Mississippi
Anti-abortion doctors ask high court to overturn 1998 ruling
Lawyers for the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists have filed an appeal asking the state Supreme Court to overrule its 1998 decision and declare Mississippi’s effective ban on abortion constitutional.
In a 1998 ruling in Pro Choice Mississippi v. Fordice, the state high court said the state constitution provides Mississippians a right to abortion.
Late last year, a Hinds County judge ruled members of AAPLOG did not have standing to pursue a lawsuit to overturn the 1998 decision because they have not been harmed by the court ruling. AAPLOG, represented by new public interest law firm American Dream Legal, is appealing that ruling, and asking the state Supreme Court to “clarify whether Mississippi considers elective abortion a crime or a constitutional right,” according to a press release.
Based on another Mississippi case, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the decades old Roe v. Wade right to abortion via the U.S. Constitution. The Mississippi Legislature has passed laws that prohibit most all abortions in the state and there are no clinics in Mississippi offering abortions.
But the 1998 state Supreme Court decision holding that the state constitution provides a right to abortion has never been overturned and remains on the books.
American Dream Legal in a statement said Mississippi’s criminal ban on abortion conflicts with the Fordice decision, and this has AAPLOG physicians “caught between conflicting legal duties: refer patients and risk prosecution under state law — or refuse to refer and risk professional ruin.”
“The people of Mississippi enacted a law that protected unborn life and took down the U.S. Supreme Court’s abuse of judicial authority in Roe v. Wade,” said Aaron Rice, attorney for AAPLOG and CEO of American Dream Legal. “It is only fitting that we likewise put an end to efforts by the courts in our own state to impose abortion by judicial fiat.”
In the Hinds County case, both the state, through Attorney General Lynn Fitch, and pro-abortion rights supporters argued that the doctors did not have standing. It’s unclear whether the high court will hear the appeal. In recent years, the state Supreme Court has taken a limited view of who has standing in various cases.
New York
Lawsuit challenges partnership county has with ICE
A suburban New York county’s agreement with federal authorities to empower local police officers to conduct immigration arrests is being challenged in court by civil rights advocates.
A lawsuit filed Tuesday argues the agreement between Nassau County and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced in February violates state law, undermines individuals’ rights and will lead to racial profiling.
Dozens of other police departments around the U.S. have similar partnerships, known as 287(g) agreements, with ICE, but only a handful exist in New York, where state law limits when police agencies can cooperate with federal immigration officials. The agreements ramp up the number of immigration enforcement staff available to ICE as it aims to meet President Donald Trump’s mass deportation goals.
Broome County and Niagara County officials also reached agreements with ICE this year, joining Rensselaer County, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Diocese of Long Island, immigrant and refugee advocates and two Long Island residents. Nassau County is on Long Island just east of New York City.
“This unlawful agreement isn’t about safety, reason, or the rule of law — it’s about fear mongering and needlessly hurting immigrant communities.” Rubin Danberg-Biggs, Skadden fellow at the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a news release.
In announcing the agreement, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican and Trump ally, said 10 county police detectives would be given the same authority as federal immigration agents and work with them to detain immigrants who are in the country illegally.
Blakeman said police would check the immigration status of people charged with crimes and notify ICE if they are there illegally. The arrangement also includes embedding officers with ICE and providing jail cells for short-term detainment until arrestees can be handed over to federal authorities.
“We are not aware of any lawsuit at this time,” Blakeman spokesman Chris Boyle said late Tuesday, “and while we typically do not comment on litigation, County Executive Blakeman is confident that all measures taken to protect communities in Nassau County are legal and properly authorized.”
An email seeking comment was sent to ICE.
About 22%, or more than 300,000, of Nassau County’s 1.4 million residents are immigrants, according to Melanie Creps, executive director of the Central American Refugee Center, one of the lawsuit’s plaintiffs.
“The 287(g) agreement between ICE and the Nassau County Police Department has created fear, eroded trust, and made immigrants, and all of our communities, less safe,” Creps said. “It undermines public safety by deterring immigrants from seeking help or reporting crimes.”
Texas
Teen indicted in fatal stabbing of another student at a high school track meet
FRISCO, Texas (AP) — A teen accused of fatally stabbing another student at a high school track meet in suburban Dallas was indicted Tuesday on a murder charge, a prosecutor said.
A grand jury indicted Karmelo Anthony in the death of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis said. Willis said the April 2 stabbing at the school stadium in Frisco “struck a deep nerve — here in Collin County and beyond.” Anthony was 17 at the time of the stabbing and has since turned 18.
