Court Digest

South Dakota
Ex-teacher given 100 years for sexually assaulting two students
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A former elementary school teacher in Sioux Falls has been sentenced to 100 years in prison for sexually assaulting two students.

Thomas Richard Strong, 72, of Sioux Falls, was earlier found guilty of four counts of rape and one count of sexual contact with a child under 16.

He was sentenced last week by Judge Jerome Eckrich in Minnehaha County to 25 years in prison on each count of rape to run consecutively to each other and 10 years on the sexual contact count to run concurrently.

An investigation began in May 2019 when concerns were raised about inappropriate contact with two students. The jury heard testimony from two victims, now ages 8 and 10, about the crimes the defendant committed against them, the Argus Leader reported.

Strong is currently being held in a secure annex adjacent to the South Dakota State Penitentiary, according to the South Dakota Department of Corrections.

Oregon
Ex-principal accuses school district or discrimination
ALBANY, Ore. (AP) — A former South Albany High School principal is suing Greater Albany Public Schools, claiming the district racially discriminated against him and created a hostile work environment.

Nain “Nate” Munoz filed the suit last month in U.S. District Court in Eugene, The Albany Democrat-Herald reported Monday. Munoz was interim principal and then principal of South Albany from July 2018 to June 2020.

The case is linked to two separate complaints Munoz filed with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries last year accusing the district of employment discrimination and retaliation.

The state agency co-filed the complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission. Both issued Munoz a “right to sue” letter earlier this year in connection with both complaints.

Munoz is identified in the lawsuit as being of Mexican American descent. He contends the district discriminated and retaliated against him based on his race and national origin and for engaging in whistleblowing.

Barrett Mersereau, who is representing Greater Albany Public Schools, told the newspaper last week he could not discuss the case.

Munoz’s attorney, Dan Snyder, also declined to comment.

“While the District cannot comment on pending litigation, GAPS is dedicated to providing a safe and inclusive environment for all students and employees,” District Superintendent Melissa Goff said in an email.
In the lawsuit Munoz alleges numerous instances in which he said he either did not receive requested support from the school district, was held to a higher or different standard than other staffers or was reprimanded for matters outside his knowledge or control. He claims he was terminated because he filed complaints about the issues.

Iowa
Man sentenced to 50 years in prison for killing girlfriend
WEBSTER CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Kansas man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for killing his girlfriend in Iowa in 2018.

The Fort Dodge Messenger  reports that 34-year-old Zackery Bassett, originally from Elwood, Kansas, must serve at least 35 years of the sentence that was handed down Monday.

A jury in February convicted Bassett of second-degree murder in the death of 50-year-old Andrea Solokowski. She was killed in September 2018 in Webster City, Iowa.

Prosecutors said Bassett had abused and stalked Solokowski, of Sioux City, Iowa, for more than a year before her death. An autopsy found injuries consistent with asphyxiation but Solokowski’s cause of death was listed as undetermined.

Defense attorney Michelle Wolf, in a statement, said she believes Bassett is not guilty and that the jury “got it wrong in this case.”

Virginia
Father of man shot by police files $50M lawsuit
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — The father of a Black man who was fatally shot by police in Virginia Beach has filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit.

The Virginian-Pilot reported Monday that the federal lawsuit was filed by the father of Donovon Lynch against officer Solomon D. Simmons and the city of Virginia Beach.

Police would not confirm that Simmons was the shooter. But police have said the police officer who shot Lynch is Black.

Wayne Lynch claims the officer shot his son “immediately, unlawfully and without warning” and failed to render aid.

Police have said Lynch had a handgun. The family and a witness have denied that. The officer who shot Lynch did not have his body camera turned on, according to police.

Virginia State Police are currently investigating the March 26 shooting.

Simmons did not return the newspaper’s calls for comment. City spokeswoman Julie Hill told the Pilot the city could not comment because it had not yet received the lawsuit.

Lynch was at an Oceanfront nightclub with his friend when an unrelated shooting occurred outside, the lawsuit stated. The men left and walked toward their cars when they encountered Simmons.

“Immediately, unlawfully and without warning, officer Simmons fired his police-issued firearm at Mr. Lynch, shooting him twice and killing him,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit also alleges that Virginia Beach “had a custom or policy” of failing to properly train its police officers.


Washington
Most claims over clearing of protesters in DC park dismissed
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge dismissed most claims filed by activists and civil liberties groups who accused the Trump administration of violating the civil rights of protesters who were forcefully removed by police before then-President Donald Trump walked to a church near the White House for a photo op.

U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich said Monday the claims in the suit, which alleged that Trump and then-Attorney General William Barr had conspired to violate the rights of protesters last June, were speculative and it was premature for the court to conclude whether the actions of law enforcement officers were justified.

