Court Digest

Texas
DOJ, civil rights group to appeal federal judge’s ruling declaring DACA illegal
HOUSTON (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice and a civil rights group filed legal notices on Thursday saying they plan to appeal a federal judge’s recent ruling that declared illegal a revised version of a federal policy that prevents the deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

In September, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Houston ruled in favor of Texas and eight other states suing to stop the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program. The federal policy was first created by the Obama administration in 2012.

In his ruling, Hanen expressed sympathy for DACA recipients and their families but said the executive branch had overstepped its authority in creating the program and it was up to Congress to take action on this issue.

In separate notices of appeal filed Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice, which represented the federal government, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or MALDEF, which is representing DACA recipients in the lawsuit, said they plan to ask the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to overturn Hanen’s ruling.

The Texas Attorney General’s Office, which represented the states in the lawsuit, did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment on the appeal.

The appeals process, including the filing of legal briefs, likely oral arguments before 5th Circuit judges and a ruling, was expected to take months to complete. But the DACA program’s fate was ultimately expected to end up for a third time before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Hanen’s order extended the current injunction that had been in place against DACA, which barred the government from approving any new applications, but left the program intact for existing recipients, known as “Dreamers,” during the ongoing legal review.

There were 578,680 people enrolled in DACA at the end of March, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Texas and the other states have argued the Obama administration didn’t have the authority to create the program and that they’ve incurred hundreds of millions of dollars in health care, education and other costs when immigrants are allowed to remain in the country illegally. The states that sued are Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, West Virginia, Kansas and Mississippi.

Those defending the program have argued Congress has given the federal government the legal authority to set immigration enforcement policies.

Congress has failed multiple times to pass proposals called the DREAM Act to protect DACA recipients.

Hanen had previously declared the program illegal in 2021. The Biden administration had tried to satisfy Hanen’s concerns with a new version of DACA but was rebuffed with September’s ruling.


North Carolina
Woman and her dad get additional jail time in the beating death of her Irish husband
LEXINGTON, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina judge sentenced the wife of an Irish businessman and her father to additional prison time Wednesday after their pleas to voluntary manslaughter in her husband’s 2015 beating death.

Davidson Superior Court Judge David Hall sentenced Molly Corbett and Thomas Martens to spend between 51 and 74 months in prison, news outlets reported.

Corbett had pleaded no contest and her father pleaded guilty last week, two years after the North Carolina Supreme Court reversed their 2017 second-degree murder convictions and ordered a new trial. Each will serve only seven months behind bars, thanks to good behavior sentencing reduction earned during the 44 months they’ve already served, their attorneys said. Each had previously been sentenced to serve from 20 to 25 years.

Corbett’s husband, Jason Corbett, died at their home in a golf course community in Davidson County in 2015. Investigators said Molly Corbett and Martens, a former FBI agent, used an aluminum baseball bat and brick paver to kill Jason Corbett, fracturing his skull and causing injuries to his arm, legs and torso. Defense attorneys have said the two were acting in self-defense and that they feared for their lives during a struggle.

The couple met in 2008 when Molly Corbett worked as an au pair, caring for two children from Jason Corbett’s first marriage. His first wife had died of an asthma attack in 2006.

Hall said Wednesday that every criminal case “should be a search for the truth,” but he doesn’t know the truth in this case despite listening carefully to the evidence. The judge said he did not understand why Martens or his wife Sharon — who was also in the house — didn’t call 911.
He also said he did not understand how Martens and Molly Corbett were left basically unscathed when Jason Corbett was so badly beaten.

Martens apologized for his actions and told Hall he had great respect for the law. He said he had to act when he saw Jason Corbett choking his daughter and about to drag her to a hallway.

“I had no choice,” Martens said. “I did the best that I could.”

Molly Corbett said she did her best as a wife and a mother to Jason Corbett’s children.

“I made a decision to protect my father from certain death,” she said.

