Florida
U.S. appeals court clears way for state’s ban on transgender care for minors
ATLANTA (AP) — A federal appeals court Monday cleared the way for Florida to enforce a ban on gender-affirming care for minors, blocking a lower court order against the ban while the matter is appealed.
The 2-1 decision was issued by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. The law revived by the ruling prohibits transgender minors from being prescribed puberty blockers and hormonal treatments, even with their parents’ permission. It also required that transgender adults only receive treatment from a doctor and not from a registered nurse or other qualified medical practitioner. Adults who want the treatment must be in the room with the physician when signing the consent form.
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle had blocked the law in June.
Florida’s attorneys had conceded during the district court trial that the state cannot stop someone from pursuing a transgender identity, but said it can regulate medical care.
For minors, the only treatments at issue are puberty blocking treatments and cross-sex hormones — giving testosterone to someone assigned female at birth, for example. Those who were undergoing treatment when the law was adopted in May 2023 were allowed to continue. Surgery, which is rare for minors, was still blocked.
At least 26 states have adopted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, and most of those states face lawsuits. Federal judges have struck down the bans in Arkansas and Florida as unconstitutional, though a federal appeals court has stayed the Florida ruling. A judge’s order is in place temporarily blocking enforcement of the ban in Montana.
Arkansas
Man charged in grocery store shooting sued by woman who was injured in attack
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The suspect accused of killing four people in a mass shooting at an Arkansas grocery store has been sued by one of the women injured in the attack.
The lawsuit filed last week in state court is the first against Travis Eugene Posey, who was charged with four counts of capital murder and 11 counts of attempted capital murder in the June 21 shooting at the Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce, Arkansas. Posey has pleaded not guilty to the charges in the shooting and is being held without bond.
Brittney Sullivent, who was shot and injured in the attack, and her husband Jeromy are seeking monetary damages to cover medical care, lost earnings and other expenses as a result of the shooting.
Posey has declared indigency and is being represented by public defenders in his criminal case. Gregg Parrish, the executive director of the Arkansas Public Defender Commission, said his office could not represent Posey in the lawsuit since it was a civil matter.
According to the lawsuit, Sullivent was wounded in head and arm when Posey fired at her vehicle in the grocery store’s parking lot. Her injuries include hearing loss and permanent disfigurement and she faces ongoing medical procedures, the lawsuit said.
Prosecutors and police have not identified a motive for Posey, who is not scheduled to appear in court again until October.
Posey carried a 12-gauge shotgun, a pistol and a bandolier with dozens of extra shotgun rounds, authorities said. He fired most, if not all, of the rounds using the shotgun, opening fire at people in the parking lot before entering the store and firing “indiscriminately” at customers and employees, police said. Multiple gunshot victims were found inside the store and in the parking lot, police said.
Massachusetts
Karen Read now faces civil suit as well as murder charge in police officer boyfriend’s death
PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — The family of the police officer boyfriend Karen Read is accused of killing by hitting him with her vehicle and leaving him to die in the snow has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her and two bars where they had been drinking that night.
The lawsuit blames the death of John O’Keefe on Read, and also on what it describes as the bars’ negligence by continuing to serve drinks to her despite signs she was drunk. It says the first bar served her seven alcoholic drinks in about 90 minutes the night of Jan. 28, 2022, and that Read carried the last drink into the second bar, where she was served a shot and a mixed alcoholic drink within an hour.
The lawsuit doesn’t say how much alcohol O’Keefe was served that night before he got into Read’s SUV.
The lawsuit filed Monday in Plymouth Superior Court in Massachusetts by Paul O’Keefe on behalf of his family and his brother’s estate names Read, the Waterfall Bar & Grill and C.F. McCarthy’s as defendants. It asks for a jury trial.
Calls to Read’s lawyers seeking comment on the civil suit weren’t immediately returned on Tuesday. A person who answered the phone at the Waterfall said the owners were unavailable, and another at C.F. McCarthy’s declined comment.
Read has pleaded not guilty and awaits a Jan. 27 retrial on charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. Her two-month criminal trial ended in July when the judge declared a mistrial after jurors said they were deadlocked. The judge dismissed arguments that jurors later said they had unanimously agreed Read wasn’t guilty on the charges of murder and leaving the scene.
After the bar-hopping, Read, 44, a former adjunct professor at Bentley College, dropped off O’Keefe, a 16-year member of the Boston police, outside the Canton home of another police officer. His body was found in the front yard. An autopsy found O’Keefe died of hypothermia and blunt force trauma.
Read’s lawyers argued that O’Keefe was killed inside the home and that those involved chose to frame her because she was a “convenient outsider.”
The lawsuit says Read and O’Keefe had been arguing and that she knew she had hit him with her SUV before returning to his home. It alleges that she woke up his 14-year-old niece several hours later saying that something had happened to O’Keefe and that he might have been hit by her or a snow plow.
