Thursday, November 14, 2019
The Vermont Attorney General's Office will charge Jason Lawton, the former St. Albans police officer who punched a handcuffed woman in the face, with simple assault, Vermont State Police announced.
Lawton was arrested and processed Thursday morning after a "lengthy investigation," state police said in a press release. The St. Albans Police Department cooperated in the probe, state police said.
Lawton will be arraigned November 18 in Franklin County Superior Court for the misdemeanor charge. He faces up to a year in jail and $1,000 in fines.
Tags: Jason Lawton , St. Albans police , Gary Taylor , Amy Connelly , punch , simple assault , Web Only , Image , Video
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
The case, heard by Massachusetts U.S. District Judge Denise J. Casper, involved 11 plaintiffs who were searched at ports of entry around the U.S. That includes the Vermont-Québec border, where Ghassan and Nadia Alasaad were detained for six hours along with their 11-year-old daughter while traveling on a family vacation two years ago. The Alasaads are naturalized U.S. citizens who live in Massachusetts.
Esha Bhandari, staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, said in a press release that the ruling “significantly advances Fourth Amendment protections" for millions of international travelers who enter the country each year.
Tags: border patrol , immigration , President Donald Trump , ICE , lawsuit , electronic searches , Web Only , Image
Friday, November 8, 2019
The Burlington police officer who punched a man who later died will not face criminal charges, Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan said at a press conference Friday attended by the man’s family.
Donovan said Officer Cory Campbell was legally justified when he delivered three blows to Douglas Kilburn's face during a March 11 argument outside of the emergency room at the University of Vermont Medical Center.
The attorney general called the case “troubling,” however, and faulted the cop for “antagonistic” actions that provoked Kilburn, in poor mental and physical health at the time, to lash out. Donovan called for continued police training on ways to deescalate tense situations.
The AG said he based his decision on conclusions by a national use-of-force expert, who found that Campbell had acted in self-defense because Kilburn swung at the officer first.
“This was a tragic situation that, frankly, could have been avoided,” Donovan said.
Tags: Cory Campbell , Douglas Kilburn , T.J. Donovan , Brandon del Pozo , use of force , medical examiner , Burlington Police Department , Web Only , Image
Friday, October 4, 2019
The unanimous decision, authored by Associate Justice Beth Robinson, reverses portions of a lower court ruling that, in April 2018, dismissed the lawsuit. The high court's decision means the case can proceed against the state Agency of Commerce and Community Development and two men who ran its EB-5 investor visa program, James Candido and Brent Raymond.
At issue is whether the state bears responsibility for a $200 million fraud allegedly perpetrated by Jay Peak Resort owner Ariel Quiros and several of his business partners. In 2016, federal authorities accused them of operating a "Ponzi-like" scheme and, in May, filed criminal charges against them.
In a June 2017 lawsuit, Tony Sutton and other project investors argued that the state was complicit in the fraud — or at least negligently enabled it. Sutton and the others invested in the developments through the federal EB-5 program, which provides green cards to those who contribute at least $500,000 to qualified projects. In an unusual arrangement, the state operated the "regional center" charged with overseeing Vermont-based EB-5 developments, which made them more attractive to potential investors.
Tags: EB-5 , Vermont , Supreme Court , Tony Sutton , James Candido , Brent Raymond , Web Only , Image
Monday, September 30, 2019
Caledonia County State's Attorney Lisa Warren will preside over trial courts in the Northeast Kingdom and Washington County, replacing retired judge Dennis Pearson. Kerry Ann McDonald-Cady, a deputy state's attorney in Windham County, will be assigned to Rutland and Bennington counties. She replaces former judge David Howard.
In a press release, Scott praised the prosecutors' "record of sound legal judgement to ensure justice, which protects the vulnerable and upholds public safety."
Tags: Vermont Superior Court , Gov. Phil Scott , Lisa Warren , Kerry Ann McDonald-Cady , Judicial Nominating Board , Web Only , Image
Thursday, September 26, 2019
A fourth man has been charged in connection with the alleged harassment of Addison County farmworkers. Unlike the first three men, Chase Atkins, 24, of Addison, faces a hate-crime offense.
