California
Kobe Bryant’s widow to settle lawsuit over deadly crash
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kobe Bryant’s widow has agreed to settle a lawsuit against the pilot and owners of the helicopter that crashed last year, killing the NBA star, his daughter, Gianna, and seven others.
Vanessa Bryant, her children and relatives of other victims filed a settlement agreement notice Tuesday with a federal judge in Los Angeles but terms of the confidential deal weren’t disclosed.
If approved by the court, the settlement — first announced by KABC-TV — would end a negligence and wrongful death lawsuit filed against the estate of the pilot and the owner and operator of the helicopter that crashed into a hillside on Jan. 26, 2020.
Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and six other passengers were flying from Orange County to a youth basketball tournament at his Mamba Sports Academy in Ventura County. The helicopter encountered thick fog in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles.
Pilot Ara Zobayan climbed sharply and had nearly broken through the clouds when the Sikorsky S-76 helicopter banked abruptly and plunged into the Calabasas hills below, killing all nine aboard instantly before flames engulfed the wreckage.
The others killed were Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife, Keri, and their daughter Alyssa; Christina Mauser, who helped Bryant coach his daughter’s basketball team; and Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton. Alyssa and Payton were Gianna’s teammates.
The National Transportation Safety Board released a report in February that blamed pilot error for the crash. The NTSB said a series of poor decisions led Zobayan to fly blindly into a wall of clouds where he became so disoriented he thought he was climbing when the craft was plunging.
The agency also faulted Island Express Helicopters Inc. for inadequate review and oversight of safety matters.
The settlement agreement would end legal action against Zobayan’s estate, Island Express Helicopters Inc. and its owner, Island Express Holding Corp. The suit alleged the companies didn’t properly train or supervise Zobayan and that the pilot was careless and negligent to fly in fog and should have aborted the flight.
Island Express Helicopters has denied responsibility and said the crash was “an act of God” it couldn’t control. It countersued two Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers, saying the crash was caused by their “series of erroneous acts and/or omissions.”
The settlement agreement wouldn’t include the countersuit against the federal government.
Alabama
Woman charged with killing man in front of their young daughter
CALERA, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama woman was charged with capital murder by police who said she killed her estranged husband in front of their 7-year-old daughter.
Tekedra Staffney, 36, was charged in the gunshot slaying of Jesse Myrone Rutledge, 35, on Saturday afternoon. The man was shot to death in a home in the Shelby County city of Calera, located south of Birmingham.
Authorities filed the capital charge, which carries a potential death penalty, because the child was present. Staffney was jailed without bond, and an attorney representing her did not immediately return an email seeking comment Wednesday.
In January, a judge temporarily ordered Rutledge to stay away from the woman after she sought protection claiming he came into their home and threw her belongings throughout the residence, court records show. In a request, Staffney wrote that she had proof of abuse and that she feared Rutledge would beat or kill her.
“I feel that this is just the tip of the (iceberg),” she wrote. A hearing was set for August, when the order could have been made permanent.
The couple had two children who were 7 and 16 at the time the woman sought protection.
Texas
Grand jury issues no indictments of 8 jailers in Black inmate’s death
McKINNEY, Texas (AP) — A grand jury in Texas has declined to indict eight jailers over the in-custody death of a Black man who died after struggling with detention officers.
But the Collin County grand jury also issued a rare statement Tuesday calling for the creation of a work group to study the March death of Marvin Scott III to prevent something similar from happening again.
“We sincerely hope that the loss of Marvin Scott III will not be in vain,” the statement said. “We are therefore recommending that a work group be convened as soon as practicable to study the events of March 14th for lessons learned in an effort to avoid any similar future tragedy.”
The grand jury found no probable cause to charge the eight jailers with a crime in connection with Scott’s death, which was ruled a homicide in April. A medical examiner found that Scott died of “fatal acute stress response” while struggling with officers who were trying to detain him.
The medical examiner said Scott was previously diagnosed with schizophrenia and his family has said Scott was likely in a mental health crisis at the time.
Scott was arrested March 14 at an outlet mall in Allen on a charge of possessing less than two ounces of marijuana, authorities have said. Allen officers took Scott to a hospital because he was reportedly acting erratically. He was released and police took him to the county jail, where he was placed on a restraint bed, authorities have said.
Deputies used pepper spray and covered Scott’s face with a spit mask, which authorities have said fit over his head. Scott became unresponsive at some point and later was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Lee Merritt, an attorney representing Scott’s family, said on Twitter that there was sufficient evidence for an indictment and that the family is hopeful a federal grand jury will review the case.
“The failure of prosecutors to secure indictments in this matter reflects a trend in Texas of undervaluing the lives of African Americans suffering mental health crisis,” he wrote.
After Scott’s death, seven jailers were fired and one resigned. Zach Horn, an attorney representing several of the jailers, said in a statement that he will begin the reinstatement process for the detention officers who wish to return to their jobs.
