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Tag: Prison

  • Psychiatrist Survives Attack by California Inmate

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    A psychiatrist at the California Medical Facility for inmates was seriously hurt in an attack by an inmate with a makeshift weapon

    California inmate Jose L. Ramirez is charged with assaulting a prison psychiatrist at California Medical Facility
    Credit: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

    A convicted killer in the custody of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation was hit with new charges of attempted murder after he allegedly attacked a prison psychologist with what officials are calling an “improvised weapon.”

    The attack was interrupted by corrections officers, and the doctor is expected to survive, according to a statement by the CDCR. The attack happened shortly before 1 p.m. at California Medical Facility on August 29, a state prison located in the Solano County city of Vacaville, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) said.

    A correctional officer ended the attack and recovered the makeshift implement used in the attack, officials said. The psychiatrist, who was treated at an outside hospital, was released this weekend.

    Ramirez had been serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder with weapons, violence and arson enhancements, the CDCR said. Prison officials placed Ramirez into restrictive housing while the investigation remains pending.

    California Medical Facility is a medium-security prison that has been operating since 1955 and treats the medical, dental and psychiatric needs of its male inmates.

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    Michele McPhee

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  • Three teens murdered a girl in a ‘satanic ritual.’ Why is only one still in prison?

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    It was a July evening when Elyse Pahler, 15, sneaked out her bedroom in the Central Coast town of Arroyo Grande, planning to get into some mischief. A boy from school had gotten her number from a friend and invited her to smoke weed in the woods near her family’s home.

    The boy was Jacob Delashmutt, also 15, and he brought along two friends. Delashmutt and his schoolmates Royce Casey, 16, and Joseph Fiorella, 14, all shared a passion for death metal, and they formed their own band called Hatred.

    One of their favorite groups was Slayer, a popular metal act that featured a song with lyrics about worshiping Satan and sacrificing a blonde, blue-eyed virgin.

    Pahler fit that description as she walked to join the three metal heads that night in 1995. Three decades later, Delashmutt described what happened next to a state parole board.

    Delashmutt, now 45, said that once they had smoked marijuana, he and the two other boys attacked Pahler when she was distracted by the sound of a passing car. He wrapped his belt around her neck, strangling her while Fiorella stabbed her and Casey held down her arms. Then they each took turns stabbing her with a 12-inch knife, according to his testimony, first in the neck then in the back and shoulders.

    Casey told state parole officials this year that Pahler begged for her mother and Jesus before he stomped on the back of her neck. They had planned to violate her remains, Delashmutt testified to the parole board, but instead hid her body in the woods and fled the scene. She wasn’t found until eight months later, when Casey confessed to his pastor.

    Royce Casey, Jacob Delashmutt and Joseph Fiorella pictured as teens after their arrest in March 1996. They were convicted of murdering Elyse Pahler, a teenage peer, in a satanic ritual. Casey and Delashmutt were released on parole recently, 30 years after the murder in Arroyo Grande, Calif.

    (U.S. District Court for the Central District of California)

    Today, two of the killers — including the admitted ringleader — are walking free after receiving parole. But the youngest of the group, Fiorella, remains behind bars despite claims that he is intellectually disabled and that his case was mishandled.

    The releases of Casey and Delashmutt this year have come amid a surge of high-profile murder cases from the 1990s entering the parole process. Erik and Lyle Menendez, the Beverly Hills brothers convicted of killing their parents in 1989 as teens, were denied parole this month after a months-long resentencing effort.

    Pahler’s murder occurred while the Menendez brothers were on trial, and the grisly killing of a young, white girl provoked a similar level of media frenzy. Prosecutors alleged the death-metal-obsessed teens had plotted to commit the murder as part of a “Satanic ritual.”

    Pahler’s family has fought against letting out any of the men over the past decade, with her father, David, often bringing a picture of his daughter to show the parole board.

    David Pahler told the board at a 2023 hearing that he believed Casey still lacked remorse, reading from a transcript of Casey’s journal taken when he was arrested in which the teen wrote about believing Satan had “taken my soul and replaced it with a new one to carry out his work on earth.”

    “If you give up your soul to Satan, how do you get it back? How do you get it back? I — I don’t have an answer for that,” Pahler said, according to a transcript of the hearing.

    Casey and Delashmutt pleaded no contest to first-degree murder in 1997, each receiving 25 years to life in prison. Fiorella, also charged with being armed with a deadly weapon, got 26 years to life. Since they became eligible for parole, their paths through the system have led to vastly divergent outcomes.

    Casey was denied twice by the board, then approved in 2021 and 2023, only to have Gov. Gavin Newsom reverse the decision. Newsom argued Casey needed to do more work to ensure he would make healthy relationships outside prison and learn the “internal processes” that led him to kill Pahler.

    Delashmutt was also denied twice by the parole board in 2017 and 2022 and once by the governor’s reversal in 2023. The rejections often referenced his tendency to shirk responsibility onto his co-defendants for his role in the murder.

    Although Delashmutt was the one who called Pahler and invited her into the woods, at the time of his arrest he blamed the other two for orchestrating the murder and recruiting him to carry it out.

    This year, however, Delashmutt told the parole board he was the “ringleader” of the group.

    “I know that I am the most responsible for this crime. I had every opportunity to put a stop to it, and I didn’t. I was involved in the planning from the beginning and I made this crime happen. Elyse Pahler was safe in her home that night when she received a phone call from me,” Delashmutt said.

    The teens were influenced by death metal music — specifically by Slayer — to channel their anger at the world into physical violence, Casey told the parole board.

    “That music, especially Slayer, was all about suicide, murder, sacrifice. So, I started learning a specific way to express those things,” he said.

    Pahler’s family unsuccessfully sued Slayer and its record company for its lyrics in 2001, claiming they incited her murder, but lost on 1st Amendment grounds.

    Casey was released from Valley State Prison in early August to transitional housing in Los Angeles County, his lawyer told The Times. “Our legal system is not based on emotion,” his lawyer and prison advocate Charles Carbone said.

    Despite what was “one of the most notorious crimes committed in San Luis Obispo County,” Carbone said, there has been an “enormous consensus” over the last few years among prison psychologists, the full parole board and the governor that Casey should go home.

    Delashmutt, who was released in late July, didn’t believe he had a future when he was a teen, said parole hearing lawyer Patrick Sparks.

    “His background was about a lot of poor decisions,” he said. “He started to change his life, and it gave him hope for the future again.”

    Both apologized.

    “I want to acknowledge all of the pain and the trauma that I’ve caused,” Delashmutt said. “It is impossible for me to understand the magnitude of the crime, the impact that it’s had on the Pahler family.”

    Casey said he remembered how David Pahler often brought a picture of his daughter to the hearing.

    “Something that I remember hearing over time when Elyse’s dad has come, is that she has a face. And I try to remember every day, whatever decision I’m making or whatever I do, that the ongoing impact of what I did is present all the time.”

    Fiorella, unlike the other two men, has yet to participate openly in a parole hearing, according to hearing transcripts from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He waived attendance for a 2019 hearing, and, according to the transcripts, was advised by his lawyer, Dennis Cusick, not to speak or answer questions in his most recent hearing in 2023.

    Cusick declined to comment on whether his client would attend or participate in an upcoming parole hearing scheduled for next year.

    Court filings show Fiorella has long looked to overturn his conviction, arguing that a court-appointed defense attorney failed to give his due diligence prior to accepting the plea deal.

    A complaint filed in the Central District of California in November 2023 argues that Fiorella’s first trial lawyer, David Hurst, waived a fitness hearing after receiving a neuropsychologist’s report that Fiorella was developmentally disabled and had an IQ score of 68, indicating a mild intellectual disability.

    Hurst said in a 2020 deposition that he “felt that we would lose the fitness hearing and it would be a waste of time,” despite knowing about the report and other circumstances of Fiorella’s life, the complaint said.

    Hurst was terminally ill at the time of his deposition, the complaint notes, and died by the end of the year before an evidentiary hearing.

    Fiorella scored at just above an eighth-grade level on a basic education test, according to a transcript of his 2023 parole hearing. He earned a GED more than two decades prior, in 2002, but the parole board noted a report from a doctor who alleged he could not pass it and paid someone to take it for him.

    Cusick argued to the parole board that Fiorella is still developmentally disabled and “is not the kind of person to take on a leadership role in anything.” The habeas corpus complaint repeatedly characterized a teenage Fiorella as a shy, quiet child who was teased by peers for being “slow.” It also challenged the idea that he orchestrated the murder, instead placing blame on Delashmutt.

    Fiorella’s complaint has gone through several levels of state and federal courts, with most agreeing that the challenge to his conviction was years past the statute of limitations. Courts also said it was questionable whether the forgone fitness hearing, as his trial lawyer suggested, would have resulted in any action.

    The complaint was dismissed and then appealed in March to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. That case is awaiting an opening brief due in November.

    Fiorella’s federal public defender, Raj Shah, did not respond to requests for comment.

    In his 2023 hearing, a representative of the San Luis Obispo County district attorney’s office, Lisa Dunn, opposed Fiorella’s release, arguing he had not done the work necessary to prove he was ready for parole.

    “Mr. Fiorella, frankly, is a dangerous individual,” Dunn said. “He’s been dangerous since he was 15, and there’s no evidence to support a finding that he’s less dangerous now.”

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    Sandra McDonald

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  • Are the Most Dangerous Words in Criminal Justice About to Disappear?

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    As an erstwhile drummer, I was drawn to the movie Whiplash, in which an abusive music instructor played by J.K. Simmons pushes his promising drum student nearly over the brink in his pursuit of perfection. At one point Simmons tells him, “There are no two words in the English language more harmful than ‘good job.’”

