Court Digest

Nevada
Lawyer blames Mexican cartel in Nevada drug, cockfight case
ELKO, Nev. (AP) — A defense lawyer says two Elko County men accused of trafficking drugs and conducting illegal cockfights feared for their lives and were only taking orders from higher-ups in a Mexican cartel that was running the operation in rural northeast Nevada.

The trial in Elko County District Court is expected to wrap up next week for Hector Hugo Ramirez-De La Torre and Jorge Landeros Ruiz, who were arrested in a drug raid in March 2019, the Elko Daily Free Press  reported on Thursday.

The two men pleaded not guilty to about two dozen felony counts related to drug trafficking and unlawful killing of livestock — pitting chickens and roosters against each other with the intent to fight.

Law officers confiscated eight firearms, more than eight pounds of methamphetamine, cockfighting paraphernalia and $13,000 at the residence in Osino about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northeast of Elko.

They found more than 500 chickens and four horses and — under a court order — ended up euthanizing 248 roosters along with a horse in poor physical condition.

A third man, Eduardo Ruiz, earlier pleaded guilty to two drug charges and five charges of unlawful killing or maiming of an animal. He was sentenced to six to 18 years in prison.

Deputy District Attorney Justin Barainca said law officers set up an undercover operation and a controlled purchase of drugs from the defendants. He said the condition of the animals was discovered during the drug raid.

Ramirez-De La Torre’s lawyer, Gary Woodbury, said his client was living in a travel trailer on the property and did not receive any money from trafficking operations. He said Ramirez-De La Torre was “on the bottom level” of the cartel where “you’re also told to keep your mouth shut and the penalty for that can be death.”

“Hector Ramirez was merely doing what he was told and how he was told and it was under the penalty of death,” Woodbury said.

Alabama
Ex-cop avoids federal lockup, faces state charges in beating
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge in Alabama has given five years of probation to a white ex-policeman who admitted trying to obstruct investigators looking into charges that he beat a Black driver who had gotten into an argument with his wife.

Former Selma police officer Matthew Blaine Till pleaded guilty in September to three counts of obstructing justice. Although prosecutors asked for prison time, U.S. District Judge Matthew Beaverstock put him on probation, a U.S. Justice Department news release said.

“As part of his plea agreement, Till will no longer be able to work in local, municipal, state or federal law enforcement, nor as a corrections officer or private security guard,” the statement said.

Till and former Dallas County sheriff’s deputy John Matthew Taccone face state charges of felony second-degree assault and misdemeanor unlawful imprisonment and obstructing governmental operations.

Their state trial is scheduled in September, Al.com reported.

News outlets reported in September that Till’s wife called him April 30 after a road rage dispute with a “black guy in a red Charger,” which the two officers chased down and pulled over.

A physical struggle started after Till tried to handcuff the man, Al.com reported at the time. While the man asked what he had done, the two on-duty officers hit his face and head, and Till pulled out his gun and threatened to kill him, Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson said when the assault charges were announced.

The state charges were brought a week after Till pleaded guilty to the federal charges. As part of that plea, he admitted that he had “used force against a citizen while on duty,” then told another law-enforcement officer multiple times not to tell investigators about his wife’s call.

Alaska
Judge orders governor to allow writer at press events
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A federal judge has ruled in favor of an online political writer who was prevented by Alaska’s governor from attending press conferences.

Judge Joshua Kindred issued an injunction Friday requiring Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy to invite Jeff Landfield to media briefings, Anchorage Daily News reported.

Landfield, the owner and operator of The Alaska Landmine website, sued Dunleavy over his exclusion from the governor’s press events.

The former independent state Senate candidate uses the website to write about the Alaska Legislature, state government and politics.

Attorneys from the Alaska Department of Law argued that because the governor’s office does not credential members of the media, and therefore does not set standards for press conference admittance, Landfield could not sue on First Amendment grounds because there was nothing to challenge.

Kindred ruled Landfield had been denied due process, writing in the order that members of the media have the right under the First Amendment to be invited to press conferences.

The governor may deny a member of the media the ability to ask questions while at a briefing and the governor can choose not to answer questions, Kindred ruled.

Kindred concluded that a lack of written rules does not mean the governor’s office can make ad-hoc decisions about admittance.

“Acceptance of the government’s arguments would effectively stand for the proposition that First Amendment rights do not exist for any members of the media in Alaska,” Kindred wrote.

The injunction does not require Dunleavy or his communications staff to adopt a formal, written process. But they must invite Landfield to future events while legal proceedings continue, the ruling stated.

Connecticut
Federal Judge Dominic Squatrito dies at 82
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — U.S. District Judge Dominic Squatrito, a native of Connecticut and Fulbright scholar who served on the federal bench for more than 25 years, has died. He was 82.

