California
Grand jury indicts farmworker charged with killing 7 people
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A farmworker charged with killing seven people last year in back-to-back shootings at two Northern California mushroom farms was indicted by a grand jury in an effort by prosecutors to move the case along, authorities said.
Chunli Zhao was in court Tuesday to be arraigned on seven counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder, but his arraignment was continued until Feb. 29, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said in an email.
Zhao was charged last year in the Jan. 23, 2023, killings of seven people in Half Moon Bay. He pleaded not guilty last February. But the case has dragged on with a preliminary hearing not set until March, and that has now been vacated, Wagstaffe said.
The grand jury indictment supersedes the criminal complaint and bypasses the need for a preliminary hearing, skipping one step in the legal process and advancing the case, he said.
“I know that extensive delays impose a very negative impact on victims’ families and we try to move cases along when the case seems to be dragging on. That is why we sought to seek the Grand Jury Indictment,” Wagstaffe said.
The next step is for Zhao to enter a plea on the grand jury indictment charges at the February hearing, he said.
Prosecutors say Zhao began the shooting rampage at California Terra Garden after his supervisor there demanded he pay a $100 repair bill for his forklift after he was involved in a crash with a co-worker’s bulldozer. They say he killed four co-workers and wounded another one before driving to Concord Farms, a mushroom farm he was fired from in 2015. There, he shot to death three former co-workers.
Zhao admitted to the shootings during a jailhouse media interview days after the killings and told KNTV-TV he was bullied and worked long hours on the farms.
The killings shed light on the substandard housing the farms provided to their workers. After the shooting, San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Mueller visited the housing at California Terra Garden, where some of its workers lived along with their families, and he described it as “deplorable” and “heartbreaking.”
Muller, who represents Half Moon Bay and other agricultural towns, posted photos on social media showing a shipping container and sheds used as homes.
Terra Garden’s owners agreed to build new permanent homes on a separate area of the farm for its employees and their families and provide them affordable housing during the year it would take to construct them. But a year after the shooting, permanent housing has not yet been built, the Mercury News reported.
Texas
Divided federal appeals court won’t revive online journalist’s lawsuit over arrest
A divided federal appeals court refused on Tuesday to revive the lawsuit of a Texas-based online citizen journalist who said she was wrongfully arrested for seeking and obtaining nonpublic information from police in a case that drew attention from national media organizations and free speech advocates.
A state judge dismissed the criminal case against Priscilla Villarreal — known online as La Gordiloca — saying the law used to arrest her in 2017 was unconstitutional. But Villarreal still wanted to sue officials for damages. She lost Tuesday in a 9-7 decision from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which saw strong dissents from a group of ideologically diverse judges appointed by Republican and Democratic presidents.
The majority held that the police officers and other officials Villarreal sued in Laredo and Webb County were entitled to legal immunity.
“Villarreal and others portray her as a martyr for the sake of journalism. That is inappropriate,” Judge Edith Jones wrote for the majority. “She could have followed Texas law, or challenged that law in court, before reporting nonpublic information from the backchannel source.”
The ruling included lengthy opinions covering more than 50 pages from three of the seven dissenting judges.
The law, according to court records, defined the criminal “misuse of official information” as using information that “has not been made public ... with intent to obtain a benefit or with intent to harm or defraud another.” Authorities had argued that Villarreal could benefit from using the information — the identities of a person who killed himself and a family involved in a car accident — to gain fame on her Facebook page, Lagordiloca News LaredoTx.
“If the First Amendment means anything, surely it means that citizens have the right to question or criticize public officials without fear of imprisonment,” Judge James Ho, nominated to the court by former President Donald Trump, said in one dissent. Other dissenters included three more nominees of Republican presidents, and three nominated by Democrats.
Villarreal and an attorney who represented her said in an email that they would take the case to the Supreme Court.
“I’m disappointed,” Villarreal said, “but I’m going to keep up the fight for my rights and those of all Americans.”
New Mexico
Latest federal court order favors right to carry guns in some public parks
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A U.S. District Court judge is standing by her decision to block portions of a public health order from New Mexico’s governor that would suspend the right to carry firearms in many public parks in the Albuquerque area, with appeals pending before a higher court.
The Monday order from Albuquerque-based Judge Kea Riggs denied a request from the governor to leave in place a temporary ban on firearms in some public places in greater Albuquerque, including most public parks.