Vermont State Police said Thursday that Atkins deflated the tires on the vehicle of a Migrant Justice employee who was visiting a farm and later left a threatening voicemail for the immigrant-advocacy organization.
State prosecutors in Addison County charged Atkins with disturbing the peace by phone, a misdemeanor, with a hate-crime enhancement for the voicemail. Atkins was not charged for the flat tires because they were undamaged and could be reinflated, VSP spokesperson Adam Silverman said, summarizing the state's attorney's reasoning.
Tags: Farm feuds , migrant justice , hate crime , vandalism , bridport , vermont state police , Web Only , Image
Friday, September 13, 2019
In handcuffs and leg shackles, Aita Gurung spent the hourlong session staring straight ahead as prosecutors and his defense team argued about whether he should be kept in the custody of the state’s Department of Mental Health or Department of Corrections as his case progresses.
He’s been kept in a "locked, secure facility" since his arrest in October 2017, first at the Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital in Berlin and recently at a facility in Middlesex, his public defender, Sandra Lee, said during the arraignment. She argued for keeping him there.
“It is uncontested that he suffers from a severe mental illness, judge,” Lee said. “And the humane, fair way to address this issue is to have close court oversight and allow the court the opportunity to determine if jail is really necessary before putting him through that for charges that were dismissed previously by the State of Vermont.”
Tags: Aita Gurung , Burlington , meat cleaver , murder , T.J. Donovan , Web Only , Image
In its 3-2 ruling, the state’s highest court reversed a decision by Washington Superior Court Judge Mary Miles Teachout, sided with Burlington man Reed Doyle and declared “that state agencies may not charge for staff time spent responding to requests to inspect public records pursuant to the [Public Records Act].”
In 2017, Doyle claimed to have witnessed a Queen City officer use excessive force against young teens in Roosevelt Park. He sought a court order requiring the department to let him view body camera footage from the incident without charge.
But the department denied the request. When Doyle appealed the decision, Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo agreed to let him view a redacted version of the video. But altering the footage would require making a copy of the original. That would require staff time for which Doyle would need to pay, del Pozo said at the time.
Tags: body camera , Burlington , police , Vermont Supreme Court , Reed Doyle , Web Only , Image
Thursday, September 12, 2019
Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan has refiled murder and attempted murder charges against a man who allegedly hacked his wife to death with a meat cleaver in Burlington in 2017.
The move comes three months after Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George dropped the same charges against Aita Gurung, who had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. In declining to prosecute the case in early June, George said she had concluded the defendant was legally insane at the time of the crime and would not be found guilty of the charges at trial.
She did the same for two other defendants — one in a murder and the other in an attempted murder case.
But two days after George's decision, on June 6, Gov. Phil Scott asked Donovan to review the cases, saying he was “at a loss as to the logic or strategy” behind the decision to drop the charges.
Tags: T.J. Donovan , Attorney General , Vermont. murder , charges , refiled , dismissed , Sarah George , Phil Scott , governor , Chittenden County State's Attorney , Web Only , Image
The Connecticut-based company reportedly reached a tentative agreement on Wednesday with half of the states and local governments that have filed suit against the OxyContin maker and its owners, the Sacklers. That deal “would have Purdue file for a structured bankruptcy and pay as much as $12 billion over time, with about $3 billion coming from the Sackler family,” the Associated Press reported.
But on Thursday morning, Donovan said in a statement that the state rejected the offer because the amount of money to be paid is not yet settled, and the deal “is not fully developed and we want to be certain that any benefit is not illusory.”
“Vermont demands more certainty and guarantees regarding the money in order to effectively address the opioids crisis in Vermont,” Donovan wrote.
The AG also blasted the idea of the company declaring bankruptcy, saying the business could shutter and sell its assets instead.
“I want to be sure that billionaires can’t use bankruptcy court as a vehicle to avoid accountability,” Donovan wrote.
Tags: Vermont , Purdue Pharma , settlement , reject , T.J. Donovan , attorney general , drugs , OxyContin , Sackler family , Web Only , Image