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#576

Post by RTH10260 »

Prosecutors move to dismiss Wisconsin abortion ban challenge

TODD RICHMOND
Thu, December 1, 2022 at 6:23 PM

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A group of prosecutors is asking a judge to toss out Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul’s lawsuit challenging Wisconsin’s 173-year-old ban on abortions, arguing that it lacks legal merit and that there is no weight to assertions that it is unenforceable because of its age.

Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm and Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski filed separate motions late Wednesday to dismiss the case. All three argued that the lawsuit seeks to improperly restrict prosecutorial discretion and that Kaul lacks standing to sue because he hasn't been personally harmed by the ban.

Urmanski, the only Republican among the three, went further, rejecting Kaul's argument that the ban is so old that it can no longer be considered to have passed with the consent of the people.

“Wisconsin courts have never recognized that a statute can lose effect through disuse and, even if they had, this case would not warrant application of that principle,” Urmanski wrote. “If the Plaintiffs believe the statute lacks the consent of the governed, their appeal should be to the Legislature and the Governor to seek changes in the law, not this Court.”

Kaul spokesperson Gillian Drummond didn't immediately respond to a message Thursday seeking comment. Dane County Circuit Judge Diane Schlipper has given all the parties in the case until Feb. 6 to file briefs expanding on their stances.



https://news.yahoo.com/prosecutors-move ... 25177.html
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The incident was earlier mentione in Cops Behaving Badly
5 Connecticut cops charged over incident that left Black man paralyzed
Cox filed a $100 million federal lawsuit against New Haven and the officers.

ByTeddy Grant
November 29, 2022, 1:31 AM

Five New Haven police officers were arrested and charged over their alleged involvement in an incident that left a Black man paralyzed earlier this year while in police custody, prosecutors announced Monday.

Officers Oscar Diaz, Jocelyn Lavandier, Ronald Pressley, Luis Rivera and Sgt. Betsy Segui were charged with reckless endangerment in the second degree and cruelty to persons, according to New Haven's state attorney John P. Doyle, Jr.

Both charges are misdemeanors and the officers were each released on a $25,000 bond.

The charges stem from an alleged incident involving a New Haven, Connecticut man, Randy Cox, 36, on June 19. Officers had arrested Cox for criminal possession of a firearm and breach of peace and were transporting him in a van when Cox sustained injuries that left him paralyzed from the chest down.

In October, all charges against Cox were dropped, according to the New Haven Superior Court clerk's office.

"While today’s news that these officers will face some accountability is an important first step towards justice for Randy, we know there is more work to be done on his behalf. We will continue to fight for him throughout this process, and stand beside him as he navigates the long road toward recovery," civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family, said in a statement.

Surveillance video of Cox's arrest showed officers placing him in the back of a police van that didn't have any seatbelts.

During an abrupt stop, Cox was thrown head-first into the back wall of the van, his lawyers said in June, and the video shows.

According to an arrest affidavit for the officers, which detailed parts of a conversation between Cox and Diaz immediately after the stop, Cox repeatedly asked for help, saying he couldn't move and thought his neck was broken.

According to New Haven police, Cox did not receive immediate medical attention at the time of the incident.



https://abcnews.go.com/US/5-connecticut ... -man/story
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#579

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Ex-warden who allegedly ran California prison ‘rape club’ goes on trial
Ray J Garcia is charged with abusing at least three female prisoners from 2019 to 2021 in prison areas out of view of cameras

Ramon Antonio Vargas and agencies
Sat 3 Dec 2022 06.00 GMT

First, the prison’s male warden would flatter the incarcerated women under his charge who attracted him, shower them with compliments and promise them early releases or transfers to lower-security facilities, according to authorities.

Eventually, he would allegedly take them to places in his lockup that he knew weren’t watched by surveillance cameras, force sex on them and take nude photos of them.

But then some of the women spoke out, exposing the horrors they endured at the federal prison that came to be known as the “rape club”. Now the warden is potentially looking at serving his own sentence as his trial has begun in a case that has shocked America and shone a terrible spotlight at the abuses and crimes committed in its sprawling penal system.

Ray J Garcia – who ran the federal correctional institution in Dublin, California, near Oakland – retired after FBI agents investigating reports that he was preying on women serving time in his prison found nude photos of some of them on his government-issued phone last year. He and four other workers at the facility have been charged with abusing women at the embattled complex, accused of breaking a law that prohibits sexual contact between prison workers and inmates.



https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... rden-trial
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#580

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bob wrote: Sat Dec 03, 2022 10:36 am
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FCI Dublin also formerly housed Heather Ann Tuchas-Giraffe, our favorite motor home-stealing poot former lawyer, who was released in January of this year.

