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by: Jeff Levkulich Updated: Jun 9, 2017 - 7:43 PM

The man convicted last year of trying to kill George Zimmerman will be back in a Seminole County courtroom next week.

Matthew Apperson filed a motion asking the judge to correct errors he claims were made with the sentence he received.

The motion asks the judge to correct the sentence on count three, which is aggravated assault with a firearm.

Even if he wins, it will have no effect on his prison sentence, unless his case is overturned on appeal.

Apperson was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years behind bars in October on a charge of second-degree attempted murder stemming from a 2015 road rage incident with Zimmerman on Lake Mary Boulevard.

Apperson claimed throughout the trial that he was defending himself.

He is also serving 15 years on a charge of shooting into an occupied vehicle and aggravated assault with a firearm.

According to a 77-page motion, Apperson accused the court of sentencing errors in regard to those two charges.

"It's important in any prosecution that the court gets it right," said WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer.

Sheaffer said that even if the judge corrects Apperson's sentencing guidelines on counts two and three, it will have little impact on his overall sentencing, because his sentences are running concurrently.

"The only way this is going to make any difference is if he wins his appeal on the attempted murder charge. Otherwise he is going to be serving that mandatory 20-year sentence on that charge," Sheaffer said.

Sheaffer added that if Apperson hits a home run with his legal hurdles, he could knock a year and a half off his sentence for the lesser charges.

The case is still pending.

2017 Cox Media Group.

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Man who shot at George Zimmerman files motion claiming judge made errors in sentencing - WFTV Orlando

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. Florida Governor Rick Scott signed amended "stand your ground" legislation on Friday, making it easier for defendants in the state to successfully claim they were protecting themselves when they commit violence.

Previously, the law required defendants to prove that they were using force in self-defense. The new law shifts the burden of proof in pretrial hearings to prosecutors, rather than defendants, to prove whether force was used lawfully.

Supporters of stand your ground laws, including the National Rifle Association, the powerful U.S. gun lobby, see the legislation as bolstering civilians' right to protect themselves.

Florida's self-defense law was initially passed in 2005, and inspired similar laws in other states. It removes the legal responsibility to retreat from a dangerous situation and allows the use of deadly force when a person feels greatly threatened.

Opponents have said the amended law will embolden gun owners to shoot first, citing the 2012 death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in the Orlando area, which spurred national protests and the Black Lives Matter movement.

The neighborhood watchman who killed him, George Zimmerman, was acquitted of murder after the state's stand your ground law was included in jury instructions.

Scott, a Republican, signed the amended legislation into law along with a spate of other measures passed this week in a special session of the state's legislature. The measure was largely passed by party-line vote in the legislature.

(Reporting by Bernie Woodall in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Editing by Patrick Enright and Lisa Shumaker)

In September 2014, Gilberto Velasquez, a 38-year-old house painter from El Salvador, received life-changing news: The U.S. government had decided to shelve its deportation action against him.

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump's social media director Dan Scavino broke the law in April in calling for Trump supporters to defeat a Republican congressman at the polls, according to a letter from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

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Florida governor signs bolstered 'stand your ground' law - Reuters

Sanya Gragg, a University of Memphis grad, has penned a book titled, "Momma, Did You Hear the News?" which shows black children what to do in police encounters.(Photo: Photo of book cover provided by Sanya Gragg)

Its been a minute since Sanya Whittaker Gragg was in Memphis.

A Nashville native, Gragg graduated with a marketing degree from the University of Memphis in 1992, during a time when she was pretty much insulated from the crack cocaine epidemic that raged around her and propelled Memphis murder rate to highs that are now being repeated.

But it was a text from her son in 2012 that made Gragg realize that the collateral damage from that epidemic the presumption by some law enforcement officers and vigilantes that all black men were prone to criminality and dangerousness could also get him killed.

When George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin, my son Avery sent me a text saying, OK, mom, now Im scared,' said Gragg, referring to 2012 when Zimmerman, a self-appointed watchman, stalked Martin as he walked home from a convenience store in Sanford, Fla., and wound up fatally shooting him after Martin confronted him about following him.

