Massachusetts
Spacey accuser drops lawsuit against actor
BOSTON (AP) — A young man who says Kevin Spacey groped him in a Nantucket bar in 2016 has dropped his lawsuit against the Oscar-winning actor.
Mitchell Garabedian, a lawyer for the man, announced in an email Friday that the suit filed June 26 in Nantucket Superior Court has been voluntarily dismissed.
No reason was provided either by Garabedian or in the court filing. Garabedian said he would have no further comment.
An email was left Friday requesting comment from Alan Jackson, Spacey’s attorney.
Garabedian’s client, the son of Boston TV anchor Heather Unruh, alleged Spacey got him drunk and sexually assaulted him at the Club Car restaurant where the then 18-year old man worked.
Spacey still faces a criminal charge. He has pleaded not guilty to indecent assault and battery in January.
New Jersey
Final defendant sentenced in multistate dog fighting ring
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The last of 12 defendants convicted of roles in a multistate dog fighting ring has been sentenced in New Jersey to more than four years in prison.
Justin Love was convicted last October on multiple counts including unlawfully possessing and trafficking in fighting dogs. The 39-year-old Sewell man received a 54-month sentence Wednesday and will have to serve three years of supervised release once he’s freed.
The trial closes an investigation dubbed Operation Grand Champion. The phrase Grand Champion is used by dog fighters for animals with more than five victories.
Federal prosecutors say 113 dogs have been rescued due to the investigation.
Authorities have said the defendants participated in dog fights and trafficked in dogs for fights in New Jersey, Indiana, Illinois and New Mexico.
Hawaii
State Supreme Court suspends ex-prosecutor’s law license
HONOLULU (AP) — The Hawaii Supreme Court is suspending the law license of a former high-powered Honolulu prosecutor after a U.S. jury convicted her of conspiracy.
The court on Wednesday ordered Katherine Kealoha restrained from practicing law in Hawaii. It acted in response to a petition filed by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel on Monday.
The office investigates complaints against Hawaii lawyers.
Kealoha’s attorney Earle Partington says she knew that would happen. He says suspension is automatic when someone is convicted.
A jury last week found Kealoha and her now-retired police chief husband Louis Kealoha guilty in a plot to frame a relative to silence him from revealing fraud that financed their lavish lifestyle.
A judge ordered Kealoha to be jailed while she awaits sentencing.
Washington
Bikini baristas may become tank-top baristas after ruling
SEATTLE (AP) — The “bikini baristas” in one Washington city might become tank-top baristas following a U.S. appeals court ruling.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday overturned a lower court judge’s decision to block the city of Everett from imposing a dress-code on the scantily clad coffee servers.
The three-judge appeals panel said wearing skimpy attire, sometimes just pasties and a G-string, to sell espresso at drive-through coffee stands does not constitute free speech protected by the First Amendment.
Seven baristas and the owner of a chain of the coffee stands called “Hillbilly Hotties” sued in 2017 to block the dress code, and U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman in Seattle agreed with them.
The panel overturned Pechman’s order. Hillbilly Hotties owner Jovanna Edge said she will appeal.
The city wants to require such workers to at minimum dress in tank tops and shorts.
Everett and Snohomish County, north of Seattle, have had a troubled history with other stands, which in some cases have operated as drive-thru strip clubs or brothels.
Virginia
Man charged in Appalachian Trail killing found incompetent
ABINGDON, Va. (AP) — A Massachusetts man accused of fatally stabbing a hiker on the Appalachian Trial is not mentally fit to stand trial, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
James L. Jordan, 30, of West Yarmouth, Massachusetts, was charged with murder and assault with intent to commit murder in the knife attack on two hikers on the Appalachian Trial in southwestern Virginia on May 11.
Ronald Sanchez Jr., 43, of Oklahama, died after being stabbed repeatedly, and a female hiker was seriously hurt.
An FBI agent wrote in an affidavit filed in court that Jordan was acting in a “disturbed and unstable” manner when he initially approached four hikers along the trail.
“Jordan spoke to the hikers through their tents, and threatened to pour gasoline on their tents and burn them to death,” FBI Special Agent Micah Childers wrote.
All four hikers were afraid of Jordan and packed up to leave their campsite. Two of them escaped, but Jordan caught Sanchez and stabbed him until he collapsed, then stabbed the woman repeatedly, Childers wrote.
During a brief hearing in U.S. District Court in Abingdon, Magistrate Judge Pamela Meade Sargent found that Jordan is mentally incompetent. She ordered him to be sent to a federal facility to be rehabilitated until he is competent to stand trial.
Jordan’s public defender, Lisa Lorish, declined to comment on the finding.
Maine
AGs file brief on LGBTQ hiring discrimination
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A coalition led by the attorneys general of Illinois and New York has filed a legal brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in hiring.
The brief comes ahead of oral arguments on three cases that may determine whether gays, lesbians and transgender people are protected from discrimination by existing federal civil rights laws.
More than 200 corporations have issued a similar call.
Others joining the brief are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.
