Court Digest

Minnesota
Man shot by deputy during raid settles suit for $6 million
MOOSE LAKE, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota man who was shot by a sheriff’s deputy during a raid last year has settled a federal lawsuit for about $6 million.

Shawn Olthoff, 35, was left paralyzed and uses a wheelchair after a Carlton County deputy shot him during the raid at a Moose Lake home he shared with his mother.

Law enforcement officers had gone to the home to arrest Olthoff who was accused of pointing a gun at a deputy during a traffic stop just days before. Three officers involved in the raid told investigators later that Olthoff was unarmed and raised his hands when ordered to do so.

The fourth officer, Deputy Jason Warnygora, shot Olthoff and said he saw him with a handgun. No weapon was found in the home.

Warnygora told an investigator from the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension he had two beers hours before the raid.

Olthoff’s attorney, Robert Bennett, said Warnygora knew he was going to be part of the raid and should have opted out of the assignment because he had been drinking, the Star Tribune reported.

Carlton County did not admit to any wrongdoing as part of the settlement with Olthoff. No charges were filed in the shooting.

Georgia
Lawsuit: Diocese covered up sex abuse allegations
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A lawsuit filed against a diocese in Georgia alleges officials knew about and covered up allegations that a Catholic priest sexually abused young students and failed to prevent the crimes more than 30 years ago.

The lawsuit was filed last week in Chatham County against the Diocese of Savannah and its current bishop, accusing the Catholic jurisdiction of conspiracy and fraud in mishandling alleged abuse by former priest Wayland Brown in the 80s.

The priest, who died in 2019 while serving a 20-year prison sentence, was convicted of child sex abuse charges in the early 2000s. Pope John Paul II eventually dismissed him from the priesthood, and in 2018, he was convicted of additional sex crimes against children.

The plaintiff in the Wednesday lawsuit joined several others in previous lawsuits alleging he was molested by Brown when he was a 13-year-old student at St. James Catholic School in Savannah.

The lawsuit alleges the then-bishop learned of abuse allegations and failed to surrender Brown to authorities, protecting him from investigation. A 1987 internal memo from the diocese included in the lawsuit shows that despite his record, Brown was later placed at the school in Savannah where he would go on to molest the plaintiff.

A spokesperson for the diocese told news outlets that it had not been served the lawsuit and could not comment. The diocese did not immediately return a request from The Associated Press for comment.

In 2016, the diocese paid $4.5 million to settle a lawsuit by a man who said Brown sexually abused him. Georgia authorities could not conduct a criminal investigation at the time because of the statute of limitations.


California
Attorney: Woman who drove into rally was fearing for her life
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A woman who drove into counter-protesters after organizing a Southern California rally against racism had asked police for help from a hostile crowd but was ignored, her lawyer said Monday.

Tatiana Turner was fearing for her life and never intended to harm anyone when she drove through a crowd that had surrounded her car Saturday in Yorba Linda, seriously injuring two counter-protesters, attorney Ludlow Creary II said.

“She wasn’t trying to hit anybody,” Creary said. “She wasn’t trying to hurt anybody.”

The Sheriff’s Department, however, said deputies did not think Turner was in danger when she accelerated into the crowd of people.

“It did not appear from the video we’ve been able to see that there was a direct threat,” spokeswoman Carrie Braun said. “I wasn’t there and wasn’t sitting in the vehicle. I don’t want to say what she could, would or should have done. Clearly any time an incident like this occurs it’s tragic for everybody involved.”

Turner, 40, is being held on $1 million bail on suspicion of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. She faces her first court appearance Tuesday in Orange County Superior Court.

The confrontation that sent a man and woman to the hospital with major injuries occurred on a sunny afternoon when Turner and the Urban Organizers Coalition had planned a march against police brutality and systemic racism outside the Yorba Linda Library, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles.

A group of counter-protesters, many of them holding American flags and banners supporting the reelection of President Donald Trump and sporting garb with the president’s name, confronted Turner’s smaller group. The conflict became heated and led to fights.

Turner, who witnessed counter-protesters with firearms, called 911 for help and “got the runaround,” and then appealed to deputies who were patrolling the growing crowd, Creary said.

“Sheriff’s deputies on scene didn’t do anything and the crowd of Trump supporters grew,” he said. “It essentially was a hostile environment.”

Braun said the sheriff’s department would look into those allegations.

“I can’t speak to the validity of those claims,” she said.

Eventually, deputies declared an unlawful assembly and told the groups, estimated at 250 people, to leave.

One video showed Turner getting in her small white sedan as its surrounded mainly by a group of people the sheriff’s office has described as the “Trump supporters.” A voice can be heard saying, “Good luck getting out of here.”

Three seconds later, the car moved forward into the crowd, pushing several people, including someone holding a sign saying “Black Behavior Matters,” and a man wearing a Trump hat and a U.S. flag.

As the car paused for a second, the crowd moved in from the sides. Turner then accelerated and a man shattered her rear window. The car lurched upward at one point as it rolled over someone and then kept going.

The district attorney’s office will review the investigation to decide what, if any, charges should be brought.

Anthony Bryson, who helped Turner organize the march, said her charges and the bail amount are ridiculous.

