South Dakota
Lawsuit over abortion rights measure to play out after election
An anti-abortion group’s lawsuit to invalidate an abortion rights measure appearing on South Dakota’s statewide ballot won’t be resolved until after the November election.
Media reports of an apparent disconnect between attorneys and the Second Judicial Circuit over scheduling of the trial — initially set for Sept. 23-27 — led the court to issue an advisory with a timeline of judge assignments in the case. A hearing on the Life Defense Fund’s motion for summary judgment is now set for Dec. 2, weeks after the Nov. 5 election.
The release describes how, over about two weeks, the case was reassigned from Judge John Pekas after he learned of his wife’s need for surgery. However, the case then was assigned back to him after another judge was removed from the case.
In a statement, Life Defense Fund spokesperson Caroline Woods said both parties were surprised the trial was not going to happen next week.
“After an immense amount of preparation, Life Defense Fund is deeply disappointed that we are not allowed to provide our evidence to the court,” she said.
Dakotans for Health co-founder Rick Weiland said, “I think for us the bottom line is that through this whole process and just trying to stop the voters of South Dakota from weighing in, and they’ve been unsuccessful every step of the way, and now their hope was to have a trial during the height of the election, and that’s not going to happen. ... We’re going to have a vote, not a trial.”
Life Defense Fund alleged a mix of wrongdoing by petition circulators in its effort to kill the measure, which would place abortion rights in the state constitution.
South Dakota outlaws abortion as a felony crime, with the only exception to save the life of the mother, under a trigger ban that took effect in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
New York
Murder charge reinstated against ex-trooper in high-speed chase that killed girl, 11
NEW YORK (AP) — An appeals court reinstated a murder charge on Thursday against a former New York state trooper in the death of an 11-year-old girl during a high-speed chase.
In a 4-1 ruling, a mid-level state appeals court said that trooper Christopher Baldner instigated “perilous, unsanctioned high-speed collisions” during two chases, including the one that killed Monica Goods in New York’s Hudson Valley in December 2020.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said the decision would enable her office to continue “to seek some semblance of justice for the Goods family.”
“As a former state trooper, Christopher Baldner was responsible for serving and protecting the people of New York, but the indictment alleges that he violated that sacred oath and used his vehicle as a deadly weapon, resulting in the senseless death of a young girl,” James, a Democrat, said in a statement.
Baldner’s union said it strongly disagreed with the court’s decision.
“We are deeply concerned that this ruling, if it stands, sets a dangerous precedent that could put a chill on law enforcement officers’ ability to do their job effectively and protect and serve the public,” the New York State Troopers Police Benevolent Association said in a statement.
The union, which is covering Baldner’s legal expenses, said he would try to appeal to the state’s highest court. A message seeking comment was left for Baldner’s lawyer.
The ex-trooper, who retired in 2022, also faces manslaughter and other charges that have stood throughout the case.
A trial judge had dismissed the murder charge last year.
According to the Albany-based appeals court’s ruling, witnesses including Monica’s father told a grand jury that Baldner stopped the family’s SUV, saying it was speeding on the New York State Thruway in Ulster County. The family was en route to a holiday season visit with relatives.
After quarreling with the father, Baldner pepper-sprayed the inside of the SUV.
The father drove off, Baldner pursued and he twice rammed the family’s SUV, according to the ruling. The vehicle overturned multiple times, and Monica was killed.
Baldner told a superior that Goods’ father had repeatedly rammed his patrol car, not the other way around, according to the ruling.
The trial judge had said the ex-trooper exercised poor judgment but the evidence didn’t establish that he acted with depraved indifference to human life — a mental state required to prove the second-degree murder charge.
But four state Supreme Court Appellate Division judges said there was enough evidence to take that charge to trial.
Their dissenting colleague, Justice John Egan Jr., wrote that while Baldner may have been reckless in hitting the SUV, he was trying to stop the chase and protect the public.
No trial date has been set for Baldner, who is free on $100,000 bail.
Vermont
Burlington pays $215K to settle a lawsuit accusing an officer of excessive force
Vermont’s largest city of Burlington has paid $215,000 to settle a lawsuit accusing a police officer of using excessive force by grabbing a man and slamming him to the ground, knocking him unconscious in September of 2018.
According to the federal lawsuit filed in 2019, Mabior Jok was standing outside with a group when a conversation became heated. Officer Joseph Corrow, without announcing himself or issuing any instructions, then slammed Jok to the ground, the lawsuit said.
The police chief at the time said an internal investigation found Corrow did not call for backup or use verbal commands, but he did not use excessive force, according to a court filing. He also had said that Jok was known to officers “as a person who has a violent history who has attacked the community and police officers.”
