Wyoming
Man sentenced to 5 years prison for carjacking near court
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - Federal prosecutors say a Wyoming man has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for attacking a sheriff's deputy and carjacking a woman outside a county courthouse.
U.S. Attorney Mark A. Klaassen's office says Jonathan Alexander Olivares pleaded guilty to carjacking and use of a firearm during a crime of violence. Prosecutors dropped a third weapons charge.
Following his prison sentence, Olivares will be on supervised release for five years.
According to court records, Olivares was held in jail before he was taken to Uinta County's courthouse on June 26 for a hearing.
Authorities say Olivares was being escorted out of the courtroom when he overpowered a sheriff's deputy, took the officer's gun and carjacked a woman outside the courthouse in Evanston. The 26-year-old was arrested shortly afterward.
Oklahoma
Judge rules Native American art law too restrictive
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A federal judge has struck down an Oklahoma law that requires an artist to be a member of a federally recognized tribe in order to have their artwork labeled as Native American.
The Oklahoman reports that U.S. District Judge Charles Goodwin ruled Thursday that the Oklahoma Indian Arts and Crafts Sales Act violates the U.S. Constitution because it gives a more narrow definition of Native American than federal law.
Goodwin says federal law allows art to be marketed as Native American even if the tribe is only recognized at the state level. He says Oklahoma's law is in conflict with the federal law, even though both seek to protect and promote Native American artists.
The Oklahoma Attorney General's Office had defended the state law. A spokesman says the office is reviewing the decision.
California
After shocking NY arrest, Avenatti faces court in California
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - A week after Michael Avenatti's shocking arrest in New York, the attorney famous for representing porn star Stormy Daniels in legal battles against President Donald Trump will be back in federal court Monday to face fraud charges in California.
The brash lawyer faces a hearing in the Orange County city of Santa Ana on charges he fraudulently obtained $4 million in bank loans and pocketed $1.6 million that belonged to a client. Avenatti has long faced allegations from a former client and a former partner that he was hiding money to avoid paying what he owed.
Now, federal authorities are adding their voices to that chorus, with the specter of a long prison sentence that could be the downfall of a man who once considered challenging Trump in his re-election bid.
Avenatti, 48, is charged with wire and bank fraud. He was arrested last week in New York and released on $300,000 bail on unrelated extortion charges. He has said he expects to be exonerated.
Federal prosecutors in New York allege that Avenatti tried to shake down Nike for millions of dollars so he wouldn't reveal allegations the apparel company paid off high school basketball players. He has denied the charge to reporters and began tweeting what he called evidence of the scandal the day after he was arrested.
In California, federal prosecutors said Avenatti filed bogus tax returns to fraudulently secure $4 million in loans from a Mississippi bank and embezzled a client's settlement funds.
The U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles said Monday's hearing would likely focus on setting future court dates.
Avenatti is known for his outspoken challenge of Trump and lavish lifestyle, including renting a $100,000-a-month home in upscale Newport Beach. He represented Daniels in her claim that Trump paid her to keep quiet about their alleged affair ahead of the 2016 election.
Avenatti's former law firm went through bankruptcy proceedings and was ordered to pay $10 million to a former partner, who is still seeking to collect the money.
Pennsylvania
Appeals court upholds vacating some convictions of ex-judge
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) - A federal appeals court upheld a ruling throwing out convictions on some charges for a former northeastern Pennsylvania judge in what prosecutors said were juveniles wrongly sent to detention center.
The three-member 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel agreed Friday with a judge's decision in January 2018 to vacate racketeering and money laundering conspiracy charges against former Luzerne County judge Mark Ciavarella Jr.
But the panel denied the 69-year-old defendant's bid to add mail fraud convictions to the list of vacated charges. He argued that jury instructions were flawed in light of a Supreme Court ruling that came after his trial.
Ciavarella was convicted in 2011 of accepting bribes in exchange for ordering kids to a for-profit detention center for a wide range of relatively minor infractions. Sentenced to 28 years, he has denied wrongdoing.
In throwing out convictions on three of the 12 charges, the judge sided with his argument that his attorneys failed to raise a statute of limitations argument. He argued that the conspiracy convictions were based on the 2003 kickbacks alone and not on later fraudulent financial filings, and the judge agreed that jurors probably believed that the racketeering and money-laundering conspiracies ended before 2004.
Federal prosecutors, who had argued for reinstatement of the charges, said Friday they were still reviewing the appeal court's ruling.
The appeals court rejected Ciavarella's bid for a new trial on other counts based on a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling clarifying what constitutes a public official's "official act." Ciavarella argued that the alleged illegal activity - setting up a meeting with other conspirators and later accepting payments - occurred outside of his role as judge.
"If sentencing hundreds of juvenile offenders to excessive terms of incarceration is not an 'official act,' then nothing is," the appeals court wrote in its opinion.
Published: Tue, Apr 02, 2019
