Court Digest

Massachusetts
Imprisoned ex-FBI agent who worked with Bulger seeks release
BOSTON (AP) — The former FBI agent serving a 40-year prison sentence for alerting Boston mobster Whitey Bulger that he could be implicated in a murder is seeking to be released from prison on medical grounds.

The Florida Commission on Offender Review will hear the request Wednesday from John "Zip" Connolly, who is being held at the Reception and Medical Center in Lake Butler, Florida.

"It's on the docket for the 17th and he's seeking a conditional medical release," said commission spokesperson Angela Meredith. A majority vote would lead to Connolly's release, she said.

Connolly's Cambridge lawyer, Peter Mullane, confirmed to the Boston Herald Friday that Connolly, who is 80, is seeking to be released.

"He has multiple melanomas and pretty bad diabetes. Two serious illnesses," Mullane said.

Connolly, who was James "Whitey" Bulger's FBI handler, was convicted in 2008 of second-degree murder after a mob hitman killed World Jai Alai President John Callahan in Fort Lauderdale in 1982. Trial evidence showed Connolly tipped Bulger that Callahan was about to implicate the gang in another killing.

Separately, Connolly served nearly 10 years in prison after being convicted in 2002 of racketeering and obstruction of justice for protecting members of Bulger's Winter Hill Gang from prosecution and tipping them about informants in their ranks.

Bulger, who spent 16 years as one of America's most wanted men before being arrested in California in 2011, was killed in federal prison in West Virginia in 2018.

Connolly's wife and three grown children are still living in the Boston area, Mullane said, and they hope he will be allowed to return to Massachusetts.

"This has been a punishment for the whole family, and they have suffered," Mullane said.

Callahan's wife, Mary, also 80, said she just celebrated what would have been her 61st wedding anniversary.

"For me, this is never over. My daughter said that to me recently," Mary Callahan said Friday. "I remember the last time we celebrated my anniversary, John told me you get me 'for another year.' That's an Irish joke. He actually gave me a string of pearls."

Ohio
Black franchise owner sues McDonald's, cites persistent bias
CLEVELAND (AP) — The Black owner of 14 McDonald's franchises in Ohio says one of the world's largest restaurant chains has shown more favorable treatment to white owners and denied him the opportunity to buy restaurants in more affluent communities, according to a civil rights lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Youngstown.

The lawsuit filed by Herbert Washington, a former college track star who played for parts of two seasons with the Oakland Athletics in the mid-1970s, said the Chicago-based company's discriminatory practices has led to a $700,000 sales gap between Black-owned franchises and those owned by whites.

The number of Black franchise owners has fallen from 377 in 1998 to 186 today, while the total number of stores has more than doubled to 40,000, the lawsuit said.

"By relegating Black owners to the oldest stores in the toughest neighborhoods, McDonald's ensured that Black franchisees would never achieve the levels of success that White franchisees could expect," the lawsuit said. "Black franchisees must spend more to operate their stores while White franchisees get to realize the full benefit of their labors," the lawsuit said.

McDonald's issued a statement on Tuesday denying Washington's assertions. The company said Washington is "facing business challenges" for which the company has "invested significantly in his organization" while offering him "multiple opportunities over several years to address these issues."

"This situation is the result of years of mismanagement by Mr. Washington, whose organization has failed to meet many of our standards on people, operations, guest satisfaction and reinvestment," the statement said.

More than 50 former Black McDonald's franchise owners made similar claims in a lawsuit filed against the company in September.

Massachusetts
Police sergeant denied bail in assault case
BRENTWOOD, N.H. (AP) — A Massachusetts State Police sergeant charged in New Hampshire with assaulting his girlfriend has been denied bail, with a judge ruling Tuesday the record "shows a defendant who wanted to control the actions and manipulate the emotions of the alleged victim."

Bryan Erickson, 38, of Groveland, Massachusetts, is charged with second-degree and simple assault, obstructing report of a crime; disobeying an officer; criminal trespass; and reckless operation. Erickson pleaded not guilty. He's been suspended from work.

A police affidavit alleges that Erickson, who is married, took his 29-year-old girlfriend's cellphone and threw her on a bed on Jan. 31. He allegedly "wrapped her arms around her on the bed and knelt on her upper thigh area so that she could barely breathe and could not move," and "put his hand on her neck and one of her fingers down her throat" to stop her from screaming. Erickson's also accused of head-butting her twice. He's accused of speeding away from police.

