New York
Menendez’s lawyers seek lenient sentence, saying conviction made him ‘national punchline’
NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez are urging a judge to be lenient at his sentencing later this month for his conviction on bribery charges, saying the ordeal has made him a “national punchline” despite a lifetime of good deeds that have saved lives.
Late Thursday, the lawyers wrote to the judge who will sentence him to say that the Democrat’s positive actions through an unusual life spent overcoming hardships should weigh in his favor. Sentencing is scheduled for July 29.
The 71-year-old Menendez was convicted in July of 16 corruption charges brought by prosecutors who asserted that he used his power in the Senate to do favors that benefited three New Jersey businessmen.
Two of the businessmen were convicted along with him while a third pleaded guilty to charges and testified at the trial.
His wife faces trial next month on many of the same charges after her case was delayed so she could be treated for breast cancer.
The lawyers told Judge Sidney H. Stein that Menendez has fallen on hard times since he was charged in the case in 2023, losing the Senate seat he held for 18 years, along with most of his “once broad circle of friends and political allies.”
“Unsurprisingly, Senator Menendez’s conviction has rendered him a national punchline and stripped him of every conceivable personal, professional, and financial benefit,” they wrote. “Bob is now 71, with his long-built reputation in tatters.
“He has suffered financial and professional ruin. And he now is helping his wife battle a life-threatening cancer diagnosis in the midst of her upcoming trial in this case. We respectfully submit that, notwithstanding his conviction, Bob is deserving of mercy because of the penalties already imposed, his age, and the lack of a compelling need to impose a custodial sentence,” the lawyers added.
They noted that the Probation Department calculated federal sentencing guidelines as calling for a sentence as high as 24 years to 30 years behind bars, although Probation recommended a dozen years in prison, which the Menendez lawyers characterized as “draconian.”
They said properly calculated federal guidelines would actually call for a roughly two-year prison term and even that would be too much punishment.
Federal prosecutors were scheduled to submit their own sentencing recommendations later this month.
California
Apple to pay $95M to settle lawsuit accusing Siri of eavesdropping
Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the privacy-minded company of deploying its virtual assistant Siri to eavesdrop on people using its iPhone and other trendy devices.
The proposed settlement filed Tuesday in an Oakland, California, federal court would resolve a 5-year-old lawsuit revolving around allegations that Apple surreptitiously activated Siri to record conversations through iPhones and other devices equipped with the virtual assistant for more than a decade.
The alleged recordings occurred even when people didn’t seek to activate the virtual assistant with the trigger words, “Hey, Siri.” Some of the recorded conversations were then shared with advertisers in an attempt to sell their products to consumers more likely to be interested in the goods and services, the lawsuit asserted.
The allegations about a snoopy Siri contradicted Apple’s long-running commitment to protect the privacy of its customers — a crusade that CEO Tim Cook has often framed as a fight to preserve “a fundamental human right.”
Apple isn’t acknowledging any wrongdoing in the settlement, which still must be approved by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White. Lawyers in the case have proposed scheduling a Feb. 14 court hearing in Oakland to review the terms.
If the settlement is approved, tens of millions of consumers who owned iPhones and other Apple devices from Sept. 17, 2014, through the end of last year could file claims. Each consumer could receive up to $20 per Siri-equipped device covered by the settlement, although the payment could be reduced or increased, depending on the volume of claims. Only 3% to 5% of eligible consumers are expected to file claims, according to estimates in court documents.
Eligible consumers will be limited to seeking compensation on a maximum of five devices.
The settlement represents a sliver of the $705 billion in profits that Apple has pocketed since September 2014. It’s also a fraction of the roughly $1.5 billion that the lawyers representing consumers had estimated Apple could been required to pay if the company had been found of violating wiretapping and other privacy laws had the case gone to a trial.
The attorneys who filed the lawsuit may seek up to $29.6 million from the settlement fund to cover their fees and other expenses, according to court documents.
Washington
Federal courts won’t refer Justice Thomas to AG over ethics
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal courts will not refer allegations that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas may have violated ethics laws to the Justice Department, the judiciary’s policymaking body said Thursday.
Thomas has agreed to follow updated requirements on reporting trips and gifts, including clearer guidelines on hospitality from friends, the U.S. Judicial Conference wrote to Democratic senators who had called for an investigation into undisclosed acceptance of luxury trips.
Thomas has previously said he wasn’t required to disclose the many trips he and his wife took that were paid for by wealthy benefactors like Republican megadonor Harlan Crow because they are close personal friends. The court didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
The Supreme Court adopted its first code of ethics in 2023 in the face of sustained criticism, though the new code still lacks a means of enforcement.
