National Roundup

Minnesota
March trial schedule set for 3 ex-officers in Floyd’s death
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A more detailed trial schedule for three former Minneapolis police officers charged with aiding and abetting in the  death of George Floyd has been set for next March, according to an order made public Wednesday.

Last month, a judge pushed the trial of Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao out to next March, in part because he wanted publicity from the trial of ex-officer Derek Chauvin to cool down, and partly to allow a federal case against the officers to go forward first.

According to the new scheduling order, the court will be in session on March 7 to deal with any evidentiary motions or administrative issues. Jury selection in the case will begin March 8. The trial itself will begin with opening statements on March 28.

The order from Judge Peter Cahill also outlines deadlines for attorneys to file documents in the case.

Floyd, 46, repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe as Chauvin pinned him to the ground on May 25, 2020. Kueng and Lane helped restrain the Black man — Kueng knelt on Floyd’s back and Lane held Floyd’s legs. Thao held back bystanders and kept them from intervening during the 9 1/2-minute restraint that was captured on bystander video and led to worldwide protests and calls for change in policing.

Chauvin was convicted in April  of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter and is scheduled to be sentenced June 25. The other three former officers are charged with aiding and abetting both second-degree murder and manslaughter.

All four officers also face federal charges  that they violated Floyd’s civil rights. A trial date in that case has not been set.

South Carolina
Court nixes state’s lifelong sex offender registry
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina’s Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that a state law requiring sex offenders to register for life, without prior judicial review, is unconstitutional.

In a unanimous ruling, justices wrote that “requirement that sex offenders must register for life without any opportunity for judicial review violates due process because it is arbitrary and cannot be deemed rationally related to the General Assembly’s stated purpose of protecting the public from those with a high risk of re-offending.”

Justices set a 12-month timeline to implement the ruling, to give state lawmakers time to “correct the deficiency in the statute regarding judicial review.”

The case stems from a lawsuit originally brought by Dennis Powell, who was arrested in 2008 for criminal solicitation of a minor after authorities said he had graphic online conversations with someone he thought was a 12-year-old girl, but who was actually an undercover officer.

After pleading guilty, Powell was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to register as a sex offender, which South Carolina’s statute mandates as a lifelong situation.

South Carolina’s sex offender statute requires biannual registration, in-person at a sheriff’s office, but provides for no periodic review by a judge, a situation the Supreme Court called “the most stringent in the country.”

“The lifetime inclusion of individuals who have a low risk of re-offending renders the registry over-inclusive and dilutes its utility by creating an ever-growing list of registrants that is less effective at protecting the public and meeting the needs of law enforcement,” justices wrote. “There is no evidence in the record that current statistics indicate all sex offenders generally pose a high risk of re-offending.”

The court ruled that Powell should be immediately removed from the state’s sex offender registry. Powell had also challenged a portion of the statute that permits the registry to be published online, which the court upheld.

Attorneys for both Powell and the State Law Enforcement Division did not immediately return text messages seeking comment on the ruling.

Minnesota
Lawsuit accuses law firm boss of firing pro-Trump employees
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — Three former partners at a St. Cloud law firm are suing the firm’s president after he fired them and other employees he felt supported former President Donald Trump.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported  Wednesday that William Kain, Margaret Henehan and Kelsey Quarberg are alleging wrongful termination.

According to the lawsuit, the three were partners at the Kain and Scott law firm. They allege the president, Wesley Scott, was upset by the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and told the firm’s operations manger to fire two employees he considered racist because they supported Trump and police on social media. When the manager refused he fired her and another employee.

Scott then fired the partners after they told him it’s illegal to fire someone for their political beliefs. He went so far as to call police to remove the pregnant Quarberg from the office, saying she was trespassing and physically threatening him. He told other employees at the firm that the partners were violating “everything that is dear to us and I won’t let that happen.”

Kansas
Moving company to pay $119,000 in restitution
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A now-defunct Wichita moving company has been ordered to pay more than $119,000 in restitution, civil fines, penalties and court costs after the company president ignored a consumer protection lawsuit filed by the Sedgwick County prosecutor.

District Attorney Marc Bennett said the company, Get A Move On, and its president Eric Kimler engaged in deceptive and unconscionable business practices, violating the Kansas Consumer Protection Act.

The case was prompted by the complaint of a 70-year-old man who hired the company last year for $6,000 to move the contents of his house from Kansas to Georgia, the Wichita Eagle reported.

In his complaint, the man reported that Get A Move On delivered only part of the load to his new home and that several of the items that were delivered were damaged. Among the missing items was a Rolex watch worth $11,000.

The man, who had bought insurance protection through the company, said he was told he’d have to pay an additional $250 when he sought to file a claim on the insurance for the damaged items.
Bennett said his office’s investigation showed that the company’s authority to transport goods in Kansas had been canceled in 2018 and its authority to transport goods across state lines had been canceled in 2019. Bennett said the company also was advertising an “A+” rating with the Better Business Bureau, when it actually had an “F” rating.