    You may take issue with that harsh approach to behavior motivation, but when it comes to criminal justice, the two most dangerous words are undoubtedly “early release.” The fear that someone released “early” from custody will commit a violent crime is one of the biggest drivers of the restrictive policies that fueled the historic rise in American imprisonment starting in the 1970s.

    A basketball hangs in razor wire in the maximum security yard of the Lansing Correctional Facility on April 18, 2023, in Lansing, Kansas.

    John Moore/Getty Images

    But recent actions at the most senior levels of the federal justice system could go a long way toward easing that phobia by acknowledging that giving people incentives to earn their way out before the very last day of their prison sentence is an important tool for public safety.

    In a June interview with Forbes, the Trump administration’s newly appointed director of the federal Bureau of Prisons, William Marshall, made clear his agency’s mission is “safely incarcerating those who are dangerous and returning others to society sooner.” He also issued a policy directive that will help many incarcerated people leave prison and rejoin their families more quickly.

    “Early release” is used casually and nearly universally—by journalists and by reform advocates and opponents alike—to describe anyone who gets out of prison at anything shy of 100 percent of the maximum possible sentence. Google “early release” and click the News tab to see just how common this is.

    Its potency reflects the legacy of Willie Horton, the convicted murderer who was released from a Massachusetts prison on a weekend furlough and committed a rape. This was in 1988, and Horton’s case, used against the Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Michael Dukakis in that year’s election, became an incinerator for policies characterized as “soft on crime.”

    Yet the phrase “early release” is fundamentally inaccurate and misleading. As anyone involved in the criminal justice process will tell you—victims and survivors included—all states and the federal government have laws and policies that not only permit people to earn release prior to the expiration of their sentence, they encourage it.

    In fact, that’s the central thrust of the First Step Act, which Congress passed with bipartisan support and President Donald Trump signed during his first term. That landmark legislation allows people in federal prison who are considered low risk, and who complete rehabilitative programs, to earn time credits that can trim their sentence or allow them to serve the final portion in home confinement or residential reentry centers.

    The point is that it matters far more to public safety that people succeed after release than whether they get out in June or July. Analysis of recidivism under the First Step Act by the Council on Criminal Justice offers evidence that it’s working. People released under the act have come back to prison 55 percent less than similarly situated people released before it took effect. The concept of earned release enjoys broad public support as well, winning large majorities in both older and more recent polls.

    The state and federal system each have their own complex set of rules that determine the minimum and maximum boundaries of prison terms, and they vary tremendously. In Arkansas, people may serve as little as 17 percent of their possible maximum sentence, while in Arizona, they must serve 85 percent of the maximum before release. But whether that “release window” is large or small, judges and lawyers—and reporters—understand that the various release mechanisms mean defendants are highly unlikely to serve every day of their maximum sentence behind bars.

    As such, there’s nothing “early” about the release of people who have completed certain programs, avoided disciplinary infractions, and/or convinced a parole board that they are ready to return home. Nor is there anything untoward and deceptive about it. It’s the law, and everyone knows it, including the new head of the federal prison system.

    While the policy and linguistic effects of Marshall’s declarations are yet to be seen, the demise of the “early release” boogeyman can’t come soon enough. The phrase strongly implies that the system has failed to deliver what it promised. It said it was going to do one thing, but then it turned around and did another. It cheated. It endangered the public. “Early release” breeds mistrust and cynicism. It does immense damage to the credibility of the justice system, and to the government in general.

    People have tried through the years to come up with an alternative. “Accelerated” and “expedited” release are among them. “Earned” release is gaining popularity but so far, nothing’s really stuck outside the community of reformers.

    Finding a phrase that does stick isn’t a matter of political messaging or spin. It’s about acknowledging that when someone goes home before they max out their prison sentence, the system isn’t pulling one over on the public. It’s not whiplash. It’s functioning exactly as designed.

    Adam Gelb is the president and CEO of the Council on Criminal Justice, a nonpartisan think tank and invitational membership organization that advances understanding of the criminal justice policy choices facing the nation and builds consensus for solutions that enhance safety and justice for all.

    The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.

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  • Small Tennessee town divided over new ICE detention facility: “I don’t want my neighbors to go to work out there”

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    Mason, Tennessee — The small West Tennessee town of Mason, just 2 square miles in size, is home to about 1,000 people. But its residents are now divided by what a new immigration detention facility will mean for the area. 

    Shannon Whitfield has lived in Mason for 13 years. Earlier this month, Mason’s town leaders voted to reopen a shuttered private prison, the West Tennessee Detention Facility, and turn it into a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center. 

    “This is not the place for an ICE facility. This is not the place for a for-profit prison,” Whitfield told CBS News. 

    Mason experienced years of financial problems, including allegations of corruption and mismanagement more than a decade ago that left the town with a mountain of debt and few businesses left to help it bounce back.

    The West Tennessee Detention Facility has been closed for nearly four years. When it reopens, it has about 600 beds that could soon be filled with ICE detainees. 

    The private for-profit prison company that owns it, CoreCivic, says the prison will create more than 200 new jobs and boost revenue for Mason and the state of Tennessee through hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes and impact fees, which are fees that developers pay to municipalities. 

    That is why Mason Mayor Eddie Noeman says he supports the detention center. But town Alderwoman Virginia Rivers voted against it.

    “I need it to be clear I am all for jobs coming to town of Mason,” Rivers told CBS News. “What I’m not for is when it comes to mistreating the people. All money is not good money.”

    Immediately after taking office in January, President Trump reversed a policy instituted by former President Joe Biden in 2021 that prevented the Justice Department from renewing contracts with private prison firms. CoreCivic also owned the West Tennessee Detention Facility at the time and was forced to close it in 2021 because of Biden’s executive order. 

    In a statement on the reopening of the prison, CoreCivic said it was “proud to continue our long-standing relationship within the Mason and Tipton County community, going back nearly 35 years,” and adding that it did not “have a timeline to share regarding when the facility will become operational.”

    CoreCivic is the largest private, for-profit prison firm in the U.S., and the sole private prison operator in Tennessee. However, CoreCivic has repeatedly been found in Tennessee state audits to be deficient in staffing and turnover. 

    A CBS News analysis of Tennessee state data released earlier this summer showed that inmates are twice as likely to be killed in CoreCivic prisons compared to government-run prisons. CoreCivic has disputed that analysis. 

    “The ICE facility is not, does not and will not help Mason to go forward,” Rivers said. “We need other things in our community. We need homes. We need a school, day care.”

    West Tennessee could potentially see other businesses, like Ford, bring new jobs to the area in the future, but that would not be for several years. Until then, Mason remains at a crossroads.

    “I don’t want my neighbors to go to work out there,” Whitfield said. “I don’t want them to have to make that choice of, to get benefits and to get enough money. They have to give away that piece of their soul.”

    Skyler Henry and

    Dan Ruetenik

    contributed to this report.

    Nicole Valdes

    Nicole Valdes is a correspondent based in Nashville. Valdes was most recently a weather correspondent with FOX Weather. Since joining FOX Weather in 2021, Valdes covered breaking and developing weather-related news for the streaming service. Valdes reported from nearly 40 states, leading network coverage of Hurricane Ian’s impact on Florida, as well as countless tornadoes, flood, and wildfires. As a proud bilingual journalist, Valdes put her skills forward to produce and report an in-depth piece on Hurricane Maria’s impact to Puerto Rico. Prior to this role, Valdes worked as a reporter and fill-in anchor in Phoenix, Arizona, where she led the station’s coverage of the 2020 Presidential election. She was also a multimedia journalist for the CBS-affiliate in Fort Myers, Florida. Valdes graduated from the University of Florida in Gainesville.

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  • Board denies parole for Erik Menendez despite reduced sentence for his parents’ 1989 murders

