Court Digest

Iowa
Family of teen killed by police files a lawsuit saying officers should have been better trained
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The family of a 16-year-old who was killed by Des Moines police in December 2022 has filed a lawsuit arguing that the teen never pointed a gun at officers and police should have had better training in de-escalation before the confrontation.

The shooting of Trevontay Jenkins was linked to the Jan. 23 shooting at the Starts Right Here alternative school in Des Moines that left two teenagers dead and the program’s founder injured. Disparaging comments about Jenkins surfaced online following the police shooting, which prosecutors say led Jenkins’ half brother and another teen to kill 16-year-old Rashad Carr and 18-year-old Gionni Dameron.

Jenkins’ sibling, Bravon Tukes, was acquitted this fall of a murder charge after prosecutors accused him of helping planning the school shooting and acting as the getaway driver. Preston Walls was convicted of murder and manslaughter in a separate trial.

The federal lawsuit that Jenkins’ mother, Monica Woods, filed is based partly on body camera video that has never been released to the public. The Des Moines Register reports that the lawsuit says Jenkins never pointed a gun at officers
The Iowa Attorney General’s office determined three officers “acted with legal justification” when they fired more than a dozen times during the confrontation. Officers were dispatched to the home to respond to a domestic dispute and have said they tried unsuccessfully to de-escalate the situation.

Police spokesperson Sgt. Paul Parizek told the newspaper that the city prohibits police from commenting on pending litigation.

The lawsuit says that at one point Jenkins started a conversation with one of the officers while the others kept shouting at him to drop the gun. As part of the exchange, he made comments about one of his other brothers who had been killed in an Arizona shooting the month before and said “I wanna die.”

It says he also told the officers he would put the gun down if they would shut off the lights they were pointing at him.

At one point, the teen looked at his cell phone in his left hand while he began raising the gun toward his head. The lawsuit said the gun was never pointed in the direction of any of the officers, but they opened fire when Jenkins’ arm was parallel to the ground.

The lawsuit says the officers should have had better training in ways to defuse a confrontation and better supervision.

Illinois
Babysitter charged with stabbing 2 young girls is denied pretrial release
WHEATON, Ill. (AP) — A suburban Chicago woman accused of stabbing two girls ages 4 and 1 while babysitting them was denied pretrial release by a judge Wednesday.

Jennifer Kouchoukos, 51, of Naperville is charged with two counts each of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery to a child under 13 and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

Police responding to a call about a suicide attempt Nov. 17 at the girls’ home in Lisle found one in the kitchen and the other in a bathroom, both covered in blood, prosecutors and police said in a joint news release.

Kouchoukos also was in the bathroom and soaked in blood, the news release said.

The girls were initially taken to a local hospital and then transferred to Comer Children’s Hospital in Chicago, the release said. Both had been stabbed multiple times in the back and chest but are recovering.

DuPage County Circuit Judge Joshua Dieden granted the state’s motion to deny pre-trial release to Kouchoukos.

Prosecutors also filed a motion seeking a psychiatric evaluation of Kouchoukos.

When processing the scene, authorities found several knives stained with what appeared to be blood, an empty bottle of wine and a nearly empty bottle of rum, the release said.

Kouchoukos was released from the hospital Tuesday and taken to the DuPage County Jail, the release said.

Kouchoukos is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 12.

Massachusetts
Jury deadlocks in trial of man accused of 1988 killing of girl, 11
LAWRENCE, Mass. (AP) — The trial of a 76-year-old Alabama man accused of the 1988 killing of an 11-year-old girl in Massachusetts ended Wednesday with a judge declaring a mistrial due to a deadlocked jury.

Marvin C. McClendon Jr. had pleaded not guilty to a murder charge in connection with the death of Melissa Ann Tremblay.

McClendon was arrested last year, decades after Tremblay disappeared. McClendon was linked to the killing through DNA evidence, according to the prosecutor.

McClendon’s lawyer Henry Fasoldt said his client appreciated the jury being “deliberate and thoughtful” and looks forward to trying the case again.

“Mr. McClendon maintains his innocence and I believe he’s innocent,” Fasoldt said.

A spokesperson for the Essex County District Attorney’s office said they plan to retry McClendon.

No new trial date has been set.

Tremblay, of Salem, New Hampshire, was found in a Lawrence trainyard on Sept. 12, 1988, the day after she was reported missing. She had been stabbed and her body had been run over by a train, authorities said.

The victim had accompanied her mother and her mother’s boyfriend to a Lawrence social club not far from the railyard and went outside to play while the adults stayed inside, authorities said last year. She was reported missing later that night.

