Court Digest

Georgia
Atlanta to pay $3.75M to family of man who died during arrest
ATLANTA (AP) — The city of Atlanta will pay $3.75 million to the family of a Nebraska man who died after police handcuffed him face down.

The City Council approved the settlement Monday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, after the Fulton County medical examiner determined that Ricardo Dorado Jr.’s death on Aug. 21, 2022 was a homicide.

The medical examiner ruled that the death of the Lexington, Nebraska, resident was caused by prone restraint cardiac arrest. Complicating factors included Dorado having methamphetamine in his system, getting hit in the head by officers’ batons during his arrest and heart disease, according to the medical examiner’s report.

Officers were called to an Atlanta convenience store about a man vandalizing vehicles and gas pumps. After failing to subdue Dorado with electrical stun guns and pepper spray, an incident report says Dorado used a T-shirt to close the doors of the convenience store and then locked himself inside a bathroom. Dorado came out “swinging and kicking” when officers opened the door, the report said.

The medical examiner said Dorado had “a history of schizophrenia and methamphetamine use” and was “reportedly exhibiting an altered mental status” during the brawl.

Police say Dorado then threw bottles of wine at officers, who hit him with their batons. Dorado was finally handcuffed outside the door and held face down on the pavement. Attorneys say Dorado was held face-down for 15 minutes, that one officer placed a knee on Dorado’s arm, and that another placed a knee into Dorado’s back while officers held his feet up in a “hogtied” position.

The newspaper reports attorneys had notified the city of their intent to sue earlier this year, demanding $17.5 million in damages. The city agreed to settle the case before a lawsuit was filed.

Officers turned Dorado over and began administering first aid after he became unresponsive. He died hours later at a hospital. Both the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Atlanta police investigated.

The three officers involved remain on administrative duty.

In August, the GBI submitted its findings to prosecutors, who allowed the Dorado family’s attorneys to view the unreleased police body camera footage for the first time.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis hasn’t announced whether she will seek criminal charges against the officers.

California
Cases affected by county’s illegal use of jail informants climbs
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — The California public defender who sounded the alarm about Orange County’s illegal use of jailhouse informants says the number of major criminal cases that have unraveled because of the scandal has jumped from about a dozen to 57.

A new analysis by Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders finds 35 homicide cases and 22 serious felony cases saw convictions overturned, charges dropped and sentences dramatically reduced, the Orange County Register reported Tuesday.

“We already knew that this was the largest and longest running informant scandal in U.S. history, but there had never been a complete accounting of the cases with changed outcomes,” Sanders told the newspaper. The analysis was partly based on data from the district attorney’s office.

With Sanders first raising concerns in 2014, state and federal investigators confirmed that Orange County prosecutors and law enforcement officers systematically violated the constitutional rights of criminal defendants with the illegal use of jailhouse informants.

Some informants collected up to $1,500 a case to coax confessions out of targeted inmates. Many of those inmates had a constitutional right not to be questioned by informants because they had already been charged and retained attorneys.

Some of the informants used threats of violence to persuade their targets to talk, which is not allowed by law. Prosecutors failed to disclose to defense attorneys the use of informants and their histories.

All of the impacted cases came during the tenure of former District Attorney Tony Rackauckas. The use of informants under current DA Todd Spitzer is more restricted.

Spitzer said in a statement that much of Sanders’ analysis was previously compiled by the DA’s office and shared with the U.S. Department of Justice.

“We have a team of prosecutors tasked with reviewing each one of these cases and ensuring all of our discovery obligations have been met, and to take any further remedial action, if necessary,” he said. “In addition, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office has expanded the role of our Conviction Integrity Unit by adopting a policy to review any wrongful conviction claim.”

Authorities can use jailhouse informants but can’t have them deliberately elicit information from defendants once they are represented by lawyers. In addition, prosecutors are required to turn over evidence to defense attorneys that could be seen as favorable to their clients.

Wisconsin
Judge blocks school district policy allowing students to choose pronouns
WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — A judge on Tuesday blocked a southeastern Wisconsin school district’s policy of allowing students to change their names and gender pronouns without parental consent.

Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Maxwell ruled that the Kettle Moraine School District’s policy violates the right of parents to make medical decisions for their children.

