A Florida minister allegedly killed a mother and seriously injured three of her children — ages 4, 6 and 15 — in a wrong-way car crash just six hours after he was released from jail for a DUI arrest, cops say.

Nicholas Betancourt, 33, is facing nearly a dozen charges, including DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide, for the Feb. 27 crash in Odessa that took the life of Dana Maria Rivera, 36, and left three of her children hospitalized, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. The mother-of-four was driving southbound on Gunn Highway near Dolce Vita Lane when Betancourt, who was driving a Chrysler Pacifica minivan, allegedly drifted over from the northbound lane and slammed into her Lincoln Town car.

Police say Betancourt, who was arrested on Thursday, was “on the nod” after the crash occurred, according to a motion filed by prosecutors for pretrial detention, with deputies who responded saying he appeared intoxicated.

“Deputy Garcia made contact with Defendant on scene and observed the defendant to be ‘on the nod’ with his head falling down and his eyes droopy,” the motion said. “Dash camera footage recovered shows the Pacifica operated by Defendant leaving its lane of travel and entering into the lane of travel for the Town Car at the time of the crash.”

Authorities in Colorado arrested three people and are looking for a fourth after they allegedly attacked and beat up their roommate before holding him captive for several hours.

Deputies from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office responded around 10 a.m. Monday to the Saint Anthony’s Medical Center in Lakewood, just outside Denver. A 45-year-old man in the emergency room had a horrifying ordeal to tell. He said he had been tied up and beaten over 14 hours by his roommates. According to a probable cause arrest affidavit, he told deputies he had lived in a home in the 4700 block of South Oak Court for a couple of weeks.

More from Law&Crime: Man convinces college student to give him ride after his ‘car broke down,’ then attacks woman with razor, cops say

The man said he was in a bedroom in a basement when he overheard his roommates — later identified as 49-year-old Jason Carlson, 48-year-old Sherell Allen, 39-year-old Jimmy Ray Smith II and 41-year-old Luke Anaya — were planning on attacking him, officials said. He first tried to crawl out of a window. When that didn’t work, he barricaded himself in the room by putting items in front of the door. But moments later, the men allegedly broke through the door and fired rock salt at him from airsoft-type guns. They then began assaulting him, the affidavit said.

Smith put his boot on the victim’s throat and applied enough pleasure to “cause him to lose consciousness,” cops wrote. The suspects allegedly bound him to a chair with zip ties and electrical tape. As he was tied down, the roommates “took turns” whacking the victim’s knees with a baseball bat. Then, Carlson poured rubbing alcohol on the victim’s face before “lighting the liquid on fire,” the affidavit said.

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3. 5th Circuit rules for prisoner allowed to…

Eighth Amendment

5th Circuit rules for prisoner allowed to sleep no more than 3.5 hours per night

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 26, 2024, 3:10 pm CDT

A sleep-deprived prisoner can show that his treatment constituted cruel and unusual punishment without proving that his health issues stemmed from the restricted bedtime hours, a federal appeals court has ruled.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans ruled for Texas inmate Michael Garrett in a March 22 opinion. He is incarcerated in the Estelle Unit in Huntsville, Texas, where inmates are afforded only three and a half hours of sleep per night.

Bedtime is 10:30 p.m., and breakfast begins at about 2 a.m. But sleep is not continuous. The prison conducts an inmate count at 1 a.m.

The author of the March 22 opinion is Judge Edith Brown Clement, an appointee of former President George W. Bush. Her opinion was joined by two appointees of former President Donald Trump, Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt and Judge Andrew S. Oldham.

Garrett suffers from migraines, seizures, vertigo, a skin condition, edema, hypertension and kidney disease.

A federal judge had ruled against Garrett for two reasons. First, the judge said, Garrett didn’t prove a substantial risk of serious harm because he didn’t show a cause-and-effect relationship between the sleep deprivation and his health complaints. Second, the judge said, Garrett hadn’t established deliberate indifference by prison officials because the schedule was based on a legitimate penological interest.

The 5th Circuit said the judge was wrong on both issues.

A prisoner only had to show a substantial risk of serious harm, not actual harm, the appeals court said. And, under U.S. Supreme Court precedent, a prison’s penological purpose has no bearing on conditions-of-confinement claims, the appeals court said.

The case returns to the district court for application of the correct legal standards, according to a March 25 press release by Haynes Boone, which represented Garrett on a pro bono basis.

“This ruling marks an important victory and key step in Mr. Garrett’s decadelong quest for an ordinary night’s sleep,” said Hanes Boone associate Chris Knight in the press release.

He argued the case before the 5th Circuit in December.

The case is also important, Knight said, because it abrogates 5th Circuit decisions that had applied the wrong standard.

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3. BigLaw associates ‘have never had it better;’…

Associates

BigLaw associates ‘have never had it better;’ they are working fewer hours, survey says, and making more money

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 1, 2024, 12:56 pm CST

Lawyer head count is growing, while productivity is declining, according to a year-end survey of more than 130 larger law firms released this week by Wells Fargo’s Legal Specialty Group.

The survey showed that the number of lawyers is up 2.8% for 2023, while productivity is down 2.1% for 2023, which amounts to 1,542 billable hours per lawyer for the year, according to a survey summary provided by Wells Fargo.

A Big Law Business column from Bloomberg Law emphasized the findings.

“Associates have never had it better than they do right now,” wrote Big Law Business columnist Roy Strom. “BigLaw associates have never logged fewer hours and never brought home bigger paychecks. Who doesn’t like working less and getting paid more?”

Many BigLaw firms increased associate pay in late 2023. Paychecks typically range from $225,000 for the class of 2023 to $435,000 for the most senior associates—and that doesn’t include bonuses.

The Wells Fargo survey gathered information from more than 130 firms, including 70 Am Law 100 firms (representing the nation’s top 100 grossing firms) and 35 Second Hundred firms (ranked 101 to 200 by revenue). The remainder were regional firms.

Strom looked at information provided by firms in the Am Law 100.

“Lawyers at those top firms billed an average of 1,551 hours last year,” Strom wrote. “That’s down from an all-time peak in 2021 of 1,683 hours, Wells Fargo data show. It might not sound like much. It works out to about 2.5 hours of extra time per week. Hit the Peloton, go see a movie, give yourself a little treat.”

Owen Burman, managing director of Wells Fargo’s Legal Specialty Group, told Strom that the decline in productivity didn’t lead to a large number of layoffs because of increased billing rates.

Burman told Law360 that the outlook for firms in 2024 is “pretty positive” at this point. He cited increases in billing rates and demand and noted that firms have a lot of work in progress.

Other publications covering the survey include Law.com, Reuters and another Bloomberg Law story.

Wells Fargo also found, regarding all the firms surveyed, that:

  • Standard billing rates increased 8.3% in 2023.

  • Revenues increased 6% in 2023, double the 2022 growth rate of 3%.

  • Net income increased 5.9% in 2023, compared to a 3.1% decrease in 2022.

  • Profits per equity partner increased by 4.9% in 2023.

  • Expense growth eased to 6% in 2023, down from double digit growth posted in the first nine months of 2022.