Arkansas
Court asked to put marijuana measure on ballot
Supporters of a recreational marijuana initiative have asked the Arkansas Supreme Court to order election officials to put their measure on the November ballot.
Responsible Growth Arkansas asked the court on Thursday to reverse the State Board of Election Commissioners’ rejection of the popular name and ballot title for the proposed constitutional amendment. The group had submitted more than enough signatures to qualify, but the proposal also needed the approval of the board to appear on the ballot.
Board members on Wednesday criticized the measure, saying it did not fully describe the proposal’s impact. The Thursday lawsuit said the board used an “overly stringent” approach that violates the state’s constitution. It also challenges a 2019 law that empowers the board to certify ballot measures.
Before that law, ballot measures had to be reviewed by the attorney general before petitions could be circulated.
Arkansas voters in 2016 approved a constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana.
Texas
Former police chief gets 15 1/2 years for bribery
SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) — A former West Texas police chief was sentenced Friday to 15 1/2 years in prison for taking bribes for a multimillion-dollar contract for a city vendor.
A federal judge sentenced former San Angelo police Chief Timothy Ray Vasquez, 52, in San Angelo after a jury in March convicted him of bribery and mail fraud. U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix also fined Vasquez $35,000.
Vasquez was police chief from 2004 to 2016 before losing a bid for reelection while targeted by federal investigators. He was indicted in January 2020.
Federal prosecutors presented evidence that Vasquez used his position as police chief to help a radio system vendor land a city contract worth almost $6 million. In return, the vendor paid more than $175,000 to Vasquez and provided him with the use of luxury suites at sporting events and a rock concert, as well as a San Antonio condo.
Vasquez could have been sentenced to up to 70 years in prison.
Massachusetts
School dean who shot student ordered to pay $10M judgment
BOSTON (AP) — A former dean at a Boston high school known affectionately by students as “Rev” has been ordered by a federal judge to pay more than $10 million in damages to a former student he was convicted of trying to kill in a dispute over drug sales.
The default judgment Friday against former English High School Dean Shaun Harrison includes $7.5 million in damages for pain, suffering and emotional distress; $2.5 million in punitive damages; and more than $80,000 for the victim’s medical bills.
Harrison was convicted in state court in 2018 of assault and other charges, and sentenced to up to 26 years in prison.
Harrison, who had a background as a community organizer and youth minister, was dean of academics, a job that required keeping order and mentoring students, according to testimony at trial.
But he was leading a double life, authorities said. He had ties to the violent Latin Kings gang, recruited students to sell drugs for him, and kept a gun at his apartment.
Harrison denied the charges, telling a Boston television station that he “never lived a double life.”
The victim, who had been recruited by Harrison to sell marijuana, was 17 when he was shot in the back of the head at point-blank range on a snowy Boston street in March 2015.
The bullet barely missed the victim’s brain stem and carotid artery, but shattered his jaw. He underwent two surgeries, had his jaw wired shut for nine months, remains paralyzed on half of his face, suffers from facial neuropathy, hearing loss, and requires weights on his eyelids to help with opening and shutting his eyes, according to court documents. He continues to experience pain from the bullet that remains lodged in his head and developed an addiction to opioids prescribed for the pain.
No attorney was listed for Harrison in the civil case filed by the victim in 2019.
It’s unclear whether the victim will ever get any money from Harrison.
“The judgment against Mr. Harrison as an individual will ensure that he is never able to profit from any endeavors when he is released from prison, including selling the rights to this story for publication,” the plaintiff’s attorney, John Martin said in an email Saturday.
The Boston Public Schools was also named as a defendant, but the judge dismissed claims against the system. That ruling is being appealed, Martin said.
“Boston Public Schools was absolutely dismissive of student safety and grossly negligent when it allowed a predator to have a position of trust and authority at that school after multiple incidents that should have resulted in his termination,” he wrote.
Florida
Probation for woman who wiped up blood after killing spouse
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A Florida woman who was acquitted of murdering her husband, a prominent official at the University of Central Florida, was sentenced Friday to a year of probation for tampering with evidence.
A judge sentenced Danielle Redlick in state court in Orlando.
Last month, a jury acquitted Danielle Redlick of second-degree murder in the death of her husband, Michael Redlick. Danielle Redlick said she had killed her husband out of self-defense during a fight inside their home in which he had tried to “smother her to death.”
