Gunman who killed 1, injured 3 at San Diego-area synagogue gets life in prison
SAN DIEGO — With victims and their families watching in a crowded San Diego courtroom, the gunman who opened fire at a Poway synagogue in 2019, killing one worshipper and injuring three others, was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without parole.
It was the expected sentence for John T. Earnest, 22, who in July pleaded guilty in San Diego Superior Court, a deal that spared him a potential death sentence. Aside from life without parole, he also agreed to an additional 121 years to life sentence, plus 16 years.
Earnest had pleaded guilty to all charges filed against him, including murder, attempted murder and arson for setting fire outside an Escondido mosque a month before the Poway attack. He also admitted that both the shooting and the fire were hate crimes.
At the start of the hearing, Earnest’s attorney indicated that his client wanted to make a statement to the court, but Superior Court Judge Peter Deddeh refused.
“I don’t want this to be a platform for him to make white supremacist or racist statements,” Deddeh said. “I’m not going to let him use this as a platform to add to his celebrity.”
Deddeh also said Earnest was told he was not allowed to turn around and face the speakers — and there were about a dozen — when they gave their victim impact statements.
—The San Diego Union-Tribune
Appellate court allows Biden administration to keep expelling families under health law for now
A federal appellate court on Thursday temporarily granted the Biden administration’s request to continue the use of a public health order to quickly expel migrants with children who are stopped along the U.S. border.
A lower court had given the Biden administration until Thursday to limit use of the law, while immigrant and legal advocates proceeded with a lawsuit against it. The Trump administration had invoked the 1944 health statute, known as Title 42, to close the border to prevent people from entering the country, citing concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.
The case, brought in the District of Columbia by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups, focuses on families with children, meaning the administration can continue to expel single adults under the provision.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan found earlier this month that advocates were likely to succeed with their case. In a 58-page ruling, he wrote that migrant families subjected to Title 42 “face real threats of violence and persecution” and are deprived of statutory rights to seek protection in the U.S.
The administration swiftly appealed Sullivan’s Sept. 17 decision to the federal appellate court for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Wednesday’s decision by the panel of three judges to grant a stay of the lower court’s ruling for now doesn’t solve the case,but it offers an indication of how the circuit court could ultimately rule.
Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said he was disappointed by the ruling.
—Los Angeles Times
Judge approves $120 million sale of Surfside collapse site but bidding may not be over
MIAMI — A Miami-Dade Circuit judge on Thursday approved a sale agreement for the nearly 2-acre oceanside property where the12-story Champlain Towers South condo collapsed in Surfside, killing 98 people.
If no higher bids are approved, the property at 8777 Collins Ave. will be sold for $120 million and turned over to billionaire real estate developer Hussain Sajwani by spring 2022 for the construction of a new luxury high-rise. Sajwani, who owns the Dubai-based DAMAC Properties, is currently the lone bidder for the land and has signed a contract requiring he pay a $16 million deposit.
Despite some objections from family members of the victims over the speed of the sale process, the judge overseeing the fate of the property as part of a class-action lawsuit has sought to sell the property as quickly as possible in order to compensate property owners who lost their homes and the families of those who died in the June 24 collapse.
The sale agreement approved Thursday by Judge Michael Hanzman outlines a timeline for inspections of the property the buyer can conduct, a deadline for other potential buyers to make bids and, if competing bids are submitted, the protocols for an auction where the court-appointed receiver for the Champlain Towers South Condominium Association will recommend what bid Hanzman should approve. The $16 million deposit becomes nonrefundable following the 60-day inspection period.
David Rodan, whose brother and three cousins died in the collapse, lamented Thursday that the sales process had been “expedited” while he and other grieving family members try to rally public support to build a memorial on the land rather than another condo tower.
—Miami Herald
Sarkozy makes French history with second conviction in a year
Nicolas Sarkozy became France’s first ex-head of state to be convicted of a crime twice in one year after he was found guilty of deliberately breaking campaign-finance rules in his failed 2012 re-election bid.
The Paris criminal court ruled Thursday that Sarkozy brushed aside accountants’ warnings and knowingly exceeded spending limits in a bid to win over voters. Judge Caroline Viguier handed him a one-year sentence but his lawyer said he would appeal, which suspends its entry into force.
Sarkozy “had been warned in writing” by accountants yet “continued to host rallies,” allowing spending to spiral out of control, Viguier said. “It wasn’t his first campaign, he had experience as a candidate.”
In Thursday’s ruling, French judges said Sarkozy’s relentless campaigning racked up costs of around 42.7 million euros ($49.5 million), or about twice as much as was legally allowed. During the trial, Sarkozy denied all the allegations saying he had to defend his honor with “passion.”
It’s another humiliating defeat for Sarkozy who was convicted of corruption earlier this year. Despite this, he remains influential and well-liked among right-wing voters. Current president Emmanuel Macron and Sarkozy are on friendly terms, and members of his Les Republicains party are anxious to know who he will back in the 2022 presidential election.
Sarkozy didn’t appear in court on Thursday. His lawyer Thierry Herzog said to journalists his client intended to appeal, adding that he has been unfairly convicted to the maximum sentence.
—Bloomberg News
