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Man killed ex-senator’s son after sending ominous text: Cops

homesafetytechpros — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 06:16:00 +0000

Inset: Nevada Sen. Pat Spearman with her son Na’onche Osborne (KSNV/YouTube). Background: The aftermath of a crash allegedly caused by Aerion Warmsley, near Interstate 15 and Spring Mountain Road in Las Vegas (KSNV/YouTube).

A 19-year-old man in Las Vegas is facing charges for a “dangerous” crime spree across multiple jurisdictions last week that included car thefts, high-speed pursuits and the murder of a former Nevada senator’s son — “just hours” after the suspect asked a woman if she “wanted to die,” cops say.

Aerion Warmsley, of North Las Vegas, faces charges of open murder with a deadly weapon and robbery with a deadly weapon for the shooting death of Na’onche Osborne — the 23-year-old son of former Democratic state Sen. Pat Spearman — last Thursday at the Aliante Casino and Hotel. The North Las Vegas Police Department released details about Warmsley’s alleged crime spree during a video briefing on Saturday night that was broadcast by local CBS affiliate KLAS. He is expected to face additional charges.

“This homicide followed an interaction involving the suspect that occurred just one day earlier,” said NLVPD Officer Roberto Vaquera, about the domestic incident and text that kicked off Warmsley’s alleged rampage last Wednesday night.

“(Warmsley) sent the victim a threatening text message, asking her if she wanted to die,” Vaquera explained. “When officers arrived and located Warmsley’s vehicle in the parking lot outside the victim’s apartment building, they attempted to speak to him. However, he fled the scene in a Mercedes sedan with unique markings before officers could make contact with him.”

Warmsley allegedly evaded police for hours and eventually found himself at Aliante, where he shot Osborne on the casino floor at around 4:30 a.m., according to Vaquera. Preliminary information provided to cops suggested that Warmsley and another man, who has not been captured or identified, fled the area in his Mercedes sedan with unique markings and stolen license plates.

“A short time later, the suspect vehicle was involved in a crash in the area of Spring Mountain Road and Procyon Street in Las Vegas,” Vaquera said. “Two men fled the scene on foot and (Warmsley) approached a nearby woman and stole her gray SUV Mercedes at gunpoint. Over the next several hours, (Warmsley) was involved in a series of dangerous crimes across multiple jurisdictions. These crimes included additional vehicle thefts, high-speed pursuits and reckless driving that endangered many members of the public.”

Spearman, who served multiple terms in the Nevada state legislature, released a statement to KLAS through a spokesperson in response to her son’s death, saying it was an “unimaginable loss” for the family.

“They are heartbroken,” the rep said. “During this difficult time, the senator and their family ask for privacy as they grieve and support one another. They are deeply grateful for the outpouring of love, prayers, and condolences from friends, colleagues, and the community.”

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Chair of Senate Republican Caucus busted for DUI hit-and-run

homesafetytechpros — Fri, 06 Dec 2024 05:30:34 +0000

Inset: Sen. Ken Yager (Glynn County Detention Center). Background: Sen. Ken Yager speaking (WATE/YouTube).

A senator from Tennessee who was reelected this year and is the chairman of the state’s Senate Republican Caucus was arrested for suspicion of DUI after he allegedly committed a hit and run while driving a car with legislative plates that was paid for using his campaign account, according to cops and reports.

Sen. Ken Yager (R-Kingston) was caught driving drunk in Glynn County, Georgia, with an alleged blood alcohol concentration level of 0.14 — nearly double the state’s legal limit of 0.08 — on Tuesday evening at around 5 p.m., according to the Tennessee Lookout.

Authorities on Jekyll Island, a beach resort town off Georgia’s coast, received reports of a Ford Edge with Tennessee license plates and the words “KEY” on them that had just left the scene of a hit-and-run after failing to stop at a stop sign. Georgia State Troopers responded and found Yager, 77, in the parking lot of a grocery store, where he was already being evaluated by emergency medical services after tripping and falling, police say.

Troopers at the scene reported smelling a “distinct odor of alcohol” on the senator’s breath, prompting them to ask if he had anything to drink. “A couple glasses of wine previously in the day,” Yager allegedly told them.

The married father-of-two agreed to take a Breathalyzer and field sobriety test, which he allegedly failed, before being hauled away for DUI and the hit-and-run, the Tennessee Lookout reports. He refused to take a blood test.

Asked why he left the scene of the crash, Yager — who was on vacation — allegedly said “he thought everyone was fine” and claimed he “spoke with the other driver,” according to cops.