Riggs earlier concluded that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has not yet demonstrated a historical tradition of banning firearms in public parks or similar areas in the past, in response to a lawsuit by Torrance County resident James Springer — a plaintiff in one of several lawsuits filed against the governor by gun rights advocates.
“Our position is that’s not something that is contemplated under the Second Amendment,” said Springer’s attorney, A. Blair Dunn, applauding the judge’s order.
Last year, U.S. District Judge David Urias ruled in the other direction in a victory for the governor, rejecting a request from other gun rights advocates to block temporary firearms restrictions while challenges move forward. It will likely fall to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver to reconcile the orders from Urias and Riggs.
Lujan Grisham spokesperson Maddy Hayden said Tuesday that the governor “respectfully” disagrees with Riggs.
“Judge Riggs’ opinion ignores this caselaw and the massive amount of historical evidence in the record supporting the constitutionality of the temporary restrictions imposed by the public health order,” Hayden said in an email. “We respectfully disagree with the opinion and are confident that our ongoing appeal to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals will be successful.”
Lujan Grisham, a second-term Democrat, invoked the emergency orders last year in response to a spate of gun violence including the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old boy outside a minor league baseball stadium.
Gun rights advocates also are urging the New Mexico Supreme Court to block the orders. The court recently heard oral arguments in the lawsuit brought by Republican state legislators, the National Rifle Association and several residents of the Albuquerque area.
The rest of the public health orders have remained intact, including directives for monthly inspections of firearm dealers statewide, reports on gunshot victims at New Mexico hospitals, wastewater testing for illicit substances at schools and more.
During a 30-day legislative session that concludes Feb. 15, Lujan Grisham also is advocating for a broad suite of legislative proposals on gun control and enhanced penalties for violent crime.
On Tuesday, a proposal to shore up New Mexico’s red-flag gun law advanced past its first House committee hearing on a 4-2 party-line vote with Democrats in support of the bill from legislators including state Rep. Christine Chandler, of Los Alamos. Votes against the bill were cast by two Republican lawmakers who are pursuing impeachment proceedings against the governor for her emergency health orders on gun violence.
New Mexico’s red-flag law, aimed at removing firearms from people who pose a danger to themselves or others, was enacted in 2020 in response to a mass shooting by a lone gunman at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, the prior year that killed 23 people. Proposed changes would expedite procedures for obtaining an “extreme risk” order to seize firearms and expand the range of people who can petition to temporarily remove guns to include health care professionals.
Oregon
Jury awards $85 million to 9 victims of deadly 2020 wildfires
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon jury awarded $85 million Tuesday to nine victims of wildfires that ravaged the state in 2020, the latest verdict in a series of legal proceedings that are expected to put the utility PacifiCorp on the hook for billions of dollars over its liability for the deadly blazes.
“We are so proud of the strength and resilience of our clients, and thankful to the jury for holding PacifiCorp accountable for what happened on Labor Day 2020 — something it will never do itself,” Nick Rosinia, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, said in a statement.
PacifiCorp expects post-verdict rulings and insurance payments to bring its share of the verdict to just under $80 million, the company said in a statement.
“The 2020 wildfires were undeniably tragic,” it said. “PacifiCorp has settled and will continue to settle all reasonable claims for actual damages under Oregon law. ... The growing threat of wildfires to communities and businesses is bigger than any one company or industry.”
The fires were among the worst natural disasters in Oregon’s history, killing nine people, burning more than 1,875 square miles (4,856 square kilometers) and destroying upward of 5,000 homes and other structures.
Last June a jury found PacifiCorp liable for damages for negligently failing to cut power to its 600,000 customers despite warnings from top fire officials, saying its power lines were responsible for multiple blazes. PacifCorp has appealed.
That jury awarded around $90 million to 17 homeowners named as plaintiffs in the case, with damages to be determined later for a broader class that could include the owners of about 2,500 properties, as estimated by plaintiffs’ attorneys.
The damages awarded Tuesday were the first in cases brought by that broader class, with additional trials expected in February and April.
PacifiCorp also agreed last month to pay $299 million to settle a lawsuit brought by 463 plaintiffs who were harmed by separate devastating wildfires in southern Oregon over Labor Day 2020.
