Court Digest

Wisconsin
Man facing hate crime in crash found incompetent

FOND DU LAC, Wis. (AP) — A Mexican American man from Wisconsin charged with homicide as a hate crime because prosecutors say he intentionally crashed his pickup truck into a white motorcyclist has been committed to a psychiatric facility.

Daniel Navarro, 27, of Fond du Lac, was charged with first-degree intentional homicide with a hate crime enhancer for the July 3 crash that killed Phillip Thiessen in Fond du Lac County.
Prosecutors say Navarro struck Thiessen’s motorcycle head-on in the town of Taycheedah.

After two psychiatric exams, Fond du Lac County Judge Richard Nuss determined Wednesday that Navarro is not competent to stand trial, meaning he does not understand the court proceedings and cannot assist in his own defense, WLUK-TV reported.

Thiessen, 55, was a retired special agent with the Wisconsin Department of Justice and a former police officer. Authorities said Navarro didn’t know Thiessen, but targeted him because he was white.
Navarro told investigators he had been harassed by co-workers and neighbors, and poisoned, drugged and verbally attacked by white people because of his race, authorities said.

During an interview at the sheriff’s office, Navarro said he wanted to go to prison for the rest of his life so he could be free from his neighbors, who he could hear making racist comments through the walls of his house, according to a criminal complaint.

Pennsylvania
Split court tosses victims’ rights amendment

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A divided state court on Thursday threw out a victims’ rights state constitutional amendment that voters apparently passed by a wide margin, ruling it bundled too many changes together.

Commonwealth Court in a 3-2 decision said state officials may not tabulate the votes for the so-called Marsy’s Law amendment that was on the ballot in November 2019.

The majority agreed with the state League of Women Voters, which sued Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar to keep the election results from being counted. The judges said it ran afoul of a Pennsylvania Constitution provision that requires amendments to address a single subject only.

“Because the constitution mandates a separate vote on each proposed constitutional amendment, and the proposed amendment fails to satisfy this mandate, disenfranchisement will occur if the electorate must vote on the proposed amendment as a unitary proposal,” wrote Judge Ellen Ceisler in support of throwing it out.

Judge Patricia McCullough said the proposed amendment “simply embraces too many disparate matters to effectively convey its import to voters within the 75 words mandated by statute.”

But in a two-judge dissent, Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt said there was “only speculation” offered about the effect of the amendment on defendants’ rights and the legal system.

She said the decision keeps people from expressing their political will.

“The judgment the court enters today deprives the people of this power on the strength of no more than speculation,” she wrote.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs and Boockvar’s spokeswoman declined immediate comment. The state district attorney’s association said it was disappointed by the result.

The amendment would have enshrined into the state constitution rights for crime victims that include notifications about the case and being allowed to attend and weigh in during plea hearings, sentencings and parole proceedings.

The state Supreme Court, also divided, ruled just before the November 2019 vote that elections officials could not tabulate or certify the votes while litigation continued. Unofficial tallies showed it passed by about a three-to-one margin, according to case filings.

Boockvar’s lawyers argued the votes should have counted, saying the amendment’s changes all related to a single purpose of advancing victims’ rights.


Delaware
Court upholds dismissal of lawsuit over firefighter deaths

DOVER, Del. (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit against the city of Wilmington and several former city officials stemming from an arson that left three city firefighters dead and three others injured.

A three-judge panel on Wednesday agreed with a federal district judge who had ruled that the risk of injury or death is inherent to a firefighter’s job and that any increase in risk based on actions by city officials did not alter the fundamental nature of that risk.

The lawsuit was filed in 2018 by the injured firefighters and the estates and survivors of those who were killed.

The lawsuit argued that a policy of “rolling bypasses” that took fire engines out of service in an effort to save costs led to staffing shortages and increased the risk that firefighters would be hurt or killed. The plaintiffs claimed that those cost-saving measures violated their substantive due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The appeals court noted that while a government employee can bring a substantive due process claim if the state compelled the employee to be exposed to a risk of harm that was not inherent in the job, the Constitution’s due process clause does not guarantee public employees certain minimal levels of safety and security.

It also noted that the judge had found no indication that the firefighters were compelled, either by threats of job loss or otherwise, to be exposed to such risks.

The judge also had noted in her ruling last year that the policies questioned by the plaintiffs were well known and had been in place for many years before any firefighters were allegedly injured as a result. Citing federal circuit rulings, the judge said that while the defendants may have a duty under state law to provide a working environment free from unreasonable risks of harm, they have no duty to do so under the Constitution.

Arson suspect Beatriz Fana-Ruiz was sentenced to 30 years in prison in December 2019 after pleading guilty to one count each of second-degree murder, arson and assault. She had been charged with six counts of first-degree murder, as well as assault, arson and reckless endangering.

Authorities said Fana-Ruiz was angry about her living situation and unhappy with her life when she set a fire in the basement of the row house where she was staying.

