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Fulton County DA Fani Willis plans to take a lead role in trying Trump case

Two weeks after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis survived a bid by defense lawyers to have her disqualified from the Georgia election interference case, she has all but taken over the case personally, focusing intensely on legal strategy and getting her team in fighting form for trial.

In a significant move along these lines, according to a source close to her, Willis has decided to play a leading courtroom role herself in the sprawling conspiracy case against Donald Trump and 14 co-defendants.

“I think there are efforts to slow down the train, but the train is coming,” Willis said with characteristic bravado during impromptu remarks to CNN as she was leaving a Georgia Easter egg hunt on March 23.

“I guess my greatest crime is that I had a relationship with a man, but that’s not something I find embarrassing in any way,” she added.

Willis had just endured a lengthy legal soap opera after lawyers for one of the defendants filed a motion on Jan. 8 alleging that she had a clandestine romantic relationship with outside lawyer Nathan Wade, whom she had tapped to lead the case. Over two months of withering testimony and legal argument, Willis had intimate details of her private life publicly aired, her judgment and integrity questioned, and saw the most high-stakes prosecution of her career teeter on the brink of collapse because of an indiscretion in her personal life.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in court in Atlanta, Georgia, on Friday, March 1, 2024.

Alex Slitz/AP/Bloomberg via Getty Images

In the end, Judge Scott McAfee ruled there was no actual conflict of interest that would have required disqualification of Willis and her entire office from the case. But he did conclude that Willis’ conduct created an “appearance of impropriety” that needed to be “cured” for her to continue. The solution was for Wade to resign from the case, which he did a few hours after the judge’s ruling.

Instead of replacing Wade with another lawyer from inside or outside the office, Willis is stepping up her own role in quarterbacking the case, CBS News has learned. She has already plunged into the nuts and bolts of trial strategy, including starting to lay out how evidence, including witnesses and documents, will be presented, a process known as “order of proof.”

At the same time, she is thinking about how to communicate the stakes of a case about protecting the democratic rights of Georgians — a far more abstract concept than typical murder or gang prosecutions — to a Fulton County jury.

Moreover, according to one knowledgeable source, Willis will now be the primary point of contact for defense lawyers in any future plea negotiations, a role that Wade had previously played.

Perhaps most consequentially, she is gaming out her own role in trying the case. Her appearance in the courtroom will not just be symbolic. Willis is seriously considering handling opening statements for the prosecution and examining key witnesses herself, according to sources familiar with her thinking, who requested anonymity to speak freely about her approach to the case.

Those who know the pugnacious and competitive DA well say a star turn in the courtroom — in the only case against Trump that will be televised — may put the distracting disqualification drama fully behind her. They say she is intent on shifting the public’s focus back onto Trump and his co-defendants for their alleged effort to overturn the 2020 election. It was a strategy she already showcased when she testified combatively in the disqualification hearing last month.

“You’re confused, you think I’m on trial,” she told defense lawyer Ashley Merchant. “These people are on trial for trying to steal an election.”

Willis’ stepped-up, high-profile public role in the case would also come as she runs for reelection in Fulton County. While it seems unlikely the trial would begin before the general election in November, she will likely have opportunities to argue pre-trial motions and procedural matters before then.

Any remarks about the case she makes inside the courtroom carry far less risk than whatever she might be tempted to say in the public arena, where she feels less restrained. She has already been admonished by McAfee for making “unorthodox” public remarks. The judge has hinted that he might impose a gag order on the case.

“Given the fact that she just barely walked away legally unscathed and that there is an appeal, I think a little extra caution would pay off dividends,” said Anthony Michael Kreis, a professor of law at Georgia State College of Law, who has been following the election interference case closely. But at the same time, Kreis said Willis has every “right and prerogative” to try the case herself and called doing so a potential “rehabilitation moment.”

Willis was always likely to play at least some public-facing role in the trial, if for no other reason than to show her constituents how seriously she was taking a case that she regards as core to their rights as Americans and Georgians, according to a close friend of Willis’. But it was only after going through the searing two-month disqualification ordeal that she decided to play a leading, if not the leading trial role, sources tell CBS News.