Erickson's lawyer accused the state of holding his client without bail based on a "character assassination." He argued that Erickson originally went to the girlfriend's home to end their relationship.

Judge Martin Honigberg ruled that Erickson is a danger and that even supervised release would not be appropriate.

Delaware
Man pleads guilty to damaging abortion clinic
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A Delaware man is facing up to 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to damaging an abortion clinic with an incendiary device.

Samuel Gulick, 19, of Middletown, pleaded guilty last week to charges of intentional damage to a facility that provides reproductive health services and possession of an unregistered destructive device.

Prosecutors dropped the most serious charge of maliciously damaging a building used in interstate commerce, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars.

Sentencing is set for June 2.

Security video recorded Gulick spray-painting the phrase "Deus Vult," a Latin expression meaning "God wills it," in red letters on the front of a Planned Parenthood facility in Newark shortly after 2 a.m. on Jan. 3 of last year.

Gulick then stepped away, lit an object and threw it at the front window. The object, which prosecutors described as a Molotov Cocktail, exploded and resulted in a fire that burned for about a minute before going out.

Gulick was arrested by the FBI the next day after investigators identified his car through the security video and found social media posts under his name containing the same phrase he scrawled on the building, along with several anti-abortion messages.

Iowa
Dubuque man seeks change of venue for new murder trial
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Dubuque man who was granted a new trial by the Iowa Supreme Court last year is seeking a change of venue for that new trial.

Fontae Buelow, 28, filed Thursday for the change of venue from Dubuque County, saying media coverage of the case has made it impossible for him to get a fair trial there, the Telegraph Herald reported.

Authorities have maintained that Buelow fatally stabbed his girlfriend, 21-year-old Samantha Link of Peosta, on March 31, 2017. Buelow has insisted Link stabbed herself twice in the chest. A jury convicted Buelow of second-degree murder in 2018, but in December, the state Supreme Court ordered a new trial. The high court agreed with the Iowa Court of Appeals, which faulted the trial judge for not allowing defense attorneys to present information about Link's mental health records and prior suicide attempt.

Buelow's second trial is scheduled to begin May 25.

Virginia
Men file lawsuits alleging attacks by prison dogs
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Two men who say they were viciously attacked by prison security dogs have filed federal civil rights lawsuits against the Virginia Department of Corrections, alleging the agency violated protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

Curtis J. Garrett, 29, a former inmate at the Sussex II State Prison and Corey E. Johnson, 51, a current inmate at Red Onion State Prison filed lawsuits this month in U.S. District Court in Richmond and Roanoke.

The two alleged that they were obeying orders from corrections officers when the canines were let loose on them, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Monday. The lawsuits also said the practice of using canines on inmates is "systemic" in state prisons and "has led to severe physical and psychological injuries."

Garrett argued that a 2018 attack caused him to suffer permanent injuries, including nerve damage and the inability to use his left hand, in addition to mental health effects requiring psychiatric hospitalization. His suit alleged that the dogs were unleashed on him after he returned to his cell following an altercation with another inmate.

A dog's attack in May 2020 left Johnson requiring more than 20 stitches on his right hand and arm, according to his lawsuit. Johnson said he was lying facedown with his arms extended outward after a fight with another inmate when a handler released a dog onto him.

The handler alleged he let the dog loose after Johnson approached another officer in a threatening manner, but Johnson denied the accusation.

Several Department of Corrections employees and officials were named as defendants in the suits. The lawsuits seek unspecified damages and a court-ordered end to prison policies allowing the use of canine attacks on inmates.

The Virginia Department of Corrections declined to comment on either lawsuit, The Times-Dispatch said.

Corrections spokeswoman Lisa Kinney told the newspaper that the department works with the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services to certify canine teams. Department of Corrections policy requires officers to immediately report dog bites and to quickly administer medical care to those bitten.

Massachusestts
Gang member pleads guilty to role in killing teen
BOSTON (AP) — A member of the violent MS-13 gang has pleaded guilty to his role in the killing of a 17-year-old boy in Massachusetts, federal prosecutors said.

Eliseo Vaquerano Canas, 21, pleaded guilty last week to conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity, more commonly referred to as RICO conspiracy, and as part of that plea, the native of El Salvador admitted to being involved in the July 2018 slaying of the teen in Lynn, according to a statement Tuesday from the Boston U.S. attorney's office.

As part of his guilty plea, Vaquerano Canas admitted that he participated in the killing while a member of the MS-13 gang.

He faces up to life in prison at sentencing scheduled for June 18.