National Roundup

Louisiana
DNA, undisclosed payments cited as verdict reversal sought
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Criminal justice advocates are asking a New Orleans court to throw out a man’s 2010 murder conviction, saying DNA evidence indicates someone else committed the crime and prosecutors withheld information about financial help provided to witnesses.

The Monday filing by Innocence Project New Orleans comes in the case of Kaleigh Smith, convicted of second-degree murder in an October 2007 fatal shooting. The conviction carries a mandatory life sentence.

The Innocence Project New Orleans says recent DNA testing shows that a T-shirt worn by the victim of the 2007 slaying has the victim’s DNA and that of a second man. The second person’s DNA is not from Smith, according to the the group.

The organization also says information from the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office — obtained through a lawsuit seeking public records — shows defense attorneys were not kept apprised of financial benefits provided to witnesses in the case.

“In this case, the State’s crucial witness received at least $4,500 worth of undisclosed benefits,” Innocence Project New Orleans said. The assistance was from the Victim-Witness Assistance Division of the district attorney’s office. The organization does not accuse the office of improper spending but says that, by law, such assistance must be disclosed.

Also, police and prosecutors have documents indicating someone other than Smith had the motive and opportunity to commit the crime, the organization said in a news release.

Innocence Project New Orleans lawyers also say Smith’s case should be reviewed because his convicted by a jury was not unanimous, a practice since ruled unconstitutional. The question for the court to decide is whether the Supreme Court ruling striking the practice applies retroactively in Smith’s case.

“We have only just received today’s court filing and have not had the opportunity to examine its contents,” Ken Daley, spokesman for District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said in an emailed statement. Daley said the claims made by Innocence Project New Orleans “are unproven assertions. As with any motion for post-conviction relief, we will examine such claims carefully and respond in the proper venue of court.”

California
Man sentenced for $5M bank fraud scams
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Southern California man was sentenced to federal prison Monday for bilking banks out of nearly $5 million by racking up expenses on illegally obtained credit cards, including cemetery plots, liquor and Rolex watches, prosecutors said.

Mikayel Hmayakyan, 43, of Glendale, was sentenced to seven years in prison. He pleaded guilty in June to bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. He also was ordered to pay nearly $5 million in restitution.

Hmayakyan and others swindled more than 20 banks by obtaining credit cards using their own or phony identities. After running up the cards to their credit limits, the schemers restored the credit lines by submitting payments from accounts with insufficient funds or through other fake accounts, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office.

The charges included dozens of watches and other jewelry items, nearly 40,000 liquor bottles and plots at Forest Lawn cemetery, prosecutors said. The liquor was bought for a now-closed Glendale liquor store, while the cemetery plots were resold at a profit, authorities said.

Prosecutors say Hmayakyan also bilked banks by applying for loans in the names of real and fictitious people that he used to buy cars without making the loan payments.

The schemes took place from 2010 through 2017, authorities said.

Two other people pleaded guilty in connection with the schemes earlier and a third awaits trial.

New York
55-year sentence affirmed for 15-year-old MS-13 gang killer
NEW YORK (AP) — An appeals court affirmed a 55-year prison term Tuesday for a member of the MS-13 gang who organized the killings of four teenagers in a Long Island park when he was 15 — but it also expressed regret that the end of parole for federal prisoners means he won’t have incentive to reform.

A panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the prosecution of Josue Portillo, now 19, is a “classic illustration of the unfortunate consequences” of a decision by Congress that eliminated parole for federal prisoners sentenced in or after 1987.

The ruling, written by Judge Jon O. Newman, said the intent of Congress to end disparities in sentences and to send a message to the public that prisoners will serve nearly all of their sentences was not achieved, in part because the public gets a muddled message since most state courts still offer parole.

The 2nd Circuit said parole might motivate Portillo to obey prison rules, obtain education, participate in rehabilitative programs and mature to a point where he could rejoin society.
An email message seeking comment was sent to Portillo’s lawyer.

Portillo, facing deportation to El Salvador when his sentence ends, pleaded guilty in the April 2017 massacre after planning it for weeks because he was offended that a youth who was not an MS-13 member had flashed the gang’s symbol and acted as if he was, prosecutors said.

In a presentencing memorandum, prosecutors said Portillo arranged for two female friends of the gang to lure him to a Central Islip park where over a dozen MS-13 members waited to attack the teenager and four members of a rival gang he had brought with him.

The teenager who was originally targeted escaped over a fence, but the others were killed by MS-13 gang members wielding knives, machetes, an ax and clubs made out of tree limbs, prosecutors wrote.

The appeals court acknowledged that the crime was “especially heinous” and that Portillo actively participated in the killings and planned the crime in retaliation for a petty grievance. But it also said the case “illustrates the unfortunate consequences of eliminating parole.”

Long Island has been hit especially hard by the presence of MS-13, with dozens of murders since January 2016 attributed to the group also known as La Mara Salvatrucha, which recruits youths from El Salvador and Honduras.

For Portillo, prosecutors had argued for a 60-year sentence, citing the brutality and extensive planning of the execution-style killings.

They also gave a bleak assessment of Portillo’s potential reform, saying he had already been involved in two violent jailhouse assaults, faced high school disciplinary issues and had committed the massacre while undergoing counseling to avoid gang involvement, violence and criminal detention.