Court Digest

Massachusetts
Man pleads guilty to inappropriate behavior on flight

BOSTON (AP) — A 76-year-old man accused of performing lewd acts and touching a 21-year-old woman’s leg without her consent on a Boston-bound flight earlier this year has pleaded guilty, federal prosecutors said.

The Bonita Springs, Florida man faces up to 90 days in prison at sentencing scheduled for March in Boston federal court, according to a statement Tuesday from the U.S. attorney’s office in Massachusetts.

The man and the victim were on a flight from Newark, New Jersey to Boston on April 8 when the defendant exposed himself, inappropriately touched himself and later on just before landing put his hand on the thigh of the 21-year-old woman seated next to him, prosecutors said.

The woman recorded a 24-second video and alerted a nearby passenger, authorities said.

As she was getting off the plane, the victim told a flight attendant about what had happened but was unable to point out the man due to the volume of passengers.

The man was identified using security video and was arrested and charged on April 10.

 

Indiana
Penalty asked for doctor who spoke of 10-year-old’s abortion

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s Republican attorney general on Wednesday asked the state medical licensing board to discipline an Indianapolis doctor who has spoken publicly about providing an abortion to a 10-year-old rape victim who traveled from Ohio after its more-restrictive abortion law took effect.

The complaint alleges Dr. Caitlin Bernard violated state law by not reporting the girl’s child abuse to Indiana authorities and violated patient privacy laws by telling a newspaper reporter about the girl’s treatment.

That account sparked a national political uproar in the weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, with some news outlets and Republican politicians suggesting Bernard fabricated the story and President Joe Biden nearly shouting his outrage over the case during a White House event.

Bernard and her lawyers maintain the girl’s abuse had already been reported to Ohio police and child protective services officials before the doctor ever saw the child. A 27-year-old man has been charged in Columbus, Ohio, with raping the girl.

Bernard’s lawyers argue Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, who is stridently anti-abortion, has been spreading false or misleading information about the doctor with his investigation allegations for several months.

The attorney general’s complaint asked the licensing board to impose “appropriate disciplinary action” but doesn’t specify a requested penalty.

 

New Mexico 
State accusesdozens of tobacco companies of breach of contract

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico is suing more than a dozen tobacco companies, accusing them of conspiracy and breach of contract.

Attorney General Hector Balderas announced the legal challenge Tuesday, claiming that the companies have been withholding portions of annual payments that are due under a multi-state tobacco settlement that ended dozens of lawsuits that sought reimbursement for health care costs associated with smoking-related illnesses.

New Mexico’s complaint centers on a specific provision of the 1998 settlement, saying abuse of that clause by the companies has resulted in the state losing out on more than $84 million over the last 14 years.

“There is no end to these baseless delay tactics, and it is time to force the tobacco companies to pay New Mexico what they owe for damages — funding much-needed health initiatives,” Balderas said in a statement.

The companies did not immediately return messages seeking comment on New Mexico’s lawsuit.

Under the settlement, each company is obligated to make a payment to New Mexico each year. Instead, the attorney general’s office says the companies file disputes every year that result in a percentage of the payment being withheld, triggering an arbitration process that can span years.

For example, the arbitration over 2004 payments wrapped up last month and arbitration concerning 2005-2007 payments has just begun.

With average annual payments ranging between $30 million and $40 million, state officials said that covers less than 5% of the New Mexico health care costs that are directly attributable to smoking. They estimated the price tag of smoking-related health care costs in 2021 at more than $980 million.

Montana mounted a similar legal challenge in 2020. It was successful in recovering more than $49 million in payments and interest wrongly withheld by tobacco companies and reached an agreement with the companies to not challenge that state’s annual payments for another decade.

In New Mexico, officials say the amount of settlement payments withheld grows each year.

According to the complaint, the defendants — which include tobacco giants Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds — do not disclose to New Mexico exactly how much they are withholding or where the withheld funds are held. Withholding practices also can change from year to year.

State prosecutors say with this lack of transparency, New Mexico’s best estimate is that defendants withhold between $6 million and $9 million each year.

“This conspiracy is a calculated strategy to permanently and fraudulently decrease defendants’ contractual payments under the (settlement agreement) and to frustrate the purposes of the (settlement agreement),” the complaint reads.

The attorney general’s office said many states have renegotiated with the tobacco companies over the years to avoid continued arbitration over annual payments, giving way to more favorable terms for the companies.

