National Roundup

Kansas
Kobach representing Texas sheriffs in lawsuit over immigration
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kris Kobach is representing four Texas sheriffs and a law enforcement group in a federal lawsuit against President Joe Biden and his administration over a policy discouraging the deportation of some immigrants in the U.S. illegally.

Kobach is seeking the Republican nomination for Kansas attorney general in 2022 after failed bids for governor in 2018 and the U.S. Senate in 2020. He is a former Kansas secretary of state who built a national profile by advocating more restrictive immigration policies and advising former President Donald Trump.

He is listed as the general counsel for the Alliance for Free Citizens in a statement announcing the lawsuit’s filing Thursday, The Topeka Capital-Journal reports. Its website says the alliance is a nonprofit dedicated to “individual liberties, communities, families, and shared patriotic values.”

The lawsuit challenges a policy requiring Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to get a superior’s approval before attempting to deport anyone who hasn’t recently crossed the border or who isn’t deemed a criminal or national security threat. The group involved in the lawsuit represents ICE officers.

The lawsuit says the policies violates federal law and increases demands on local law enforcement.

ICE argues that it’s focusing limited resources on national security and public safety threats.

Vermont
Judge: Man physically able to face 1980s sex assault case
BENNINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A former New York police detective who said poor health prevented him from traveling to Vermont to face allegations that he sexually assaulted a girl in the 1980s is physically able to stand trial, a judge ruled.

Leonard Forte, 79, was charged with felony sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl at his Vermont vacation home in 1987. He was convicted in 1988. A judge ordered a new trial the next year, saying the prosecutor had been too emotional.

The case was held up after Forte, who now lives in LaBelle, Florida, said his heart condition and other health problems prevented him from traveling. He’s appeared at hearings by phone for many years. He now faces obstruction of justice violations at a hearing Wednesday.

An email seeking comment was sent to Forte’s attorney Friday.

 Forte’s lawyers argued that he was too sick to be retried and his assault charges should be dropped. They also requested a mental competency evaluation. The Vermont Attorney General’s Office said that Forte traveled multiple times in the last few years.

Last week, Superior Court Judge Cortland Corsones ruled that although Forte suffers from serious medical conditions, “the medical evidence demonstrates that the defendant is not at substantial risk to his health or life, if he is required to travel to VT and to attend jury trial,” the Bennington Banner reported.

Corsone, who scheduled a July 26 hearing to discuss jury and trial dates, said measures could be taken to minimize risks to Forte’s health at trial, including shortening hours and increasing breaks. He said that Forte could appear remotely if both the defense and prosecution agree.


Ohio
Officer who killed Andre Hill wants trial relocated
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Extensive publicity about the December police killing of Andre Hill makes it impossible to convene a fair jury locally and so the trial should be moved, an attorney representing Adam Coy, the ex-Columbus officer charged in Hill’s death, said in a court filing.

That publicity includes news coverage, posts on social media and billboards in Columbus calling for justice for Hill, said attorney Mark Collins.

“Compiling an impartial jury in Franklin County would be impossible because potential jurors are not only exposed to the extensive news coverage but also to their fellow neighbors’ opinions,” Collins said in a filing late last month.

Hill, 47, who was Black, was fatally shot by Coy, who is white, on Dec. 22 as Hill emerged from a garage holding up a cellphone. Coy was fired and has pleaded not guilty to murder and reckless homicide charges.
His trial is currently scheduled for July 21.

A message was left with the Franklin County Prosecutor’s office seeking comment on the request to move the trial.

The shooting was recorded by Coy’s body camera, but without sound because Coy hadn’t activated the camera on what started as a nonemergency call. A 60-second look-back function on the camera captured the shooting.

Coy, who had a long history of complaints from citizens, was fired Dec. 28 for failing to activate his body camera and for not providing medical aid to Hill. He was initially charged for dereliction of duty for not activating the camera, but those charges were dropped.

Beyond an internal police investigation, the Ohio attorney general, the U.S. attorney for central Ohio and the FBI have begun their own probes into the shooting.

In May, the city reached a $10 million settlement with the family of Hill, the largest in Columbus history.


Iowa
Man gets 8 months in prison for mail fraud
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man has been sentenced to eight months in federal prison for mail fraud after pleading guilty to an unemployment insurance fraud scheme in which he illegally collected thousands of dollars in pandemic-related benefits.

Jerry Johnson, 54, of Webster City was sentenced Thursday in Sioux City’s federal court after pleading guilty in January.

Federal prosecutors said he used his credit union account to receive over $31,000 in unemployment insurance money he was not entitled to. It was paid out by the state of Washington as benefits to those unemployed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Court documents indicate Johnson received the money in the names of others in May 2020. He withdrew the benefits in cash and mailed the money to others. The scheme ended after the credit union later rejected as fraudulent a similar $20,000 payment from Massachusetts.

Johnson also was ordered to pay restitution to Washington state and must serve a two-year term of supervised release after the prison term.

His federal defender, Michael Maloney, argued for 30 days of imprisonment followed by seven months of home confinement as a punishment “sufficient to deter a 54-year-old, who has never served a day in jail, from future criminal activity.”

Johnson was released on bond and is to surrender to the Bureau of Prison on a date yet to be set.