Massachusetts
Judge: Suit over warrantless searches at border to proceed
BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge says a lawsuit challenging U.S. border authorities’ practice of searching the cellphones and computers of travelers without a warrant can move forward.
U.S. District Judge Denise Casper in Boston this week rejected the government’s bid to dismiss the lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontier Foundation on behalf of people whose electronic devices were searched without a warrant at the border.
The Fourth Amendment requires law enforcement to obtain warrants before searches, but have made an exception for searches at airports and U.S. ports of entry.
On Wednesday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia ruled that border authorities can’t search travels’ electronic devices without having some reason to believe the particular person has committed a crime.
Massachusetts
Grandfather gets 8 years for viewing child pornography
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — A 76-year-old grandfather of 12 from Massachusetts has been sentenced to eight years in prison for viewing hundreds of sometimes violent child pornography images on the dark web.
Edward Dupont, of Holyoke, was sentenced Thursday by a federal judge who called the images a “horror show.”
The Republican newspaper reports that Dupont is among hundreds of defendants prosecuted after the FBI won a search warrant which allowed them to essentially take over a now defunct website and collect users’ IP addresses.
Dupont’s home was raided in 2015 by federal agents, who recovered child porn on Dupont’s computer as well as a manual entitled “How to Practice Child Love” in his home.
Dupont told the judge that what he did was “despicable” and he never abused a child himself.
California
Ban on attorney-client sex passed
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Attorneys in California could face discipline for having consensual sex with their clients under a new ethics rule approved Thursday by the state Supreme Court.
The state currently bars attorneys from coercing a client into sex or demanding sex in exchange for legal representation.
Starting in November, even consensual sex between attorneys and clients will be banned unless it preceded the professional relationship or the client is the lawyer’s spouse or domestic partner.
The change was part of an overhaul of ethics rules for attorneys by the State Bar of California that required final approval by the state Supreme Court.
The justices decide whether to suspend or disbar attorneys found to have committed acts of professional misconduct or who are convicted of serious crimes.
The court approved all but one of the 70 new or amended rules recommended by the state bar. The rejected rule explained how attorneys should handle clients with diminished capacity.
Another rule that will take effect in November allows the state bar to discipline attorneys for discrimination and harassment even without a separate finding of wrongdoing.
The current rule requires a final determination of wrongful discrimination in a lawsuit or other proceeding before the state bar can take action.
Supporters of the sex ban said the relationship between a lawyer and client is inherently unequal, so any sexual relationship is potentially coercive.
A State Bar commission modified the proposal to create an exception for a lawyer who is representing a spouse or registered domestic partner.
It also required the state bar to consider whether a client would be “unduly burdened” by an investigation of sexual misconduct if someone other than the client filed the complaint.
The state’s ethics rules for attorneys were last fully revised in the late 1980s. Lawyers who violate the regulations are subject to discipline ranging from private censure to loss of their legal license.
Florida
Mom turns in teen son after seeing him in surveillance video
CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — A Florida mother made her son turn himself in to police after she recognized him on a surveillance video that authorities shared on social media in connection with a burglary.
Clearwater police arrested 18-year-old Kevin King on Thursday. He’s accused of burglary and grand theft.
Police say the April 25 incident was captured by a doorbell camera.
Sandra Green tells Fox 13 she was heartbroken when she saw her son’s face on the video because she didn’t raise him that way. She says she told him to shower and eat before she turned him in.
She told a judge she’ll bond her son out soon, but she wanted to use this as a teaching moment to get him on the right track.
Delaware
State is first to fully ban child marriage
DOVER, Del. (AP) — Delaware has become the first state in the nation to completely ban marriage for anyone under 18.
Democratic Gov. John Carney on Wednesday signed into law the measure that makes it illegal for minors to get married, even if their parents approve. Previously, anyone could get married in the state at any age with a judge’s approval.
Supporters say the bill is an important step to protect children from being forced to marry someone against their will, citing human trafficking.
Opponents raised concerns that the law could have implications beyond forced marriages, citing religions that traditionally allow followers to marry young.
State health records show 200 minors in Delaware were married between 2000 and 2011. Nearly all of them were girls.
Virginia
Did estranged husband poison doughnuts?
CENTREVILLE, Va. (AP) — A search warrant shows police are investigating whether a Virginia man gave his children poisoned doughnuts to take to his estranged wife.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that tests on the doughnuts showed the chemical naphthalene, which can be fatal. It’s commonly found in mothballs.
Investigators wrote that the father sent the box along to his wife’s home last November.
According to the search warrant, a judge had granted the wife a protective order against her husband because he had allegedly threatened to kill her before.
The search warrant says an adult daughter and the mother noticed a charcoal-like substance inside a doughnut. A lab determined it was naphthalene.
The man has not been charged with a crime, and The Post did not name him. The case remains under investigation.