What happened to Trayvon made it real for him.

It made it real for Gragg, as well.

As did the fatal shootings of other unarmed African-American men one of the most recent being in Tulsa, where she lives with her husband, Tulsa University athletic director Derrick Gragg, Avery, who is now 20, Phillip-Raymond, 16, and her 3-year-old daughter, Saniyah.

Tulsa police officer Betty Shelby fatally shot unarmed Terence Crutcher last September during a traffic stop after he didnt respond to commands to stop.

Shelby said she feared for her life. A jury didnt quite buy that, but acquitted her of manslaughter anyway.

Thats why Gragg, torn between her instincts as a mother to protect her sons and her anger at the injustice of them dying at the hands of police or others who might interpret their appearance or actions as threatening, decided to write a book to help black boys live to fight another day.

Her book, titled Momma, Did You Hear the News? explains how to do that.

Through the voice of 10-year-old Avery, named after her oldest son, Gragg shows the anxieties of black boys after they hear of police shootings, and explains, in an easy way, what they can do to avoid becoming a casualty of police overreaction and stereotype.

One boy was eating SkittlesDad, I like to eat them too! Another played his music loud. Just like I sometimes do, reads part of the book.

To reduce that anxiety, Gragg introduced a mantra that she calls, Memorize The 5. The five being:

A-Always Use Your Manners

L-Listen and Comply

I-In Control of Your Emotions

V-Visible Hands Always

E-Explain Everything

Graggs book, which was released in April, was number one in Amazons hot new childrens book releases for a while. It now ranks 32 among Amazons 100 best sellers for childrens books that deal with violence.

Im surprised that its having that kind of success, Gragg said. But thats why I did it from the perspective of a 10-year-old

Ive been talking to my boys about this forevermy fear is that someone is going to see them, and have this preconceived notion of who they are, and they are going to wind up dead.

Graggs fear is justified. And her advice is wise and practical and along the lines of laying down safety rules for children.

But while its great that the University of Memphis can boast of a graduate who wrote a book that will help children deal with one of the most pressing issues of today, it still belies a disturbing reality.

The reality is that Gragg should be writing childrens books about the birds and the bees, or the joys of cooking or reading or exploring a museum.

But because of crimes connected to the drug trade and the stereotypes of black men that have been spawned by it in the 1990s the problem was racial profiling and police stopping black men in luxury cars she had to write a book instructing youths like her sons on how to protect themselves against those who are supposed to be protecting them.

Thats unfair.

But she had to do it because following these rules can make the difference between boys like Avery and Phillip-Raymond coming home to their loved ones in a car or their loved ones coming to see them in a coffin.

I see it as the same as them wearing a seatbelt, Gragg said. It may be uncomfortable, and even somewhat humiliating, but at the end of the day, it will save your life.

All I want is for them to come home alive.

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University of Memphis grad pens book to show black youths how not to get killed by police - The Commercial Appeal

UrbanArias pulls off a seemingly impossible task with Independence Eveby Sidney Marquez Boquiren and Daniel Neer, a chamber opera ofthree scenes with two singers, which deals with race relations in the US from the recent past to the near future all within 70 minutes.

The three micro-operas span a century, the common denominator is baseball, two singers play all six characters, and sing this relatively atonal piece almost non-stop. And yet! Its magicalfrom the balanced, versatile five-piece orchestra to the simple, evocative set, to the accomplished actor-singers, the piece is thoughtful, tender and infinitely musical.

Daniel Neer, the librettist, concentrates on the relationships, not the politics, per se, and Marquez Boquirens score supports those emotional twists and turns. It is not a polemic as much as a tribute to the journey we are on together comparing our American passion for baseball and quest for social/racial justice. The music is very challenging and yet Jorell Williams and Brandon Snook, two talented artists, sing with such articulation, fluidity and expressiveness that one can comprehend every word which is vital when the score is more set-speech then set-arias.

