Court Digest

Washington
Jury selection begins in contempt case against ex-White House official
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jury selection began Tuesday in the case against former Trump White House official Peter Navarro, who was charged with contempt of Congress after he refused to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Navarro, a former economics professor, served as a White House staffer under then-President Donald Trump and later promoted the Republican’s baseless claims of mass voter fraud in the 2020 election he lost. Navarro has said that Trump invoked executive privilege, barring him from cooperating with the House Jan. 6 committee. His trial is expected to last through the end of the week.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta has ruled Navarro’s executive privilege argument isn’t a defense against the charges, finding that Navarro hadn’t shown evidence Trump invoked it.

Navarro was charged last year with two misdemeanor contempt counts, one for failing to appear for a deposition before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack and a second for failing to produce documents the committee requested. Each count is punishable by up to a year behind bars.

Navarro, who has pleaded not guilty, was the second Trump aide to face criminal charges after former White House adviser Steve Bannon. Bannon was convicted of two counts of contempt of Congress and was sentenced to four months behind bars, though he has been free pending appeal.

Trump faces a federal indictment in Washington, D.C., and a state indictment in Georgia over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, a Democrat. He has denied wrongdoing and has said he was acting within the law.

The House Jan. 6 committee’s final report said Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 election and failed to act to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol.

Vermont
Governor appoints interim county prosecutor after resignation over harassment claims
ST. ALBANS, Vt. (AP) — Vermont Gov. Phil Scott announced Monday that he has appointed an interim state’s attorney in Franklin County after the former prosecutor, who was facing an impeachment inquiry, resigned.

Scott said Bram Kranichfeld will serve as interim county prosecutor until a permanent appointment is made.

Kranichfeld was head of the criminal division of the Vermont attorney general’s office from 2018 to 2019. Before that, he served in the office of the Chittenden County state’s attorney as deputy state’s attorney and later chief deputy, Scott said.

He’s replacing former Franklin County State’s Attorney John Lavoie, who was accused of harassing and discriminating against employees.

In May, lawmakers created a special House committee to investigate whether to impeach Lavoie over the allegations. Lavoie acknowledged some inappropriate humor and later announced last month that he would resign.

The committee ended its impeachment inquiry into Lavoie after he said he would step down. It’s moving forward on a separate impeachment inquiry of a sheriff on unrelated misconduct allegations, including kicking a shackled inmate.

Delaware
Man who police blocked from warning of speed trap settles lawsuit for $50K
DOVER, Del. (AP) — Delaware State Police have agreed to pay $50,000 to resolve a federal lawsuit filed by a man who said troopers violated his constitutional rights by preventing him from warning motorists about a speed trap.

A judgment was entered Friday in favor of Jonathan Guessford, 54, who said in the lawsuit that police unlawfully prevented him from engaging in peaceful protest by standing on the roadside and holding up a small cardboard sign reading “Radar Ahead!”

After Guessford raised a middle finger at troopers while driving away from an initial encounter, he was stopped and cited for “improper use of a hand signal.” The charge was later dropped.

The episode on March 11, 2022, was captured on cell phone videos taken by Guessford and included in his complaint, as well as on dashboard cameras in the vehicles of Corporal Stephen Douglas, Trooper Nicholas Gallo and Master Corporal Raiford Box.

Police dashcam audio captures the troopers laughing and giggling at the notion of citing Guessford for using an improper hand turn signal because of the obscene gesture. “He wasn’t making a turn,” Douglas says.

The cell phone video shows troopers approaching Guessford, who was standing in a grassy area next to the shoulder of Route 13 north of Dover. Douglas told Guessford that he was “disrupting traffic,” while Gallo, based on a witness report, said Guessford was “jumping into traffic.”

“You are a liar,” Guessford told Gallo.

“I’m on the side of the road, legally parked, with a sign which is protected by the First Amendment,” he told troopers.

Dascham video shows Douglas twice lunging at Guessford to prevent him from raising his sign. Gallo then ripped it from his hands and tore it up.

“Could you stop playing in traffic now?” Gallo sarcastically asked Guessford.

As Guessford drove away, he made an obscene hand gesture at the troopers. Dashcam video shows Douglas racing after him at speeds of more than 100 miles per hour (160 kilometers per hour) in a 55 mph zone, followed closely by Gallo and Box.

“Is there a reason why you were doing that?” Douglas asked Guessford after he pulled him over.

