National Roundup

New Jersey
Court undoes order halting ­medically ­assisted suicide law
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey appellate court has overturned a judge’s ruling blocking a new state law allowing terminally ill patients to seek life-ending drugs.

Judges Carmen Messano and Arnold Natali ruled Tuesday that a state Superior Court “abused its discretion” in blocking the law.

Rich Grohmann, an attorney for Dr. Yosef Glassman who brought the lawsuit, says they’re appealing to the state Supreme Court.

New Jersey’s Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act took effect Aug. 1, But Judge Paul Innes put a hold on the law  Aug. 14.

Maine adopted a similar law in June. Oregon, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia have similar legislation.

Montana’s Supreme Court determined state law didn’t prevent a physician from prescribing such drugs to the terminally ill.

Kansas
$1.45M­ ­settlement in ­taping of inmate phone calls
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Inmates who alleged their calls with attorneys were illegally recorded at the Leavenworth Detention Center in Kansas have reached a proposed settlement with the prison operator and the provider of the phone and video system.

The settlement, which needs court approval to become final, comes less than two weeks after a federal judge issued a ruling lambasting some prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office in Kansas City, Kansas, for illegally listening to the recorded calls. The ruling could impact hundreds of federal convictions and inmates.

The settlement calls for CoreCivic Inc., which owns and operates the prison, to pay $1.1 million into a settlement fund. Securus Technologies, provider of phone and video at the prison, will pay $350,000 into the fund for the inmates, KCUR reported.

About a third of the settlement would go to the plaintiffs’ attorneys, with the rest distributed among about 539 current and former Leavenworth inmates. Some inmates could get up to $10,000.

The settlement covers all detainees at the Leavenworth Deten­tion Center whose calls with their attorneys were recorded between June 1, 2014, and June 19, 2017, and who had specifically asked that those calls be private.

“It’s a significant settlement for the detainees,” said Kansas City attorney Bob Horn, who represented the plaintiffs.

Kansas City attorney Amy Fitts, who represented CoreCivic, declined to comment, according to KCUR. CoreCivic previously claimed that it did nothing wrong because a pre-recorded message warned inmates that outgoing calls might be recorded.

The recordings were brought to light more than three years ago by the Federal Public Defender in Kansas.

Two former detainees at the center, Ashley Huff and Gregory Rapp, sued over two years ago, seeking at least $5 million in damages for alleged violations of state and federal wiretap laws. They alleged that CoreCivic and Securus continued to record attorney-client phone calls even after U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson in 2016 ordered CoreCivic to halt the practice.

That lawsuit came after two attorneys sued over the recorded calls. It was later certified as a class action lawsuit and remains pending.

On Aug. 15, Robinson found the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas in contempt for disobeying her orders to preserve documents and recordings as part of an investigation into the recordings at the prison. Robinson wrote that evidence indicated the U.S. Attorney’s Office had a “systematic practice of purposeful collection, retention and exploitation of calls” made between detainees and their attorneys.

Because of the ruling, people charged with or convicted of federal crimes could have their sentences reduced or their cases dropped because of prosecutorial misconduct and violations of the attorney-client privilege. Those cases will be considered on an individual basis.

Robinson’s ruling included a method to review petitions from defendants claiming their Sixth Amendment rights to counsel were violated. At least 110 such petitions have been filed to date, and the federal public defender has told the court that more petitions are expected.

North Carolina
Prosecutor expands fight against youth vaping
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s top prosecutor expanded his efforts to halt e-cigarette sales to teens on Monday by suing eight more manufacturers of vaping products.

Josh Stein, the Democratic attorney general in the traditionally tobacco-friendly state, said he is filing lawsuits against eight e-cigarette companies in an announcement timed to grab attention during the first week of school.

He alleges that the vape manufacturers market to young people with candy and dessert flavors on social media and don’t use proper age verification for sales. He’s asking courts to shut down marketing and sales to underage people.

“We simply have to do more to protect kids, and I as attorney general of North Carolina refuse to stand by as e-cigarette companies entice thousands of children to use their products,” Stein told reporters.

He said flavors including cotton candy, gummy bear and graham cracker are helping to fuel an “epidemic” of smoking among young people and threatening to reverse a downward trend in tobacco use in North Carolina and around the country.

“We simply cannot have another generation of young people addicted to nicotine,” he said.

Stein previously announced in May he was suing the company that makes Juul, the dominant brand in the e-cigarette market. He said Tuesday his office has been in discussions with Juul as the litigation proceeds.
Juul has previously said that it’s concerned about youth vaping and is working to reduce it.

The rise of underage vaping has alarmed health officials, lawmakers and educators. Last year, one in five U.S. high school students reported vaping in the previous month, according to a government survey.

Overall, the retail market for e-cigarettes is approximately $3.7 billion.

Massachusetts
Man who made machine gun gets prison time
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts man police say had a homemade machine gun among an arsenal of weapons in his home has been sentenced to more than two years in federal prison.

Edward Laboursoliere was sentenced Monday.

The 51-year-old Holyoke man was arrested in 2018 after his wife called police. Officers found dozens of weapons, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and a partially built pipe bomb in the home he shared with his wife and three children.

He pleaded guilty in March to illegally manufacturing the machine gun in his basement in violation of the National Firearms Act.

Laboursoliere’s attorney argued that his client was a hobbyist who never intended to harm anyone.

Laboursoliere told the judge he had “no ill intent or malicious intent toward anyone.”

He still faces state charges.