A California man was found guilty this month of first-degree murder for killing a 17-year-old in Oakland while on an “escalating” crime spree that included carjackings, robberies and urinating on the grave of one of the victim’s friends for an Instagram video, according to prosecutors.

Jacobi Gaines, 23, was also convicted of three counts of gun possession, carjacking, robbery, vehicle theft and assault with a deadly weapon in connection to his six-week crime spree back at the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020 — culminating in the murder of Hasan Humphries, according to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, which announced the conviction in a Friday press release.

A 10-count indictment has been unsealed in a murder and insurance fraud case out of New Orleans, in which lawyers and residents are accused of orchestrating “staged collisions” around the Crescent City for money — with paid “spotters,” “slammers” and “runners” in on the take — and one of the alleged schemers being killed off for talking to cops, according to federal prosecutors.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office unsealed the indictment this week and listed charges for New Orleans residents Ryan “Red” Harris, 36; Sean Alfortish, 57; Vanessa Motta, 43; Jason Giles, 45; Leon “Chunky” Parker, 51; Diaminike Stalbert, 34; Carl Morgan, 66; and Timara Lawrence, 34; as well as the local law firms Motta Law, LLC, and The King Firm, LLC.

Giles and Motta are both attorneys based in the Big Easy, while Alfortish — Motta’s fiance — is disbarred.

Charges were first filed in the homicide and insurance fraud case back in May against Harris and his girlfriend, Jovanna Gardner, 39, of Chalmette, Louisiana for first-degree murder of a government cooperator after the alleged widespread fraud conspiracy was uncovered. Several others who were involved have pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, including convicted “slammer” Damian Labeaud, who is scheduled to be sentenced in January, and his partner Roderick Hickam. Prosecutors initially declined to release the identities of the lawyers and firms that were allegedly involved.

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Judiciary

Judge accused of ‘casual and illegal use’ of contempt power; crime victim cuffed

By Debra Cassens Weiss

October 23, 2024, 10:45 am CDT

A Florida judge has been accused of conducting “improper or legally deficient” contempt proceedings in which she ordered the handcuffing of a crime victim and the jailing of the mother of traumatized, truant children.

The Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission accused Judge Anne Marie Gennusa of Putnam County, Florida, of violating ethics rules in an Oct. 21 complaint.

Gennusa has practiced law for 29 years, yet she blamed deficient proceedings on the fact that she hadn’t yet attended the Florida Judicial College, the ethics complaint said. In one case, she also said she had been vomiting with a fever prior to ordering the handcuffing of a misdemeanor battery defendant and the alleged victim.

The ethics complaint accuses Gennusa of “casual and illegal use” of her contempt power in these three cases.

  • State v. Boone: In January, Gennusa held a misdemeanor battery defendant and an alleged victim in contempt after they twice argued in open court. The victim was handcuffed in court and held in custody for nearly three hours.

After the defendant and the victim argued the first time, Gennusa told the defendant that he was acting disrespectful.

“This is not The Jerry Springer Show,” she said, and, he can’t “lash out” and say whatever he wants. The defendant protested, “I’m not lashing. This ain’t no lashing out. Lash out I’m going to get loud on you.” Gennusa replied, “You gonna get loud on me?” and ordered the defendant taken into custody until after lunch.

When the prosecutor asked whether the victim should remain, Gennusa replied that she wouldn’t accept a plea because it appeared that the victim would not accept a plea. At that point, the victim spoke up from the gallery, saying, “I never said I did not want the plea.” The defendant and the victim began arguing again.

Gennusa then admonished the victim and asked whether the prosecutor wanted to speak with the victim. During the conversation with the prosecutor, the victim said she was getting irritated, she didn’t like being spoken to like a child, and she didn’t understand what was going on. Gennusa overheard the conversation and ordered the victim taken into custody until after lunch.

  • In re: M.R.A., J.F.A.: In November 2023, Gennusa held the mother of three truant children in contempt and sentenced her to 10 days in jail. Gennusa had claimed that the mother’s conduct was “belligerent” and “deplorable,” but the hearing recording did not support the assessment, the ethics complaint said.

The mother had violated a court order for her children to attend a specific school program. The mother said the children weren’t in school because their maternal grandfather had recently been murdered by the children’s father. Gennusa interrupted the mother and said, “I get all that, but that’s not a reason for the kids not to go to school.”

The mother said one of the children had witnessed the murder and had to go out of town to speak with the investigating detective.

“My kids are mentally unstable to go right now, and you’re not understanding, their father is gone,” the mother said. Gennusa said an order was already in place.

Gennusa also scolded the mother when she talked about a different case and when she nodded during testimony by the school truancy counselor.

“You’re shaking your head like you’ve done something wonderful,” Gennusa said, “and you haven’t. You’ve failed to comply with the court’s order.” She sentenced the mother to jail after a court recess.

  • State v. Morrison: In November 2023, Gennusa sentenced a misdemeanor defendant to 60 days in jail after he told a courtroom deputy to “Go f- – – yourself.” The deputy had asked the defendant to remove his hat and leave the courtroom when his cellphone rang.

