Louisiana
Convicted at 17, prisoner, now 53, exonerated in rape
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Black man wrongfully convicted as a teenager for a New Orleans rape more than 36 years ago was ordered freed Thursday after a judge threw out his conviction.
Sullivan Walter, now 53, used a handkerchief to wipe away tears as a state district judge formally vacated his conviction for a home-invasion rape. Judge Darryl Derbigny expressed anger that blood and semen evidence that could have cleared him never made it to the jury.
“To say this was unconscionable is an understatement,” Derbigny told Walter.
After appearing in court in New Orleans, Walter was driven to Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel, where he was officially released.
District Attorney Jason Williams’ office joined with defense attorneys working with Innocence Project New Orleans, a criminal justice advocacy group, to have the conviction vacated.
Walter was 17 when he was arrested in connection with the New Orleans rape. The rapist had entered the home of the victim, identified in the record as L.S., in May 1986, held a knife to her throat and threatened to harm her 8-year-old son, who slept through the incident.
Emily Maw, an attorney with Williams’ office, outlined the problems in the case in court, noting there were reasons to believe the victim, the only witness, had mistakenly identified Walter.
“There were some red flags that the eyewitness testimony could well have been unreliable,” Maw told Derbigny.
Those “red flags” had been spelled out in a joint filing by the defense and prosecutors ahead of Thursday’s hearing.
“In this case, L.S. was being asked to make a cross-racial identification of someone who at all the times that she could observe him was either masked, in an unlit room at night, and/or threatening her not to look at him. In addition, L.S. was not shown a photo array containing Mr. Walter until over six weeks after the crime,” the motion said.
More significantly, no evidence was presented about Walter’s blood characteristics that did not match the semen collected from the victim after the rape.
The filing also recounts years of errors by Walter’s previous attorneys, including failing to point out conflicting statements by a police officer who worked on the case and missteps during the appeal process regarding the blood and semen evidence.
When he was cleared Thursday, Walter had been serving a total sentence of 39 years — four for a burglary charge unrelated to the rape case, and 35 years for multiple charges in the rape case.
Attorneys said the victim in the rape is now deceased. Maw said in court that authorities had reached out to the victim’s son, who was not present, and that he had expressed regret on behalf of his mother about the wrongful conviction.
Innocence Project New Orleans Legal Director Richard Davis said Walter’s race was a factor in the wrongful conviction.
“The lawyers and law enforcement involved acted as if they believed that they could do what they chose to a Black teenager from a poor family and would never be scrutinized or held to account,” Davis said in a written statement. “This is not just about individuals and their choices, but the systems that let them happen.”
Virginia
July 4 shooting plot suspect pleads to immigration charge
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Guatemalan immigrant whom police accused of helping to plot a mass shooting in Virginia’s capital on July 4 pleaded guilty Thursday to an immigration charge.
A federal judge accepted Rolman Balcarcel-Bavagas’ plea to a charge of reentering the U.S. after deportation and set sentencing for Nov. 10, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. Balcarcel-Bavagas, 38, faces up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Neither Balcarcel-Bavagas nor a co-defendant, Julio Alvarado-Dubon, have been charged in direct connection with the alleged plot, and a federal prosecutor made no mention of it Thursday, according to the newspaper.
At a July 6 news conference, police said an Independence Day shooting had been thwarted and announced the men’s arrest. Chief Gerald Smith said a “hero citizen” contacted police after overhearing a conversation about an attack being planned.
Officers seized two assault rifles, a handgun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition from the home where police said the men lived.
The U.S. Attorney’s office took over the case earlier this month at the request of Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette McEachin.
According to the government’s statement of facts in Balcarcel-Bavagas’ immigration case, he is a Guatemalan citizen residing illegally in the U.S. who was previously removed twice from the country. He was allowed to depart voluntarily in 2013 and then deported in 2014, according to the court documents.
Alvarado-Dubon has been charged with possession of a firearm by a non-U.S. citizen. Court records do not indicate when he will next be in court.
Arizona
Ex-cop indicted in death of suspect in a wheelchair
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A former Tucson police officer fired after a fatal shooting last year in which he allegedly shot an armed shoplifting suspect in a motorized wheelchair nine times has been indicted for manslaughter.
Pima County Attorney Laura Conover said Ryan Remington was served with a summons Thursday and will be arraigned next week.
Prosecutors said Remington faces a sentence of between three to 12½ years if he’s convicted.
Remington’s attorney Mike Storie said his client was looking forward to an unbiased jury considering the case.
John Bradley, a lawyer for the victim’s family, said the family plans to proceed with a separate civil suit against Remington in the next few weeks.