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    Erik Menendez was denied parole Thursday after serving decades in prison for murdering his parents with his older brother in 1989.A panel of California commissioners denied Menendez parole for three years, after which he will be eligible again, in a case that continues to fascinate the public. A parole hearing for his brother Lyle Menendez, who is being held at the same prison in San Diego, is scheduled for Friday morning.The two commissioners determined that Menendez should not be freed after an all-day hearing during which they questioned him about why he committed the crime and violated prison rules.The brothers became eligible for parole after a judge reduced their sentences in May from life without parole to 50 years to life.The parole hearings marked the closest they’ve been to winning freedom from prison since their convictions almost 30 years ago for murdering their parents.The brothers were sentenced to life in prison in 1996 for fatally shooting their father, Jose Menendez, and mother, Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989. While defense attorneys argued that the brothers acted out of self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, prosecutors said the brothers sought a multimillion-dollar inheritance.A judge reduced their sentences in May, and they became immediately eligible for parole.Erik Menendez made his case to two parole commissioners, offering his most detailed account in years of how he was raised, why he made the choices he did, and how he transformed in prison. He noted the hearing fell almost exactly 36 years after he killed his parents — on Aug. 20, 1989.”Today is August 21st. Today is the day that all of my victims learned my parents were dead. So today is the anniversary of their trauma journey,” he said, referring to his family members.The state corrections department chose a single reporter to watch the videoconference and share details with the rest of the press.Erik Menendez’s prison recordMenendez, gray-haired and spectacled, sat in front of a computer screen wearing a blue T-shirt over a white long-sleeve shirt in a photo shared by officials.The panel of commissioners scrutinized every rules violation and fight on his lengthy prison record, including allegations that he worked with a prison gang, bought drugs, used cellphones and helped with a tax scam.He told commissioners that since he had no hope of ever getting out then, he prioritized protecting himself over following the rules. Then last fall, LA prosecutors asked a judge to resentence him and his brother — opening the door to parole.”In November of 2024, now the consequences mattered,” Menendez said. “Now the consequences meant I was destroying my life.”A particular sticking point for the commissioners was his use of cellphones.”What I got in terms of the phone and my connection with the outside world was far greater than the consequences of me getting caught with the phone,” Menendez said.The board also brought up his earliest encounters with the law, when he committed two burglaries in high school.”I was not raised with a moral foundation,” he said. “I was raised to lie, to cheat, to steal in the sense, an abstract way.”The panel asked about details like why he used a fake ID to purchase the guns he and Lyle Menendez used to kill their parents, who acted first and why they killed their mother if their father was the main abuser.Commissioner Robert Barton asked: “You do see that there were other choices at that point?””When I look back at the person I was then and what I believed about the world and my parents, running away was inconceivable,” Menendez said. “Running away meant death.”His transformation behind barsErik Menendez’s parole attorney, Heidi Rummel, emphasized 2013 as the turning point for her client.”He found his faith. He became accountable to his higher power. He found sobriety and made a promise to his mother on her birthday,” Rummel said. “Has he been perfect since 2013? No. But he has been remarkable.”Commissioner Rachel Stern also applauded him for starting a group to take care of older and disabled inmates.Since the brothers reunited, they have been “serious accountability partners” for each other. At the same time, he said he’s become better at setting boundaries with Lyle Menendez, and they tend to do different programming.More than a dozen of their relatives, who have advocated for the brothers’ release for months, delivered emotional statements at Thursday’s hearing via videoconference.”Seeing my crimes through my family’s eyes has been a huge part of my evolution and my growth,” Menendez said. “Just seeing the pain and the suffering. Understanding the magnitude of what I’ve done, the generational impact.”His aunt Teresita Menendez-Baralt, who is Jose Menendez’s sister, said she has fully forgiven him. She noted that she is dying from Stage 4 cancer and wishes to welcome him into her home.”Erik carries himself with kindness, integrity and strength that comes from patience and grace,” she said.One relative promised to the parole board that she would house him in Colorado, where he can spend time with his family and enjoying nature.The board brushed off prosecutor’s questionsLA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said ahead of the parole hearings that he opposes parole for the brothers because of their lack of insight, comparing them to Sirhan Sirhan, who assassinated presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom denied him parole in January 2022 because of his “deficient insight.”During the hearing, LA prosecutor Habib Balian asked Menendez about his and his brothers’ attempts to ask witnesses to lie in court on their behalf, and if the brothers staged the killings as a mafia hit. Commissioners largely dismissed the questions, saying they were not retrying the case.In closing statements, Balian questioned whether Menendez was “truly reformed” or saying what commissioners wanted to hear.”When one continues to diminish their responsibility for a crime and continues to make the same false excuses that they’ve made for 30-plus years, one is still that same dangerous person that they were when they shotgunned their parents,” Balian said.What happens nextLyle Menendez is set to appear over videoconference Friday for his parole hearing from the same prison in San Diego.The case has captured the attention of true crime enthusiasts for decades and spawned documentaries, television specials and dramatizations. The Netflix drama ” Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story ” and a documentary released in 2024 have been credited for bringing new attention to the brothers.Greater recognition of the brothers as victims of sexual abuse has also helped mobilize support for their release. Some supporters have flown to Los Angeles to hold rallies and attend court hearings.

    LOS ANGELES —

    Erik Menendez was denied parole Thursday after serving decades in prison for murdering his parents with his older brother in 1989.

    A panel of California commissioners denied Menendez parole for three years, after which he will be eligible again, in a case that continues to fascinate the public. A parole hearing for his brother Lyle Menendez, who is being held at the same prison in San Diego, is scheduled for Friday morning.

    The two commissioners determined that Menendez should not be freed after an all-day hearing during which they questioned him about why he committed the crime and violated prison rules.

    The brothers became eligible for parole after a judge reduced their sentences in May from life without parole to 50 years to life.

    The parole hearings marked the closest they’ve been to winning freedom from prison since their convictions almost 30 years ago for murdering their parents.

    The brothers were sentenced to life in prison in 1996 for fatally shooting their father, Jose Menendez, and mother, Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989. While defense attorneys argued that the brothers acted out of self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, prosecutors said the brothers sought a multimillion-dollar inheritance.

    A judge reduced their sentences in May, and they became immediately eligible for parole.

    Erik Menendez made his case to two parole commissioners, offering his most detailed account in years of how he was raised, why he made the choices he did, and how he transformed in prison. He noted the hearing fell almost exactly 36 years after he killed his parents — on Aug. 20, 1989.

    “Today is August 21st. Today is the day that all of my victims learned my parents were dead. So today is the anniversary of their trauma journey,” he said, referring to his family members.

    The state corrections department chose a single reporter to watch the videoconference and share details with the rest of the press.

    Erik Menendez’s prison record

    Menendez, gray-haired and spectacled, sat in front of a computer screen wearing a blue T-shirt over a white long-sleeve shirt in a photo shared by officials.

    The panel of commissioners scrutinized every rules violation and fight on his lengthy prison record, including allegations that he worked with a prison gang, bought drugs, used cellphones and helped with a tax scam.

    He told commissioners that since he had no hope of ever getting out then, he prioritized protecting himself over following the rules. Then last fall, LA prosecutors asked a judge to resentence him and his brother — opening the door to parole.

    “In November of 2024, now the consequences mattered,” Menendez said. “Now the consequences meant I was destroying my life.”

    A particular sticking point for the commissioners was his use of cellphones.

    “What I got in terms of the phone and my connection with the outside world was far greater than the consequences of me getting caught with the phone,” Menendez said.

    The board also brought up his earliest encounters with the law, when he committed two burglaries in high school.

    “I was not raised with a moral foundation,” he said. “I was raised to lie, to cheat, to steal in the sense, an abstract way.”

    The panel asked about details like why he used a fake ID to purchase the guns he and Lyle Menendez used to kill their parents, who acted first and why they killed their mother if their father was the main abuser.

    Commissioner Robert Barton asked: “You do see that there were other choices at that point?”

    “When I look back at the person I was then and what I believed about the world and my parents, running away was inconceivable,” Menendez said. “Running away meant death.”

    His transformation behind bars

    Erik Menendez’s parole attorney, Heidi Rummel, emphasized 2013 as the turning point for her client.

    “He found his faith. He became accountable to his higher power. He found sobriety and made a promise to his mother on her birthday,” Rummel said. “Has he been perfect since 2013? No. But he has been remarkable.”

    Commissioner Rachel Stern also applauded him for starting a group to take care of older and disabled inmates.

    Since the brothers reunited, they have been “serious accountability partners” for each other. At the same time, he said he’s become better at setting boundaries with Lyle Menendez, and they tend to do different programming.

    More than a dozen of their relatives, who have advocated for the brothers’ release for months, delivered emotional statements at Thursday’s hearing via videoconference.

    “Seeing my crimes through my family’s eyes has been a huge part of my evolution and my growth,” Menendez said. “Just seeing the pain and the suffering. Understanding the magnitude of what I’ve done, the generational impact.”

    His aunt Teresita Menendez-Baralt, who is Jose Menendez’s sister, said she has fully forgiven him. She noted that she is dying from Stage 4 cancer and wishes to welcome him into her home.

    “Erik carries himself with kindness, integrity and strength that comes from patience and grace,” she said.

    One relative promised to the parole board that she would house him in Colorado, where he can spend time with his family and enjoying nature.

    The board brushed off prosecutor’s questions

    LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said ahead of the parole hearings that he opposes parole for the brothers because of their lack of insight, comparing them to Sirhan Sirhan, who assassinated presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom denied him parole in January 2022 because of his “deficient insight.”

    During the hearing, LA prosecutor Habib Balian asked Menendez about his and his brothers’ attempts to ask witnesses to lie in court on their behalf, and if the brothers staged the killings as a mafia hit. Commissioners largely dismissed the questions, saying they were not retrying the case.

    In closing statements, Balian questioned whether Menendez was “truly reformed” or saying what commissioners wanted to hear.

    “When one continues to diminish their responsibility for a crime and continues to make the same false excuses that they’ve made for 30-plus years, one is still that same dangerous person that they were when they shotgunned their parents,” Balian said.

    What happens next

    Lyle Menendez is set to appear over videoconference Friday for his parole hearing from the same prison in San Diego.

    The case has captured the attention of true crime enthusiasts for decades and spawned documentaries, television specials and dramatizations. The Netflix drama ” Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story ” and a documentary released in 2024 have been credited for bringing new attention to the brothers.

    Greater recognition of the brothers as victims of sexual abuse has also helped mobilize support for their release. Some supporters have flown to Los Angeles to hold rallies and attend court hearings.

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  • Erik Menendez to remain in prison after decision by California Parole Board

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    SACRAMENTO — Erik Menendez will not be released, the California Parole Board decided in a highly anticipated and lengthy hearing Thursday, curtailing for now the contentious push by he and his older sibling to be freed after the 1989 killing of their parents in their Beverly Hills home.

    The hearing came after years of legal efforts by Menendez and his brother to be set free despite being convicted of life without the possibility of parole in 1995. Their jury trial, and accounts of an abusive upbringing in the upscale Beverly Hills home, inspired several documentaries and television series that drew renewed attention to their case and allegations of sexual abuse against their father.

    The hearing — the first time Erik Menendez, 54, has faced the Parole Board — offered a never-before-seen glimpse into his life behind bars over more than three decades. A separate hearing for Lyle, 57, is set for Friday.

