Colorado security guard charged with 2nd-degree murder
DENVER — A television station security guard accused of fatally shooting a pro-police demonstrator following opposing rallies was charged Monday with second-degree murder, according to the Denver district court clerk’s office.
The charges in the death of Lee Keltner, 49, were filed to the district court against Matthew Dolloff, 30, who was protecting a KUSA-TV producer at the time of the incident.
The next hearing is set for Wednesday, according to the district court clerk’s office. No attorney has been listed for Dolloff in court records.
People convicted of second-degree murder face a mandatory sentence of 16 to 48 years in prison.
Under Colorado law, second-degree murder is defined as knowingly killing someone but without the deliberation prosecutors are required to prove in first-degree murder cases.
Police say Keltner was in a dispute with a 27-year-old man as the rallies broke up Oct. 10 when Dolloff and a 25-year-old person got into an altercation with Keltner.
Keltner slapped Dolloff in the head and Dolloff pulled out a semiautomatic handgun and shot Keltner as Keltner discharged pepper spray at him, police said in an arrest affidavit.
A cellphone video taken by KUSA’s producer suggests that Keltner was upset that his dispute with the first man was being recorded by cameras.
Pennsylvania ballots:
The U.S. Supreme Court will allow Pennsylvania to count ballots received up to three days after the election, rejecting a Republican plea.
The justices divided 4-4 Monday, an outcome that upholds a state Supreme Court ruling that allowed election officials to receive and count ballots until Nov. 6, even if they don’t have a clear postmark.
Republicans, including President Donald Trump’s campaign, have opposed such an extension, arguing that it violates federal law that sets Election Day as the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November and that such a decision constitutionally belongs to lawmakers, not the courts.
Chief Justice John Roberts joined with the three liberal justices to reject Pennsylvania Republicans’ call for the court to block the state court ruling.
Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas would have required the state to stop accepting absentee ballots when the polls close on Nov. 3.
There were no opinions accompanying the order, so it is impossible to say what motivated either group of justices.
Off terror list: President Donald Trump on Monday said Sudan will be removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism if it follows through on its pledge to pay $335 million to American terror victims and their families.
The move would open the door for the African country to get international loans and aid needed to revive its battered economy and rescue the country’s transition to democracy. The announcement comes as the Trump administration works to get other Arab countries, such as Sudan, to join the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain’s recent recognition of Israel.
Delisting Sudan from the state sponsors blacklist is a key incentive for the Sudanese government to normalize relations with Israel.
Sudan has agreed to pay compensation for victims of the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, attacks conducted by Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network while bin Laden was living in Sudan.
Epsilon in Atlantic: Tropical Storm Epsilon formed Monday in the central Atlantic, the latest in what has been an active hurricane season.
The storm had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph. Additional strengthening was expected and Epsilon was forecast to be at or near hurricane strength by early Thursday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
The storm was centered about 730 miles southeast of Bermuda.
This year’s hurricane season has had so many storms that the hurricane center has turned to the Greek alphabet for storm names after running out of official names.
Epsilon also represents a record for the earliest 26th named storm, beating out Nov. 22 in 2005, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.
Bolivia election: Bolivia appeared Monday to be shifting away from the conservative policies of the U.S.-backed interim government that took power last year after leftist President Evo Morales resigned, with the self-exiled leader’s party claiming victory in a weekend presidential election.
The leading rival of Morales’s handpicked successor, Luis Arce, conceded defeat as did interim President Jeanine Anez, a foe of Morales.
Officials released no formal, comprehensive quick count of results from Sunday’s vote, but two independent surveys of selected polling places gave Arce a lead of roughly 20 percentage points over his closest rival — far more than needed to avoid a runoff.
Slain French teacher:
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Monday that police operations are underway into dozens of people who allegedly issued messages of support for the attacker after the beheading of a history teacher near Paris.
Darmanin said on French radio Europe 1 that at least 80 cases of hate speech have been reported since Friday’s attack.
Samuel Paty, 47, was beheaded northwest of Paris by a 18-year-old Moscowborn Chechen refugee, who was later shot dead by police.
Police officials said Paty had discussed caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad with his class, leading to threats.
French President Emmanuel Macron met with Paty’s family Monday, the French presidency said.
The government will reinforce security at schools when classes resume Nov. 2 after two weeks of holidays, Macron’s office said.
A national homage is to be held for Paty on Wednesday.
Nude on Zoom: The New Yorker has suspended journalist Jeffrey Toobin after a Zoom incident the staff writer claims happened by “mistake.”
The publication took action after the lawyer and author, who is also CNN’s chief legal analyst, exposed his genitals during a virtual meeting last week with staffers from The New Yorker and WNYC radio, according to a Monday report from Vice.
“I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera,” Toobin said in a statement to Vice. “I apologize to my wife, family, friends and co-workers.
He added. “I thought I had muted the Zoom video.”
A spokesperson for The New Yorker told Vice that the media outlet is investigating the situation. Toobin joined the magazine in 1993.