Idaho
Increase in felony criminal cases strains some courts
LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) — Prosecutors and public defenders in north-central Idaho are struggling to keep up with hundreds of felony criminal cases, and the backlog is straining budgets.
Nez Perce County has 330 felonies in its court system and is expecting that number to reach nearly 500 by the end of September, The Lewiston Tribune reported.
Felony public defender Rick Cuddihy said there are several reasons for the increase in felony cases. Courts postponed jury trials for a time during the coronavirus pandemic. Poor mental health can contribute to crime, as can a tough economy, he said.
“All that together, the constellation of factors, have created this,” Cuddihy said.
The strain likely won’t lift any time soon, because felonies generally take between six and 12 months to resolve through the court process, said Nez Perce County Prosecutor Justin Coleman.
“Before a murder trial, two prosecutors are assigned to virtually nothing but trial prep for at least two weeks prior,” Coleman said. “When you have 450 other felony cases to juggle among the rest of the office (you) can get overworked quickly.”
State guidelines also limit how many felony cases each public defender can handle at one time, in an effort to help ensure that defendants are given adequate representation in court. When Nez Perce County’s felony public defenders reach the top of their case limits, the public defenders that normally handle misdemeanors are assigned to the cases.
Attorney Paige Nolta, of Nolta Law Office, normally handles misdemeanor public defense cases. This year, she is handling 27 felony cases, compared to 8 felony cases last year.
One of the ways Nolta and the three other misdemeanor public defense attorneys are handling the surge is by taking on cases by person. For example, if someone is charged with a felony and then later is charged with a misdemeanor, that person would be represented by the same attorney for both cases, regardless of the degree of the charge.
When working on misdemeanor cases, Nolta said she tries to fix the underlying problem or trauma a person has — such as mental health issues or drug and alcohol abuse — to hopefully prevent felonies in the first place. Addressing those issues also helps prevent recidivism, the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend.
“Sometimes we’re successful, sometimes we’re not, but every case we try to approach it that way,” she said. “We really try to look at the whole person and fix the underlying issue.”
Louisiana
Judge blocks state’s Congress map with one Black district
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana’s Democratic governor said Monday he will call the Republican-dominated Legislature into special session soon to draw up new congressional district boundaries, now that a federal judge has blocked use of maps that have only one majority-Black district.
Gov. John Bel Edwards announced his plan at a news conference at the Capitol in Baton Rouge. He spoke to reporters minutes after the 2022 regular legislative session ended, and a few hours after U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick, also in Baton Rouge, blocked the use of the new maps. Her ruling included an order that the Legislature draw up with a remedial plan by June 20.
Edwards, whose veto of the maps was overridden by lawmakers earlier this year, said there should have been a second majority-Black district among the six districts that were approved, noting that the state’s population is almost one-third Black.
Edwards said redrawing the district lines is required by the court order, the Voting Rights Act and by “basic fairness and basic math.”
But, lawyers for Republican Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin, the state’s top elected official, swiftly filed a notice of appeal of Dick’s order.
Dick’s June 20 deadline for drawing new district lines is one month before the signup period for the Nov. 8 congressional election.
“If the Legislature is unable to pass a remedial plan by that date, the Court will issue additional orders to enact a remedial plan compliant with the laws and Constitution of the United States,” the judge wrote.
The district map was drawn up in a special session earlier this year during a legislative special session called to redraw government district lines to account for population shifts show in the 2020 census. Edwards vetoed the maps but his veto was overridden. That led to a lawsuit by voting rights advocates.
Ardoin filed a notice of appeal with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. Ultimately, the case could wind up before the Supreme Court, which earlier this year put on hold a lower court ruling that Alabama must draw new congressional districts before the 2022 elections to increase Black voting power.
Ardoin’s office declined comment on the litigation.
In blocking the use of the map pending further elections, Dick said those filing the lawsuit were likely to prevail with their argument that the new districts violate the federal Voting Rights Act. She blocked Ardoin from conducting any elections using the new map.
New York
Judge lets sex assault suit go on against actor Kevin Spacey
NEW YORK (AP) — A sex-assault civil lawsuit against actor Kevin Spacey can proceed in federal court in New York City, a federal judge ruled Monday.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said in a written ruling that the allegations that actor Anthony Rapp brought against Spacey established an issue of material fact as to whether Rapp sufficiently alleges that Spacey acted to gratify sexual desire during an encounter at a Manhattan party in 1986 when Rapp was 14.
The judge noted that Rapp has alleged that Spacey placed a clothed Rapp on a bed and briefly put his own clothed body partially beside and partially across Rapp’s before Rapp “wriggled out,” got up, and left the premises.
In his lawsuit, Rapp seeks compensatory and punitive damages for what he alleges was assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Rapp testified at a deposition that there was no kissing, no undressing, no reaching under clothes and no sexualized statements or innuendo during an encounter that lasted no more than two minutes, the judge said.
Spacey denies the allegations.
Kaplan did dismiss a common law assault allegation, saying the claim was not included in those revived by a Child Victims Act in New York state that in 2019 temporarily allowed individuals to make claims in instances in which the statute of limitations would normally have barred them.
The ruling comes two weeks after British prosecutors said they had authorized police to charge Spacey with four counts of sexual assault against three men. The alleged incidents occurred in London between 2005 and 2013.
Peter Saghir, a lawyer for Rapp, declined comment. A lawyer for Spacey did not return a message seeking comment.
