National Roundup

New Jersey
Murphy to name first black woman to state’s Supreme Court
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday he would nominate Fabiana Pierre-Louis to the state Supreme Court, making her the first black woman to hold the post if she’s confirmed.

Pierre-Louis would succeed Walter Timpone, who reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70 in November.

Murphy, a Democrat, said that Pierre-Louis would not only succeed Timpone, but John Wallace, who was the last black judge to hold a seat on the high court. Wallace was not nominated for lifetime tenure in 2010.
Pierre-Louis is a partner at Montgomery McCracken in Cherry Hill, where she is in the white collar and government investigations practice.

Before that, she served for nearly a decade as an assistant United States Attorney in New Jersey and was the attorney-in-charge of the Camden branch office. She was the first woman of color to hold such a position, according to her biography on Montgomery McCracken’s website.

Republican Gov. Chris Christie nominated Timpone in 2016 to the state’s highest court. Justices are required by law to retire at age 70.

Pierre-Louis is Murphy’s first pick for the high court. The Democrat-led Senate must first confirm her.

Arizona
Pilot program to bring legal aid to domestic abuse accusers
PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s state court system is moving to help those who experience domestic violence obtain free legal assistance.

An administrative order signed Wednesday by Supreme Court Justice Robert Brutinel creates a pilot program to have a new type of worker provide legal advice to employees and clients of the Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse, which is located in Tucson.

Court officials say the new workers, called licensed legal advocates, would not be lawyers but would be trained and certified to provide advice on limited legal issues related to high-risk needs such as protective orders.

According to court officials, licensed legal advocates have to have a bachelor’s degree and at least 2,000 hours of work experience as a domestic violence advocate and complete a University of Arizona law college program to obtain state certification.

New Mexico
Governor to appoint racial justice czar
SANTA FE, New Mexico (AP) — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is looking for policy fixes to prevent police violence in the wake of anti-racism and police reform protests that have swept across the nation and dotted her state.

In a conversation with members of a yet-to-be-finalized council on racial justice, Lujan Grisham suggested deescalation training for state police. She also heard a proposal to bar officers from shooting at moving vehicles or choking citizens in their custody.

As the leader of a multicultural state -- New Mexico is half Hispanic and has a significant Native American population -- she said it is difficult but essential to acknowledge structural racism.

“We have a tendency to wrap ourselves in that particular cloak and pretend sometimes that we don’t have the kind of inequalities in institutional racism and hatred that in fact exists, and it is in the very fabric of our lives,” Lujan Grisham said.

The governor pledged to name a racial justice czar and to let the council set an agenda for legislative reform in the 2021 legislative session. An emergency session starting in mid-June will focus squarely on the state’s budget fallout from the COVID-19 crisis.

The New Mexico governor’s live video conference took place a few hours after a funeral service for George Floyd, the Minneapolis man whose death in police custody sparked the latest protests over longstanding grievances with police accountability.

“There is another health crisis which has existed for far too long, which is the racism in our society,” said Alexandria Taylor, of the New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs.

Some of the answers, Taylor said, are already clear.

“What has happened in the last six years since the Ferguson uprising, is we have a significant body of research that supports those policy changes,” Taylor told Lujan Grisham, referring to protest following the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by white police officers.

As in hundreds of other cities in the country, unrest in that St. Louis suburb broke out again this this week. Nationwide, 10,000 demonstrators have been arrested and dozens of deaths have been reported.

Tennessee
Attorney pleads guilty to defrauding clients
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee attorney faces up to 30 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to stealing more than $600,000 from clients by settling cases without telling them and forging their signatures on settlement checks.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Memphis said 50-year-old Michael Skouteris has pleaded guilty to bank fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud clients.

Prosecutors said Skouteris defrauded clients in cases dating from 2011 to 2016. Prosecutors have said the cases involved nursing home neglect, medical malpractice, personal injury and worker’s compensation.

Prosecutors said Skouteris forged endorsements on settlement checks made jointly payable to him and the client. He then deposited the checks into his bank accounts.

Sentencing is set for Sept. 24, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Indiana
Pediatrician gets 19 years for child sex charges
LEBANON, Ind. (AP) — A suspended central Indiana pediatrician was sentenced Thursday to 19 years in prison for child molestation and related charges.

Boone Circuit Judge Lori Schein also sentenced 46-year-old Jonathon Cavins of Jamestown to four years of probation on two counts each of child molesting and child seduction and one count of sexual misconduct with a minor.

Five male patients ages 12-17 said Cavins inappropriately touched their genital area after putting a condom on them. Cavins testified that all five victims had asked to see a condom, but he never put one on or touched the boys inappropriately.

“We are thankful that the boys showed such strength and courage in coming forward to tell their story of abuse,” Boone County Prosecutor Kent Eastwood said. “We pray that this will serve as a beacon for other victims of sexual abuse to come forward to have their voices heard.”

Cavins’ medical license has been suspended, Indiana Medical Licensing Board records show.