It also currently houses former actress Allison Mack (best known for "Smallville"), one of the chief enablers of NXIVM sex cult guru Keith Raniere.
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#582

Post by Kendra »


“Lachlan Murdoch, CEO of Fox News, will be deposed on Monday as part of a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News for amplifying bogus claims that rigged machines from Dominion Voting Systems were responsible for Donald J. Trump’s defeat in 2020.”
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#583

Post by Tiredretiredlawyer »

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/ma ... smsnnews11
Man to receive almost $18 million for wrongful NY conviction

Lawyers for Johnny Hincapie said it marks one of the largest settlements for a wrongful conviction in New York City history.

The Colombian-born Hincapie was among a group of young men accused of fatally stabbing Utah tourist Brian Watkins on a subway station platform in 1990. Eighteen years old at the time and with no criminal history, Hincapie said he was coerced to falsely confess to the notorious Labor Day crime.

Despite recanting his false confession, as well as other exculpatory evidence, Hincapie was convicted of felony murder and sentenced to 25 years-to-life in prison. He ultimately served 25 years, three months and eight days before his conviction was dropped.

In a statement released Friday, Hincapie said he hasn't lost sight of what happened to Watkins that day, calling the man's death “tragic."
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#584

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Man who shot Lady Gaga’s dog walker and stole bulldogs sentenced to 21 years
In a deal, James Howard Jackson pleaded guilty to one count of attempted murder after he was accidentally released from custody

Dani Anguiano in Los Angeles
Tue 6 Dec 2022 02.47 GMT

The man who shot Lady Gaga’s dog walker and stole her French bulldogs in Los Angeles last year has been sentenced to 21 years in prison for the high profile robbery that saw the star offer a $500,000 reward for the return of her pets.

James Howard Jackson, one of three men and two accomplices who participated in the violent robbery of dog walker Ryan Fischer, pleaded no contest to one count of attempted murder, the Los Angeles county district attorney’s office said on Monday.

The agreement came months after US marshals launched a hunt for Jackson, who was mistakenly released from custody in April due to a clerical error.

“The plea agreement holds Mr Jackson accountable for perpetrating a coldhearted violent act and provides justice for our victim,” the DA’s office said in a statement.

Fischer was seriously wounded in the attack and addressed the court Monday to give an impact statement, which he posted on Instagram.

“It’s hard to believe that it’s nearing two years since I was taking Asia, Koji and Gustav out for an evening stroll when in an instant I suddenly found myself fighting with everything I had to protect those dogs from being stolen. But it wasn’t enough: I was beaten, strangled, shot and left to die, bleeding out on a sidewalk and gasping for my life. And Koji and Gustav were gone.”

Authorities have said that on 24 February 2021, Jackson, Jaylin White, 19, and Lafayette Whaley, 27, drove around Los Angeles “looking for French bulldogs”, an expensive breed that can sell for thousands of dollars. They came across Fischer with the pop star’s three dogs near Sunset Boulevard – detectives believe the group didn’t know the pets belonged to Lady Gaga.




https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... ars-prison
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#585

Post by Tiredretiredlawyer »

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/1 ... trash-bill
Alabama police chief defends arrest of elderly Black woman for unpaid $77 trash bill

When the two officers initially approached Menefield, she told WIAT she thought they were joking when they said they were there to arrest her. She swore she’d paid the $77.80 bill.

Valley Police Chief Mike Reynolds defended his officers and released a statement on Facebook regarding Menefield’s arrest.

Reynolds wrote in part that the city had issued a citation for payment for the trash bill for three months in a row, attempted to reach Menefield by phone, and left a note on her door. When the elderly woman failed to respond and did not arrive in court about the case, a warrant for “Failure to Pay-Trash” was issued.

He adds that “Ms. Menefield was treated respectfully” by the officers and was finally released on bond.


