California
Court overturns 3 deputies’ murder conviction
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — An appellate court has reversed the murder convictions of the three Northern California deputies convicted in the 2015 jail beating death of a mentally ill inmate after a judge ruled that the primary legal theory prosecutors cited was invalidated by recent changes in state law.
In 2017, former Santa Clara County Sheriff deputies Jereh Lubrin, Matthew Farris and Rafael Rodriguez were convicted by a San Jose jury of second-degree murder in the death of Michael Tyree. They were sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
On Monday, Thomas Goethals, associate justice of the Fourth District court’s third division, noted in his ruling that Senate Bill 1437, passed in 2018, declared invalid the natural and probable consequences theory. That meant that while the jury instruction was proper at the time of the trial, it no longer is. And, Goethals said, the impact of the law is retroactive, the Mercury News reported Monday.
During the deputies’ trial, the judge told the jury it could consider a legal theory known as “natural and probable consequences,” which would allow it to find a defendant guilty of murder even if the person may not have committed the killing, because the victim’s death was a natural consequence of the defendant’s actions. In the Tyree case, this meant that the jury did not need to consider each defendant’s individual responsibility or awareness in order to find all three guilty of second-degree murder, the newspaper reported.
Prosecutors said Lubrin, Farris and Rodriguez severely beat Tyree, 31, in his cell. He died hours later from internal bleeding and suffered significant liver and spleen damage. Tyree was serving time for misdemeanor theft and drug possession. He had been housed by himself in a section of the jail reserved for inmates who are in protective custody or have special needs.
The state Attorney General’s Office said Monday it was reviewing the ruling. Unless the office appeals, Goethals’ conclusion will stand, and per his ruling, “the prosecution may elect to retry defendants on a valid theory or theories of homicide with a properly instructed jury.”
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office was not prepared to announce whether it will refile the case, also saying in a brief statement, “We’re reviewing the court’s decision.”
Rebecca Jones, the attorney who represented Rodriguez, lauded the court’s ruling.
“Prosecutors should not have been allowed to consider the NPC theory, and the appellate court could not find it was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt,” Jones said. “I think (the court) did the right thing.”
Attorneys for Lubrin and Farris did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
Connecticut
State victim advocate sentenced to 9 years for child porn
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A man who worked as a victim services advocate in the Connecticut court system has been sentenced to prison for child pornography.
Robert Eccleston was sentenced in federal court in Hartford on Monday to nine years in prison plus 10 years’ supervised release. He had pleaded guilty in January to one count of distribution of child porn.
According to the U.S. attorney’s office, FBI agents monitoring public groups on the social media application Kik traced two usernames to Eccleston and found numerous pornographic images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of toddlers and prepubescent children.
The 58-year-old Canton resident also served as an administrator of two online groups and required prospective members to send him videos of child sexual abuse, according to the prosecutor’s office.
At the time of his arrest, Eccleston was working as victim services advocate for the Hartford Superior Court. He has been detained since his arrest in December 2020.
A message seeking comment was left Tuesday with an attorney representing Eccleston.
For more than four decades, Connecticut has provided services to ensure that victims’ voices are heard in state courtrooms and are compensated for their losses.
Washington
Man accused of threatening Rep. Jayapal pleads not guilty
SEATTLE (AP) — A Seattle man charged with felony stalking for allegedly standing outside U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s home and yelling expletives while armed with a pistol has pleaded not guilty.
King County Superior Court judge on Tuesday set Brett Forsell’s bail at $150,000 during Forsell’s arraignment hearing, KING-TV reported.
The King County Prosecutor’s Office requested $500,000 bail, arguing Forsell is “likely to commit a violent offense if free in the community.” Forsell allegedly told investigators he would return to Jayapal’s home as soon as he was released.
Forsell, 49, was arrested July 9 after yelling obscenities and threats outside Jayapal’s Seattle home late at night and booked into jail. He was released when prosecutors said there wasn’t enough evidence for a hate crime charge, though authorities noted the investigation would continue.
Police later forwarded the stalking case for consideration, prosecutors said.
In 2016, Jayapal became the first Indian American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. The Democrat heads the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
As part of the felony stalking charge, prosecutors noted Forsell was armed with a deadly weapon and that Jayapal was stalked in connection with her elected position.
Forsell told police he drove by Jayapal’s house yelling obscenities multiple times since late June and on July 9 drove by, stopped, got out of the car and directed profanities at Jayapal, according to a probable cause statement.