Finance records obtained by the Tennessee Lookout show that Yager uses his campaign account to foot the bill for his lease on the Ford Edge. In total, he has spent $22,888 in campaign funds so far on the “vehicle lease, car insurance, oil and tire maintenance, car washes, details and county vehicle registration fees” since purchasing it in 2022, the Lookout reports.

Yager’s license plates with the official state seal can be seen in video footage of Yager’s field sobriety test, which shows him having trouble standing. He released a statement after his arrest, calling what happened to him an “unfortunate incident.” Yager has since bonded out.

“On the advice of my attorney, I cannot discuss the particulars at this time,” Yager said. “I am and will continue to cooperate fully with authorities to bring this incident to an appropriate conclusion.”

First elected to the Tennessee Senate in 2006, Yager represents the counties of Campbell, Clay, Fentress, Macon, Morgan, Overton, Pickett, Roane and Scott. He was elected chair of the Senate Republican Caucus in 2018.

“My thoughts and prayers are with he and his family,” Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) said in a statement Thursday.

Yager won back his District 12 Senate seat last month in a landslide victory over independent candidate Charles Hutson II.

According to the Tennessee Lookout, if Yager gets indicted, Senate ethics rules require that he step down as caucus chair or file an appeal with the Ethics Committee for a hearing to argue for his position.

Attempts to reach the Senate Republican Caucus by Law&Crime on Thursday were unsuccessful, as were attempts to reach Yager’s office.

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Clinton-appointed judge pulls reverse retirement on Trump

homesafetytechpros — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 11:12:55 +0000

U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley (Office of Diversity and Inclusion — The Ohio State University).

With Donald Trump winning the presidency, a federal judge in Ohio who was appointed to the bench by Bill Clinton has chosen to rescind his decision to take “senior status” — preventing the future 47th president from being able to appoint a successor — following Trump’s election win over Kamala Harris, according to reports.

Speaking in a letter viewed by Reuters and the Columbus Dispatch on Monday, U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley tossed his hat back into Ohio’s Southern District ring, telling the Biden administration he would be remaining active after officially rescinding a “senior status” bid he made in October 2023 to semi-retire.

President Joe Biden never nominated anyone to replace the 70-year-old after his announcement last year on account of there being a split in support from the state’s two senators, Republican Vice President-elect J.D. Vance and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who would have needed to each confirm Biden’s nominee, per the Senate’s “blue slip” policy. This ultimately led to Marbley’s decision, he says.

“A successor has not been confirmed, and I have therefore decided to remain on active status and carry out the full duties and obligations of the office,” Marbley wrote in his letter to the White House on Nov. 8. “Please accept this letter as a formal withdrawal of my intention to assume senior status.”

The federal judiciary lists 47 judicial seats as currently being vacant, with 17 nominees “pending” and awaiting a final confirmation vote on Tuesday. Biden has nominees chosen for at least 28 of those seats as Democrats are racing to confirm as many judges and regulators as possible before Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

“While still in charge of the Senate and the White House, we must do all we can to safeguard our democracy,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in a Time magazine editorial on Nov. 7. “Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer must use every minute of the end-of-year legislative session to confirm federal judges and key regulators — none of whom can be removed by the next President.”

Marbley, a grandfather and North Carolina native, was appointed by President Clinton in 1997 to replace John David Holschuh’s vacated seat. He has served as the Chief District Judge for the Southern District of Ohio since 2019, with him being the first Black person ever appointed to the position. Marbley has also been an adjunct professor at Ohio State University since 1998 and was inducted into the school’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion Hall of Fame earlier this year.

“In his over 24 years serving as a district court judge, Judge Marbley has presided over some of the most important cases in central Ohio and the country, ranging from voting rights issues to issues involving policing,” his ODI bio reads. “The Washington Post adopted one of his statements during a trial as its motto: ‘Democracy dies in darkness.””

As of Tuesday, the Senate has confirmed at least 213 of Biden’s judicial nominees, according to Reuters. Democrats currently hold a narrow 51-49 majority in the chamber, but that all changed on Election Day as Republicans managed to take back control — gaining a 53-47 majority — following GOP flips in West Virginia, Montana and Ohio.

“We are going to get as many done as we can,” Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement this week about the confirmations, per Reuters.

Republican and Democratic leaders have been flocking to Washington to take part in the Senate chamber’s lame-duck session, with each side calling on members to show up and fight for their respective parties.

Senate Republicans *must* hold the line and vote down these lifetime judicial appointments until January.

The American people voted for monumental change.

Grind the Senate to a halt.

We will watch this very carefully at the @Article3Project.

No excuses, senators. https://t.co/cKBUy15i0w

— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) November 8, 2024

Attempts to reach Marbley and the Biden administration for comment by Law&Crime have been unsuccessful.