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#586

Post by RTH10260 »

Fort Bend Retaliation
Arrested and Prosecuted for his Reporting, Citizen Journalist Defends His First Amendment Rights with Federal Lawsuit

This federal lawsuit seeks to vindicate the free-speech rights of Justin Pulliam, a citizen journalist who was excluded from a police press conference and arrested for filming a police encounter with a mentally ill man. Justin will ask the court to affirm that citizen journalists—those who create news and commentary with their own equipment and through their own social media channels—have the same First Amendment rights as everyone else and that government officials cannot retaliate against a citizen journalist because they don’t like his coverage or commentary. This case is part of a wider movement defending the rights of citizen journalists and holding government accountable when they violate those rights.

Justin believes that local government has the greatest impact on our daily lives and that our freedom depends on its transparency and accountability. He has made it his mission to document the actions of police and elected officials across Texas, but mostly where he lives: Fort Bend County. Fort Bend sits on the outskirts of fast-growing Houston and is among Texas’ wealthiest counties.

Despite having ample resources, up until February 2022 the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office (FBCSO) did not consistently use body cameras. With only dash cams in squad cars, the actions of deputies were cloaked in mystery whenever they left their vehicles.

As part of his project to instill more accountability and transparency into the actions of public officials, Justin tracks calls on a scanner and drives to the scene to document law enforcement responses. His particular focus is on recording calls where no one was accused of a crime, such as mental health checks. Afterward, his videos are uploaded onto his YouTube channel, Corruption Report. Justin’s viewpoint is clear: He is suspicious of authority and doesn’t take kindly to government officials who want to hide from the public.

This sometimes brings Justin into conflict with the elected officials and officers he covers. Starting last year, the FBCSO began to single Justin out and intimidate him. In July 2021, Justin and camera crews from several local TV stations were on the scene in a public park. Newly elected Sheriff Eric Fagan noticed Justin and instructed a deputy to escort him away from a press conference, saying Justin was not “media.” While the Sheriff answered questions from other reporters, Justin—under threat of arrest—was made to stand too far back to record or ask questions.

Things got worse in December 2021—one of the first times Justin recorded FBCSO officers on a call after the July 2021 incident. Officers unreasonably demanded that Justin leave the scene of a mental-health call and quickly arrested him for not complying. Justin was processed, strip searched, and jailed. Authorities are now prosecuting him for interfering with police duties, even though he did not interfere with the officers in any way.





https://ij.org/case/fort-bend-retaliation/
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#587

Post by Tiredretiredlawyer »

Velly intelesting.....
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#588

Post by northland10 »

In US v Garcon, an 11th Circuit En Banc panel tackles the issue of when "and" means "and," at least in the context of the First Step Act. I have not had a chance to read beyond the background section, but there appear to be some differing opinions on the En Banc panel.
WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, delivered the opinion of the Court, in which WILSON, JILL PRYOR, NEWSOM, LUCK, and LAGOA, Circuit Judges, join.

ROSENBAUM, Circuit Judge, filed an opinion concurring in the judgment.

NEWSOM, Circuit Judge, filed a concurring opinion, in which LAGOA, Circuit Judge, joins.

JORDAN, Circuit Judge, filed a dissenting opinion.

BRANCH, Circuit Judge, filed a dissenting opinion, in which GRANT and BRASHER, Circuit Judges, join, and JORDAN, Circuit Judge, joins as to Part I, II, III.A, and III.B.

BRASHER, Circuit Judge, filed a dissenting opinion.
The opinion:
https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinion ... 50.enb.pdf
101010 :towel:
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#589

Post by Tiredretiredlawyer »

The statute uses semicolons, not commas after each requirement so the Oxford comma rule doesn't apply. Is there an Oxford semicolon rule? STERN, pick up the courtesy phone!
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#590

Post by raison de arizona »

It had to use semicolons because of the embedded commas. And means and.
Our reading is also buttressed by the Senate’s legislative
drafting manual, :snippity: The manual instructs drafters on the proper use
of “and” and “or,” directing them to use “and” as a conjunctive and
“or” as a disjunctive:
IN GENERAL.—In a list of criteria that specifies a class
of things—
(1) use ‘‘or’’ between the next-to-last criterion and the
last criterion to indicate that a thing is included in the
class if it meets 1 or more of the criteria; and
(2) use ‘‘and’’ to indicate that a thing is included in the
class only if it meets all of the criteria.
Senate Off. of the Legis. Couns., Legis. Drafting Manual § 302(a)
(1997).
Page 10. I don't buy the other argument one bit.
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#591

Post by RTH10260 »

Family of victim in 'Serial' case seeks new court hearing

BRIAN WITTE
Fri, December 9, 2022 at 7:23 PM

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — An attorney requested a new hearing on Friday on the motion that led to the release of Adnan Syed, whose murder conviction chronicled in the hit podcast “Serial” already has been overturned.

