Court Digest

Hawaii
Settlement over lack of girls’ locker rooms at high school includes evaluator
HONOLULU (AP) — A 2018 class-action lawsuit over a lack of locker rooms for female athletes at Hawaii’s largest public school has reached a settlement that attorneys say will ensure athletic gender equity at the high school.

The lawsuit alleged disparate treatment including stand-alone locker rooms only for boys and a failure to provide coaches for certain girls’ teams at Campbell High School in a Honolulu suburb.

The Hawaii Department of Education and the Oahu Interscholastic Association will hire an independent evaluator who will make sure girls at the school receive equivalent sports offerings and athletic benefits such as facilities and transportation, according to the settlement terms announced Tuesday by lawyers for the plaintiffs.

The settlement, which was reached earlier this month and received preliminary approval from a judge last week, also includes a seven-year compliance plan for monitoring and evaluating sports gender equity at the school, which will involve publicly available reports.

“In a state with a high proportion of students of color and an extremely high cost of living, the opportunities afforded to female athletes are all the more important and impactful,” Wookie Kim, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, which helped represent the girls, said in a statement.

The plaintiffs said they had to resort to changing in teachers’ closets, in the bathroom of a nearby Burger King or even on the practice field.

The lawsuit also said boys’ sports programs were well-equipped at Campbell, but the girls’ water polo and soccer programs doesn’t have adequate gear and facilities, and that coaches for girls’ teams are generally paid less than boys’ team coaches.

The lead plaintiff, Ashley Badis, won a Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award for her role in the case. “I’m happy that future students won’t have to go through what my teammates and I did,” she said in a statement.

The state Department of the Attorney General said it could not comment due to “further procedural issues that have to be addressed with the court.”

Mississippi
Sentencing postponed for police officers who tortured 2 Black men
JACKSON, MISS. (AP) — A federal judge has postponed sentencing for six former Mississippi law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty to a long list of federal charges for torturing two Black men in January.

Sentencing had been scheduled to begin Nov. 14, but U.S. District Judge Tom Lee wrote in a Friday order that the court would delay it in response to motions from some of the former officers. Their attorneys said they needed more time to evaluate presentencing reports and prepare objections, the judge said.

Lee has not yet rescheduled the sentencing hearing, but some of the former officers requested it be delayed until Dec. 15.

The men admitted in August to subjecting Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker to numerous acts of racially motivated, violent torture.

After a neighbor told one of the former officers that the two were staying at a home in Braxton with a white woman, he assembled a group of five other officers. They burst into the home without a warrant and assaulted Jenkins and Parker with stun guns, a sex toy and other objects, prosecutors said in court, reading a lengthy description of the abuse.

The officers taunted the men with racial slurs and poured milk, alcohol and chocolate syrup over their faces. After a mock execution went awry and Jenkins was shot in the mouth, they devised a coverup that included planting drugs and a gun. False charges stood against Jenkins and Parker for months.

The conspiracy unraveled after one officer told the sheriff he had lied, leading to confessions from the others.

Former Rankin County sheriff’s Deputies Brett McAlpin, Hunter Elward, Christian Dedmon, Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke, and former Richland city police Officer Joshua Hartfield, who was off duty during the assault, pleaded guilty to numerous federal and state charges including assault, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

The charges followed an investigation by The Associated Press that linked some of the deputies to at least four violent encounters with Black men since 2019 that left two dead and another with lasting injuries.

In a statement to AP on Tuesday, attorney Malik Shabazz said he hoped the sentencing will happen soon.

“Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker are urging that the sentencing for the ‘Goon Squad’ members ... take place as quickly as possible,” Shabazz said. “We are urging justice for Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker in every way.”

Prosecutors say some of the officers called themselves the “Goon Squad” for of their willingness to use excessive force and cover up attacks.

They agreed to prosecutor-recommended sentences ranging from five to 30 years, although the judge isn’t bound by that. Time served for separate convictions at the state level will run concurrently with the potentially longer federal sentences.

Arizona
AG investigating officials who refused to certify 2022 election
BISBEE, Ariz. (AP) — Two Cochise County officials who refused to certify the midterm election results are now the subject of an investigation by the Arizona attorney general.

County supervisors Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby, both Republicans, told The Associated Press on Tuesday they received subpoenas last week to appear before a grand jury.

The subpoenas were first reported by nonprofit news organization Votebeat.

The two-page subpoena from Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, does not mention why they are being summoned.

“I could only guess,” Crosby said when reached by phone. “But why ask when you can ask the attorney general.”