“When something like this happens at a school event, it shakes people to the core,” Willis said.
Students from several high schools in the Frisco Independent School District were competing when the stabbing occurred. According to an arrest report, a witness said that when Anthony sat under the tent belonging to Metcalf’s team, Metcalf told Anthony to move, and Anthony replied: “Touch me and see what happens.”
Metcalf then touched Anthony, and Anthony said to punch him and see what happens, the arrest report said. A short time later, Metcalf grabbed Anthony and Anthony stabbed him with a knife, the report said.
Afterward, Anthony told an officer that he was protecting himself and that Metcalf had “put his hands on me,” according to the report.
Anthony’s attorney, Mike Howard, said Anthony was looking forward to his day in court.
“We expect that when the full story is heard, the prosecution will not be able to rule out the reasonable doubt that Karmelo Anthony may have acted in self-defense,” Howard said.
If convicted, Anthony faces up to life in prison. He was released from jail and placed on house arrest after his bond was reduced.
Florida
2 men accused of stealing millions from trust fund for people with special needs
Two Florida men have been indicted in what prosecutors describe as a scheme to steal more than $100 million from a nonprofit that managed funds for people with disabilities and special needs.
Federal authorities this week unsealed an indictment charging Leo J. Govoni, 67, of Clearwater, and John Witeck, 60, of Tampa, with multiple counts including mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. If convicted on all counts, they face decades in prison.
The case involves one of the nation’s largest administrators of special needs trusts, which are designed to manage funds for people with special needs.
The Center for Special Needs Trust Administration in Clearwater, which Govoni cofounded 25 years ago, managed more than 2,000 accounts containing about $200 million for people in Florida and around the nation. Clients were promised that the nonprofit would protect and invest their money, prosecutors say.
But Govoni and Witeck, an accountant who worked with Govoni, used the nonprofit as a “slush fund” to enrich themselves, court papers state.
Govoni is accused of using money from the nonprofit to travel on private jets, pay living expenses for his friends and family and live a lavish lifestyle “complete with luxury boxes at Tampa Bay Buccaneers games and the Kentucky Derby,” prosecutors said in court records.
No lawyers for Govoni or Witeck are listed in court files of the current case.
Paul Sisco, a Tampa lawyer who has represented Govoni in the past, said “there is a presumption of innocence which none of us should ever lose sight of here.”
“In nearly two decades of knowing Mr. Govoni, I have never sensed any inkling of guile,” Sisco said.
Sisco is handling some issues regarding Govoni’s bond and detention. He declined to discuss details of that ahead of a Thursday hearing, when those issues are expected to be addressed in court.
Prosecutors accuse the men of concealing the fraud through complex financial transactions, and sending fraudulent account statements with false balances to people with special needs and their families.
The nonprofit filed for bankruptcy in 2024 and “disclosed that more than $100 million in client-beneficiary funds was missing from its trust accounts,” federal prosecutors said in a statement announcing the indictment.
“The fraud alleged in this nationwide scheme is unfathomable,” U.S. Attorney Gregory Kehoe said in the statement.
The case was investigated by numerous federal agencies, including the FBI, the IRS and the Social Security Administration.
“Not only were the organization’s resources drained, but the accused subjects betrayed the trust of the community and ultimately bankrupted a lifeline for vulnerable families,” said Jose Perez, assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division.
California
Woman who masterminded husband’s murder sentenced to life without parole
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A woman who masterminded the killing of her husband, an internationally known hairdresser and beauty company executive, at their Los Angeles home eight years ago was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Monica Sementilli, 53, was convicted in April of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for the 2017 stabbing death of Fabio Sementilli in their backyard in the upscale Woodlands Hills neighborhood. He was found by their daughter in a pool of blood with multiple wounds to his face, jawline, neck, chest and thigh.
Prosecutors said Monica Sementilli conspired with her lover and former racquetball coach, Robert Baker, to kill her 49-year-old husband for a $1.6 million insurance policy.
Baker, now 63, pleaded no contest in July 2023 to murder and conspiracy charges. He is serving life without the possibility of parole.
Baker testified at her trial that the mother of two had nothing to do with the plot to kill her husband. “I murdered him because I wanted her,” Baker told the court.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen rejected a defense bid to have Sementilli sentenced to 25 years to life, calling her the “mastermind in this conspiracy to commit murder,” the Los Angeles Times reported. Coen said Baker, who carried out the attack, “did not have the intelligence to plan the brutal, well-thought-out slaughter.”
The Canadian-born Fabio Sementilli worked for decades as a trendsetting hair stylist and served as vice president of education for beauty products giant Coty Inc.