Squatrito died Wednesday, according to a statement released Friday evening by federal court officials in Connecticut, where he served. The cause of death was not disclosed.

Squatrito was nominated to the federal bench by Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1994. Colleagues said he was a compassionate judge dedicated to fairness and equal justice.

Judge José Cabranes, of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, said in a statement that Squatrito was an “untiring guardian of equal justice for all.” Connecticut federal Judge Robert Chatigny said Squatrito had a “considerable passion for justice” and was a “man with a great big heart who truly loved his fellow man and had tremendous empathy for him.”

In a notable ruling in 2007, Squatrito said religion has no place in post offices across the country that are run by church and other private contractors, citing the separation of church and state in the Constitution. The case involved a church-run post office in Manchester.

Squatrito ordered the U.S. Postal Service to notify the nearly 5,200 facilities run by contractors that they cannot promote religion through pamphlets, displays or other materials.

Squatritio was a star athlete at Manchester High School in football, swimming and track and field. He got his undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University, where he was a fullback and co-captain of the football team. He attended the University of Florence in Italy on a Fulbright scholarship and earned his law degree from Yale in 1965.

Before joining the federal bench, Squatrito practiced law for nearly three decades at the Manchester firm Phelon, Squatrito, FitzGerald, Dyer & Wood.


Louisiana
A more affordable court option for low-income defendants
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Louisiana city has agreed to waive fees for some low-income people charged with traffic offenses or other municipal crimes who want to enter a probation program that leads to charges being dropped.

The settlement led to the Jan. 15 dismissal of a federal lawsuit filed by criminal justice advocates in 2017 against officials of Gretna.

The suburban New Orleans city agreed to waive fees for people who cannot otherwise afford to enter its Deferred Prosecution Program. In some cases, defendants will pay fees in monthly installments based on income, according to court records.

The agreement also benefits some who entered the program, paid some fees, but were ultimately dropped from the program and convicted. They can get refunds if they paid fines and fees for the conviction, but didn’t get credit for any money they had paid into the Deferred Prosecution Program before they were dropped from it.

The suit was filed by The Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center.

“The settlement ensures that deferred prosecution is open to all, regardless of their finances,” center attorney Eric Foley said in an email. Attorney John Litchfield, who represented the city, characterized the changes as “tweaks” that improved the program.

One key element of the suit was dismissed last year. A federal judge rejected the contention that city officials had a conflict of interest because fines and fees collected by the Gretna Mayor’s Court went into the city’s general fund. The federal court found that the system is structured so that the municipal court officials would not be tempted to prosecute or convict for financial reasons.


South Carolina
House Speaker wants to add 2 justices to State Supreme Court
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The leader of the South Carolina House wants to add two more justices to the South Carolina Supreme Court.

Republican House Speaker Jay Lucas said most states have either seven or nine justices. South Carolina’s highest court has had five justices for at least 50 years.

“This change will bring a greater diversity of ideas and perspective that is much more representative of South Carolina as it is today and as it will be in the future,” Lucas said in a statement to The (Columbia) State.

Lucas is a sponsor of the resolution which if passed by the House and Senate would put a proposed constitutional amendment before voters in November 2022 to expand the state Supreme Court.

Government watchdogs said they want to hear more about the proposal and are especially interested in hearing if the state Supreme Court feels like it is overworked at five justices.

Lawmakers have yet to hold hearings on the proposal.

The General Assembly in South Carolina selects Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Circuit and Family Court judges after a screening process.

Arkansas
Ex-VA doctor who misdiagnosed patient sentenced to prison
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — A former pathologist at an Arkansas veterans hospital has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty last year to involuntary manslaughter in the death of a patient he misdiagnosed.

Robert Morris Levy, 54, of Fayetteville was sentenced Friday in federal court.

Prosecutors said Levy diagnosed a patient with lymphoma when the patient actually had a small-cell carcinoma. Levy falsified the patient’s medical record to state that a second pathologist agreed with his diagnosis, according to the plea agreement. The patient later died.

In a statement to the court, Levy apologized for his actions.

“I’m angry with myself, and it just penetrates the surface of how I became this man. My plan going forward is to continue in the alcohol rehabilitation community to get the best long-term therapeutic strategy,” the statement said.

Levy also pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud for receiving 2-methyl-2-butanol, a chemical that he used to intoxicate himself but that standard drug and alcohol screenings don’t test for, prosecutors said.

Levy was fired from the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks in Fayetteville in April 2018.

VA officials have said that outside pathologists reviewed nearly 34,000 cases handled by Levy and found more than 3,000 errors or missed diagnoses dating back to 2005. Levy has acknowledged that he once showed up to work at the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks drunk in 2016, but he denied that he had worked while impaired. He entered an in-patient treatment program following that incident and returned to work in October 2016 after agreeing to remain sober and submitting to random drug testing.