U.S. appeals court clears way for state’s ban on transgender care for minors
ATLANTA (AP) — A federal appeals court Monday cleared the way for Florida to enforce a ban on gender-affirming care for minors, blocking a lower court order against the ban while the matter is appealed.
The 2-1 decision was issued by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. The law revived by the ruling prohibits transgender minors from being prescribed puberty blockers and hormonal treatments, even with their parents’ permission. It also required that transgender adults only receive treatment from a doctor and not from a registered nurse or other qualified medical practitioner. Adults who want the treatment must be in the room with the physician when signing the consent form.
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle had blocked the law in June.
Florida’s attorneys had conceded during the district court trial that the state cannot stop someone from pursuing a transgender identity, but said it can regulate medical care.
For minors, the only treatments at issue are puberty blocking treatments and cross-sex hormones — giving testosterone to someone assigned female at birth, for example. Those who were undergoing treatment when the law was adopted in May 2023 were allowed to continue. Surgery, which is rare for minors, was still blocked.
At least 26 states have adopted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, and most of those states face lawsuits. Federal judges have struck down the bans in Arkansas and Florida as unconstitutional, though a federal appeals court has stayed the Florida ruling. A judge’s order is in place temporarily blocking enforcement of the ban in Montana.
Arkansas
Man charged in grocery store shooting sued by woman who was injured in attack
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The suspect accused of killing four people in a mass shooting at an Arkansas grocery store has been sued by one of the women injured in the attack.
The lawsuit filed last week in state court is the first against Travis Eugene Posey, who was charged with four counts of capital murder and 11 counts of attempted capital murder in the June 21 shooting at the Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce, Arkansas. Posey has pleaded not guilty to the charges in the shooting and is being held without bond.
Brittney Sullivent, who was shot and injured in the attack, and her husband Jeromy are seeking monetary damages to cover medical care, lost earnings and other expenses as a result of the shooting.
Posey has declared indigency and is being represented by public defenders in his criminal case. Gregg Parrish, the executive director of the Arkansas Public Defender Commission, said his office could not represent Posey in the lawsuit since it was a civil matter.
According to the lawsuit, Sullivent was wounded in head and arm when Posey fired at her vehicle in the grocery store’s parking lot. Her injuries include hearing loss and permanent disfigurement and she faces ongoing medical procedures, the lawsuit said.
Prosecutors and police have not identified a motive for Posey, who is not scheduled to appear in court again until October.
Posey carried a 12-gauge shotgun, a pistol and a bandolier with dozens of extra shotgun rounds, authorities said. He fired most, if not all, of the rounds using the shotgun, opening fire at people in the parking lot before entering the store and firing “indiscriminately” at customers and employees, police said. Multiple gunshot victims were found inside the store and in the parking lot, police said.
Massachusetts
Karen Read now faces civil suit as well as murder charge in police officer boyfriend’s death
PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — The family of the police officer boyfriend Karen Read is accused of killing by hitting him with her vehicle and leaving him to die in the snow has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her and two bars where they had been drinking that night.
The lawsuit blames the death of John O’Keefe on Read, and also on what it describes as the bars’ negligence by continuing to serve drinks to her despite signs she was drunk. It says the first bar served her seven alcoholic drinks in about 90 minutes the night of Jan. 28, 2022, and that Read carried the last drink into the second bar, where she was served a shot and a mixed alcoholic drink within an hour.
The lawsuit doesn’t say how much alcohol O’Keefe was served that night before he got into Read’s SUV.
The lawsuit filed Monday in Plymouth Superior Court in Massachusetts by Paul O’Keefe on behalf of his family and his brother’s estate names Read, the Waterfall Bar & Grill and C.F. McCarthy’s as defendants. It asks for a jury trial.
Calls to Read’s lawyers seeking comment on the civil suit weren’t immediately returned on Tuesday. A person who answered the phone at the Waterfall said the owners were unavailable, and another at C.F. McCarthy’s declined comment.
Read has pleaded not guilty and awaits a Jan. 27 retrial on charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. Her two-month criminal trial ended in July when the judge declared a mistrial after jurors said they were deadlocked. The judge dismissed arguments that jurors later said they had unanimously agreed Read wasn’t guilty on the charges of murder and leaving the scene.
After the bar-hopping, Read, 44, a former adjunct professor at Bentley College, dropped off O’Keefe, a 16-year member of the Boston police, outside the Canton home of another police officer. His body was found in the front yard. An autopsy found O’Keefe died of hypothermia and blunt force trauma.
Read’s lawyers argued that O’Keefe was killed inside the home and that those involved chose to frame her because she was a “convenient outsider.”
The lawsuit says Read and O’Keefe had been arguing and that she knew she had hit him with her SUV before returning to his home. It alleges that she woke up his 14-year-old niece several hours later saying that something had happened to O’Keefe and that he might have been hit by her or a snow plow.
