Ohio
Ex-state House speaker’s lawyer questions bad ‘vibes’ and judge’s fitness
CINCINNATI (AP) — One of former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder’s lawyers questioned the fitness on Tuesday of U.S. District Judge Timothy Black to preside over the Republican’s corruption trial.
Attorney Mark Marein raised the issue as the trial of Householder and lobbyist Matt Borges, a former chair of the Ohio Republican Party, resumed after a week’s pause due to COVID-19. Marein said he was getting bad “vibes” from the court and wondered whether Black might hold “personal animosity” toward Householder for the ex-speaker’s political work against the judge decades ago.
Black said he was fit to preside. He had scolded Householder’s team last week for unprofessional and “bush league” behavior, after attorneys made faces and clicked pens during the government’s open statement.
Householder and Borges are accused of taking part in a $60 million bribery scheme, secretly funded by Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp., that involved securing Householder’s power, electing his allies, passing a $1 billion nuclear bailout bill and keeping a referendum against it off the ballot. Each faces a single charge of racketeering that carries a punishment of up to 20 years in prison, if convicted.
Black dismissed a juror on Tuesday who refused to wear a mask, following a juror’s positive coronavirus diagnosis last week and a week’s break to allow the person to isolate and recover. A pool of 12 jurors and four alternates were originally chosen.
The trial is expected to last about six weeks.
Utah
Ugandan activist’s family awarded $10.5M for national park death
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The United States will pay family members of a Ugandan human rights activist killed in an accident at Arches National Park more than $10 million in damages, a federal judge ruled Monday.
Though the amount was substantially less than pursued, attorneys representing the family of Esther Nakajjigo celebrated the judgement, saying it was the largest federal wrongful death verdict in Utah history.
“By his verdict, Judge Bruce Jenkins has shown the world how the American justice system works to hold its own government accountable and greatly values all lives, including that of Esther Nakajjigo, a remarkable young woman from Uganda,” Randi McGinn, the family’s attorney said in a statement.
Nakajjigo and her husband Ludovic Michaud were vacationing in eastern Utah, visiting the region’s national parks months after their wedding. Recreation areas had recently opened after pandemic-era closures and, on the edge of Arches, a metal gate normally secured with a lock was left untethered.
As the couple was leaving the park, gusts of wind swung the gate around rapidly, enough to slice through the passenger side door of the couple’s car, decapitating Nakajjigo as her husband sat feet away in the driver’s seat.
The gruesome nature of Nakajjigo’s death and the fact that she was a renowned Ugandan women’s rights activist drew widespread attention to the case.
Nakajjigo, who was 25, lived with her husband in Denver, where she moved to attend a leadership course on a full scholarship. She rose from poverty to become the host of a solutions-oriented reality television series in Uganda focused on empowering women on issues such as education and healthcare, and had successfully raised funds to build health care facilities in her hometown.
Because neither the U.S. nor Nakajjigo’s family disputed the facts of the case, the civil suit focused largely on the amount of damages merited. Attorneys representing Michaud and Nakajjigo’s parents asked for $140 million in damages, while the government said an appropriate award would be roughly $3.5 million.
Jenkins awarded Michaud $9.5 million; Nakajjigo’s mother, Christine Namagembe, $700,000; and her father, John Bosco Kateregga, $350,000.
Throughout the trial, attorneys debated estimates of Nakajjigo’s earnings potential. McGinn, representing Nakajjigo’s family, likened her to a nonprofit CEO for an American charity and said she would have likely made millions throughout her life. Attorneys representing the U.S. commended her work, yet noted her most recent job was working at a restaurant making $15 per hour.
In his judgement, Jenkins said the government had provided “a more reasonable projection” of Nakajjigo’s earnings potential.
Ohio
Settlement ends police brutality suit in state’s largest city
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Officials in Ohio’s largest city have reached a $225,000 settlement with a man who said police officers used improper force during a 2017 arrest.
The Columbus City Council voted unanimously Monday to approve the deal with Timothy Davis. As part of the settlement, neither the city nor the officers admitted to any wrongdoing.
Davis had sued the city in federal court, alleging civil rights violations, but a jury rejected his claims in December 2021. A federal judge granted a partial new trial in September, saying a complete jury verdict in favor of the officers was “against the clear weight of the evidence.” The settlement reached in December and approved Monday resolves that matter.
Davis’ lawyers had said during the trial that Columbus officers verbally abused, punched, kicked and used a stun gun on him; pulled out his hair; and stripped him nearly naked from the waist down during the September 2017 arrest.
A lawsuit also accused officers of trying to block bystanders from filming the arrest.
The city denied the allegations, saying police acted properly when they arrested Davis on several warrants for violent crimes, including assaulting an officer. The city also denied officers tried to block the filming of the arrest.
The jury issued a verdict denying all claims against nine officers and the city, which has acknowledged that remarks by an officer at the scene were “inappropriate” but said the officer wasn’t involved in taking Davis into custody.
“I’m going to choke the life out of you,” the officer said at one point, referring to how he would have handled the arrest.