Seventh Inning Stretch starts with a black hotel porter eating his lunch(Jorell Williams)listening to a baseball game on his transistor radio and a cop on his beat (Brandon Snook) striking up a conversation about baseball. It is July 3, 1963, a month after President Kennedy introduces his Civil Rights Act legislation. Louis, the porter, is friendly, respectful and deferential to the white cop who remains standing and guarded. Louis is the first to open up with his lovely aria which starts with I was just a little boy about when he first played baseball and revealing his first brush with harsh racial discrimination. The music grows more dissonant after Louis reveals to the cop, without knowing it, that their lives intersect at a very uncomfortable place. Snook evokes the confusion, anger and restraint through his lovely, full and expressive tenor. Williams strong baritone opens to the warmth of his life story.

Full Count is set in 2013 the summer the #BlackLivesMatter movement began after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. Two lifelong friends, Sean and Joe, with very parallel lives in class, education, careers, family and love of baseball, are meeting in a nearby park after work. But Sean wants to talk about an encounter with the police that has left him shaken. Joe wants to go to a baseball game. The score seesaws back and forth between the lyrical recitative about their shared youth and agitated, contrapuntal underscoring when they argue about the police encounter. Jorell Williams is convincing as an articulate man of integrity in distress and sings with passion, clarity and emotional expressiveness. And, he can blast out a F-bomb on pitch! Snook does a wonderful job of exploring his warm and uplifting voice through the twist s and turns of the music. That is until the end .

Shaun Patrick Tubbs, the director, has created a tense, compelling final duet: two friends sitting on the ends of the bench, each turned slightly away from each other, both pouring out their hurt and accusing each other of not getting it, and the orchestra expressing their longing to be loved.

Benched is set in 2063, also the eve of another July 3 baseball game. The characters are 10-year-old boys trying to make friends. This time the white boy is disadvantaged and the black kid is privileged and thriving. They sing about their worries about the national exams that determine their future and the chip they get embedded in their skin for national ID purposes, but their race doesnt come up. Its as if the struggle with race is over, but inequality remains. Philip, the Anglo-Caucasian boy, sings a beautiful aria about When I was a baby about how when he was just a baby, his deaf mother would lie him on her chest to hear his breathing and smell his skin. Snooks voice was at its most expressive and lyrical in this scene. Jorell and Snook share a stirring duet which starts When you are 10 everything changes.

The production is elegant and the staging is excellent. For instance, the actors stand opposite each other in their own spotlight at the beginning and end of each scene punctuating their emotional journey. Tubbs has helped his singers embody simple physicalizations that evoke the age, class and disposition of each character. The cop strolls and cranes his neck; the porter is stiff with standing and hauling all morning long. The investment bankers stride about: Joe has a natural relaxed vigor that suggests fun-loving and careless. Sean is more constrained in his movements from his inner turmoil. Loose-limbed, floppiness captures the 10 year old boys.

One of my favorite moments was walking into the theater to discover a floating display-box set surfaced with turf and clay of a baseball park and a bench slightly off center with an old, gnarled half-dead tree with some new green growth upstage left. Off each end of the platform is a place for the quick costume changes visible to all. The orchestra stretches across most of the upstage area framing the scene for the audience. A brilliant touch was the video projections of baseball game being played on the surface of the platform stage drawing our attention away from the singers changing costumes on stage right and left.

Since the costume changes are onstage, Kristina Martin, the costume designer, has kept it simple and effective by switching jackets, hats and props to let us know who these men are in each scene. The futuristic back packs are especially adorable.

Robert Wood conducted his orchestra with vigor and authority. His enthusiasm, fluid movements and expressive baton added to the entire mis en scene. He created a very balanced sound design. The music surrounded the audience and never sparred with the singers.

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Independence Eve A World Premiere Chamber Opera in Three Scenes.Music by Sidney Marquez Boquiren.Libretto by Daniel Neer .Directed by Shaun Patrick Tubbs. Featuring: Jorell Williams Brandon D. Snook. Conductor: Robert Wood. Costume design: Kristina Martin. Lighting design: Alberto Segarra. Scenic and Projection Design: Steven C. Kemp. Stage manager: Kristy Matero Produced by UrbanArias. Reviewed by Gillian Drake.