Gennusa held the man in contempt before asking him to explain his comment. The man then asked for “a little bit of grace” because he had a stressful week and had just obtained his first “career job” in hopes of getting his daughter back. Gennusa sentenced the man to jail as he was crying.

The ethics charges said Gennusa’s behavior and use of her contempt power “raise serious questions about your fitness to serve as a judicial officer.”

Law360 and the Jacksonville Florida Times-Union have coverage of the charges.

Gennusa was appointed to the court last year and is running for reelection in November, according to the Jacksonville Florida Times-Union.

Her lawyer, Warren Lindsey, told the Jacksonville Florida Times-Union that Gennusa “has served the Putnam County community with great distinction since her appointment to the county court bench. … She is an excellent judge and person. However, the rules do not allow her to respond to the allegations except in legal filings, which will be submitted in the near future.”

A Republican running for an Indiana House of Representatives seat was arrested early Monday morning on the eve of Election Day for commenting on a Facebook post made by someone who has a protective order against him, according to police.

GOP candidate Jim Schenke, who is running to unseat District 26 House Rep. Chris Campbell, was booked on a preliminary invasion of privacy charge at 6:10 a.m. Monday, according to the Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Office. Records show he was released after paying a cash bond of $250.

A man accused of shooting and killing a woman in Tennessee earlier this week allegedly lingered around the scene of the crime until well after police arrived, according to one witness.

Paul S. Park, 29, stands accused of one count of criminal homicide, according to Davidson County Sheriff’s Office records.

The defendant is alleged to have killed Alyssa Lokits, 34, on Monday evening while she was working out at the Mill Creek Greenway — a multi-purpose urban trail in the Antioch neighborhood of Nashville.

Afterward, the alleged killer is believed to have feigned ignorance about the shooting during a brief chat with another woman nearby.

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Ethics

Is ex-DOJ official facing ethics trial for ‘thought crime’? His election-fraud letter was based on sincerely held belief, lawyer says

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 27, 2024, 10:01 am CDT

A former Department of Justice official accused of drafting a letter with false allegations of election fraud that he hoped to send to Georgia officials did not violate ethics rules, his lawyer said at a disciplinary hearing Tuesday.

Jeffrey Clark, who was the acting chief of the DOJ’s Civil Division, is facing ethics charges for “”what amounts to a thought crime,” Clark’s lawyer, Harry W. MacDougald, said in an opening statement Tuesday.

Law360 reported the remark. The Washington Post, Legal Ethics Roundup, Law.com and Reuters are among the other publications with hearing coverage.

Clark had asked other department officials to sign the letter, but they refused, according to the charges by the District of Columbia Office of Disciplinary Counsel. Clark then told those officials that former President Donald Trump had offered him the job of acting U.S. attorney general, and he was thinking of accepting it if the letter was not sent.

The two officials, then-Acting Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen and then-Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, told Trump that he should expect all the assistant attorneys general to resign if Clark became the acting attorney general. Clark did not get the job.

Clark’s draft letter claimed that the DOJ had “identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple states, including the state of Georgia.”

Hamilton P. “Phil” Fox III, the lead prosecuting attorney in the discipline case, said Tuesday during the hearing Clark engaged in “coercive tactics to get this letter sent” and what he was trying to do “was essentially a coup at the Department of Justice,” according to Law360.

MacDougald emphasized that the letter was never sent, the Washington Post reports.

“This was an internal debate and an internal disagreement. The letter was never released by Mr. Clark or by the president,” he said. “Mr. Clark did nothing wrong in having a different opinion from his Justice superiors, especially when it was sincerely held, as the evidence will show.”

Clark is also facing criminal charges in the Georgia election-interference case against Trump.

The ethics charges allege that Clark tried to engage in conduct involving dishonesty by trying to send the letter with false statements, and that Clark tried to engage in conduct that would seriously interfere with the administration of justice.

The hearing, which is streaming live on YouTube, is happening before a committee of the D.C. Bar’s Board on Professional Responsibility, which will make a recommendation to the full board if it finds ethics violations, Reuters explains. After action by the full board, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals has the final say on discipline.

The man seen on video attacking an Asian woman in front of a Manhattan apartment building was sentenced on Wednesday to 15 years in a New York prison to be followed by five years of supervised release, according to CBS News. The defendant, Brandon Elliot, already spent time in jail for stabbing his mother in 2002 and was released on lifetime parole in 2019.

The survivor of the 2021 attack in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, Vilma Kari, was reportedly heading to church that day when Elliot kicked her to the ground and repeatedly stomped on her.

Over the past year and a half, CBS News has spoken to nearly two dozen survivors from all branches of the armed service who say their allegations were brushed aside — or even met with retaliation. Norah O’Donnell reports.

In part four of a CBS News investigation into domestic violence in the military, a former Army attorney said the crisis has only compounded after 20 years of war. Norah O’Donnell has more.