National Roundup

Ohio
Judge wants fertility clinic lawsuits merged to single case
CLEVELAND (AP) — A judge in Cleveland says dozens of lawsuits should be condensed into one case against a fertility clinic that had a storage tank malfunction that destroyed over 4,000 eggs and embryos.

So far, more than 40 lawsuits filed against the clinic run by University Hospitals in suburban Cleveland.

The judge’s ruling issued Monday says the lawsuits filed by more than 70 plaintiffs are mostly the same.

The clinic says the patients’ eggs and embryos were ruined after a storage tank’s temperature fluctuated in early March.

The hospital has apologized and says the storage tank was having trouble for weeks and that an alarm system had been turned off.

The supplier of the storage tank says its equipment didn’t malfunction and it believes human error was to blame.

New York
Judge facing removal says she has a good heart
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — A New York judge facing removal after a DWI conviction and inappropriate comments from the bench says she has a “smart mouth” but a “good heart.”

Embattled Rochester city court Judge Leticia Astacio says she hasn’t decided whether to appeal a decision Tuesday from the state Commission on Judicial Conduct that she should be removed from the bench.

Astacio hasn’t heard cases since her 2016 DWI arrest.

The Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester reports that she told journalists, “I rub a lot of people wrong in the beginning and then I grow on them in the long run.”

The commission cited a series of incidents in its decision, including her jailing after skipping a court date and telling a deputy in court to shoot or punch a rowdy defendant.

Louisiana
Wrongfully deported, she’s back but not allowed to sue
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A woman detained and deported to Mexico in 2013 despite being in the United States legally cannot pursue a wrongful arrest and false imprisonment lawsuit against the government, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld a Texas-based federal judge’s dismissal of the lawsuit by Guadalupe Chaidez Campos.

Chaidez Campos had entered the country illegally in 2012 and was ordered out, according to court records. She pleaded guilty to entering the country illegally and was sentenced to 11 months in prison. While in prison, according to the ruling, she applied for and received a type of legal “nonimmigrant” status granted to some crime victims.

However, when she reported to a probation office in November 2013 with her 1-year-old child and the child’s father, she was detained, despite showing proof of her legal status. She was taken back into Mexico that same day, not returning until the following January.
Tuesday’s ruling said the government enjoys sovereign immunity from the type of lawsuit Chaidez Campos filed. It said agents were not so unreasonable as to overcome that immunity. The three-judge panel said the agents, who knew of her earlier deportation order, acted within their discretion.

“At worst, what occurred were failures to understand the import of various immigration documents and regulations,” Judge Leslie Southwick wrote for the panel.

Attorneys for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund had argued on behalf of the woman at the 5th Circuit.

New Jersey
Court ends ­lifetime ­registration for juvenile sex offenders
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled juveniles cannot be placed on the state’s sex offender registry for life.

The unanimous decision issued Tuesday found the requirement under Megan’s Law violated juvenile sex offenders’ due process rights under the state constitution.

Megan’s Law, which created the sex offender registry, was enacted in 1994. The law was expanded in 2002 to include the lifetime registry requirement.

Justice Barry Albin wrote in the decision the old requirement brands juveniles as irredeemable “at a point when their lives have barely begun.” Those placed on the registry can now apply to be removed after 15 years.

The decision centered on a defendant convicted of sexually assaulting his adopted brother. The defendant was 15 at the time and his brother was seven.

The defendant’s attorney argued the registration requirement made it difficult for his client to advance his career.

According to his attorney, the new ruling will allow the defendant to apply to be removed from the list in November.

Georgia
Judge accused of asking for funds from county’s court registry
ATLANTA (AP) — A judge in Georgia is accused of asking a court clerk to write him a check for more than $15,000, pulling funds from the county’s court registry.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking into the allegations against the Griffin Judicial Circuit Superior Court judge. A letter from Senior Assistant Attorney General David McLaughlin says the judge is accused of asking a Pike County Superior Court clerk to write the check.

GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles says the bureau began their investigation into Judge Robert “Mack” Crawford on March 27. McLaughlin says in the letter that the claims were first brought to the attention of District Attorney Ben Coker, who alerted the attorney general’s office.

Arizona
Ex-judge pleads guilty to stabbing his wife last year
PHOENIX (AP) — A former Tempe Municipal Court judge who stabbed his wife during a domestic violence incident at their Chandler home last year has pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Thomas Robinson had a change of plea hearing Tuesday. He’s scheduled to be sentenced on May 30.

Robinson was arrested by Chandler police last September and jailed on suspicion of 10 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of tampering with evidence.

He allegedly stabbed his wife multiple times in the chest, back, arm and face. She survived.

The arrest was reported to the Commission on Judicial Conduct and Tempe city officials placed Robinson on paid administrative leave.

Robinson had been with Tempe courts since 1995 and had been a municipal court judge since 2009.