Tucson police suspended Remington, a four-year veteran, after the Nov. 29 shooting. Following an internal investigation, he was fired Jan. 5 for what police determined was excessive use of force.
Authorities said 61-year-old Richard Lee Richards died at the scene and the shooting was recorded on Remington’s body camera.
Police said Remington was on a security detail at a Walmart when a loss prevention employee told him a man in a mobility scooter allegedly stole a toolbox from the store.
According to police, Remington and the store employee followed the man who was later identified as Richards and asked for a receipt.
Richards reportedly said “Here’s my receipt,” pulled out a knife and kept moving toward a nearby home improvement store.
“If you want me to put down the knife, you’re going to have to shoot me,” Richards reportedly told Remington.
Remington allegedly ordered Richards to drop the knife and not to enter the store, but the suspect ignored the officer before he was fatally shot and fell out of his wheelchair.
California
Social worker charged with abusing mental hospital patients
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) — A licensed clinical social worker has been charged with sexually assaulting patients while working at a Southern California psychiatric hospital, prosecutors said.
The alleged abuse occurred between 2014 and 2018 at Patton State Hospital east of Los Angeles, the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Wednesday.
The defendant, a 63-year-old man from Redlands, faces nine felony counts including rape of a person incapable of giving consent and oral copulation of an incompetent person, the statement said.
Bail was set at $2 million. The defendant’s next court hearing is scheduled for Sept. 2.
The arrest came following an investigation by the Department of State Hospitals’ Office of Protective Services, the DA’s office said.
Missouri
Execution date set for man who shot police officer
The Missouri Supreme Court has set a Nov. 29 execution date for a man who shot and killed a suburban St. Louis police sergeant in 2005.
The court announced Wednesday that Kevin Johnson, 36, is scheduled to die by lethal injection for the death of 43-year-old Kirkwood Police Sgt. Bill McEntee.
The execution date comes despite opposition from the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, which wants a special prosecutor to investigate whether Johnson’s conviction and death sentence resulted from racial bias.
Johnson, who was 19 when he shot McEntee, was convicted of first-degree murder after his second trial in 2008. His first trial ended in a hung jury.
On July 5, 2005, police were looking for Johnson on an alleged probation violation when his 12-year-old brother suffered a seizure at their home. Several officers, including McEntee, responded to the medical emergency. Johnson’s brother later died at a hospital from a heart condition.
When McEntee, a 20-year veteran, returned to the neighborhood later that day to investigate a report about fireworks, Johnson shot him several times in front of witnesses, according to court records.
Then-St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch argued that Johnson believed officers had not done enough to help his brother earlier in the day and shot McEntee, the father of three, in revenge.
Johnson testified at both trials that he was in a trance-like state caused by his brother’s death when he shot McEntee.
Johnson’s attorneys appealed his conviction on several issues, including whether he lacked the deliberation necessary for a first-degree murder conviction.
The U.S. Supreme Court in March declined to hear the case, leading to the setting of the execution date.
Johnson’s attorney, Shawn Nolan, said in a statement that Johnson’s execution was the result of racial bias in McCulloch’s administration. He said Johnson, who is Black, is remorseful and has been a model prisoner who does not deserve the death penalty.
Because the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s office agrees that Johnson’s conviction and death sentence should be investigated, “the court should not have scheduled his execution,” Nolan said. “We plan to pursue all available avenues for judicial relief and executive clemency on Kevin’s behalf.”
Johnson’s execution would be the second this year in Missouri. Carman Deck, 56, of the St. Louis area, was put to death in May for the killings of James and Zelma Long in their home near De Soto in 1996.
Florida
Man convicted of hate crime in roadway altercation
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man has been convicted of a federal hate crime for a 2021 altercation with a Black motorist on a city street.
Court documents show a jury in Tampa convicted Jordan Patrick Leahy, 29, on Wednesday of interfering for racially-motivated reasons with the motorist’s right to use the street.
Leahy faces a maximum 10-year prison sentence and up to $250,000 in fines. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
Trial evidence showed that on Aug. 8, 2021, Leahy pulled alongside the Black motorist, identified only as J.T., who was driving along a Pinellas County road with his 4-year-old daughter and girlfriend. Leahy yelled racial slurs at J.T., pretended to “shoot” at J.T.’s vehicle with hand gestures and swerved into J.T.’s lane.
The pair confronted each other at a stoplight and when sheriff’s deputies arrived, prosecutors say Leahy made several racially-motivated comments such as saying Black people should stay “in their areas.”
“No one should be targeted, threatened, intimidated or assaulted because of their race,” U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg said in a news release. “The defendant in this case acted upon his bigoted beliefs and put an entire family and others’ safety at risk.”
