Court Digest

Arizona
Man threatened Iowa lawmakers sentenced
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Arizona man who threatened to shoot Iowa lawmakers over his frustration with a failed attempt to change Iowa’s sex offender registry law has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Cody Leveke, also identified as Cody Meyers in court records, was sentenced Friday in Des Moines’ federal court, the Des Moines Register reported. Leveke was arrested in December 2019 and convicted by a jury in September of interstate communication of a threat.

Leveke sent emails to state Sen. Herman Quirmbach saying he was “angry enough to pull a mass shooting down at the State House,” and that the Second Amendment exists “so we can kill politicians” who don’t follow the law, prosecutors said. Leveke, who was convicted of a felony sex crime in Iowa as a teen, was angry over the failure of a bill that would have allowed him to apply to be removed from the Iowa sex offender registry without moving back to the state.

At his sentencing, Leveke reiterated that he did not believe his emails constituted legitimate threats and gave a lengthy speech arguing he was the victim of a wide array of criminal conduct by local and federal law enforcement in Iowa and Arizona.

U.S. District Judge John Jarvey sentenced Leveke to the maximum five years, noting that Leveke sent the emails while on probation related to harassment charges in Arizona and that Leveke had shown “not one gram of remorse.”

West Virginia
Sentencing delayed for fired VA staffer who killed 7
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (AP) — Sentencing has been delayed for a former staffer at a veterans hospital in West Virginia who pleaded guilty to intentionally killing seven patients with fatal doses of insulin.

A federal judge on Friday granted a motion by attorneys for Reta Mays to push back her sentencing. It now will be held May 11-12. It had been scheduled for Feb. 18-19.

Prosecutors had opposed the request as unreasonable.

Mays, a former nursing assistant at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg, was charged with seven counts of second-degree murder and one count of assault with the intent to commit murder of an eighth person. She admitted in July to purposely killing the veterans, injecting them with unprescribed insulin while she worked overnight shifts at the hospital in northern West Virginia between 2017 and 2018.

She faces life sentences in each death.

Defense attorneys said the coronavirus pandemic has limited travel and the ability to meet with Mays in jail. In addition, the defense said it needs to obtain Mays’ records from the federal government and secure an expert on post-traumatic stress disorder prior to sentencing.

Virginia
State Sen. Amanda Chase sues over being censured
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia state senator seeking the Republican nomination for governor filed a federal lawsuit Monday that seeks to undo her legislative colleagues’ recent decision to censure her.

In a bipartisan vote last week, the Virginia Senate approved a measure rebuking  Sen. Amanda Chase for a “pattern of unacceptable conduct.” The decision followed a long debate that featured scathing criticisms of Chase - a firebrand conservative with a long history of making inflammatory remarks - from both Democrats and Republicans.

In the lawsuit, Chase argues that she is being “singled out and selectively penalized for taking unpopular political positions.”

Chase alleges that she has suffered “public embarrassment, humiliation, mental anguish and loss of seniority” because of the censure and has been “negatively impacted” in her candidacy for higher office.

Democratic Sen. John Bell, who sponsored the censure resolution, said while Chase has the right to seek remedy in the courts, he is confident the court will deny her requests.

Bell introduced the measure after Chase used a floor speech to defend Ashli Babbitt, a woman who was fatally shot by U.S. Capitol Police during the January insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Chase herself is one of many state lawmakers from around the country who attended a rally shortly before the attack on the Capitol, but she was not part of the group that later stormed the building.

Chase had previously called for martial law to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. She repeated former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud, and lost access to her Facebook account after falsely blaming leftist activists for the Capitol insurrection.

The lawsuit, which Chase threatened to file last week, seeks an injunction preventing the Senate clerk from allowing the publication of the censure resolution in the chamber’s official journal.

It also asks the court to issue a judgment that the censure violated Chase’s First Amendment rights and order the expungement of the censure. Chase, who was recently demoted in seniority, is also seeking to have her rank restored.

Named as plaintiffs are Senate Clerk Susan Clarke Schaar and the Senate of Virginia through Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who in his role presides as the president of the chamber and oversees its daily work.

Schaar did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Fairfax spokeswoman Lauren Burke said in a statement: “The right to due process for all is of paramount importance in our system. We will await the court’s review of this matter.”

The lawsuit notes that Fairfax warned the senators last week about a procedural issue with the resolution, saying the item was not properly before them. The senators voted to go ahead with the censure anyway.

Partially on those grounds, Chase argues in the lawsuit that her rights were violated.

Bell said Chase was given the chance to apologize and denounce and condemn white supremacists and anti-Semitic groups who sought violence at the Capitol, and she chose not to do that.

“She was definitely given due process along the way, and myself and everyone else gave her a chance to speak her piece,” he said.