Willis earned a reputation as a courtroom practitioner over a two-decade career of trying and winning hundreds of murder, rape and gang cases, but also leading some of the most complex prosecutions ever brought in Georgia. Chief among them was the Atlanta Public Schools cheating case, a Georgia RICO prosecution — involving the same conspiracy statute under which Trump and his co-defendants were charged — against more than a dozen teachers, principals and administrators. All but one of the 12 defendants who went to trial were convicted in what still stands as the longest trial in Georgia history.

“She combines a level of preparation unmatched by any attorney I have ever seen, with a very rare ability to connect with a jury at that gut level,” said Charley Bailey, a former Fulton County assistant DA who has tried cases with Willis and is a close friend.

Daniel Klaidman

Daniel Klaidman, an investigative reporter based in New York, is the former editor-in-chief of Yahoo News and former managing editor of Newsweek. He has over two decades of experience covering politics, foreign affairs, national security and law.

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After a county restricted trans women in sports, a roller derby league said, ‘No way’

SEAFORD, N.Y. — They zip around the rink, armed with helmets, pads and mouthguards. They push, bump and occasionally crash out as they jostle for position on the hardwood floor.

But for the women of the Long Island Roller Rebels, their biggest battle is taking place outside the suburban strip-mall roller rink where they’re girding for the upcoming roller derby season.

The nearly 20-year-old amateur league is suing a county leader over an executive order meant to prevent women’s and girl’s leagues and teams with transgender players from using county-run parks and fields. The league’s legal effort, backed by the New York Civil Liberties Union, has thrust it into the national discussion over the rights of transgender athletes.

Amanda Urena, the league’s vice president, said there was never any question the group would take a stand.

“The whole point of derby has been to be this thing where people feel welcome,” said the 32-year-old Long Island native, who competes as “Curly Fry” and identifies as queer, at a recent practice at United Skates of America in Seaford. “We want trans women to know that we want you to come play with us, and we’ll do our very best to keep fighting and making sure that this is a safe space for you to play.”

Amanda "Curly Fry" Urena, at United Skates of America in Seaford, N.Y. — Amanda “Curly Fry” Urena at United Skates of America in Seaford, N.Y., on March 19, 2023. Jeenah Moon / AP

The February edict from Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman affects more than 100 public facilities in the county of nearly 1.4 million just east of Queens.

Sports leagues and teams seeking permits to play or practice in county-run parks must disclose whether they have or allow transgender women or girls. Any organization that allows them to play will be denied a permit, though men’s leagues and teams aren’t affected.

Bills restricting trans youths’ ability to participate in sports have already passed in some 24 states as part of an explosion of anti-trans legislation on many subjects in recent years. The largest school district in Manhattan is among localities also weighing a ban, following a school board vote last week.

The Roller Rebels sought a county permit this month in hopes of hosting practices and games in county-owned rinks in the upcoming season, as they have in prior years. But they expect to be denied, since the organization is open to anyone who identifies as a woman and has one transgender player already on the roster.

The ban will also make it hard for the league, which has two teams and about 25 players, to recruit and will hurt its ability to host competitions with other leagues, Urena said.

State Attorney General Letitia James has demanded the county rescind the ban, saying it violates state anti-discrimination laws, while Blakeman has asked a federal judge to uphold it.

That a roller derby league has become the face of opposition isn’t surprising: the sport has long been a haven for queer and transgender women, said Margot Atwell, who played in a women’s league in New York City and wrote “Derby Life,” a book about roller derby.

The sport, which dates at least to the 1930s and enjoyed its heyday in the 1970s, involves two teams racing around a track as their designated “jammer” attempts to score points by lapping the other skaters, who are allowed to use their hips, chests and shoulders to slow them down.

The latest revival started in the early 2000s and has been sustained by LGBTQ+ people, with leagues frequently taking part in Pride parades and holding fundraising matches, Atwell said.

“You come in here and you say, ‘I’m a trans woman. I’m a nonbinary person. I’m genderqueer.’ OK? We accept you,” said Caitlin Carroll, a Roller Rebel who competes as “Catastrophic Danger.” “The world is scary enough. You should have a safe place to be.”

Blakeman has said he wants to ensure female athletes can compete safely and fairly. He held a news conference last week with Caitlyn Jenner, who won Olympic gold in the men’s decathlon in 1976 and later underwent a gender transition. Jenner, a Republican who’s frequently at political odds with the greater transgender community, has endorsed the ban.

