Lawyer challenges Warren for Senate seat
Cryptocurrency lawyer John Deaton will run as a Republican for one of Massachusetts’ U.S. Senate seats, challenging incumbent Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, he announced Feb. 20.
A longtime resident of Rhode Island, Deaton moved to Massachusetts in January after a series of tweets targeted at Warren’s Crypto policy.
“Is there time for me to buy a home in Massachusetts, actually move there, and run for Senate against this Government overreach hack in 2024?” Deaton posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, in response to a video of Warren speaking on Crypto regulation.
“I’m a Massachusetts lawyer and have practiced in Massachusetts for over 15 years,” he continued. “I live in Rhode Island, less than 6 miles from Seekonk, Massachusetts. I’m not suggesting I would win, but how I would love to confront her.”
Deaton is the first major challenger to Warren.
A spokesperson told The Boston Globe last week that Warren is “taking nothing for granted” and “has a strong record of delivering for working families and continues to fight hard for the people of Massachusetts.”
Deaton, a self-proclaimed “moderate centrist Republican,” was born into poverty in Detroit, Michigan. The first in his family to graduate high school, Deaton went to college at Eastern Michigan University before graduating from New England Law Boston. He also served in the Marine Corps after law school.
Deaton said he is the “walking, living, breathing embodiment of the American Dream.”
“And I am scared to death that I am watching it die before my eyes because of the political elites and partisan people like Elizabeth Warren,” Deaton said in his announcement. “I’m running because I understand the struggles of regular people, people who feel like no matter how hard they work, no matter what they do, they still just can’t seem to get ahead. I understand those struggles because I’ve lived through them.”
Deaton was also arrested in 2017 after an altercation at his girlfriend’s 8-year-old son’s football game at Great Barrington High School. According to his memoir, “Food Stamp Warrior,” the other man shoved him, and Deaton shoved back in self-defense.
A police report obtained by The Globe said that Deaton threatened to sue a police officer and told another, “I pay more in taxes than your entire salary.” The report later says he asked an officer if he could display his middle finger in his mugshot. The charges were dropped after he completed 30 hours of community service.
In an interview with The Globe, Deaton said he was “arrested wrongfully,” but that he wished he treated police officers differently. He later said, “I’ll never apologize for having that instinct to protect myself and protect others.”
Alabama Supreme Court rules frozen embryos are children
The Alabama Supreme Court ruled Feb. 16 that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law, according to the Associated Press.
The decision came from a case where three couples sued the Mobile Infirmary Medical Center, a fertility clinic, after embryos they had frozen were accidentally destroyed.
In the majority ruling, justices cited anti-abortion language added to the state constitution in 2018 and precedent from the court’s previous ruling on the 1872 Wrongful Death of a Minor Act, saying the law applied to fetuses who died while the woman was pregnant, reported AP.
Justice Jay Mitchell wrote in the majority opinion that the law extends to “all unborn children, regardless of their location.”
Critics have warned the decision could potentially affect fertility treatment access. Previously, frozen embryos were considered property by the court.
Dr. Paula Amato, president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, said the implications of the ruling could limit the options for people seeking fertility treatment.
“By insisting that these very different biological entities are legally equivalent, the best state-of-the-art fertility care will be made unavailable to the people of Alabama. No health care provider will be willing to provide treatments if those treatments may lead to civil or criminal charges,” Amato said.
Justice Greg Cook, who wrote the one full dissent from the majority, said the act did not define “minor children” and was being extended beyond the original intent.
“No court — anywhere in the country — has reached the conclusion the main opinion reaches,” Cook wrote. He added that it “almost certainly ends the creation of frozen embryos through in vitro fertilization (IVF) in Alabama.”
Two men charged in Kansas City Super Bowl parade shooting
This story contains discussion of gun violence.
Two men were charged with murder Feb. 20 for opening fire at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade celebration in a shooting that wounded dozens and killed one person.
According to the Associated Press, the two men were strangers with guns and started shooting after getting into an argument. Affidavits from police revealed the argument began when two groups of people were agitated by the other staring at them.
Lyndall Mays of Raytown, Missouri, and Dominic Miller of Kansas City, Missouri, were charged with second-degree murder and other weapon counts. Both were shot during the conflict and have been hospitalized, according to the Associated Press.
Brian Walshe gets three-year sentence for art fraud
Brian Walshe, the Cohasset man charged with murdering and dismembering his wife in January 2023, was given a three-year prison sentence Feb. 20 for committing art fraud.
According to The Boston Globe, Walshe was selling fake Andy Warhol paintings over the course of five years. The judge ordered Walshe to pay $475,000 in restitution.
Walshe has been selling counterfeit paintings from 2011 to 2016, according to the Globe. Walshe recruited friends to help sell them. He would pay forgers to paint fake paintings of Warhol’s.
According to court filings, he sold fake copies of Warhol’s “Shadows” and “Dollar Sign” artworks, Keith Haring prints and a Chinese figurine.
“Walse committed this crime over many years, from 2011 through 2016. He traveled to multiple countries. He enlisted multiple artists to prepare fake paintings, with multiple lies. He involved private galleries, auction houses and even eBay in his scheme. He manipulated and stole from people who trusted him, welcomed him into their homes, and considered him a close friend,” federal prosecutors wrote.
Walshe pleaded not guilty to all charges against him in the killing of his wife and is due back in court in March, according to the Globe.
