Court Digest

Washington
Jury to decide if road rage led to shooting death
EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — In 1991, a jury acquitted Simeon Berkley in a shooting that paralyzed a man following a near-crash on a California freeway. Thirty years later, he’s on trial again, this time for second-degree murder.

A Snohomish County jury will decide if Berkley, 75, acted out of road rage or self-defense in a shooting July 6, 2019, that left an Everett man dead, the Everett Herald reported.

Berkley was driving a Honda Accord around 7 p.m. that night when a Lincoln Navigator rear-ended him on Glenwood Avenue, according to charging papers. Berkley got out of his car and walked over to the Navigator while the other driver, Steven Whitemarsh, 49, remained in the front seat, according to witness testimony last week in Snohomish County Superior Court.

The two men appeared to have brief conversation through the open window, witnesses testified. Berkley then shot Whitemarsh in the face. One witness testified that a few seconds passed before Berkley fired a second bullet.

First-responders found Whitemarsh still strapped in his seatbelt. He was pronounced dead soon afterward. Berkley’s attorney argued last week that the case is about self-defense.

Hawaii
High court hears argument about wind farm, bats
HONOLULU (AP) — The Hawaii Supreme Court has heard arguments regarding a dispute regarding how many endangered Hawaiian hoary bats a wind farm is allowed to kill.

The Na Pua Makani wind farm has sparked controversy after 200 people were arrested trying to stop its massive turbines from being hauled from the port at Kalaeloa to Kahuku, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Friday.

Now the 24-megawatt project is at the center of a legal dispute with the nonprofit Keep the North Shore Country over the developer’s habitat conservation plan and incidental take license, which allows the turbines to kill 51 bats over 21 years.

Lance Collins, the nonprofit’s attorney, told the justices that the agency did not follow the standard set by the Legislature in protecting endangered species.

John Manaut, attorney for Na Pua Makani, told justices at the hearing that the conservation plan is based on the best available science and was compiled by the members of the Endangered Species Recovery Committee and two experts who testified at the case hearing, the newspaper reported.

Scientists estimate there are between a few hundred and a few thousand Hawaiian hoary bats in the main Hawaiian Islands. The species is the state’s only land mammal and is susceptible to extinction due to its low reproductive rates.

Na Pua Makani is an eight-turbine project that will help Oahu reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, Manaut said.

Indiana
Judge dismisses lawsuit over state’s Lake Michigan beaches
PORTER, Ind. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed the latest attempt by property owners in a northwestern Indiana town to deny public access to Lake Michigan beaches.

U.S. District Judge Jon DeGuilio said there was no basis for three owners in Porter to sue to seek to undo a landmark 2018 Indiana Supreme Court ruling.

That ruling clarified that the shoreline of Lake Michigan is owned by the state and held in trust for the enjoyment of all Hoosiers.

The landowners claimed that the decision amounted to an unconstitutional taking of their beachfront property. But DeGuilio said the issue isn’t subject to review in federal court because states have sovereign immunity under the U.S. Constitution.

Even if a legitimate federal issue existed, DeGuilio said the plaintiffs still would lose because they never owned the Lake Michigan shoreline and can’t be compensated, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported.

“The court’s decision affirms what we always knew to be true — that the shoreline of Lake Michigan belongs to every Hoosier for their use and enjoyment,” Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said.

Christopher Keiser, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, the California-based property rights law firm representing the plaintiffs, did not immediately say whether an appeal would be filed.

“We’re disappointed in the decision. Along with our clients, we are considering our next steps,” Keiser said.

Pennsylvania
Man pleads to manslaughter in deaths of 2 found after fire
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A man has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the deaths of two men authorities say he fought with and whose bodies were found after a Pittsburgh house fire more than three years ago.

Court documents indicate that 61-year-old Vincent Smith also pleaded guilty Monday in Allegheny County Court to four counts of arson-endangering persons in connection with the February 2018 blaze in the Point Breeze neighborhood.

Other charges including aggravated arson and abuse of a corpse were withdrawn as part of a plea agreement. The Allegheny County district attorney’s office said there was no agreement in place on sentencing, which has been scheduled for June 30.

Authorities alleged that Smith was fighting with 71-year-old homeowner Steven Pariser and 54-year-old John Robert Van Dyke over marijuana when he beat them and threw them down the basement steps, hiding their bodies with trash bags and clothes before starting the fire. Investigators found both men had blunt force injuries and their deaths were ruled homicides.

Van Dyke’s brother had reported him missing and officers traced his cellphone to the row home, authorities said. Officers say after they entered the home, they saw Smith striking matches and tossing them to the floor. One ignited in a pool of lighter fluid, and officers retreated as the house caught fire, authorities said in a criminal complaint.

Smith was rescued and taken to UPMC Mercy’s burn unit in critical condition. Pariser and Van Dyke’s bodies were found after the blaze.

Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Berosh told the court Monday that when Smith was interviewed by detectives, he had fresh scratches on his hand and a bite mark, as well as bruising on his body, the Tribune-Review reported.

Smith told Common Pleas Judge Anthony Mariani that he set the fire in an effort to harm himself, not anyone else.

