Court Digest

New York
State sues Amazon over worker safety during pandemic
NEW YORK (AP) — New York is suing Amazon, claiming the company failed to provide workers with a safe environment at two warehouses in the state as COVID-19 infections surged nationwide.

The suit from New York Attorney General Letitia James landed just days after Amazon preemptively sued to block the suit over its coronavirus safety protocols and the firing of one of its employees who objected to working conditions.

In the suit filed late Tuesday, New York claims Amazon showed a "flagrant disregard for health and safety requirements" and retaliated illegally against employees who raised alarms.

James opened an investigation into Amazon in March following complaints about the lack of precautions taken to protect employees at New York facilities amid the pandemic. The investigation was later broadened to examine whether Amazon unlawfully fired or disciplined employees who reported these safety concerns.

New Jersey
Former mayor sentenced for stealing $190K in campaign funds
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A former New Jersey mayor is going to prison for stealing money from various campaigns in his role as a Democratic Party leader.

A state judge on Tuesday sentenced former Middlesex Borough Mayor Ronald DiMura, 64, to seven years in prison, ordered him to pay restitution and barred him from public office and employment.

DiMura, whose term as mayor ended in 2019, pleaded guilty to theft by deception.

"DiMura exploited his role as a local party leader for his personal gain, betraying party members who placed their trust in him," said Attorney General Gurbir Grewal in a statement.

DiMura used his role as treasurer for the Middlesex Borough Democratic Campaign Committee and for a number of local campaigns to steal approximately $190,000 by making purported donations to a local charitable organization that he ran, state prosecutors said.

Authorities said the nonprofit charity paid out only a small fraction of the funds and most were funneled to accounts that DiMura controlled.

California
Man charged with killing 3 homeless people near LA
COMPTON, Calif. (AP) — A man accused of killing three homeless people near Los Angeles-area encampments was charged Tuesday with murder, prosecutors said.

Tracy Walker, 56, also was charged with using a knife in the killings and being a felon in possession of a gun, according to a statement from the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.

Walker was arrested last Thursday at a homeless encampment next to the Compton Creek Bed in Ranch Dominguez, an unincorporated area south of Los Angeles. Authorities didn't immediately say whether Walker was living at the encampment.

When homicide detectives interviewed him, Walker implicated himself in all three killings, according to a statement from the county Sheriff's Department.

He was being held on $2 million bail, prosecutors said. It wasn't immediately clear whether he had an attorney to speak for him.

Walker is charged with stabbing to death 26-year-old Patricia Loeza last June; beating and stabbing Kenneth Edward Jones, 26, in January and stabbing 30-year-old Cesar Mazariegos last week.

The killings all took place near the Compton Creek Bed and authorities said they may have been staying at homeless encampments there.

Authorities didn't disclose a motive for the attacks.

"The heartless and brazen nature of these murders against some of the most helpless members of our community shock the conscience," District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement.

Gascón, who opposes the death penalty, said his office would seek a life sentence for Walker.

Florida
Authorities: Men posed as U.S. marshals to avoid wearing masks
DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Two men are accused of pretending to be federal marshals and flashing phoney credentials to get out of wearing facial coverings at a South Florida resort hotel.

When the staff at the Wyndham Deerfield Beach Resort asked Walter Wayne Brown Jr., 53, and Gary Brummett, 81, to cover their faces, the men refused, and threatened to arrest employees and saddle the hotel with a fine, the South Florida SunSentinel reported.

The scheme collapsed when one employee thought they were acting suspicious and called police on Feb. 11. Officers and a real U.S. marshal arrived and arrested the men on charges of impersonating a federal officer.

A hotel manager told investigators Brummett went to the front desk earlier this month to ask for a coffee and then pretended to be a marshal when he was asked to don a mask, a federal complaint said. He then flashed a laminated card that said he was medically exempt from wearing a mask.

According to the complaint, when the manager asked again for him to put on a mask, Brummett pointed to a badge he wore on his belt. "Do you know what this means," he said. "I'm a U.S. marshal and can have you arrested if you force me to wear a mask."

Two days earlier, employees had a similar confrontation with Brown Jr. when he first checked into the hotel, the newspaper reported.

They told investigators an employee gave Brown Jr. a mask and asked him to wear it. But he said he was a federal agent and did not have to, the complaint said. He also wore a badge on his belt and had a card around his neck.

The next day, Brown Jr. returned to the front desk to extend his stay. When the manager asked him to wear a mask, he threatened to have the staff arrested, the complaint said.

One employee told investigators her cousin is a U.S. marshal and she knew they would not act that way.

On Feb. 11, police found the pair dining in a resort restaurant. They were wearing "authentic appearing" circular badges that read "Cherokee Nation Marshal," according to the complaint.

Investigators learned the men had ever been employed as U.S. marshals or by the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service, the complaint said.

The facemask exempt cards the men wore around their necks were also fake, according to the complaint.

They were arrested and remain jailed in Broward County. Jail records did not list attorneys for them.

New Hampshire
Former owner of gunpowder plant where 2 died in explosion denied early release
LANCASTER, N.H. (AP) — A former gunpowder plant owner imprisoned over a deadly 2010 explosion has been denied a request for an early release.

Craig Sanborn, 71, of Maidstone, Vermont, was convicted in 2013 in the explosion that killed two workers at the Black Mag plant in Colebrook, New Hampshire. He was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison on two manslaughter counts.

Sanborn's minimum release date is November 2023, when he'll be 74. His attorney, Jason Bedrick, sought to suspend the rest of the sentence, the Caledonian-Record reported. A judge denied that request last month.

Bedrick said after serving 80 months, or two-thirds, of his 120-month term, Sanborn was eligible to request that the court suspend the remainder of his sentence.

Bedrick said Sanborn has been a "model inmate" and a mentor to others. He also argued that Sanborn faces health risks and possible COVID-19 infection because of his age and health conditions. Sanborn also has to serve a 28-month sentence in federal prison in a separate case after his state prison sentence ends. He was convicted of wire fraud in Maine.

Coos County Attorney John McCormick said while Sanborn has been a commendable inmate, his "actions in recklessly engaging in the manufacture of gunpowder that led to the deaths of two hardworking citizens of Coos County were far from commendable," as a jury determined.

Massachusetts
Former Boston prosecutor indicted on rape, burglary charges
BOSTON (AP) — A former Boston prosecutor and defense attorney has been indicted by a Suffolk County grand jury on rape and aggravated burglary charges, Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins said Tuesday.

Gary Zerola, 49, of Salem, has been held without bail since a Jan. 15 arraignment in Boston Municipal Court.

Investigators allege that after attending a party with a 21-year-old woman, Mr. Zerola entered her Boston apartment just after 2 a.m. on Jan. 12 and sexually assaulted her while she was asleep and incapacitated by alcohol.

Zerola last month pleaded not guilty to rape and breaking and entering charges.

A lawyer for Zerola said they are prepared for the indictment.

"The entire indictment process is one sided. Having said that an indictment doesn't make false allegations true," Zerola's attorney Joseph Krowski said in an email.

Zerola was already facing charges in the same court for the alleged rape of a different woman in 2016, and had posted $10,000 bail in that case, according to Rollins' office.

Zerola worked as an assistant district attorney in Essex County for one year, and in Suffolk County for two months in 2000, according to Rollins' office.


Florida
Man accused of killing three family members
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A 31-year-old man is accused of killing his grandmother, great-grandmother and an uncle in their home in St. Petersburg, police said.

The shooting led to a SWAT team response that ended with Cornelius "Cornbread" Whitfield, 31, being taken into custody by St. Petersburg police, Chief Anthony Holloway said during a news conference.

Whitfield is also suspected in a shooting earlier this month that left one man dead and another wounded, the chief told news outlets.

Holloway said Whitfield is expected to face charges connected to all four deaths, as well as two attempted murder charges.

Police said Patricia Ann Whitfield Sharpe, 66, Sallie Hobbs Whitfield, 83, and Antonio Maurice Graham, 45, were killed Tuesday afternoon. A woman inside the home was injured in the shooting and expected to survive. Police found a 2-year-old girl unharmed inside the home.

A woman called 911 around 4 p.m. saying she had been shot and ran to a neighbor's house, Holloway said. Officers arriving at the scene learned the shooter was still inside the home with other people.

Several nearby homes were evacuated. The SWAT team knocked down the front wall of the home to get inside the house. They found the victims and took Whitfield into custody, the chief said.

Police identified Whitfield as a suspect in the Feb. 3 shooting that killed Darren Lorenzo Barnes Jr., 31. In a news release related to that shooting, the agency called Whitfield "armed and dangerous" and offered a $3,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

"Everyone that was involved in this the suspect knew," he said. "It wasn't random."

The Tampa Bay Times reported that Whitfield was released from prison in November. Department of Corrections records show he was serving a three-year sentence for drug trafficking, possession of MDMA and marijuana, and fleeing and eluding law enforcement. It was his second state prison sentence. In 2007, Whitfield was sentenced to two years for cocaine possession.

It was not immediately known if Whitfield has a lawyer.

Among those gathered near the crime scene Tuesday night was Marco Smith, 33, who said he attended high school with Whitfield.

"I grew up with the dude," Smith said. "I never knew he'd turn out like that."


Georgia
Judge sentences man to 2 life sentences in store shooting
TIFTON, Ga. (AP) — A south Georgia man has been convicted and given two life sentences in the 2018 killing of a convenience store owner.
Tift County Superior Court Judge Melanie Cross convicted Caleb Day of malice murder, felony murder and armed robbery following a bench trial in December. WALB-TV reports that she sentenced Day on Tuesday.
Cross found that Day shot and killed Oscar Perveez, an Eldorado convenience store owner in 2018.
District Attorney Bryce Johnson said Cross sentenced Day to life in prison on the malice murder count, with a second life sentence on the armed robbery beginning after that.
A previous district attorney agreed to stop seeking the death penalty for Day in exchange for the defense agreeing to a bench trial in front of Cross.