A man in Manatee County, Florida, terrorized his pregnant girlfriend for days, physically assaulting not just her, but her two toddlers as well, say local deputies.

Anthony Jesus Reyes-Enos, 22, is currently sitting in jail without bond for charges including felony domestic battery by strangulation, aggravated battery on a pregnant woman, tampering with a 911 call, false imprisonment, and aggravated child abuse.

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Judiciary

Prosecutor who sent nude photos to federal judge ‘felt trapped,’ thought she had no choice, cited letter says

By Debra Cassens Weiss

December 11, 2024, 2:57 pm CST

An assistant U.S. attorney in Alaska said she felt “completely powerless” when then-U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Kindred of the District of Alaska asked for nude photos around the same time that he allegedly texted her about holding grudges and his power to help her win a nomination to the federal bench, according to documents unsealed Monday.

The assistant U.S. attorney’s allegations were revealed after Senior U.S. District Judge Marco A. Hernández of the District of Oregon unsealed his September order granting a new trial to a cyberstalking defendant. Kindred presided in the case, and the assistant U.S. attorney described as “AUSA 1” had some prosecution involvement.

“The specific, unusual and highly troubling facts of Judge Kindred’s interactions and relationship with AUSA 1 give rise to at least the appearance of impropriety,” Hernández wrote when he granted the new trial.

Hernández also unsealed a defense brief that cited the prosecutor’s August letter detailing her relationship with Kindred. The brief does not indicate the recipient of the letter but says it appears to be in response to Kindred’s July resignation and the filing of motions by the defense counsel.

Reuters and Law360 have coverage, while the Volokh Conspiracy published part of the opinion.

Kindred abruptly resigned from the federal bench in July after he was referred to the U.S. Judicial Conference for possible impeachment. The judicial council of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at San Francisco had requested the resignation after concluding that Kindred created a hostile work environment for his law clerks and had a “sexualized relationship” with one of them.

The May judicial council report also mentioned the federal prosecutor who sent nude photos to the judge.

A defense motion for a new trial in the cyberstalking case included information said to have been in the letter from “AUSA 1.” The redacted letter was disclosed to the defense by a federal prosecutor tapped to review Kindred’s cases and whether recusal might have been required.

Before she sent the photos, “AUSA 1” said, Kindred sent texts saying he found her attractive, and he had recommended her for a federal judgeship. Shortly before that, Kindred allegedly texted “AUSA 1” about anger issues and holding grudges.

Her letter said she felt pressured to send the photos, according to the defense motion.

“I felt trapped and believed I had no choice,” she wrote. She thought that she “had no other option because he has the power to ruin not only my career but my personal life, as well.”

The prosecutor made the accusations after saying in an earlier letter that her relationship with Kindred was purely professional, according to Hernández’s order.

The cyberstalking defendant was tried and convicted a second time last month, according to a Dec. 6 press release.

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Judge settles suit accusing lawyer of threatening to release her intimate photos in bid to scuttle deposition

By Debra Cassens Weiss

September 11, 2024, 10:46 am CDT

A Florida judge has settled her lawsuit against a lawyer she sued for allegedly trying to blackmail her with nude photos chronicling her pregnancy.

Lawyers for Judge Marni Bryson of the 15th Judicial Circuit in Florida settled her emotional-distress suit against lawyer William Scherer and his law firm, Conrad & Scherer, their lawyers told a judge during a Zoom hearing Monday. The settlement is confidential, Scherer told the ABA Journal in his only comment on the case.

Law360 covered the Sept. 9 hearing and published a story on the settlement resolving all claims, reached within weeks of the trial scheduled for Sept. 23.

Bryson had accused Scherer of sending another lawyer to her chambers to deliver the nude-photo threat during a post-divorce dispute between Bryson and her ex-husband. Scherer represented the ex-husband’s then-girlfriend, who was a “powerful lawyer/lobbyist,” according to a March 2021 story by the Florida Bulldog.

According to Bryson, she was told that her nude photos and other damaging information would be released if she insisted on taking a deposition of the then-girlfriend. She sought punitive damages against the defendants.

In an Aug. 13 motion for summary judgment, Scherer had alleged that Bryson presented no evidence of a threat, let alone any “outrageous” threat by an emissary, who was a lawyer who previously advised Bryson.

Scherer’s motion said he met with the lawyer and suggested that Bryson had to know the kind of information that would come out if the then-girlfriend was deposed, so that Bryson could decide whether to proceed. The lawyer then recounted his conversation with Scherer to Bryson, the motion says.

The alleged information possessed by the then-girlfriend included a nude photo of Bryson that the judge allegedly sent to the then-girlfriend’s ex-husband after they began a friendly relationship, the motion says. According to previous coverage by the Florida Bulldog, the nude photo allegedly showed Bryson’s pregnancy.

On Aug. 19, Bryson filed a motion in limine seeking to keep alleged “bad acts” out of evidence in the upcoming trial on the ground that they are “irrelevant and immaterial.” Scherer and his firm “have attempted to distract from the central issues in this case by making a number of irrelevant allegations to smear Judge Bryson,” the motion says.

The evidence that should be excluded includes “post-divorce bickering,” the people to whom Bryson sent photos, and “such irrelevant issues as who was sleeping with who,” the motion says.

In a footnote, the motion says one of the photos produced by the defendants “is an image of a vagina that is not Judge Bryson’s,” and “there is no conceivable basis for this image becoming part of the trial.”

Judge William L. Roby of the 19th Judicial Circuit in Florida denied the summary judgment motion Sept. 5 because it was filed too late. The Sept. 9 Zoom hearing was happening to consider Bryson’s motion to exclude evidence.

Oliver M. Birman, a lawyer representing Bryson, chose not to comment to the Journal. Gail A. McQuilkin, a lawyer representing Scherer, did not immediately respond to the Journal’s emailed request for comment. Bryson did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.