Iowa
State to pay $225K to settle lawsuit over trooper’s force
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa will pay $225,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a man who was injured when a state trooper knocked him over and put his knee on his neck during a 2017 traffic stop, according to documents released Monday.

The payment to Bryce Yakish ends a lawsuit he filed against the state and former Iowa State Patrol trooper Robert Smith in 2019, months after a sheriff released dash camera video of the arrest. The lawsuit alleged that Smith assaulted and falsely arrested Yakish, lying about what happened.

The case also prompted scrutiny into other allegations of misconduct against Smith, who left the patrol in 2018 after a 30-year career. He was later hired as an officer in the small town of Durant, but resigned  after the video’s release. Smith was also accused of using excessive force against a woman during an arrest in Durant.

Cedar County Sheriff Warren Wethington released the video in 2019 after announcing that he would no longer book any suspects arrested by Smith at his jail because he could not vouch for the officer’s credibility. Prosecutors also dismissed several cases brought by Smith, saying he was no longer a credible witness.

Wethington said Monday that federal agents contacted him during an investigation of Smith, and that the inquiry appears to remain open. Federal court documents show a grand jury has been investigating allegations of civil rights violations against an unidentified trooper.

One of Yakish’s attorneys, Martin Diaz, said the state produced Smith’s personnel file during the litigation but declined comment on its contents, saying they are subject to a confidentiality order.

Diaz praised the state for settling the case.

“I think the behavior of the trooper in this case was so over the top that we just didn’t get the pushback we normally would,” he said. “The state recognized it had a problem and I think the resolution is a good one.”

The video shows Smith pulling Yakish over for speeding on his motorcycle on Sept. 25, 2017, at a gas station off of Interstate 80 near West Liberty. What appears to be a routine stop escalates immediately when Smith runs from his car with his gun drawn and pointed at Yakish, who was 20 at the time.

Smith uses his left hand to strike the face shield of Yakish’s helmet, knocking him backward onto his motorcycle. Yakish and the vehicle fall to the ground. Smith briefly puts his knee on Yakish’s neck while handcuffing him, the lawsuit alleged. Yakish is repeatedly heard complaining of neck pain.

Smith falsely accused Yakish of trying to flee and charged him with eluding law enforcement, even though Yakish stopped immediately after Smith activated his patrol car’s lights and siren. That charge was dropped after a prosecutor reviewed the video and concluded it was baseless.

Yakish lost his license because of the arrest, his motorcycle was impounded and he spent the night in jail. The lawsuit said a chiropractor later treated him for neck pain.

The Iowa attorney general’s office represented Smith because he was on duty at the time, and the State Appeal Board last month approved using general tax funds for the $225,000 payout.

Solicitor General Jeff Thompson said at that meeting that it was in the state’s “best interest to resolve the claim,” noting that the state faced “some difficulty on the liability side” and could be required to pay Yakish’s attorneys fees if it lost at trial.

Minnesota
Woman sues ex-corrections officer for sexual assault
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A woman has filed a lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Corrections and a former corrections officer for allegedly sexually assaulting her while he was transporting her as an inmate.

The former corrections officer, Randy A. Beehler, was also charged with two felonies for criminal sexual conduct, the Star Tribune reported. He pleaded guilty to one of the charges in March.

The woman, who filed the lawsuit in January, argues that the Department of Corrections was negligent in allowing a single male correctional officer to transport a female inmate alone. According to the lawsuit, Beehler allegedly coerced the woman to perform sexual favors in exchange for lunch at McDonald’s. Under Minnesota law, inmates cannot legally give consent to corrections officers.

The civil complaint states the woman “suffered severe emotion trauma and distress, shame, humiliation, embarrassment, and invasion of privacy.”

A spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections said that the department would not respond to pending litigation but that “the actions of this officer were contrary to our agency values, and we took immediate and decisive action in response to the report.”

The woman is seeking compensatory damages in excess of $50,000, as well as punitive damages and attorney’s fees.

Missouri
Woman gets 5 years for butt injection death
A Dallas woman was sentenced to five years in prison for causing a nightclub dancer’s death by performing an illegal cosmetic butt injection on her in Missouri.

Nitica Deonte Lee, 49, was sentenced Thursday for involuntary manslaughter in the 2015 death of Daysha Phillips, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Prosecutors said Lee traveled from her Dallas home to a hotel in Edmundson, a suburb near St. Louis’ main airport, where she injected the liquid silicone. Phillips, who was 22, died four days later after the silicone entered her bloodstream and became trapped in her lungs.

Three others accompanied Phillips. One who backed out, and two others who received injections didn’t appear to suffer any ill effects, police said at the time.

Lee, who previously served time in prison for robbery, burglary and theft, was charged a few months after Phillips  died. But she was a fugitive for five years before being arrested by Dallas police in July. Prosecutors said she spent some of that time in Mexico.

Cosmetic surgeons use fat from elsewhere in the body for enhancements, but black market practitioners sometimes use silicone sourced from hardware stores. Deaths have occurred around the U.S.