Blakeman, a Republican who was elected in 2021, has said constituents asked his office to act. But many critics dismiss the ban as political posturing, noting he has acknowledged there have been no local complaints involving transgender players on women’s teams.

“This is a solution in search of a problem,” said Emily Santosus, a 48-year old transgender woman on Long Island who hopes to join a women’s softball team. “We’re not bullies. We’re the ones that get bullied.”

The ones who will suffer most aren’t elite athletes, but children still trying to navigate their gender identities, added Grace McKenzie, a transgender woman who plays for the New York Rugby Club’s women’s team.

Members of the Long Island Roller Rebels during practice at United Skates of America in Seaford, N.Y., on March 19, 2023.Jeenah Moon / AP

“Cruel is the only word that I can use to describe it,” the 30-year-old Brooklyn resident said. “Kids are using sports at that age to build relationships, make friendships, develop teamwork skills, leadership skills and, frankly, just help shield them from all the hate they face as transgender kids already.”

In the larger discussion about trans women in sports, each side points to limited research to support their opinion. And bans often do not distinguish between girls and women who took puberty blockers as part of their transition — stunting the development of a male-typical physique — and those who didn’t, something one New York advocate pointed out.

The order in Nassau County puts some younger trans girls at greater risk by potentially pitting them against boys instead, said Juli Grey-Owens, leader of Gender Equality New York.

“They are not hitting puberty, so they’re not growing, they’re not getting that body strength, the endurance, the agility, the big feet, the large legs,” Grey-Owens said.

The ban could even lead to cisgender female athletes who are strong and muscular being falsely labeled transgender and disqualified, as has happened elsewhere, said Shane Diamond, a transgender man who plays recreational LGBTQ+ ice hockey in New York City.

“It creates a system where any young woman who doesn’t fit the stereotypical idea of femininity and womanhood is at risk of having her gender questioned or gender policed,” Diamond said.

A 2022 Washington Post-University of Maryland Poll found that 55% of Americans were opposed to allowing trans women and girls to compete with other women and girls in high school sports, and 58% opposed it for college and pro sports.

Two cisgender female athletes said after listening to Jenner that men are stronger than women, so it will never be fair if transgender women and girls are allowed to compete.

“There is a chance I would get hurt in those situations,” said Trinity Reed, 21, who plays lacrosse at Nassau County’s Hofstra University.

Mia Babino, 18, plays field hockey at the State University of New York at Cortland and plans to transfer to Nassau County’s Molloy University.

“We’ve worked very hard to get to where we are and to play at a college level,” she said.

But that attitude runs against everything athletic competition stands for, and it sells women and their potential short, countered Urena, of the Roller Rebels.

“If people gave up playing sports because they thought they were going to lose, we wouldn’t have a sports industry,” they said. “I love playing against people that are faster and stronger because that’s how I get better.”

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In battleground Miami-Dade County, Democrats battle each other

MIAMI — In a rare election year shake-up, Florida Democrats voted Sunday to permanently remove Miami-Dade County Democratic Party chair Robert Dempster from his post, after state party chair Nikki Fried suspended him earlier this month.

In a meeting stretching nearly seven hours, Dempster and Franklin County Chair Carol Barfield were removed from their elected positions by members of the Florida Democratic Party State Central Committee. Palm Beach County party chair Mindy Koch, also suspended by Fried, was reinstated in a 67-36 vote. The Franklin and Miami-Dade Democratic committees must elect new permanent chairs within the next 45 days.

“When I was elected chair, I made a promise that we would never have another election cycle like 2022,” Fried said in a statement following the vote. “We need our local parties to register voters, recruit candidates and raise money to ensure that we’re competitive in 2024 and beyond.”

Dempster declined to comment on his removal and instead directed inquiries to Thomas Kennedy, a former Florida Democratic National Committee member, who called the vote “an embarrassing waste of time” and said that the party’s efforts “would be better spent talking to voters like me who switched to [no party affiliation].” Kennedy recently left the Democratic Party in protest of President Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

It’s the latest episode of turmoil and setback in several tough years for Miami-Dade Democrats. After improving their performance there throughout the Obama years, Biden’s vote share in Miami-Dade crashed 10 percentage points in 2020, a big reason why Trump won the state somewhat comfortably despite losing nationally.

