About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (March 21, 2024)
LOCAL/STATE The Times, Gainesville, Georgia I gainesvilletimes.com Thursday, March 21, 2024 3A Man charged with child molestation, public indecency BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com A Gainesville man was charged with child molestation after police said he masturbated Friday, March 15, in front of children inside an Oakwood Burger King. Isaiah Devin Martinez, 20, was also charged with public indecency. He was booked in to the Hall County Jail, where he remains with no bond. Oakwood Police officers responded around 4:35 p.m. Friday to the Mundy Mill Road Burger King regarding a man masturbating at the restaurant. Officers stopped the suspect, later identified as Martinez, walking behind the burger chain and detained him. “Several customers, to include children, observed Mr. Martinez expose his penis and start masturbating in front of them,” Sgt. Stewart Webb wrote in an email. The warrant stated Martinez pulled his penis out of his pants and masturbated “while in the public dining area” of the restaurant. Because the act happened in the presence of a child, police charged him with child molestation. Webb clarified that no children were assaulted. Arrest records show Martinez had been released two days prior from the jail. “Additionally, Mr. Martinez had an active arrest warrant through the Hall County Sheriff's Office for unrelated Drug Court violations,” Webb wrote in an email. Webb said Martinez is currently homeless. Martinez told Magistrate Court officials he intended to hire his own attorney. Martinez Judge clears way for Trump to appeal ruling keeping Fani Willis on 2020 election case Alex Slitz Associated Press Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis looks on during a hearing on the Georgia election interference case, Friday, March, 1, in Atlanta. BYALANNA DURKIN RICHER ANDSUDHINTHANAWALA Associated Press ATLANTA — The judge overseeing the Georgia 2020 election interference case cleared the way Wednesday for Donald Trump and other defendants to appeal a rul ing allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the prosecution. Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee's ruling means defense attorneys can ask the Georgia Court of Appeals to review the judge's deci sion not to disqualify Willis or dismiss the indictment over her romantic relation ship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. It will be up to the appeals court to decide whether to hear the matter. The judge said he would continue working to get the case ready for trial by addressing other matters in the meantime. But while Willis had made clear her determination to turn the page from weeks of embarrassing headlines, the judge's decision to green-light the appeal allows defense attorneys to keep at the forefront allegations of impropriety that threaten to damage the public's percep tion of the prosecution. McAfee last week said Willis can remain on the most sprawling of four crim inal cases against the former president as long as Wade resigns, which Wade did on Friday. Willis' romantic relation ship with Wade has roiled the case for weeks, overshadow ing the allegations charging Trump and 18 others with trying to illegally overturn his narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 in Georgia in a desperate bid to remain in power. Among the acts listed in the indictment was a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call in which Trump urged fel low Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to help him “find” the 11,780 votes needed to beat Biden. While the judge did not find Willis' relationship with Wade created a conflict of interest that should force her off the case, he said an “appearance of impropri ety” infected the prosecution team. The judge rebuked Willis for her “tremendous” lapse in judgment and ques tioned the truthfulness of Wade's and her testimony about the timing of their relationship. Attorneys for Trump and the other defendants said in court papers on Monday that Wade's resignation was not enough to correct the appear ance of impropriety the judge found. Defense law yers say a failure to remove Willis could imperil any con victions and force a retrial if an appeals court later finds it was warranted. Trump attorney Steve Sadow called the judge's decision to allow the appeal “highly significant.” “The defense is optimis tic that appellate review will lead to the case being dismissed and the DA being disqualified,” Sadow said in an email. Jeff DiSantis, a spokes man for the district attor ney's office, noted in a text message that the case had not been put on hold, adding that prosecutors will “work to move it forward to trial as quickly as possible.” The district attorney's office will only comment on the appeal in court filings, he said. Trump has pleaded not guilty and has denied doing anything wrong. The pre sumptive Republican nomi nee for the 2024 presidential election has characterized all the criminal cases against him as an effort to hurt his bid to reclaim the White House in November. Defense attorneys alleged that Willis paid Wade large sums for his work and then improperly benefited from the prosecution of the case when Wade used his earn ings to pay for vacations for the two of them. Willis and Wade acknowl edged they engaged in a romantic relationship, but they rejected the idea that Willis improperly benefited from it. Willis and Wade insisted they didn't begin dating until after he became special prosecutor and the relationship ended in the summer of 2023. They both said that Willis either paid for things herself or used cash to reimburse Wade for travel expenses. Wade offered his resig nation in a letter to Willis on Friday, saying he was doing so “in the interest of democracy, in dedication to the American public and to move this case forward as quickly as possible.” “I will always remember — and will remind every