Grand jury indicts farmworker charged with killing 7 people
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A farmworker charged with killing seven people last year in back-to-back shootings at two Northern California mushroom farms was indicted by a grand jury in an effort by prosecutors to move the case along, authorities said.
Chunli Zhao was in court Tuesday to be arraigned on seven counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder, but his arraignment was continued until Feb. 29, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said in an email.
Zhao was charged last year in the Jan. 23, 2023, killings of seven people in Half Moon Bay. He pleaded not guilty last February. But the case has dragged on with a preliminary hearing not set until March, and that has now been vacated, Wagstaffe said.
The grand jury indictment supersedes the criminal complaint and bypasses the need for a preliminary hearing, skipping one step in the legal process and advancing the case, he said.
“I know that extensive delays impose a very negative impact on victims’ families and we try to move cases along when the case seems to be dragging on. That is why we sought to seek the Grand Jury Indictment,” Wagstaffe said.
The next step is for Zhao to enter a plea on the grand jury indictment charges at the February hearing, he said.
Prosecutors say Zhao began the shooting rampage at California Terra Garden after his supervisor there demanded he pay a $100 repair bill for his forklift after he was involved in a crash with a co-worker’s bulldozer. They say he killed four co-workers and wounded another one before driving to Concord Farms, a mushroom farm he was fired from in 2015. There, he shot to death three former co-workers.
Zhao admitted to the shootings during a jailhouse media interview days after the killings and told KNTV-TV he was bullied and worked long hours on the farms.
The killings shed light on the substandard housing the farms provided to their workers. After the shooting, San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Mueller visited the housing at California Terra Garden, where some of its workers lived along with their families, and he described it as “deplorable” and “heartbreaking.”
Muller, who represents Half Moon Bay and other agricultural towns, posted photos on social media showing a shipping container and sheds used as homes.
Terra Garden’s owners agreed to build new permanent homes on a separate area of the farm for its employees and their families and provide them affordable housing during the year it would take to construct them. But a year after the shooting, permanent housing has not yet been built, the Mercury News reported.
Texas
Divided federal appeals court won’t revive online journalist’s lawsuit over arrest
A divided federal appeals court refused on Tuesday to revive the lawsuit of a Texas-based online citizen journalist who said she was wrongfully arrested for seeking and obtaining nonpublic information from police in a case that drew attention from national media organizations and free speech advocates.
A state judge dismissed the criminal case against Priscilla Villarreal — known online as La Gordiloca — saying the law used to arrest her in 2017 was unconstitutional. But Villarreal still wanted to sue officials for damages. She lost Tuesday in a 9-7 decision from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which saw strong dissents from a group of ideologically diverse judges appointed by Republican and Democratic presidents.
The majority held that the police officers and other officials Villarreal sued in Laredo and Webb County were entitled to legal immunity.
“Villarreal and others portray her as a martyr for the sake of journalism. That is inappropriate,” Judge Edith Jones wrote for the majority. “She could have followed Texas law, or challenged that law in court, before reporting nonpublic information from the backchannel source.”
The ruling included lengthy opinions covering more than 50 pages from three of the seven dissenting judges.
The law, according to court records, defined the criminal “misuse of official information” as using information that “has not been made public ... with intent to obtain a benefit or with intent to harm or defraud another.” Authorities had argued that Villarreal could benefit from using the information — the identities of a person who killed himself and a family involved in a car accident — to gain fame on her Facebook page, Lagordiloca News LaredoTx.
“If the First Amendment means anything, surely it means that citizens have the right to question or criticize public officials without fear of imprisonment,” Judge James Ho, nominated to the court by former President Donald Trump, said in one dissent. Other dissenters included three more nominees of Republican presidents, and three nominated by Democrats.
Villarreal and an attorney who represented her said in an email that they would take the case to the Supreme Court.
“I’m disappointed,” Villarreal said, “but I’m going to keep up the fight for my rights and those of all Americans.”
New Mexico
Latest federal court order favors right to carry guns in some public parks
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A U.S. District Court judge is standing by her decision to block portions of a public health order from New Mexico’s governor that would suspend the right to carry firearms in many public parks in the Albuquerque area, with appeals pending before a higher court.
The Monday order from Albuquerque-based Judge Kea Riggs denied a request from the governor to leave in place a temporary ban on firearms in some public places in greater Albuquerque, including most public parks.