The settlement was reached at the end of August, about a week before the planned start of a trial, said Jok’s lawyer Robb Spensley, who called it a reasonable settlement. It was first reported by Seven Days.
“I would add that this settlement is life-changing money for my client, who has been intermittently homeless for years,” Spensley said by email on Thursday.
The city’s insurance carrier paid $140,000, and the city paid $75,000, according to Joe Magee, deputy chief of staff in the mayor’s office.
The city acknowledges that the case has been in litigation for a long time and is glad to have reached a resolution, Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak said in a statement Thursday.
“We hope that the resolution of the case provides some measure of relief for Mr. Jok,” she said. “We also recognize the City must approach every instance where force is used as an opportunity to review what happened and ensure our police department training, practices, and policies emphasize de-escalation, minimal reliance on using force, and effective communication.”
Last year the city agreed to pay $750,000 to settle another excessive force lawsuit, accusing police of brutality against another Black man also in September of 2018.
The lawsuit said Officer Jason Bellavance approached two men who were arguing outside of a bar and without announcing his presence shoved Jeremie Meli with both hands. Meli fell backward, hit his head on a wall and was knocked out.
Bellavance was suspended after an internal investigation, and in 2020 left the department in a separation agreement with the city. That came amid protests over George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis. Protesters in Burlington called for the firing of three officers, including Bellavance.
In another case in 2019, a man died two days after being hit in the head by a Burlington police officer. A federal judge in 2021 approved a $45,000 settlement of a lawsuit filed by Doug Kilburn’s family.
Kentucky
Sheriff charged in killing of judge at courthouse
WHITESBURG, Ky. (AP) — The sheriff charged with murder in the shooting of a rural Kentucky judge in his courthouse chambers was accused in a federal lawsuit of failing to investigate allegations that one of his deputies repeatedly sexually abused a woman in the same judge’s chambers.
The preliminary investigation indicates that Letcher County Sheriff Shawn M. Stines shot District Judge Kevin Mullins multiple times on Thursday following an argument inside the courthouse, according to Kentucky State Police.
Mullins, who held the judgeship for 15 years, died at the scene, and Stines surrendered without incident.
Just what the two men were arguing about wasn’t immediately made clear.
Stines was deposed on Monday in a lawsuit filed by two women, one of whom alleged that a deputy forced her to have sex inside Mullins’ chambers for six months in exchange for staying out of jail. The lawsuit accuses the sheriff of “deliberate indifference in failing to adequately train and supervise” the deputy.
The now-former deputy sheriff, Ben Fields, pleaded guilty to raping the female prisoner while she was on home incarceration. Fields was sentenced this year to six months in jail and then six and a half years on probation for rape, sodomy, perjury and tampering with a prisoner monitoring device, The Mountain Eagle reported. Three charges related to a second woman were dismissed because she is now dead.
Stines fired Fields, who was his successor as Mullins’ bailiff, for “conduct unbecoming” after the lawsuit was filed in 2022, The Courier Journal reported at the time.
The killing of the judge sent shock waves through the tight-knit Appalachian town. Whitesburg is the county seat of government with about 1,700 residents located about 145 miles (235 kilometers) southeast of Lexington. Rather than hold the sheriff in the local jail, authorities booked Stines into the Leslie County Detention Center, two counties away, where he remained Friday morning.
Lead county prosecutor Matt Butler described an outpouring of sympathy as he recused himself and his office from the investigation, citing social and family ties to Mullins.
“We all know each other here. ... Anyone from Letcher County would tell you that Judge Mullins and I married sisters and that we have children who are first cousins but act like siblings,” Butler said in a statement from his office. “For that reason, among others, I have already taken steps to recuse myself and my entire office.”
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said his office will collaborate with a commonwealth’s attorney in the region as special prosecutors in the criminal case. Mullins, 54, was hit multiple times in the shooting,
state police said. Stines, 43, was charged with one count of first-degree murder.
“We will fully investigate and pursue justice,” Coleman said on social media.
Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Laurance B. VanMeter said he was “shocked by this act of violence” and that the court system was “shaken by this news.”
Letcher County’s judge-executive closed the county courthouse on Friday.
It was unclear whether Stines had an attorney — state police referred inquires to a spokesperson who did not immediately respond by email.
“There is far too much violence in this world, and I pray there is a path to a better tomorrow,” Gov. Andy Beshear posted in response to the shooting.
Mullins served as a district judge in Letcher County since he was appointed by former Gov. Steve Beshear in 2009 and elected the following year.
