The Washington Post - 05.10.2019

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S A T U R D A Y, O C T O B E R  5 ,  2 0 1 9 .  W A S H I N G T O N P O S T. C O M / R E G I O N A L EZ RE B

THE DISTRICT

Police say they uncovered

a large-scale marijuana-

selling operation in

Foggy Bottom. B4

THE DISTRICT

One of the city’s busiest

streets is set to

temporarily transform into

a car-free experiment. B4

OBITUARIES

With her role in “Julia,”

Diahann Carroll, 84, broke

ground for black women

53 ° 63 ° 68 ° 64 ° on television. B4

8 a.m. Noon 4 p.m. 8 p.m.

High today at

approx. 5 p.m.

69

°

Precip: 0%

Wind: ESE

7-14 mph

BY MICHELLE BOORSTEIN

Vincent DeGeorge became a

seminarian because he wanted to

serve the Catholic Church. And

that’s the same reason the 30-

year-old West Virginian went

public with his criticisms of it —

especially on the topic of clergy

sexual misconduct, something

DeGeorge says he knows about

firsthand.

DeGeorge says he has become a

pariah to many in the Diocese of

Wheeling-Charleston since he

took a leave from seminary, wrote

a critical op-ed and then filed a

lawsuit alleging he was sexually

harassed by his bishop but was

powerless before a man “from

whom... the authority flowed,”

the lawsuit says.

DeGeorge is among a small but

growing number of seminarians,

former seminarians and priests

who in the past year have gone to

investigators, journalists and

lawyers with complaints about

their superiors. While still rare,

such public dissent has until now

been nearly unheard of in a pro-

fession that requires promises of

obedience to one’s bishop and

offers no right to recourse, no

independent human resources

department.

“To scrutinize a bishop is to

attack the church, is to be a bad

Catholic,” said DeGeorge, whose

suit alleges former West Virginia

Bishop Michael Bransfield kissed

and groped him, and pressured

him to sleep over and watch porn.

“Because of the sex abuse crisis, I

told myself going in [that] I wanted

to be a priest, but I wasn’t going to

let myself be complicit in a corrupt

institution,” said DeGeorge, who

SEE SEMINARY ON B2

They spoke

up — and

are being

shunned

BY GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER

richmond — The U.S. Supreme

Court has agreed to consider

whether a lower court was cor-

rect to block a major natural gas

pipeline from crossing under-

neath the Appalachian Trail in

the mountains of Virginia.

The high court’s intervention

could remove a barrier for con-

struction of the $7.5 billion, 600-

mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline,

which has been halted for nearly

a year because of various permit-

ting woes.

Builders of the pipeline, led by

primary stakeholder Dominion

Energy, and the Trump adminis-

tration appealed a decision by the

U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th

Circuit that said the U.S. Forest

Service lacked authority to grant

a permit to tunnel under the

popular hiking trail.

“The Supreme Court’s accep-

tance of our petition is a very

encouraging sign and provides a

clear path forward to resolve this

important issue,” Dominion

spokesman Aaron Ruby said via

email Friday.

Dominion and its coalition,

SEE PIPELINE ON B3

High court

to hear Va.

pipeline

dispute

Dominion Energy hopes

justices allow project to

cross Appalachian Trail

Seminarians who alleged

abuse, misconduct find

themselves on periphery

BY SAMANTHA SCHMIDT

Beneath jumbotrons and crisscrossing

beams of light, bearded middle-aged men

howled from the stands and punched their

fists in the air, spinning yellow towels over

their heads. They came in their “Macho Man”

and Kenny Omega T-shirts, with signs that

read “Welcome to the Revolution.” They

drove from states away to witness the

scripted body-slamming, spray-tanned, ce-

lebrity-powered drama that is professional

wrestling.

At the center of Capital One Arena, packed

with more than 14,100 people, were two

women.

On one end of the ring was Riho — a petite

5-foot-2-inch Japanese wrestler weighing

98 pounds. Towering over her on the other

end was Nyla Rose, 5-foot-7 and 185 pounds.

“It’s like David versus Goliath!” a man

shouted from his seat.

It was a classic wrestling story line, pitting

size and strength against a plucky underdog.

But a nationally televised professional wres-

tling championship had never before seen

anything quite like this.

Nyla Rose is the first openly transgender

woman to be signed by a major U.S. wrestling

promotion. And here in her hometown of

Washington, Rose was competing in the first

SEE WRESTLER ON B6

In the ring, leading

a revolution

Transgender wrestler faces roaring crowd at inaugural event in D.C.

Nyla Rose, top, is the first openly transgender woman to be signed by a major American

wrestling promotion. She was greeted Wednesday by a boisterous crowd, above, at the All

Elite Wrestling Women’s World Championship at Capital One Arena in Washington.