Washington
5 Black officers accuse police department of racism in lawsuit
SEATTLE (AP) — Five Black officers with the University of Washington Police Department have filed claims for $8 million in damages, saying they’ve been routinely insulted and demeaned by co-workers and supervisors.
Some officers said they also were disciplined and denied promotions because of their race, KOMO-TV reported. The claims for damages are the first step toward a lawsuit. The university has 60 days to respond.
In the claim, Officer Karinn Young said “a banana was put in front of my locker with a note reading, ‘Here’s your lunch, you (asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk) monkey.’”
Officer Damien Taylor said a white supervisor referred to him as “’(his) own negro’ on a call and later laughed at me when I confronted him about it.”
The officers said Chief John Vinson, who is Black, was repeatedly criticized by white officers for hiring too many Blacks.
“White officers called Chief Vinson the n-word on several occasions,” said Officer Russell Ellis. Vinson was later reassigned to an administrative position at the university.
UW spokesperson Victor Balta said they were stunned by the allegations but said they have no record of complaints being filed making these claims.
“Any one of the incidents described here would prompt an immediate investigation and appropriate disciplinary action based on the investigation’s findings,” Balta said.
Vermont
Ex-ER doctor to plead guilty to hiding cameras in hospital bathroom
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A former emergency room doctor at Vermont’s largest hospital has agreed to plead guilty to a variety of state and federal charges after police found hidden cameras in a hospital bathroom with hundreds of images of hospital employees, federal prosecutors say.
Investigators also found digital devices at the South Burlington home of Eike Blohm, 39, some of which contained images of child pornography, prosecutors say.
Blohm is due in federal court on July 8 and state court on July 13 to enter the pleas to charges including one count of possession of child pornography and 19 counts of voyeurism.
As part of a plea agreement, Blohm agreed to a sentence of between eight and 11 years in prison. The agreement also provides that nearly $40,000 from the proceeds from the sale of Blohm’s former South Burlington residence be used to pay restitution to the victims.
Blohm’s attorney Lisa Shelkrot said Wednesday that she had nothing to add.
Blohm was fired from his job at the hospital.
Court records say that in April 2020 police received a report that an employee at the University of Vermont Medical Center discovered a camera hidden in a unisex employee bathroom in the Emergency Department of the Burlington hospital. Investigators who recovered the camera found images on the camera of a physician
identified as Blohm setting it up.
The investigators discovered approximately 900 videos depicting hospital employees in at least two bathrooms at the hospital.
The investigators then searched Blohm’s home and seized numerous digital devices, some of which contained images of child pornography, including some of children under age 12.
New York
Prosecutors balk at Avenatti’s 7th request to delay sentencing
NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors did not find Michael Avenatti’s seventh request to delay sentencing a charm, saying Tuesday that the once high profile California lawyer should be forced to hear his punishment next week for trying to extort Nike for up to $25 million.
In court papers, prosecutors urged a Manhattan federal judge to reject the request Avenatti’s lawyers made late Monday for a two-month delay after six earlier postponements allowed him to delay his fate for nearly a year and a half.
They said lawyers for Avenatti’s victims — Nike and a California youth basketball league coach — had asserted that both want the sentencing to occur June 30, as currently scheduled.
And they characterized Avenatti’s reasons for seeking a seventh delay as weak, “untimely and unpersuasive” and the first that did not cite the threat posed by the coronavirus as a reason to delay.
Avenatti’s attorneys, Scott Srebnick and E. Danya Perry, said they needed another 60 days because prosecutors had made the “unexpected” demand in presentence arguments last week that Avenatti be ordered to pay $1 million in restitution to Nike. They said Avenatti deserves time to review documents related to the request.
They also said they seek delay so Avenatti can hear the outcome of claims that the government failed to properly divulge certain evidence prior to his trial early last year.
Prosecutors disputed the reasoning for delay, saying restitution can be determined after sentencing and the evidence claims could have been made before trial.
Avenatti, 50, was convicted by a jury early last year. He faces other fraud charges at upcoming trials in Los Angeles and New York, including claims that he cheated Stormy Daniels of hundreds of thousands of dollars from a book deal. He has pleaded not guilty.
Avenatti’s representation of the porn star brought him fame in 2018, appearing often on cable television news programs to discuss lawsuits he filed on her behalf against then-President Donald Trump. The lawsuit sought to nullify a 2016 nondisclosure agreement after Daniels was paid $130,000 in hush money to remain silent about her claims of a 2006 sexual tryst with Trump. Trump has denied it happened.
In court papers, prosecutors have urged a “very substantial” prison sentence for Avenatti, aligning themselves with an eight-year term behind bars recommended by a Probation Office report.
Defense lawyers say their client deserves leniency. They’ve urged no more than six months in prison and a year of home confinement, saying Avenatti has suffered from constant ridicule after his “cataclysmic fall.”