Dempster and his Miami-Dade allies lobbied central committee members in the weeks ahead of the vote, urging the delegates involved in the vote to reverse Fried’s move.

In a letter obtained by NBC News and signed by Wayne Brody, the vice chair of the Miami-Dade Democrats’ Voter Protection Committee, Dempster allies outlined their argument to committee members calling for Dempster’s reinstatement, arguing that his removal was not in compliance with state party bylaws and was motivated by personal animus.

“As some of you know, and most others will have guessed, there is a group of members of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party who were displeased at the election of Chair Dempster and unhappy about how he has run the Party since,” Brody wrote, explaining that the group could have sought to remove Dempster themselves with a two-thirds majority vote of the local party.

Rather than taking that course of action, the letter went on to deride an “all-too-public debate on the application of an inapplicable bylaws provision.”

“Please be clear that I am not suggesting that Chair Fried is in league with our dissident group. I believe she was misinformed and poorly served in this instance,” the letter continued.

Dempster’s suspension was first announced in a public statement from Fried on March 4. Dempster and his counterparts in Palm Beach and Franklin Counties were, according to the statement, removed as part of a strategy to get local Democratic parties “back on track.”

“Over the past year, the Florida Democratic Party has made repeated attempts to mitigate complaints received prior to my election as Chair,” Fried wrote. Citing ongoing unresolved issues and non-compliance, Fried warned “the cost of inaction is too high.”

Of course, the action itself may prove disruptive, too.

“The last thing you need is, going into an election year when we have primaries in August, [is] to disrupt the party the way it’s being disrupted,” Maria Elena Lopez, the Miami-Dade Democratic Party’s current acting chair, told NBC News a few days prior to the removal vote.

Following Sunday’s vote, Lopez lamented the removal vote as “not a very pleasant process.”

“All the parties that are going through this have been kneecapped for at least six weeks,” Lopez said last week, adding that the party is already enmeshed in a “doom and gloom type of narrative,” a nod to significant Republican electoral gains in once unbreakably Democratic Miami-Dade County.

“By doing this, has she accomplished anything to improve the local party? No, not necessarily.”

A Democratic stronghold up for grabs

Republicans have been gaining momentum in South Florida for several years now.

As Democrats across the country celebrated the red wave that wasn’t in 2022, Miami-Dade County stood apart as an example of conservative wins.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won the county by the largest margin of any Republican governor in decades, all three Miami-Dade congressional seats stayed red, and Sen. Marco Rubio defeated Rep. Val Demings, his Democratic challenger, by a whopping 16 points after having lost his home county in 2016.

Some began to wonder if Miami-Dade County would be considered battleground territory for much longer.

Former Miami-area Democratic candidate Robert Asencio, who lost his race against Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez in 2022, believes the area is still competitive for Democrats, but with caveats.

“With the current playbook? With the status quo? No,” he said, adding an expletive.

Asencio serves on the central committee in the Florida Democratic Party and voted to uphold the suspension of all three county chairs. “If we don’t create change then we have no one to blame but ourselves,” Asencio said.

Asencio says he felt firsthand the ramifications of what he calls an “absent” local party. While he acknowledged the candidate takes the lion’s share of responsibility for a campaign’s success, he says he was frustrated by the county party’s lack of infrastructure and believes they share some responsibility for the losses.

For Lopez, she believes Republicans’ focus on community-building has paid dividends.

“The Republicans have done that,” Lopez said of GOP community organizing efforts in the county. “That’s how they actually got people engaged because they were in the communities,” she added, lamenting that her party has not been able to match that kind outreach because, due to a lack of funding, “it’s very hard to build anything on a consistent basis.”

Despite successes at the ballot box, the Florida Republican Party has had its own public controversy. The party’s former chairman Christian Ziegler was removed by state Republicans from his post as he faced allegations of rape and video voyeurism in late 2023. (Prosecutors have since declined to bring the charges against Ziegler citing a lack of evidence.)

The rare move by Democrats to suspend elected county chairs follows an already difficult week for the party in Florida. In November the state party submitted Biden as the sole candidate for the Democratic nomination, triggering an automatic cancellation of their primary under Florida law.

But that may have inadvertently contributed to low turnout for Democrats last week, possibly affecting down-ballot contests in several areas across the state. DeSantis called the Florida Democratic Party “the best opposition party we could ever ask for” and credited the canceled presidential primary for conservative gains in the state.