Box told Guessford he was engaging in “disorderly conduct” and opened the front passenger door of Guessford’s vehicle.

“Take it to court. That’s what I want you to do,” Box replied after Guessford told troopers he was going to take legal action. Box also threatened to charge Guessford with resisting arrest.

“We’re going to take you in. We’re going to tow the car, and we’ll call social services for the kid,” Box said, referring to Guessford’s young son, who was with Guessford and witnessed his profanity-laden tirade against the officers. “It’s not a threat, it’s a promise,” Box added.

Box’s dashcam audio also captures his subsequent phone call with a supervisor, Lt. Christopher Popp, in which Box acknowledges that citing Guessford for his hand gesture is “pushing it.”

“You can’t do that,” Popp tells Box. “That will be dropped.”

“Yeah, it’s gonna get dropped,” Box replies. “I told (Douglas) it’s definitely going to get thrown out. … I said, ‘Ah, that’s not really going to fly, buddy.’”

Douglas is heard saying that even if the charge would be dropped, it at least “inconvenienced” Guessford.

Alaska
Civil rights group wants probe into record number of deaths in prisons
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A civil rights group is asking the state court system to order an independent investigation into the Alaska Department of Corrections after a record number of deaths were reported last year.

The request from the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska came Thursday when it announced separate lawsuits against the state Department of Corrections on behalf of two men who died by suicide while in prison in the last year, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

The lawsuits, filed jointly by the organization and private attorneys on behalf of family members of the two men, seeks financial settlements and the outside investigation.

“There must be greater accountability and transparency on behalf of the Department of Corrections to prevent these tragedies from occurring,” Ruth Botstein, the ACLU of Alaska’s legal director, said at a news conference.

Neither the the Alaska Department of Corrections nor the attorney general’s office had been served with the lawsuits by Friday and could not immediately comment, officials said in emails to The Associated Press.

According to statistics from the department, 18 inmates died under the department’s control in 2022, seven of those by suicide. The previous high was 16 deaths, two by suicide, in 2002.

One lawsuit was filed on behalf of family members of James Rider. It alleges he was placed in a cell alone at the Mat-Su Pretrial Facility in Palmer, despite being a “known suicide risk.” He died by suicide last September, 11 days after being jailed.

The other lawsuit was filed on behalf of the family of Mark Cook Jr., who was held for weeks on a disorderly conduct charge at the Lemon Creek Correctional Center in Juneau because his family couldn’t afford bail.

The lawsuit alleges Cook had debilitating back pain from an injury, and it worsened to the point he could not get up from the floor of his cell. The lawsuit alleges he covered the camera in his cell and died by suicide in April.

Family members said both men were in solitary confinement when they died.

Washington
Driver in fatal shooting of deputy gets 27 years
VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — A man who drove the getaway car in a stolen firearms trafficking scheme that led to the fatal shooting of Clark County sheriff’s Sgt. Jeremy Brown in southwest Washington has been sentenced to more than 27 years in prison.

Clark County Superior Court Judge David Gregerson sentenced 30-year-old Abran Raya Leon on Thursday, The Columbian reported. Brown, 46, was shot while he was working undercover and seated in an unmarked police SUV at an east Vancouver apartment complex on July 23, 2021.

A jury in August found Abran Raya Leon guilty of second-degree murder, possession of a stolen firearm and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. He didn’t shoot Brown but was convicted of murder as part of what prosecutors describe as a conspiracy to steal dozens of firearms and thousands of ammunition rounds from a storage unit and then sell them.

His brother, Guillermo Raya Leon, shot Brown and Abran Raya Leon’s wife, Misty Raya, initiated the scheme, according to prosecutors. Guillermo Raya Leon has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges including murder and is scheduled for trial next week.
Misty Raya has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges including burglary and firearm theft and is scheduled for trial next month.

“Jeremy was an exceptional human, truly exceptional in every way,” Jill Brown said in court. “Each of us that knew and loved him are not only grieving his absence and trying to make sense of his murder, but we are also mourning who we were, as people, as a family, before that day.”

Clark County Sheriff John Horch said in court that many at the sheriff’s office continue to struggle with Brown’s death.

Abran Raya Leon in court apologized to the Brown family.

“I’m sorry for the loss of what I know was a loved man,” he said. “If I knew I was going to be a part of something so horrible, I would’ve stayed home.”