The decision stems from a lawsuit parents filed in 2021 alleging that district officials improperly used a male name and male pronouns to address their 12-year-old daughter without their consent and over their objections. The girl was questioning her gender identity at the time but eventually decided that she didn’t want to transition, according to court documents.

Two conservative activist law firms, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty and the Alliance Defending Freedom, filed the lawsuit on the parents’ behalf.

The school district’s attorney didn’t immediately respond to a message.

Vermont
Pilot accused of stalking woman via small airplane
BENNINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A man has been accused of stalking a woman in New York via his small airplane, flying out of an airport in nearby Vermont, police said.

Michael Arnold, 65, was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday in Bennington, Vermont. He was arrested Tuesday as he was driving into the William H. Morse State Airport in town. Police said his single-engine Cessna 180 was at the airport and he had been flying from there.

Arnold, of Manchester, New Hampshire, had been served with a temporary order of protection from a court in Saratoga, New York, in May. A specific condition of that order was that he “cease and desist from flying any and all aircraft while the order remains in effect,” Bennington Police Chief Paul Doucette said in a news release.

Police had been notified by the FBI in Albany that New York authorities had been investigating Arnold on suspicion of stalking the woman in Schuylerville, for several years, Doucette said. Schuylerville is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) away from the Bennington airport.

“Officers were able to determine that Arnold was in fact flying his airplane from the William H. Morse State Airport and last seen flying west toward New York several days earlier,” Doucette said.

Arnold was charged Tuesday with aggravated stalking, impeding, false information to a police officer, and resisting arrest, Doucette said. He posted $5,000 bail. It was not immediately known if Arnold had an attorney and a phone number could not be found for him.

Washington
Seattle to pay nearly $2M after man dies of a heart attack at address wrongly on 911 blacklist
SEATTLE (AP) — The city of Seattle will pay $1.86 million to the family of a man who died of a heart attack after a caution note attached to his address delayed medics’ response.

William Yurek, 48, died in his town house in 2021 after his son called 911 and arriving Seattle Fire Department medics initially waited outside for law enforcement before entering, The Seattle Times reported.

The family alleged Yurek was wrongly included on a blacklist of people known to be hostile to police and fire crews. Yurek lived in the unit a couple of years before his death and the previous tenant had been on the outdated list, according to the lawsuit filed last year.

Medics were told to wait for a law enforcement escort, the lawsuit stated. As Yurek’s condition worsened, his then 13-year-old son called 911 again and was told help was on the way, even though medics had already arrived.

Medics then decided to enter the home without police, but despite their treatment, Yurek died.

“Once inside, medics did everything they could to save Will’s life,” the family’s attorney, Mark Lindquist, said in a news release. “The family has always been grateful to the medics who broke protocol to go in and do their best.”

The city has modified its operating guidelines on the caution notes, Seattle city attorney’s office spokesperson Tim Robinson told the newspaper, saying they expire after 365 days in the system, or get reviewed and renewed. Notes about the need for Seattle Police Department help because of alleged violent or threatening behavior are to be verified after every alarm dispatched to the address, Robinson said.

Relying on addresses, Lindquist said, puts renters and those who move often more at risk.

Seattle also agreed in August to pay $162,500 to a former 911 call center manager who in a lawsuit said he was wrongly punished for bringing up problems at work, including the dispatch practice of the blacklist.

A medical doctor said that without the delay, Yurek would have had a 25% chance of survival, Lindquist said.

“From the beginning, the family wanted the city to take responsibility,” Lindquist said. “That’s happened.”

California
Male nanny convicted of sexually assaulting 16 boys in his care
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A male nanny who worked for families across Southern California was convicted Tuesday of sexually assaulting 16 young boys in his care and showing another boy child pornography, prosecutors said.

Matthew Antonio Zakrzewski was arrested in May 2019 after a couple told Laguna Beach police he touched their son inappropriately. More alleged victims were identified, and Zakrzewski was ultimately charged with 34 felonies, including lewd and lascivious acts with a minor.

Zakrzewski’s victims ranged from 2 to 12 years old, investigators said. A jury convicted the 34-year-old on all counts, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

“These young boys were forced to endure unimaginable terror as a result of the ultimate betrayal by a babysitter,” said District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement.

Zakrzewski, of Costa Mesa, had billed himself on his website as a “manny,” who not only watched over children but provided a fun “buddy” experience.

Sentencing was scheduled for Nov. 17.