MAINE
Woman in Maine prostitution case due back in court
ALFRED, Maine (AP) — The Maine woman convicted of running a prostitution business out of a Zumba fitness studio is headed back to court, this time to fight having to testify at the trial of one of her alleged clients.
Alexis Wright was sentenced in May to 10 months in jail. She has been subpoenaed to testify at the trial of Donald Hill. Hill is a former high school hockey coach charged with engaging Wright for prostitution in 2011. He has pleaded not guilty.
Hill is the first of 68 people charged with paying Wright for sex to go to trial. At least 58 others have pleaded guilty or no contest.
The Portland Press Herald reports that Thursday’s hearing comes four days before the 53-year-old Hill is scheduled to go on trial.
GEORGIA
Airman’s death sentence overturned on appeal
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — An Air Force appeals court has overturned the death sentence of the only U.S. airman awaiting execution on the military’s death row.
The Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals ruled defense attorneys for Senior Airman Andrew P. Witt failed to present critical mitigating evidence during his 2005 court-martial. It says Witt must be re-sentenced, but upheld his premeditated murder conviction in the 2004 stabbings of a fellow airman and his wife at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia.
Appeals judges ruled on Friday that Witt’s lawyers ignored evidence that a head injury Witt suffered in a motorcycle crash may have affected his behavior. They also never interviewed a sheriff’s deputy who says Witt broke down sobbing with remorse during a pretrial hearing.
The Air Force could appeal to a higher military court.
WEST VIRGINIA
ACLU sues prison over inmates’ medical info
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The West Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union’s says the Division of Corrections isn’t protecting the privacy of inmates’ medical information, and it’s suing to demand better training of correctional officers.
The lawsuit alleges that a guard at the Beckley Correctional Center told other officers and inmates that one prisoner had HIV. The inmate, identified only as John Doe in the Kanawha County Circuit Court lawsuit, was then harassed by the officers and other inmates.
The man has been incarcerated since 1999 and tested positive in 2009 while at the Beckley prison’s substance abuse treatment center.
ACLU lawyer Sarah Rogers tells the Charleston Gazette that the state lacks effective policies to ensure that inmates’ medical information is kept private.
“There’s a long history of discrimination,” she said. “From what we’ve seen, there are not effective policies to make sure that employees at different facilities know the laws and what the responsibilities are to protect privacy.”
But Corrections Commissioner Jim Rubenstein says all employees are adequately trained in confidentiality issues during a 40-hour orientation that covers “critical policy directives.”
“We have a policy that deals with confidentiality of information and release of information,” he said, “and employees when they review the policy also sign a form acknowledging they’ve read and understand it.”
The lawsuit says the female guard took John Doe to a medical appointment in Charleston in August 2011 and that she insisted on being in the examining room despite the inmate’s protests. The lawsuit says he was waiting to be transferred to a work release center and contends that he wasn’t a flight risk and didn’t need to be accompanied.
The lawsuit notes that he was not handcuffed during the drive and rode in the front seat.
It says the officer pledged to keep the medical information private but did not, instead telling other guards to be careful around him.
Since then, the inmate has been moved to three facilities, and each time, staff and inmates already knew he was HIV-positive.
NEW MEXICO
Court ruling: non-English speakers can be jurors
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Supreme Court is cautioning the state’s trial courts that citizens who don’t speak English have the right to serve on juries.
The court issued the admonition in a ruling that upholds an Albuquerque man’s convictions for murder and other crimes in the bludgeoning death of his girlfriend and a subsequent armed robbery and stabbing.
Michael Samora’s appeal argued that his convictions should be reversed because the Bernalillo County court excused a Spanish-speaking prospective juror who had trouble understanding English.
The Supreme Court says it agrees with that argument but also says Samora’s defense needed to object during the trial but didn’t.
The ruling issued Monday tells judges and lawyers that they must reasonable efforts to protect the rights of non-English speaking citizens to serve on juries.
ARKANSAS
Judge: Secretary of State can’t use private attorneys
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Secretary of State Mark Martin cannot use private lawyers in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against his office unless the attorney general declines to represent the office, according to a ruling from Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that Fox on Monday disqualified the private attorneys Martin had hired for $200 an hour to represent him in the lawsuit filed by political blogger and lawyer Matt Campbell, whose blog has often criticized Martin’s administration.
Fox gave the secretary of state’s office three weeks to respond to the lawsuit through its own lawyers or submit a waiver of representation from Attorney General Dustin McDaniel that would allow Martin to hire private counsel.
Martin’s office says an appeal is planned. Martin did not attend the hearing.
The representation question appears to be the first time the courts have ever been asked to decide the issue, the judge said.
Attorney Chad Pekron, representing Martin, argued that the General Assembly had given the secretary of state de facto permission to decide for himself who would represent him in court. The Legislature limits the ability of some state agencies to hire their own lawyers by specifically stating in their budgets that they must go to the attorney general for representation before hiring outside counsel, he told the judge. The secretary of state’s budget does not include that restriction, and professional services designation is understood to cover things like legal fees, Pekron said.
Campbell’s lawsuit alleges that Martin hasn’t complied with Campbell’s open-records requests. Martin denies the allegation.
