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Minnesota lawyer says police presser on Daunte Wright ‘was a disaster' as town braces for more protests
April 12, 2021
Authorities in Brooklyn Center had a press conference on Monday following the fatal police shooting of Daunte Wright, and one top Minnesota lawyer says it did not go over well at all.
Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon, Mayor Mike Elliott, and City Manager Curt Boganey addressed reporters after a night of protests against the shooting.
<p>"It is my belief that the officer had their intention to deploy the Taser but instead shot Mr. Wright with a single bullet," Gannon said.</p><p>Following the press conference, MSNBC's Katy Tur interviewed Mary Moriarty, the former chief public defender in Hennepin County, the state's most populous county that includes Brooklyn Center and Minneapolis.</p><p>"Mary, as we take this in, I just want your reaction," Tur said.</p><p>"First of all, he was pulled because of having expired tags," Moriarty. "That is a misdemeanor offense in Minnesota and as one of the reporters pointed out during the press conference, there has been a big delay in people getting their tabs. Many people have expired tabs because of the pandemic."</p><p>"The second thing the police chief said was that there might have been a hanging object on the rearview mirror, which we heard last night might have been an air freshener," she continued. "And then the third things is that he discovered that he had a warrant. That warrant was on a gross misdemeanor gun possession case, so not a felony."</p><p>"The other thing about it was, he was actually summoned to come into court, not a warrant, and don't even sure he was aware that he needed to come to court. He missed the appearance and so there was a warrant. So why was she even using her taser on him at close range for any of these offenses?" she asked.</p><p>"And that's one of the reasons people are so angry. The other reason is last night the police used chemical irritants and rubber bullets on people who were trying to get information about what happened. Part of the problem was a lack of transparency, they didn't release any information, and all the information that was coming out was coming from the family and the mother and that kind of thing."</p><p>"This press conference was a disaster, because the police chief was defensive, and I could hear the voices of many activists who I know, from Minneapolis actually, were already there, this will certainly not be the end of the protests on this case, or George Floyd as well," Moriarty said. </p><p><span></span>She also said the chief, "was lecturing them about how peaceful protests were okay but anything beyond that was not. That, I can tell you, did not go over well with people in that room. It will not go over well now, either. So it was not handled well at all on a number of levels."</p><p>The officer who shot Wright has been placed on administrative leave, but has not been arrested or fired. The town is expecting further protests. </p><p>Watch:</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c5284d1302893a10ad97960792656831" style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="auto" type="lazy-iframe" scrolling="no" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lV6UYfaQzC0?rel=0" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;" width="100%"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Mary Moriarty</small>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV6UYfaQzC0" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
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Film lovers tired of tedious Zoom-based Hollywood awards shows can rejoice -- producers of the glitzy in-person Oscars this month are bringing in the big guns, with Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt and Reese Witherspoon among an A-list lineup of presenters unveiled Monday.
The April 25 ceremony, to be primarily held at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, comes as California accelerates its reopening after a year of Covid-19 closures, buoyed by a vast vaccination rollout, and will follow a glamorous "awards-show-as-a-movie" theme, the Academy said.
<p>In a statement announcing the Oscars' "truly stellar cast of stars," the producers warned: "There's so much wattage here, sunglasses may be required."</p><p>Along with Ford and Witherspoon, presenters will include last year's big acting winners Joaquin Phoenix, Renee Zellweger, Pitt and Laura Dern -- along with South Korea's Bong Joon-ho, who won best director and best picture with "Parasite."</p><p>Angela Bassett, Halle Berry and Bryan Cranston will also appear, among others, marking the first time Tinseltown's biggest names will gather on the red carpet since Covid-19's arrival prompted the nation's first statewide stay-at-home order in March 2020.</p><p>The 93rd Academy Awards, delayed by two months due to Covid-19, are being broadcast from Union Station and the Oscars' traditional Hollywood base at the Dolby Theatre, where some live musical performances are expected to take place.</p><p>Venues in Britain and France will also be set up for international nominees unable to travel to Los Angeles.</p><p>Recent awards shows including February's Golden Globes have been slammed for their heavy use of remote calling for nominees, particularly after Daniel Kaluuya briefly lost audio as he accepted his Globe for best supporting actor.</p><p>Oscars producers have spoken of their desire for a ceremony that "will look like a movie, not a television show," promising a spectacular introduction and planning to film the proceedings in high-resolution, widescreen format. </p><p>Nominees have been urged to dress to the nines, with a warning from organizers that "formal is totally cool if you want to go there, but casual is really not."</p><p>"Contagion" director Steven Soderbergh is among the pandemic-delayed show's producers.</p>
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Gov. Ron DeSantis doesn't want anything to do with the expanding problems of Florida Republicans like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and former tax collector Joel Greenberg.
According to Florida Politics, DeSantis dodged questions about Gaetz on Monday when asked. The two men seemed attached at the hip during the 2018 election, appearing at several events together. There don't appear to be any photos of the two men anywhere on DeSantis' campaign page, but there certainly are on Gaetz's page.
<p>"I don't have anything to say, anything else?" DeSantis said when a Capitol reporter probed him on the issue. </p><p><a href="https://www.rawstory.com/trafficking-suspect-meets-trump-desantis/" target="_blank">DeSantis was also spotted on the tarmac</a> with a Gaetz travel buddy who is now also under investigation for sex trafficking. The two were the only men at the Orlando airport to greet former President Donald Trump ahead of his campaign reelection launch. </p><p>In early April, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/matt-gaetz-bahamas-trip-federal-probe-sex-trafficking/" target="_blank">CBS News revealed</a> that Rep. Gaetz went to the Bahamas in late 2018 or early 2019 with a marijuana entrepreneur and hand surgeon Jason Pirozzolo. The trip ultimately triggered the sex trafficking investigation because Pirozzolo "allegedly paid for the travel expenses, accommodations, and female escorts." </p><p>"Gaetz has long since become a <a href="https://floridapolitics.com/archives/416940-email-insights-progress-florida-poses-questions-for-ron-desantis-about-matt-gaetz/" style="" target="_blank">political liability</a><u></u>," said Florida Politics. "And DeSantis clearly will cut off any questions about his former running buddy, unless or until he wants to answer them in a forum and to an interviewer of his choosing."</p><p><a href="https://floridapolitics.com/archives/419273-ron-desantis-sidesteps-matt-gaetz-question-i-dont-have-anything-to-say/" target="_blank">Read the full report from Florida Politics. </a></p>
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