Anti-abortion doctors ask high court to overturn 1998 ruling
Lawyers for the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists have filed an appeal asking the state Supreme Court to overrule its 1998 decision and declare Mississippi’s effective ban on abortion constitutional.
In a 1998 ruling in Pro Choice Mississippi v. Fordice, the state high court said the state constitution provides Mississippians a right to abortion.
Late last year, a Hinds County judge ruled members of AAPLOG did not have standing to pursue a lawsuit to overturn the 1998 decision because they have not been harmed by the court ruling. AAPLOG, represented by new public interest law firm American Dream Legal, is appealing that ruling, and asking the state Supreme Court to “clarify whether Mississippi considers elective abortion a crime or a constitutional right,” according to a press release.
Based on another Mississippi case, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the decades old Roe v. Wade right to abortion via the U.S. Constitution. The Mississippi Legislature has passed laws that prohibit most all abortions in the state and there are no clinics in Mississippi offering abortions.
But the 1998 state Supreme Court decision holding that the state constitution provides a right to abortion has never been overturned and remains on the books.
American Dream Legal in a statement said Mississippi’s criminal ban on abortion conflicts with the Fordice decision, and this has AAPLOG physicians “caught between conflicting legal duties: refer patients and risk prosecution under state law — or refuse to refer and risk professional ruin.”
“The people of Mississippi enacted a law that protected unborn life and took down the U.S. Supreme Court’s abuse of judicial authority in Roe v. Wade,” said Aaron Rice, attorney for AAPLOG and CEO of American Dream Legal. “It is only fitting that we likewise put an end to efforts by the courts in our own state to impose abortion by judicial fiat.”
In the Hinds County case, both the state, through Attorney General Lynn Fitch, and pro-abortion rights supporters argued that the doctors did not have standing. It’s unclear whether the high court will hear the appeal. In recent years, the state Supreme Court has taken a limited view of who has standing in various cases.
New York
Lawsuit challenges partnership county has with ICE
A suburban New York county’s agreement with federal authorities to empower local police officers to conduct immigration arrests is being challenged in court by civil rights advocates.
A lawsuit filed Tuesday argues the agreement between Nassau County and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced in February violates state law, undermines individuals’ rights and will lead to racial profiling.
Dozens of other police departments around the U.S. have similar partnerships, known as 287(g) agreements, with ICE, but only a handful exist in New York, where state law limits when police agencies can cooperate with federal immigration officials. The agreements ramp up the number of immigration enforcement staff available to ICE as it aims to meet President Donald Trump’s mass deportation goals.
Broome County and Niagara County officials also reached agreements with ICE this year, joining Rensselaer County, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Diocese of Long Island, immigrant and refugee advocates and two Long Island residents. Nassau County is on Long Island just east of New York City.
“This unlawful agreement isn’t about safety, reason, or the rule of law — it’s about fear mongering and needlessly hurting immigrant communities.” Rubin Danberg-Biggs, Skadden fellow at the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a news release.
In announcing the agreement, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican and Trump ally, said 10 county police detectives would be given the same authority as federal immigration agents and work with them to detain immigrants who are in the country illegally.
Blakeman said police would check the immigration status of people charged with crimes and notify ICE if they are there illegally. The arrangement also includes embedding officers with ICE and providing jail cells for short-term detainment until arrestees can be handed over to federal authorities.
“We are not aware of any lawsuit at this time,” Blakeman spokesman Chris Boyle said late Tuesday, “and while we typically do not comment on litigation, County Executive Blakeman is confident that all measures taken to protect communities in Nassau County are legal and properly authorized.”
An email seeking comment was sent to ICE.
About 22%, or more than 300,000, of Nassau County’s 1.4 million residents are immigrants, according to Melanie Creps, executive director of the Central American Refugee Center, one of the lawsuit’s plaintiffs.
“The 287(g) agreement between ICE and the Nassau County Police Department has created fear, eroded trust, and made immigrants, and all of our communities, less safe,” Creps said. “It undermines public safety by deterring immigrants from seeking help or reporting crimes.”
Texas
Teen indicted in fatal stabbing of another student at a high school track meet
FRISCO, Texas (AP) — A teen accused of fatally stabbing another student at a high school track meet in suburban Dallas was indicted Tuesday on a murder charge, a prosecutor said.
A grand jury indicted Karmelo Anthony in the death of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis said. Willis said the April 2 stabbing at the school stadium in Frisco “struck a deep nerve — here in Collin County and beyond.” Anthony was 17 at the time of the stabbing and has since turned 18.