“That totally tanked their turnout and that gave Republicans an ability to win like the Delray Beach Mayor, right? Which has, like, not exactly been solid Republican territory,” DeSantis said at a press conference last week.

Democrats, though, celebrated Tuesday night as a successful night for the party, pointing to key wins in a handful of other municipal elections.

Finding a foothold ahead of the general election

Biden faces a lengthy and contested general election re-match against Trump, who defeated Biden in Florida by more than 3 percentage points in 2020. GOP Sen. Rick Scott is up for re-election too, as Democrats face a challenging Senate map nationally.

And locally, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava — one of the only remaining countywide elected Democrats — is up for re-election to serve a second term in one of the most influential positions in the state, attracting attention to a key summertime election.

A spokesperson for Levine Cava’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on Dempster’s removal.

Whether the leadership changes at the county level will make a marked difference in Democrats’ performance in Miami-Dade and statewide is yet to be seen. Asencio noted that some critics of Dempster’s removal didn’t want to see intra-party turmoil ahead of a big election.

“I’ve heard the argument that optics, right? People are concerned about the optics” of having a removal vote in the middle of an election year, Asencio said.

But, he added: “What worse optics are there if they continue to lose?”

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Search and rescue mission in Delaware County ongoing after child falls into Chester Creek

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CHESTER, Pa. (CBS) — A search and rescue mission is ongoing in Chester after a 6-year-old girl fell into Chester Creek, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The family has identified the child as Lin’Ajah Brooker.

Officials told CBS News Philadelphia they received a 911 call reporting that a child fell into Chester Creek on Saturday.

Initial reports from police indicate two girls were playing by the water when the 6-year-old girl slipped on mud and fell into the creek.

The Chester Bureau of Fire is currently working on a search and rescue operation in connection with Delaware County’s water rescue team. The Coast Guard has a small boat on the scene along with a chopper searching the area.

Delaware County emergency services brought down light towers to help search crews with visibility. Crews have also launched drones that have infrared and thermal imaging technology to help with the night search, Chester Fire Commissioner John-Paul Shirley said.

The current is moving rapidly after more than two inches of rain fell in Chester today.

“It’s very rapid currents. There’s a lot of debris in the water which poses a potential hazard to our responders, but they’ve been trained to kind of deal with those situations,” Shirley said.

Lin’ajah’s aunt, Tyeesha Reynolds, says she’s praying she will be found alive.

“They was down there playing and she went down a little too far with the other kids. And my 7-year-old daughter tried to hold her. And she was holding on to my daughter’s coat, and I guess the wind took her,” Reynolds said. “It would be terrifying for me and I’m 40. She’s six. So I’m quite sure she’s terrified.”

Emergency officials were on the scene for hours, but they suspended the search just after 10:30 p.m. Crews will be back out at 8 a.m. to continue looking for Lin’ajah.

At this time only one child is reported missing.

Madeleine Wright

Madeleine Wright is a bilingual general assignment reporter for CBS News Philadelphia. She joined the team in January 2022.

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California county repeals water regulations that Asian Americans say targeted their community

Many Asian American activists and community members in Siskiyou County, California, are celebrating a win in their fight against local water regulations that they say have led to discrimination and restrictions on human rights.

The Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors repealed a pair of water ordinances last week that barred water trucks — defined as vehicles that can carry about 100 gallons of water — from transporting water without permits as part of a settlement of a 2021 case that accused the county of having cut off the Asian American community members’ access to water. Many Hmong and other Asian Americans, who previously argued that the policies were disproportionately enforced in their communities and led to racial profiling by local authorities, spoke out in support of reversing the ordinances.

“My neighbors and I have been forced to make impossible choices between bathing every week and providing water to our pets, livestock, and gardens,” Siskiyou County resident Russell Mathis said in a news release about the repeal. “Today, we celebrate an important victory affirming our human right to water and our rights to live without oppressive fear and trauma, simply because of where we were born or what we look like.”

County Board of Supervisors member Nancy Ogren declined to comment, and the four other members of the board did not respond to requests for comment.

The Board of Supervisors also revised a third ordinance, establishing due process and a $2,500 limit on fines. The ordinances were repealed after years of clashes between the Asian American community and local authorities.

