California
County judge censured for DUI, lying to police
STOCKTON, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California judge has been publicly censured for misconduct after he crashed his SUV while driving under the influence of alcohol, attempted to leave the scene of the crash, and lied to bystanders and police officers, the state Commission on Judicial Performance announced Thursday.
The commission said Judge Michael J. Mulvihill, Jr., of San Joaquin County Superior Court, consented to the discipline, which is a step below removal from office.
Mulvihill, who was sworn in as a Superior Court judge in 2015, crashed his car on Jan. 1 in Stockton near the Calaveras River.
A bystander filmed Mulvihill’s vehicle speeding as it approaches a bridge on the river, swerving and crashing into the curb and fencing of the roadway. Mulvihill told bystanders who prevented him from getting back in the vehicle and driving away that it would be “extra bad” for him to stay because he was a truck driver, the commission said.
After he was unable to get back in the SUV, he left the scene on foot but a bystander chased after him and convinced him to return to the scene, it said.
Mulvihill told police officers who showed up at the scene that he had been texting and driving. When they asked him if he had been drinking, he told them he had had two beers, but a DUI test done nearly three hours after the crash showed he had a blood level content of .25 percent, the commission said.
It’s against the law in California for a person with a blood alcohol content of .08 percent or more to drive a motor vehicle.
“Judge Mulvihill’s conduct reflects poorly on his integrity, negatively impacts the public’s perception of him, and of the judiciary in general, and is seriously at odds with the canons and expected judicial behavior,” the commission said.
Mulvihill was charged with a DUI and pleaded no contest. He was sentenced in June to 10 days in jail, three years of informal probation, and a nine-month DUI class.
The commission said it took into consideration that Mulvihill promptly reported his arrest, acknowledged that he had committed serious misconduct, and cooperated fully and honestly in commission proceedings.
The judge was also publicly censured for making “discourteous remarks towards a litigant in court, which he acknowledged and expressed regret for his lack of dignity and patience,” the commission said.
California
Federal prison worker pleads guilty to inmate sex abuse
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — One of five workers accused of sexually abusing inmates at a federal women’s prison in California pleaded guilty on Thursday, prosecutors said.
Enrique Chavez entered a plea to one count of abusive sexual contact with a prisoner at the Federal Correctional Institute, Dublin in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Federal prosecutors said Chavez, 50, was a food service foreman there two years ago when he locked the door to the pantry and fondled an inmate.
Chavez could face up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced on Feb. 2, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.
“The public trusts correctional officers to act with integrity, but instead, Chavez used his position of power to sexually abuse an inmate under his supervision,” said a statement from Zachary Shroyer, special agent in charge of the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General in Los Angeles.
Chavez was the fifth employee at the Dublin prison to be charged with sexual abuse of inmates since June 2021. Others include the prison’s former warden and a chaplain. He is the third to have pleaded guilty.
The former chaplain, James Theodore Highhouse, was sentenced in August to seven years in prison — more than double the recommended punishment in federal sentencing guidelines.
Ross Klinger, a recycling technician, pleaded guilty in February but has yet to be sentenced.
The former warden, Ray J. Garcia, has pleaded not guilty to abusing three women. He is scheduled to go on trial in November.
Earlier this year, an Associated Press investigation revealed years of sexual misconduct at FCI Dublin. The AP also detailed steps that were taken to keep abuse secret, such as ignoring allegations, retaliating against whistleblowers and sending prisoners to solitary confinement or other prisons for reporting abuse.
The Justice Department and the Bureau of Prisons convened a task force of 18 senior executives to visit Dublin, examine conditions and meet with inmates and staff members.
New Mexico
Sentence handed down for slaying of girl
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A man convicted of child abuse and other charges stemming from the 2016 death and dismemberment of an Albuquerque girl was sentenced to 37 1/2 years in prison Thursday.
Prosecutors had sought a maximum sentence of 40 years for Fabian Gonzales. State District Judge Cindy Leos combined two of the tampering with evidence counts that related to the removal of the victim’s body parts, thus resulting in a slightly shorter prison term.
During trial earlier this year, prosecutors said that although Gonzales didn’t kill Victoria Martens, he set in motion events that created a dangerous environment that led to the girl’s death.
Martens’ death — on her 10th birthday — sent shockwaves through the community.
The girl’s mother, Michelle Martens, will be sentenced for her role in the coming weeks. Gonzales was dating the woman and had moved into the apartment where she was living with her daughter.
According to investigators, Gonzales had allowed his cousin, Jessica Kelley, to stay at the apartment shortly after Kelley was released from prison. Investigators determined that Martens and Gonzales were not at the home when Victoria was killed but that Kelley was there.
