General Law and Lawsuits

[sugar magnolia]

Any chance a new judge will move it along any faster than the glacial pace it's been going?

[RTH10260]

After pressure, Georgia attorney general in Cop City case responds to motions
John Fowler schedules forest visits for Rico defense lawyers but continues to claim ignorance on privileged emails

Timothy Pratt
Wed 17 Jul 2024 13.00 CEST

Georgia’s attorney general has responded to two motions from defense attorneys that call into question the state’s integrity in prosecuting an alleged criminal conspiracy behind protests against the controversial police training center colloquially known as “Cop City”.

The responses come on the heels of public pressure and media coverage that brought the motions to light.

In one case, John Fowler, the deputy attorney general, sent an email last week to the dozens of attorneys defending the 61 people accused of “racketeering”, to schedule visits by the end of July to the South River Forest near Atlanta – including the Cop City construction site and a public park where protestors camped for more than a year.

“We’ve been trying to schedule this visit since at least January,” defense attorney Xavier de Janon said. “It’s likely due to public pressure – the media, social media – that the state is finally allowing defense attorneys to see it.”

Fowler’s email followed de Janon’s motion filed in late June describing months of attempts to visit the forest, which the state calls a “crime scene”. The attorney petitioned Kimberly Esmond Adams, a Fulton county superior court judge, in the motion to dismiss all charges related to the forest due to the state’s stonewalling. In an 8 July story, the Guardian independently confirmed that other defense attorneys also hadn’t been able to schedule visits; one sent emails to Fowler “at least six times” about the matter, only to be ignored.

Adams ordered Fowler at a court conference in early May to schedule visits by the end of June, adding that the jury in an eventual trial may also need to do so. Fowler emailed defense attorneys, but never followed up to schedule visits, ignoring the judge’s deadline.

Meanwhile, construction on the $109m training center has continued apace, effectively changing some of the physical conditions on the ground forever, de Janon noted in his motion.



https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/art ... l-attorney

[RTH10260]

Honolulu Officers Who Handcuffed 10-Year-Old Can Be Sued for Using Excessive Force, Judges Rule
A federal appeals court has ruled that three Honolulu police officers who handcuffed an elementary school student in 2020 are not entitled to qualified immunity on an excessive force claim

By Associated Press
July 18, 2024, at 12:08 p.m.

Three Honolulu police officers can be sued on excessive force claims for their part in handcuffing and arresting a 10-year-old girl at Honowai Elementary School in 2020, according to a recent decision by a panel of judges for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The officers — Christine Nevez, Warren Ford and Corey Perez — appealed to the 9th Circuit after a federal judge rejected their requests for qualified immunity, a judicial doctrine that protects public officials, such as police officers, from individual liability. The officers were named along with the City and County of Honolulu and the Hawaii Department of Education in a federal lawsuit filed by the girl’s mother, Tamara Taylor, in 2022.

Taylor Brack, staff attorney with the ACLU of Hawaii which is representing Taylor, said the June 26 decision was a “big deal” as the plaintiffs were able to overcome the barrier of qualified immunity in this case.

“It tends to be a very, very powerful tool used by government defendants to lessen the ability of plaintiffs to sue them,” she said.

Qualified immunity is often held up as a necessary way to protect officers from liability as they carry out the duties of their risky jobs, but activist organizations, like the Innocence Project, have said it can prevent victims of government misconduct from seeking justice and shield officers from consequences when they transgress.

The protection, though, can be stripped in cases where it’s shown that the public official violated a “clearly established” right.

In Taylor’s case, 9th Circuit judges Consuelo Callahan, Andrew Hurwitz and Holly Thomas wrote in their decision that “no reasonable official could have believed that the level of force employed against” the 10-year-old student was necessary.

Honolulu police Chief Joe Logan said in a statement that the department does not agree with the court’s decision and stands by its officers’ actions. All three officers remain on full duty.

The girl, identified in court documents as “N.B.”, was arrested after school administrators reported her to the police for making an “offensive” drawing, according to Taylor’s complaint, which was filed Jan. 7, 2022.



https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states ... udges-rule

[Rolodex]

Not sure where to put this because it's an indictment, not a lawsuit. For some reason, I can't copy parts of the article. Anyway, Sue Mi Terry worked for the CIA and she has been indicted for not registering as a foreign agent of South Korea.

The interesting part is that she's married to Max Boot, author, historian and pundit on the teevee. He works for the Washington Post.

Seems to me that Terry was a cheap date for ROK (republic of korea). Some Michelin dinners, some luxury trinkets and $37k.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/fo ... h-korean-0

[Suranis]

Some more on Logan Paul suing Coffeezilla for repeatedly pointing out Paul is a Scammer, and Paul hasn't paid his viewers back the money Paul scammed out of them, like Paul promised to do, twice.

[Rolodex]

Another scumbag "financial advisor." It says "activist" but they don't say how. I never hear of him.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against activist short seller Andrew Left and his firm, Citron Capital LLC, for engaging in a $20 million multi-year scheme to defraud followers by publishing false and misleading statements regarding his supposed stock trading recommendations.

The SEC’s complaint alleges that Left, who resides in Boca Raton, Fl., used his Citron Research website and related social media platforms on at least 26 occasions to publicly recommend taking long or short positions in 23 companies and held out the positions as consistent with his own and Citron Capital’s positions. The complaint alleges that following Left’s recommendations, the price of the target stocks moved more than 12 percent on average. According to the SEC’s complaint, once the recommendations were issued and the stocks moved, Left and Citron Capital quickly reversed their positions to capitalize on the stock price movements. As a consequence, Left bought back stock immediately after telling his readers to sell, and he sold stock immediately after telling his readers to buy.

https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024-89