Arkansas
Judge who protested executions won’t run in 2022
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas judge who was prohibited from hearing death penalty related cases after he demonstrated against executions said Monday he won’t seek reelection next year.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen said he planned to retire when his term on the bench expires Dec. 31, 2022. Griffen was first elected to the seat in 2010 and reelected for another six-year term in 2016.

“I look forward in retirement to devoting more time and energy writing, lecturing and discoursing about social justice and public theology,” he said in a statement.

The state Supreme Court prohibited Griffen from handling execution-related cases  in April 2017 after he was photographed participating in an anti-death penalty demonstration outside the governor’s mansion the same day he blocked Arkansas from using a lethal injection drug. A federal court in 2018 dismissed a lawsuit by Griffen claiming the disqualification violated his constitutional rights.

Griffen was appointed to the state Court of Appeals in 1995 and he was elected to a full eight-year term in 2000. He lost reelection in 2008.

As an appeals judge, Griffen battled with a judicial disciplinary panel over remarks he made criticizing former President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. The panel ultimately dropped its case against him.

Idaho
Pandemic causes backlog of 40K cases in state court system
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho’s judicial system faces a backlog of thousands of cases because of delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the chief justice of the state’s highest court said.

State Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Bevan described the situation in his State of the Judiciary Address to the Idaho House and Senate last week, Idaho Press reported.

“The number of pending criminal cases has increased by 22% since January a year ago, and there are currently over 40,000 cases awaiting disposition,” Bevan told the lawmakers.

Some court business can only occur in person, which has caused delays in some proceedings including jury trials, he said.

“We are not only working to recognize the scope of what faces us, we are conscientiously developing strategies to address this backlog.”

The attempts to address the delays include using both senior and active judges to reduce the number of pending cases and trials.

Technology upgrades are helping judges and courts consider new options, including holding jury trials “using locations much different than a traditional courthouse,” Bevan said.

The Legislature in recent years invested in a major upgrade and modernization of the court’s computer system, which has helped the judiciary continue operating.

Bevan highlighted a new online system allowing residents to file for civil protection orders without having to visit courthouses.

Requests for two additional magistrate judges plus a court reporter are expected to be included in the judicial branch’s forthcoming budget request.

Bevan’s address was delivered remotely from the Idaho Supreme Court chamber and broadcast to lawmakers because of the pandemic.

Arizona
Judge: Man charged in shooting at courthouse unfit for trial
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A federal judge in Arizona has concluded that a man accused of opening fire in September on a security officer outside a federal courthouse in downtown Phoenix is mentally unfit and cannot stand trial.

James Lee Carr will now be sent to a medical facility for up to four months to determine whether there’s a substantial probability that he can attain the psychological capacity needed for his case to move forward.

Magistrate Judge Maria Aguilera said in a court order that Carr, whose lawyer had previously said his client had a long history of mental illness and was having serious problems with hallucinations, appeared during a hearing on Thursday to whisper to someone, even though no one was there.

The judge also noted Carr made unusual inquiries during the hearing, such as asking whether the court was going to hang him and whether he would be transported to a new facility in a boat.

Authorities say Carr, 68, fired three shots on Sept. 15 at a security officer who was inspecting a UPS truck at the entrance of the courthouse’s underground garage.

One round struck the officer in the chest, but he was wearing a bulletproof vest and returned fire with eight shots. Carr was not injured.

Immediately after the shooting, Carr called his brother and said he was sitting in a park and “wanted to die because he shot the security guard,” according to a criminal complaint. Carr’s brother, son and ex-wife went to the park. His ex-wife took Carr’s guns away without incident and called 911.

Carr has pleaded not guilty to charges of assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon and firing a gun in a crime of violence.


Georgia
Plan to split Augusta judicial circuit passes State Senate
ATLANTA (AP) — A plan to split a Georgia judicial circuit to give a suburban county its own court system and district attorney is advancing in the General Assembly.

The state Senate voted 51-0 Monday to approve Senate Bill 9, which now moves to the House for more debate. The measure would let Columbia County leave what has been the three-county Augusta circuit, which also includes Richmond and Burke counties.

Columbia County says the move would save money, but some have objected to a making the split after voters elected the circuit’s first-ever Black district attorney.

Both Republican Sen. Lee Anderson of Grovetown and Democratic Rep. Harold Jones II of Augusta spoke in favor of the bill.

Anderson said it would be an “ideal situation for Columbia County to go on its own” because only three judges currently live there.

The new circuit would have three judges. The remaining Augusta circuit would keep five superior court judicial posts, including one now vacant.

Augusta commissioners, resigned that the Republican-dominated General Assembly would create a new circuit, voted to support the move, under the condition that the remaining Augusta circuit would keep five judges.

Burke County could also seek to join another circuit.

Some judges have voiced discontent with the split.