“When something like this happens at a school event, it shakes people to the core,” Willis said.
Students from several high schools in the Frisco Independent School District were competing when the stabbing occurred. According to an arrest report, a witness said that when Anthony sat under the tent belonging to Metcalf’s team, Metcalf told Anthony to move, and Anthony replied: “Touch me and see what happens.”
Metcalf then touched Anthony, and Anthony said to punch him and see what happens, the arrest report said. A short time later, Metcalf grabbed Anthony and Anthony stabbed him with a knife, the report said.
Afterward, Anthony told an officer that he was protecting himself and that Metcalf had “put his hands on me,” according to the report.
Anthony’s attorney, Mike Howard, said Anthony was looking forward to his day in court.
“We expect that when the full story is heard, the prosecution will not be able to rule out the reasonable doubt that Karmelo Anthony may have acted in self-defense,” Howard said.
If convicted, Anthony faces up to life in prison. He was released from jail and placed on house arrest after his bond was reduced.
Florida
2 men accused of stealing millions from trust fund for people with special needs
Two Florida men have been indicted in what prosecutors describe as a scheme to steal more than $100 million from a nonprofit that managed funds for people with disabilities and special needs.
Federal authorities this week unsealed an indictment charging Leo J. Govoni, 67, of Clearwater, and John Witeck, 60, of Tampa, with multiple counts including mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. If convicted on all counts, they face decades in prison.
The case involves one of the nation’s largest administrators of special needs trusts, which are designed to manage funds for people with special needs.
The Center for Special Needs Trust Administration in Clearwater, which Govoni cofounded 25 years ago, managed more than 2,000 accounts containing about $200 million for people in Florida and around the nation. Clients were promised that the nonprofit would protect and invest their money, prosecutors say.
But Govoni and Witeck, an accountant who worked with Govoni, used the nonprofit as a “slush fund” to enrich themselves, court papers state.
Govoni is accused of using money from the nonprofit to travel on private jets, pay living expenses for his friends and family and live a lavish lifestyle “complete with luxury boxes at Tampa Bay Buccaneers games and the Kentucky Derby,” prosecutors said in court records.
No lawyers for Govoni or Witeck are listed in court files of the current case.
Paul Sisco, a Tampa lawyer who has represented Govoni in the past, said “there is a presumption of innocence which none of us should ever lose sight of here.”
“In nearly two decades of knowing Mr. Govoni, I have never sensed any inkling of guile,” Sisco said.
Sisco is handling some issues regarding Govoni’s bond and detention. He declined to discuss details of that ahead of a Thursday hearing, when those issues are expected to be addressed in court.
Prosecutors accuse the men of concealing the fraud through complex financial transactions, and sending fraudulent account statements with false balances to people with special needs and their families.
The nonprofit filed for bankruptcy in 2024 and “disclosed that more than $100 million in client-beneficiary funds was missing from its trust accounts,” federal prosecutors said in a statement announcing the indictment.
“The fraud alleged in this nationwide scheme is unfathomable,” U.S. Attorney Gregory Kehoe said in the statement.
The case was investigated by numerous federal agencies, including the FBI, the IRS and the Social Security Administration.
“Not only were the organization’s resources drained, but the accused subjects betrayed the trust of the community and ultimately bankrupted a lifeline for vulnerable families,” said Jose Perez, assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division.
California
Woman who masterminded husband’s murder sentenced to life without parole
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A woman who masterminded the killing of her husband, an internationally known hairdresser and beauty company executive, at their Los Angeles home eight years ago was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Monica Sementilli, 53, was convicted in April of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for the 2017 stabbing death of Fabio Sementilli in their backyard in the upscale Woodlands Hills neighborhood. He was found by their daughter in a pool of blood with multiple wounds to his face, jawline, neck, chest and thigh.
Prosecutors said Monica Sementilli conspired with her lover and former racquetball coach, Robert Baker, to kill her 49-year-old husband for a $1.6 million insurance policy.
Baker, now 63, pleaded no contest in July 2023 to murder and conspiracy charges. He is serving life without the possibility of parole.
Baker testified at her trial that the mother of two had nothing to do with the plot to kill her husband. “I murdered him because I wanted her,” Baker told the court.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen rejected a defense bid to have Sementilli sentenced to 25 years to life, calling her the “mastermind in this conspiracy to commit murder,” the Los Angeles Times reported. Coen said Baker, who carried out the attack, “did not have the intelligence to plan the brutal, well-thought-out slaughter.”
The Canadian-born Fabio Sementilli worked for decades as a trendsetting hair stylist and served as vice president of education for beauty products giant Coty Inc.