Jurors found Danielle Redlick guilty of evidence tampering for cleaning up her husband’s blood after stabbing him. Detectives found a pile of bloody towels, a bloody mop, bloody footprints and the strong smell of bleach in the house. She spent three years in jail prior to the trial.
Michael Redlick was the director of external affairs and partnership relations for the DeVos Sport Business Management Program at the University of Central Florida. He had previously worked for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Cleveland Browns and Memphis Grizzlies.
Court records showed that the Redlicks had been going through a divorce before the case was dismissed from a lack of action by Danielle Redlick, who initiated the court proceeding.
In a divorce petition, Danielle Redlick said the marriage was “irretrievably broken” and she was asking for alimony because she said she was unable to support herself without assistance. She listed herself as an unemployed photographer and multimedia professional.
Arizona
Eviction filings surge in big county home to Phoenix
PHOENIX (AP) — Eviction filings in Arizona’s largest county have surged higher than at any time in the last 13 years.
Data released Thursday by the Maricopa County Justice Court shows that the July filing figure of 6,405 is higher than any month since October 2008, when the number hit 6,975.
It’s also the second month in a row that the court that includes Phoenix metro has seen a monthly filing total higher than any seen in 2019 before the coronavirus pandemic.
Not all eviction filings result in lockouts by landlords, which can be forestalled with last minute payments with rental assistance or court agreements.
Maricopa County had among the highest levels of evictions in the United States before state and federal eviction moratoriums slowed lockouts during the pandemic. Those eviction bans have long since ended.
The White House is calling on states to find ways to prevent evictions as federal emergency rental assistance funds made available during the pandemic start to wind down.
New Mexico was lauded this week during a White House summit for its successful programs to rein in evictions, said the state’s Supreme Court Chief Justice C. Shannon Bacon.
Bacon credited a court-based eviction prevention program that was phased in this year to help tenants and landlords.
New Mexico has awarded over $148 million for rent, utilities, emergency housing and moving costs to help more than 44,000 households, the court’s administrative office said Thursday.
Alabama
Court sets fall arguments on trans youth treatment ban
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A federal appeals court will hear arguments in November over Alabama’s efforts to outlaw the use of gender-affirming medications to treat transgender minors.
Alabama is asking a federal appeals court to lift an injunction and let it enforce a law that would make it a felony to give puberty blockers or hormones to transgender minors to help affirm their gender identity. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has tentatively set arguments for the week of Nov. 14 in Montgomery.
U.S. District Judge Liles Burke in May issued a preliminary injunction to stop the state from enforcing the medication ban while a lawsuit goes forward.
Families and advocacy groups challenged the ban as an illegal intrusion into family and medical decisions. Alabama has maintained the ban is needed to protect children.
The state has appealed. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey in May referred to the injunction as a “temporary legal roadblock.”
Alabama’s appeal cites the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on abortion, invoking the majority opinion that argues that unenumerated constitutional rights — those not explicitly mentioned in the document — must be “deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and traditions.”
A judge blocked a similar law from taking effect in Arkansas. A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in July heard arguments in that state’s appeal.
Arizona
24-year sentence for man who killed state jail officer
A Phoenix man was sentenced to 24 years in prison for his convictions for manslaughter in the 2013 killing of a Maricopa County jail officer and for aggravated assault in the shooting of someone else two days later at a party.
Authorities say Leonard Moreno, then 15 years old, fatally shot Detention Officer Jorge Vargas as the officer was in his driveway getting ready to leave for work. Moreno, now 24, has already spent nearly nine years in jail awaiting resolution of his case.
Before punishment was imposed on Friday, Vargas’ family members told the court about the enduring pain they feel from the death and strongly criticized the term of Moreno’s plea agreement. Prosecutors said the plea deal was offered because of issues with both the facts of the case and the availability of witnesses to testify.
Superior Court Judge Jacki Ireland agreed with Vargas family that the deal was extraordinarily lenient, but the judge said it does bring a measure of justice.
“The single factor that is allowing this court to accept the plea agreement — the single factor —is that the government had serious factual issues with their case,” Ireland said before announcing the sentence.
Moreno declined to address the court. His lawyers cited his young age at the time the crimes were committed and said he took responsibility for his actions by pleading guilty.
Vargas was an eight-year veteran who worked for the sheriff’s Custody Support Bureau in a jail food factory. He is survived by his wife and son, who is now 14 years old.
