National Roundup

California
Church leaders charged with marriage fraud
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Three officials with a Philippines-based church in Los Angeles have been charged as part of an alleged scheme to trick followers into becoming fundraisers and arrange sham marriages to keep them in the U.S.

Federal agents arrested the local leaders of Kingdom of Jesus Christ church during a raid last month. They were each charged Wednesday. Conspiring to commit forced labor trafficking and immigration and marriage fraud were some of the charges, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Guia Cabactulan, 59, was the church’s top official in the United States, according to the indictment. Marissa Duenas, 41, allegedly handled immigration matters as the “human resources leader” and investigators believe Amanda Estopare, 48, tracked fundraising and funneled money to the church’s leadership in the Philippines, the newspaper reported Thursday.

A magistrate judge had ordered all three women detained after their arrests last month. Attorneys for Cabactulan and Duenas didn’t immediately respond to requests from the Times for comment. It was unclear from court records if Estopare had retained a lawyer.

Israelito Torreon, an attorney for the church in the Philippines, previously denied all accusations. Torreon said the U.S. charges stemmed from a campaign, waged by disgruntled ex-members, “to exact revenge” and drag the church and its leader, Apollo Quiboloy, “into a quagmire of shame, blatant humiliation and defeat.”

Quiboloy was neither charged nor identified by name in court documents; prosecutors and agents have referred only to the church’s “leader,” the Times said.

Workers who say they managed to escape from the church told the FBI that they had been sent across the U.S. to work long hours soliciting donations for the church’s charity and were beaten and psychologically abused if they didn’t make daily quotas, according to an affidavit filed last month in support of the charges. Some described having to live in cars at truck stops.

The immigrants essentially became full-time workers, sometimes referred to as “miracle workers,” in a crusade to raise money for the nonprofit Children’s Joy Foundation USA, which was supposed to benefit poor children in their homeland. But the complaint said most of the money raised was used to finance church operations and fund the leaders’ lavish lifestyles.

The church claims a membership of 6 million people and backed the 2016 candidacy of President Rodrigo Duterte, a close friend of Quiboloy.

Between 2014 and the middle of last year, $20 million was sent to the church in the Philippines, the FBI said.

Investigators documented 82 sham marriages over a 20-year period between top fundraisers and church members who were U.S. citizens.

Delaware
Judge flushes inmate complaint about lack of toilet paper
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Delaware prison inmate who complained about running out of toilet paper.

The judge ruled Thursday that the lawsuit by Isaac Pierce was frivolous.

The ruling contains references to several other court decisions regarding toilet paper, or the lack of it, in prisons. Those rulings generally concluded that, while a temporary lack of toilet paper might be unpleasant, it does not violate an inmate’s rights or, in the words of one court, does not present a question of “constitutional magnitude.”

The lawsuit was filed last year by Pierce and two cellmates, who were subsequently dismissed from the case. They alleged that they were forced to use newspapers after they were denied more toilet paper for two and a half days in August 2019.

California
Conviction tossed in killing of LAPD officer 37 years ago
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The California Supreme Court decided unanimously Thursday to overturn a man’s conviction in the killing of a Los Angeles Police Department officer 37 years ago during a traffic stop, according to a newspaper report.

Citing extensive evidence that the defense lawyer for Kenneth Earl Gay was incompetent, the state high court reversed the conviction that sent Gay to death row in Officer Paul Verna’s killing in 1983, the Los Angeles Times reported. Gay is now 60.

The court overturned Gay’s death sentence years ago on the grounds he had an inadequate lawyer, and a new trial was held on whether he should be condemned to death. Another jury recommended death, but the second death sentence also was overturned.

Gay then argued that his lawyer, Daye Shinn, also botched the guilty phase of his trial. Shinn, who was later disbarred and has since died, lied to get Gay’s case, according to evidence. The lawyer also counseled the defendant to admit to incriminating evidence and failed to introduce evidence that might have persuaded a jury to acquit him or spare his life, the newspaper said.

Both Gay and a co-defendant, Raynard Cummings, were passengers in the stolen car stopped by motorcycle officer Verna. Witnesses disagreed about which man shot Verna. Both were convicted and sentenced to death.

“We cannot say Gay’s murder conviction was the product of a trustworthy adversarial process,” Justice Leondra R. Kruger wrote for the court. “Defense counsel obtained appointment to represent Gay through fraud, counseled him to make damaging confessions to the prosecution ... and failed to conduct a timely investigation into available testimony from eyewitnesses who would have exculpated Gay and peace officers who would have inculpated Gay’s co-defendant.”

Verna, who was 35 when he was fatally shot, won a medal of valor for trying to rescue children from a burning building. Two sons, Bryce and Ryan, later became police officers and joined the Los Angeles Police Department.

Cummings fired the first shot at Verna, prosecutors argued, before passing the gun to Gay, who fired five bullets. During his retrial, witnesses testified that Gay had previously robbed and beaten them, and a former girlfriend told the court he firebombed her family’s home.

Los Angeles prosecutors will now decide whether to retry Gay.

While on death row, Gay wrote a screenplay, “A Children’s Story,” which won an American Film Institute contest in 1994, the Times reported. Actor Ed Asner, a judge for the contest, testified on behalf of Gay during his retrial.

Deputy Attorney General David F. Glassman, who represented the prosecution in the case, declined comment to the newspaper.