Riggs earlier concluded that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has not yet demonstrated a historical tradition of banning firearms in public parks or similar areas in the past, in response to a lawsuit by Torrance County resident James Springer — a plaintiff in one of several lawsuits filed against the governor by gun rights advocates.
“Our position is that’s not something that is contemplated under the Second Amendment,” said Springer’s attorney, A. Blair Dunn, applauding the judge’s order.
Last year, U.S. District Judge David Urias ruled in the other direction in a victory for the governor, rejecting a request from other gun rights advocates to block temporary firearms restrictions while challenges move forward. It will likely fall to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver to reconcile the orders from Urias and Riggs.
Lujan Grisham spokesperson Maddy Hayden said Tuesday that the governor “respectfully” disagrees with Riggs.
“Judge Riggs’ opinion ignores this caselaw and the massive amount of historical evidence in the record supporting the constitutionality of the temporary restrictions imposed by the public health order,” Hayden said in an email. “We respectfully disagree with the opinion and are confident that our ongoing appeal to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals will be successful.”
Lujan Grisham, a second-term Democrat, invoked the emergency orders last year in response to a spate of gun violence including the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old boy outside a minor league baseball stadium.
Gun rights advocates also are urging the New Mexico Supreme Court to block the orders. The court recently heard oral arguments in the lawsuit brought by Republican state legislators, the National Rifle Association and several residents of the Albuquerque area.
The rest of the public health orders have remained intact, including directives for monthly inspections of firearm dealers statewide, reports on gunshot victims at New Mexico hospitals, wastewater testing for illicit substances at schools and more.
During a 30-day legislative session that concludes Feb. 15, Lujan Grisham also is advocating for a broad suite of legislative proposals on gun control and enhanced penalties for violent crime.
On Tuesday, a proposal to shore up New Mexico’s red-flag gun law advanced past its first House committee hearing on a 4-2 party-line vote with Democrats in support of the bill from legislators including state Rep. Christine Chandler, of Los Alamos. Votes against the bill were cast by two Republican lawmakers who are pursuing impeachment proceedings against the governor for her emergency health orders on gun violence.
New Mexico’s red-flag law, aimed at removing firearms from people who pose a danger to themselves or others, was enacted in 2020 in response to a mass shooting by a lone gunman at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, the prior year that killed 23 people. Proposed changes would expedite procedures for obtaining an “extreme risk” order to seize firearms and expand the range of people who can petition to temporarily remove guns to include health care professionals.
Oregon
Jury awards $85 million to 9 victims of deadly 2020 wildfires
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon jury awarded $85 million Tuesday to nine victims of wildfires that ravaged the state in 2020, the latest verdict in a series of legal proceedings that are expected to put the utility PacifiCorp on the hook for billions of dollars over its liability for the deadly blazes.
“We are so proud of the strength and resilience of our clients, and thankful to the jury for holding PacifiCorp accountable for what happened on Labor Day 2020 — something it will never do itself,” Nick Rosinia, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, said in a statement.
PacifiCorp expects post-verdict rulings and insurance payments to bring its share of the verdict to just under $80 million, the company said in a statement.
“The 2020 wildfires were undeniably tragic,” it said. “PacifiCorp has settled and will continue to settle all reasonable claims for actual damages under Oregon law. ... The growing threat of wildfires to communities and businesses is bigger than any one company or industry.”
The fires were among the worst natural disasters in Oregon’s history, killing nine people, burning more than 1,875 square miles (4,856 square kilometers) and destroying upward of 5,000 homes and other structures.
Last June a jury found PacifiCorp liable for damages for negligently failing to cut power to its 600,000 customers despite warnings from top fire officials, saying its power lines were responsible for multiple blazes. PacifCorp has appealed.
That jury awarded around $90 million to 17 homeowners named as plaintiffs in the case, with damages to be determined later for a broader class that could include the owners of about 2,500 properties, as estimated by plaintiffs’ attorneys.
The damages awarded Tuesday were the first in cases brought by that broader class, with additional trials expected in February and April.
PacifiCorp also agreed last month to pay $299 million to settle a lawsuit brought by 463 plaintiffs who were harmed by separate devastating wildfires in southern Oregon over Labor Day 2020.
