National Roundup

Indiana
Mayor orders training amid flap over his own remarks
MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. (AP) — A northwestern Indiana mayor who is facing calls for his resignation over his profanity-laced remarks about a Black pastor has presented a plan for all municipal employees to undergo mandatory implicit bias and cultural diversity training.

Michigan City Mayor Duane Parry also announced at a news conference Wednesday that a new position will be created in his office for someone to “assist the mayor and act as a representative” to the community. The Michigan City Spiritual Task Force, the Michigan City Common Council and the NAACP of La Porte County will have input on how that position is filled, he said.

The news conference came a day after Rev. James Lane publicly released a voicemail message Parry left for him on Friday in which the mayor declined to meet with Lane and the Spiritual Task Force. Lane and the task force wanted a meeting to address their concerns regarding Parry’’s recent public admonishment of Police Chief Dion Campbell, who is Black, over a fundraising letter for police charities that Campbell included in city water bills.

Toward the end of the recording, it was apparent that Parry thought he had hung up the phone, and he could be heard saying: “They want a ... audience, you know. These Black guys, they all want a ... audience,” using an expletive twice, The News-Dispatch reported.

“I cannot say the words to fully express my regret for saying what I said during the past week,” Parry said Wednesday. “My words now cannot change what I’’ve said. However, my future actions can and will. I’’m sorry. I realize that saying I’’m sorry is not enough.”

Parry said his implicit bias and cultural diversity training would begin immediately. He did not take questions.

Lane, who attended the news conference, said he was unsatisfied.

“I still want this mayor to resign,” Lane said. “This public apology — it seems false, fake, insensitive. And like always, he says what he wants to say and leaves. That is not the character of a true leader.”

Nevada
Felon alleges corruption; judge grants change of venue
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Court records published in Nevada on Tuesday say a judge outside Las Vegas will decide if a new trial should be awarded to a convicted felon who alleged widespread corruption within the Clark County justice system.

In Nov. 2020, the Nevada Supreme Court denied a challenge by Marlon Brown, 38, over his decades-long prison sentence, but his attorney Michael McAvoy Amaya continued his efforts to remove the judge overseeing the case, District Judge Michelle Leavitt, and void her orders in the case, The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

On Tuesday, a federal judge issued a change-of-venue order due to allegations of corruption involving Leavitt, which means Leavitt could be a witness in Brown’’s post-conviction hearings.

Leavitt in recent years oversaw Brown’’s trial on battery and kidnapping charges for shooting his ex-girlfriend in the leg and ordered him to serve up to 45 years behind bars. Leavitt also sealed part of his records and intervened in his appeal.

District Court Chief Judge Linda Bell said she issued the change-of-venue order “to avoid the appearance of impropriety.”

Brown has alleged that Leavitt’’s daughter had ties to a business he owned, which made the judge willing to “engage in fraud and deceit to cover her tracks.” Another judge, Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Melanie Tobiasson, has said the now-closed clothing store owned by Brown was a front for an unlicensed club where teens drank, used drugs and engaged in prostitution.

Leavitt through her lawyers has denied the accusations against her, calling them “blatantly false and defamatory.”

Bell in her Tuesday decision cited the Nevada Code of Judicial Conduct and a decision from the Supreme Court Chief Justice James Hardesty.

Brown’’s attorney, meanwhile, called the reassignment “an indication that our claims have merit, and he should get a new trial.”

Alabama
Justice Dept. sues  sheriff over sexual harassment
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — The Justice Department sued the Mobile County Sheriff’’s Office on Wednesday over claims it ignored claims of female jailers who say they are being sexually harassed by male prisoners.

The sex discrimination federal lawsuit, filed in Mobile, said female jail workers are regularly subjected to lewd comments, threats of sexual violence and male prisoners who expose themselves.

A dozen female jailers filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the complaint said, but Sheriff Sam Cochran and others failed to take the complaints seriously or act to stop the problem.

“Nobody deserves to be sexually harassed while on the job,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela S. Karlan said in a statement. “The behavior to which these female employees were subjected is appalling, and the county’’s failure to take action to protect its employees from such conduct is inexcusable.”

The suit seeks both money and policies to stop the harassment. The sheriff’’s office was reviewing the complaint and had no immediate comment, a spokesman said.

The Mobile County Metro Jail holds about 1,500 inmates a day for the county and the city of Mobile.

Oregon
Man indicted on 35 counts related to human trafficking
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Multnomah County grand jury has indicted a man on nearly three dozen counts related to a human sex trafficking investigation and Portland police detectives believe there may be more victims.

Johnel Johnson, 32, faces charges including multiple counts of rape, kidnapping, compelling prostitution and strangulation, KGW-TV reported.

The Portland Police Bureau and Multnomah County District Attorney’’s Office said the investigation started in February when Johnson allegedly robbed, kidnapped and repeatedly sexually assaulted someone. That person escaped and called 911. Officers responded but did not find Johnson.

Investigators also said they linked Johnson to a sexual assault in November 2020. The district attorney’’s office said Johnson kidnapped, robbed and sexually assaulted a person. He also allegedly threatened to make the victim “engage in forced prostitution acts.”

Human trafficking investigators presented Johnson’’s case to a grand jury, which returned a 35-count indictment.

Police arrested Johnson on March 1 in Southeast Portland. It wasn’’t immediately known if he has a lawyer to comment on the case.