Florida
Disney lawsuit judge removes himself from case
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge overseeing the First Amendment lawsuit that Walt Disney Parks filed against Gov. Ron DeSantis and others is disqualifying himself, but not because of bias claims made by the Florida governor.
Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker said in a court filing Thursday that it was because a relative owns 30 shares of Disney stock. Walker described the person as “a third-degree relative,” which typically means a cousin, a great-aunt or great-uncle, or a great-niece or great-nephew.
The governor’s lawyers had filed a motion to disqualify Walker last month because he had referenced the ongoing dispute between the DeSantis administration and Disney during hearings in two unrelated lawsuits before him dealing with free speech issues and fear of retaliation for violating new laws championed by the governor and Republican lawmakers.
Disney had opposed the governor’s motion, saying the judge had shown no bias.
The judge on Thursday called DeSantis’ arguments “without merit.” DeSantis declared his candidacy for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination last week.
Under the code of conduct for federal judges, Walker wasn’t required to look into the financial interests of third-degree relatives but did so and decided that “disqualification from this proceeding is required under the circumstances,” he said.
“Even though I believe it is highly unlikely that these proceedings will have a substantial effect on The Walt Disney Company, I choose to err on the side of caution — which, here, is also the side of judicial integrity — and disqualify myself,” said Walker, who was nominated to the federal bench in 2012 by President Barack Obama.
The feud between DeSantis and Disney started last year after the company, in the face of significant pressure, publicly opposed legislation concerning lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades that critics called “Don’t Say Gay.”
As punishment, DeSantis took over Disney World’s governing district through legislation passed by lawmakers and appointed a new board of supervisors. Before the new board came in, the company signed agreements with the old board made up of Disney supporters that stripped the new supervisors of design and construction authority.
In response, the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature passed legislation allowing the DeSantis-appointed board to repeal those agreements and made the theme park resort’s monorail system subject to state inspection, when it previously had been done in-house.
Disney filed the First Amendment lawsuit against the Florida governor and the DeSantis-appointed board in April, claiming violations of free speech and the contracts clause. The DeSantis-appointed board sued Disney in state court in Orlando seeking to void the deals the company made with the previous board.
California
Former Playboy model accuses Cosby of sexually assaulting her in 1969, files lawsuit
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former Playboy model who alleges Bill Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her and another woman at his home in 1969 sued him Thursday under a new California law that suspends the statute of limitations on sex abuse claims.
In her lawsuit, Victoria Valentino, 80, says she was an actress and singer 54 years ago, when she met Cosby, now 85. The comedian and actor later approached her at a Los Angeles café, where he spotted her crying over the recent drowning death of her 6-year-old son.
The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly.
Cosby offered to pay for a spa treatment for Valentino and a friend, and then sent a chauffeured car to pick the women up for dinner. That evening at a steakhouse, Cosby gave them each a pill, she said in the court filing.
“Here! Take this!” the lawsuit alleges Cosby said to them. “It will make you feel better. It will make us ALL feel better.”
Cosby then drove the women to his house, where Valentino passed out on a couch, and later woke up and witnessed him sexually assaulting her unnamed friend, according to the lawsuit. The court documents allege Cosby then “engaged in forced sexual intercourse” with Valentino while she was incapacitated from the drug.
Valentino’s allegations come on the heels of lawsuits last year by six Cosby accusers in New York under a similar provision known as a “lookback” law that allows adults to file sexual abuse cases for allegations that had fallen outside the statute of limitations.
The former “Cosby Show” star, who has been accused of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment by at least 60 women, has denied all allegations involving sex crimes. He was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era — and spent nearly three years at a state prison near Philadelphia before a higher court threw out the conviction and released him in 2021.
His spokesperson, Andrew Wyatt, said Thursday that Valentino’s lawsuit lacks “any proof or facts” and that so-called lookback laws violate constitutional rights aimed at protecting crime victims and “those that are accused of a crime.”
“What graveyard can Mr. Cosby visit, in order to dig up potential witnesses to testify on his behalf?” Wyatt asked in a statement. “America is continuing to see that this is a formula to make sure that no more Black Men in America accumulate the American Dream that was secured by Mr. Cosby.”
The lawsuit in LA County Superior Court was filed nearly two years after Cosby left prison when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his 2018 sexual assault conviction. They found he gave incriminating testimony in a deposition about the encounter only after believing he had immunity from prosecution. The trial judge and an intermediate appeals court had found no evidence of such immunity.