    The hearing, Erik Menendez noted, was 36 years and a day after his family realized his parents were dead. The killing occurred on Aug. 20, 1989.

    “Today is the day all of my victims learned my parents were dead,” he said. “So today is the anniversary of their trauma journey.”

    After a nearly 10-hour hearing, the board decided to deny parole to Menendez for three years. He could petition for an earlier hearing.

    “This is a tragic case,” Parole Commissioner Robert Barton said after issuing the decision. “I agree that not only two but four people were lost in this family.”

    Relatives, friends and advocates have described the Menendez brothers as “model inmates,” but during the hearing Thursday members of the Parole Board raised concerns about drug and alcohol use, fights with other inmates, instances in which Erik Menendez was found with a contraband cellphone, and allegations that he helped a prison gang in a tax fraud scam in 2013.

    More than a dozen relatives testified in favor of release for Menendez, with many of them saying they had forgiven him and his brother for the killing. Although amazed by the family’s support, Barton said Menendez should not be released on parole.

    “Two things can be true,” Barton said. “They can love and forgive you, and you can still be found unsuitable for parole.”

    In a statement, a spokesperson for relatives of the two siblings said they were disappointed.

    “Our belief in Erik remains unwavering and we know he will take the Board’s recommendation in stride,” the family said in a statement. “His remorse, growth, and the positive impact he’s had on others speak for themselves. We will continue to stand by him and hold to the hope he is able to return home soon.”

    They said they remained “cautiously optimistic” for Lyle Menendez, whose hearing was set for Friday.

    Erik Menendez testified he obtained cellphones despite risking discipline because he didn’t believe there was a chance of him ever being released. He took the gamble, he said, because the “connection with the outside world was far greater than the consequences of me getting caught with the phone.”

    He associated with a gang, he said, for protection.

    That all changed in 2024, he said, when he realized there was a chance of parole at some point.

    “In November of 2024, now the consequences mattered,” he told the board. “Now the consequences meant I was destroying my life.”

    The crime that put Menendez and his brother in prison began when the siblings drove to San Diego, bought shotguns with cash using someone else’s identification, then returned home and opened fire in the family living room while their parents were watching television.

    Investigators have said the gruesome crime scene looked like the site of a gangland execution. Jose Menendez was shot five times, including once in the back of the head, and evidence showed Kitty Menendez crawled on the floor, wounded, before the brothers reloaded and fired a final, fatal blast.

    The brothers called 911, with Lyle screaming that “someone killed my parents,” according to court records. But while they appeared as grieving orphans, Erik and Lyle also began spending large sums of money in the months after the killings. Lyle bought a Porsche and a restaurant while Erik purchased a Jeep and retained a private tennis instructor with the intentions of turning pro. The two were infamously seen sitting courtside at an NBA game between the murders and their capture.

    Prosecutors argued the brothers killed their parents out of greed to get access to their multimillion-dollar inheritance. Jose was planning to disinherit the brothers because he considered them failures, according to court filings. The brutality of the crimes and the juxtaposition of such violence against the family’s Beverly Hills image turned the case into an international media circus, only rivaled at the time by the O.J. Simpson trial.

    Although mobs of reporters also circled the brothers’ resentencing hearings in Van Nuys this year, Thursday’s parole hearing was a much more solemn and quiet affair. With the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation tightly controlling media access, a Times journalist was the only member of the public allowed to view the hearing on a projector screen in a room inside the agency’s headquarters just outside Sacramento.

    The parole hearing is not meant to relitigate details of the case or the brothers’ roles in the killings, but members of the board questioned Erik Menendez on Thursday on details of the grisly murders, which the brothers and supporters in their family said were committed because they had suffered sexual abuse at the hands of their father.

    “In my mind, leaving meant death,” Menendez told the board when asked why he didn’t leave the house or go to the police. “My absolute belief that I could not get away. Maybe it sounds completely irrational and unreasonable today.”

    Menendez said he and his brother purchased the shotguns because they believed that their parents might try to kill them, or that his father would go to his room to rape him.

    “That was going to happen,” he said. “One way or another. If he was alive, that was going to happen.”

    Asked why the two killed their mother as well, Menendez said that the decision was made after learning she was aware of the abuse, and that the siblings saw no daylight between the two.

    “Step by step, my mom had shown she was united with my dad,” he said at the hearing. “On that night I saw them as one person. Had she not been in the room, maybe it would have been different.”

    He said the moment he found out his mother was aware of the alleged abuse was “devastating.”

    “When mom told me … that she had known all of those years. It was the most devastating moment in my entire life,” he said. “It changed everything for me. I had been protecting her by not telling her.”

    Asked whether he believed his mother was also a victim of his father’s abuse, Menendez said, “Definitely.”

    “He was beating her because I failed,” he said.

    After denying parole, Barton pointed to their decision to kill their mother, calling it “devoid of human compassion.”

    “The killing of your mother especially showed a lack of empathy and reason,” Barton said. “I can’t put myself in your place. I don’t know that I’ve ever had rage to that level, ever. But that is still concerning, especially since it seems she was also a victim herself of domestic violence.”

    Menendez was visibly overcome with emotion when discussing details of the murders, although he did not appear to cry.

    After the murders, Menendez said, the spending sprees between he and his brother, including buying a Rolex, were an “incredibly callous act.”

    “I was torn between hatred of myself over what I did and wishing that I could undo it and trying to live out my life, making teenager decisions,” he said.

    Menendez eventually confessed to the killings in discussions with a therapist, and L.A. County sheriff’s deputies found a letter in Lyle Menendez’s jail cell admitting to the murders. After jurors hung in their first trial, Erik and Lyle Menendez were convicted of first-degree murder in 1996.

    L.A. County Deputy Dist. Atty. Habib Balian opposed parole for Erik Menendez during the hearing, arguing he lied to the Parole Board and had minimized his role in the killings during the hearing.

    “When one continues to diminish their responsibility for a crime and continues to make the same false excuses that they’ve made for 30-plus years, one is still that same dangerous person that they were when they shotgunned their parents,” Balian said. “Is he truly reformed, or is he just saying what wants to be heard?”

    Menendez, Balian argued to the board, was still a risk to society and should not be released.

    Interest in the brothers’ case was revived in recent years following a popular Netflix series, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.” The show aired after a Peacock docuseries, “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed,” uncovered additional evidence of Jose Menendez’s alleged sexual abuse of his children and others, including Roy Rosselló, a member of the boy band Menudo.

    The new evidence was part of the brothers’ most recent legal appeal in the case. More than 20 of the brothers’ relatives formed a coalition pushing for their freedom, arguing they had spent enough time imprisoned for a pair of killings that were motivated by years of horrific abuse.

    Last year, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón petitioned a judge to resentence Erik and Lyle Menendez to 50 years to life in prison, making them eligible for parole. After he defeated Gascón in the November election, new Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman quickly moved to oppose the resentencing petition, going as far as to transfer the prosecutors who authored it and asking a judge to disregard Gascón’s filing.

    L.A. County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic denied that request. After finding prosecutors failed to prove the brothers were a danger to the public, Jesic granted the resentencing petition in May, clearing the path for Thursday’s parole hearing.

    Fellow inmates and rehabilitation officials have described the two as “mentors,” spearheading programs and projects for inmates.

    The two have created programs to deal with anger management, meditation and assisting inmates in hospice care and to improve conditions inside prison.

    Lyle Menendez spearheaded a Rehabilitation Through Beautification project at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility to work on upgrades and create green space in the prison, along with painting a 1,000-foot mural. Erik Menendez has worked with other inmates to do the artwork for the project.

    But members of the board questioned Erik Menendez on various incidents, including a fight in 1997.

    Menendez said another inmate hit him first, but admitted that he “acted aggressively” as well. In another fight, Menendez said, he “fought back” in self-defense.

    Members of the board also questioned Menendez on multiple incidents in which he was found with contraband, including art supplies, candles, spray cans, and cellphones that Menendez said he would pay about $1,000 to obtain.

    He used some of the art supplies to decorate his cell, he said.

    Menendez said he also gave other inmates access to the phone, because “if it was someone that I trusted or someone that I knew had a phone, I didn’t want to tell him no.”

    He said he used the phones to speak with his wife, watch YouTube videos and pornography.

    “I really became addicted to the phones,” he said.

    During the hearing, Barton said he was concerned about the number of support letters that refer to Menendez as a model inmate, saying it could minimize the impact of cellphones in the prison.

    Menendez said it wasn’t until later that he realized the larger impact that cellphones could have, despite how prevalent they could be in prison.

    “I knew of 50, 60 people that had phones,” he said. “I just justified it by saying if I don’t buy it someone else is going to buy it. The phones were going to be sold, and I longed for that connection.”

    But in January, he said, he had an in-depth talk with a lieutenant and took a criminal thinking class that made him reassess.

    “The damage of using a phone is as corrosive to a prison environment as drugs are,” he said. “In the sense that someone must bring them in, they must be paid for, it corrupts staff … phones can be used to elicit more criminal activity.”

    Members of the board spent a significant amount of time questioning Menendez on the use of contraband phones, and pointed to them as part of their reasoning in denying parole.

    “Your institutional misconduct showed a lack of self-awareness,” Barton said. “You’ve got a great support network. But you didn’t go to them before you committed these murders. And you didn’t go to them, before you used the cellphone.”

    Dmitry Gorin, a former prosecutor, said Menendez’s decision to break the rules while in prison affected his chances at winning release, even though he was young when he was convicted.

