Court Digest

Oregon
Man stopped by ICE agents near courthouse files federal suit
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Washington County man on Wednesday filed a federal suit against the United States, alleging U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents unlawfully detained him outside the county courthouse in 2017.

Isidro Andrade-Tafolla, who was with his wife, said agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement followed him out of the courthouse in Hillsboro after he attended a hearing in a driving under the influence of intoxicants case, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

He says as he walked to his truck, an unmarked minivan parked in front of it and agents did not give their identity as they demanded to know his. After more agents arrived, showing him a photo they said was of him, one said Andrade-Tafolla wasn’t the person they sought and they left, according to the lawsuit.

ICE Acting Field Office Director Elizabeth Godfrey of Portland denied allegations of racial profiling in a letter to federal lawmakers, writing that the officers identified themselves as ICE agents and never tried to detain Andrade-Tafolla.

The ACLU of Oregon filed the lawsuit on Andrade-Tafolla’s behalf, alleging wrongful detention and seeking damages for humiliation, emotional distress and psychological harm.

“The unlawful detention of Isidro Andrade-Tafolla is one of many that Black and brown Oregonians have experienced,” said Leland Baxter-Neal, staff attorney for ACLU of Oregon.

The ACLU of Oregon says they have documented civil immigration enforcement activity in state courthouses in Lane, Marion, Multnomah, Clackamas, Umatilla, Morrow, Sherman, Gilliam, Wheeler, Wasco, Hood River, Josephine, Lincoln, Clatsop, Washington, and Yamhill counties.

In November, Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha Walters enacted a new rule that bans agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from carrying out arrests inside or in the close vicinity of Oregon’s state courthouses unless the agents first receive warrants from a judge.

Hawaii
Judge orders Oahu organized crime suspect held without bail
HONOLULU (AP) — A federal judge has ordered an Oahu businessman held without bail pending trial on multiple charges stemming from a lengthy organized crime ring investigation.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Kenneth Mansfield on Tuesday granted federal prosecutors’ request for the detention of Michael Miske Jr. without bond.

The prosecutors said Miske, 46, poses a danger to the community and is a flight risk.

FBI agents arrested Miske July 15 on a federal indictment that also named 10 alleged associates.

The government filed a motion last week to continue the trial for a year due to the complexity of the case. A hearing on the motion has yet to be scheduled.

Federal prosecutors alleged Miske led a criminal enterprise that for years has engaged in violence against rivals, competitors and innocent community members.

Miske “participated in, directed and facilitated numerous assaults, kidnapping, extortion, the use of firearms, attempted murder and murder for hire,” prosecutors said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Inciong said during the detention hearing that investigators identified more than two dozen victims from 2003 to 2018, including a majority described as innocent victims who were assaulted or threatened by Miske or others at his direction.

Prosecutors alleged Miske made multiple threats against at least three police officers in 2007 and 2015.

Miske is a flight risk because of his access to million dollars in assets, Inciong said.

Attorney Thomas Otake, who represents Miske, disputed the government’s allegations that one of Miske’s businesses, Kamaaina Termite & Pest Control, served as a front for money laundering.

Miske is not a flight risk because the government has seized his assets and frozen his bank accounts, Otake said.

“Mr. Miske is a lifelong resident of Hawaii. His ties to the this community could not be stronger,” said Otake, who requested Miske be placed under house arrest with GPS monitoring until the trial.

Miske’s legal defense team has grown to include a court-appointed attorney in addition to his two private attorneys. The addition occurred after Kenji Price, the U.S. attorney for the District of Hawaii, said after Miske’s arrest that he wished to seek the death penalty.

Three of the charges against Miske are considered “death-eligible” counts, but only U.S. Attorney General William Barr can authorize prosecutors to seek the death penalty in the case.

New York
Judge invalidates Trump rollback of law protecting birds
NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. judge in New York has invalidated rule changes put in place by the Trump administration that scaled back a century-old law protecting most American wild bird species despite warnings that billions of birds could die as a result.

U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni’s ruling Tuesday criticized the administration’s argument that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act only applied to the intentional killing of birds and not “incidental” killing from industrial activities.

“It is not only a sin to kill a mockingbird, it is also a crime,” Caproni wrote in her ruling, citing Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” “That has been the letter of the law for the past century.”

Caproni, who was nominated to the Southern District of New York by President Obama in 2012, disagreed with the Trump administration’s interpretation of the law.

“There is nothing in the text of the (Migratory Bird Treaty Act) that suggests that in order to fall within its prohibition, activity must be directed specifically at birds,” she wrote. “Nor does the statute prohibit only intentionally killing migratory birds. And it certainly does not say that only ‘some’ kills are prohibited.”

More than 1,000 species are covered under the law, and the changes have drawn a sharp backlash from organizations that advocate on behalf of an estimated 46 million U.S. birdwatchers.

“The Trump administration’s policy was nothing more than a cruel, bird-killing gift to polluters and we’re elated it has been vacated,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity, which was one of the plaintiffs.