It’s unclear whether the law allows the U.S. Judicial Conference to make a criminal referral regarding a Supreme Court justice, U.S. District Judge Robert Conrad wrote. He serves as secretary for the conference, which sets policy for the federal court system and is led by Chief Justice John Roberts.
A referral in this case isn’t necessary, Conrad said, because two Democratic senators called on Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a special counsel over the summer. No such appointment has been publicly made.
The group Fix the Court said the financial disclosure law is clear and should apply to justices. “The Conference’s letters further underscore the need for Congress to create a new and transparent mechanism to investigate the justices for ethics violations since the Conference is unwilling to act upon the one method we had presumed existed to do that,” Executive Director Gabe Roth said in a statement.
Conrad also sent a similar response to a separate complaint from a conservative legal group, the Center for Renewing America, in regard to Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s reports on the source of her husband’s consulting income. Jackson has since amended her disclosures and also agreed to updated reporting requirements, Conrad wrote.
Minnesota
Man pleads guilty to killing and dismembering 2 women found in storage units
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota man pleaded guilty Thursday to killing and dismembering two women whose bodies were found in different storage units.
Under his plea deal, Joseph Steven Jorgenson, 41, of Woodbury, is expected to be sentenced Feb. 28 to two 40-year terms for the deaths of Manijeh Starren in 2023 and Fanta Xayavong in 2021, prosecutors said.
That’s the maximum under Minnesota law for each count of intentional second-degree murder. He’ll serve them concurrently. In Minnesota, defendants typically serve two-thirds of their sentences in prison and one-third on supervised release.
“These heinous acts of cruelty took the lives of two young women and forever altered the future of their friends and family,” Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said in a statement.
Authorities began investigating after getting a missing person report from Starren’s father in April 2023. He told police that she struggled with mental health and addiction challenges and had not checked in as usual that day. Evidence from her apartment, surveillance video, and her social media and financial accounts led police to regard Jorgenson as the primary suspect.
Prosecutors said keys recovered from Jorgenson’s apartment led investigators to a storage facility in Woodbury where they located Starren’s dismembered remains in two separate coolers as well as a large bag.
During that investigation, authorities uncovered evidence of a second victim, Xayavong, with whom Jorgensen had a relationship in 2021. Investigators found her remains in a separate storage locker in Coon Rapids.
New York
Special prosecutor appointed in death of man beaten by corrections officers
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York’s attorney general appointed a special prosecutor Thursday to investigate the death of a man who was beaten by guards at a state prison, saying her office cannot oversee the inquiry because it was already representing some of the corrections officials involved in civil lawsuits.
Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, chose the Republican district attorney in Onondaga County, William Fitzpatrick, to investigate the Dec. 10 death of Robert Brooks.
The attorney general typically investigates the deaths of people in the custody of law enforcement, but James said four of the officers under investigation were already being represented by lawyers in her office. Some of the guards have previously been defendants in brutality lawsuits filed by other prisoners.
“Even the possibility or mere appearance of a conflict could tie up a potential prosecution in lengthy legal challenges or get a potential prosecution outright dismissed,” James said in a video message. “And I will not allow justice to be delayed or denied because of a conflict.”
Recently released body camera video shows officers punching Brooks while he was handcuffed on a medical examination table at Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9. One officer uses a shoe to strike Brooks in the stomach, and another yanks him up by his neck and drops him back on the table.
Brooks was pronounced dead the following morning.
Fitzpatrick has been the top prosecutor in the Syracuse area since 1992. His office released a statement saying he would not comment “until the grand jury has taken action.”
The beating has prompted widespread condemnation and calls for reform. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who said she was “outraged and horrified” by the videos, appointed a new superintendent for the prison. She also ordered state officials to initiate proceedings to fire 13 correctional officers and a nurse implicated in the attack.
Now that a special prosecutor has been appointed, Hochul said, she expects his team will work quickly to bring charges.
“The video of this horrific attack demonstrates that crimes clearly were committed, and I believe initial charges can be brought even as more serious charges are considered based on further investigation,” said Hochul, who as governor has no authority over the special prosecutor or to bring criminal charges herself.
The final results of Brooks’ autopsy are not available. Preliminary findings from a medical examination indicate “concern for asphyxia due to compression of the neck as the cause of death, as well as the death being due to actions of another,” according to court filings.
Brooks, who was serving a 12-year prison sentence for first-degree assault since 2017, arrived at the prison only hours before the beating after being transferred from another facility, officials said.
