News outlets challenge gag order in slain teacher case GOP launches new political probes
Helen Mitchell Nichols
Helen Mitchell Nichols, age 92, of Turner Chapel Road, Rome, died October 22, 2017, following an extended illness.
Mrs. Nichols was born September 25, 1925, in Alexis, Ala., daughter of the late Collie Culberson Mitchell and Ollie McCary Mitchell. Mrs. Nichols received her 40 year service pin from West Point Pepperell in Lindale. At the time of her retirement, she was employed as an accountant. She was a member of the Second Avenue Baptist Church, formerly Maple Street Baptist Church, from the age of 13, where she also taught Sunday School.
Mrs. Nichols was preceded in death by her husband, William Herman Nichols, to whom she was married on June 28, 1947. She was a devoted and loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.
Survivors include her daughter, Jane Nichols Wood, and her husband, Roy; three grandchildren, Virginia Lytle Chastain, and husband, Gary, Acworth, William Boyd Wood, and wife, Kate, Titusville, N.J., and Lindsay Jane Smith, and husband, Nick, Marietta. She is survived by seven great-grandchildren, Caleb Mitchell Chastain, McCary Joy Chastain, Miriam Joy Wood, Henry Wilder Smith, Nola Jane Smith, Charles Lytle Smith, and Virginia Claire Smith. She is also survived by her sister-in-law, Carolyne Nichols Murphy, and nephew, William Rand Nichols.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, October 28, 2017, at 11 a.m. in the Griffin Memorial Chapel of Daniel’s Funeral Home with the Rev. Monty Stallins officiating. The family will receive friends at Daniel’s Funeral Home on Saturday from 10 until 11 a.m.
The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions be made to Second Avenue Baptist Church, Ga. 30161. Daniel’s Funeral Home has charge of the arrangements for Helen Mitchell Nichols. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (center), R-Calif., standing with Rep. Peter King (left), R-N.Y., and Rep. Ron
WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Tuesday revived familiar themes from the 2016 election, launching new probes looking back at the Obama administration and Democrat Hillary Clinton’s emails as close associates of President Donald Trump faced tough questions on Capitol Hill.
The announcements of the investigations by three GOP committees were criticized by Democrats as a “massive diversion” from congressional probes into potential coordination between the Kremlin and associates of the Trump campaign — and from two witnesses close to President Donald Trump that appeared privately before the House intelligence panel as part its Russia probe.
Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, and his former campaign digital and data director, Brad Parscale, were both interviewed by the House panel behind closed doors Tuesday. Cohen’s interview started in the morning and lasted around six hours, while Parscale’s lasted most of the afternoon. Susan Walsh / The Associated Press
DeSantis, R-Fla., speaks Tuesday on Capitol Hill in Washington about a separate committee investigation into an Obama-era uranium deal.
Two lawmakers familiar with Cohen’s interview said it had been “contentious,” especially with Cohen’s lawyer who tried to limit some questions. The lawmakers asked not to be identified because the meeting was private.
Cohen, a former executive with the Trump Organization who had been subpoenaed by the House panel earlier this year, was in talks to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, but ended those negotiations as Trump’s White House bid caught fire. In a statement to the Senate intelligence committee in August, Cohen said the proposal was “solely a real estate deal and nothing more.”
One of the lawmakers said Parscale “categorically denied” he was involved in any collusion with Russia, repeating earlier public statements. Lawmakers have been investigating whether Russian efforts to influence social media in the U.S. were in any way connected to Trump’s campaign.
As Cohen spoke to investigators, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., held a news conference outside the room to announce a separate committee investigation into an Obama-era uranium deal.
ATHENS — News organizations on Tuesday asked the Georgia Supreme Court to lift a gag order imposed in the case of a man charged with killing a Georgia high school teacher who went missing 12 years ago.
Tara Grinstead was reported missing in October 2005 when she didn’t show up for work at the school where she taught in rural Irwin County. No arrests were made until early this year, when a tipster contacted authorities with new information.
Police in February announced the arrest of Ryan Alexander Duke, a former student at the school where Grinstead taught. Duke was indicted in April on two counts of felony murder and one count each of malice murder, aggravated assault, burglary and concealing the death of another.
Another man, Bo Dukes, was arrested in March and was indicted in June on charges of concealing a death, tampering with evidence and hindering the apprehension of a criminal.
Grinstead’s disappearance from her home in Ocilla, about 190 miles (305 kilometers) south of Atlanta, sparked a search that lasted more than a decade, until the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced Duke’s arrest.
Duke burglarized the teacher’s home, and used his hands to kill her inside the residence, according to warrants that were read at a court hearing when his arrest was announced. He then removed her body from the home with the intent of concealing her death, the warrants said.
Many questions remain about why she was killed.
Soon after Duke’s arrest, the judge in the case issued a gag order prohibiting attorneys, investigators, potential witnesses and even relatives of the victim and suspects from publicly discussing Grinstead’s slaying. The judge later modified it to prohibit attorneys, law enforcement and court personnel from disclosing case evidence, any statements made by Duke, expected witness testimony and potential pleas. The order no longer prohibits Grinstead’s family and potential witnesses from speaking.
WXIA-TV and WMAZTV challenged the amended order and the Georgia Supreme Court heard arguments in the case Tuesday in a special session at the University of Georgia’s law school.
Derek Bauer, an attorney for the television stations, noted that the case has drawn extensive news coverage, more than most other murder cases. He acknowledged the judge’s duty to ensure a fair trial, but he said she went too far.
“These are complicated interests to balance ... and so we appreciate her sensitivity to controlling the courtroom and what kind of media attention the case gets,” he argued. “But you can’t jump to prior restraint. You can’t assume that just because there’s intense media attention that the evidence has risen to the level that the court can fairly say this will impair the trial.”
The order amounts to prior restraint on the people affected by the order and, therefore, impedes the ability of reporters to gather information on the case, Bauer said.
Michael Gowen, an attorney for Duke, said they’re not asking for the media to be prohibited from reporting on the case but they’re concerned about specific, potentially prejudicial, details being relayed to reporters.
“What we’re concerned about is the balancing test between the media’s First Amendment rights to cover and our client’s Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial that has not been prejudiced by details” that are not commonly known to people other than law enforcement officers, Gowen said.
The justices questioned whether the television stations could raise the issue of prior restraint since the gag order applies to other people and does not prohibit news outlets from saying or publishing anything.