    “If you’re not going to comply with the rules in prison, you’re not going to comply out in society — that’s what they’re saying here,” Gorin said. “The big picture here is without serious medical issues or being elderly, I don’t know anyone who killed two people who has been paroled.”

    Nancy Tetreault, an attorney for former Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten, said that despite public support for parole, Menendez was considered moderate risk in the comprehensive risk assessment. To have a better chance at release, he would have to be considered low risk, she said.

    “That’s very hard to overcome,” she said.

    The two brothers were involved in classes, but also would need to be more involved in rehabilitative programs for a favorable decision, Tetreault said.

    “Yes, they have a lot of classes and things like that that I was reading the classes they’ve put together, like meditation, for insight, that they’re leaving it, but they need to, they need to start programming,” she said.

    Menendez admitted to drinking alcohol and briefly using heroin at one point in prison, which he said he tried because he was “miserable” and feeling hopeless.

    “If I could numb my sadness with alcohol, I was going to do it,” he said. “I was looking to ease that sadness within me.”

    Members of the board also asked Menendez about his connection to a prison gang and a tax fraud scam in 2013, but did not discuss details of the scheme.

    Menendez said part of the reason he associated with members of the gang, known as 25s or Dos Cinco, was fear of his safety.

    “When the 25ers came and asked for help, I thought this was a great opportunity to align myself with them and to survive,” Menendez said, adding that he thought he needed to keep himself safe because he had no hopes of being paroled at the time. “I was in tremendous fear.”

    The gang was in charge of the prison yard, he said, and a member approached him about the scheme, although Menendez said he did not personally control the checks. The gang also supplied him with marijuana, he said.

    Much changed after 2013, Menendez said, and he curbed his use of drugs and alcohol. At one point, members of the gang also believed he had become an informant.

    “I did not like who I was in 2013,” Menendez said. “From 2013 on, I was living for a different purpose. My purpose in life was to be a good person.”

    In Oct. 14, 2023, his mother’s birthday, he committed to stop using drugs, he told the board.

    Deputy Parole Commissioner Rachel Stern asked Menendez about his work with hospice inmates, including a World War II veteran convicted of an unspecified sexual violence crime that Menendez helped with getting his meals and bedding.

    Menendez said he saw his work with the inmate as a way to make amends for his father.

    Menendez apologized to his family during the hearing, noting their support.

    “I just want my family to understand that I am so unimaginably sorry for what I have put them through,” he said. “I know they have been here for me and they’re here for me today, but I want them to know that this should be about them. It’s about them and if I ever get the chance at freedom I want the healing to be about them.”

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    James Queally, Salvador Hernandez, Richard Winton

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  • Rochester man receives stayed sentence for role in fatal road rage shooting outside a Chick-fil-A

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    Is road rage getting worse in America?



    Is road rage getting worse in America?

    03:33

    A 28-year-old Rochester man has been sentenced for his role in a road rage shooting that killed a man outside a Chick-fil-A in February 2024.

    An Olmsted County judge handed down a 75-month prison sentence, which will be stayed for five years, to Jose Gutierrez Ojeda on Tuesday. His sentencing is a downward departure from guidelines. He must serve 77 more days of jail time, but it can be served on work release if the state determines he is eligible. Once released from prison, Gutierrez Ojeda will be on probation for five years.

    Gutierrez Ojeda pleaded guilty to one felony count of aiding an offender in February. He was driving a Nissan with his brother, Isaac Gutierrez, as a passenger on Feb. 3, 2024, according to the criminal complaint. 

    When Gutierrez Ojeda tried to back into a parking spot, he blocked a driver in a Chevrolet Suburban. Gutierrez Ojeda drove a short distance and a man driving the Suburban followed before both drivers stopped and left their vehicles.

    Another man got out of the Suburban, and a fight ensued. During the altercation, Gutierrez got out of the Nissan and shot the man driving the Suburban in the head, charges said. He was hospitalized and later died.

    Authorities identified Gutierrez and Gutierrez Ojeda using witness statements and surveillance video.

    Gutierrez was sentenced to 60 months in prison for second-degree murder in October 2024.

    Additional charges against Gutierrez Ojeda, including one count each of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, making terroristic threats with reckless disregard for risk and aiding an offender after the fact, were dropped as part of a plea deal. 

    Note: The video above originally aired Nov. 12, 2024.

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    Nick Lentz

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  • Judge gives Trump administration and Florida partial victory in

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    A federal judge on Monday tossed out part of a lawsuit brought by detainees at a temporary immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades, handing a partial victory to the Trump administration and Florida state officials — though other challenges over “Alligator Alcatraz” are still pending. 

    Civil rights attorneys had sued the Trump administration and the state of Florida, seeking a preliminary injunction to ensure that detainees at the facility have confidential access to lawyers. It’s the second lawsuit challenging practices at Alligator Alcatraz, a controversial detention facility that the Trump administration has cast as a symbol of its crackdown on illegal immigration — along with a suit arguing the facility had skirted environmental rules. 

    But after a hearing on Monday, Miami-based U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz dismissed one part of their suit that alleged the government was violating the Fifth Amendment because it hadn’t made clear for weeks which immigration court had jurisdiction over Alligator Alcatraz, preventing detainees from filing court petitions. Ruiz ruled that this claim is now moot because the government has since said publicly that the court at the Krome Detention Center in South Florida will hear the detainees’ claims.

    “The Court can do no more,” Ruiz wrote.

    The judge did not dismiss several other claims that the government is violating the First Amendment by allegedly making it difficult for detainees to talk to their lawyers, especially in confidential settings. Ruiz said that continues to be a “live controversy.” But he ordered the case to be transferred to a different federal court, because Alligator Alcatraz is technically within the boundaries of the Orlando-based Middle District of Florida.

    The federal government has denied that defendants are blocked from meeting with attorneys.

    Alligator Alcatraz jurisdiction clarifications

    The civil rights attorneys wanted Ruiz to identify an immigration court that has jurisdiction over the detention center so that petitions can be filed for the detainees’ bond or release. The attorneys say that hearings for their cases have been routinely canceled in federal Florida immigration courts by judges who say they don’t have jurisdiction over the detainees held in the Everglades.

    At the start of Monday’s hearing, government attorneys said they would designate the immigration court at the Krome North Service Processing Center in the Miami area as having jurisdiction over the detention center in the Everglades in an effort to address some of the civil rights attorneys’ constitutional concerns. The judge told the government attorneys that he didn’t expect them to change that designation without good reason.

    But before delving into the core issues of the detainees’ rights, Ruiz wanted to hear about whether the lawsuit was filed in the proper jurisdiction in Miami. The state and federal government defendants have argued that even though the isolated airstrip where the facility was built is owned by Miami-Dade County, Florida’s southern district is the wrong venue since the detention center is located in neighboring Collier County, which is in the state’s middle district.

    The hearing ended without the judge making an immediate ruling. Ruiz suggested that the case against the federal defendants might be appropriate for the southern district because a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Miami is responsible for oversight of the detention center under an agreement between the state and federal governments.

    But Ruiz also questioned whether the case against the state defendants might be better in the middle district, because all of the purported civil rights violations occurred at the facility itself, which is located in Collier County, several miles outside the southern district.

    All parties have agreed that if the complaints against the state are moved to another venue, then the complaints against the federal government should be moved as well.

    Second lawsuit seeks halt of operations at Alligator Alcatraz

    The hearing over legal access comes as another federal judge in Miami considers whether construction and operations at the facility should be halted indefinitely because federal environmental rules weren’t followed.

    U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams on Aug. 7 ordered a 14-day halt on additional construction at the site while witnesses testified at a hearing that wrapped up last week. She has said she plans to issue a ruling before the order expires later this week.

    State says claims in lawsuit are false

    The state of Florida has disputed claims that Alligator Alcatraz detainees have been unable to meet with their attorneys. The state’s lawyers said that since July 15, when videoconferencing started at the facility, the state has granted every request for a detainee to meet with an attorney, and in-person meetings started July 28. The first detainees arrived at the beginning of July.

    But the civil rights attorneys said that even if lawyers have been scheduled to meet with their clients at the detention center, it hasn’t been in private or confidential, and it is more restrictive than at other immigration detention facilities. They said scheduling delays and an unreasonable advanced notice requirement have hindered their ability to meet with the detainees, thereby violating their constitutional rights.

    Civil rights attorneys said officers are going cell-to-cell to pressure detainees into signing voluntary removal orders before they’re allowed to consult their attorneys, and some detainees have been deported even though they didn’t have final removal orders. Along with the spread of a respiratory infection and rainwater flooding their tents, the circumstances have fueled a feeling of desperation among detainees, the attorneys wrote in a court filing.

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  • Feds say 8 Tren de Aragua gang members among 30 people charged in Colorado gun, drug-trafficking cases

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    Federal prosecutors charged 30 people with largely gun and drug-trafficking crimes after a months-long investigation in metro Denver, a mix of federal and local officials announced at a news conference Monday.

    Those charged include eight people who investigators believe are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua, U.S. Attorney Peter McNeilly said. He said he considers three of the eight gang members to be “leaders.” Two of the leaders were arrested July 30 in Colombia, court records show.

    McNeilly could not say how many Tren de Aragua gang members remain in Colorado, whether the local members were taking direction from leaders in Venezuela, or how many of the 30 people arrested in the operation were Venezuelan nationals.

    David Olesky, a special agent in charge with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said the federal charges against eight gang members “diminished” Tren de Aragua’s “influence and capabilities” in the Denver area.

    The federal investigation started in October when Arapahoe County Sheriff Tyler Brown sought federal assistance to deal with rising crime at the Ivy Crossing apartments on Quebec Street. The subsequent investigation involved at least 40 undercover operations and branched out significantly from the apartment complex.