Menendez’s lawyers seek lenient sentence, saying conviction made him ‘national punchline’
NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez are urging a judge to be lenient at his sentencing later this month for his conviction on bribery charges, saying the ordeal has made him a “national punchline” despite a lifetime of good deeds that have saved lives.
Late Thursday, the lawyers wrote to the judge who will sentence him to say that the Democrat’s positive actions through an unusual life spent overcoming hardships should weigh in his favor. Sentencing is scheduled for July 29.
The 71-year-old Menendez was convicted in July of 16 corruption charges brought by prosecutors who asserted that he used his power in the Senate to do favors that benefited three New Jersey businessmen.
Two of the businessmen were convicted along with him while a third pleaded guilty to charges and testified at the trial.
His wife faces trial next month on many of the same charges after her case was delayed so she could be treated for breast cancer.
The lawyers told Judge Sidney H. Stein that Menendez has fallen on hard times since he was charged in the case in 2023, losing the Senate seat he held for 18 years, along with most of his “once broad circle of friends and political allies.”
“Unsurprisingly, Senator Menendez’s conviction has rendered him a national punchline and stripped him of every conceivable personal, professional, and financial benefit,” they wrote. “Bob is now 71, with his long-built reputation in tatters.
“He has suffered financial and professional ruin. And he now is helping his wife battle a life-threatening cancer diagnosis in the midst of her upcoming trial in this case. We respectfully submit that, notwithstanding his conviction, Bob is deserving of mercy because of the penalties already imposed, his age, and the lack of a compelling need to impose a custodial sentence,” the lawyers added.
They noted that the Probation Department calculated federal sentencing guidelines as calling for a sentence as high as 24 years to 30 years behind bars, although Probation recommended a dozen years in prison, which the Menendez lawyers characterized as “draconian.”
They said properly calculated federal guidelines would actually call for a roughly two-year prison term and even that would be too much punishment.
Federal prosecutors were scheduled to submit their own sentencing recommendations later this month.
California
Apple to pay $95M to settle lawsuit accusing Siri of eavesdropping
Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the privacy-minded company of deploying its virtual assistant Siri to eavesdrop on people using its iPhone and other trendy devices.
The proposed settlement filed Tuesday in an Oakland, California, federal court would resolve a 5-year-old lawsuit revolving around allegations that Apple surreptitiously activated Siri to record conversations through iPhones and other devices equipped with the virtual assistant for more than a decade.
The alleged recordings occurred even when people didn’t seek to activate the virtual assistant with the trigger words, “Hey, Siri.” Some of the recorded conversations were then shared with advertisers in an attempt to sell their products to consumers more likely to be interested in the goods and services, the lawsuit asserted.
The allegations about a snoopy Siri contradicted Apple’s long-running commitment to protect the privacy of its customers — a crusade that CEO Tim Cook has often framed as a fight to preserve “a fundamental human right.”
Apple isn’t acknowledging any wrongdoing in the settlement, which still must be approved by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White. Lawyers in the case have proposed scheduling a Feb. 14 court hearing in Oakland to review the terms.
If the settlement is approved, tens of millions of consumers who owned iPhones and other Apple devices from Sept. 17, 2014, through the end of last year could file claims. Each consumer could receive up to $20 per Siri-equipped device covered by the settlement, although the payment could be reduced or increased, depending on the volume of claims. Only 3% to 5% of eligible consumers are expected to file claims, according to estimates in court documents.
Eligible consumers will be limited to seeking compensation on a maximum of five devices.
The settlement represents a sliver of the $705 billion in profits that Apple has pocketed since September 2014. It’s also a fraction of the roughly $1.5 billion that the lawyers representing consumers had estimated Apple could been required to pay if the company had been found of violating wiretapping and other privacy laws had the case gone to a trial.
The attorneys who filed the lawsuit may seek up to $29.6 million from the settlement fund to cover their fees and other expenses, according to court documents.
Washington
Federal courts won’t refer Justice Thomas to AG over ethics
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal courts will not refer allegations that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas may have violated ethics laws to the Justice Department, the judiciary’s policymaking body said Thursday.
Thomas has agreed to follow updated requirements on reporting trips and gifts, including clearer guidelines on hospitality from friends, the U.S. Judicial Conference wrote to Democratic senators who had called for an investigation into undisclosed acceptance of luxury trips.
Thomas has previously said he wasn’t required to disclose the many trips he and his wife took that were paid for by wealthy benefactors like Republican megadonor Harlan Crow because they are close personal friends. The court didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
The Supreme Court adopted its first code of ethics in 2023 in the face of sustained criticism, though the new code still lacks a means of enforcement.