The ordinances, first passed as an emergency measure in May 2021, were in part an effort to curb illegal cannabis farming. While growing cannabis is legal in the state, the county heavily limits the number of plants permitted on a property and forbids outdoor growing altogether. However, many Hmong and Chinese community members, who are part of the county’s farming population, said the measures were largely enforced in Asian American areas, lawsuits allege.

Kao Ye Thao, the director of policy and partnerships at Hmong Innovating Politics, a grassroots civic engagement organization based in California, said in 2021 that multiple Asian community members reported having been harassed or stopped by law enforcement while they were driving.

“The ordinance itself was an emergency ordinance passed without really consulting with the community that it was actually going to be targeting. … Now they’re associating being Asian with being an illegal cannabis grower,” Thao said.

In June 2021, tensions rose between the Asian American community and local authorities when four officers from different agencies, including the sheriff’s department, shot and killed Soobleej Kaub Hawj, a local farmer, during a fire evacuation. The sheriff’s department said Hawj pointed a semi-automatic handgun as the officers entered an evacuation zone after he “ignored numerous directions by officers and attempted to drive around the roadblock,” but activists and community members have questioned the sheriff’s account, particularly after a witness said more than 60 shots were fired at Hawj. The district attorney announced last year that the officers will not face charges, writing in a letter to law enforcement agencies explaining his decision that Hawj pulled a handgun and pointed it at a law enforcement officer, prompting other officers to open fire.

In addition to acting in the 2021 case, Asian American residents filed a class-action lawsuit in August 2022 accusing the county of large-scale harassment of Hmong residents. They accused county officials, in part, of restricting their right to water, executing unlawful traffic stops and engaging in unlawful search and seizure practices to drive people of Asian descent from the area.

According to the class-action suit, while Asians are only 2.4% of the county’s adult population, they accounted for over 28% of sheriff’s department traffic stops in 2021.

“This targeting is designed to drive a disfavored racial minority from the County and has its roots in anti-Asian racism in Siskiyou dating back to the 1800s,” said the lawsuit, filed by the ACLU Foundation of Northern California and the activist group Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus.

Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue did not respond to a request for comment. He told The Guardian last year that “we don’t target any people. We target crime. It’s unfortunate that is sort of the card that’s being played.”

The lawsuit also described everyday discriminatory behavior toward the Hmong population.

“In one striking example, the Board singled out Hmong attendees at a 2015 public meeting, calling first for a show of hands from ‘the Hmong residents’ on the issues presented, and then calling for a vote of ‘those County residents present,’ as if the Hmong people were outsiders,” it said.

Those pursuing the class-action lawsuit are in settlement negotiations, according to the Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus.

For now, the repeals represent a victory for the Asian American residents in the community, advocates say.

“As the Asian American community in Siskiyou has grown, including more parents enrolling their kids in school, grandparents retiring to more rural areas that remind them of Laos, and families trying to be closer together, Siskiyou County and the Sheriff’s Department have gone to troubling lengths to push out the Asian American community,” said John Do, a senior staff attorney for the Racial & Economic Justice Program at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, in a press release. “And community members are taking action to create a safe, inclusive place to live.”

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Apparent murder-suicide involving prominent Mt. Sinai Hospital oncologist rocks Westchester County town of Somers

Somers, N.Y. rocked by apparent murder-suicide involving NYC doctor

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SOMERS, N.Y. — Residents in a northern Westchester County town are in shock after learning about the deaths of a prominent doctor at Mt. Sinai Hospital and her baby, killed in an apparent murder-suicide.

CBS New York has learned more details on the tragedy that struck a young family.

Somers is typically a quiet town in Westchester, a place where residents spend time on bike trails and at a nearby farm on summer weekends.

“Somers is a nice, quiet community in northern Westchester and everybody knows everybody and this is just awful,” Stuart’s Farm owner Betty Stuart said.

Stuart woke up Saturday morning to emergency vehicles outside her small community on Granite Springs Road.

“Our friend is an EMT and he texted us and it’s so sad, so sad. They were a nice young family and we didn’t know that they had a child,” Stuart said.

Just next door to the farm is where Krystal Cascetta and her family lived.

“They came here when they bought the house from a friend of ours and they kept to themselves,” Stuart said.

