December 18, 2024: Ethics Committee to Release Gaetz Report, Indiana's First Execution in 15 Years, SCOTUS Takes TikTok Case, Mangione's Many Murder Charges in NYC, and More.
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Welcome back to Unbiased, your favorite source of unbiased news and legal analysis. Welcome back to Unbiased. Today is Wednesday, December 18th, and this is your second-to-last daily news rundown of Unbiased Season 2. But don't worry, we're coming back on January 6th for Season 3. The show is going to be better than ever.

Now, one ask that I have of you, and I'll remind you again tomorrow, but if you love Unbiased and you are grateful to have found the show and you listen on a podcast platform like Apple Podcasts or Spotify, please, please, as the season comes to a close,

I would love if you could leave my show a five-star review about why you love it. Many of you reach out and ask what you can do to support me, and I usually offer three ways. One way is to engage with my advertising sponsors. The other is through Patreon. And then the third way is by letting others know how much you love this show. And one of the ways that you can do that is through reviews. So thank you very much in advance. It is so, so appreciated. And now, without further ado, let's get into today's stories.

Starting with a quick update and revision to yesterday's episode, you know I never ever want to give you guys false information, so it's really important that I clarify this. In reporting on the Wisconsin school shooting yesterday, I very quickly mentioned that a second grade student had called the shooting into the police. That is false.

It was a second grade teacher, not a student. The Madison Police Chief originally said that it was a second grade student, but then issued a correction yesterday saying, quote, yesterday after looking at the computer aided dispatch system, it seemed as if a call came from a second grader. It actually read that the call came from a second grade teacher. That was a mistake. That's my responsibility. And I apologize. And I clarify that today, end quote. So please just note that clarification.

And now a quick TikTok update. And as a follow up to yesterday's episode, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in TikTok's case against the government on January 10th. In yesterday's episode where I covered TikTok filing this emergency request with the court, I noted that there were essentially four routes that the Supreme Court could take.

So the Supreme Court could have either granted TikTok's request to pause the lower court's ruling and just immediately set the case for arguments. They could have granted TikTok's request but waited for TikTok to file a formal petition for review and then decided whether they would get the case on the calendar. They could have denied TikTok's request but still immediately set the case for arguments. Or they could have denied TikTok's request immediately.

waited for TikTok to file a formal petition for review, and then decided whether or not they would take up the case. The justices went for option C, sort of. They basically said, we're not going to grant or deny your request. We're going to wait to rule on the request until we hear arguments. And we're not going to wait for you to file a formal petition for review. We're just going to treat this request as a petition for review and get this case on the calendar, schedule it now for arguments on January 10th. Perfect.

Per the court's instruction, TikTok and ByteDance will have until December 27th at 5 p.m. to file their brief with the court. The government has until January 3rd at 5 p.m. to file their reply. And then January 10th is when the court will hear oral arguments from both sides, and they'll issue their decision at some point after that. With cases like this, it's hard to say how soon the justices will rule. It could be as short as a week after arguments, but it also could take as long as a couple of months.

If they haven't issued a decision by January 19th, which is the deadline for TikTok to either sell or be banned, then the justices will likely temporarily pause the enforcement of the ban until they're ready to release that decision. So that is what you can expect there, but you will certainly be hearing an update from me on January 11th, which will be one day after arguments are had and I can kind of fill you in on where the justices are leaning.

According to a newly released indictment, Luigi Mangione, the suspected killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has been indicted on a slew of charges in New York. So we have first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, four counts of theft.

third degree criminal possession of a weapon, one count of fourth degree criminal possession of a weapon, and one count of second degree criminal possession of a forged instrument. Now that sounds like a lot, and it is, let's be real, but don't worry, we are going to get into what all of this means

But first, I want to give you a little bit more context. So last week, I mentioned that Mangione was facing multiple charges in New York, including murder charges, but he hadn't yet been indicted. Now he has. So when we talk about an indictment, what that means is that the prosecutor has presented evidence to a grand jury, and then that grand jury decided that the evidence presented was sufficient for an indictment, and that indictment was written up and unsealed.

Now, let's talk about that first charge, murder in the first degree.

First-degree murder is always the most severe form of homicide with the most severe penalties, but the definition of first-degree murder varies by state. So in New York, there are two ways you could be charged with first-degree murder. You either intentionally killed specifically a law enforcement officer, a correctional officer, or a judge, or two, you intentionally killed any person while also carrying out certain serious felonies like kidnapping or terrorism.

In Mangione's case, he is accused of intentionally killing Brian Thompson while also carrying out an act of terrorism. And I know many of you are probably wondering how this shooting classifies as an act of terrorism, considering it is a bit different than what we typically think of as terrorism. But here's why. In New York...

The crime of terrorism is defined as any act that is committed with the intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or influence the policy of a government through intimidation or coercion. This terminology was actually enacted at post 9-11.

Now, he's also facing two counts of second-degree murder, one of which includes an act of terrorism as well. The other does not. And you might also be wondering why he's charged with both second-degree and first-degree murder. It's essentially a way for the prosecution to cover all of their bases, right? Second-degree murder still requires intent like first-degree murder, but it is a slightly less severe charge with slightly different elements.