Prosecutor Alan Martin focused on Molly Corbett in his closing argument, saying while Martens had accepted responsibility for his actions, his daughter had not. Attorneys for both Molly Corbett and Martens asked for lenient sentences with no more active time in prison.

Hall heard impact statements from Jason Corbett’s children. Sarah Corbett, now 17, said defense witnesses and attorneys twisted her words when she was 8 to help Molly Corbett and Martens get lenient prison sentences.

“I only got betrayed,” Sarah said. “I lied to help the Martens escape full justice for taking my father’s life.”

In his statement, Jack Corbett admitted that he lied to investigators about the case when he was 10.

“I have lost so much of myself since the day he (Jason Corbett) was taken,” Jack Corbett said. “My words were weaponized to help Molly and Thomas Martens get away with killing my dad.”

The pair urged Hall to give Molly Corbett and Thomas Martens the maximum sentence of 25 years.

“My dad’s life is worth more than a few years in prison,” Jack Corbett said.

Pennsylvania
Man faces charges after car chase, shooting that wounded officer
LEECHBURG, Pa. (AP) — A man has been charged in a shooting that wounded a suburban Pittsburgh police officer following a pursuit of a stolen vehicle through two counties in western Pennsylvania, authorities said.

Westmoreland County prosecutors said in a statement Saturday the vehicle had been reported stolen and was spotted in Turtle Creek in Allegheny County on Friday night. The chase went through Monroeville and into Allegheny Township in Westmoreland County, where the vehicle was stopped.

Officers approached and ordered the driver to get out, but he didn’t comply. The officers forced the driver’s door open and saw him with a gun and a female in the passenger’s seat, the district attorney’s office said.

Police said the driver fired multiple shots from a 9mm handgun into a marked police cruiser that was next to his vehicle. Two shots struck a uniformed Monroeville officer in the arm and leg. An official at UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the officer was being treated there and that he was in stable condition.

Prosecutors and township police said Bruce Alvarado, 38, of Clairton was charged with attempted homicide, assault of a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault and a dozen other counts. He was arraigned Saturday morning and denied bail. It was unclear whether he has an attorney and a message could not be left at a number listed for him.

“We are so grateful this injured Monroeville Police Officer is going to recover,” District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli said in a statement Saturday. The officer’s name wasn’t immediately released.

Police said the female passenger told investigators that the driver said during the pursuit that he would “blow a cop’s head off.” Prosecutors said the pursuit reached speeds of up to 90 mph (144 kph).

Washington
Bannon appeals conviction in Jan. 6 committee contempt case
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump’s longtime ally Steve Bannon on Thursday appealed his criminal conviction for defying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Bannon’s attorney argued he didn’t ignore the subpoena, but was trying to avoid running afoul of executive privilege objections Trump had raised.

“Mr. Bannon acted in the only way he understood from his lawyer that he was permitted to behave,” attorney David Schoen said, adding that Bannon was wrongly blocked from making that argument at trial.

Prosecutors, though, said Bannon was no longer working at the White House during the runup to Jan. 6 and refused to work with the committee to determine if there were questions he could answer. “Stephen Bannon deliberately chose not so comply in any way with lawful congressional subpoena,” said prosecutor Elizabeth Danello.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit took the case under consideration.

Bannon, 69, was convicted in July 2022 of two counts of contempt of Congress and later sentenced that October to four months in prison. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols put the sentence was on hold as his appeal played out, later saying in court documents he expected the case to be overturned.

A second Trump aide, trade advisor Peter Navarro, was also convicted of contempt of Congress this past September and has also vowed to appeal. The House panel had sought their testimony about Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

The House Jan. 6 committee finished its work in January, after a final report that said Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 election and failed to act to stop a mob of his supporters from attacking the Capitol.

Bannon is also set to go on trial next May on separate money laundering, fraud and conspiracy charges in New York related to the “We Build the Wall” campaign. He has pleaded not guilty.

He has pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he falsely promised people that all donations would go toward building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Instead, prosecutors allege that the money was used to enrich Bannon and others involved in the project.