Steve Kelly, an attorney for the family of victim Hae Min Lee, filed the request in a legal brief in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, the state's second-highest court.

The new hearing would require the prosecutor to present any evidence supporting the motion and give Young Lee, who is Hae Min Lee's brother, the right to challenge the evidence and present his own.

The filing said Lee “lacked notice and a meaningful opportunity to participate,” and was excluded from a legal proceeding ”at which the state’s attorney and circuit court apparently decided the outcome."

“Nothing Mr. Lee might have said in opposition could have altered the result," the court filing said. "His statement was, at best, an empty ritual.”

Erica Suter, Syed's lawyer, said in a statement that the family's grief and pain “deserves our deepest compassion," which she said has been compounded by prosecutorial misconduct.

“Justice for Hae Min Lee means finding the actual killer, not furthering the harm experienced by Adnan Syed and his family,” Suter said. “This appeal is about whether Hae Min Lee’s family was properly notified. They were. The closure they seek is not found in incarcerating an innocent man.”

Prosecutors moved to vacate Syed’s conviction in September, after a yearlong investigation. A Baltimore judge ordered a new trial and freed Syed from prison, but gave prosecutors 30 days to decide whether to dismiss the charges or proceed with a new trial. The judge ruled that the state had violated its legal obligation to share evidence that could have bolstered Syed’s defense.

Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced at an Oct. 11 news conference that her office had dismissed all charges against Syed.

Prosecutors have previously said that a reinvestigation of the case revealed evidence regarding the possible involvement of two alternate suspects. The two suspects may have been involved individually or together, the state’s attorney’s office said.



https://www.yahoo.com/news/family-victi ... 48876.html
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#592

Post by Kriselda Gray »

A Texas judge has taken the first shot at Birth Control:
Last week, Kacsmaryk issued an opinion in Deanda v. Becerra that attacks Title X, a federal program that offers grants to health providers that fund voluntary and confidential family planning services to patients. Federal law requires the Title X program to include “services for adolescents,”

The plaintiff in Deanda is a father who says he is “raising each of his daughters in accordance with Christian teaching on matters of sexuality, which requires unmarried children to practice abstinence and refrain from sexual intercourse until marriage.” He claims that the program must cease all grants to health providers who do not require patients under age 18 to “obtain parental consent” before receiving Title X-funded medical care.

[...]

Kacsmaryk’s opinion is incompetently drafted and makes several obvious legal errors
Kacsmaryk’s opinion makes a number of legal errors, some of them egregious.

The Constitution, for example, does not permit litigants to file federal lawsuits challenging a government program unless they’ve been injured in some way by that program — a requirement known as “standing.” But Alexander Deanda, the father in this case seeking to stop Title X-funded programs from offering contraception to minors, does not claim that he has ever sought Title X-funded care. He does not allege that his daughters have ever sought Title X-funded care. And he does not even allege that they intend to seek Title X-funded care in the future.

[...]

Additionally, Kacsmaryk places an astonishing amount of weight on a Texas state law which provides that parents have a right to consent to their child’s “medical and dental care.” But the Constitution states explicitly that federal law is “the supreme Law of the Land,” and when state laws prevent a federal law from operating as Congress intended — including the federal law creating the Title X program — then the state law must yield.

[...]
There's a lot more at the article, including additional analysis of the problems with his ruling and discussion of the I pact it may have even if it is short-lived.
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#593

Post by realist »

Kriselda Gray wrote: Tue Dec 13, 2022 9:35 am A Texas judge has taken the first shot at Birth Control:
Last week, Kacsmaryk issued an opinion in Deanda v. Becerra that attacks Title X, a federal program that offers grants to health providers that fund voluntary and confidential family planning services to patients. Federal law requires the Title X program to include “services for adolescents,”

The plaintiff in Deanda is a father who says he is “raising each of his daughters in accordance with Christian teaching on matters of sexuality, which requires unmarried children to practice abstinence and refrain from sexual intercourse until marriage.” He claims that the program must cease all grants to health providers who do not require patients under age 18 to “obtain parental consent” before receiving Title X-funded medical care.

[...]

Kacsmaryk’s opinion is incompetently drafted and makes several obvious legal errors
Kacsmaryk’s opinion makes a number of legal errors, some of them egregious.

