National Roundup

Connecticut
Ex-school worker’s racial discrimination suit goes to trial
NORWALK, Conn. (AP) — A racial discrimination lawsuit filed by a former state representative and human relations director for a Connecticut city’s public schools heads to court in the new year.

Bruce Morris’ complaint filed in July 2017 will be heard beginning in mid-January at Superior Court in Stamford, according to a story in The Hour  of Norwalk published Sunday.

Morris says his employment with Norwalk’s schools was terminated in 2016 because he is black, because of his previous opposition to discriminatory practices and his status as a state legislator. He said the district failed to provide a legitimate reason for his termination.

He names the city of Norwalk, the school board and the school system as defendants.

According to court documents, city Board of Education Chairman Mike Lyons said he felt Morris did not perform his duties and responsibilities. The school district cited budget cuts for eliminating Morris’ position.

Evidence in the case includes emails from the chairman that refer to Morris as a “snake” and “openly insubordinate.”

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Jan. 15.

Mississippi
Judge suspended after complaint that he slapped clerk’s hand
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A south Mississippi judge has been suspended after complaints that he pushed a court clerk and slapped her hand.

Jefferson County Justice Court Judge Wendell Williams also acted “impatient, rude and threatening” toward court staff and people in the courtroom, according to complaints filed with the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance.

The state Supreme Court handed down an order Dec. 12 suspending Williams without pay until the commission resolves the formal process of handling the complaints against him.

Justice court judges in Mississippi do not have to be attorneys, and the Mississippi Bar Association directory does not list an attorney named Wendell Williams.

Minnesota
With no choice but Trump, voter sues over state primary
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota voter frustrated because President Donald Trump would be the only name on the state Republican primary ballot in March is challenging the move and muddying the launch of the state’s first presidential primary in decades.

Jim Martin, of Lake Elmo, a small business operator and political independent, filed a lawsuit over the primary rules, the Star Tribune reported. Martin said he doesn’t want to participate in a “Soviet-style” election in which the political parties dictate who the voters can elect.

State Republican Party Chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan had defended the move, arguing that it’s her job as party leader to help re-elect the president. GOP officials have said they will allow write-in candidates.

The March 3 presidential primary will be the state’s first since 1992, after a law passed three years ago did away with presidential straw polls formerly taken at precinct caucuses.

Martin’s complaint questions state election laws that allow party chairs to determine the makeup of taxpayer-funded primary ballots. The ballot submitted by the Minnesota Republican Party excludes all GOP candidates but Trump.

Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party submitted a list of 15 Democrats who are still actively campaigning for the 2020 nomination, although three minor candidates who didn’t file paperwork on time won’t be on the ballot.

The Minnesota Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case on Jan. 9.

State officials warned the Supreme Court in papers filed this past week that unless the ballot question is settled “within the first few days of January,” they may not have enough time to print and distribute ballots for the start of early voting on Jan. 17.

Vermont
Police: Man posts online hit list of family members
NEWPORT CITY, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont man who gained notoriety for smashing police cruisers with a tractor in 2012 is accused of making online threats against his family.

Roger Pion, of Newport City, is charged with nine counts of criminal threatening and three counts of domestic assault, police said. The Caledonian Record reports that he pleaded not guilty on Thursday.

Pion posted a “hit list” of nine relatives he allegedly wanted to kill and then sought to borrow a handgun because he wanted “to do away with number 7 and number 8,” police said. Some of his relatives have armed themselves, and others won’t return to Vermont because they’re fearful of him, police said.

Police are also investigating a threat Pion allegedly made against a woman who warned officers that he was not been taking his medication.

A judge allowed Pion to be released into the custody of a responsible adult approved by the court, and Pion was no longer being held at the Northern State Correctional Facility on Sunday. It was unclear if he had a lawyer.

In 2012, Pion drove a tractor from his father’s farm to Newport City and flattened seven cruisers and vehicles in the parking lot of the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department. He was arrested at gunpoint while headed to city police department.

A judge found that Pion was not competent to stand trial, and he was hospitalized for a time, the newspaper said. Family court rules required him to follow a treatment plan or risk being hospitalized again.

New Jersey
Ex-pastor can’t withdraw guilty plea in child sex abuse case
A former pastor who co-founded a Christian music festival has lost his bid to withdraw his guilty plea in a child sex abuse case.

Harry Thomas, 76, had argued that his plea was invalid because his testimony had not established an adequate factual basis for four charges against him.

However, an appellate court rejected those arguments in a ruling issued Friday, saying they were satisfied that Thomas’ testimony “sufficiently established (his) guilt.”

The panel also upheld the 18-year sentence he received. The panel found Thomas, who must serve his full term before he can be freed, had reached the plea agreement “freely, knowingly and voluntarily.”

Thomas is the former pastor of Come Alive New Testament Church in Medford and co-founder of the Creation Festival, billed as the country’s largest Christian music festival. He had acknowledged sexually assaulting a 9-year-old, having sexual contact with three girls ages 7 to 9 and exposing himself to a girl.