About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (June 25, 2023)
LOCA^NATION The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Sunday, June 25, 2023 3A DeKalb prosecutor withdraws from protest-related cases ALYSSA POINTER I Associated Press DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston speaks during a news conference in front of the DeKalb County Courthouse in Decatur, Ga., Monday, Oct. 14,2019. Boston announced Friday, June 23, that her office is withdrawing from criminal cases tied to protests over plans to build a police and firefighter training center, citing disagreements with the state’s Republican attorney general, including the decision to charge a legal observer with domestic terrorism. BY R.J. RICO Associated Press ATLANTA — A metro Atlanta prosecutor announced Friday that her office is withdrawing from criminal cases tied to pro tests over plans to build a police and firefighter training center, citing dis agreements with the state’s Republican attorney gen eral, including the decision to charge a legal observer with domestic terrorism. DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston’s decision means Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr will have sole oversight regarding more than 40 additional cases connected to the “Stop Cop City” move ment. Previously, the two offices held joint jurisdiction over those cases, Boston, a Democrat, said in a news release. “It is clear to both myself and to the attorney general that we have fundamen tally different prosecution philosophies,” Boston told WABE-FM. Over the past seven months, more than 40 people have been charged with domestic terrorism in connection with violent protests. Fireworks and rocks have been thrown at officers and police vehicles and construction equipment have been torched. The Georgia statute, which had been rarely employed prior to December, carries a sen tence of between five and 35 years behind bars. Protesters argue that the charges are overblown — none of those arrested have been accused of injur ing anyone — and meant to scare off others from joining the movement against the $90 million training center. In a statement, Carr said his office is “fully commit ted to moving forward with the prosecution of those who have engaged in or supported violent acts sur rounding the Public Safety Training Center.” City officials say the new 85-acre (34-hectare) campus would replace inadequate training facilities and would help address difficulties in hiring and retaining police officers that worsened after nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice three years ago. But demonstrators argue that the site will exacerbate environmental damage and be a staging ground for militarized officers to be trained in quelling social movements. In an on-air interview with WABE’s Rose Scott, Boston said she and the attorney general’s office “had some differences ... about who should be charged and what they should be charged with.” Boston said she had con cerns with the prosecu tion of Thomas Jurgens, a Southern Poverty Law Center staff attorney. Jur gens was one of 23 people charged with domestic ter rorism March 5 after more than 150 masked protesters stormed a construction site, torching equipment while throwing projectiles at flee ing officers. Protesters were arrested more than an hour later about three-quarters of a mile (1.2 kilometers) away after they retreated to a nearby music festival that was filled with other activists. Jurgens was wearing a bright green hat — a well- known identifier for legal observers — and his arrest alarmed many human rights organizations. The law cen ter called it an example of “heavy-handed law enforce ment intervention against protesters.” “That was one of the touch points of a number of touch points that ultimately led me to make (this) decision,” Boston said of Jurgens’ arrest. “I will only proceed on cases that I believe that I can make beyond a reason able doubt.” Defense attorneys of those others arrested at the music festival have ques tioned the evidence behind the charges, noting errors in the near-identical arrest warrants. During bond hearings, prosecutors have admitted that they have struggled to specifically identify many of the suspects among the crowd of masked protesters, though they insist that wet, muddy clothes proved they had traipsed through the woods and crossed a nearby creek after attacking the construction site. Boston told WABE that she hopes Carr will proceed appropriately when it comes to prosecuting those who deserve to be charged. “There’s absolutely been destruction and violence, but how you approach all of these cases needs to be approached individually — every case, individually,” she said. Questions arise over design of doomed Titan submersible LINDSEY WASSON I Associated Press A boat with the OceanGate logo is parked on a lot near the OceanGate offices Thursday, June 22, in Everett, Wash. The U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday that the missing submersible Titan imploded near the Titanic shipwreck site, killing everyone on board. BY MARK PRATT Associated Press BOSTON — The deadly implo sion of the Titan submersible raises questions about whether the vessel exploring the Titanic wreckage was destined for disas ter because of its unconventional design and its creator’s refusal to submit to independent checks that are standard in the industry. All five people aboard the Titan died when it was crushed near the world’s most famous shipwreck, U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger said Thursday, bringing an end to a massive multinational search that began Sunday when the ves sel lost contact with its mother ship in the unforgiving North Atlantic. The Titan, owned and oper ated by OceanGate Expeditions, first began taking people to the Titanic in 2021. It was touted for a roomier cylinder-shaped cabin made of a carbon-fiber — a departure from the sphere shaped cabins made of titanium used by most submersibles. The sphere is “the perfect shape,” because water pressure is exerted equally on all areas, said Chris Roman, a professor at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanog raphy. Roman had not been on the Titan but has made several deep dives in Alvin, a submers ible operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts. The 22-foot long, 23,000-pound Titan’s larger internal volume — while still cramped with a maximum of five seated people — meant it was subjected to more external pressure. Elongating the cabin space in a submersible increases pres sure loads in the midsections, which increases fatigue and delamination