The 1918 migratory bird law came after many U.S. bird populations had been decimated by hunting and poaching — much of it for feathers for women’s hats.

It was one of the country’s first major federal environmental laws, enacted just after the conservation movement embodied by President Teddy Roosevelt had emerged as a new force in American politics.

Over the past half-century, as new threats to birds emerged, the law also was applied against companies that failed to prevent foreseeable bird deaths, such as oil companies that did not put netting over toxic waste pits despite warnings from federal officials.

The Trump administration argued the deaths of birds that fly into oil pits, mining sites, telecommunications towers, wind turbines and other hazards should be treated as accidents and not subject to prosecution.

The Department of Interior said in a statement that Caproni’s ruling “undermines a common sense interpretation of the law and runs contrary to recent efforts, shared across the political spectrum, to de-criminalize unintentional conduct.”

An Interior legal decision in 2017 already had effectively ended criminal enforcement under the act during Trump’s presidency. Eight states led by New York and numerous conservation groups including the National Audubon Society challenged that decision in federal court.

They argued that birds already were being harmed by the administration’s policies, most notably in the destruction last fall of nesting grounds for 25,000 shorebirds in Virginia to make way for a road and tunnel project. State officials had ended conservation measures for the birds after federal officials advised such measures were voluntary under the new interpretation of the law.

The highest-profile enforcement case bought under the migratory bird act resulted in a $100 million settlement by BP, after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010 killed about 100,000 birds.

Industry sources kill an estimated 450 million to 1.1 billion birds annually, out of an overall 7.2 billion birds in North America, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and recent studies.


Louisiana
Federal appeals court rules male-only draft is constitutional
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court in New Orleans upheld the constitutionality of the all-male military draft system Thursday, citing a 1981 U.S. Supreme Court decision.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans said “only the Supreme Court may revise its precedent.”

The case was argued in March and was the result of a lawsuit by the National Coalition for Men and two men challenging the male-only draft. Their arguments had been that the the 1981 case was decided at a time when women were largely absent from combat.

There was no dissent in Thursday’s ruling from a three-judge panel. Plaintiffs in the case could seek a rehearing before the full court or go to the Supreme Court.

The U.S. government stopped drafting young men into the military in 1973. But every male must still register for the draft when he turns 18.

Earlier this year — after the arguments before the 5th Circuit — a federal commission recommended including women in the military draft system.

“The Commission concluded that the time is right to extend Selective Service System registration to include men and women, between the ages of 18 and 26. This is a necessary and fair step, making it possible to draw on the talent of a unified Nation in a time of national emergency,” a summary to the commission’s final report said.


North Carolina
Prosecutor asks 14 years for billionaire in bribery case
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A federal prosecutor said Wednesday that a billionaire Durham businessman should spend 14 years in prison for trying to bribe North Carolina’s top insurance regulator with large political contributions.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Murray laid out the prosecution’s sentencing recommendation against Greg Lindberg in a filing in federal court. Murray said that instead of showing contrition or remorse, the Durham businessman is unrepentant and blames others for his decision to offer a bribe to Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey.

“Despite the recorded evidence of his guilt, Lindberg has repeatedly attacked Commissioner Causey — most recently suing him in federal court — law enforcement, and the judicial process, by leveling meritless accusations that he was vindictively targeted,” Murray said in the statement.

Lindberg, along with associate John Gray, was convicted by a federal court in May of two corruption charges.

Prosecutors have said Lindberg conspired to funnel money to Causey in exchange for special treatment. In particular, Lindberg sought to replace or work around a senior deputy commissioner within Causey’s office whose job it was to scrutinize Lindberg’s Global Bankers Insurance Group, according to court documents.

Causey, who wasn’t accused of wrongdoing, alerted authorities and cooperated in the case against Lindberg.

Murray’s recommendation called for a 10-year sentence for Gray.

Sentencing is scheduled Aug. 19 before U.S. District Court Judge Max Cogburn.

Earlier this week, prosecutors asked a judge to give former North Carolina Rep. Robin Hayes no prison time for lying to the FBI about his role in the plan to try to bribe Causey. Hayes pleaded guilty in October to making a false statement in 2018 to FBI agents conducting an investigation while Hayes was state Republican Party chairman.


North Dakota
State seeks to intervene in lawsuit over mineral rights
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The state of North Dakota wants to intervene in a lawsuit filed by the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation over mineral rights under Lake Sakakawea within the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

MHA Nation is suing the federal government over a decision the U.S. Department of the Interior issued in May concluding that the state is the legal owner of the submerged property.

The state contends that its interests in the dispute may differ from those of the federal government, so it should be allowed to intervene, the Bismarck Tribune reported.

“Three governments have an interest in adjudicating title to the bed of the river -- the Tribe, North Dakota, and the United States,” the state says in its filings. “All three should be allowed to participate in that adjudication.”

At stake is more than $100 million in unpaid royalties and future payments certain to come from oil drilling beneath the original Missouri River bed.