Starc deported ahead of county debut
Harrison County was once synonymous with the coal mining boom that lifted Appalachia's economy and provided more than 2 million jobs.
But after months of fighting a legal battle, coalminers began losing their mining leases at a rate of nearly half a million acres a year in Harrison County.
Cannon, with coal mining under his belt in North Dakota and his own coal-fired power plant in Wyoming, had started looking at new markets and opportunities in the West after months of waiting.
He wanted to bring his family and four children to Texas. He knew the fight against his older brother, Dave, would go on. And so he decided to leave his home and the mine and get to live in the West for the first time, in another state.
He and his wife, Cindy, and his 14-year-old son and two daughters were greeted at the Harrison County courthouse by Harrison County Judge Joe Yellen, who sentenced them to spend the rest of their lives in prison.
"He is sentenced for four years," Judge Yellen said.
As the clerk read out the sentence, a long blue ribbon in front of the courtroom broke open. It was a black ribbon drawn from a wall of the courthouse where a group of prisoners had recently been released.
This week, Harrison County became one of a handful of state counties that have been granted a blanket pardon for the deaths of five former federal inmates in Texas — some with ties to state officials. It is the first such pardon granted under Texas law.
"From a criminal justice perspective, this is a big deal," said state Sen. Jose Rodriguez, R-Bryan, one of a group of legislators who sent a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott this week about the pardon.
"I think he should honor his word. I'm thankful to them. You know they did their job."
The families of the four men who died pleaded for a judge to lift the state's moratorium on executions in the case and for the governor to appoint a special prosecutor for them, the families said. And they accused authorities in Harrison County of failing to follow up on their requests that could have saved the lives of the inmates and contributed to their own fate.
Texas, a state that has nearly 830 executions scheduled for this year, had previously denied two requests made by the families from February.
Texas has long been the world leader in killing people in the name of lethal injection, having executed more people since the state began the process in 1985 than any other state.
But over the past two months there have been sharp changes in law.
Since the Harrison County case began in December, officials in the western part of Harrison County, includin
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Us forces roll back into karbala in Jammu
HARIDWAR: Two days after Pakistani forces backed off heavy fighting with the Indian troops in Jammu city and its adjoining district of Srinagar, militants broke into the Army camp in Kashmir and advanced in the Valley, triggering retaliatory cross-border fire and killing at least 11 soldiers.A senior Army officer told NDTV that on Sunday, Pakistani Army forces launched a counter-attack against the Indian Army positions at the Srinagar International Airport, killing several Pakistani soldiers as well as taking advantage of the absence of the Army. In a move that further strained India-Pakistan relations, Indian troops had withdrawn from the Srinagar International Airport late Monday night.The ceasefire brokered by mediator Fatima Zia told the ceasefire meeting at the Prime Minister's residence that it would extend till May 1 to allow both sides to discuss their grievances and identify the steps they would take to ensure peace in the region. The meeting was attended by a record 1,700 Indian soldiers and several thousand Indian-origin militants.Tensions were high after a suicide bombing in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Agency killed seven soldiers. After Pakistani military intelligence had informed the terrorists, the militants decided to retaliate, an intelligence source in India said."We started firing in early morning," an officer involved in the operations who did not want to be named told NDTV, adding that Pakistani troops were "injured and wounded". "After a short while the terrorists began firing back, firing and then firing at us," he said.Tension was highest in the district of Kargil where five policemen were killed and an additional 17 injured, according to police spokesperson Lt Gen Asif Ghafoori.The Army's Joint Operations Centre (JOC) was monitoring the situation, he said. "They are tracking all the communication in Srinagar," Ghafoori added. "They have been asking all of the Pakistani personnel in Srinagar to stop firing. We don't know what they have planned or what they want."The last ceasefire was agreed on October 17, 2014 between the two sides that came into effect on January 31, 2015. But tensions have escalated rapidly since.On Wednesday, militants killed three Indian soldiers in the town of Kotla, killing a man and two women in an ambush. On Sunday, the Pakistani army said it had attacked six army posts in the Valley, including the Indian positions in Srinagar. The army said it would "take necessary measures" if attacked.Both sides have a long list of grievances with the other over Kashmir and the disputed region, and have been accused of carrying out violence under the guise of security.India and Pakistan are at loggerheads over Kashmir, where over 50,000 people have been killed since a series of separatist unrest erupted i |
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