Court Digest

California
Judge dismisses Twitter lawsuit against state AG

DALLAS (AP) — A California judge has dismissed a Twitter lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in which the social medium accused the Republican of using his office to retaliate for Twitter’s banning the account of former President Donald Trump.

Twitter had imposed the lifetime ban following the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol in which five people died. Days later, Paxton announced an investigation into Twitter and four other major technology companies for what he called “the seemingly coordinated de-platforming of the President.” The attorney general’s office  demanded that the companies produce various records related to their content moderation policies and troves of internal communications.

Twitter responded March 8 with a federal lawsuit  alleging Paxton is seeking to punish it for taking Trump’s account offline — a decision the social media company says is protected free speech.

In her Tuesday ruling, Senior U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney of San Francisco ruled that Paxton’s administrative summonses were not “self-executing,” meaning that Twitter was not bound to comply with them absent a court order.

In her seven-page opinion, Chesney noted that Paxton had taken no court action to enforce his summonses and that Twitter was not bound to comply with them without court action. So, she dismissed Twitter’s suit, noting that its request for an injunction or court declaration against Paxton was premature.

In a statement, Paxton said the lawsuit had been “little more than an attempt to avoid answering my questions about their large-scale censorship and content-moderation policies.”

In its own statement, Twitter said private companies have the same free-speech rights as do individuals. “In this case, the Texas Attorney General is misusing the powers of his office to infringe on Twitter’s fundamental rights in an attempt to silence free speech. The court’s ruling today did not conclude otherwise.”

The suit came as Paxton faces other legal challenges, including an FBI investigation into claims that he used his office to benefit a wealthy donor.

He is also awaiting trial on unrelated securities fraud charges dating back to 2015. Paxton pleaded not guilty, and the case has been stalled for years over legal challenges.

Florida
Man charged with killing toddler’s missing mother

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (AP) — A man long suspected in the disappearance of a woman whose toddler was found wandering alone in the parking lot of a South Florida apartment complex now faces a second-degree murder charge, police said.

Shannon Ryan, 40, also is charged with tampering with evidence in the case of Leila Cavett, a 21-year-old woman who had been working in Atlanta and disappeared during a trip to South Florida last July,
Hollywood police said in a news release.

Ryan told officers he saw Cavett and her son get into a car with a group of men, but surveillance video at a gas station in Hollywood showed where Cavett was last seen: in the passenger seat of Ryan’s gold Lexus on July 25, police said.

The next morning, a woman spotted the toddler wandering alone at the apartment complex in nearby Miramar, and called authorities.

Also that morning, Ryan bought carpet deodorant, trash bags and duct tape from a Walmart store. Video surveillance at the gas station also showed Ryan returning there with a bottle of bleach and going back and forth between Cavett’s white pickup truck and a dumpster. Women’s clothing and toys were later found in the trash bin. Cavett’s body has not been found.

Cavett’s family in Jasper, Alabama, sought custody of the boy after seeing his image on social media and contacting police.

Ryan was arrested in early August on charges that include child neglect, kidnapping and lying to authorities. He remains in the Broward County Jail, but records don’t indicate whether he has a lawyer.


Virginia
Former jail superintendent gets 4 years for corruption

ROANOKE, Va. (AP) — A former Rockbridge County Regional Jail superintendent has been sentenced to more than four years in prison for failing to protect inmates from physical abuse and preventing an inmate from getting medical care.

John Higgins was sentenced Tuesday to 51 months in prison after his January conviction on federal civil rights violations and corruption charges.

Higgins violated the public trust when he interfered with sentences handed down by courts in Virginia, acting U.S. Attorney Dan Bubar said. Higgins allowed the abuse of certain inmates while “treating another inmate favorably to enrich himself,” Bubar said.

In a statement before the sentence was handed down, Higgins said he was very disturbed all this had happened, he didn’t get to present a lot of information and his attorney advised him not to speak.

Gary Hassler, the former head nurse at the jail, was also convicted as part of the investigation. He was sentenced to a year in prison for falsifying an incident report about injuries an inmate suffered in a beating by other prisoners.

Washington
Ex-cop pleads guilty to theft, other charges, gets treatment

BREMERTON, Wash. (AP) — A former Bremerton police detective caught on camera stealing cash during a search of a suspected drug dealer’s house pleaded guilty to theft and other charges and was sentenced to inpatient drug treatment.

Jeffery Inklebarger, 52, pleaded guilty to theft, perjury and forgery, The Kitsap Sun reported. Kitsap County Deputy Prosecutor Tim Lewis said Inklebarger was sentenced last week to the treatment program because his crimes were found to have been motivated by a prescription pill addiction.

Inklebarger spent 18 years as a police officer and had been primarily investigating drug crime in February 2019 before the homeowner’s camera recorded him stealing money.

When asked in 2020 about the search by Tacoma police detectives, Inklebarger denied stealing anything. Then detectives showed him the video, they took a break and Inklebarger didn’t return to the interview. He later resigned.

Inklebarger pleaded guilty to forgery when an internal review found that he signed fellow officers’ names on receipts in order to take money used for investigations.

Prosecutors said Inklebarger was treated the same as other non-violent first-time offenders who pleaded guilty and didn’t object to his efforts to receive a sentencing alternative.

