Court Digest

Louisiana
Life sentences upheld for pair in deadly armored truck heist
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The convictions and life sentences for a father and son involved in an armored truck robbery that turned deadly in 2017 have been upheld by a federal appeals court.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected multiple arguments in appeals by Armstead Kieffer and his son Jerome Kieffer. The court, in a decision dated Friday, upheld their convictions on multiple federal counts in connection with robberies of armored trucks servicing a New Orleans bank in 2015 and a credit union in 2017.

A guard was killed by a colleague’s bullet during the botched 2017 robbery in a shootout with the suspects.

A third suspect, Deltoine Scott, pleaded guilty in the case and was sentenced to more than 16 years. That suspect cooperated with prosecutors. The Kieffers both argued that their convictions should have been thrown out because Scott’s testimony was unreliable, a contention rejected by the court.

“Whatever the problems with Scott’s credibility, his account was neither physically impossible nor outside his powers of observation; the jury decides credibility of witnesses, not the appellate court,” Judge Catharina Haynes wrote for the three-judge panel that decided the case.

Colorado
Baker sued again over alleged LGBTQ bias
DENVER (AP) — A Colorado baker who won a partial victory at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 for refusing to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple went on trial Monday in yet another lawsuit, this one involving a birthday cake for a transgender woman.

Autumn Scardina attempted to order the birthday cake on the same day in 2017 that the high court announced it would hear baker Jack Phillips’ appeal in the wedding cake case. Scardina, an attorney, requested a cake that was blue on the outside and pink on the inside in honor of her gender transition.

Her lawsuit is the latest in a series of cases around the U.S. that pit the rights of LGBTQ people against merchants’ religious objections, an issue that remains unsettled by the nation’s top court.

On Monday, during a virtual trial being conducted by a state judge in Denver, Scardina said Phillips had maintained that, as a Christian, he opposed making the gay couple’s wedding cake because it involved a religious ceremony but would sell any other type of product.

She said she called Phillips’ Masterpiece Cakeshop to place the order after hearing about the court’s announcement because she wanted to find out if he really meant it.

When her lawyer Paula Greisen asked whether the call was a “setup,” she said it was not.

“It was more of calling someone’s bluff,” she said.

In opening arguments, a lawyer representing Phillips, Sean Gates, said his refusal to make Scardina’s cake was about its message, not discriminating against Scardina, echoing assertions made in Phillips’ legal battle over his refusal to make a wedding cake for Charlie Craig and Dave Mullins in 2012. With Phillips getting media attention since then, he could not create a cake with a message he disagreed with, Gates said.

“The message would be that he agrees that a gender transition is something to be celebrated,” said Gates, who noted later that Phillips had objected to making cakes with other messages he opposed, including Halloween items.

Before filing her lawsuit, Scardina filed a complaint against Phillips with the state, and the Colorado Civil Rights Commission found probable cause that Phillips had discriminated against her. Phillips then filed a federal lawsuit against Colorado, accusing it of waging a “crusade to crush” him by pursuing the complaint.

In March 2019, lawyers for the state and Phillips agreed to drop both cases under a settlement which still allowed Scardina to pursue a lawsuit on her own. At the time, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said both sides agreed it was not in anyone’s best interest to move forward with the cases.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission showed anti-religious bias when it sanctioned Phillips for refusing to make the same-sex wedding cake for Craig and Mullins. However, the justices did not rule on the larger issue of whether businesses can invoke religious objections to refuse service to gays or lesbians.

The court is currently considering a related issue in a case over whether a Catholic social services agency can refuse to work with same-sex couples as foster parents in Philadelphia.

New York
Honduran drug trafficker convicted in US
NEW YORK (AP) — A Honduran man was convicted of drug trafficking in U.S. federal court Monday in a trial that also raised allegations against Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández.

A jury found Geovanny Fuentes Ramírez guilty on all counts, including conspiracy to traffic cocaine, arms possession and conspiracy to use arms.

Witnesses in the two-week trial told of Hernández accepting bribes from Fuentes Ramírez and other drug traffickers from his time as a presidential candidate up through at least 2019.

Hernández has repeatedly denied any connection to drug traffickers and he has not been charged with any crime. Federal prosecutors, however, have become increasingly outspoken in connecting his political rise to funding from drug trafficking and he was named as a “co-conspirator” in the Fuentes Ramírez case. One of his brothers, Tony Hernández, was convicted of drug trafficking in 2019 and is scheduled to be sentenced next week.

On Monday, Juan Orlando Hernández again pointed to his record of falling drug trafficking through Honduras as evidence that the accusations are false and made up by drug traffickers trying to reduce their sentences.

During the trial, Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga, former leader of the Cachiros cartel, testified that he had sent $250,000 to Hernández in 2012 through his sister in exchange for protection of his smuggling business and to avoid extradition. An accountant testified that he twice witnessed Hernández receiving bribes from Fuentes Ramírez in 2013.