    Federal investigators seized or purchased 69 guns during the investigation, according to court records. Twenty-seven of those guns were connected through ballistics to 67 “separate shooting events,” said Brent Beavers, Denver special agent in charge for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

    Court records show those incidents included drive-by shootings, an attempted carjacking and a shootout between two large groups, among others.

    “By removing these firearms from the street, we’ve disrupted a dangerous cycle of violence, prevented further harm to our community and sent a clear message to criminal networks,” Beavers said.

    The defendants in the federal cases announced Monday were not charged in connection with those shootings.

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    Shelly Bradbury

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  • Lawmakers seek criminal penalties for impersonating ICE agents

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    BOSTON — A bipartisan group of lawmakers are hoping to close a “loophole” in state law that allows people who impersonate ICE agents and other federal authorities to shake down immigrants or sexually assault women to go without punishment.

    The proposal, filed by state Sen. Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, Rep. Anne Margaret Ferranate, D-Gloucester, and others would make it a crime to impersonate a federal law enforcement official. Under current law, criminal charges can only be filed against someone accused of impersonating a state or local law-enforcement official.


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    By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter

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  • Florida’s convicted killer clown released from prison for the murder of her husband’s then-wife

    Florida’s convicted killer clown released from prison for the murder of her husband’s then-wife

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    A woman who pleaded guilty to dressing as a clown and in 1990 murdering the wife of a man she later married was released from prison Saturday, ending a case that has been strange even by Florida standards.

    Sheila Keen-Warren, 61, was released 18 months after she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the shooting of Marlene Warren, Florida Department of Corrections records show. The plea deal came shortly before her trial would have started.

    Keen-Warren, who has maintained her innocence even after her plea, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. But she had been in custody for seven years since her arrest in 2017, and Florida’s law in 1990 allowed significant credit for good behavior. It had been expected she would be released in about two years.

    “Sheila Keen-Warren will always be an admitted convicted murderer and will wear that stain for every day for the rest of her life,” Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg said in a statement Saturday.

    Greg Rosenfeld, Keen-Warren’s attorney, has said she only took the plea deal because she would be released in less than two years and had been facing a life sentence if convicted at trial.

    “We are absolutely thrilled that Ms. Keen-Warren has been released from prison and is returning to her family. As we’ve stated from the beginning, she did not commit this crime,” he said Saturday in a text message.

    Marlene Warren’s son, Joseph Ahrens, and his friends were at home when they said a person dressed as a clown rang the door bell. He said that when his mom answered, the clown handed her some balloons. After she responded, “How nice,” the clown pulled a gun and shot her in the face before fleeing.

    Palm Beach County sheriff’s investigators had long suspected Keen-Warren in the slaying, but she wasn’t arrested until 27 years later when they said improved DNA testing tied her to evidence found in the getaway car. Rosenfeld has called that evidence weak.

    At the time of the shooting, Keen-Warren was an employee of Marlene Warren’s husband, Michael, at his used car lot. Since 2002, she has been his wife — they eventually moved to Abington, Virginia, where they ran a restaurant just across the Tennessee border.

    Witnesses told investigators in 1990 that the then-Sheila Keen and Michael Warren were having an affair, though both denied it.

    Over the years, detectives said, costume shop employees identified Sheila Warren as the woman who had bought a clown suit a few days before the killing.

    And one of the two balloons — a silver one that read, “You’re the Greatest” — was sold at only one store, a Publix supermarket near Keen-Warren’s home. Employees told detectives a woman who looked like Keen-Warren had bought the balloons an hour before the shooting.

    The presumed getaway car was found abandoned with orange, hair-like fibers inside. The white Chrysler convertible had been reported stolen from Michael Warren’s car lot a month before the shooting. Keen-Warren and her then-husband repossessed cars for him.

    Relatives told The Palm Beach Post in 2000 that Marlene Warren, who was 40 when she died, suspected her husband was having an affair and wanted to leave him. But the car lot and other properties were in her name, and she feared what might happen if she did.

    She allegedly told her mother, “If anything happens to me, Mike done it.” He has never been charged and has denied involvement.

    But Rosenfeld said last year that the state’s case was falling apart. One DNA sample somehow showed both male and female genes, he said, and the other could have come from one out of every 20 women.

    And even if that hair did come from Keen-Warren, it could have been deposited before the car was reported stolen. He said Marlene Warren’s son and another witness also told detectives that the car deputies found wasn’t the killer’s, though investigators insisted it was.

    Aronberg last year conceded that there were holes in the case, saying they were caused by the three decades it took to get it to trial, including the death of key witnesses.

    Michael Warren was convicted in 1994 of grand theft, racketeering and odometer tampering. He served almost four years in prison — a punishment his then-attorneys said was disproportionately long because of suspicions he was involved in his wife’s death.

    He did not respond to a phone message left for him Saturday.

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  • How Denver pioneered voting access programs for incarcerated Coloradans

    How Denver pioneered voting access programs for incarcerated Coloradans

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    Jerome Whitfield fills out his ballot at the in-prison voting station set up at the Denver Detention Center, Oct. 30, 2024.

    Kiara DeMare/CPR News

    Jerome Whitfield didn’t know he could vote. 

    “I thought my background may prevent me from that, but by the grace of God and everything else, I’m able to,” he said this week.

    Whitfield registered to vote, filled out his ballot and dropped it off all within the same hallway — not too far from his pod at the Denver County Detention Center, where he’s awaiting his sentencing. 

    “I’ve been here for a couple months now,” Whitfield said. “[Voting] makes me feel like I’m still involved in the community out there.”

    Jerome Whitfield, an inmate at the Denver Detention Center, after registering to vote and receiving his ballot, Oct. 30, 2024.
    Kiara DeMare/CPR News

    Many people, both those inside the system and out, don’t know who exactly is eligible to vote.

    But people in custody who aren’t serving felony sentences, people in pre-trial detention and people deemed eligible by the clerk and recorder’s office can all vote. 

    Denver’s Clerk and County Recorder Paul López said he often hears that people with felonies don’t vote because they believe they can’t. 

    “That’s false. We want to make sure that folks can confidently be able to say, ‘Yes, I’m registering to vote, even as somebody who has been convicted of a felony in the past,’” López said. 

    The Denver County Detention Center is the leading force behind making in-person voting more accessible in jails throughout the state. 

    López and Elias Diggins, the Denver sheriff, worked together with the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition and the League of Women Voters during the previous presidential election to ensure that incarcerated people who were eligible to vote could do so.

    Expanding voter access statewide

    Their efforts in 2020 caught the attention of the rest of the state, and SB24-072 was passed this legislative session. 

    The bill requires clerks to make their best efforts to work with their county’s sheriff to facilitate voting for eligible incarcerated people. 

    “We had no idea that what started in Denver would now be something that’s done in jails across Colorado,” Sheriff Diggins said. “So today, we’re happy to continue to be a leader in this field.” 

    Since Denver is a pioneer in jail voting, CCJRC, the sheriff’s office and election officials have been training other counties leading up to election day.

    “We’re all working together to make sure this goes smoothly and well. So we’ve paired together to do trainings for other clerk’s offices who have never done this before,” Giddings said. “(We) would just run mock in-person voting events for their jails and kind of run ’em through all the different scenarios that could happen.”

    Raul Vidaurri (left) filling out his ballot at the Denver Detention Center, Oct. 30, 2024. The in-person voting program at Denver’s jail is the first time the 36-year-old has cast a ballot.
    Kiara DeMare/CPR News

    What voting in a jail looks like, and means to those there.

    The Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition (CCJRC) was inside the Denver County Detention Center on Wednesday helping people register to receive their ballots. 

    The group set up two stations across the hallway from each other, both with people completing the registration process, and one with the ballot drop box. 

    At 36 years old, Raul Vidaurri voted for the first time,  something he feels is pushing him in the right direction. 

    “It’s enlightening. Very enlightening,” Vidaurri said. “I got into a bit of a situation, but I’m glad to be in here, get my head right. [This is] like a new start, a new beginning.” 

    CCJRC has been working with the Denver Clerk’s office and the detention center to not only streamline the in-prison voting process, but also to make sure the people participating are properly informed. 

    “This year’s ballot has multiple criminal justice reform issues on it,” said Kyle Giddings with CCJRC. “And so the people who will be directly impacted by that should be able to have their voices heard and their ballots cast.”

    During previous elections, the first day CCJRC set up the voting stations in jails and detention centers was always the busiest. And this year is no different. 

    “It’s been crazy busy- the turnout. Every pod has a large group of people that want to make sure their voices are heard in their communities and heard in the presidential race. So we’re having huge turnout rates here in Denver so far,” Giddings said. 

    The detention center averages about 1,200 inmates at a time. While not all of them are eligible to vote, most of the ones who are, do. 

    “These are folks who want to have a voice in the election. And as long as that’s the case, we are going to make sure that they receive a ballot,” López said. 

    The people voting from inside the Denver detention center aren’t always voting for races in Denver County. Like everyone else, they are voting to their registered address. For example, Whitfield is voting in El Paso County.

    He said he’s planning to keep voting for the future. 

    “Not even for just my future, for my kids’s future and my family’s future,” Whitfield said. “If you can vote, vote. It may not be making much change, but go ahead and do it.”

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  • Minnesota prison guard describes dangerous encounters with drug smuggling: “It’s scary for everyone”

    Minnesota prison guard describes dangerous encounters with drug smuggling: “It’s scary for everyone”

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    BAYPORT, Minn. — Sgt. Staci Stone had just begun her shift on a Thursday morning at Minnesota Correctional Facility-Stillwater when a nurse called for Narcan, the antidote to a drug overdose.