loads, said Jasper Graham-Jones, an associate pro fessor of mechanical and marine engineering at the Univer sity of Plymouth in the United Kingdom. Fatigue, he said, is like bend ing a wire back and forth until it breaks. Delamination, he said, is like splitting wood down the grain, which is easier than chop ping across the grain. Furthermore, the Titan’s 5-inch thick hull had been sub jected to repeated stress over the course of about two dozen previous dives, Graham-Jones said. Each trip would put tiny cracks in the structure. “This might be small and undetectable to start but would soon become critical and produce rapid and uncontrollable growth,” he said. OceanGate promoted the Titan’s carbon fiber construction — with titanium endcaps — as “lighter in weight and more effi cient to mobilize than other deep diving submersibles” on its web site. It also said the vessel was designed to dive 2.4 miles “with a comfortable safety margin,” according to court documents. But carbon composites have limited life when subject to excessive loads or poor design which leads to stress concentra tions, Graham-Jones said. PUCKETT ■ Continued from 1A Jackson deferred com ment to the county. “While Hall County respects Judge Story’s decision regarding this case, we do not comment on litigation matters,” Hall County spokeswoman Joy Holmes wrote in an email. Kim was employed with Hall County from July 7, 2019 until Oct. 22, 2019. Holmes said Kim resigned from his position as a dep uty sheriff. Puckett is now the city clerk in Lula. According to Story’s summary of the case, Kim and another deputy went out to investigate a domes tic call. Tangee Puckett told Kim that she and her husband were fighting and she had asked him to leave, according to court documents. When Puckett’s hus band told Kim that she was pushing him, Tan gee Puckett interrupted and said that he was lying, according to court documents. “(Kim) told her to stop talking so he could hear Mr. Puckett’s version of the events,” the judge’s order reads, though Puck ett interrupted again moments later. After interviewing peo ple on the scene, Kim told Tangee Puckett that he determined that she was the “primary aggressor because she went up to Mr. Puckett’s face first,” according to the judge’s order. Following some back- and-forth between Kim and Puckett, she started walking toward the depu ty’s car. Kim radioed with his lieutenant, who came to the scene. Kim informed him that he had prob able cause to make an arrest for simple battery, according to the judge’s summary. The lieutenant then con ducted his own investiga tion and concluded that FERAL ■ Continued from 1A While investigating the property off Cannon Bridge Road, animal con trol officers found the cat dead on the property as well as “an abundance of ‘feeding stations’ on the property” and a “colony of unaltered, unvaccinated cats.” Puckett “had committed simple battery and shared his decision with (Kim).” While walking to the car, Puckett heard some one say “momma,” caus ing her to stop and turn toward the house. Kim said, “Ma’am, come on,” to which Puck ett replied saying it was her daughter, according to the judge’s summary. “(Kim) then took (Puck ett) to the ground by kick ing her ankles out from underneath her,” the judge wrote. Puckett landed on her back, and Kim then flipped Puckett over to secure her hands and escort her to his car, according to Story’s summary. Story wrote there is a two-pronged test regard ing qualified immunity, which shields government officials from damages if they allegedly caused harm in the scope of their “The ‘owner’ confirmed the cats were being fed on the property and were unmanaged for over two years,” Moore wrote in a release. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the dead cat was positive for rabies. Because of the num ber of unvaccinated cats reproducing on the prop erty and the threat to other animals or humans, the “heartbreaking decision” duties. The first prong requires the person seeking immu nity to show that they acted “within the scope of discretionary author ity when the allegedly wrongful acts occurred,” according to Story’s order. After that, the court must evaluate if the officer’s conduct violated a consti tutional right. Story wrote that Kim had probable cause to make the arrest under Georgia law for obstruc tion based on her inter ruption of Kim’s interview with her husband as well as questioning or ignor ing Kim when he tried to arrest her. The judge also ruled Kim had arguable prob able cause of simple battery based on his interviews. “The court acknowl edges that some, but not all, of Mr. Puckett and the witnesses’ statements was made to euthanize all of the unvaccinated feral cats including kittens, Moore said. As of Thursday, June 22, 18 cats have been eutha nized, and officers are still trying to find the remain ing animals. “People never seem to understand why HCACC does not condone the free feeding and non-man agement of feral cats,” Animal Care and Control Director Madi Nix said in support a finding that (Tangee Puckett) com mitted simple battery,” Story wrote. “However, arguable probable cause did not require (Kim) to have enough evidence to secure a conviction; (Kim) was only required to have enough evidence to sup port a reasonable officer finding that there was ‘a probability or substan tial chance’ that (Puck ett) committed simple battery.” Story ruled that Kim’s use of force was “objec tively reasonable,” add ing that he was not aware of any similar cases that showed Kim’s conduct was unconstitutional. Puckett’s subsequent claims were thus barred by official immunity. Story granted sum mary judgment in full and ordered the case to be closed. a statement. “We love cats. Nothing destroys us more than situations like this where the unnecessary deaths of animals could have been prevented.” Animal control is warn ing people to not allow pets to roam and to avoid unfamiliar animals. It is not advised to feed or touch wild animals, but you should seek immedi ate medical attention if bitten or exposed to their saliva. EARLY DEADLINES FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY Because of the upcoming holidays, The Times will alter its advertising and legals deadline as follows: Retail Display Ads Publication Date Midweek Edition 7/5-6 Deadline Friday, June 30 - 3:00pm Classified Line Ads and Legals Publication Date Deadline Legals 7/5-6 Wednesday, June 28 - Noon Classifieds 7/5-6 Friday, June 30 - 3:00pm Obituaries Publication Date Deadline Obits 7/5-6 Friday, June 30 - 3:00pm £hc (Times gainesvi I letimes.com Will be CLOSED Tuesday, July 4th in observance of Independence Day.
