National Roundup

Tennessee
Woman gets 33 years for illegal distribution of pain pills
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A woman convicted of running clinics in East Tennessee that illegally distributed more than 11 million prescription opioid pills has been sentenced to more than 33 years in prison, federal officials said.

U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan ordered the sentence Wednesday for Sylvia Hofstetter, 56, after a jury convicted her earlier this year of racketeering conspiracy, drug conspiracy, money laundering, and maintaining a building where drugs are involved, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement. Varlan also ordered Hofstetter to forfeit $3.6 million.

The drug conspiracy involved four clinics in the Knoxville area, where millions of tablets of oxycodone, oxymorphone and morphine generated more than $21 million of clinic revenue, with a corresponding street value of $360 million, prosecutors said. All three drugs are opioids, a class of drugs linked to more than 400,000 deaths in the U.S. since 2000.

"The Eastern District of Tennessee remains at the forefront in the battle against illegal pain clinics and the mass-prescribing of opioids," said U.S. Attorney J. Douglas Overbey said in the statement. "Let this sentencing serve as a deterrent for those who seek to profit from fueling a tragic cycle of addiction and pain killer abuse."

Pennsylvania
Man sentenced for throwing caustic liquid on 2 people
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A judge on Thursday sentenced a Pennsylvania man to 7 to 15 years in state prison for tossing an acid-like substance on two people during an arguement at his home in 2019.

Arnold Bell, 52, blamed the attack on one of the victims and he criticized the legal system as he was sentenced before a judge in Lehigh County.

"What I pray for the most at this point is to get the coronavirus, maybe that would be my way out," he said.

Bell was convicted of aggravated assault, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person stemming from the July 2019 incident at his Allentown home.

He denied the charges. The prosecution concede one of the victims provoked the argument, but Bell's reaction was unwarranted.

Bell threw what his attorney said was a cup of paint stripper on a woman who was staying at his home and on her boyfriend, who was visiting.

The victims sustained second-degree burns on their chest and arms. The woman required a skin graft.

Oregon
Man charged with bias crime in attack on neighbor
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Portland man is facing bias crime and assault charges after police say he slashed his neighbor's knee with a machete.

Clayton Briggs, 24, was arrested on Oct. 12 after police responded to a stabbing. According to a probable cause affidavit, when police arrived, they saw Briggs inside an apartment holding a machete, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

Police told Briggs to drop the machete. He initially complied, but fled while officers were picking up the knife. Officers then arrested him.

Police found a man inside the apartment with his pant leg soaked in blood as well as a gash on his arm. He told officers he couldn't feel anything below his knee.

Officers said they found slash marks on the screen door and broken glass.

The indictment alleges Briggs attacked his neighbor because of the man's race or skin color. The probable cause affidavit says Briggs and the victim got into a fight the previous day about money.

The document says on the day of the attack, Briggs became agitated over some pills he believed were missing, and blamed his neighbor for taking the pills. The report says he destroyed things in his own apartment with a machete before going outside and slashing some outdoor furniture, and then turning to the neighbor's apartment.

It wasn't immediately known if Briggs has a lawyer.

Liberal legal group formed ahead of election in Wisconsin
By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A new legal group founded by Wisconsin attorneys who have represented Democrats and others opposed to Republicans on issues ranging from redistricting to the lame-duck legislative session has formed just days before the election.

Law Forward said Thursday that its focus will be defending Wisconsin's "progressive traditions" and fighting voter suppression in the election that is less than two weeks away. The group said it will also fight on issues including "fair redistricting, and restoring essential checks and balances to our government."

The group could counterbalance the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, a law firm that has brought many high profile legal challenges to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' administration, including a fight to overturn the current statewide mask ordinance.

Law Forward will be led by attorneys Jeff Mandell and Doug Poland. Mandell, who will be Law Forward's president, was lead attorney in a lawsuit that c hallenged laws passed by Republicans in the lame-duck session just before Evers took office. He recently fought efforts by rapper Kanye West to get on the presidential ballot.

Poland, the group's litigation director, was involved with the  lawsuit seeking to extend the time that absentee ballots  can be counted in the election and the Democratic-led fight over redistricting. Both cases went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The advisory council for the group includes former Democratic U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold; former Democratic Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton; Christine Bremer Muggli, former president of the Wisconsin Association for Justice, the state's trial lawyers' association; and Dean Strang, a longtime defense attorney who helped to represent Steven Avery in the case documented by the Netflix "Making a Murderer" series.