    Stone, a veteran corrections officer for more than 15 years, explained the Narcan was actually for a colleague, another CO who had just caught an inmate smoking a synthetic narcotic.

    “It was just in the air. Whatever he smoked, he blew it out,” Stone said. “And from being out in the air is where we started exhibiting symptoms.”

    Starting in June, staff at Stillwater, Rush City and Faribault correctional facilities began screening, scanning and reprinting mail after investigators discovered pieces of legal and personal mail stained and contaminated with synthetic narcotics.  

    This incident at Stillwater, however, happened in September and led to a two-day lockdown. Nine staff members, including Stone, were hospitalized.  

    WCCO


    “We went and laid down in health services and then all of a sudden it was just vomiting. The nausea and vomiting were escalating our symptoms,” she said. “It’s scary for everybody.”

    So far this year, the Minnesota Department of Corrections says there have been at least 70 cases of suspected overdoses in state prisons, with most leading to lockdowns that frustrate inmates, staff and their families.

    The DOC has stressed that its Office of Special Investigations will continue its investigation into the Stillwater incident, as well as crackdown on drug smuggling. 

    “At what point do you say enough is enough and try something else? I guess don’t know what the answer will end up being, but I’m open to everything,” Stone said. 

    Also last month, a former correctional officer at Faribault — 43-year-old Lindsey Adams of Farmington — was arrested and charged with third-degree possession of methamphetamine and introducing contraband into a state correctional facility, the Rice County Attorney’s Office said.

    According to prosecutors, authorities saw the inmate and guard making an exchange on live video.

    Jonah Kaplan


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    Jonah Kaplan is WCCO and CBS News Minnesota’s investigative reporter and has built a strong reputation for his balanced and in-depth coverage of high-impact issues including the economy, immigration, education, public safety, and the military, among others.

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    Jonah Kaplan

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  • ‘Bob’s Burgers’ actor sentenced to 1 year in prison for role in Capitol riot

    ‘Bob’s Burgers’ actor sentenced to 1 year in prison for role in Capitol riot

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    An actor known for his roles in the television comedies “Bob’s Burgers” and “Arrested Development” was sentenced on Monday to one year in prison for his part in a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol nearly four years ago.Jay Johnston, 56, of Los Angeles, joined other rioters in a “heave ho” push against police officers guarding a tunnel entrance to the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. Johnston also cracked jokes and interacted with other rioters as he used a cellphone to record the violence around him, prosecutors said.Johnston expressed regret that he “made it more difficult for the police to do their job” on Jan. 6. He said he never would have guessed that a riot would erupt that day.”That was because of my own ignorance, I believe,” he told U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols. “If I had been more political, I could have seen that coming, perhaps.”The judge, who sentenced Johnston to one year and one day of imprisonment, allowed him to remain free after the hearing and report to prison at a date to be determined. Nichols said he recognizes that Johnston will miss out on caring for his 13-year-old autistic daughter while he is behind bars.”But his conduct on January 6th was quite problematic. Reprehensible, really,” the judge said.Johnston pleaded guilty in July to interfering with police officers during a civil disorder, a felony punishable by a maximum prison sentence of five years.Prosecutors recommended an 18-month prison sentence for Johnston. Their sentencing memo includes a photograph of a smiling Johnston dressed as Jacob Chansley, the spear-carrying Capitol rioter known as the “QAnon Shaman,” at a Halloween party roughly two years after the siege.”He thinks his participation in one of the most serious crimes against our democracy is a joke,” prosecutors wrote.Johnston played pizzeria owner Jimmy Pesto Sr. in “Bob’s Burgers,” a police officer in “Arrested Development” and a street-brawling newsman in the movie “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.” Johnston also appeared on “Mr. Show with Bob and David,” an HBO sketch comedy series that starred Bob Odenkirk and David Cross.Johnston, a Chicago native, moved to Los Angeles in 1993 to pursue an acting career. After the riot, Johnston was fired by the creator of “Bob’s Burgers,” lost a role in a movie based on the show and has “essentially been blacklisted” in Hollywood, said defense attorney Stanley Woodward.”Instead, Mr. Johnston has worked as a handyman for the last two years — an obvious far cry from his actual expertise and livelihood in film and television,” Woodward wrote.Woodward accused the government of exaggerating Johnston’s riot participation “because he is an acclaimed Hollywood actor.”Johnston attended then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House on Jan. 6 before he marched to the Capitol. He used a metal bike rack to scale a stone wall to reach the Capitol’s West Plaza before making his way to the mouth of a tunnel entrance that police were guarding on the Lower West Terrace.”When he was under the archway, he turned and waved to other rioters, beckoning them to join him in fighting the police,” prosecutors wrote.Entering the tunnel, Johnston helped other rioters flush chemical irritants out of their eyes. Another rioter gave him a stolen police shield, which he handed up closer to the police line. Johnston then joined other rioters in a “heave ho” push against police in the tunnel, a collective effort that crushed an officer against a door frame, prosecutors said.Johnston recorded himself cracking a joke as rioters pushed an orange ladder toward police in the tunnel, saying, “We’re going to get those light bulbs fixed!”A day after the riot, in a text message to an acquaintance, Johnston acknowledged being at the Capitol on Jan. 6.”The news has presented it as an attack. It actually wasn’t. Thought it kind of turned into that. It was a mess,” Johnston wrote.FBI agents seized Johnston’s cellphone when they searched his California home in June 2021.More than 1,500 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 1,000 rioters have been convicted and sentenced. Roughly 650 of them received prison time ranging from a few days to 22 years.

    An actor known for his roles in the television comedies “Bob’s Burgers” and “Arrested Development” was sentenced on Monday to one year in prison for his part in a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol nearly four years ago.

    Jay Johnston, 56, of Los Angeles, joined other rioters in a “heave ho” push against police officers guarding a tunnel entrance to the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. Johnston also cracked jokes and interacted with other rioters as he used a cellphone to record the violence around him, prosecutors said.

    Johnston expressed regret that he “made it more difficult for the police to do their job” on Jan. 6. He said he never would have guessed that a riot would erupt that day.

    “That was because of my own ignorance, I believe,” he told U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols. “If I had been more political, I could have seen that coming, perhaps.”

    The judge, who sentenced Johnston to one year and one day of imprisonment, allowed him to remain free after the hearing and report to prison at a date to be determined. Nichols said he recognizes that Johnston will miss out on caring for his 13-year-old autistic daughter while he is behind bars.

    “But his conduct on January 6th was quite problematic. Reprehensible, really,” the judge said.

    Johnston pleaded guilty in July to interfering with police officers during a civil disorder, a felony punishable by a maximum prison sentence of five years.

    Prosecutors recommended an 18-month prison sentence for Johnston. Their sentencing memo includes a photograph of a smiling Johnston dressed as Jacob Chansley, the spear-carrying Capitol rioter known as the “QAnon Shaman,” at a Halloween party roughly two years after the siege.

    “He thinks his participation in one of the most serious crimes against our democracy is a joke,” prosecutors wrote.

    Johnston played pizzeria owner Jimmy Pesto Sr. in “Bob’s Burgers,” a police officer in “Arrested Development” and a street-brawling newsman in the movie “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.” Johnston also appeared on “Mr. Show with Bob and David,” an HBO sketch comedy series that starred Bob Odenkirk and David Cross.

    Johnston, a Chicago native, moved to Los Angeles in 1993 to pursue an acting career. After the riot, Johnston was fired by the creator of “Bob’s Burgers,” lost a role in a movie based on the show and has “essentially been blacklisted” in Hollywood, said defense attorney Stanley Woodward.

    “Instead, Mr. Johnston has worked as a handyman for the last two years — an obvious far cry from his actual expertise and livelihood in film and television,” Woodward wrote.

    Woodward accused the government of exaggerating Johnston’s riot participation “because he is an acclaimed Hollywood actor.”

    Johnston attended then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House on Jan. 6 before he marched to the Capitol. He used a metal bike rack to scale a stone wall to reach the Capitol’s West Plaza before making his way to the mouth of a tunnel entrance that police were guarding on the Lower West Terrace.

    “When he was under the archway, he turned and waved to other rioters, beckoning them to join him in fighting the police,” prosecutors wrote.

    Entering the tunnel, Johnston helped other rioters flush chemical irritants out of their eyes. Another rioter gave him a stolen police shield, which he handed up closer to the police line. Johnston then joined other rioters in a “heave ho” push against police in the tunnel, a collective effort that crushed an officer against a door frame, prosecutors said.

    Johnston recorded himself cracking a joke as rioters pushed an orange ladder toward police in the tunnel, saying, “We’re going to get those light bulbs fixed!”

    A day after the riot, in a text message to an acquaintance, Johnston acknowledged being at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

    “The news has presented it as an attack. It actually wasn’t. Thought it kind of turned into that. It was a mess,” Johnston wrote.

    FBI agents seized Johnston’s cellphone when they searched his California home in June 2021.

    More than 1,500 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 1,000 rioters have been convicted and sentenced. Roughly 650 of them received prison time ranging from a few days to 22 years.

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  • Hennepin County Attorney’s Office petitions to have man’s murder sentence reduced to time served

    Hennepin County Attorney’s Office petitions to have man’s murder sentence reduced to time served

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    NEXT Weather: Noon report on Oct. 16, 2024


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    03:37

    MINNEAPOLIS — The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office announced on Wednesday it is asking the courts to adjust the sentencing of Jerome Nunn — a man originally sentenced to life in prison three decades ago — to time served in recognition of Nunn’s rehabilitation.

