National Roundup

New York
Appeals court hears claims of jury bias at ‘El Chapo’ trial
NEW YORK (AP) — An appeals court should overturn the U.S. conspiracy conviction of notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman  because of claims that his anonymous jury flouted warnings to avoid media accounts of the case, a lawyer for Guzman urged a three-judge panel on Monday, catching the attention of at least one judge.

In oral arguments before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, attorney Marc Fernich cited a news report that during deliberations jurors were exposed to salacious claims that were barred from the trial, including that Guzman sexually abused girls he referred to as “vitamins” that gave him energy.

Fernich argued the court should order a new trial or at least call for a hearing on the alleged jury misconduct. He asked the judges to resist any “punitive impulse” toward someone who was cast as a “public enemy” like gangster Al Capone.

“The guy is going to be in a box for the rest of his life,” Fernich said. “I’m not asking you to play violins for him. This is his last shot.”

The legal claims resonated with Circuit Judge Gerard E. Lynch, who said it was “a not bad argument.”

“This is serious stuff,” the judge later added.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Hiral Mehta argued the lower court was right to reject the defense request for a hearing on the jury issue because there was no valid evidence of misconduct. He said the Vice News report — based on a post-conviction interview with a juror who wasn’t named — amounted to “hearsay and double hearsay.”

Guzman was sentenced in 2019  to life behind bars for a massive drug conspiracy that spread murder and mayhem for more than two decades.

Before the federal case, he had attained near-mythical status by escaping from prison twice in Mexico, the second time through a tunnel dug into the shower of his cell. He was recaptured and sent in 2017 to the United States and put in solitary confinement.

At trial, Guzman’s lawyers argued he was the fall guy for other kingpins who were better at paying off top Mexican politicians and law enforcement officials to protect them.

The judges, while sounding open to the arguments about potential juror prejudice, showed less patience with another claim that Guzman’s defense was unfairly hindered by the strict terms of confinement that were imposed in response to his reputation as an escape artist.

Lynch challenged Fernich’s characterization that Guzman was thrown into a “modern dungeon,” pointing out that his lawyers had constant access to him leading up to the trial.

“He’s not isolated from the world,” Lynch said. “He’s seeing people on a regular basis.”

The panel will rule at a later date.


Rhode Island
Woman gets 7 years for DUI fatal crash
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island woman was sentenced on Monday to seven years in prison for a drunk driving crash that killed one person and injured two others, according to Attorney General Peter Neronha.

Barbara Trojan, 63, of North Kingstown, was sentenced in Providence County Superior Court after entering a plea of no contest to one count of driving under the influence resulting in death and two counts of driving to endanger.

The 2019 crash in East Greenwich killed Patricia Daniels, who was a passenger in an SUV that prosecutors say Trojan struck after drinking for several hours at a nearby bar. Trojan was accused of swerving across three lanes of traffic and hitting the SUV head-on on Frenchtown Road around midnight.

Daniels was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead on Sept. 11, 2019. Two others in the SUV were treated for injuries.

A Superior Court judge sentenced Trojan to 12 years in prison, with seven years to be served at a corrections facility and the remainder to be suspended with probation. Trojan was also sentenced to three years of home confinement after she is released.

In a statement, Neronha said there is never a reason to drive under the influence of alcohol.

“The criminal justice system cannot reverse time, yet I hope that today’s sentence of incarceration provides some assurance that those who irresponsibly endanger others will be held to account,” he said.


California
TikTok star pleads not guilty to double murder
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A TikTok star with nearly a million online followers pleaded not guilty on Monday to shooting and killing his newly estranged wife and a man she was with last week at a San Diego high-rise.

Prosecutors said Ali Abulaban had surreptitiously installed a listening device on his 5-year-old daughter's tablet device, and when he heard his wife and another man talking, he went to her apartment and shot them to death, the Union-Tribune reported.

After the shootings, Abulaban, still armed, picked up his daughter from school, Deputy District Attorney Taren Brast said.

The details were revealed during the San Diego County Superior Court arraignment for Abulaban, who pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder as well as special-circumstance allegations of multiple killings, the newspaper reported.

Brast said outside court that Abulaban, 29, is a TikTok star known as JinnKid, with more than 940,000 followers on the social media app. His account features comedy skits and impersonations of the character Tony Montana from the 1983 film “Scarface.”

Abulaban's attorney did not comment on the allegations during the hearing.

Police identified the victims as Ana Abulaban, 28, of San Diego and Rayburn Cadenas Barron, 29, of National City.

About two dozen family members and friends of the two victims packed the courtroom. Several of them sobbed as Brast shared details about last Thursday's killings in San Diego's East Village neighborhood.

Brast said Ali Abulaban confessed to detectives and accused his wife of cheating, although the prosecutor said she believes Barron was a friend. According to Brast, Ana Abulaban had asked her husband to move out Oct. 18. He checked into a hotel.

Three days later, Brast said, Ali Abulaban sneaked back into the apartment and trashed it while his wife was gone. He also installed the listening app on his daughter's iPad.

Hours later, Abulaban was listening to the app when he heard his wife and a man talking and giggling, Brast said, and he raced back to the high-rise. Security camera video showed him running out of the elevator to the apartment.

Brast said Abulaban shot Barron three times before shooting his wife in her head. Abulaban then called his mother and confessed, Brast said.

After he picked up his daughter, he called police while driving and they arrested him 45 minutes later. His daughter was in the vehicle.

Judge Kimberlee Lagotta ordered Abulaban jailed without bail. The judge also issued a protective order that requires Abulaban to stay away from his daughter, who is being cared for by family.