BY JENNA PORTNOY

Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) went

home to one of the most political-

ly divided districts in the state to

defend her support of an im-

peachment inquiry into Presi-

dent Trump and found a town

hall crowd that alternately

praised and derided her decision.

The freshman Democrat, who

joined six other first-term moder-

ates with national security back-

grounds to call for the formal

investigation last week, defended

her position Thursday even as

she acknowledged it may imperil

her in a Virginia Beach district

carried by Trump in 2016.

“I understand that in the dis-

trict I represent, the seat may

typically be held by a Republi-

can,” said Luria, who has been

meeting with constituents dur-

ing a two-week recess from Con-

gress. “People would say: ‘Well,

why would you do that? You

might not be reelected.’ I don’t

care, because I did the right

thing.”

With that, much of the audi-

ence sprang to their feet and a

grinning supporter started re-

cording her on his phone. The

gathering was heavy with Luria’s

backers but some dissenters

spoke out, others submitted writ-

ten questions and Republicans

staged a protest on the sidewalk

outside the church that hosted

the event.

The protest at Luria’s town

hall and a similar event held

Friday outside the Henrico dis-

trict office of Rep. Abigail Span-

berger (D) are part of a coordi-

nated effort from state and na-

tional Republicans to target

Democrats who won red districts

and support an impeachment

inquiry.

The Republican National

Committee created a campaign,

called Stop the Madness, com-

plete with a website as a clearing-

house for volunteers and pro-

tests, and spent $2 million in

television and digital ads focused

on more than 60 Democrats who

Republicans say broke their

promise to work with Trump.

“Within 10 months they’ve sort

of jumped to the other side on the

Nancy Pelosi, AOC [Alexandria

Ocasio-Cortez], socialist squad

side and jumped in both feet

saying it’s time to impeach the

president,” Virginia GOP chair-

man Jack Wilson said of Span-

berger and Luria. “We wanted to

remind [Luria] what she told her

constituents less than a year ago,

and her constituents were watch-

ing.”

The congressional office that

represents Virginia Beach, where

the economy depends on the

Navy and Department of De-

fense, has flipped back and forth

between Democrats and Republi-

SEE LURIA ON B3

Jeers and

cheers in

a Va. swing

district

At town hall, Rep. Luria

defends her support for

impeachment inquiry

BY KEITH L. ALEXANDER

A District man charged with

fatally beating his girlfriend’s

toddler son was acquitted on all

charges Friday after an emotional

trial during which the defense

argued the boy’s sister, now

7 years old, may have caused his

injuries.

Standing next to his attorneys,

James Embre, 26, began wiping

tears away before collapsing in

his chair as the D.C. Superior

Court jury foreman announced

the not-guilty verdicts on counts

of murder and child abuse in

connection with the April 17,

2018, death of Aceyson Ahmad,

nicknamed Ace.

Prosecutors argued that Em-

bre beat the 2-year-old boy after

picking him up from day care and

walking to their Southeast Wash-

ington apartment. The toddler

had more than 20 bruises, multi-

ple rib fractures and a lacerated

liver.

But authorities had very little

evidence. Prosecutors relied pri-

marily on the testimony of Ace’s

sister, who was 6 at the time of

her brother’s death.

The girl had told police she saw

Embre hit the boy in his chest

when she and her brother were in

the bedroom they shared. The

defense sought to cast doubt on

her account and said she had a

history of fighting with other

children.

The girl’s testimony at the trial

was often contradictory. At one

point she said Embre never hit

her or her brother. Then she said

Embre hit her brother on his

back. Then she said Embre hit

her brother on his stomach. Then

she repeated that Embre never

hit them.

As the verdict was read, some

jurors cried. One later said some

people on the panel believed

Ace’s sister was responsible for

the boy’s injuries. But all of the

jurors agreed there was not

enough evidence to convict Em-

bre. The jury returned its verdict

within a day, following two weeks

of testimony and evidence.

“It’s just sad that Ace isn’t

going to get any justice,” the

47-year-old juror from Northwest

Washington said. “The govern-

ment had a weak case. Something

went horribly wrong in that

home. Every person in that

child’s life failed him.”

From the outset of the trial,

Embre’s attorney, Jonathan Zuck-

er, argued that Embre was inno-

cent. He said there was no evi-

dence his client had abused Ace

during the year he dated Ace’s

mother.

Zucker told the jury that Ace’s

mother told authorities her

daughter had given Ace a black

eye and had lied about hitting

him. Zucker also showed that the

girl had a history of fighting other

children at school when she was

in first grade. And when she was

temporarily housed in foster care

after Ace’s death, the foster moth-

er had the girl removed from her

house because she said the girl

was fighting other children.

“This case begins and ends

with [Ace’s sister],” Zucker told

the jury, using the little girl’s

SEE EMBRE ON B4

Jury clears District man accused of fatally beating 2-year-old

Defense contended boy’s

sister, then age 6, might

have been responsible

PHOTOS BY ASTRID RIECKEN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST