National Roundup

Alaska
Bill would change judicial selection system
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A proposed bill would upend Alaska’s longstanding system for choosing judges by allowing the governor to make direct appointments to two levels of the state’s judiciary.

The bill introduced by Republican Sen. Mike Shower is part of an effort by conservatives to reshape the state’s judicial selection system, the Anchorage Daily News reported  Wednesday.

Under Alaska’s system, the governor must nominate judges from a list of qualified applicants submitted by the Alaska Judicial Council, which is made up of three community members and three lawyers chosen by the Alaska Bar Association. The Alaska Supreme Court chief justice has a tie-breaking vote.

Voters weigh in on judges through retention elections every few years.

The proposed law would change the way judges are chosen only for the District Court system, which largely handles misdemeanors, and the Court of Appeals, which handles criminal case appeals.

The measure would not alter selections for Superior Court, where most criminal and civil trials occur, and the Alaska Supreme Court. Changes to those courts would require an amendment to the Alaska constitution.

Conservatives assert the selection system grants too much power to unelected attorneys and keeps conservatives off the bench.

“This bill will divest some of the power to appoint judges from the Bar Association-controlled Judicial Council and provide some accountability and transparency to the process of who gets appointed to the bench,” Shower said.

“If the governor appoints and a legislature confirms a judge, they both will be accountable to the voters on a regular basis,” he said.

Opponents argue the bill would turn judgeships into political patronage appointments.

Justice Not Politics, a nonpartisan group advocating merit-based selection of judges, said in a statement that the bill was “the opposite of what the framers of our constitution intended.”

“This represents a concerted strategy to dismantle Alaska’s system of selecting judges based on merit and replace it with a process that relies primarily on politics,” the group said.

At a Judiciary Committee meeting in Juneau Friday, Alaska Court System attorney Nancy Meade argued the bill would “make politics and political affiliation a key factor for seating judges.”

“In the court’s view this bill will undermine the independence of the judiciary and public trust in the court system and hinder our ability to handle cases effectively and fairly,” Meade said.

Florida
Religious leader sentenced for 1980s deaths of two children
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A woman who once ran a Florida religious group described as a cult by prosecutors has been sentenced for the 1980s deaths of two young children.

Anna Young, 79, was sentenced Wednesday after pleading no contest to second-degree murder and negligent manslaughter, according to Alachua County court records. She received 30 years for the murder conviction, which will run concurrently with 15 years for manslaughter.

Young operated the House of Prayer cult near Gainesville in the 1980s and 1990s, officials said.

Young caused the death of a toddler named Emon Harper sometime between 1988 and 1989 through abuse and starvation, prosecutors said.

Young was arrested in 2017 after her daughter told authorities about Emon’s death and other abuses at the House of Prayer, the Gainesville Sun  reported. Several former members confirmed the child’s death, though no body was ever recovered.

Earlier this week, prosecutors added the manslaughter charge for the death of Katonya Jackson, who died in 1983 after being denied medication, officials said.

Young was previously convicted of child abuse in 2001, records show. She bathed a child in a mixture of bubble bath and a laundry detergent with bleach in 1992, officials said. It caused severe burns, which Young treated with herbal creams.

Florida
Dance teacher featured on ‘Dance Moms’ accused of abuse
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A dance instructor who appeared on Lifetime’s “Dance Moms” is accused of sexually abusing girls at an Orlando dance studio.

Kevin Cosculluela, 25, pleaded not guilty following his arrest in December on charges of sexual activity with a 16- or 17-year-old child, solicitation of a minor, lewd or lascivious conduct and illegal use of a communication device, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

He has also been fired from his job at Peaches Dance and Music Orlando, the newspaper reported.

The charges followed an investigation by Winter Garden police, Orange County Sheriff’s deputies and the Department of Children and Families, which uncovered accusations of manipulation and sexual battery by two teenage girls who took lessons with Cosculluela.

One student told investigators that she idolized Cosculluela and had considered him famous and important because of his appearances on the reality television show about dance kids, their moms and their studio.

The investigation found that Cosculluela often took students to lunch, watched movies with them and celebrated their birthdays, a police report said. He also connected with students over social media, the report added.

The report said Cosculluela asked some of the girls for nude photos and twerking videos. One girl told investigators he could be scary at times if you didn’t do what he asked. She explained that he would yell, curse and ignore her for days, and threaten to halt his lessons with her.

He would also send messages that he loved her, the girl told investigators.

According to the arrest report, Cosculluela brought one girl to his home in early December and forced her to perform a sex act on him. He then drove her back to the studio and told her to “erase this from your memory and don’t tell anyone,” the report said.

The teen confided in another dancer at the studio, who said she’d had similar encounters with the instructor, the report said. The second teen told investigators she went to Cosculluela’s apartment on about 10 different occasions, adding that she trusted him and he took advantage of that, the report said.

“They put him on a pedestal, so they were willing to take whatever he did so they could keep him in their lives,” detective Bethany Rising wrote in Cosculluela’s arrest warrant.

Investigators spoke to an employee at the dance studio who is also a friend of Cosculluela. He told them he didn’t see any inappropriate behavior between the instructor and his students, the report said. He thought Cosculluela was a “very nurturing teacher,” the report said.

Court records showed that the studio notified parents in late December that Cosculluela had been fired for inappropriate behavior, the Sentinel reported.

Cosculluela’s next hearing is scheduled for May 5. His attorney declined comment to the newspaper on Wednesday.