Court Digest

New Jersey
Man admits having sex with minor in Philippines
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey man admitted he traveled to the Philippines to have sex with a minor, federal prosecutors said.

James Diggs, 45, of Somerset County, appeared by video conference before a federal judge on Monday and he pleaded guilty to traveling outside the United States to engage in criminal sexual activity.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Diggs went to the Philippines in October 2018 to engage in sex in exchange for money and gifts, knowing the victim was a minor.

Diggs faces up to 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced.

Missouri
Prosecutor no longer prohibiting cases before judge
CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell on Monday reversed an order directing his trial attorneys to move nearly 250 criminal cases away from a circuit judge over an email thread criticizing Bell’s decision in a fatal police shooting.

Last month, Bell instructed staff to steer cases away from Circuit Judge Dean Waldemer, who was included in an email exchange criticizing Bell’s investigation of the 2019 police killing of Terry Tillman in Richmond Heights.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Waldemer has now provided Bell the complete email that indicated the judge had no prior knowledge of the critical email by a former employee of the prosecutor’s office before receiving it, and did not disseminate it.

The email chain from Ed Magee, a top assistant to former St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch, included a letter to the editor of the Post-Dispatch criticizing the length of time Bell’s office took to announce no charges in the Tillman shooting.

Massachusetts
High court overturns murder conviction in bystander’s death
A Boston man found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of an innocent bystander during a 2014 street festival even though he did not fire the fatal shot had his conviction overturned by the state’s highest court on Monday.

Wesson Colas was convicted in December 2018 in the death of 26-year-old Dawnn Jaffier during the Caribbean Carnival in the city’s Dorchester neighborhood.

Prosecutors said Colas and another man, Keith Williams, were rivals who confronted each other with guns and that Williams fired the fatal shot while Colas did not fire at all.

The men were tried together on first-degree murder charges under the theory that although he did not fire the shot that killed Jaffier, Colas initiated a gunfight with the intent to kill Williams and therefore was liable for harm to bystanders.

The court disagreed.

“There is no evidence that the defendant possessed a loaded firearm” or “fired the gun either before or after Williams fired at him,” the court wrote in its decision. “The fact that, in the midst of an argument, the defendant pointed a firearm at an opponent is not enough to carry the Commonwealth’s burden.”

The court ordered a new trial for Colas on the lesser charge of second-degree murder, which would give him a chance at parole if convicted. A first-degree murder conviction comes with a mandatory life sentence with no parole.

Williams was also convicted of first-degree murder and given a life sentence.

Jaffier worked in a city elementary school and a Boys & Girls Club. Friends and coworkers described her as dedicated to helping young people.

Esther Horwich, Colas’ appeals attorney, called Jaffier’s death “tragic” but added that “convicting the wrong person doesn’t make it any better.”

“The evidence against him was incredibly weak,” she said, noting that witness testimony contained multiple discrepancies.

A voicemail seeking comment on the court’s decision and whether Colas will be released pending a new trial was left with the Suffolk district attorney’s office.

Illinois
Victim of botched Chicago police raid sues city
CHICAGO (AP) — A social worker who endured a botched raid conducted by Chicago police officers in 2019 has sued the city, alleging officials engaged in a conspiracy to cover up civil rights violations.

In the lawsuit filed Friday in Cook County Circuit Court, Anjanette Young claims police officials failed to independently investigate and verify the place to be searched. The lawsuit names the city and 12 Chicago Police Department officers as defendants.

An unnamed informant gave police Young’s address, saying a man was illegally possessing a gun there. In video of the raid released in December, a naked Young repeatedly tells officers they have the wrong home and that there are no guns in the apartment. She had returned home after work and was undressing for bed when police barged into her home.

Young had filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Chicago in connection to the raid, but that lawsuit was dismissed last year.

The raid on Young’s home was brought fully to light in December when footage of the raid was leaked to a local television station by Young’s lawyer, Keenan Saulter. Before the footage was broadcast, attorneys for the city sought a court order to prevent the station from airing the video.

Chicago’s Law Department told the Chicago Sun-Times in a statement it has not been served with the lawsuit and will review it upon receipt.

“We have communicated our commitment to an equitable and expeditious resolution which will allow Ms. Young’s path toward healing to continue,” the statement said. “The city has asked Mr. Saulter, counsel to Ms. Young, to participate in mediation, and we are awaiting a response.”

The 12 police officers connected to the raid have been placed on desk duty pending the outcome of a Civilian Office of Police Accountability investigation. The city’s top attorney also resigned in the fallout.

Retired U.S. District Judge Ann Claire Williams and her law firm Jones Day have been tasked by Mayor Lori Lightfoot to conduct a full review of the search warrant executed in February 2019 on Young’s home.


Florida
Lawyer: Hate crime claim against doctor ‘not true’
MIAMI (AP) — Lawyers for a South Florida doctor accused of attacking a Hispanic man at a supermarket say the allegation that she committed a hate crime is “simply not true.”

Dr. Jennifer Susan Wright, 58, was arrested Friday outside her Miami Springs home on charges of criminal mischief, tampering with a victim and battery with prejudice, a hate crime enhancement that upgraded the charge to a felony.

Wright became enraged after the man asked her in Spanish to keep her distance because of COVID-19 guidelines while waiting in line Jan. 20 at a supermarket in Hialeah, a heavily Hispanic suburb of Miami, the Miami Herald reported.

Wright ignored the man, so he repeated it in English. She responded by “mumbling bad words,” the newspaper said, citing an arrest report. Wright then walked up to him in the parking lot and he asked her to back up. Then she hurled racial and other insults at him.

According to the arrest report, Wright then proceeded “to stab the victim’s vehicle with her keys while saying he needed to go back to his country” and punched and kicked the man. Officials said the attack took place the day President Joe Biden took office.

The legal team for Wright, an anesthesiologist at Mount Sinai Medical Center, released a statement Monday.

“We look forward to discrediting this ugly attack against our client that is filled with lies and twisted information to fit someone else’s political agenda,” Coral Gables attorney Carlos F. Gonzalez said in the statement.

Also on Monday, Mount Sinai announced that Wright, who was contracted to work there, “is no longer responsible for patient care” at the Miami Beach hospital.

“Our top priority is the safety of our patients, visitors, and employees. Law enforcement and other appropriate authorities have our full cooperation in this matter,” President and CEO Gino Santorio said in a statement released Monday.

The hospital’s statement said details of the arrest “are unacceptable and counter to the culture we foster and the mission that guides us. Since our inception, we have remained dedicated proponents of ensuring equality for all, regardless of our differences, including race, religion, nationality, creed, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status.”


Oregon
Man accused of kidnapping and assaulting woman for days
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (AP) — A Klamath Falls man faces kidnapping, rape and other charges after he allegedly kept a woman against her will for three days.

Court records show David Garcia, 32, is also accused of spraying the woman with bear mace and beating her over several days, from Thursday through Saturday, The Herald and News reported.

According to Klamath County District Attorney Eve Costello, once arrested Garcia tried repeatedly to contact the woman from the Klamath County Jail.

Garcia is charged with kidnapping, rape, sexual abuse, unlawful use of a weapon, coercion, strangulation, menacing and assault among other alleged crimes.

He remained held in the Klamath County Jail as of Monday. It wasn’t immediately known if he has a lawyer to comment on his case.

Florida
Man sentenced for concert investment scheme
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man was sentenced Monday to four years and nine months in federal prison for his part in a multimillion-dollar concert investment scheme.

Edison Denizard, 41, of Orlando, was sentenced in Orlando federal court, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. in addition to serving prison time, Denizard must forfeit his lakefront home and pay back nearly $1.7 million.

According to court documents, Denizard and co-conspirator Andres Fernandez raised millions of dollars from dozens of victims between March 2016 and June 2017. The victims believed that they were investing in events by top artists, including Drake, Garth Brooks, Pitbull, The Weeknd and Maná. But Denizard and Fernandez were not actually involved in most of the events, officials said.

Denizard used most of the funds that he had received from investors to pay fraudulent investment returns to earlier investors and for his own personal use, investigators said. Victims’ losses were at least $7.4 million, prosecutor said.

Fernandez was sentenced to 10 years in prison last year after pleading guilty to 12 counts of wire fraud.

North Carolina
Police: Woman claimed to have virus, blew into deputy’s face
LINCOLNTON, N.C. (AP) — Authorities in North Carolina say that a woman has been charged after she claimed to have the coronavirus and blew into a sheriff deputy’s face.

The Charlotte Observer reported Tuesday that the incident occurred Sunday evening in Lincoln County, which is northwest of Charlotte.

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said Jasmine Louise McClain, 27, was already in police custody because she had been identified as a suspect in a stabbing.

“While being processed into the jail, McClain is accused of blowing into the face of the processing officer twice after admitting she had tested positive for COVID-19 eight days earlier,” the sheriff’s office stated. “She was charged with assault on a government official.”

The sheriff’s office did not state whether McClain has actually tested positive COVID-19.

McClain lives in the Lincoln County community of Iron Station. Police said she was suspected in the stabbing of a man who was later taken to a hospital.

The man who was stabbed, Marcus McDowell, was taken to the hospital, officials said.

In addition to assault on a government employee, McClain was charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. It’s unclear if she has hired an attorney.