National Roundup

New York
Ex-prosecutor sues over Central Park 5 series
NEW YORK (AP) — Former Manhattan prosecutor Linda Fairstein has sued Netflix and film director Ava DuVernay over her portrayal in the streaming service’s miniseries about the Central Park Five case, which sent five black and Latino teenagers to prison for a crime they were later absolved of committing.

Fairstein claims in the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in Fort Myers, Florida, that the four-part series “When They See Us” defamed her by portraying her as a “racist, unethical villain.”

“Most glaringly, the film series falsely portrays Ms. Fairstein as in charge of the investigation and prosecution of the case against the five, including the development of the prosecution’s theory of the case,” Fairstein’s lawyer, Andrew Miltenberg, said in a statement. “In truth, and as detailed in the lawsuit, Ms. Fairstein was responsible for neither aspect of the case.”

Fairstein was the top Manhattan sex crimes prosecutor in 1989 when the five teenagers were charged with a vicious attack on a jogger in Central Park. The convictions were overturned in 2002 after convicted murderer and serial rapist Matias Reyes confessed to committing the crime alone. DNA linked him to it.

Fairstein, who became a best-selling crime author after retiring from the Manhattan district attorney’s office, observed the boys’ interrogation but didn’t personally try the case.

Fairstein was dropped by her publisher  and resigned from several boards she served on after “When They See Us,” which dramatizes the events surrounding the trial, debuted last year.

Netflix called Fairstein’s lawsuit “frivolous” and said in a statement, “We intend to vigorously defend ‘When They See Us’ and Ava DuVernay and Attica Locke, the incredible team behind the series.”

Emails seeking comment were sent to a representative for DuVernay and to Locke, a writer and producer of the series who was named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

New Jersey
Judge accused of helping friend avoid arrest avoids removal
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey’s Supreme Court has decided not to seek to remove a judge who once faced criminal charges for allegedly helping her then-boyfriend avoid arrest.

The court wrote in an order released late Thursday that state Superior Court Judge Carlia Brady must still appear at a hearing on April 27 that will determine what level of discipline she faces.

Brady was suspended in 2013 when she was charged with misconduct and hindering a police search for her then-boyfriend in connection with a store robbery. Investigators said she let him into her home and didn’t call police despite knowing he was wanted.

Those charges were later dropped, and Brady was reinstated, after an appeals court ruled the man couldn’t be compelled to testify against her.

Brady has denied the allegations and said she promptly notified police of the man’s whereabouts. But last fall, a state panel on judicial conduct recommended that she be removed from the bench.

At a hearing this month, Brady acknowledged making some mistakes but reiterated that she followed police instructions. She filed a lawsuit against police in Woodbridge last year claiming false arrest and malicious prosecution that is pending. In court filings, the police department has sought to have the suit dismissed.


Arkansas
Judge: Man to get third trial in son’s death
BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) — A state judge on Thursday said he won’t reconsider the mistrial he granted to an Arkansas man convicted of killing his 6-year-old son by sexually assaulting the child with a stick.

Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren rejected a request by prosecutors to limit the mistrial he granted Mauricio Torres to the sentencing phase, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. Prosecutors had asked that Karren let Torres’ conviction stand.

Karren declared a mistrial  earlier this month when Torres’ stepson, who testified his stepfather physically abused him, jumped up from the witness stand and charged after Torres when a prosecutor asked about sexual abuse.

It was not clear if the stepson had been sexually abused. The Associated Press doesn’t usually name alleged victims of sexual assault.

A Benton County jury found Torres, 50, of Bella Vista, guilty of capital murder and battery during his retrial in the 2015 death of Isaiah Torres. He faced death or life in prison without parole.

Mauricio Torres’ 2016 conviction and death sentence were overturned  by the Arkansas Supreme Court, which ruled 4-3 last April that Arkansas authorities couldn’t use rape as a justification for the murder conviction because the assault occurred in Missouri. Torres’ son died at an Arkansas hospital a day after the assault.

Torres is being held without bond in the Benton County jail.

Connecticut
Religious order member loses appeal in child porn case
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The Connecticut Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the appeal of a Roman Catholic religious order member who was convicted of possessing hundreds of child pornography images.

Justices said in a 7-0 decision that there was no merit to Thomas Sawyer’s argument that a judge did not have probable cause to approve the search warrant that led to Sawyer’s arrest in 2016.

Sawyer, 77, a member of The Brothers of the Holy Cross, pleaded no contest to felony possession of child pornography in 2017 and was sentenced to three years in prison. He has remained free pending his appeal.

Sawyer, who now lives in Missouri, faces beginning his prison sentence, if he does not appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. His attorney, Richard Emanuel, declined to comment.

Sawyer’s arrest came after his roommate called police in 2015 to report Sawyer was looking at nude photos of children on his computer. When the investigation began, Sawyer resigned as information technology director at Holy Cross High School in Waterbury.

At the time, Sawyer was living in a West Haven apartment with two other members of the religious order.

Police said they found more than 400 images of child pornography when they executed the search warrant.