Oregon
Judge grants class-action status to COVID-sickened prisoners
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge has certified a class-action lawsuit in Oregon over state leaders’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic inside its prisons.
A group of adults in custody who contracted COVID-19 first sued the state in April 2020, alleging culpability by Gov. Kate Brown, Corrections Department Director Colette Peters and Health Authority Director Patrick Allen, among other state officials. The lawsuit acknowledges Corrections has taken some measures but argues they have not been enough.
“This really is quite a groundbreaking order, and decision, and it could potentially be a model for advocates in other parts of the country where they’re having similar problems,” Corene Kendrick, deputy director of the American Civil Liberty Union’s National Prison Project, told Oregon Public Broadcasting this week.
In Oregon, 45 people in the Department of Corrections custody have so far died after testing positive for COVID-19, and more than 5,000 people have tested positive for the virus while in custody.
Magistrate Judge Stacie Beckerman signed off on a wrongful death class that will include the estates of 45 adults who died in the state’s custody and “for whom COVID-19 caused or contributed to their death.” The other is a damages class that would include anyone incarcerated after Feb. 1, 2020, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 at least 14 days after they were incarcerated.
The state could appeal Beckerman’s ruling, settle, or take the cases to trial. Spokespersons for the governor’s office, the Oregon Department of Corrections and the state’s Department of Justice declined to comment on the pending litigation.
Attorneys bringing the lawsuit have already used it to secure vaccines for adults in custody in February 2021 before vaccines were widely available.
In her ruling, Beckerman said she found the theory of the case was sufficient to certify classes. Other questions, she wrote, could only be answered by a jury, should the cases go to trial. For example, Beckerman did not answer whether the state acted with deliberate indifference, or whether that indifference was the reason thousands were sickened with COVID-19.
New York
Jury deliberations begin in sex abuse, forced labor trial
NEW YORK (AP) — A jury began deliberating Tuesday in the trial of Lawrence Ray, an ex-convict accused of moving into his daughter’s dorm at Sarah Lawrence College and manipulating her friends into a cult-like devotion to get free labor and millions of dollars.
Federal prosecutors said Ray started by charming his young victims, then turned to physical abuse and psychological torment to extort money, sex and other favors.
He tricked some into believing they had poisoned him, prosecutors said. One woman testified she was coerced into prostitution.
Although he did not testify, Ray maintained through his lawyers that he was falsely accused.
Jurors were set to resume work Wednesday after deliberating less than an hour. Ray, 62, is charged with racketeering, sex trafficking, conspiracy, forced labor and other crimes. He could face life in prison if convicted.
Federal authorities began investigating Ray after a lengthy article in New York magazine explored his relationship with students at Sarah Lawrence, a small, private liberal arts college just north of New York City.
At the trial, Ray was accused of spending nearly a decade manipulating a circle of his daughter’s friends, who he met after moving into her dorm in 2010.
One of them testified that Ray encouraged her to become a prostitute and pay him sex work proceeds as compensation for having poisoned him. She said she paid Ray $2.5 million over a four-year period, giving him between $10,000 and $50,000 a week.
Closing arguments concluded Tuesday before Judge Lewis J. Liman.
Ray’s lawyer, Marne Lenox, contended on Monday that Ray was the victim, and that the young people he lived with were “storytellers” who had made him feel attacked and paranoid.
“Everyone was out to get him, Larry believed,” Lenox said.
In a rebuttal summation, Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon criticized the defense for saying that multiple victims lied on the witness stand about their experiences.
The judge, though, told the jury that “each lawyer was just doing their jobs.”
Maryland
City’s top prosecutor granted delay in criminal trial
BALTIMORE (AP) — A judge on Tuesday granted a request by Baltimore’s top prosecutor to postpone her trial on federal criminal charges stemming from her purchase of two Florida vacation homes, court documents show.
State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby was scheduled to go to trial next month on charges of making false statements on financial documents to withdraw money from her retirement savings and purchase the houses. U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby granted the request Tuesday and rescheduled the trial for Sept. 19.
Mosby’s attorneys requested the postponement last week, saying they needed more time to prepare for the trial. Prosecutors said there was no reason to delay.
Previously, defense attorney A. Scott Bolden had said Mosby wanted a trial to start within 60 days of her arraignment on Feb. 4. In a February motion to dismiss the indictment, Mosby alleged that the prosecution is driven by an attempt to hurt her chances of winning reelection. The Democratic primary is scheduled for July 19.
In January, a grand jury indicted Mosby on two counts each of perjury and making a false statement on a loan application in purchasing a home in Kissimmee, Florida, and a condominium in Long Boat Key, Florida. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The indictment accuses Mosby of falsely stating that the COVID-19 pandemic harmed her finances so she could withdraw $90,000 from her city retirement account. Mosby’s gross salary in 2020 was over $247,000 and never was reduced, the indictment says.
Mosby was first elected in 2014 and rose to national prominence the following year when she pursued criminal charges against six police officers in the death of Freddie Gray, a Black man who suffered fatal injuries in police custody. His death sparked protests and riots. None of the officers was convicted.
Mosby is married to Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby. He has not been charged with any crimes.