The Constitution, for example, does not permit litigants to file federal lawsuits challenging a government program unless they’ve been injured in some way by that program — a requirement known as “standing.” But Alexander Deanda, the father in this case seeking to stop Title X-funded programs from offering contraception to minors, does not claim that he has ever sought Title X-funded care. He does not allege that his daughters have ever sought Title X-funded care. And he does not even allege that they intend to seek Title X-funded care in the future.

[...]

Additionally, Kacsmaryk places an astonishing amount of weight on a Texas state law which provides that parents have a right to consent to their child’s “medical and dental care.” But the Constitution states explicitly that federal law is “the supreme Law of the Land,” and when state laws prevent a federal law from operating as Congress intended — including the federal law creating the Title X program — then the state law must yield.

[...]
There's a lot more at the article, including additional analysis of the problems with his ruling and discussion of the I pact it may have even if it is short-lived.
:gotalink:
Image
Image X 4
Image X 32
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#594

Post by raison de arizona »

realist wrote: Tue Dec 13, 2022 11:58 am
Kriselda Gray wrote: Tue Dec 13, 2022 9:35 am :snippity:
There's a lot more at the article, including additional analysis of the problems with his ruling and discussion of the I pact it may have even if it is short-lived.
:gotalink:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics ... da-becerra
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#595

Post by Kriselda Gray »

raison de arizona wrote: Tue Dec 13, 2022 12:07 pm
realist wrote: Tue Dec 13, 2022 11:58 am
Kriselda Gray wrote: Tue Dec 13, 2022 9:35 am :snippity:
There's a lot more at the article, including additional analysis of the problems with his ruling and discussion of the I pact it may have even if it is short-lived.
:gotalink:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics ... da-becerra
Thanks Raison for getting that. I'm a bit out of it today (got the report back on my shoulders - I'll write about that in my own thread) and just got kinda flaky there...
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#596

Post by Tiredretiredlawyer »

Moar background from that Vox article:

Ian Millhiser is a senior correspondent at Vox, where he focuses on the Supreme Court, the Constitution, and the decline of liberal democracy in the United States. He received a JD from Duke University and is the author of two books on the Supreme Court. [He has won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting.]

Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee to a federal court in Texas, spent much of his career trying to interfere with other people’s sexuality.

A former lawyer at a religious conservative litigation shop, Kacsmaryk denounced, in a 2015 article, a so-called “Sexual Revolution” that began in the 1960s and 1970s, and which “sought public affirmation of the lie that the human person is an autonomous blob of Silly Putty unconstrained by nature or biology, and that marriage, sexuality, gender identity, and even the unborn child must yield to the erotic desires of liberated adults.”

So, in retrospect, it’s unsurprising that Kacsmaryk would be the first federal judge to embrace a challenge to the federal right to birth control after the Supreme Court’s June decision eliminating the right to an abortion.

But Kacsmaryk isn’t like most other judges. In his brief time on the bench — Trump appointed Kacsmaryk in 2019 — he has shown an extraordinary willingness to interpret the law creatively to benefit right-wing causes.

This behavior is enabled, moreover, by the procedural rules that frequently enable federal plaintiffs in Texas to choose which judge will hear their case — 95 percent of civil cases filed in Amarillo, Texas’s federal courthouse are automatically assigned to Kacsmaryk. So litigants who want their case to be decided by a judge with a history as a Christian right activist, with a demonstrated penchant for interpreting the law flexibly to benefit his ideological allies, can all but ensure that outcome by bringing their lawsuit in Amarillo.
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#597

Post by RTH10260 »

'Sham criminal trial': Daniel Shaver's widow says more justice needed after $8 million settlement with Mesa
Shaver was shot five times, including twice in the back, by former police officer Philip Brailsford at a Mesa hotel in 2016.

Author: 12News
Published: 6:22 AM MST November 23, 2022
Updated: 7:23 PM MST November 23, 2022

MESA, Ariz. — The City of Mesa has agreed to an $8 million settlement for the widow and children of Daniel Shaver, a man shot and killed by a Mesa police officer in 2016.

Shaver's widow, Laney Sweet, said that while the settlement will ease her family's financial burdens, it does not erase the sudden loss of Shaver in their lives.

"This settlement does nothing to cure the blatant lack of accountability by all involved since the night of Daniel’s death, which stands as an irredeemable blight on the criminal justice system," Sweet said in a statement.

