Fresh Loaf

Former Atlanta millionaire and international fugitive James Sullivan is appealing his 2006 Fulton County conviction on charges that he ordered the contract killing of his 35-year-old wife, Lita Sullivan.

Nearly two decades passed between Lita Sullivan’s 1987 murder and James Sullivan’s trial. Sullivan faced the death penalty, though jurors instead opted to sentence him to life in prison without parole.

The state Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on Sept. 9 from Sullivan’s attorneys, who claim certain trial evidence should have been suppressed, several jurors shouldn’t have been excused, the jury should have been given the option of convicting Sullivan of voluntary manslaughter, and that there wasn’t enough evidence of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

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During a hearing today to determine what evidence will be admitted in the high-profile (and high-cost) Brian Nichols trial, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard took the stand to defend one of his former prosecutors, according to a story posted on AJC.com.

Former assistant district attorney Gayle Abramson, who’d been prosecuting Nichols on a violent rape charge when he went on a homicidal shooting rampage at the Fulton County courthouse, was accused by Nichols’ defense of “prosecutorial misconduct.” The defense pointed to claims made by a murder suspect in an unrelated case, who was caught on a wiretap accusing Abramson of using drugs in the past.

For some reason, Nichols’ attorneys are arguing that the drug allegations against Abramson render their client ineligible for the death penalty. Yeah, right.

According to the AJC.com story, Howard called the accusations a waste of time:

“I just think it is extremely reaching. I just don’t see what the connection is. … The information on that wiretap was fake; it was phony; it was fabricated, so I didn’t really give any credit to what it said.”

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Troy Anthony Davis, a convicted cop killer from Savannah who’s been on death row for 17 years, is scheduled for execution Sept. 23 — despite a parade of witnesses who’ve recanted most of the testimony that incriminated him.

AJC.com reports on the execution date, though the story fails to mention that the state Board of Pardons and Parole basically has been waiting for Davis’s execution date to be set so that it can rule on whether to allow it. Already, the board indicated in a statement issued earlier this year that Davis’s death sentence is troubling:

“The members of the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles will not allow an execution to proceed in this State unless and until its members are convinced that there is no doubt as to the guilt of the accused.”

Plus, if the board commuted this guy’s death sentence, it would be a travesty to allow Davis’s execution. Then again, the board did let this guy die.

(Photo courtesy of Department of Corrections)

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In the spring of 2003, French-born Atlanta restaurateur Guy Luck met with a DeKalb County detective regarding a recent burglary at his home. The suspect, 19-year-old Rejon Taylor, had been caught trying to buy high-end electronics with a credit card obtained in someone else’s name. Back at Taylor’s apartment, investigators discovered 40 more credit cards in that person’s name — as well as a briefcase and checks that belonged to another of his apparent victims, Luck (pronounced LUKE).

The detective asked Luck if he wanted to press charges. He did. Little did he know that his decision would cost him his life – and set into motion a chain of events that culminated in a federal death penalty trial that opened in Chattanooga last week.

The trial is expected to last six weeks, and it marks the first-ever capital case to be brought in the Eastern District of Tennessee. Federal death penalty cases are rare. But prosecutors claim the substantial premeditation and planning that precipitated Luck’s death – the details of which are described in more than 600 filings in the case – qualifies Taylor for the ultimate penalty.

Read the rest of this article here.

(Photo by Thomas Wheatley)

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AJC.com published a really interesting story today about an Atlanta cop who recently learned she is intersex, meaning she appeared to have the anatomy of a girl at birth and later developed “external sexual anatomy that appears to be a blend of a man’s and woman’s.”

Genetic testing conducted earlier this year showed that the officer, Darlene Harris, carries the XY chromosomes of a male.

Sounds very close to the plot line of Jeffrey Eugenides’ 2002 Pulitzer-winning novel, Middlesex. Eugenides’ intersex protagonist, Calliope, has 5-alpha-reductase deficiency — which, judging from its Wikipedia entry, closely approximates to Harris’ condition.

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AJC conservo-columnist Jim Wooten writes of John McCain’s choice of VP: “Pinch me. Yes!”

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, whom Wooten applauds for not having aborted her Downs syndrome baby born earlier this year, is sure to strike a chord in a certain demographic. Finally, a candidate Cobb County soccer MILFs can rally around.

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This photo, taken yesterday, makes it look as if all is peachy keen over at Atlanta Police headquarters. Nope, no woeful under-staffing here. Officer morale is at an all-time high!

Actually, the mood at City Hall East more closely resembles this.

Note to developer Emory Morsberger, City Hall East’s soon-to-be owner: If you were to permanently install a rainbow over the 1920s, former Sears, Roebuck & Co. distribution center, you could easily charge 20 percent more for the 1,100 lofts that will replace the dismal police cubicles. Just a thought.

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Right under what’s arguably the most important news item of the month, if not the summer, the AJC.com home page has given almost-as-prominent treatment to a story about a woman throwing her two lovers out of her apartment.

No, the American newspaper isn’t dead. It’s just really, really confused.

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The Little Five Points mural of Barack Obama has been defaced. Again.

Last time, it was a swastika. Now, a Hitler stache. Really, people?

(Photo credit: Joeff Davis)

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Editor’s note: Some of the last names of the subjects in this story have been withheld.

There’s nothing about Sarah that would lead you to believe heroin nearly sucked the life out of her — on so many occasions, during so many ambulance rides to the hospital, she can’t put a number on them.

