesn’t publicize how many
are open, and most owners keep a
much lower profile than Hof did.
Hof ran for office in 2016 as a
Libertarian but lost the race. This
year, he ran as a Republican and
earned backing from Trump asso
ciate Roger Stone and tax-cut activ
ist Grover Norquist.
He upended Nevada politics this
summer when he ousted an incum
bent Republican lawmaker in a
primary, celebrating at an elec
tion night party with “Hollywood
Madam” Heidi Fleiss.
He said an anti-brothel push and
regulatory problems he faced this
year were political retribution.
Nevada’s 36th Assembly Dis
trict has long been a Republican-
held seat. The sprawling district
touches both California and Utah
and includes the Nevada National
Security Site where nuclear weap
ons were once tested.
Justices debate overturning $315M
judgment from USS Cole bombing
JESSICA GRESKO I Associated Press
A group of victims of the USS Cole bombing, from left Rick Harrison and David Morales, who
were aboard the USS Cole when it was bombed, and Lorrie Triplett, Jamal Gunn and David
Francis, who all lost family members in the bombing, stand Wednesday, Nov. 7, outside the
Supreme Court, following arguments in a case that stemmed from the bombing.
Jury picked for US
trial of Mexican
drug lord El Chapo
Associated Press
BY JESSICA GRESKO
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The
Supreme Court debated
Wednesday whether to
overturn a nearly $315
million judgment against
Sudan stemming from the
bombing of the USS Cole.
The question the justices
are being asked to answer
is where notice of the law
suit against Sudan should
have been mailed to its
embassy in Washington or
its foreign ministry in the
country’s capital, Khar
toum. It wasn’t clear how
the justices would rule.
The U.S. government has
weighed in on the side of
Sudan and against victims
of the Cole bombing in Octo
ber 2000 in which 17 sailors
died and dozens of others
were injured. In the case
the justices were hearing,
a group of injured sailors
and several of their spouses
sued Sudan in a U.S. court,
arguing that Sudan had pro
vided support to al-Qaida,
which claimed responsibil
ity for the attack in Yemen.
Two sailors injured in the
bombing and relatives of
sailors who died watched
the high court arguments
Wednesday.
In order to alert Sudan
to the lawsuit, the group
mailed the required notice
to Sudan’s embassy in
Washington, a little over a
mile from the White House.
Sudan never responded and
a court entered an approxi
mately $315 million judg
ment against the country.
Sudan wants that judgment
thrown out, arguing that
notice of the lawsuit should
have been sent overseas.
The Trump administration
agrees.
The case did not seem
to be one that would split
the court along typical
ideological lines. Chief Jus
tice John Roberts, Justice
Samuel Alito and Justice
Elena Kagan all seemed to
approve of sending notice of
the lawsuit to the embassy.
Roberts said that his “first
thought” if he wanted to
send mail to a foreign offi
cial would be: “Why don’t I
deliver it to the embassy?”
Kagan, meanwhile, told
lawyer Christopher Curran,
who was arguing on behalf
of Sudan, that “everybody
understands that embassies
are supposed to be the point
of contact if you want to do
anything with respect to a
foreign government.”
But Erica Ross, arguing
on behalf of the Trump
administration, told the jus
tices that the United States
doesn’t accept notice of
lawsuits at its embassies
abroad and that the United
States has an interest in
seeing foreign countries
“brought into our courts
only under the same cir
cumstances that we ask
abroad.”
NEW YORK - Jury
selection at the U.S. trial
for Mexican drug lord Joa
quin “El Chapo” Guzman
was completed Wednes
day with Guzman
waiting for word
on whether he can
hug his wife for
the first time in
nearly two years.
A jury of seven
women and five
men are to hear
opening state
ments Tuesday in
the drug-conspiracy case
against Guzman in federal
court in Brooklyn.
Guzman has pleaded not
guilty to charges accusing
him of overseeing a drug
cartel known for violence
and for breaking him out
of Mexican jails.
The notoriety prompted
security measures that
include keeping jurors
anonymous. Guzman also
has been held in solitary
confinement and barred
from seeing his wife out
of concerns he could pass
messages to his cohorts.
This week, a defense
lawyer asked U.S. District
Judge Brian Cogan to grant
a “humanitarian gesture”
of letting Guzman greet
his wife in the courtroom
before the jury enters.
Allowing “an embrace
with the railing between
them would not pose a
threat to security,” the let
ter read. The judge didn’t
immediately rule on the
request.
Most of the peo
ple picked for the
jury or to serve as
alternates said in
initial screening
they had heard of
Guzman through
news reports or
TV shows. They
include a man and
a woman who said they
are fluent in Spanish and
a man who’s a retired cor
rections officer.
The judge put off swear
ing in the jurors until next
week out of concern some
still might try to duck duty
for a trial expected to last
into next year. He told law
yers one of the jurors, after
learning she was picked,
wept while privately tell
ing him she was afraid of
the unwanted attention she
would get if it was found
out she was on the panel.
The woman was kept on
after defense attorney Jef
frey Lichtman argued dis
missing her would set the
precedent that jurors could
get out service “with a few
tears.”
Guzman
MISSOURI
Activist who shot abortion doctor freed
Associated Press
KANSAS CITY - A
woman who shot Wichita
abortion doctor George Til
ler and attacked abortion
clinics in several states in
the 1990s has been released
from prison in Oregon,
prompting concern in clinics
across the country, accord
ing to a report Wednesday.
Rachelle “Shelley” Shan
non was released from a
halfway house in Portland,
the U.S. Bureau of Prisons
confirmed. She will be on
supervised release for three
years but the bureau said
conditions of her release
will not be revealed.
Shannon spent 25 years in
custody and had been living
at the halfway house since
May, The Kansas City Star
reported.
“We’re extremely con
cerned,” said Katherine
Spillar, executive director
of the Feminist Majority
Foundation. “We’re alert
ing providers, briefing them
and making sure they have
enough security precautions
in place.”
The Rev. Donald Spitz, an
anti-abortion activist who
stayed in contact with Shan
non, said abortion-rights
activists should not be wor
ried about Shannon’s release.
“I don’t think she’ll be
doing anything violent,”
said Spitz, leader of Pro-Life
Virginia and sponsor of the
Army of God website. “Of
course, no one knows, but I’d
be very surprised.”
He said he talked to
Shannon on Monday and
described her as upbeat
about her release but said he
didn’t know Shannon’s plans.
Shannon, now 62, was sen
tenced to 11 years for shoot
ing and wounding Tiller, and
20 years for six firebomb-
ings and two acid attacks at
abortion clinics in Califor
nia, Oregon and Nevada.
Stephen Peifer, a former
assistant U.S. attorney who
prosecuted Shannon in Port
land in 1995, said Shannon
could do something violent
herself but it’s more likely
she would counsel other
people to do so.
“She’s completely unre
habilitated and totally incor
rigible,” Peifer said. “She
has the same mentality and
goals that she had when she
was convicted.”
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