Court Digest

Louisiana
Appeals court sides with Biden’s deportation priorities
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — An federal appeals court on Wednesday allowed the Biden administration’s selective criteria on who should be deported to remain in effect, rejecting one of Texas’ challenges to the president’s immigration policies.

The administration’s victory may prove temporary if Texas or Louisiana successfully seek the intervention of the U.S. Supreme Court, which recently sided with Texas and other states to reinstate a key Trump administration policy that requires asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court.

A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a decision last month by a federal judge in Corpus Christi, Texas, that declared the Biden administration’s interim enforcement priorities illegal. The administration prioritizes for deportation people who are deemed to be national security threats, who have serious criminal records or who have been picked up at the border.

The interim priorities, which are expected to be superseded by final guidance this month, adhere closely to former President Barack Obama’s directives and represent a sharp departure from those of Trump, who made everyone in the country illegally a priority for deportation. The court noted that there were 25,916 deportation arrests under the interim rules from February through July, which was 33% fewer than the 39,107 during the same period a year earlier, though arrests for people with “aggravated felonies” rose by about 2,000 during that time.

Circuit Judge Gregg Costa, an Obama appointee, wrote that the enforcement criteria are within the president’s authority, citing a “deep-rooted tradition of enforcement discretion when it comes to decisions that occur before detention, such as who should be subject to arrest, detainers, and removal proceedings.” He was joined by Judges Leslie Southwick, who was appointed by President George W Bush, and James Graves, an Obama appointee.

The attorneys general for Texas and Louisiana and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Texas, Louisiana and seven other states are also challenging the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, an Obama-era program under which hundreds of thousands who came to the United States as young children are shielded from deportation.


New Hampshire
Court rejects truck driver’s appeal in crash that killed 7
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The New Hampshire Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an appeal for a bail hearing for a truck driver who’s been in jail since he was charged with causing the deaths of seven motorcyclists in 2019.

Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 25, of West Springfield, Massachusetts, is scheduled to face trial on Nov. 29 on multiple counts of negligent homicide, manslaughter, driving under the influence and reckless conduct stemming from the crash that happened in Randolph on June 21, 2019. He pleaded not guilty.

The victims, members of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club, were from New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

A judge denied three requests for a bail hearing, agreeing with prosecutors that Zhukovskyy is a danger to himself and others. After the third denial, in April, Zhukovskyy’s lawyers challenged the judge’s decision and they said that Zhukovskyy was entitled to a hearing because both sides disputed facts that were relevant to his dangerousness.

Prosecutors argued that the judge was not required to hold a bail hearing under state law nor use any specific method to assess Zhukovskyy’s dangerousness. The state Supreme Court agreed, and noted undisputed facts establishing a pattern of reckless behavior.

“The charged offenses are especially indicative of the defendant’s character and the risk of danger he poses given that this is not the first time the defendant has been charged with driving while under the influence,” the court wrote.

The justices noted Zhukovskyy’s 2014 conviction of operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol in Massachusetts, and that he was released on bail in Connecticut on a similar offense at the time of the 2019 crash.

The justices also noted that Zhukovskyy, in court, noted it is “not a secret” that he has a “history of substance abuse” that includes misdemeanor drug possession convictions in 2018 and 2019.

“We are not convinced by the defendant’s argument that the fact that he has been sober while in pretrial detention raises ‘an important doubt’ about whether he is currently dangerous,” the court wrote.

“Although commendable, his sobriety while detained in a restrictive environment does not negate the undisputed fact that he allegedly committed the June 21, 2019 offenses while driving under the influence of drugs in violation of release conditions” following his arrest in Connecticut, the court said.

The justices wrote it was reasonable for the judge to conclude “based solely on the undisputed facts, that, because the defendant had failed to lead a law-abiding life free from controlled substances when on conditional release, he is unlikely to do so now.”

It wasn’t immediately known if Zhukovskyy’s lawyers planned any further appeal.

“Sorry, but we can’t comment on any aspect of the case at this time,” Steve Mirkin, one of his public defenders, said in an email.

Ohio
Court: Cincinnati billboard tax violates First Amendment
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A tax levied by the city of Cincinnati on billboard companies in an effort to close a budget shortfall is an unconstitutional of First Amendment rights to free speech, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

Justice Sharon Kennedy, writing the court’s unanimous opinion, said the companies, as publishers of speech, can’t be singled out for engaging in protected expression. She also noted that because of various exceptions, the tax applied mainly to two companies.

Those businesses, Lamar Advertising and Norton Outdoor Advertising, indicated the tax would require them to remove less profitable billboards, which has the effect of limiting protected speech, Kennedy said.

“That the tax involves billboards rather than the institutional press is of no consequence, and strict scrutiny applies,” Kennedy said.