It’s unclear whether the law allows the U.S. Judicial Conference to make a criminal referral regarding a Supreme Court justice, U.S. District Judge Robert Conrad wrote. He serves as secretary for the conference, which sets policy for the federal court system and is led by Chief Justice John Roberts.
A referral in this case isn’t necessary, Conrad said, because two Democratic senators called on Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a special counsel over the summer. No such appointment has been publicly made.
The group Fix the Court said the financial disclosure law is clear and should apply to justices. “The Conference’s letters further underscore the need for Congress to create a new and transparent mechanism to investigate the justices for ethics violations since the Conference is unwilling to act upon the one method we had presumed existed to do that,” Executive Director Gabe Roth said in a statement.
Conrad also sent a similar response to a separate complaint from a conservative legal group, the Center for Renewing America, in regard to Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s reports on the source of her husband’s consulting income. Jackson has since amended her disclosures and also agreed to updated reporting requirements, Conrad wrote.
Minnesota
Man pleads guilty to killing and dismembering 2 women found in storage units
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota man pleaded guilty Thursday to killing and dismembering two women whose bodies were found in different storage units.
Under his plea deal, Joseph Steven Jorgenson, 41, of Woodbury, is expected to be sentenced Feb. 28 to two 40-year terms for the deaths of Manijeh Starren in 2023 and Fanta Xayavong in 2021, prosecutors said.
That’s the maximum under Minnesota law for each count of intentional second-degree murder. He’ll serve them concurrently. In Minnesota, defendants typically serve two-thirds of their sentences in prison and one-third on supervised release.
“These heinous acts of cruelty took the lives of two young women and forever altered the future of their friends and family,” Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said in a statement.
Authorities began investigating after getting a missing person report from Starren’s father in April 2023. He told police that she struggled with mental health and addiction challenges and had not checked in as usual that day. Evidence from her apartment, surveillance video, and her social media and financial accounts led police to regard Jorgenson as the primary suspect.
Prosecutors said keys recovered from Jorgenson’s apartment led investigators to a storage facility in Woodbury where they located Starren’s dismembered remains in two separate coolers as well as a large bag.
During that investigation, authorities uncovered evidence of a second victim, Xayavong, with whom Jorgensen had a relationship in 2021. Investigators found her remains in a separate storage locker in Coon Rapids.
New York
Special prosecutor appointed in death of man beaten by corrections officers
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York’s attorney general appointed a special prosecutor Thursday to investigate the death of a man who was beaten by guards at a state prison, saying her office cannot oversee the inquiry because it was already representing some of the corrections officials involved in civil lawsuits.
Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, chose the Republican district attorney in Onondaga County, William Fitzpatrick, to investigate the Dec. 10 death of Robert Brooks.
The attorney general typically investigates the deaths of people in the custody of law enforcement, but James said four of the officers under investigation were already being represented by lawyers in her office. Some of the guards have previously been defendants in brutality lawsuits filed by other prisoners.
“Even the possibility or mere appearance of a conflict could tie up a potential prosecution in lengthy legal challenges or get a potential prosecution outright dismissed,” James said in a video message. “And I will not allow justice to be delayed or denied because of a conflict.”
Recently released body camera video shows officers punching Brooks while he was handcuffed on a medical examination table at Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9. One officer uses a shoe to strike Brooks in the stomach, and another yanks him up by his neck and drops him back on the table.
Brooks was pronounced dead the following morning.
Fitzpatrick has been the top prosecutor in the Syracuse area since 1992. His office released a statement saying he would not comment “until the grand jury has taken action.”
The beating has prompted widespread condemnation and calls for reform. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who said she was “outraged and horrified” by the videos, appointed a new superintendent for the prison. She also ordered state officials to initiate proceedings to fire 13 correctional officers and a nurse implicated in the attack.
Now that a special prosecutor has been appointed, Hochul said, she expects his team will work quickly to bring charges.
“The video of this horrific attack demonstrates that crimes clearly were committed, and I believe initial charges can be brought even as more serious charges are considered based on further investigation,” said Hochul, who as governor has no authority over the special prosecutor or to bring criminal charges herself.
The final results of Brooks’ autopsy are not available. Preliminary findings from a medical examination indicate “concern for asphyxia due to compression of the neck as the cause of death, as well as the death being due to actions of another,” according to court filings.
Brooks, who was serving a 12-year prison sentence for first-degree assault since 2017, arrived at the prison only hours before the beating after being transferred from another facility, officials said.
