National Roundup

Texas
Autopsy: Black man killed by Texas officer was shot in back
TEXAS CITY, Texas (AP) — A Black man who was fatally shot by a Texas police officer last week died from a single gunshot wound to the back, according to results of an independent autopsy released by an attorney for his family.

Joshua Feast, 22, died Dec. 9 after he was shot by La Marque police Officer Jose Santos, who is now on paid leave. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Feast’s family, said the autopsy results released Wednesday night align with statements from witnesses who said Feast was running away from police when he was shot.

“We, now based on the results of the independent autopsy and based on the medical records taken from the night that Joshua Feast was killed, are demanding that Officer Santos be terminated immediately,” Crump said.

A La Marque spokesperson told the Houston Chronicle that officials had no comment other than those previously issued.

La Marque Police Chief Kirk Jackson has said that Feast was a person of interest in several recent shootings in the city on the southern edge of Houston and that weapons were found at the scene of his fatal shooting.

The Galveston County sheriff’s office and district attorney’s office are investigating Feast’s death.

Massachusetts
Officer quits after allegedly carving swastika into vehicle
MARBLEHEAD, Mass. (AP) — A police officer in Marblehead has resigned after he allegedly carved a swastika into another officer’s personal vehicle, the town’s police chief said Wednesday.

Chief Robert Picariello said his department has hired an outside investigator to review the case, and the Anti-Defamation League of New England is being asked to provide training.

“I apologize to our community for this deeply disturbing and unfortunate situation, and I vow to do everything and engage every resource available to ensure that this kind of incident does not repeat itself in the future,” Picariello said in a statement.

He said Officer Timothy Tufts was accused of carving the symbol into an another officer’s vehicle more than a year ago. The case was reported in November and Tufts was placed on leave, the chief said.

Tufts could not immediately be reached for comment.

Members of the town’s governing board said they were glad to hear of Tufts’ resignation. A statement from the Board of Selectmen said his behavior “in no way reflects the values of the department.”

“We were deeply disappointed to learn of this incident, which is both a direct contradiction of the spirit of inclusion we hold dear in our community,” the board said.

Louisiana
Man jailed for life over $20 marijuana sale has been freed
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Louisiana man who was arrested and sentenced to life for selling $20 in marijuana to undercover officers when he was homeless has been freed from prison.

WWL-TV reported that Fate Winslow was released from Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola on Wednesday and was on his way back home after serving 12 years of a life sentence.

“I was so happy to get out,” Winslow told WWL-TV after his release. “A life sentence for two bags of weed? I never thought something like that could happen.”

Winslow was sentenced under the state’s repeat offender law. His case has garnered attention as the Louisiana wrestles with criminal justice issues and overincarceration.

According to the station, Winslow was approached by undercover officers in Shreveport in 2008, and they asked him where they could get some marijuana. Winslow borrowed a bike, went and found some marijuana and came back to give it to the officers who then gave him $5 so he could buy some food, according to his attorneys at the Innocence Project New Orleans.

Winslow had already been convicted of three previous non-violent crimes stretching from when he was a 17-year-old to when he was 36, making him susceptible to the state’s repeat offender law.

The Innocence Project New Orleans took up his case, appealing his life sentence on the grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel. He was eventually re-sentenced to time served. The director of the Innocence Project New Orleans, Jee Park, said Winslow received an “obscenely excessive sentence given his life circumstances and crime, and today, we are correcting that unconstitutional, inhumane sentence.”

New Mexico
Inmates sue  prison over lack of virus safeguards
SANTE FE, N.M. (AP) — More than 50 inmates have sued the Penitentiary of New Mexico claiming the facility near Santa Fe did not protect its inmates from the coronavirus.

The New Mexico Supreme Court was asked to intervene after 56 inmates submitted a handwritten petition alleging safety regulations intended to prevent the spread of COVID-19 were too lax and caused an outbreak in late October, The Santa Fe New Mexican reported.

The lawsuit said prison officials did not conduct enough tests, did not separate inmates from those possibly infected and continued to have crews work outside in violation of state prison guidelines.

The New Mexico Corrections Department and governor’s office declined to comment on the pending litigation.

The lawsuit asks that the state corrections secretary enforce coronavirus guidelines, reform internal prison practices, provide proper medical care and release eligible inmates to community detention centers to reduce overcrowding. The lawsuit also requests monetary damages.

Christopher Martinez, an inmate who wrote the petition, said in the lawsuit that an outside employee who showed COVID-19 symptoms was repeatedly allowed into a prison kitchen Oct. 23 despite being continuously asked to leave.

Martinez said eight people tested positive for COVID-19 shortly after and more than 45 inmates tested positive by early November. The facility had 141 confirmed COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in March, the lawsuit said.

The number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.
“These accounts are extremely concerning, and we are looking closely at the petition,” public defender Kim Chavez Cook said.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some — especially older adults and people with existing health problems — it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.