Earlier this year, a Los Angeles jury awarded $500,000 to a woman who said Cosby sexually abused her at the Playboy Mansion when she was a teenager in 1975.
Seven other accusers received a settlement from Cosby’s insurers in the wake of the Pennsylvania conviction over a defamation lawsuit they had filed in Massachusetts. Their lawsuit said that Cosby and his agents disparaged them in denying their allegations of abuse.
Valentino’s lawsuit requests a jury trial and seeks unspecified punitive damages.
Florida
Businessman gets life sentence in assassination of Haiti’s president
MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge in Miami sentenced a Haitian-Chilean businessman Friday to life in prison for his role in helping a group of Colombian mercenaries obtain weapons to assassinate Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in 2021.
Rodolphe Jaar, who has dual Haitian and Chilean citizenship, had pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States, and to providing material support resulting in death.
Federal Judge José E. Martínez handed down the sentence at a hearing in federal court in downtown Miami. Jaar received the maximum sentence he faced despite pleading guilty and pledging to cooperate with investigators in hopes of receiving a lighter sentence.
The businessman, who was an informant for the U.S. government and had been convicted of drug trafficking a decade ago, is one of 11 people arrested and charged in the United States for the murder of Moïse, and the only one to plead guilty. The other 10 are scheduled for a jury trial in July, though the date could be pushed back.
Moïse was killed on July 7, 2021, when assailants broke into his private home in Port-au-Prince. He was 53 years old.
In addition to Jaar, the other defendants in Miami are: former Colombian soldiers Mario Palacios and Germán Alejandro Rivera García; former Haitian Senator John Joel Joseph; Haitian-Americans James Solages, Joseph Vincent and Christian Emmanuel Sanon; American Federick Joseph Bergmann; Colombian Arcangel Pretel Ortiz; Venezuelan-American Antonio Intriago, and the Ecuadorian-American financier Walter Veintemilla.
The Haitian government also has arrested more than 40 people for their alleged role in the murder, including 18 former Colombian soldiers.
Jaar arrived at South Florida in January 2022 after being detained in the Dominican Republic, and has been held in federal detention ever since. According to US authorities, he voluntarily agreed to be transferred to Miami to face his accusations.
According to charging documents, the conspirators initially planned to kidnap the Haitian president, and later changed the plan to kill him instead. Plotters had hoped to reap lucrative contracts under a new administration once Moïse was out of the way, investigators allege.
Jaar was responsible for supplying weapons to the Colombian mercenaries for the operation, documents at the court said. Several of the former South American soldiers remained in a house controlled by Jaar, according to the charges.
Florida
Jury issues $63M verdict against city commissioner
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A federal jury in Florida awarded $63.5 million on Thursday to a pair of businessmen who claimed a city of Miami commissioner used his office to harass them after they supported the commissioner’s political opponent.
Miami City Commissioner Joe Carollo was found civilly liable in Fort Lauderdale federal court of violating the First Amendment rights of Little Havana business owners William Fuller and Martin Pinilla. The six-member jury awarded $8.6 million in compensation and $25.7 million in punitive damages to Fuller, as well as $7.3 million in compensation and $21.9 million in punitive damages to Pinilla.
Carollo’s attorney, Benedict Kuehne, said in a statement that he and his client are disappointed with the verdict and plan to appeal. The city of Miami wasn’t named in the lawsuit, but covered Carollo’s legal fees.
Attorneys for Fuller and Pinilla claimed that Carollo infringed on their free speech rights by weaponizing police and code enforcement to harass them and damage their reputations after they supported another candidate in Carollo’s city commission race in 2017.
Carollo’s attorney said the commissioner wasn’t specifically targeting Fuller and Pinilla but working for the betterment of his district. Carollo, 68, is also a former two-term mayor of Miami.
The Hague
U.S. lawyer named chief prosecutor at office linked to war crimes court
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — American lawyer Kimberly West has been appointed as the chief prosecutor linked to a European Union-backed court prosecuting war crimes in Kosovo. West replaces Jack Smith, who stood down as head of the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office in November to become a U.S. Justice Department special counsel overseeing probes into former President Donald Trump. West said in a statement Friday that she is honored to have been chosen for the “important and challenging role.” West currently works for a Boston law firm. From 2008-2013 she was part of the team at the United Nations’ Yugoslav war crimes tribunal that prosecuted former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic for crimes including genocide during the Bosnian war. Karadzic is serving a life sentence.
