Kansas
Lawmaker’s law license suspended over conflicts of interest in murder case
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Republican Kansas lawmaker who already dropped his re-election campaign last month after he was arrested in a traffic stop has now been barred from practicing law for at least a year for mishandling conflicts of interest in a murder case.
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled that state Rep. Carl Maughan of Colwich violated professional standards while representing 57-year-old Bret Blevins in a 2016 crash that killed two men, according to the Kansas City Star.
Maughan did not respond immediately to an email from The Associated Press on Sunday nor did he answer a phone call from the newspaper Friday. He had previously defended the way he handled the Blevins case although Blevins is now suing Maughan over it.
The conflicts of interest in the case came up because Maughan had previously represented Blevins’ girlfriend, Tammy Akers, in DUI cases and he accepted $30,000 from Akers and her husband to defend Blevins.
Akers and Blevins were the only occupants of the vehicle that struck and killed the two men in a van. Akers served as a key witness at the trial where Maughan blamed Akers for the crash and suggested she was the driver.
The Supreme Court ruled that conflict-of-interest waivers Maughan had Blevins and Akers sign didn’t adequately address the situation or fully inform them of the consequences.
Ultimately, Blevins was sentenced to more than 60 years in prison in 2017 after he was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder. But the Kansas Court of Appeals ruled four years later that he deserved a new trial because of Maughan’s conflicts of interest. He then pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to more than 13 years in prison.
Maughan announced last month that he would drop out of the race for his House seat, but his name will still be on the primary ballot alongside three other Republicans because he missed the deadline to withdraw it.
He is facing two misdemeanors and two traffic violations after a traffic stop in Topeka in March. He was charged with possession of a firearm while under the influence, DUI, failure to signal a lane change and failure to maintain safe passage from a single lane.
Arkansas
Prosecutor says ATF agent justified in fatal shooting of airport director
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas prosecutor on Friday said a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent was justified when he fatally shot the Little Rock airport director during a raid at his house in March.
Pulaski County Prosecutor Will Jones said in a letter to ATF that no charges in the shooting would be filed after reviewing the Arkansas State Police investigation of the shooting of Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport Executive Director Bryan Malinowski.
Malinowski died days after he was shot when ATF agents were executing a warrant March 19 at his home in Little Rock. The ATF said agents returned fire after Malinowski shot at the agents, striking and injuring one of them.
An affidavit released after the shooting said Malinowski bought over 150 guns between May 2021 and February 2024 and that he resold many without a dealer’s license.
In his letter, Jones said the agents had properly identified themselves with police running lights and sirens outdoors before they entered and announced their presence at the front door. Jones wrote that during the raid one of the agents saw another agent fall to the ground, heard a gunshot and saw Malinowski holding a gun.
“Given the totality of the circumstances, Agent 2 had a reasonable belief that deadly force was necessary to defend himself and Agent 1,” Jones wrote. “Therefore, the use of deadly force by Agent 2 was in accordance with Arkansas law and was justified.”
ATF spokesperson Kristina Mastropasqua called the state’s investigation into the shooting “prompt, professional and independent” and said it’s now under internal review by the agency.
The Malinowski family has called the ATF’s tactics in the raid “completely unnecessary” and has complained about a lack of details from the ATF. An attorney for Malinowski’s family has said he was a gun collector and wasn’t aware he was under investigation for his reselling firearms at gun shows.
Bud Cummins, the family’s attorney, on Friday said questions about the raid were “far from over” despite Jones’ decision. Cummins noted that, according to Jones’ letter, ATF agents only waited 28 seconds after knocking on the Malinowski’s door before they began to ram it.
“The state’s investigation didn’t attempt to make independent judgments about whether ATF violated the law when they broke down Mr. and Mrs. Malinowski’s front door,” Cummins said in a statement. “But that question should be a matter of grave concern for the rest of us.”
Malinowski’s death prompted criticism from some Republican lawmakers in Arkansas who have called for more information from the ATF, and the chair of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee in April asked the ATF to provide the panel documents and information about the raid.
Missouri
Abortion ban wasn’t about lawmakers imposing religious beliefs, judge says
A judge in Missouri says lawmakers who passed a restrictive abortion ban were not trying to impose their religious beliefs on everyone in the state, rejecting a case filed by more than a dozen Christian, Jewish and Unitarian Universalist leaders who support abortion rights.
The groups sought a permanent injunction last year barring Missouri from enforcing its abortion law and a declaration that provisions violate the state Constitution.
One section of the statute at issue reads: “In recognition that Almighty God is the author of life, that all men and women are ‘endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among those are Life.’”