Gillian Drake is a director, producer and dramaturg. She has worked at many of the DVM theaters over her long career. Presently she is co-producing a mini-festival of readings: New Works in Action which will feature a roster of 6 fantastic local women directors for Spooky Action Theater,June 17 - June 23. In the fall, she is curating an audience-interactive performance event called The Privacy Challenge which will coordinate plays, films and games around the theme of the changing nature of privacy rights and our individual freedoms.

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New chamber opera Independence Eve from UrbanArias (review) - DC Theatre Scene

The NAACP is lost, and radicals like Melissa Harris-Perry have some suggestions for a new direction. Unfortunately, theyll send the organization further down its current path toward irrelevance.

The famed civil-rights group, founded in 1909 and instrumental in challenging state-sponsored segregation and lobbying for the Voting Rights Act, has been in decline for some time, with infighting plaguing chapters like the one in Cincinnati.

James Clingman, who served in leadership roles there, wrote recently that national officials were intimidating members to get them to fall in line. In 2014, things at the Philadelphia chapter came to a head when three board members were exiled after the president accused them of misusing funds for personal purposes.

In a 2015 interview with the Boston University alumni magazine, Cornell William Brooks, at the time the president of the NAACP, bemoaned the fact that the press paid little attention to his organization except to ask its leaders when the group will regain relevance: It wasnt always the first question, but it was always one of the first three.

Apparently, whatever answer Brooks gave wasnt the right one, because last week the organization just ousted him after only three years. Derrick Johnson, the vice chairman of the organization, explained, We are in a transitional moment ... This is the opportune time to begin to look at all our functions as an association and see, are we the right fit for the current reality?

So whats the current reality? Well, its not what it was at the organizations founding or its apex 50 years ago. African-Americans have full legal rights. Hate crimes are anomalies. Black people are running corporations, universities and until recently the White House.

But some activists seem to think little has changed. The NAACP carries the weight of history and burden of bureaucracy, wrote Harris-Perry, a Wake Forest University professor, in The New York Times. But it does not seem willing to shed blood, literally or in terms of the uncomfortable work that characterizes effective activism.

What do these activists need to shed blood over? Police violence against young blacks, to start with. Harris-Perry, whose tendency to exaggerate was evident when she invoked the legacy of slavery after MSNBC canceled her TV show, wrote that the trauma of a not-guilty verdict for George Zimmerman laid bare the bloodiness of [young black] lives. She mentions Michael Brown and Eric Garner as well.

Harris-Perrys real goal is not just to send the NAACP back out into the streets for some possibly bloody protests.

She also wants to expand its mission to include the defense of illegal immigrants and LGBTQ people, among others: Is [the NAACP] ready to have as its president a young person just out of foster care who, because he is transgender and black, lived with vulnerabilities many cant imagine?

Probably not. But whether its because of some academic notion of intersectionality (where all prejudice is subsumed into one category) or some kind of political calculus, the left insists on blending all of its supposedly issues-based organizations into one blob which has in turn become a wing of the Democratic Party.

The NAACP voted last year to support teachers unions and oppose charter schools even though most black people support school choice. Members of the National Organization for Women are now supposed to support not just equal pay but partial-birth abortion, even though most women oppose it.

And heretics are purged. A recent obituary for feminist crusader Roxcy Bolton in the Times explained that she helped form the Florida chapter of the National Organization for Women in 1966 but later became persona non grata when she refused to go along with the organizations embrace of a lesbian caucus.

The new direction for the NAACP may be a bridge too far, though. At the separate black graduation ceremony that was held for students at Brown University last week, one observer noted that keynote speaker Lisa Gelobter 91 was met with stony silence when she spoke of her transgender nephews right to use the bathroom corresponding with his chosen gender identity.

If the new agenda for black activists has become too progressive for Ivy League grads, maybe its time instead for the NAACP to try something different. Naomi Schaefer Riley is a senior fellow at the Independent Womens Forum.

Originally posted here:
How liberals are killing the NAACP - New York Post