    This is the first petition filed in Hennepin County, and the attorney’s office believes the first to be filed in the state, under the 2023 Minnesota Prosecutor-Initiated Sentencing law, which allows prosecutors to review a sentence and request an adjustment. 

    Nunn was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the murder of Abduel Poe. He was 19 years old when he went to prison and had been taking care of himself since he was 13. 

    While in prison, Nunn earned his GED, three associate degrees and a paralegal certificate. He also became a minister and does ministry work inside and outside of prison. 

    Through a work release, Nunn also helps others with criminal records find jobs and services through the EMERGE Community Development program.

    “Jerome is one of the most extraordinary human beings I have ever met,” said Nunn’s attorney David Singleton. “He transformed himself during his nearly three decades in prison and is now a model citizen who is working to repair the harm he caused the community 30 years ago.”  

    A judge will decide whether to grant the request and shorten Nunn’s sentence.  

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    Chloe Rosen

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  • Former Florida Congressional Candidate Charged for Election-Related Threat

    Former Florida Congressional Candidate Charged for Election-Related Threat

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    A former Florida congressional candidate was charged for an election-related threat to kill his primary opponent, U.S. Representative Anna Paulina Luna.

    An indictment was recently unsealed charging the Florida Republican with threatening to kill his primary opponent in the 2021 election for the 13th Congressional District of Florida and a private citizen and acquaintance of his opponent.

    According to the indictment, 41-year-old William Robert Braddock III, of St. Petersburg, and Victim 1 were candidates in the Republican primary election to represent the 13th Congressional District of Florida in the U.S. House of Representatives. Victim 2 was a private citizen and acquaintance of Victim 1.

    According to 2021 court documents, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna reported that Braddock was stalking her and wanted her dead.

    On June 8, 2021, Braddock made several threats to injure and kill Victim 1 and Victim 2 during a telephone call with Victim 2. Specifically, Braddock threatened, in part, to “call up my Russian-Ukrainian hit squad” and make Victim 1 disappear. After making the threats, Braddock left the United States and was later found to be residing in the Philippines. Braddock was recently deported from the Philippines to the United States and made his first court appearance in Los Angeles.

    The former Republican Florida congressional candidate is charged with one count of interstate transmission of a true threat to injure another person. If convicted, Braddock faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

    Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg for the Middle District of Florida made the announcement.

    The FBI Tampa Field Office is investigating the case with support from the St. Petersburg Police Department. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, FBI’s Office of the Legal Attaché in Manila, and U.S. Marshals Service provided substantial assistance. The investigation also benefited from foreign law enforcement cooperation provided by the Philippine Department of Justice and Philippine Bureau of Immigration.

    Trial Attorney Alexandre Dempsey of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section (PIN) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Carlton Gammons for the Middle District of Florida are prosecuting the case.

    This case is part of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force. Announced by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and launched by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco in June 2021, the task force has led the department’s efforts to address threats of violence against election workers, and to ensure that all election workers — whether elected, appointed, or volunteer — are able to do their jobs free from threats and intimidation. The task force engages with the election community and state and local law enforcement to assess allegations and reports of threats against election workers, and has investigated and prosecuted these matters where appropriate, in partnership with FBI Field Offices and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices throughout the country. Three years after its formation, the task force is continuing this work and supporting the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and FBI Field Offices nationwide as they carry on the critical work that the task force has begun.

    Under the leadership of Deputy Attorney General Monaco, the task force is led by PIN and includes several other entities within the Justice Department, including the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, Civil Rights Division, National Security Division, and FBI, as well as key interagency partners, such as the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

    To report suspected threats or violent acts, contact your local FBI office and request to speak with the Election Crimes Coordinator. You may also contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324) or file an online complaint.

    Complaints submitted will be reviewed by the task force and referred for investigation or response accordingly. If someone is in imminent danger or risk of harm, contact 911 or your local police immediately.

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  • O.C. man charged with workers’ comp fraud involving $100 million of billings

    O.C. man charged with workers’ comp fraud involving $100 million of billings

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    In a major California workers’ comp insurance case, authorities have charged an Orange County man who was twice convicted of fraud, along with a San Diego neurosurgeon and two others, in connection with allegedly billing nearly $100 million in fraudulent fees.

    Following a three-year investigation, the Orange County district attorney’s office said on Friday that David Fish, 55, of Laguna Niguel allegedly masterminded an extensive scheme “to control clinics and providers who would see patients, refer them to specific providers in order to receive illegal referral payments, and then unlawfully bill workers’ compensation insurance companies for these services.”

    Workers’ comp fraud is estimated to be a $30-billion annual problem in the U.S., and California employers have long complained about the high cost of insurance premiums to cover employees from work-related injuries. One common scheme at so-called medical mills involves steering workers to seek medical treatment from specific doctors.

    “At a time when families across America are struggling to keep up with increasing prices for everything from gas and rent to just being able to put food on the table for their families, criminals like these only increase the cost of insurance premiums and put the American dream just that much further out of reach for so many hardworking people,” said Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer.

    Benjamin N. Gluck, Fish’s attorney in Los Angeles, said the charges are unfounded.

    “The Orange County District Attorney’s Office has a history of filing similar cases only to have them collapse under scrutiny,” Gluck said. “We think this case will be just one more in that line.”

    Spitzer’s office Friday also named two co-conspirators — Martin Brill, 78 of Los Angeles and Robert Lee, 61 of Rancho Mirage — alleging that they formed a firm, Southern California Injured Workers, that offered medical management services, including marketing, billing and collections. The company, in fact, was controlled entirely by Fish, authorities said.

    The three co-defendants, along with San Diego neurosurgeon Dr. Vrijesh Tantuwaya, also created a medical group called Injured Workers Medical Group, which was the main client for Southern California Injured Workers. Tantuwaya was designated as the owner and CEO of this medical professional corporation, Spitzer’s office said.

    The four men have been charged with 13 separate felony counts, including violations related to referral of clients for pay, conspiracy to commit a crime and insurance fraud.

    Scott A. Simmons, an Irvine-based attorney for Tantuwaya, said in a statement that his client “maintains his complete innocence and is confident that the evidence will demonstrate his lack of involvement in any illegal activities.”

    “Dr. Tantuwaya is a respected and highly skilled neurosurgeon, with a 22-year unblemished career,” Simmons said. “The records will show that Dr. Tantuwaya did not receive a single penny in kickbacks. It will become clear that he was a victim of fraud himself and, in fact, has filed a civil lawsuit against Southern California Injured Workers.”

    Attorneys for Brill and Lee could not immediately be reached for comment.

    Simmons said that his client, Tantuwaya, and the other three men have all pleaded not guilty and been released on bail.

    If convicted, Fish faces a maximum sentence of 18 years and four months in prison; Brill, a maximum of 12 years and four months in prison; Tantuwaya, 13 years, four months in state prison; and Lee, 12 years and four months in prison.

    According to the O.C. district attorney’s office, Fish was convicted twice before for workers’ comp fraud. That included a conviction in 2010 for compensation or inducement for referral of clients who went to preferred medical providers to run up high bills.

    In December 2017, Fish was barred from participating in the state’s workers’ comp system by California’s Department of Industrial Relations.

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    Don Lee

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  • L.A. mom charged with murder in death of her 3-month-old baby

    L.A. mom charged with murder in death of her 3-month-old baby

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    A mother from Porter Ranch has been charged with murder in the death of her 3-month-old baby, authorities said Friday.

    Jalyn Simone SmithJermott, 21, faces one count of murder and one felony count of assault on a child causing death, according to the L.A. County district attorney’s office. She is scheduled to be arraigned Monday and faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life if convicted, prosecutors said.

    Authorities said the baby was found not breathing in his bassinet on Sept. 10 and was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

    Eric Shannon Johnson, 35, who authorities said is the baby’s father, has also been charged with one felony count of child abuse. He pleaded not guilty Monday and his next court appearance is scheduled for Thursday. If convicted as charged, he faces up to six years in prison.

    “Children, especially babies, depend on their parents and loved ones for care and nurturing. It is a profound betrayal when that trust is shattered,” Dist. Atty. George Gascón said in a statement.

    During Johnson’s arraignment on Monday, prosecutors said that the baby suffered third-degree burns and a 4-inch head fracture in August — causing blood to collect between the skull and the surface of the brain, ABC7 reported. Prosecutors alleged that Johnson failed to seek medical help for the baby due to fear of repercussions from the Department of Children and Family Services, according to the station.

    The case is being prosecuted by the district attorney’s Family Violence Division’s Complex Child Abuse Section and investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department.

    “I want to assure the community that we will prosecute these offenders to the fullest extent of the law,” Gascón said. “We owe it to the victim and to all children who deserve a safe and loving environment.”

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    Clara Harter

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  • Ex-convict makes DA kill himself, attacks judge

    Ex-convict makes DA kill himself, attacks judge

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    Isaac Wright, spent 8 years in prison became a paralegal helping other inmates & practicing his own case. He got a police officer to admit the states attorney was bribing & lying. The state attorney commited suicide before the trial. He then had to fight against the other charges he had, and was released
    Wright is the only person in the US history to have been Sentenced to life in prison, Securing his own release and exoneration, and then being granted a license to practice Law by the very court that condemned him

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  • New novel paints fresh picture of Phoenix’s most famous murders

    New novel paints fresh picture of Phoenix’s most famous murders

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    The murder was grisly and grotesque. Two young women were shot and killed, and their bodies stuffed into luggage — one of them cut into pieces to fit — and shipped on a train from Phoenix to Los Angeles…

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    Geri Koeppel

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