National Roundup

Hawaii
Lack of pro bono lawyers affecting immigrant asylum
HONOLULU (AP) — Officials say a shortage of Hawaii attorneys who can handle cases on a pro bono basis is hampering the progress of immigrants seeking asylum in the U.S.

Hawaii Public Radio reported Thursday that as many as 150 Central American migrants seeking asylum who have found their way to Hawaii from the southern U.S. border with Mexico need the free legal services.

Officials say about 40 migrant families from countries including Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador have been sent to Hawaii.

John Egan of the Refugee and Immigration Law Clinic at the University of Hawaii Law School says many immigrants arriving in Hawaii do not speak English and require uncompensated legal assistance.

Egan says he and his law students have taken up a dozen pro bono cases of asylum seekers.

Nebraska
Court rejects lethal injection protocol challenge
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The lethal injection protocol that was used to execute a Nebraska prisoner last year has survived a legal challenge from death penalty opponents who had hoped to overturn it to prevent the state from carrying out capital punishment.

The Nebraska Supreme Court sided Friday with state officials who adopted the new protocol in 2017 to allow the state to resume executions.

Death penalty opponents, including state Sen. Ernie Chambers, alleged in their lawsuit that officials created the protocol without following the necessary state laws and procedures.

The new protocol gives the state corrections director broad authority to decide which drugs to use in executions and how to obtain them. Nebraska’s previous protocol called for three specific drugs, including some that state officials weren’t able to get.

Florida
Nanny gets 20 years for sex abusing child, having his baby
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A former live-in nanny has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for repeatedly sexually abusing a Florida child. She later gave birth to the boy’s son.

News outlets report 28-year-old Marissa Mowry was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty to sexual battery and agreeing to be designated a sexual predator.

Authorities say the abuse started when the boy was 11 and Mowry was 22. The now 17-year-old victim and his 5-year-old son appeared Wednesday with the teen’s mother, who testified that the family initially thought Mowry had a baby with her boyfriend. Her son later disclosed he was the father, and DNA proved it.

New York
Commission says judge should go over sexist slurs
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A New York state commission says a Long Island judge should be removed over sexist and profane language he used in emails.

The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct announced Thursday that Judge Paul H. Senzer used profane words in emails between October 2014 and February 2015 while representing clients in a visitation matter.

The commission says the language included derogatory words for women.

Commission Administrator Robert Tembeckjian issued a statement saying “it should be clear that a person who cavalierly uses gender-biased slurs does not belong on the bench.”

Senzer has been a justice of the Northport Village Court on Long Island since 1994.

Senzer’s attorney, David Besso, says they will seek a review of the commission’s decision by the state Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court.

Louisiana
Family members sentenced in caging, abuse of autistic woman
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Two Louisiana women have been sentenced to prison for violently abusing an autistic relative, keeping her in a backyard cage and forcing her to do chores in exchange for food and water.

A statement from FBI Special Agent Bryan Vorndran in New Orleans Thursday says Raylaine Knope was sentenced to 28 years, and her daughter, Bridget Lambert, was sentenced to four years. Both pleaded guilty to forced labor charges.

Prosecutors have said family members beat the victim, burned her and forced her to eat the cremated ashes of her late mother.

Knope’s son was sentenced in June to 10 years in prison. The Advocate reports Knope’s husband is scheduled for sentencing Oct. 31, and their other daughter’s case goes to trial in 2021.

Tennessee
34 sentenced in ‘Gangster’s Paradise’ investigation
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Federal prosecutors say 34 people in Tennessee have been sentenced to prison terms for laundering money as part of a drug trafficking ring.

U.S. attorney’s office prosecutors in Memphis said in a news release Thursday that the group of defendants sold drugs and laundered money for a drug network that sold heroin, cocaine and marijuana.

Officials say the so-called “Gangster’s Paradise” operation began in 2016 and was conducted by the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force.

The task force includes members of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. It targets regional and national drug trafficking organizations.

The 34 men and women were convicted of drug conspiracy and money laundering charges. Prison sentences ranged from eight months to more than 17 years.

Arizona
Ex-Hopi law enforcement officer convicted of sexual assault
PHOENIX (AP) — A federal jury in Arizona has convicted a former Hopi law enforcement officer accused of sexually assaulting a female in custody.

Prosecutors say 25-year-old Mackenzie Davis is scheduled to be sentenced in February 2020 and is facing up to 23 years in prison.

Davis arrested the woman for allegedly driving impaired in November 2016.

She was only identified in court by the initials “C.A.”

The woman said that during a nearly two-hour drive to a detention center, Davis pulled the vehicle onto the side of a road and sexually assaulted her.

Another witness testified Davis also engaged in similar conduct with her on 2011 when he wasn’t a law enforcement officer.

Jurors found Davis guilty of violating C.A.’s civil rights, abusive sexual contact on tribal land and destruction of evidence.