Lawsuit over abortion rights measure to play out after election
An anti-abortion group’s lawsuit to invalidate an abortion rights measure appearing on South Dakota’s statewide ballot won’t be resolved until after the November election.
Media reports of an apparent disconnect between attorneys and the Second Judicial Circuit over scheduling of the trial — initially set for Sept. 23-27 — led the court to issue an advisory with a timeline of judge assignments in the case. A hearing on the Life Defense Fund’s motion for summary judgment is now set for Dec. 2, weeks after the Nov. 5 election.
The release describes how, over about two weeks, the case was reassigned from Judge John Pekas after he learned of his wife’s need for surgery. However, the case then was assigned back to him after another judge was removed from the case.
In a statement, Life Defense Fund spokesperson Caroline Woods said both parties were surprised the trial was not going to happen next week.
“After an immense amount of preparation, Life Defense Fund is deeply disappointed that we are not allowed to provide our evidence to the court,” she said.
Dakotans for Health co-founder Rick Weiland said, “I think for us the bottom line is that through this whole process and just trying to stop the voters of South Dakota from weighing in, and they’ve been unsuccessful every step of the way, and now their hope was to have a trial during the height of the election, and that’s not going to happen. ... We’re going to have a vote, not a trial.”
Life Defense Fund alleged a mix of wrongdoing by petition circulators in its effort to kill the measure, which would place abortion rights in the state constitution.
South Dakota outlaws abortion as a felony crime, with the only exception to save the life of the mother, under a trigger ban that took effect in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
New York
Murder charge reinstated against ex-trooper in high-speed chase that killed girl, 11
NEW YORK (AP) — An appeals court reinstated a murder charge on Thursday against a former New York state trooper in the death of an 11-year-old girl during a high-speed chase.
In a 4-1 ruling, a mid-level state appeals court said that trooper Christopher Baldner instigated “perilous, unsanctioned high-speed collisions” during two chases, including the one that killed Monica Goods in New York’s Hudson Valley in December 2020.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said the decision would enable her office to continue “to seek some semblance of justice for the Goods family.”
“As a former state trooper, Christopher Baldner was responsible for serving and protecting the people of New York, but the indictment alleges that he violated that sacred oath and used his vehicle as a deadly weapon, resulting in the senseless death of a young girl,” James, a Democrat, said in a statement.
Baldner’s union said it strongly disagreed with the court’s decision.
“We are deeply concerned that this ruling, if it stands, sets a dangerous precedent that could put a chill on law enforcement officers’ ability to do their job effectively and protect and serve the public,” the New York State Troopers Police Benevolent Association said in a statement.
The union, which is covering Baldner’s legal expenses, said he would try to appeal to the state’s highest court. A message seeking comment was left for Baldner’s lawyer.
The ex-trooper, who retired in 2022, also faces manslaughter and other charges that have stood throughout the case.
A trial judge had dismissed the murder charge last year.
According to the Albany-based appeals court’s ruling, witnesses including Monica’s father told a grand jury that Baldner stopped the family’s SUV, saying it was speeding on the New York State Thruway in Ulster County. The family was en route to a holiday season visit with relatives.
After quarreling with the father, Baldner pepper-sprayed the inside of the SUV.
The father drove off, Baldner pursued and he twice rammed the family’s SUV, according to the ruling. The vehicle overturned multiple times, and Monica was killed.
Baldner told a superior that Goods’ father had repeatedly rammed his patrol car, not the other way around, according to the ruling.
The trial judge had said the ex-trooper exercised poor judgment but the evidence didn’t establish that he acted with depraved indifference to human life — a mental state required to prove the second-degree murder charge.
But four state Supreme Court Appellate Division judges said there was enough evidence to take that charge to trial.
Their dissenting colleague, Justice John Egan Jr., wrote that while Baldner may have been reckless in hitting the SUV, he was trying to stop the chase and protect the public.
No trial date has been set for Baldner, who is free on $100,000 bail.
Vermont
Burlington pays $215K to settle a lawsuit accusing an officer of excessive force
Vermont’s largest city of Burlington has paid $215,000 to settle a lawsuit accusing a police officer of using excessive force by grabbing a man and slamming him to the ground, knocking him unconscious in September of 2018.
According to the federal lawsuit filed in 2019, Mabior Jok was standing outside with a group when a conversation became heated. Officer Joseph Corrow, without announcing himself or issuing any instructions, then slammed Jok to the ground, the lawsuit said.
The police chief at the time said an internal investigation found Corrow did not call for backup or use verbal commands, but he did not use excessive force, according to a court filing. He also had said that Jok was known to officers “as a person who has a violent history who has attacked the community and police officers.”