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Who may be on Trump’s Supreme Court short list? Senate win aids judicial picks

homesafetytechpros — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 05:07:47 +0000

U.S. Supreme Court

Who may be on Trump’s Supreme Court short list? Senate win aids judicial picks

By Debra Cassens Weiss

November 6, 2024, 3:12 pm CST

President-elect Donald Trump could get a chance to appoint two U.S. Supreme Court justices if Justice Clarence Thomas, 76, and Justice Samuel Alito, 74, decide to retire. (Image from Shutterstock)

President-elect Donald Trump could get a chance to appoint two U.S. Supreme Court justices if Justice Clarence Thomas, 76, and Justice Samuel Alito, 74, decide to retire.

“With two more appointees,” Law360 reports, “Trump could single-handedly cement the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority for decades to come.”

These judges and lawyers are potential nominees, according to Law360, an op-ed in the New York Times by the editor of a liberal blog, Fox News and a Bloomberg Law story on potential Asian American and Pacific Islander picks.

• Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. He is the former general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. He was in the news in January 2020 for an opinion in which he refused to refer to a transgender inmate by her preferred female pronouns. (Law360, Fox News, the New York Times)

• Judge Andrew S. Oldham, the 5th Circuit at New Orleans. He is former general counsel for Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbot. (Law360, Fox News)

• Judge James C. Ho, the 5th Circuit at New Orleans. He is a former Texas solicitor general. In 2022, he said he won’t be hiring future Yale Law School grads as clerks because the university cancels conservative views. (Law360, Fox News, the New York Times, Bloomberg Law)

• Judge Amul Thapar, the 6th Circuit at Cincinnati. He is a former Williams & Connolly lawyer. He has suggested that conservatives withhold donations to law schools that don’t teach originalism. (Law360, Fox News, Bloomberg Law)

• Judge Joan Larsen, the 6th Circuit at Cincinnati. She was formerly a Michigan Supreme Court justice. (Fox News)

• Judge Gregory G. Katsas, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He is a former Jones Day lawyer and a former deputy counsel in the Trump White House. (Law360, Fox News)

• Judge Neomi Rao, the D.C. Circuit. She was the administrator for the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Trump administration. (Fox News, Bloomberg Law)

• Judge Lawrence VanDyke, the 9th Circuit at San Francisco. He is a former Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher lawyer and a former solicitor general in Nevada and Montana. He received a “not qualified” rating by the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, which cited an “entitlement temperament.” (Law360, Fox News, the New York Times)

• Judge Patrick Bumatay, the 9th Circuit at San Francisco. He was the first openly gay judge to serve on the 9th Circuit. (Bloomberg Law)

• Judge Kenneth Lee, the 9th Circuit at San Francisco. He wrote an opinion finding that a ban on gun advertising that appeals to minors was likely unconstitutional. (Bloomberg Law)

• Judge Barbara Lagoa, the 11th Circuit at Atlanta. She is a former Florida Supreme Court justice and former Greenberg Traurig lawyer. (Fox News)

• Judge Britt Grant, the 11th Circuit at Atlanta. She is a former Georgia Supreme Court justice. (Fox News)

• Judge Kevin Newsom, the 11th Circuit at Atlanta. He was formerly the Alabama solicitor general. (Fox News)

• Judge Michael Park, the 2nd Circuit at New York. He formerly was a lawyer at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr; Dechert; and Consovoy McCarthy Park. (Bloomberg Law)

• Judge David Stras, the 8th Circuit St. Louis. He is a former Minnesota Supreme Court justice. (Fox News)

• Judge Allison Jones Rushing, the 4th Circuit at Richmond, Virginia. She was a Williams & Connolly lawyer. (Fox News)

• Kate Comerford Todd, a former deputy counsel in the Trump White House. (Fox News)

• U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon, the Southern District of Florida. She dismissed the classified documents case against Trump. (Law360)

• U.S. District Judge Patrick Wyrick, the Western District of Oklahoma. He was formerly an Oklahoma Supreme Court justice. (Fox News)

• Kristen Waggoner, CEO and general counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom. (Law360, Fox News, the New York Times)

• Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas. (Fox News)

• Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah. (Fox News)

• Morse Tan, the former dean of the Liberty University School of Law, who is now the senior executive director of Liberty University’s Center for Law & Government. (Bloomberg Law, the New York Times)

• Former North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Martin, founding dean of High Point University’s law school. (The New York Times)

Confirmation of Trump’s judicial nominees will be easier when Republicans take control of the U.S. Senate, Law360 reports.

Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa intends to reclaim his position as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee that will consider Trump’s choices, a Grassley spokesperson told Law360.

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