Judge Jason Sengheiser said in his ruling Friday that there is similar language in the preamble to the Missouri Constitution, which expresses “profound reverence for the Supreme Ruler of the Universe.” The rest of the challenged provisions contain no explicit religious language, he said.
“While the determination that life begins at conception may run counter to some religious beliefs, it is not itself necessarily a religious belief,” Sengheiser wrote. “As such, it does not prevent all men and women from worshipping Almighty God or not worshipping according to the dictates of their own consciences.”
The Americans United for Separation of Church & State and the National Women’s Law Center, who sued on behalf of the religious leaders, responded in a joint statement that they were considering their legal options.
“Missouri’s abortion ban is a direct attack on the separation of church and state, religious freedom and reproductive freedom,” the statement said.
Attorneys for the state have countered that just because some supporters of the law oppose abortion on religious grounds doesn’t mean that the law forces their beliefs on anyone else.
Sengheiser added that the state has historically sought to restrict and criminalize abortion, citing statutes that are more than a century old. “Essentially, the only thing that changed is that Roe was reversed, opening the door to this further regulation,” he said.
Within minutes of the 2022 Supreme Court decision, then-Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Gov. Mike Parson, both Republicans, filed paperwork to immediately enact a 2019 law prohibiting abortions “except in cases of medical emergency.” That law contained a provision making it effective only if Roe v. Wade was overturned.
The law makes it a felony punishable by five to 15 years in prison to perform or induce an abortion. Medical professionals who do so also could lose their licenses. The law says that women who undergo abortions cannot be prosecuted.
Missouri already had some of the nation’s more restrictive abortion laws and had seen a significant decline in the number of abortions performed, with residents instead traveling to clinics just across the state line in Illinois and Kansas.
Idaho
Judge could soon set trial date for man charged in killings of 4 college students
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A judge could soon decide on a trial date for a man charged in the deaths of four University of Idaho students who were killed more than a year and a half ago.
Bryan Kohberger was arrested roughly six weeks after the bodies of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves were found at a rental home near the Moscow campus Nov. 13, 2022. The students were stabbed, and investigators said they were able to link Kohberger — then a graduate student at nearby Washington State University — to the crime using DNA found on a knife sheath at the scene, surveillance videos and cellphone data.
A judge entered a not guilty plea on Kohberger’s behalf in a May 2023 hearing, and for the past several months Kohberger’s defense attorneys and Latah County prosecutors have been wrangling over the evidence and other data gathered throughout the investigation.
So far, 2nd District Judge John Judge has not set a trial date, noting that the case is particularly complicated in part because prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty if there is a conviction.
But that could change later this month. On Thursday, Judge scheduled a June 27 hearing to discuss the schedule for the rest of the case, including dates for the trial as well as for a possible sentencing.
A sweeping gag order has prevented Kohberger, attorneys on both sides, law enforcement officials and others involved in the case from commenting.
Earlier this month Judge said investigators working for Kohberger’s defense team would be added to a list of attorneys and defense experts who are allowed to review sealed DNA records that law enforcement used to narrow the pool of potential suspects. The DNA was used for investigative genetic genealogy, in which material found at a crime scene is run through public genealogical databases to find a suspect or a suspect’s relatives.
In his June 7 order, Judge also said the defense team is not allowed to contact any relative who shows up in the records and who was not already known to them without advance permission from the court.
Prosecutor Bill Thompson had argued previously that the DNA records were not relevant because they were not used to secure any warrants and would not be presented at trial. But Judge disagreed, saying last year that the defense team had shown that they needed to review at least some of the records as they prepared their case.
Kohberger’s attorneys are also asking for a change of venue. The judge has yet to rule on that request.
West Virginia
Man accused of acting as lookout in ‘Whitey’ Bulger killing sentenced to time served
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (AP) — The man accused of acting as lookout during the prison killing of notorious Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger was sentenced to time served Monday after pleading guilty to a chare of lying to federal agents.
Sean McKinnon was accused along with two other inmates in the 2018 killing at a troubled West Virginia prison.
The other two inmates, Fotios “Freddy” Geas and Paul J. DeCologero, are accused of repeatedly hitting Bulger in the head within hours of Bulger being transferred to the prison.
Bulger, who ran the largely Irish mob in Boston in the 1970s and ‘80s, became one of the nation’s most wanted fugitives after fleeing Boston in 1994. He was captured at age 81 after more than 16 years on the run and convicted in 2013 in a string of 11 killings and dozens of other gangland crimes.