Police say the renowned oncologist at Mt. Sinai in New York City shot and killed her baby and then killed herself in her home at around 7 a.m.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything so sad as long as I’ve been here,” one resident said.

The news has rocked the community and Dr. Cascetta’s patients. One told CBS New York by phone that Dr. Cascetta was just on maternity leave. The patient added she remembers Cascetta being full of life as she helped patients through their cancer journeys.

Photos online show Dr. Cascetta working through the pandemic, speaking at medical engagements, and during events for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

“When we heard about it, it just rocked us to the core. Really it did. And the whole neighborhood … we’re all upset,” the patient said.

CBS New York spoke with family members at the home on Sunday. They didn’t want to speak on camera, but they said that Dr. Cascetta was a wonderful person and it’s a true tragedy what happened to their family.

If you or someone you know needs help, text or call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.

Trained counselors are available 24-7.

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Family of inmate who was “eaten alive” by bedbugs in Georgia jail reaches settlement with county

Georgia’s Fulton County has reached a settlement with the family of a man who died in a bedbug-infested cell in the county jail’s psychiatric wing, the family’s lawyers said Thursday. The family’s attorneys previously said that Lashawn Thompson was “eaten alive” by bedbugs.

Thompson, 35, died in September, three months after he was booked into the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta. Attorneys Ben Crump and Michael Harper, who represent Thompson’s family, said in a news release Thursday that the family has reached settlements with the county “and other unidentified entities.”

Thompson’s death gained public attention in April after Harper released photos of his face and body covered in insects. The U.S. Department of Justice cited Thompson’s death last month when announcing an investigation into jail conditions in Fulton County.

The family is satisfied with the settlements, but the lawyers said in the statement that “we are nowhere near the end of this journey to full justice.”

“We will continue to work with the Thompson family –– and the community that rallied behind them –– to ensure that a tragedy like this one never happens to another family or takes one more life,” the statement says. “Lashawn’s life mattered, and together, we can demand and motivate significant change in his name. That will be the legacy of Lashawn Thompson.”

The lawyers said the settlements are for “undisclosed amounts.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Tuesday that Fulton County commissioners on Wednesday voted to approve a $4 million settlement but said detailed terms of the settlement were not immediately disclosed.

Thompson was dealing with untreated schizophrenia at the jail, according to an independent autopsy report released by the family, which said he “was neglected to death.” An earlier report from the Fulton County medical examiner’s office found no obvious signs of trauma on Thompson’s body but noted a “severe bed bug infestation.” It listed his cause of death as “undetermined.”

Department of Justice investigators plan to look at living conditions, access to medical and mental health care, use of excessive force by staff and conditions that may give rise to violence between people held in Fulton County jails, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said last month when announcing the federal investigation.

“The recent allegations of filthy housing teeming with insects, rampant violence resulting in death and injuries and officers using excessive force are cause for grave concern and warrant a thorough investigation,” U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan for the Northern District of Georgia said last month.

In April, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office — which is responsible for the administration and operation of the Fulton County Jail — said there would be “sweeping changes” at the jail after Thompson’s death. Sheriff Patrick Labat said at the time he asked for the resignations of the chief jailer, assistant chief jailer and assistant chief jailer of the criminal investigative division, following a preliminary investigation. They all resigned.

Aliza Chasan contributed to this report.

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Family of man who died in Georgia jail cell with bed bug infestation reaches settlement with county

ATLANTA — Georgia’s Fulton County has reached a settlement with the family of a man who died in a bedbug-infested cell in the county jail’s psychiatric wing, the family’s lawyers said Thursday.

Lashawn Thompson, 35, died in September, three months after he was booked into the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta. Attorneys Ben Crump and Michael Harper, who represent Thompson’s family, said in a news release Thursday that the family has reached settlements with the county “and other unidentified entities.”

The family is satisfied with the settlements, but the lawyers said in the statement that “we are nowhere near the end of this journey to full justice.”

“We will continue to work with the Thompson family — and the community that rallied behind them — to ensure that a tragedy like this one never happens to another family or takes one more life,” the statement says. “Lashawn’s life mattered, and together, we can demand and motivate significant change in his name. That will be the legacy of Lashawn Thompson.”

An independent autopsy released by the family in May said Thompson “was neglected to death.” An earlier report from the Fulton County medical examiner’s office found no obvious signs of trauma on Thompson’s body but noted a “severe bed bug infestation.” It listed his cause of death as “undetermined.”