So if a jury finds that Mangione is not guilty of first degree murder, a jury could still charge him or find him guilty of second degree murder. He also faces two counts of second degree criminal possession of a weapon. The first count is for possessing a loaded firearm with intent to use it unlawfully against another person. The second count is simply for possessing a loaded firearm outside of his house or place of business.

The four counts of third degree criminal possession of a weapon relate to unlawfully possessing a weapon, whether loaded or not. And then the final charge of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree is because of that fake New Jersey driver's license that he had. Mangione is still being held in Pennsylvania while he awaits extradition to New York.

He is set to appear at an extradition hearing in Pennsylvania tomorrow, and his lawyers are now saying that he will not fight extradition, despite saying earlier that he would. So that may make the extradition process, you know, go a little bit quicker. Now, in a change of course, the House Ethics Committee has voted to release its report on former Representative Matt Gaetz.

As we've discussed many times, the Ethics Committee was investigating allegations that Gates had sex with a minor and used illicit drugs. But that investigation came to a stop when Gates stepped down from his congressional position in the wake of his recent nomination for Attorney General. Shortly after Gates resigned, the Ethics Committee voted not to release the report, but said that they would revisit it once the report was finalized, and that they did. And this time around, they voted to release it.

What this tells us is that at least one Republican lawmaker voted with Democrats to release the report. And the committee says that the release will come sometime before Christmas.

Gates released a statement on X after this vote, writing, quote, the Biden-Garland DOJ spent years reviewing allegations that I committed various crimes. I was charged with nothing, fully exonerated, not even a campaign finance violation, and the people investigating me hated me. Then, the very witnesses DOJ deemed not credible were assembled by House ethics to repeat their

claims absent any cross-examination or challenge from me or my attorneys. I've had no chance to ever confront any accusers. I've never been charged. I've never been sued. Instead, House Ethics will reportedly post a report online that I have no opportunity to debate or rebut as a former member of the body. In my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated, even some I never dated, but who asked? I

I dated several of these women for years. I never had sexual contact with someone under 18. Any claim that I have would be destroyed in court, which is why no such claim was ever made in court. My 30s were an era of working very hard and playing hard too. It's embarrassing though, not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life.

I live a different life now, but at least I didn't vote for continuing resolutions that fuck over the country. End quote.

Now, unfortunately, Unbiased will likely be on break by the time that this report does get released, so I won't be able to cover it in an episode, but I will try to do at least something just to fill you guys in, maybe post a video to social media, something along those lines. So if you are not following me on social media yet, now is a good time to do that. My handle on both Instagram and TikTok is JordanIsMyLawyer.

Let's take our quick break here. When we come back, we'll talk about Indiana's first execution in 15 years and some quick hitters.

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Last night, the state of Indiana carried out its first execution in 15 years. Joseph Corcoran, whose final words were, quote, let's get this over with, end quote, was convicted of quadruple homicide in 1997 and executed last night via the lethal injection. I will talk more about the lethal injection, but let's first talk about Corcoran himself and what he did. So five years before he was convicted of that quadruple homicide, he was actually charged but acquitted in the murders of his parents.

Then, in 1997, five years after the acquittal, he woke up one afternoon, heard his brother and three other men talking about him downstairs, which prompted him to grab a rifle and kill all four men. Afterwards, he walked to a neighbor's house, asked her to call 911, returned home, and waited on the porch for the cops to show up. Court documents quote

quote him saying, quote, they made me mad. I shot them all, end quote. Now, Corcoran's attorneys say he should have never stood trial due to insanity or incompetency, that his mental illness predated the murders. But when Corcoran's attorneys tried to file a post-conviction appeal on the basis of incompetency, Corcoran himself refused to sign it, and therefore his conviction was never reviewed. But

But the reason that Corcoran's attorneys never stopped with this incompetency defense is because people deemed to be incompetent cannot be executed. So later in 2003, Corcoran's attorneys argued at another hearing that Corcoran was incompetent and in support of this presented testimony by three mental health professionals who each diagnosed him with schizophrenia.

The court, though, rejected the argument and found that Corcoran was competent enough to waive his appeals.

Most recently, earlier this month, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that Corcoran's attorneys failed to prove that anything has changed since he was deemed to be competent and therefore his execution could proceed. And in finding that, the court pointed to a recent affidavit signed by Corcoran himself in which he stated that he wanted to abandon his appeals and he attested to the fact that he understood the consequences of being executed. So,

Since Corcoran's conviction in 1997, the Indiana Supreme Court has reviewed his case seven times and the Supreme Court of the United States has reviewed the case three times each time the conviction and sentence were upheld.

So now a little bit on the lethal injection. Let's talk about that. The lethal injection varies by state. Some states use one drug. Other states use two. Some states use three. Nebraska even uses four. Indiana uses one. It's a lethal dose of pentobarbital.

The short story with the lethal injection and the reason the death penalty generally has slowed down in the United States in recent years is because the United States is having a harder time obtaining the drugs as time goes on. And this is really just because we've realized that the death penalty is a very important

on other countries to get our drugs for decades. But over time, these other countries like the EU banned the death penalty and therefore stopped supplying us with drugs. And now we have a low supply. So what states do now is they try to get these drugs from compounding pharmacies here in the United States. But that has also led to issues with the actual drugs themselves.

