Court Digest

Maine
Man, 86, ­convicted of assuming dead brother’s identity
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — An 86-year-old man accused of assuming his brother’s identity decades ago and using it to double dip on Social Security benefits has been convicted of several charges, caught by facial recognition technology that matched the same face to two different identities, authorities say.

Napoleon Gonzalez, of Etna, assumed the identity of his brother in 1965, a quarter century after his sibling’s death as an infant, and used the stolen identity to obtain Social Security benefits under both identities, multiple passports and state identification cards, law enforcement officials said.

A U.S. District Court jury in Bangor on Friday convicted him of mail fraud, Social Security fraud, passport fraud and identity theft. Mail fraud carries the greatest potential prison sentence, up to 20 years.

His attorney said Tuesday that he intends to appeal and will seek to keep Gonzalez out of prison until the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issues a ruling.

Gonzalez’s benefits were previously investigated by the Social Security Administration in 2010 for potential fraud and his benefits were upheld.

A new investigation was launched in 2020 after facial identification software indicated Gonzalez’s face was on two state identification cards.

The facial recognition technology is used by the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles to ensure no one obtains multiple credentials or credentials under someone else’s name, said Emily Cook, spokes­person for the secretary of state’s office.

“When fraud is detected, the fraudulent transactions are investigated and referred for administrative and/or criminal proceedings. That is what happened with this case,” she said.

When confronted, Gonzalez claimed that he took on his deceased brother’s identity at the direction of the Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations while participating in an undercover operation in the 1960s, according to court documents. He later admitted to faking his death under his own identity and continuing with his brother’s identity, the documents indicated.

A sentencing date has not yet been set for Gonzalez, who remains free.

His attorney, Harris Mattson, said he doesn’t think the government proved all of the elements of the multiple counts against his client, and he questioned the wisdom of the imposition of a lengthy prison sentence for his client at his advanced age.

Mattson said it’s ironic that it would cost more for his client to be imprisoned than the cost of the dual benefits he had been receiving.

“At the age of 86, he doesn’t know how much longer he has to live. He could easily be in prison for the rest of his life,” Mattson said.

Washington
Prosecutors say witness in Trump’s classified documents case retracted false testimony
WASHINGTON (AP) — A witness in the criminal case against Donald Trump over the hoarding of classified documents retracted “prior false testimony” after switching lawyers last month and provided new information that implicated the former president, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

The statements from the witness, a Trump staffer identified in court papers as the director of information technology at Mar-a-Lago, was presented to prosecutors weeks before special counsel Jack Smith secured an updated indictment accusing Trump and two others in a plot to delete surveillance video at the Florida property.

Prosecutors said in a court filing Tuesday that the witness told a grand jury in Washington in March that he could not recall any conversations about the security footage

But in July, after being warned by prosecutors that he was a target of the investigation and after being advised that his lawyer might have a conflict of interest because of his representation of others in the probe, the witness received a new attorney from the federal defender’s office and provided the Justice Department with information that helped form the basis of the revised indictment against Trump, his valet Walt Nauta and a third defendant, Carlos De Oliveira, the court filing says.

Prosecutors described the witness interaction in a filing that seeks a hearing in Florida about potential conflicts of interest involving the defense lawyer, Stanley Woodward, who also represents Nauta. Woodward declined to comment Tuesday to The Associated Press.

“The target letter to Trump Employee 4 crystallized a conflict of interest arising from Mr. Woodward’s concurrent representation of Trump Employee 4 and Nauta,” prosecutors wrote.

They added: “Advising Trump Employee 4 to correct his sworn testimony would result in testimony incriminating Mr. Woodward’s other client, Nauta; but permitting Trump Employee 4’s false testimony to stand uncorrected would leave Trump Employee 4 exposed to criminal charges for perjury.”

In the filing, the Justice Department also sought to explain its use of grand juries in both Washington and Florida, where charges were ultimately filed. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Florida judge presiding over the case, had earlier asked about the legal propriety of using grand juries in both districts.

Prosecutors said they continued using the Washington grand jury even after charges were filed in Florida for the express purpose of investigating potential false statements by witnesses in Washington. The Washington grand jury completed its term last week, they said.

