National Roundup

Mississippi
Court clerk once again accused of not filing records

WIGGINS, Miss. (AP) — Four Mississippi judges say a Stone County court clerk hasn’t filed sentencing, probation and commitment orders in at least 36 cases.

The Sun Herald of Biloxi reports the circuit judges have ordered Jeffery O’Neal to appear in court Tuesday and explain why he shouldn’t be held in contempt. This isn’t the first time O’Neal has been ordered to appear in court to answer for missing documents.

He appeared in court in June for failing to file annual financial reports with the state that showed his office’s cash flow. Circuit court clerk salaries are paid from collected cash. The case was dismissed and O’Neal avoided a contempt charge after promising to catch up on the delayed filings.

Minnesota
Staff shortage OT at state prisons

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Department of Corrections almost doubled the overtime it paid prison staff in the past year because of a chronic staff shortage and concern for employee safety.

The state’s DOC data shows it paid $12.3 million for more than 262,000 hours of overtime during fiscal year 2019. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that’s up from the year before when the DOC paid $6.9 million of overtime for 150,000 hours.

State Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell said the agency increased its overtime use after two officers died last year. Corrections officer Joseph Gomm was allegedly bludgeoned to death by an inmate in Stillwater prison in July 2018. Officer Joe Parise died during a medical emergency two months later while responding to an attack on a colleague at Oak Park Heights.

Schnell said the deaths showed the dangers of understaffed facilities.

“We incurred a significant amount of overtime as a result of that,” Schnell said. “Everything that happens (in prison) requires security personnel, and that has been the place where we’ve had the biggest challenges.”
The DOC had 113 officer vacancies as of Sept. 17. A total of 240 corrections officers left during fiscal year 2019, making for a turnover rate of 12.4%.

The newspaper reports that about 80% of overtime pay last fiscal year went to nearly 2,000 corrections officers at the state’s 10 prisons.

Megan Weinzierl, a corrections officer, said while the extra pay is good, “it kind of breaks your mental health down.”

Despite the increase in overtime, Minnesota still spends less than neighboring state Wisconsin, which employs about 10,000 DOC workers to oversee more than 23,000 inmates. At its 21 prison facilities, Wisconsin paid staff $50.6 million in overtime in 2018.

Wisconsin is also facing a prison staff shortage, with about 20% of jobs unfilled.

Mississippi
Police: Officer broke policy in fatal shooting

MOSS POINT, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi police officer recently cleared of criminal wrong­doing in a fatal shooting is facing internal discipline for failing to turn on his body camera’s audio.

Moss Point police Chief Brandon Ashley says Sgt. Lancen Shipman violated policy when he didn’t turn his camera’s audio on until after he fatally shot 27-year-old suspect Toussaint Diamon Sims.

Ashley says Shipman thought he’d hit the button, but hadn’t.

The Biloxi Sun Herald reports Sims was fleeing officers pursuing him on multiple felony charges in August. Police officials and Shipman’s attorney have maintained Sims was armed and threatening officers.

Ashley says a first-offense policy violation typically results in a citation in the officer’s file. Shipman remains out on paid administrative leave.

Ohio
U.S. attorney for southern Ohio stepping down

CINCINNATI (AP) — The lead federal prosecutor for southern Ohio has resigned effective Nov. 1.

U.S. Attorney Benjamin Glassman of Cincinnati is stepping aside for Republican President Donald Trump’s pick, veteran prosecutor David DeVillers. DeVillers is a former assistant Franklin County prosecutor and a Columbus-based assistant U.S. attorney for 17 years.

Glassman joined the U.S. attorney’s office in 2005 and was promoted in 2016 to U.S. Attorney during the Democratic Barack Obama administration.

His major cases have included successful prosecutions of Cincinnati area men accused of plotting to help Islamic State extremists, and indictments involving economic espionage and opioid wholesalers.

The 44-year-old Glassman plans to help with DeVillers’ transition, but he hasn’t said publicly what he plans to do afterward. Glassman is a graduate of Rice University and the Harvard School of Law.


Missouri
Artist sues over ‘Indian-made’ law

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A California woman who is a member of a tribe that is not yet recognized by the federal government is suing over a Missouri law that says only artists from federally recognized tribes can market their creations as “Indian-made.”

Peggy Fontenot alleges that the law is a violation of her First Amendment right to free speech. She is a member of the Patawomeck, a tribe recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia, which is seeking federal recognition, reports The Kansas City Star.

The lawsuit over the Missouri law, which was passed last year, was filed in August in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. Fontenot previously sued over a similar law in Oklahoma and won.
“(The law)’s not allowing me to identify as who I am or allowing me to identify my work as what it is,” Fontenot said. “To me, that’s violating my free speech.”

Republican state Rep. Rocky Miller, who is a citizen of the federally recognized Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, said the goal of the legislation he sponsored was to crack down on fraudulent artists.

“It is a true theft of my heritage and the other true Native Americans’ heritage when you do something like that,” said Miller, who is from Lake Ozark. “And it’s criminal if you profit off of it.”

States first passed laws limiting who can market their goods as American Indian-made in the 1970s after art in native styles experienced an uptick in popularity and counterfeit goods flooded the market. In 1990, Congress passed the Indian Arts and Crafts Act.

In ruling in Fontenot’s favor in the Oklahoma case, a judge noted that the federal law defines Native Americans as those who belong to state-recognized tribes, as well as federal ones.

Fontenot said that, prior to the 1990 federal legislation, she undertook the arduous process of tracing her genealogy back to the 1500s. She noted that when she exhibits her work at shows, she must show proof of identity.

“It’s disconcerting that when I accomplished what they asked me to accomplish, laws like the Oklahoma law and the Missouri law are attempting to do away with that,” Fontenot said.