So long story short, Indiana has not executed an inmate in 15 years, but just announced about six months ago that they were able to obtain more pentobarbital. So this execution follows that announcement. Just before the execution, Corcoran was asked whether he was ready to go, to which he responded, quote, not really. Let's get this over with, end quote. And according to the Department of Corrections, he requested Ben and Jerry's ice cream as his last meal.

Now for some quick hitters, let's start with some congressional news. Congress has passed what's called a continuing resolution, which will keep the government funded into March and avoid a partial government shutdown on December 20th.

The bill that was passed today includes an increase to congressional salaries from $174,000 to $243,000 to reflect the cost of living changes since 2009, more than $100 billion in disaster aid, $10 billion in economic assistance to farmers, restrictions on U.S. investments in China, a requirement that ticket sellers and hotels disclose their full prices up front, and

the transfer of administrative jurisdiction over a sports stadium in D.C., a commitment from the government to pay the entire cost of rebuilding Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge, an extension of the Homeland Security Act, which authorizes officials to track drones and disrupt their control, and more.

And the House of Representatives has passed legislation that will allow for the creation of a time capsule to be buried on the Capitol's West Lawn on America's 250th birthday in 2026. Per the bill, the capsule is to be opened on July 4th, 2276, when the United States turns 500. The bill still needs to pass the Senate and get the president's signature, but if passed, the architect of the Capitol will be responsible for preparing the capsule, and the contents of the capsule will include books,

manuscripts, miscellaneous printed matter, memorabilia, relics, copies of important legislative and institutional milestones of Congress, a message from the current Congress to the future Congress, and more. And now moving on to some news out of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has launched a pilot program in which members of the public can apply for courtroom seating for

through a fully automated online lottery. As of last week, members of the public can start accessing the lottery for the February 2025 session through a link on the court's website. The deadline to submit an application is 5 p.m. Eastern time, four weeks before the start of the February session, and three weeks before the start of the session, the court will notify applicants by email whether or not they got a ticket or have been placed on the waitlist.

I do want to note that currently anyone can attend arguments at the Supreme Court. They are open to the public. So starting February 2025, the court will still provide some seating to the public on a first-come, first-served basis. But this program is for those that want to ensure they'll be able to attend. And this is, of course, more so mainly for the controversial cases that tend to draw a bigger audience and therefore those who just show up may not get a seat.

The Fed agreed to cut interest rates one more time this year, which will lower the federal funds rate to a range between 4.25% and 4.5%, a two-year low. Projections released today show officials expect to make fewer rate reductions next year, with most showing two cuts if the economy grows at a steady rate and inflation continues to decline.

And Grubhub, a food delivery service, has agreed to pay $25 million over allegations that it tricked users, delivery drivers, and restaurants in an effort to grow its business more rapidly. The FTC and the Illinois Attorney General have accused the delivery company of hiding the real costs on its app, leading to a final price that was often double what was originally advertised.

inflating hourly pay rates and ads that were well above what drivers would realistically earn, and regularly listing restaurants on their platform without the restaurant's knowledge to gain national scale. The company has denied the allegations against it,

but said the settlement is in the best interest of the company. And Disney has decided to cut a storyline in an upcoming show about gender identity. An episode of Disney Pixar's Win or Lose show, which centers around a co-ed middle school softball team in the run-up to its championship game, was going to center around the gender identity of a trans character.

However, Disney officials say now that while the character will still be in the show, it has decided to cut the storyline revolving around the character's gender. In a statement, Disney said, quote, When it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline. End quote.

And in some rather unsettling news, a new report released this week from Gen Z research firm DCDX says Gen Z will spend 112 complete days on their phones in 2024. Notably, the sample size wasn't huge. The firm gathered screen time submissions from 234 Gen Zers aged 16 to 27, but found daily average screen time rose in 2024 by over 15 minutes.

amounting to 7 hours, 22 minutes, and 43 seconds. What's interesting is that while Gen Zers aged 16 to 20 spent more time on their phones, those aged 21 to 27 saw a bigger increase year over year. DCDX also looked at what applications Gen Zers are spending so much time on. TikTok came in first place, Instagram came in second, and Messages came in third. I do have that report linked for you in the sources section if you're

you're interested in reading more. And finally, some cool news. Let's end this episode on a fun note. A New York homeowner recently discovered a complete mastodon jaw in their backyard. Mastodons, which diverged from early ancestors of the modern elephant, are said to have appeared first between 2 and 23 million years ago, but went extinct around 11,000 years ago. The New York homeowner reportedly found two teeth

hidden by the leaves of a plant and then dug more to find two additional teeth just below the surface. Officials and staff from the New York State Museum and SUNY Orange Community College excavated the rest and uncovered a complete jaw, a piece of a toe bone, and part of a rib.

That is what I have for you today. Thank you so much for being here. Have a fantastic night. And I'm sorry but also relieved to say that I will see you tomorrow for the final episode of season two of Unbiased.

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