Lawmaker’s law license suspended over conflicts of interest in murder case
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Republican Kansas lawmaker who already dropped his re-election campaign last month after he was arrested in a traffic stop has now been barred from practicing law for at least a year for mishandling conflicts of interest in a murder case.
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled that state Rep. Carl Maughan of Colwich violated professional standards while representing 57-year-old Bret Blevins in a 2016 crash that killed two men, according to the Kansas City Star.
Maughan did not respond immediately to an email from The Associated Press on Sunday nor did he answer a phone call from the newspaper Friday. He had previously defended the way he handled the Blevins case although Blevins is now suing Maughan over it.
The conflicts of interest in the case came up because Maughan had previously represented Blevins’ girlfriend, Tammy Akers, in DUI cases and he accepted $30,000 from Akers and her husband to defend Blevins.
Akers and Blevins were the only occupants of the vehicle that struck and killed the two men in a van. Akers served as a key witness at the trial where Maughan blamed Akers for the crash and suggested she was the driver.
The Supreme Court ruled that conflict-of-interest waivers Maughan had Blevins and Akers sign didn’t adequately address the situation or fully inform them of the consequences.
Ultimately, Blevins was sentenced to more than 60 years in prison in 2017 after he was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder. But the Kansas Court of Appeals ruled four years later that he deserved a new trial because of Maughan’s conflicts of interest. He then pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to more than 13 years in prison.
Maughan announced last month that he would drop out of the race for his House seat, but his name will still be on the primary ballot alongside three other Republicans because he missed the deadline to withdraw it.
He is facing two misdemeanors and two traffic violations after a traffic stop in Topeka in March. He was charged with possession of a firearm while under the influence, DUI, failure to signal a lane change and failure to maintain safe passage from a single lane.
Arkansas
Prosecutor says ATF agent justified in fatal shooting of airport director
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas prosecutor on Friday said a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent was justified when he fatally shot the Little Rock airport director during a raid at his house in March.
Pulaski County Prosecutor Will Jones said in a letter to ATF that no charges in the shooting would be filed after reviewing the Arkansas State Police investigation of the shooting of Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport Executive Director Bryan Malinowski.
Malinowski died days after he was shot when ATF agents were executing a warrant March 19 at his home in Little Rock. The ATF said agents returned fire after Malinowski shot at the agents, striking and injuring one of them.
An affidavit released after the shooting said Malinowski bought over 150 guns between May 2021 and February 2024 and that he resold many without a dealer’s license.
In his letter, Jones said the agents had properly identified themselves with police running lights and sirens outdoors before they entered and announced their presence at the front door. Jones wrote that during the raid one of the agents saw another agent fall to the ground, heard a gunshot and saw Malinowski holding a gun.
“Given the totality of the circumstances, Agent 2 had a reasonable belief that deadly force was necessary to defend himself and Agent 1,” Jones wrote. “Therefore, the use of deadly force by Agent 2 was in accordance with Arkansas law and was justified.”
ATF spokesperson Kristina Mastropasqua called the state’s investigation into the shooting “prompt, professional and independent” and said it’s now under internal review by the agency.
The Malinowski family has called the ATF’s tactics in the raid “completely unnecessary” and has complained about a lack of details from the ATF. An attorney for Malinowski’s family has said he was a gun collector and wasn’t aware he was under investigation for his reselling firearms at gun shows.
Bud Cummins, the family’s attorney, on Friday said questions about the raid were “far from over” despite Jones’ decision. Cummins noted that, according to Jones’ letter, ATF agents only waited 28 seconds after knocking on the Malinowski’s door before they began to ram it.
“The state’s investigation didn’t attempt to make independent judgments about whether ATF violated the law when they broke down Mr. and Mrs. Malinowski’s front door,” Cummins said in a statement. “But that question should be a matter of grave concern for the rest of us.”
Malinowski’s death prompted criticism from some Republican lawmakers in Arkansas who have called for more information from the ATF, and the chair of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee in April asked the ATF to provide the panel documents and information about the raid.
Missouri
Abortion ban wasn’t about lawmakers imposing religious beliefs, judge says
A judge in Missouri says lawmakers who passed a restrictive abortion ban were not trying to impose their religious beliefs on everyone in the state, rejecting a case filed by more than a dozen Christian, Jewish and Unitarian Universalist leaders who support abortion rights.
The groups sought a permanent injunction last year barring Missouri from enforcing its abortion law and a declaration that provisions violate the state Constitution.
One section of the statute at issue reads: “In recognition that Almighty God is the author of life, that all men and women are ‘endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among those are Life.’”