Judd said she was shocked to get subpoenaed almost a year after the election. She is only guessing that it has to do with election integrity and last year’s effort to push for a hand count of all ballots. But they ultimately followed the law.
“I don’t feel like I broke a law. But, obviously the courts had different feelings,” Judd said when reached by phone.

Richie Taylor, a spokesperson for the Arizona attorney general, said the office cannot legally comment on grand jury proceedings.

Both supervisors are currently looking for attorneys because Cochise County does not provide representation for criminal matters. They have not spoken to each other about the subpoenas.

They must appear Nov. 13 in a courtroom in Phoenix.

Supervisor Ann English, the only Democrat on the three-member board, was not subpoenaed. She said she briefly spoke with an investigator from Mayes’ office. But, they did not talk at length about election issues.

In December 2022, the rural county certified election results only after a judge ruled Crosby and Judd were breaking the law by refusing to sign off on the vote count by the deadline.

They weren’t satisfied that the machines used to tabulate ballots were properly certified for use in elections, though state and federal election officials said they were. This prompted lawsuits including one from then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat.

The board members represented themselves in court after struggling to find someone willing to represent them. The elected county attorney, who normally represents the board in legal disputes, refused to handle the cases, saying the supervisors acted illegally.

Judd has no regrets about her actions last year and is prepared to defend herself.

“The grand jury will do what they do and I’ve heard that’s not the end of it once they make a decision,” Judd said. “I’ve never been a criminal in my life and I don’t intend to be this time either.”


Utah
Pilot indicted for threatening to shoot captain if flight was diverted
A pilot has been indicted for allegedly threatening to shoot the plane’s captain if the captain diverted the flight because of a passenger who needed medical attention.

A grand jury in Utah issued the indictment against Jonathan J. Dunn on Oct. 18 over an incident that happened in August 2022, charging him with interference with a flight crew, according to federal court records.

The Transportation Department’s inspector general’s office said in an email sent Tuesday that Dunn was the first officer, or co-pilot, on the flight and was authorized to carry a gun under a program run by the Transportation Security Administration.

“After a disagreement about a potential flight diversion due to a passenger medical event, Dunn told the Captain they would be shot multiple times if the Captain diverted the flight,” the inspector general’s office said.

The inspector general described Dunn as a California pilot. It did not identify the airline on which the incident occurred, saying only that it was a commercial airline flight. The office did not give the flight’s intended route, or whether it was diverted.

The inspector general said it was working with the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration on the investigation.

The two-page indictment in federal district court in Utah says only that Dunn “did use a dangerous weapon in assaulting and intimidating the crew member.” It did not indicate the airline either, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Salt Lake City declined to comment beyond the information in the indictment.

Interference with a flight crew is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

An arraignment is scheduled for Nov. 16.

The pilot’s indictment came just a few days before an off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot riding in the cockpit jump seat tried to shut down the engines of a Horizon Air jet in midflight. He was subdued by the captain and co-pilot and arrested after the plane diverted to Portland, Oregon.

Joseph David Emerson of Pleasant Hill, California, told police he was suffering from depression and had taken psychedelic mushrooms 48 hours before the flight. He pleaded not guilty in state court in Portland to charges of attempted murder.

That incident revived debate about how pilots are screened for mental health — largely by trusting that they will volunteer information that could raise safety concerns. Pilots are required during regular medical exams to disclose depression, anxiety, drug or alcohol dependence, and medications they take.

Indiana
Suspect arrested in Halloween  1982 cold case slaying of man
SEYMOUR, Ind. (AP) — A suspect has been arrested in connection with the Halloween 1982 cold case slaying of a southern Indiana man, state police announced Tuesday on the 41st anniversary of the crime.

Detectives arrested a 61-year-old Seymour man on a charge of murder in the shooting death of Clifford Smith, 24, on Oct. 31, 1982, police said.

Two animal trappers found Smith’s body on Dec. 1 of that year along the White River just north of Seymour, according to police. Smith’s wife had reported him missing on Nov. 4.

Investigators determined Smith died from a gunshot wound to his head.

Sgt. Kip Main began investigating the case in September 2015 and learned the suspect was at a home with Smith and other people on Oct. 30, 1982, police said.

The suspect got a shotgun from the house, loaded it and left the home in a car with Smith, according to police. Smith was not seen alive again.

As a result of the investigation, the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office issued an arrest warrant for the suspect, who was taken into custody Thursday, police said.