Lawrence and Salem are just a few miles apart.

McClendon, a former employee of the Massachusetts prisons department, lived near Lawrence in Chelmsford and was doing carpentry work at the time of the killing, authorities said. He worked and attended church in Lawrence.

Arizona
Pair indicted in embezzlement of millions from  tribal health organization
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A federal grand jury in southern Arizona has indicted a Tucson man and woman in an alleged conspiracy to embezzle millions of dollars from a nonprofit, federally funded tribal health care organization.

The indictment unsealed on Monday alleges that Kevin McKenzie, the chief operating officer of Apache Behavior Health Services, embezzled millions from the organization that was formed under the laws of the White Mountain Apache Tribe.

Prosecutors believe McKenzie, 47, used another organization created to help Apache youth to funnel some $15 million to himself through a backdoor financial scheme. Also named in the 40-count indictment was Corina L. Martinez, 41, the sister of McKenzie’s longtime domestic partner.

In addition to conspiracy to embezzle and embezzlement, the counts include wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Defense attorney Louis Fidel said in a statement that McKenzie “strongly denies the allegations against him, and we intend to vigorously defend the case.” He said McKenzie’s work on the reservation over the years had benefited many tribal members who previously were underserved.

Martinez “has spent many years providing behavioral health services to those in need,” her attorney Joshua Hamilton said in a separate statement. “We will vigorously defend Ms. Martinez in this matter and protect her reputation in the behavioral health community.”

Office phones at the White Mountain Apache Tribe rang unanswered on Friday.

Arraignment in U.S. District Court in Tucson was set on Jan. 5 for Martinez and on Jan. 12 for McKenzie.

The case appears unrelated to widespread Medicaid scams have bilked the state of Arizona out of hundreds of millions of federal dollars. Thousands of Native Americans who traveled from reservations and even other states to seek help for alcohol and drug addictions at Phoenix area rehabilitation facilities have often been left homeless by the billing schemes.

In those cases, fraudulent charges for reimbursement were submitted mostly through the American Indian Health Program, a Medicaid health plan that allows providers to bill directly for reimbursement of services rendered to Native Americans and Alaska Natives.

Wisconsin
University chancellor says he was fired for producing and being in porn videos with wife
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Former University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow said Thursday that regents fired him because they were uncomfortable with him and his wife producing and appearing in pornographic videos.

The regents voted unanimously during a hastily convened closed meeting Wednesday evening to fire Gow.

After the vote, Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman and regents President Karen Walsh issued statements saying the regents had learned of specific conduct by Gow that subjected the university to “significant reputational harm.” Rothman called Gow’s actions “abhorrent” and Walsh said she was “disgusted.” But neither of them offered any details of the allegations.

Gow told The Associated Press in a phone interview Thursday morning that regents had discovered that he and his wife, former UW-La Crosse professor Carmen Wilson, had been producing and appearing in pornographic videos.

He maintained that he never mentioned UW-La Crosse or his role at the university in any of the videos and the firing violated his free speech rights.

“My wife and I live in a country where we have a First Amendment,” he said. “We’re dealing with consensual adult sexuality. The regents are overreacting. They’re certainly not adhering to their own commitment to free speech or the First Amendment.”

Gow also complained that the regents never told him what policy he violated and he was never given a hearing or other opportunity to present his case. He said he’s contemplating a lawsuit.

Gow had planned to retire as chancellor at the conclusion of the spring 2024 semester and transition into a role teaching communication courses. But Rothman said Wednesday evening that he planned to file a complaint with UW-L’s interim chancellor, Betsy Morgan, seeking a review of Gow’s tenure.

Rothman said in an email to the AP on Thursday morning that Gow failed to act as a role model for students, faculty and the community and mistakenly believes the First Amendment equates to a “free pass to say or do anything that he pleases.”

Gow took heavy criticism in 2018 for inviting porn actor Nina Hartley to speak at UW-La Crosse. He paid her $5,000 out of student fees to appear. Ray Cross, then UW system president, reprimanded him and the regents refused to give him a raise that year.
Gow said then that he was exercising the system’s free speech policies.

Gow and his wife star in a YouTube channel called “Sexy Healthy Cooking” in which the couple cooks meals with porn actors. They also have written two e-books, “Monogamy with Benefits: How Porn Enriches Our Relationship” and “Married with Benefits — Our Real-Life Adult Industry Adventures” under pseudonyms. Their biographies on Amazon contain links to their videos on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, and a pornographic website.