Conditions inside the jail cell where Lashawn Thompson was kept.WXIA

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Fulton County DA Fani Willis shares racist threat as Trump probe nears a conclusion

ATLANTA — Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney investigating Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, shared a racist threat she had received as her office prepares to make charging decisions in the probe.

Willis forwarded the threat, noting it was one of many, in an email to Fulton County commissioners that was obtained by NBC News. In the email, Willis urged commissioners to “stay alert” and “stay safe” ahead of potential indictments this month.

The e-mail to commissioners, which was first reported by The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, included a copy of a profane threat Willis says she received last Friday, calling her the n-word and a “Jim Crow Democrat whore.”

She describes the vulgar email as “not very unique. In fact, it is pretty typical and what I have come to expect.”

“I am also aware of some equally ignorant voice mails coming in both to the county customer service and my office. I expect to see many more over the next 30 days,” she wrote.

Willis emphasized last weekend that her office is “ready to go“ in announcing charging decisions in a probe of Trump and his allies’ attempts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, which she reaffirmed will come by Sept. 1.

Two grand juries have been impaneled in Fulton County that are likely to be tasked with deciding whether Trump and his allies will face election interference charges. The juries’ terms end Sept. 1.

Willis told an NBC affiliate over the weekend, “The work is accomplished,” adding that she has sought increased security around the county courthouse.

“Some people may not be happy with the decisions that I’m making,” Willis said. “And sometimes, when people are unhappy, they act in a way that could create harm.”

Other Fulton County officials decried the threats against Willis and said they are also preparing by increasing security and allowing some staff to work remotely, according to e-mails obtained by NBC News.

“I have every intention of doing my job,” Willis wrote in her e-mail to county commissioners. “Please make decisions that keep your staff safe.”

Blayne Alexander

Blayne Alexander is an NBC News correspondent, based in Atlanta.

Sarah Mimms contributed.

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Georgia judge rejects another Trump bid to halt Fulton County election probe

A Georgia judge on Monday denied an attempt by Donald Trump to halt Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s investigation into whether the former president and his allies interfered in the state’s 2020 presidential election, calling his allegations of wrongdoing in the probe “overwrought.”

In a nine-page ruling Monday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney found that neither Trump nor Cathleen Latham, a Trump “alternate elector” challenging the probe, had legal standing to block the investigation at this point.

He said their claims are “insufficient” because “while being the subject (or even target) of a highly publicized criminal investigation is likely an unwelcome and unpleasant experience, no court ever has held that that status alone provides a basis for the courts to interfere with or halt the investigation.”

The ruling is the second against Trump on the issue in two weeks. The Georgia Supreme Court denied a similar request from Trump on July 17. A third petition to the Fulton County Superior Court is pending, with a hearing scheduled for Aug. 10.

In his Monday ruling, McBurney suggested his ruling should make the third action moot.

He noted that Trump could raise the same concerns to the courts after he’s indicted, but said it’s premature for him to do so now.

“Guessing at what that picture might look like before the investigative dots are connected may be a popular game for the media and blogosphere, but it is not a proper role for the courts and formal legal argumentation,” McBurney wrote.

“There will be time and forum in which Trump and Latham can raise their concerns about the constitutionality of the special purpose grand jury statutes, about the performance of this particular Special Purpose Grand Jury (and the judge supervising it), and about the propriety of allowing the Fulton County District Attorney to remain involved with whatever criminal prosecution — if any results from the work of this Special Purpose Grand Jury. That time is not now and that forum is not here.

“Should either (or both) movant be indicted, they can raise all these issues (as they undoubtedly will) before the judge,” he wrote.

The district attorney’s office declined comment on the ruling. Representatives for Trump and Latham did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing in the case and maintains Willis, a Democrat, is leading a politically motivated “witch hunt” against him.

Willis has indicated that she could seek indictments in the case in the first half of August.

Trump has also been notified by special counsel Jack Smith that he’s a target in his federal investigation into interference in the 2020 election. Trump has denied wrongdoing and accused Smith of “election interference” since Trump is now running for president.

Blayne Alexander

Blayne Alexander is an NBC News correspondent, based in Atlanta.

Dareh Gregorian

Dareh Gregorian is a politics reporter for NBC News.

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