Following a three-month treatment plan Inklebarger will be supervised by the state Department of Corrections for two years.

At sentencing, Inklebarger apologized. Also as part of his plea deal, Inklebarger agreed to never seek employment again as a law enforcement officer.

Minnesota
Man charged with killing sister at family’s home

CHANHASSEN, Minn. (AP) — A Chanhassen man fatally shot his sister at the family’s home where investigators found hundreds of spent shell casings, according to a criminal complaint filed in Carver County.

Joseph Ness, 21, was charged in Carver County District Court Tuesday with second-degree intentional murder in the death of 25-year-old Noelle Ness.

Ness appeared in court Tuesday and remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail. Court records do not list an attorney for him.

Officers said several rifles and ammunition were found at the house near Lake Minnewashta where windows had been shot out and bullets were found lodged in walls Saturday.

The complaint did not say what may have triggered the gunfire, the Star Tribune reported.

“The investigation is ongoing and trying to determine the motive is part of the investigation,” Sheriff Jason Kamerud said. “At this point, I’m not in a position to provide any details about it.”

A resident about a half-mile from the crime scene said a man later identified as Joseph Ness had walked onto her property and asked her to call police because he had just killed his sister, according to the complaint.

The resident called 911 and deputies arrested Ness.

Louisiana
8 years for dad of Saints ‘super fan’ in charity case

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Louisiana man whose seriously ill son gained fame in New Orleans for his devotion to the Saints football team was sentenced to eight years in prison Tuesday for drug trafficking and for fraudulently capitalizing on his son’s illness with a phony charity.

Jordy Robertson, 37, was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Wendy Vitter, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Robertson is the father of Jarrius Robertson, whose boisterous enthusiasm for the Saints and unbridled optimism while fighting a rare liver disease, won the hearts of team members and fans.

Jarrius has been often described as a Saints “super fan” in local media. Amid the publicity, which included an appearance at the ESPYs, Jordy Robertson established a charity to raise money for his son’s liver transplant. But prosecutors said the child’s expenses had been covered by Medicaid and the hospital.

Prosecutors said Jordy Robertson also continued to raise money through his “It Takes Lives to Save Lives” charity, purportedly to raise awareness about organ transplants for children. But he used the money for himself.

Jordy Robertson pleaded guilty in 2019 to wire fraud and drug trafficking charges. In addition to the prison sentence, he was ordered to pay $116,216 in restitution to people who made donations.

A federal complaint filed in 2019 said the investigation of Jordan began in 2017 when the Drug Enforcement Administration was tipped that Robertson was involved in cocaine trafficking in Garyville, a community west of New Orleans.

“Mr. Robertson’s criminal activities showed a blatant disregard for the generosity of others,” U.S. Attorney Duane Evans said in a statement Tuesday.

Jarrius Robertson, who was 17 by the time his father entered his plea in 2019, has never been implicated in wrongdoing. Then-U.S. Attorney Peter Strasser said Jarrius was a victim.

“Think about the emotional toll it has to take on him to see his own father use him to commit a crime,” Strasser told reporters outside the federal courthouse in September 2019.


Illinois
Man gets 27-year sentence for extorting porn from teen girl

CHICAGO (AP) — A 27-year prison sentence was handed Tuesday a former New York University law student who pleaded guilty to extorting child pornography from a teenage girl by threatening to humiliate and shame her online.

U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman acceded to federal prosecutors’ requests that David J. Cottrell, 31, receive a lengthy sentence. Cottrell’s attorneys asked for a 15-year sentence, insisting their client needs treatment for pedophilia, depression, substance abuse and other mental health issues.

Cottrell, who most recently lived in Niles, Illinois, pleaded guilty in March 2020 to sexual exploitation of a child and possession of child pornography. Cottrell was in law school when he first made contact with his seventh-grade victim on a free online chat website in 2014.

Prosecutors say the teen sent nude pictures to Cottrell at his request. He later threatened to distribute her nude photographs online or send them to people she knew if she did not send him more sexually explicit images.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Mulaney alleged Cottrell blackmailed the girl from age 13 to 16 despite the girl’s repeated requests that he stop. The girl’s parents discovered the extortion in the summer of 2017 when they took her cellphone and found Cottrell’s messages.

Missouri
Man charged in 2017 death tied to drug ring

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Prosecutors have charged a Columbia man with second-degree murder in a 2017 death that investigators linked to a drug-trafficking ring.

Jeffrey McWilliams, 28, was also charged Tuesday with first-degree robbery and armed criminal action in the death of Augustus Roberts, 28, who was killed during a home invasion on Dec. 11, 2017.

A Drug Enforcement Administration investigation said in 2019 that Roberts was selling high-grade marijuana. A U-Haul truck containing about 800 pounds of marijuana parked in the driveway of the home was stolen. Law enforcement found 94 pounds and more than 3,000 THC oil pens inside the truck, which was found elsewhere, and in the house, The Columbia Missourian  reported.

A probable cause statement said a witness told Columbia police three people wearing ski masks forced their way into the home and assaulted Roberts, and she heard gunshots as she ran away.

Second-degree murder carries a possible sentence of 10 to 30 years.

McWilliams was being held without bond in the Boone County Jail on Wednesday Online court records do not name an attorney for McWilliams.