Only eight states continue to pursue full payment of what they are due under the settlement, New Mexico officials said.

 

Pennsylvania 
State Senate to put progressive prosecutor on trial

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Pennsylvania state Senate is beginning what could be a long and partisan process of considering whether to force Philadelphia’s Democratic district attorney, Larry Krasner, from office.

Members of the Republican-controlled Senate are scheduled to formally receive impeachment articles Wednesday from House impeachment managers who will read them aloud in a ceremony before senators are sworn in as jurors.

The impeachment is part of a wave of efforts around the country to remove progressive prosecutors over crimefighting policies amid a rise in violent crime nationally. Krasner has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

The Senate’s Republican majority said the chamber’s members are constitutionally bound to consider the impeachment articles. But minority Democrats say Republicans are unconstitutionally stretching the process past Wednesday’s end of the legislative session and into a new two-year session.

The impeachment trial itself is not scheduled to start until Jan. 18. Krasner will have until Dec. 21 to enter a plea.

Krasner — a progressive civil rights lawyer who ran as an opponent of the death penalty, cash bail and prosecuting minor nonviolent offenses — was overwhelmingly reelected last year to a second four-year term. He calls his impeachment “pure politics” and an effort to subvert the will of Philadelphia voters, while Democrats call it an abuse of legislative power.

In the articles, House Republicans allege that Krasner’s policies and practices “have led to catastrophic consequences” for Philadelphians.

However, Krasner said House Republicans don’t have a shred of evidence that his policies are connected to an “uptick” in crime, and numerous researchers say they’ve found no connection between progressive crimefighting policies and an increase in homicide rates.

The vote to impeach Krasner in the Republican-controlled House was along party lines, except for one vote. A Senate vote to convict him — and force him from office — will require cooperation from Democrats, and Democrats have shown no willingness to cooperate.

The state constitution requires a two-thirds vote in the Senate to convict, or 34 of 50 senators. The Nov. 8 election gave the GOP a 28-22 majority in the Senate in the next legislative session.

The last time the Pennsylvania Senate tried an impeachment case was nearly three decades ago when, after a months-long process, it convicted a former state Supreme Court justice, Rolf Larsen, who already had been convicted of conspiracy counts in a criminal court and removed from office.

Krasner’s impeachment vote came amid rising gun violence and homicides in the state’s largest city, and disagreements between Krasner and police department brass over how to stem it. Krasner also has clashed with the city’s police union — which supported his opponents in both of his campaigns — amid a slew of criminal cases involving charges against officers in the nation’s sixth-most populous city.

House Republicans approved seven articles of impeachment, including complaints about Krasner’s prosecution and bail policies. They also cited court rebukes of how his office handled several cases, complained that he had not adequately notified crime victims of developments in certain cases and claimed that Krasner obstructed the House’s investigation of his office.

Krasner and Democrats accuse Republicans of neglecting violence by blocking the city’s efforts to enact gun-control measures. Democrats also say the case against Krasner is weak.

Pennsylvania lawmakers have only removed two officials — both of them judges — through impeachment. The first was a county judge in 1811.

 

North Carolina
New NC laws on arson, domestic protections begin

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — More severe penalties for committing certain types of arsons and large-scale thefts at stores in North Carolina are among all or portions of 10 new state laws approved by the General Assembly this year that will take effect on Thursday.

The enacted legislation creates new felony crimes for setting fire to a prison, an occupied commercial structure and an unoccupied commercial structure. Someone who commits arson also will face a felony if a first responder suffers a “serious injury” from the blaze.

Another law attempts to crack down on large, organized thefts at stores. Crimes of “organized retail theft” already are on the books, but now there are more serious felonies when the value of property stolen over a 90-day period exceeds $50,000. Store owners also can recover stolen goods more quickly and sue thieves for specific damages.

One of the new laws starting Thursday will allow Wildlife Resources Commission officers to accuse someone of a misdemeanor when a person breaks rules the commission creates to respond in an emergency to a serious wildlife disease. The previous law had limited such punishments to $25 fines.

Used car dealers also can now face $50 fines if they fail to formally inspect a vehicle before it’s offered for sale — something they’re already required to do. That’s part of an omnibus motor vehicle and transportation law.

Another new rule taking effect attempts to remove any enforcement gaps in domestic violence protective orders while waiting for courts to act. This allows a judge to extend such an order temporarily beyond its expiration date until a hearing to renew it is held.