Sitting across from her ex-boyfriend Brian at the Majestic diner on Ponce, Sarah glows with good health and positive energy. Her long, flaxen blond hair frames a golden complexion, and the green stones in her silver rings heighten the color of her pale, sage eyes.

One night 10 years ago, when she was 17, she and some friends were driving home from a pool hall when a car pulled out in front of them. The impact tore the muscles from the bones in Sarah’s back. The guy sitting behind her in the back seat was in a coma for weeks.

While recovering from her injuries, Sarah relied on a cocktail of prescribed drugs, including the pain killer Percocet and muscle relaxer Soma. Then she ran out of insurance money. She no longer had access to the narcotics to which she’d grown attached. So she started buying prescription pills from a drug dealer. That went on for a few months, until the time when she gave her dealer $100 for some Soma, and he gave her a half-gram of heroin instead.

She snorted a little, just to ease the pain. The next time, she snorted a little more. It was bliss. “My world was kind of crooked my whole life,” she says. “And I started doing heroin, and everything kind of evened out.”

Read the rest of this article here.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Our friends at American News Project filmed a video in which they provide a rundown of yesterday’s John McCain fund-raiser in Atlanta — you know, the one former Christian Coalition president Ralph Reed tried to hype, then backed away from. (Reed didn’t attend the event.)

Follow the jump to view the video.

(more…)

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OBAMA’S SECRET: The Democratic presidential nominee has picked a running mate. But he’s not gonna tell you who it is.

NO-SHOW REED: After hyping John McCain in anticipation of last night’s Atlanta fund-raiser (and after the GOP candidate allegedly told him ‘no thanks’), baby-faced former Christian Coalition prez Ralph Reed decides not to grace the event with his presence.

COUNCIL HEARTS TADS: Late last night, Atlanta City Council green-lighted controversial Tax Allocation District funding for the $125 million Center for Civil & Human Rights museum and the multi-billion-dollar Beltline transit-and-trails project. More than $200 million was approved — which marks the first infusion of government funds for the Beltline.

NO PRESSURE: The Georgia Bulldogs are the top-ranked college football team this year. It’s the first time the UGA team has started a season with the top ranking. Last year, the Dogs finished No. 2.

DESPERATE DEPOT: Atlanta-based Home Depot Inc. expects profits to tumble 24 percent in this weakened housing market year. Still, the world’s largest home-improvement company reported unexpectedly high profits this quarter.

SICK VITAMINS: A Marietta man claims his daily vitamin caused his hair and fingernails to fall out. Apparently, he’s not the only one.

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The growth of the Atlanta metropolitan area is finally slowing. Not so for Atlanta proper, though. This is coming from the Atlanta Regional Commission.

First the bad news (or, depending on your opinion of sprawl, the good news):

The population of the 10-county region increased by 70,200 people between April 1, 2007 and April 1, 2008, the smallest increase since 2003 and 16 percent lower than the annual average increase of this decade.

Now, the part that really gets Gwinnett’s goat:

Despite the slowdown in the rest of the region, growth in the City of Atlanta remains robust with its largest single-year population gain in almost 40 years, up 13,100 people. The City’s annual growth also marks the first time in at least four decades that the City added more new residents than Gwinnett County.

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— Georgia has its own Montauk Monster, and it’s called, simply, Bigfoot. Details will be unveiled Friday, so says Peach Pundit.

— Despite evidence to the contrary, Georgia Politics Unfiltered claims, “There is no sex in the courtrooms of Cobb County Superior Court (or the judge’s chambers for that matter).” Does lesbian sex count?

— Georgia Politics Unfiltered also updates a post from yesterday that hyped today’s political forecast from CQ Politics. CQ’s shocking revelation: In the presidential election, Georgia is “Republican Favored”!

— According to Lucid Idiocy, the food crisis is over. Gov. Sonny Perdue supports biofuels. And the Montauk Monster was spotted drinking margaritas at the Jekyll Island Club. (OK, I made that last one up.)

— Georgia On My Mind has posted photos of the ancient Etowah Indian Mounds. No apparent news there, seeing as how they were built nearly 1,100 years ago. They’re real purty, though.

— Media Matters‘ SpaceyG says she isn’t all that bummed about waking up with John McCain. Political Insider’s Jim Galloway says McCain isn’t all all thrilled about waking up with Ralph Reed. No word on who John Edwards is waking up with.

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— Peach Pundit points out that the 2008 incoming freshman class at UGA will be the most diverse in the university’s history. More than 20 percent of new UGA students have classified themselves as non-white. Does that make the Bulldog Barbie a dying breed?

— Though our own Thomas Wheatley has done a tireless job keeping up with Decatur’s contentious 315 W. Ponce development (he saw last night’s meeting through to its 1:45 a.m. conclusion, making the rest of us look bad), Terminal Station also makes some good points — and vents a fair share of frustration with the development’s opponents.

— The AJC’s Political Insider reports that incumbent Republican Congressman Saxby Chambliss is vulnerable to Democratic challenger Jim Martin — according to a poll by Martin’s camp, that is.

— Speaking of political projections, Congressional Quarterly’s CQ Politics will release its forecast tomorrow on how it expects Georgia to vote in the presidential election. Georgia Unfiltered provides the heads up.

— Blog For Democracy’s Catherine says her emotional well overfloweth with Olympic pride. She asks readers to  share their most patriotic moments and recalls a few of her own, including “being in the presence of Congressman John Lewis” and “Jay Bookman’s NPR commentary on the care and handling of the American flag.” Catherine wants to know: “What brings American tears to your eyes?” For me, it’s this.