Prosecutors said Victoria was killed either by an unknown man or by Kelley, who was using methamphetamine and acting paranoid that day. Gonzales’ attorneys had argued that Kelley killed the girl and then tried to cover it up.
The case remains open and authorities are looking for an unidentified man based on DNA evidence that was found.
Kelley, who earlier pleaded guilty to child abuse and other charges, was sentenced to 44 years in prison and will be eligible for parole in half that time. Michelle Martens pleaded guilty to a child abuse charge in an agreement that calls for her to be sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison. Her sentencing has been postponed to Nov. 10.
Indiana
Jury convicts man in bank robbery where guard was slain
HAMMOND, Ind. (AP) — A federal jury has convicted a Gary man of armed robbery and a weapons charge in the slaying of a bank security guard last year, prosecutors said Thursday.
The jury found Hailey Gist-Holden, 26, guilty of armed robbery and using, carrying, brandishing and discharging a firearm during the June 11, 2021, robbery at First Midwest Bank in Gary, prosecutors said.
Gist-Holden was arrested a week later in Georgia.
Security guard Richard Castellana, 55, of Tinley Park, Illinois, died during the robbery.
The jury returned the verdict following a nine-day trial presided over by U.S. District Court Judge Philp Simon, prosecutors said.
Gist-Holden’s sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 19, 2023.
Co-defendants James Anthony King of Miami and Kenyon Hawkins pled guilty to armed bank robbery and murder resulting from the discharge of a firearm during the robbery, prosecutors said. Both are awaiting sentencing.
Police say Gist-Holden and King, armed with a handgun and rifle, stormed the bank and ambushed Castellana before he saw them coming. They allegedly fled with $9,771. Hawkins’ alleged role wasn’t clear.
The government alleged Gist-Holden carried out the bank robbery to bail out his semipro football team, the Illini Panthers.
Authorities said Gist-Holden needed money to pay his players, their hotel bills and rent on his Gary home. They allege Gist-Holden enlisted King, one of his football players, to assist in the robbery.
Delaware
Ex-boyfriend guilty of murder in killing of 17-year-old girl
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A Delaware man who lured his ex-girlfriend to a wooded area and beat her to death with a baseball bat was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder and other crimes.
A jury deliberated for less than three hours before finding Noah Sharp, 21, guilty of murder, conspiracy and possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony.
Sharp faces a mandatory life sentence. Prosecutors are also recommending a life sentence for Sharp’s accomplice, Annika Stalczynski, who pleaded guilty to murder and conspiracy in the killing of 17-year-old Madison Sparrow.
Under state law, Stalczynski would be eligible for modification of a life sentence after 30 years because she was a juvenile at the time of the murder.
Sparrow, a junior at Newark Charter School, was reported missing on Oct. 2, 2020 after she didn’t return home from a trip with Stalczynski to get ice cream.
Authorities identified Sharp as a suspect and determined that he and Stalczynski conspired to lure Sparrow into a wooded area behind an elementary school and kill her.
Sharp was arrested a week after Sparrow’s disappearance and led investigators to her body, which was buried in a shallow grave.
Indiana
Jury acquits man of abandoning adult daughter
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — A jury acquitted a man of neglect charges Thursday after he was accused with his ex-wife of abandoning an adopted daughter.
The Tippecanoe Superior Court panel deliberated about two hours before finding Michael Barnett not guilty of three neglect charges and conspiracy to commit neglect of a dependent.
The daughter, Ukrainian immigrant Natalia Barnett, said her adoptive parents, before moving to Canada, abandoned her in a second-story Lafayette apartment in which she was unable to navigate the stairs and was without a walker or wheelchair or any knowledge of the city.
Natalia Barnett testified on Wednesday she learned nearly everything about life, including how to read, write and wash her hair, from a Lafayette family that took her in.
Prosecutors argued she was “entirely dependent” on Barnett and his ex-wife, Kristine, and there was “no one she knew she could turn to for help.”
However, defense attorneys argued “she wanted nothing to do with the Barnetts. She had moved on.”
The defense showed jurors videos of Natalia Barnett running across a street, walking through a grocery store and clinging to the edge of a pool. They argued she was an able-bodied adult who was no longer interested in being a part of the family.
Michael Barnett and his ex-wife have said Natalia was an adult pretending to be a child.
Michael Barnett and his attorneys declined to comment after the verdict. A judge imposed a gag order in the case three years ago.
Natalia came to the U.S. from Ukraine in 2010. Two years later, Marion County Probate Court established Natalia’s age at 22.
Neglect charges remain pending against Kristine Barnett.