Cincinnati imposed the tax three years ago to raise $709,000 to help cover a $2.5 million budget shortfall. The city argued unsuccessfully that the tax was only a commercial transaction and didn’t target billboard messages.


Oregon
Father of man who drowned in Back Cove sues first responders
The father of a man who jumped into Portland’s Back Cove and drowned during a mental health crisis is suing first responders who watched from shore, saying they didn’t do enough to stop the tragedy.

Eric Cohen, 25, was experiencing a psychosis when he attacked his girlfriend and a man who tried to help her near the Miss Portland Diner and then fled naked into the water, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit contends first responders should’ve acted to help Cohen when he was in waist-deep water 30 feet from shore.

Instead, they waited for the arrival of the fireboat, which took 11 minutes, the lawsuit said. By the time it arrived, Cohen was face down in the water as first responders waited on shore. The medical examiner concluded Cohen died from drowning and hypothermia, the lawsuit said.

City officials declined to comment. The lawsuit names the city, two police sergeants and an unidentified Portland firefighter.

California
County pays $11M to man exonerated in 1998 murder
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — A California county has paid $11 million to a man who spent two decades in prison after being wrongly convicted of killing his girlfriend in 1998.

The payment settles a federal lawsuit filed by Horace Roberts accusing Riverside County and its sheriff’s department of manufacturing the murder case against him, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported Tuesday.

Attorneys for Roberts declined to comment, and Roberts could not be reached, the newspaper said. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco did not respond to requests for comment.

Roberts, now 63 and living in South Carolina, sued in 2019, alleging investigators failed to turn over key evidence to prosecutors.

Roberts was exonerated and freed after DNA testing of crime scene evidence led to the arrests of Googie Harris and Joaquin Leal in the 1998 strangling of Terry Cheek.

No evidence at the scene tied Roberts to the killing, the lawsuit said.

Harris was Cheek’s estranged husband, and Leal is the nephew of Harris. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Minnesota
Chauvin pleads not guilty to violating teen’s civil rights
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murder in the death of George Floyd pleaded not guilty Thursday to violating the civil rights of a teenager in a separate case that involved a restraint similar to the one used on Floyd.

Derek Chauvin was convicted earlier this year  on state charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd’s 2020 death. He was sentenced to 22 1/2 years. He’s also charged in federal court with violating Floyd’s civil rights when he knelt on the Black man’s neck for about 9 1/2 minutes as Floyd was facedown on the pavement, not resisting and pleading for air.

But another indictment against Chauvin  alleges he carried out a similar act against a then-14-year-old boy in 2017. This indictment alleges Chauvin deprived the teenager, who is Black, of his right to be free of unreasonable force when he held the teen by the throat, hit him in the head with a flashlight and held his knee on the boy’s neck and upper back while he was prone, handcuffed and not resisting.

When U.S. Magistrate Judge Hildy Bowbeer asked how he would plead to the charge, Chauvin replied, “Not guilty, your honor.”

Thursday’s hearing was held via videoconference, and Chauvin appeared from the state’s maximum security prison, where he’s being held following his murder conviction. He was in a large room, and wearing a plain T-shirt as he sat at the head of a long table. No one was visible in the room with him, but a man was seen behind a window pane over Chauvin’s shoulder. He had some paper on the table in front of him and appeared to take notes.

Thursday’s hearing also addressed some pretrial motions, which were routine.

According to a police report from the 2017 encounter, Chauvin wrote that the teen resisted arrest and after the teen, whom he described as 6-foot-2 and about 240 pounds, was handcuffed, Chauvin “used body weight to pin” him to the floor. The boy was bleeding from the ear and needed two stitches.

That encounter was one of several mentioned in state court filings that prosecutors said showed Chauvin had used neck or head and upper body restraints seven times prior to Floyd’s death dating back to 2014, including four times state prosecutors said he went too far and held the restraints “beyond the point when such force was needed under the circumstances.”

Chauvin and three other former officers — Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao — were arraigned on civil rights violations in Floyd’s death on Tuesday. All four pleaded not guilty to those charges. The indictment in the 2017 case was filed the same day as the one for Floyd’s death.

According to the indictment in Floyd’s death, the officers allegedly deprived Floyd of his rights while acting under government authority. The federal indictment alleges Chauvin violated Floyd’s right to be free from unreasonable seizure and from unreasonable force by a police officer. Thao and Kueng are charged with violating Floyd’s right to be free from unreasonable seizure by not intervening to stop Chauvin as he knelt on Floyd’s neck. All four officers are charged with depriving Floyd of his rights when they failed to provide medical care.

Floyd repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe as Chauvin pinned him to the ground. Kueng and Lane helped restrain Floyd; Kueng knelt on Floyd’s back, and Lane held Floyd’s legs, according to evidence in state court. Thao held back bystanders and kept them from intervening.