Month: August 2021

Priest removed over allegations of child sex abuse–The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y.

Sarah Eames, The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y.
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Aug. 27–A retired Catholic priest who most recently served two Delaware County congregations was removed from public ministry last week following allegations of child sexual abuse in a claim filed under the Child Victims Act.

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The Child Victims Act, signed into state law in 2019, more than doubled the statute of limitations for child sex crimes, raising from 23 to 55 the age by which a person must file a civil claim for sexual abuse they experienced as a minor.

The yearlong window carved out for sex abuse victims was doubled last August with a bill signed by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo and modeled after similar legislation in other states, which gave claimants longer than a year to file in court. The extension came as the coronavirus pandemic forced the closure or limited operations of many courts across the state.

Claims of sexual abuse by religious officials, scout leaders, educators, coaches, health care workers and family members soared to nearly 10,000 in the days leading up to the Aug. 13 deadline, according to state court records.

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Visit rcda.org/offenders to view the full list of offenders.

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Seven US Capitol Police officers sue former President Trump, Stop the Steal organizers over January 6 riot – CNNPolitics

By Whitney Wild and Chandelis Duster, CNN

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“Plaintiffs and their fellow law enforcement officers risked their lives to defend the Capitol from a violent, mass attack — an attack provoked, aided, and joined by Defendants in an unlawful effort to use force, intimidation, and threats to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 Presidential election,” says the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday (full text) in US District Court for the District of Columbia.
“Because of Defendants’ unlawful actions, Plaintiffs were violently assaulted, spat on, tear-gassed, bear-sprayed, subjected to racial slurs and epithets, and put in fear for their lives,” the lawsuit says. “Plaintiffs’ injuries, which Defendants caused, persist to this day.”
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Judge orders sanctions against Sidney Powell, Lin Wood in Michigan election challenge | TheHill

BY HARPER NEIDIG

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A federal judge on Wednesday ordered sanctions against attorneys involved in bringing a legal challenge against Michigan’s 2020 election results, including Trump allies Sidney Powell and Lin Wood.

U.S. District Judge Linda Parker ordered the attorneys to pay the legal fees of the city and state elections officials involved in the case and referred them for further disciplinary action, including disbarment.

In a 110-page decision, Parker blasted the lawyers for seeking to undermine the election results with baseless claims of systemic election fraud.

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2 New York Judges Ordered Defendants to Get Vaccinated. Can They Do That? – The New York Times

By Jonah E. Bromwich

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The defendant was charged with a number of minor crimes, including drug possession and shoplifting. He was prepared to plead guilty, and prosecutors agreed. But a Bronx judge approving the deal added his own unusual condition.

The defendant had to get a Covid-19 vaccine.

A week later, a Manhattan judge made the same order, this time of a woman seeking bail before a trial.

Neither defendant appeared to object. But legal observers said the two judges’ orders — made in different courts and for different reasons — raise important questions about the line between civic responsibility and civil liberties.

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The Process Due When Rent Is Due: Residential Nonpayment Evictions in New York After COVID-19 – New York State Bar Association

By William J. Niebel

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This article will consider the New York nonpayment eviction process chronologically. It will first address the pre-commencement[5] notices to which tenants are entitled. Then it will discuss the court eviction proceeding and warrant[6] process, with an emphasis on tenant protections that are built into the law. Again, because some of these provisions are so new, this article will flesh out some arguments that are untested in the courts.
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How AI-powered tech landed man in jail with scant evidence–AP

By GARANCE BURKE, MARTHA MENDOZA, JULIET LINDERMAN and MICHAEL TARM

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Williams was jailed last August, accused of killing a young man from the neighborhood who asked him for a ride during a night of unrest over police brutality in May. But the key evidence against Williams didn’t come from an eyewitness or an informant; it came from a clip of noiseless security video showing a car driving through an intersection, and a loud bang picked up by a network of surveillance microphones. Prosecutors said technology powered by a secret algorithm that analyzed noises detected by the sensors indicated Williams shot and killed the man.
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Williams’ experience highlights the real-world impacts of society’s growing reliance on algorithms to help make consequential decisions about many aspects of public life. Nowhere is this more apparent than in law enforcement, which has turned to technology companies like gunshot detection firm ShotSpotter to battle crime. ShotSpotter evidence has increasingly been admitted in court cases around the country, now totaling some 200. ShotSpotter’s website says it’s “a leader in precision policing technology solutions” that helps stop gun violence by using “sensors, algorithms and artificial intelligence” to classify 14 million sounds in its proprietary database as gunshots or something else.
But an Associated Press investigation, based on a review of thousands of internal documents, emails, presentations and confidential contracts, along with interviews with dozens of public defenders in communities where ShotSpotter has been deployed, has identified a number of serious flaws in using ShotSpotter as evidentiary support for prosecutors.
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Another report…from the UK.

What to do if you’re concerned about the T-Mobile data breach – The Washington Post

By 

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This week, wireless carrier T-Mobile confirmed reports of a major data breach in which hackers obtained personal information belonging to more than 40 million past, present and potential customers.

And in a sign that the extent of the data breach is more severe than previously expected, T-Mobile on Friday confirmed that personal data belonging to an additional 5.3 million customers was obtained in the hack.

That means full names, date of birth, social security numbers, information from driver’s licenses as well as unique identifiers for customers’ phones were leaked, potentially putting millions of those at a greater risk of identify theft.

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New York officials call for Afghan refugee resettlement-NY State of Politics

BY NICK REISMAN 

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Officials in New York — from the state Legislature to the executive branch — are backing the resettlement of Afghan refugees in the state as the country’s government this week fell to the Taliban.

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is elevated to the governor’s office on Tuesday following the resignation of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, posted on Twitter Thursday that New York would welcome refugees leaving the country.

“When I served in Congress, I met with many Afghans when I traveled to their country,” she wrote. “They were there for us, now it’s time for us to help them.”

The state, she added, will be committed to welcome refugees.

“The arms of the Statue of Liberty are open wide to you,” Hochul wrote.

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Probate lawyers are taking steps to secure LGBTQ+ families’ rights in case Supreme Court limits them-ABA Journal

BY DANIELLE BRAFF

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t’s been a bumpy road for LGBTQ+ families, and that road may become even more gnarled because there is a conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Family law could look very different in the near future, especially for nontraditional families, who are concerned that their protections may not be as secure.

This is why many estate planners are advising that these clients create and make changes to their legal documents stat, says Matthew Erskine, managing partner and a trusts and estates attorney with Erskine & Erskine in Worcester, Massachusetts.

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The Jailhouse Lawyer’s Handbook | Center for Constitutional Rights

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Since 1974, the Jailhouse Lawyer’s Handbook has supported people who are incarcerated, their families, and advocates in challenging mistreatment and abuse in prisons. The Center for Constitutional Rights and the National Lawyers Guild launched an updated and revised version of the free resource in August 2021.

Read the 6th edition of the Jailhouse Lawyer’s Handbook on our new interactive platform, or download a PDF version.

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