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This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Larry Swearingen.
This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Larry Swearingen.

Court unbinds Electoral College voters

DENVER — A federal appeals court in Denver said Electoral College members can vote for the presidential candidate of their choice and aren’t bound by the popular vote in their states.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the Colorado secretary of state violated the Constitution in 2016 when he removed an elector and nullified his vote when the elector refused to cast his ballot for Democrat Hillary Clinton, who won the popular vote.

It was not immediately clear what effect the ruling might have on the Electoral College system, which is established in the Constitution. Voters in each state choose members of the Electoral College, called electors, who are pledged to a presidential candidate. The electors then choose the president.

Most states require electors to vote for the candidate who won the popular vote in that state, but the Denver appeals court said the states do not have that authority.

The Constitution allows electors to cast their votes at their own discretion, the appeals court ruling said, “and the state does not possess countervailing authority to remove an elector and to cancel his vote in response to the exercise of that Constitutional right.”

Attorneys for the elector at the center of the case, Michael Baca, said the U.S. Supreme Court likely will hear the case because it conflicts with a decision from Washington state’s Supreme Court. That court said in May that electors could be fined for not casting ballots for the popular-vote winner.

Ban on e-scooters rejected in Nashville

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — City Council members in Nashville, Tenn., voted against a proposal for a complete ban on electric scooters after complaints about the devices began to climb.

The council voted against the ban Tuesday, The Tennessean reported. Council member Steve Glover has said the e-scooters weren’t rolled out properly and are straining public-safety workers. Council member Fabian Bedne has said the city needs a better way to deal with e-scooter liabilities.

Thousands of scooters arrived in Nashville last summer and have been largely embraced, though some residents have voiced concerns about sidewalk and rider safety. Others have pointed out that people with disabilities have to navigate around the e-scooters, which are often left splayed across sidewalks.

Last month, the council voted to place limited restrictions on scooters, including limiting riding hours and capping the number of operators in the city.

Gunman wounds 4 collegians, gets away

ATLANTA — Four college students were wounded when a gunman opened fire into about 200 people gathered outside a library near Clark Atlanta University and then escaped in the chaos, authorities said.

The four injured women were in stable condition after the gunfire, which happened shortly after 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. None of the injuries was life-threatening, Atlanta police said. The shooter had not yet been apprehended Wednesday.

The four students were shot outside a library that serves Clark Atlanta and other nearby historically black colleges.

The block party, held the night before the first day of classes, was celebrating the end of orientation for new students.

The gunshots began after an argument broke out between two parties and someone opened fire, investigators said. Video aired by WXIA-TV shows dozens of students running frantically after the gunshots were heard.

Texas inmate executed for ’98 killing

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Texas death-row inmate who argued that his conviction was based on junk science was executed Wednesday for the abduction, rape and killing of a suburban Houston community college student more than 20 years ago.

Larry Swearingen, 48, received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the December 1998 killing of 19-year-old Melissa Trotter. She was last seen leaving her community college in Con-roe, and her body was found nearly a month later in a forest near Huntsville.

Swearingen was the 12th inmate put to death this year in the U.S. and the fourth in Texas.

Swearingen, who was represented by the Innocence Project, had previously received five stays of execution. He was put to death after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeal, which focused on allegations prosecutors used “false and misleading testimony” related to blood evidence and a piece of pantyhose used to strangle Trotter.

At 6:47 p.m. — 12 minutes after the lethal dose of pentobarbital started — Swearingen was pronounced dead.

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