Judge Jason Sengheiser said in his ruling Friday that there is similar language in the preamble to the Missouri Constitution, which expresses “profound reverence for the Supreme Ruler of the Universe.” The rest of the challenged provisions contain no explicit religious language, he said.
“While the determination that life begins at conception may run counter to some religious beliefs, it is not itself necessarily a religious belief,” Sengheiser wrote. “As such, it does not prevent all men and women from worshipping Almighty God or not worshipping according to the dictates of their own consciences.”
The Americans United for Separation of Church & State and the National Women’s Law Center, who sued on behalf of the religious leaders, responded in a joint statement that they were considering their legal options.
“Missouri’s abortion ban is a direct attack on the separation of church and state, religious freedom and reproductive freedom,” the statement said.
Attorneys for the state have countered that just because some supporters of the law oppose abortion on religious grounds doesn’t mean that the law forces their beliefs on anyone else.
Sengheiser added that the state has historically sought to restrict and criminalize abortion, citing statutes that are more than a century old. “Essentially, the only thing that changed is that Roe was reversed, opening the door to this further regulation,” he said.
Within minutes of the 2022 Supreme Court decision, then-Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Gov. Mike Parson, both Republicans, filed paperwork to immediately enact a 2019 law prohibiting abortions “except in cases of medical emergency.” That law contained a provision making it effective only if Roe v. Wade was overturned.
The law makes it a felony punishable by five to 15 years in prison to perform or induce an abortion. Medical professionals who do so also could lose their licenses. The law says that women who undergo abortions cannot be prosecuted.
Missouri already had some of the nation’s more restrictive abortion laws and had seen a significant decline in the number of abortions performed, with residents instead traveling to clinics just across the state line in Illinois and Kansas.
Idaho
Judge could soon set trial date for man charged in killings of 4 college students
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A judge could soon decide on a trial date for a man charged in the deaths of four University of Idaho students who were killed more than a year and a half ago.
Bryan Kohberger was arrested roughly six weeks after the bodies of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves were found at a rental home near the Moscow campus Nov. 13, 2022. The students were stabbed, and investigators said they were able to link Kohberger — then a graduate student at nearby Washington State University — to the crime using DNA found on a knife sheath at the scene, surveillance videos and cellphone data.
A judge entered a not guilty plea on Kohberger’s behalf in a May 2023 hearing, and for the past several months Kohberger’s defense attorneys and Latah County prosecutors have been wrangling over the evidence and other data gathered throughout the investigation.
So far, 2nd District Judge John Judge has not set a trial date, noting that the case is particularly complicated in part because prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty if there is a conviction.
But that could change later this month. On Thursday, Judge scheduled a June 27 hearing to discuss the schedule for the rest of the case, including dates for the trial as well as for a possible sentencing.
A sweeping gag order has prevented Kohberger, attorneys on both sides, law enforcement officials and others involved in the case from commenting.
Earlier this month Judge said investigators working for Kohberger’s defense team would be added to a list of attorneys and defense experts who are allowed to review sealed DNA records that law enforcement used to narrow the pool of potential suspects. The DNA was used for investigative genetic genealogy, in which material found at a crime scene is run through public genealogical databases to find a suspect or a suspect’s relatives.
In his June 7 order, Judge also said the defense team is not allowed to contact any relative who shows up in the records and who was not already known to them without advance permission from the court.
Prosecutor Bill Thompson had argued previously that the DNA records were not relevant because they were not used to secure any warrants and would not be presented at trial. But Judge disagreed, saying last year that the defense team had shown that they needed to review at least some of the records as they prepared their case.
Kohberger’s attorneys are also asking for a change of venue. The judge has yet to rule on that request.
West Virginia
Man accused of acting as lookout in ‘Whitey’ Bulger killing sentenced to time served
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (AP) — The man accused of acting as lookout during the prison killing of notorious Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger was sentenced to time served Monday after pleading guilty to a chare of lying to federal agents.
Sean McKinnon was accused along with two other inmates in the 2018 killing at a troubled West Virginia prison.
The other two inmates, Fotios “Freddy” Geas and Paul J. DeCologero, are accused of repeatedly hitting Bulger in the head within hours of Bulger being transferred to the prison.
Bulger, who ran the largely Irish mob in Boston in the 1970s and ‘80s, became one of the nation’s most wanted fugitives after fleeing Boston in 1994. He was captured at age 81 after more than 16 years on the run and convicted in 2013 in a string of 11 killings and dozens of other gangland crimes.