Shaver, who was unarmed, was shot to death by now-former Mesa police officer Philip Brailsford in a hotel hallway. A medical examiner's autopsy showed that Shaver was shot five times, including two rounds that entered the back of his neck and the back of his left shoulder.

Body-camera video of the scene showed Shaver crawling on his hands and knees toward officers while crying and begging for his life. Five other officers were in the hotel hallway, but Brailsford was the only one who fired shots at Shaver.

Brailsford went to trial charged with second-degree murder in 2017. A jury found him not guilty.

Brailsford was fired by the Mesa Police Department two months after the shooting, but was rehired by the department in 2018 and was allowed to file for accidental disability retirement benefits. He was then approved to receive a nearly $31,000-a-year pension, after which he retired.





https://www.12news.com/article/news/cri ... dccbb39a11
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#598

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Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, December 5, 2022

Former Muncie, Indiana, Police Officer Pleads Guilty to Eleven Civil Rights and Obstruction Offenses for Assaulting Arrestees and Writing False Reports

Chase Winkle, a former officer with the Muncie Police Department, in Muncie, Indiana, pleaded guilty today to eleven civil rights and obstruction charges. Specifically, Winkle pleaded guilty to five federal civil rights offenses for assaulting arrestees, and to six obstruction offenses for writing false reports to cover up the assaults.

“Officer Winkle, the son of the former Chief of Police, confessed to repeated uses of excessive force and obstruction of justice,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This defendant’s misconduct injured his victims and undermined the police department’s credibility with the community. We hope that this guilty plea sends a message that neither a badge nor familial connections will shield an officer from facing justice for his wrongdoing.”

“Today’s guilty pleas are an important step forward as we seek justice for the victims in this case,” said U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Myers for the Southern District of Indiana. “Our office, the Department of Justice and our federal partners are firmly committed to holding law enforcement officers accountable when they violate their oaths and the civil rights of the people they were sworn to protect.”

According to court documents and statements made during the change of plea hearing, on or about Aug. 9, 2018, Winkle and another officer arrested a civilian identified as L.G. As L.G. was lying on the ground, with the other officer holding both of L.G.’s hands behind his back, L.G. directed a verbal insult towards the officers. In response to the insult, Officer Winkle, using his knee, dropped his full bodyweight down onto L.G.’s neck and head area. L.G. screamed out in pain and yelled that Winkle had crushed his face. A few moments later, Winkle deployed taser prongs into L.G.’s back and activated the taser. Officer Winkle’s use of force caused severe bodily injury to L.G., multiple facial fractures that required surgery. Following the incident, Winkle wrote a false report about what happened.



https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-m ... bstruction
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#599

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Leaving no wiggle room, Ky. Supreme Court trips up GOP march to destroy public schools

Brian Bohannon Linda Blackford
Fri, December 16, 2022 at 4:24 PM GMT+1

If you appreciate any of the following things: public schools, public teachers, the civic good, the Kentucky Constitution, the Commonwealth, and general fair play, then the Kentucky Supreme Court handed you a very nice early gift.

They ruled unanimously that the Education Opportunity Account Act — which allows people to get tax credits for donating to organizations that then give scholarships to private schools — was completely unconstitutional. No wiggle room at all. The reason as Justice Lisabeth Hughes wrote is simple: “Applying the plain language of this section, the income tax credit raises money for nonpublic education and its characterization as a tax credit rather than an appropriation is immaterial,” Hughes wrote.

Because the Kentucky Supreme Court is the ultimate arbiter of the Kentucky Constitution, this idea to divert funding from public schools to private ones is now quite dead and cannot be appealed.

‘It was pretty straightforward, they took a very textual approach and relied on some past precedents, they go back almost 100 years,” said University of Kentucky professor Jonathan Shaub. “They wrote it in a very black and white principle that taxpayer money has to go to public schools and we’re not going to buy into these tricks or workarounds.”

The framers of our state Constitution were pretty prescient, writing in not only the rights to an “efficient” system of public education, but protections against funding diversions.

Then as another little present in your stocking, Northern Kentucky University, which is the authorizer of charter schools in that area under House Bill 9, put a spoke in another politically motivated shenanigan. They were given the power to authorize charter schools in an extremely sketchy plan to give a wealthy GOP donor a charter school near a planned development. It was so sketchy that the NKU Board of Trustees didn’t even know about it.



https://www.yahoo.com/news/leaving-no-w ... 58075.html
(original Lexington Herald Leader)
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