Friedrich dismissed the claims against Barr and other federal officials, including the acting U.S. Park Police chief, Gregory Monahan, finding there wasn’t sufficient evidence to prove there was any agreement or plan to violate the rights of the protesters. The judge also said the law gives them immunity in civil litigation.

In a 51-page decision, the judge did allow the claims against the Metropolitan Police Department and the Arlington Police Department — their officers were involved in clearing the park — to proceed.

The lawsuit stemmed from one of the most high-profile moments of the Trump presidency, when federal and local law enforcement officials aggressively forced a group  of largely peaceful protesters back from Lafayette Square outside of the White House, firing smoke bombs and pepper balls into the crowd to disperse the group. Officers were seen shoving protesters and journalists as they pushed the crowd back.

Barr has said he met with other law enforcement officials earlier that day to review a plan to extend the security perimeter around the White House to protect federal agents after days of unrest in Washington following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis.

After the crowd was forcefully dispersed, Trump, followed by an entourage of his most senior aides — including Barr — along with Secret Service agents and reporters, walked over to St. John’s Church, a landmark building where every president has prayed, which had been damaged a day earlier in a protest fire.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the group Black Lives Matter D.C. and individual protesters who were present by the ACLU of DC, Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the law firm of Arnold & Porter.

In a statement, Arthur Ago, the director of the criminal justice project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said the ruling set an “extremely dangerous precedent” and that former officials like Barr were “getting off scot-free.”

“We will always stand up for the rights of those peacefully demonstrating for racial justice, and this ruling sends the wrong message for police accountability efforts at a time when it is needed the most,” Ago said.

Washington
$1M settlement reached in dairy worker OT lawsuit
YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) — Yakima County Superior Court has approved a $1 million settlement that provides retroactive overtime pay for workers at a Lower Yakima Valley dairy.

The settlement wraps up a class-action lawsuit filed in 2016 by Jose Martinez-Cuevas and Patricia Aguilar on behalf of nearly 300 workers of DeRuyter Brothers Dairy of Outlook, the Yakima Herald reported.

Martinez-Cuevas and Aguilar alleged that they worked nine to 12 hours a day, six hours a week without rest breaks, meal pay or overtime pay.

Most of the wage claims were resolved in a $600,000 settlement approved in 2017. That settlement left unresolved a challenge to state law that exempted workers from overtime pay.

The case went to the Washington Supreme Court, which ruled last fall that the overtime exemption for the dairy workers was unconstitutional. However, the question of whether the DeRuyter workers were entitled to retroactive overtime pay went back to Yakima County Superior Court.

The case was set for a hearing, but a settlement was reached, said Andrea Schmitt, an attorney for Columbia Legal Services, which represented the workers.

Former owners Jacobus and Geneva DeRuyter have sold the dairy but will still fulfill the settlement terms.

The DeRuyter’s lawyer said the original complaint challenged state law on overtime, but didn’t claim DeRuyter violated the law as written at the time.

Oregon
Man who set U.S. flag on fire gets probation
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A man who took the American flag from outside Gus J. Solomon U.S. Courthouse in Portland and then set it on fire in front of the police bureau’s Central Precinct was sentenced Monday to a year of probation.

Jeffrey Richard Singer, 33, had pleaded guilty to theft of government property. The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

The theft happened Sept. 19, when Singer stole the flag and marched with it in a crowd to the Central Precinct during a nightly protest after the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died when a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck, according to prosecutors.

U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown additionally ordered Singer to repay the government $218.50 in restitution for the destroyed flag.

Singer was indicted in October and charged with theft of government property and civil disorder.

Singer is the third defendant sentenced and one of four who have pleaded guilty in federal court in a protest-related prosecution.

Of 99 federal protest-related prosecutions in the past year, 50 have been dismissed. Thirty-two cases are pending with trial dates scheduled. Fourteen others are nearing resolution, according to Kevin Sonoff, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The pending prosecutions include defendants charged with civil disorder, destruction of government property, arson and assault on a federal officer.


Nebraska
Sentencing in July for 80-year-old woman who killed husband,79
MCCOOK, Neb. (AP) — An 80-year-old southwestern Nebraska woman faces sentencing next month for killing her husband, though she claimed it was in response to years of abuse.

KNOP-TV reports that Lavetta Langdon of McCook will be sentenced July 12. She pleaded no contest to manslaughter earlier this month.

Langdon was arrested in August after police found 79-year-old Larry Langdon shot to death in his bedroom. Lavetta Langdon told investigators that her husband had struck her during a fight over money. Police say
Lavetta Langdon then took a handgun from her husband’s room and shot him in the chest.

Lavetta Langdon told police she had been the victim of domestic violence for 30 years.