The settlement was reached at the end of August, about a week before the planned start of a trial, said Jok’s lawyer Robb Spensley, who called it a reasonable settlement. It was first reported by Seven Days.
“I would add that this settlement is life-changing money for my client, who has been intermittently homeless for years,” Spensley said by email on Thursday.
The city’s insurance carrier paid $140,000, and the city paid $75,000, according to Joe Magee, deputy chief of staff in the mayor’s office.
The city acknowledges that the case has been in litigation for a long time and is glad to have reached a resolution, Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak said in a statement Thursday.
“We hope that the resolution of the case provides some measure of relief for Mr. Jok,” she said. “We also recognize the City must approach every instance where force is used as an opportunity to review what happened and ensure our police department training, practices, and policies emphasize de-escalation, minimal reliance on using force, and effective communication.”
Last year the city agreed to pay $750,000 to settle another excessive force lawsuit, accusing police of brutality against another Black man also in September of 2018.
The lawsuit said Officer Jason Bellavance approached two men who were arguing outside of a bar and without announcing his presence shoved Jeremie Meli with both hands. Meli fell backward, hit his head on a wall and was knocked out.
Bellavance was suspended after an internal investigation, and in 2020 left the department in a separation agreement with the city. That came amid protests over George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis. Protesters in Burlington called for the firing of three officers, including Bellavance.
In another case in 2019, a man died two days after being hit in the head by a Burlington police officer. A federal judge in 2021 approved a $45,000 settlement of a lawsuit filed by Doug Kilburn’s family.
Kentucky
Sheriff charged in killing of judge at courthouse
WHITESBURG, Ky. (AP) — The sheriff charged with murder in the shooting of a rural Kentucky judge in his courthouse chambers was accused in a federal lawsuit of failing to investigate allegations that one of his deputies repeatedly sexually abused a woman in the same judge’s chambers.
The preliminary investigation indicates that Letcher County Sheriff Shawn M. Stines shot District Judge Kevin Mullins multiple times on Thursday following an argument inside the courthouse, according to Kentucky State Police.
Mullins, who held the judgeship for 15 years, died at the scene, and Stines surrendered without incident.
Just what the two men were arguing about wasn’t immediately made clear.
Stines was deposed on Monday in a lawsuit filed by two women, one of whom alleged that a deputy forced her to have sex inside Mullins’ chambers for six months in exchange for staying out of jail. The lawsuit accuses the sheriff of “deliberate indifference in failing to adequately train and supervise” the deputy.
The now-former deputy sheriff, Ben Fields, pleaded guilty to raping the female prisoner while she was on home incarceration. Fields was sentenced this year to six months in jail and then six and a half years on probation for rape, sodomy, perjury and tampering with a prisoner monitoring device, The Mountain Eagle reported. Three charges related to a second woman were dismissed because she is now dead.
Stines fired Fields, who was his successor as Mullins’ bailiff, for “conduct unbecoming” after the lawsuit was filed in 2022, The Courier Journal reported at the time.
The killing of the judge sent shock waves through the tight-knit Appalachian town. Whitesburg is the county seat of government with about 1,700 residents located about 145 miles (235 kilometers) southeast of Lexington. Rather than hold the sheriff in the local jail, authorities booked Stines into the Leslie County Detention Center, two counties away, where he remained Friday morning.
Lead county prosecutor Matt Butler described an outpouring of sympathy as he recused himself and his office from the investigation, citing social and family ties to Mullins.
“We all know each other here. ... Anyone from Letcher County would tell you that Judge Mullins and I married sisters and that we have children who are first cousins but act like siblings,” Butler said in a statement from his office. “For that reason, among others, I have already taken steps to recuse myself and my entire office.”
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said his office will collaborate with a commonwealth’s attorney in the region as special prosecutors in the criminal case. Mullins, 54, was hit multiple times in the shooting,
state police said. Stines, 43, was charged with one count of first-degree murder.
“We will fully investigate and pursue justice,” Coleman said on social media.
Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Laurance B. VanMeter said he was “shocked by this act of violence” and that the court system was “shaken by this news.”
Letcher County’s judge-executive closed the county courthouse on Friday.
It was unclear whether Stines had an attorney — state police referred inquires to a spokesperson who did not immediately respond by email.
“There is far too much violence in this world, and I pray there is a path to a better tomorrow,” Gov. Andy Beshear posted in response to the shooting.
Mullins served as a district judge in Letcher County since he was appointed by former Gov. Steve Beshear in 2009 and elected the following year.