Hernández had been president of Honduras’ congress and then launched his candidacy for the presidency. He took office in January 2014.

U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel, who heard the case, will also sentence the president’s brother.

Eric Olson, director of policy at the Seattle International Foundation, said the verdict will have more impact on the people of Honduras than on President Juan Orlando Hernández.

“The Honduran people become more skeptical, more pessimistic, more hopeless about their future in their country when they look at their political leaders as corrupt officials,” Olson said.

“It is another piece of evidence against Juan Orlando but it is also another piece of evidence for the Honduran people that their government, their country is not able to respond to their needs and is probably why we are seeing so many Hondurans fleeing,” Olson said. “This particular case is serious, but is just another nail in his (the president’s) political coffin.”

Iowa
Court: U Iowa officials liable for targeting Christian group
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — University of Iowa administrators can be held liable for monetary damages for improperly barring a Christian student group that rejects homosexual relationships, a federal appeals court ruled Monday, in a victory for religious conservatives on college campuses.

The administrators do not enjoy qualified immunity from the lawsuit brought by Business Leaders in Christ because they violated the group’s clearly established constitutional rights to freedom of speech and association, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled.

The case dates to 2017, when the organization barred a student from serving in its leadership after disclosing that he was gay and did not agree with its teachings on sexuality.

The student filed a complaint with the university alleging the group discriminated against him. University administrators later ruled that the group’s requirements for leaders had the effect of disqualifying some students based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and revoked its status as a student organization.

The group filed a lawsuit and a federal judge ordered the university to restore it as a student group.

U.S. District Judge Stephanie Rose found in 2019 that the university had unevenly applied its human rights policy by allowing other groups to limit membership based on religious views, race, sex and other characteristics, while barring Business Leaders in Christ.

But she ruled that dean of students Lyn Redington, assistant dean Thomas Baker and Iowa Memorial Union executive director William Nelson had qualified immunity and therefore could not be ordered to pay damages sought by the group.

A three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit overturned that part of her decision on Monday, citing U.S. Supreme Court and other federal court precedent that student groups cannot be discriminated against on the basis of their viewpoints.

The decision sends the case back to a lower court for additional proceedings, including a determination of what damages they should face.

Advocates called the decision a victory for religious student groups nationwide.

“University of Iowa officials knew this was wrong, and they did it anyway,” said Eric Baxter, vice president at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “We’re pleased to have the court recognize that blatant religious discrimination brings personal consequences.”

Oregon
College students ask court for refunds over online learning
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Three students have filed class-action lawsuits against Oregon’s two largest colleges saying they were charged full-price for online classes of poorer quality than in-person classes.

When the University of Oregon and Oregon State University closed their campuses because of the coronavirus pandemic, they didn’t offer to refund students’ tuition bills, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

The University of Oregon says on its website that in order to provide quality education now and in the future, it cannot discount tuition. The universities did agree to refund portions of their room and board.

“The University of Oregon, we believe, has unfairly continued to charge tuition payers for all of the things they were not allowed to experience and use during the COVID-19 campus closure and switch to online classes,” said Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman and attorney for students in the class action.

Caine Smith filed the suit against Oregon. Danielle Pranger and Garrett Harris filed the complaint against Oregon State.

The complaints were filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court earlier in March. The suits did not specify how much they are seeking in damages.

In the complaint against OSU, students allege before the pandemic the college charged much lower tuition for remote students using the “Ecampus” program. But when the in-person students were forced to go online, they continued to be charged the full in-person tuition, the lawsuit claims.

Spokesman Steve Clark said OSU prorated charges for room and board.

“The lawsuit is wrong on the law and the facts,” the University of Oregon said in a statement. “Despite what the lawsuit suggests, the university’s costs for delivering instruction have not decreased as a result of the pandemic. In fact, our costs have increased due to a variety of new technology and infrastructure investments.”

Hagens Berman, based in Seattle, has filed similar lawsuits on behalf of students against over a dozen other colleges including the University of Washington.

Nationally, more than 200 similar lawsuits have been filed.

Illinois
Former mayor pleads guilty to federal corruption charge
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) — A former southern Illinois mayor has pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators about referral commissions he received on city contracts.

Kevin Hutchinson, 56, of Columbia is due to be sentenced Jun 28 after entering the plea Monday in U.S. District Court.

Hutchinson had been charged with one felony count of making a false statement to the federal Southern Illinois Public Corruption Task Force. The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, the Belleville News-Democrat reported.

Hutchinson resigned as mayor following his indictment by a federal grand jury. He was in his fourth term.

The indictment describes Hutchinson as a licensed insurance agent who owned a closely held Illinois corporation called BMC Associates, Inc. It said the Columbia city government provides health-insurance coverage for employees and contracts for property/casualty loss insurance.

Hutchinson and his company received referral commissions from the insurance contracts that the city placed with two other companies, the indictment said. The city council and city manager were unaware of the commissions.