A neighbor told police she heard a man threaten to kill Jayapal and believed the statements were made by the man arrested that night.
Forsell will have to meet several conditions including GPS monitoring, alcohol monitoring, stalking protection order and home monitoring if he posts bail.
Louisiana
Trial delayed for man accused of killing Taiwanese woman
MONROE, La. (AP) — A trial has been delayed again for a man accused of fatally stabbing a Taiwanese woman who had just received a graduate degree from the University of Louisiana at Monroe .
Quinton Tellis, 33, is now scheduled for trial in Ouachita Parish on Aug. 29 in the 2015 slaying of 34-year-old Ming-Chen Hsiao, the News-Star reported. He has previously gone on trial for the burning death of 19-year-old Jessica Chambers, but jurors have twice deadlocked regarding that 2014 Mississippi killing.
In terms of the trial over Hsiao’s death, court documents show that Tellis has waived his right to a jury trial and will be tried by a judge alone. Conviction on the second-degree murder charge would carry an automatic life sentence.
Hsiao’s body was found in her apartment near ULM’s campus in 2015.
Authorities believe Tellis burned Chambers to death a year before killing Hsiao. But t wo juries from different counties deadlocked on whether he was the person who set Chambers on fire. Prosecutors there have not said whether they will try him a third time.
The Louisiana trial date had been rescheduled from March 14 to Monday after Tellis’ attorneys hired an expert to determine where his phone was at the time of Hsiao’s slaying.
Her phone dialed the number on her debit card twice on the night of her death, hanging up each time before the call was answered. At 8:16 and 8:18 p.m., Tellis’ phone dialed the same number, and Hsiao’s debit card and identification numbers were entered.
Tellis pleaded guilty in 2016 to illegally using Hsiao’s debit card and was sentenced to 10 years as a habitual offender.
California
Detective allegedly sent graphic photos to decoy
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California police detective allegedly sent graphic messages to a decoy pretending to be a 14-year-old girl and some of the communications occurred while he was on duty, prosecutors said Tuesday.
The civilian decoy contacted Orange County Crime Stoppers and reported that a person claiming to be a 45-year-old police officer had sent them inappropriate messages in December and January, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.
Santa Ana Police Detective Gregory Beaumarchais allegedly also created a second social media account after a technology platform revoked his original access, prosecutors said.
Beaumarchais, 43, turned himself in Tuesday. He is charged with one misdemeanor count of annoying or molesting a victim believed to be under the age of 18. It was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
Beaumarchais, a member of the police department since 2011, has been on administrative leave since mid-December, when the agency was notified of his alleged conduct.
“Our Department will not tolerate inappropriate behavior or alleged criminal conduct that infringes on the trust provided by the community we are hired to serve,” Santa Ana Police Chief David Valentin said in a news release.
Beaumarchais faces up to a year in jail and would have to register as a sex offender if convicted.
“It is beyond disturbing that a sworn police officer would engage in inappropriate conversations with someone he believed to be a child,” District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a news release. “Our children should not have to worry about being preyed upon by the very people we teach them who are there to protect them.”
Washington
Woman sentenced to 34 years in prison after toddler death
BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — A 30-year-old woman who abused a Bellingham toddler to death will spend several decades in prison.
After a two-hour hearing Tuesday, Whatcom County Superior Court Judge David Freeman sentenced Kamee Nicole Dixon to 34 years in prison, with three years probation, the Bellingham Herald reported.
A jury found Dixon guilty June 30 of homicide by abuse for the 2019 death of 3-year-old Hazel Journey Homan. Dixon was also charged with second-degree murder, but a mistrial was declared because the jury was deadlocked and couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict.
The murder charge was dismissed without prejudice at Dixon’s sentencing hearing.
The King County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the child’s death a homicide.
Dixon was not the child’s biological mother, but was her primary caregiver and in a relationship with her biological father, Brandon Homan.
Dixon’s lawyers argued that Hazel’s death was a “tragic accident” that occurred after she choked on a breakfast sandwich and the lack of oxygen to her brain resulted in her death.
But prosecutors argued that Dixon hit Hazel until the child suffered a traumatic brain injury that resulted in her death. During the trial, Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Erik Sigmar said the child suffered repeated abuse at the hands of Dixon over the last five months of her life.
Dixon is the first person to be charged, tried and convicted for homicide by abuse, which has been a criminal charge since 1987, by the Whatcom County Prosecutor’s Office.