The group, which has expressed sympathy for those who were injured, postponed a news conference it had planned to hold Monday to point out the inconsistency with charges others faced who have driven into protesters in recent months.

On Thursday, a man driving a pickup truck who struck a woman protesting police brutality in Hollywood was not arrested as Los Angeles police investigate the hit-and-run.

Police said it appeared that driver was surrounded by a crowd of protesters who struck his vehicle with sticks and attempted to open the driver’s door as he passed. He plowed into a woman protester as he fled and she was hospitalized.

Jody Armour, a criminal law professor at the University of Southern California, said the different approach taken by law enforcement in the two counties could suggest different treatment for two people who feared for their safety.

“What you have is bookend cases to compare when two alleged perpetrators can each claim some kind of self defense or duress as an excuse for what they did,” Armour said. “It does seems the officers are giving more deference to the claim of the pickup truck driver and less to her.”


South Dakota
Defendant’s sanity in question in deaths of mother, nephew
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A judge will decide whether a Sioux Falls man is not guilty by reason of mental disease in the slayings of his mother and nephew in 2016.

Heath Otto told investigators he felt he did the right thing in killing the two because he was ending their misery from their respective medical needs.

Otto, 28, faces two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Carol Simon and 7-year-old Brayden Otto. Police say the two were strangled and their throats were cut at Simon’s Sioux Falls home.

During a trial Monday, a police interview with Otto was played in court in which he said he wanted to end their pain because nobody else cared about them, the Argus Leader reported.

Otto was initially deemed incompetent to stand trial, but was treated at at the state-run Human Services Center in Yankton and is now able to understand the charges against him.

A psychiatrist testified that Otto was under an ongoing schizophrenic delusion that his actions were at the direction of the CIA, and that his orders were to kill his mother and nephew.

The state rested its case Monday afternoon, and testimony for the insanity defense began with the psychiatrist who evaluated Otto. Testimony was expected to continue Tuesday.

Second Circuit Court Judge Bradley Zell is proceeding over the trial.

Florida
Man faces kidnapping charge after deputies say he lured girl
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A 26-year-old man is accused of arranging to kidnapping an 11-year-old central Florida girl he met over social media, sheriff’s officials said.

The girl was reported missing from her home in Apopka on Saturday, and found hours later with Ronald Greene in Florida’s Panhandle, Orange County Sheriff’s Office said.

Deputies arrested Greene on charges of kidnapping a child under the age of 13, custody interference and luring or enticing a child, according to arrest warrant.

The arrest warrant said Greene used Instagram to meet and groom the child.

He told her he was “risking his life to be with her” and faced serious charges due to her age if they were caught, the Orlando Sentinel reported. The plan was to tell people she was his niece and he gained custody of her after her mother passed away

The warrant said Greene told the girl they would have to “lay low” and conceal the relationship for six or seven years, the warrant said.

The girl’s mother told detectives what she had seen on her daughter’s account. But the messages had been deleted before detectives saw them, the newspaper reported.

A photo posted to the girl’s Instagram account helped deputies identify Greene, the warrant said.

Green remained in the Santa Rosa County Jail while awaiting transfer back to Orange County, officials said. Jail records don’t list a lawyer for him.


New York
LVMH files countersuit against Tiffany over
$16.2 billion deal
NEW YORK (AP) — Luxury conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE has filed a countersuit against Tiffany over their ruined merger deal, noting conditions necessary to close the $16.2 billion acquisition of the jewelry chain have not been met.
It also noted in a statement that the “spurious arguments put forward by Tiffany are completely unfounded.”
The lawsuit, filed late Monday in Delaware Chancery Court, is the latest legal spat between the two companies over what would have been the the biggest deal in the luxury market. It follows a lawsuit that Tiffany filed earlier this month against LVMH after the French conglomerate—owner of Louis Vuitton, Dior among other brands—said it was pulling out of the pact. It had cited that the French government had requested a delay to assess the threat of proposed U.S. tariffs.
In a lawsuit filed earlier in September to enforce the merger agreement, Tiffany said LVMH’s argument had no basis in French law. Tiffany also said that LVMH hasn’t even attempted to seek the required antitrust approval from three jurisdictions.
LVMH’s pullback also came after the deal’s value had been eroded by wider industry troubles caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement Tuesday, LMVH blamed Tiffany’s mismanagement of its business during the pandemic. It noted that the jewelry chain paid the highest possible dividends while the company was “burning cash and reporting losses.”
“No other luxury company in the world did so during this crisis,” LVMH said in the statement. It noted that other examples of what it called mismanagement in the filing including slashing capital and marketing investments and taking on additional debt.
Tiffany fought back what it called “baseless and misleading counterclaims” filed by LVMH. It argued that it was another “blatant attempt” to evade its contractual obligation to pay the agreed price for Tiffany.
“Tiffany has acted in full compliance with the merger agreement, and we are confident the court will agree at trial and require specific performance by LVMH, “said Tiffany’s Chairman Roger Farah in a statement. “Had LVMH actually believed the allegations made in its complaint, there would have been no need for LVMH to procure the letter from the French Foreign Minister as an excuse for the refusal to close.”