Lt. Christopher Leach and Senior Firefighter Jerry Fickes died at the scene after the first floor of the home collapsed. Senior Firefighter Ardythe Hope was hospitalized in critical condition for several weeks before she died.

Massachusetts
Boston Marathon bomber sues over ballcap, showers in federal prison

BOSTON (AP) — Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has sued the federal government for $250,000 over his treatment at the Colorado prison where he is serving a life sentence.

Tsarnaev, 26, calls his treatment in the handwritten suit filed Monday “unlawful, unreasonable and discriminatory.” He cites the confiscation of a white baseball cap and bandana that he bought at the prison commissary and a limit of three showers per week, the Boston Herald reported.

His treatment at the supermax Federal Correctional Complex Florence is contributing to his “mental and physical decline,” he says in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit has been assigned to a judge, according to court records. The judge said Tuesday the filing is deficient because it does not include a “certified copy of prisoner’s trust fund statement” and a $402 filing fee.

An email seeking comment was left Thursday with the federal Bureau of Prisons.

Tsarnaev alleges his cap and bandana were confiscated by prison guards “because, by wearing it, I was ‘disrespecting’ the FBI and the victims” of the April 15, 2013, bombing.

During the investigation, Tsarnaev was referred to by law enforcement as “White Hat” when he was seen on surveillance video leaving the scene of the bombings.

Three people died and more than 260 people were injured at the scene when two pressure cooker bombs were set off near the marathon’s finish line.

Tsarnaev’s older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed in a shootout with police three days later.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was convicted and sentenced to death, but the death sentence was overturned last July by a federal appeals court that said the judge who oversaw the case did not adequately screen jurors for potential biases. That decision has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.


Maine
Salmon product company denies claims in lawsuit

BELFAST, Maine (AP) — A Maine-based smoked salmon producer is defending itself against claims that its products are not sustainably produced.

A New York resident alleged in a lawsuit that Ducktrap River of Maine does not use sustainable practices despite the labels affixed to the company’s salmon products.

Mowi ASA, a Norwegian company that operates Ducktrap through a subsidiary, denied the allegations in a statement, saying its products are “sustainably and responsibly sourced.”

“Following a rigorous certification process, Mowi has been recognized to abide by industry best practices for sustainable aquaculture,” the company said.

The lawsuit seeks class action status and unspecified damages, which could increase if a court found that the company willfully misled consumers.

The lawsuit argues that industrial fish farming endangers public health, causes animal suffering and environmental damages.

Maine
Lawsuit: Foster children aren’t protected from psychotropic meds

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The Maine Department of Health and Human Services allowed six foster children and others across the state to be given psychotropic drugs without appropriate safeguards or oversight, according to advocates who filed a federal lawsuit on their behalf.

Child advocates contend in the lawsuit filed Wednesday that kids as young as 5 are being harmed by the powerful drugs and that the state failed to address a problem that it has previously acknowledged.

The state is accused maintaining inadequate medical records, falling short on informed consent and failing to flag prescriptions for secondary review.

“As a result of these failures, hundreds of preschoolers through teens in Maine’s foster care system remain at an unreasonable risk of serious harm with each passing day,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit, which seeks class action status, was brought against Maine Health and Human Services Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew and Todd Landry, the director of the Office of Child and Family Services.

A Maine health department spokesperson accused New York-based Children’s Rights Inc., one of the parties that sued, of being more interested in filing lawsuits than in working with the state to help the plaintiffs.

“If Children’s Rights Inc. cared about the welfare of these six children or others, it would have reported these allegations to Maine DHHS through the appropriate established channels, allowing us to immediately investigate and take appropriate action if needed,” Jackie Farwell said.

Children’s Rights spokesperson Camilla Jenkins brushed off the criticism. “Legal action is a proven way to reform child welfare systems, when all other efforts have failed,” she said.

The plaintiffs are five boys and a girl from 7 to 17 years old who have resided in foster care in all corners of the state.

The lawsuit notes that children’s developing brains are at higher risk of harm from psychotropic drugs that are improperly prescribed and monitored. In many cases, kids are receiving multiple drugs at doses that are too high and at ages that are too young, the lawsuit said.

Psychotropic drugs include anxiety medications, antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers and stimulants.

According to the lawsuit, the state has long acknowledged risks that accompany psychotropic medications in foster care populations. Oversight problems were identified at least 10 years ago, the lawsuit says.

In 2012, several Maine officials within the health department authored a report acknowledging that “there may be some overuse” of antipsychotic drugs, and a Maine health official shared a study showing foster children were prescribed mental health medications at a rate more than double that of other kids.

In 2018, Maine was singled out by U.S. Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General for its high utilization of psychotropic medications in foster care populations, the lawsuit said.

The data showed that 32.7% of Maine foster youths were prescribed a psychotropic medication in 2013, but that figure had dipped to 20.2% by the third quarter of 2020, in line with most states, Farwell said.

“Maine DHHS is committed to continuing to improve existing policies, staff training and child welfare records management by transitioning to a new information technology system,” she said.