one — that you were brave enough to step forward and take on the investigation and prosecution of the allegations that the defendants in this case engaged in a conspiracy to overturn Georgia's 2020 Presidential Election,” Willis wrote in a letter accepting his resignation. Lawmakers approve income tax cuts for people, businesses BY JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA — Income taxes for Georgia residents and businesses are set to fall after the state Senate gave final passage to a pair of tax cuts Wednesday. House Bill 1015, which passed 40-12, would accel erate an already-planned income tax cut for individu als. House Bill 1023, which passed 34-17, would decrease the corporate income tax rate to match that of individuals. Both measures head to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who is expected to sign them into law. “We are continuing to conservatively manage our budget and put money back in the hands of Geor gians,” said Sen. Bo Hatchett, a Cornelia Republican who is a floor leader for Kemp. Some Democratic senators, but not all, voted against each bill. But the only person who spoke against the cuts was Sen. Colton Moore, a Trenton Republican, who earlier Wednesday challenged lawmakers to cut personal income tax rates by even more. “It'll be a fraud when you go back home and say, ‘I'm only cutting the income tax by a tenth of a point,'” said Moore, who nevertheless voted for the measure. Kemp and other Republican leaders back the mea sure to roll back the personal income tax rate to 5.39%, retroactive to Jan. 1. As of that date, Georgia gained a flat income tax rate of 5.49%, passed under a 2022 law that transitioned away from a series of income brack ets that topped out at 5.75%. The income tax rate is supposed to drop 0.1 % a year until reaching 4.99%, if state revenues hold up. The plan to drop the rate from 5.49% to 5.39%, announced in December, would cost an additional $360 million. That's on top of the $800 million the state is projected to forgo as part of the earlier cut. The corporate income tax had stayed at 5.75%, but supporters argue that it's unfair to tax businesses at a higher rate than individuals. Under the bill the corpo rate income tax rate would keep falling along with the personal income tax rate until reaching 4.99%. The corporate income tax cut would cost $176 mil lion in its first full year, and $210 million by 2029. But that doesn't account for future reductions. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Huf- stetler, a Rome Republican, said Georgia's personal and corporate income tax rates had been the same for decades. “I think it's a great measure for Georgia,” Huf- stetler said. “We're continuing to try to reduce our taxes. We're in a competitive environment with many other states such as North Carolina that have received theirs.” Election-year tax cuts are always popular among Republicans, and all 236 state House and Senate seats are on the ballot this year. FROM 1A Veteran a vacancy opened in the Air Corps and he ended up in basic training in Biloxi, Miss., where “it was hotter than the hinges of hell in the summer.” Jarrett would go on to become a flight engineer. His job was “to make sure everything on the plane worked and had all the essentials — fuel and that the bombs and the ammunition were loaded correctly — and I helped with takeoffs and landings.” His bomber focused on such enemy targets as bridges, munition dumps, railyards and shipyards. “There were a lot of times I wasn't sure I'd get back (safely),” Jarrett said. Historians say those flying bombers had reasons to be fearful. “After gaining a terrible reputation due to the loss of dozens of crewmembers in training accidents, the Martin B-26 finished the war with the lowest combat loss ratio of any of the American bombers,” according to a Warfare History Network article., After the war ended in 1945, Jarrett ended up working for Southern Railway (later Norfolk Southern Railway) coordinating with the Army to transport materials related to the U.S. space program, including moon and space shuttle missions. “We had nuts then just like we have now, trying to sabotage (efforts),” Jarrett said. As for his family, one of his brothers died in the war and one died about 30 years ago of lung cancer. He has one sister, 93, who lives in North Carolina. Jarrett has two children — a daughter who lives nearby and a son who lives in Charleston, S.C. — and has been a widower for about 20 years. He'll be 100 on April 15. Hitting the milestone wasn't much of a thought until “about six or eight months ago,” Jarrett said, laughing. “And when I got to thinking about it, I started getting old. I didn't consider myself old ... but,” he added, pointing toward his head, “something plays with that thing up there.” Asked the secret to such longevity, Jarrett paused for a moment and then shrugged. “I really don't know. Just enjoy the moment is all I can say. You're going to get some lumps and have some hard times, but some great times,” he said. “Just take it as it comes is what you have to do.” Scott Rogers The Times WWII veteran Norris Jarrett talks Friday, March 8, about different medals and patches he recieved during his military service. FROM 1A Books “She went around to each class room and explained what she had done and then was able to let them choose a book,” said Principal Bev erly Moody. “Our motto is to respect yourself and respect and serve others, so I think that was a great example of her serving her classmates,” Moody said. “Very caring of her to bring lit eracy into our schools and to share that with her classmates, and do it independently at that.” “Hats off to you, Ava!” the school district said on social media. “You have represented your school, your district, your family, and your com munity like a champ!” r.iria' irj.ghi Photo by Hall County Schools World Language Academy second graders display their Dr. Seuss books that their classmate Ava Hernandez bought them.