A trial has been set for May 20, 2024, in the classified documents case. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.

Trump is facing another prosecution by Smith, over efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, as well as a criminal case in Georgia over attempts to subvert that state’s vote and another in New York in connection with hush money payments to a porn actor.

Massachusetts
Woman admits bribing state employee to issue driver’s licenses without road test
A woman has admitted to bribing an employee of the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles to issue driver’s licenses to people who never took a road test.

Neta Centio, 56, of Taunton, pleaded guilty Monday to a charge of conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud, the latest scandal at the RMV’s Brockton branch.

From July 2020 until April 2021, Centio paid a road test examiner at the Brockton office to say that applicants for driver’s licenses had passed their road tests when they had not even showed up, federal prosecutors said.

That resulted in driver’s licenses being given to several unqualified drivers, prosecutors said.

Centio took money from several learner’s permit holders and used mobile payment service CashApp to split the money with the road examiner, prosecutors said.

After Centio’s fraud was discovered, she told the road test examiner, “Don’t say nothing about the CashApp. ... Break the phone.”

Centio faces up to 20 years in prison and the forfeiture of more than $20,000 at sentencing scheduled for Nov. 20.

In February 2020, four workers at the Brockton branch were fired after an investigation by the state Department of Transportation found that 2,100 people were granted licenses without taking a driver’s test.

One of the four fired, the former manager of the Brockton branch, was sentenced earlier this month to four months in prison after pleading guilty to extortion for taking bribes in exchange for issuing passing scores on learner’s permit tests.

New Mexico
Trial scheduled in 2024 for movie armorer in fatal shooting
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico judge has set a 2024 starting date for the trial of movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin during a rehearsal on the set of a Western film.

State district court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer on Monday scheduled the trial to run from Feb. 21 through March 6 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The first day begins with jury selection.

Gutierrez-Reed has pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal on the set of “Rust” on Oct. 21, 2021.

An attorney for Gutierrez-Reed has described the fatal shooting as a tragic accident and says the film’s armorer committed no crime. Gutierrez-Reed is currently the sole criminal defendant.

Prosecutors are weighing whether to refile a charge against Baldwin after receiving a new analysis of the gun fired at Hutchins. Special prosecutors dismissed an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin in April, saying they were informed the gun might have been modified before the shooting and malfunctioned.

Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the gun fired, fatally wounding Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.

In March, “Rust” assistant director and safety coordinator David Halls pleaded no contest to a conviction for unsafe handling of a firearm and received a suspended sentence of six months of probation. He agreed to cooperate in the investigation of the shooting.

Defense attorneys said they plan to present evidence that Gutierrez-Reed asked Halls to call her back into rehearsal if Baldwin planned to use the gun. They say that didn’t happen before Hutchins was shot.

The filming of “Rust” resumed this year in Montana, under an agreement with the cinematographer’s widower, Matthew Hutchins, that made him an executive producer.


Minnesota
Governor names first Black chief justice of state Supreme Court, Natalie Hudson
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Gov. Tim Walz on Wednesday promoted Natalie Hudson to be chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, making her the first Black person to lead it.

Hudson was appointed associate justice in 2015 by then-Gov. Mark Dayton, after serving as a judge on the Minnesota Court of Appeals for 13 years. She’ll lead the high court when current Chief Justice Lorie Gildea retires in October.

“Justice Hudson is one of our state’s most experienced jurists. She has a strong reputation as a leader and consensus builder,” Walz said in a statement. “I am confident that she will advance a vision that promotes fairness and upholds the dignity of all Minnesotans.”

“This is a tremendous responsibility that I approach with humility and resolve, seeking to continue the work of my predecessors in administering one of the best state court systems in the nation, and always seeking to deliver the most accessible, highest-quality court services for the citizens of Minnesota,” Hudson said in the same statement.

Waltz named Karl Procaccini, his former general counsel, to fill Hudson’s spot as associate justice.

Procaccini is currently a visiting professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. He previously served as the top lawyer in the governor’s office, where his work included the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.