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LA archdiocese settles 45 abuse cases
GILLIAN FLACCUS
01 Dec 2006 6:52 pm
The nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese said Friday it will pay $60 million to settle 45 sex abuse lawsuits, the largest payout yet by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and among the biggest resulting from the molestation crisis that's plagued the church. The cases were among more than 500 abuse claims pending against the Los Angeles Archdiocese.
"It's a day of healing and reconciliation as we move forward with these 45 cases," Cardinal Roger Mahony told The Associated Press. "This is very special for these victims in their moment of healing."
The claims settled Friday involve 22 priests and include allegations from two periods when the archdiocese had limited or no insurance against sexual abuse claims — prior to the mid-1950s and after 1987.
Mahony said $40 million of the payment would come from the archdiocese, while $20 million would be from religious orders plus a small amount of independent insurance coverage.
Negotiations on the deal had been in progress for at least a year but were held up because attorneys for the plaintiffs wanted the church to release the accused priests' private personnel files.
The agreement calls for an independent judge to review those files and decide which documents can be released to the alleged victims. That process is expected to take several months.
Ray Boucher, the lead plaintiffs' attorney, said the settlement was the largest the Los Angeles Archdiocese had reached "by far." Boucher said at least two plaintiffs had died while awaiting the resolution.
"I wasn't certain we would ever get it done, but thankfully 45 very injured people will have a chance to begin to heal, particularly at this time of the year," he said. "The big concern is the 700 or 800 victims who are out there who still have claims pending."
Judge won't block predator law
Hudson Sangree
18 Nov 2006 12:00 am
A federal judge on Friday refused to block the enforcement of California's new sexual predator law but granted a degree of protection to one man who feared authorities might evict him from his home.
In Sacramento, U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ordered government lawyers to give the court 14 days' notice if they planned to force a registered sex offender, known only as John Doe, to move from his residence.
The man has sued state and local officials, saying enforcement of Proposition 83 would strip him of his constitutional rights.
Approved by voters last week, the measure prohibits registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park. Thousands of sex offenders could be forced to relocate if the law were to be applied retroactively.
Lawyers representing the state and the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office told the judge they had no plans to enforce the law against those convicted before the measure took effect Nov. 8.
"The problem is, I believe you," Karlton told the government lawyers.
But the judge said he worried that law enforcement officials could suddenly change their plans to enforce the law.
"Tomorrow it may not be your position again," he told the attorneys.
Karlton refused to grant the temporary restraining order requested by attorney Scott Wippert but scheduled a Dec. 18 hearing to consider a preliminary injunction against the law.
Beatings reveal O.C. jail policy leaving sex suspects vulnerable
Garrett Therolf
15 Nov 2006 12:00 am
Orange County jails are the only ones among the state's five largest jail systems that do not automatically provide protective custody to inmates accused of sex crimes involving children, leaving them vulnerable to attacks like the one last month in which a prisoner was beaten to death.
A second inmate, awaiting trial on charges of child molestation, was severely beaten in June and has just recently been released -- brain-damaged, according to his family -- after five months in a hospital.
The Sheriff's Department's decision to pull back protection for child molestation and child pornography possession suspects -- perhaps those most despised by other prisoners -- occurred sometime in the last three years, according to two law enforcement sources with knowledge of the situation.
The two recent incidents have brought attention to the change of policy. Because of the change, inmates at Theo Lacy Jail in Orange were able to fatally beat John Chamberlain, accused of possessing child pornography, on Oct. 5. At the Central Men's Jail in Santa Ana, another group of inmates severely pummeled suspected child molester Fernando Ramirez in June.
"I'm not surprised," said San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey, whose jails segregate those accused of sex crimes involving children. "They are vulnerable, so we treat them as potential targets. "I can imagine how a different policy would create problems."
The Orange County policy calls for such inmates to be placed in protective custody if jailers learn the prisoner is in danger, according to sheriff's spokesman Ryan Burris.
Top officials in the Sheriff's Department refused to comment on whether a policy change had occurred or to provide other details about it. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak.
Attacks in jails on suspected child molesters have been a problem elsewhere. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in 1998 investigated allegations that deputies encouraged inmates to beat 13 accused sex offenders while in custody.
Sex crimes are issue on state ballot
Kimberly K. Fu
04 Nov 2006 6:40 am
It could be said that sex crimes, particularly those committed against children, are the most abhorrent of all violations, and that those convicted of such crimes are the most heinous of all criminals.
At the polls on Tuesday voters will decide the fate of Proposition 83, also known as Jessica's Law, a proposal lawmakers and Solano law enforcement leaders say would strengthen laws against such and make communities safer.
Police chiefs in Vacaville, Fairfield and Dixon all agree that laws governing sex offenders - 565 of which are registered in Solano County, according to the Department of Justice - need to be more stringent. There's always the potential for these offenders to re-offend, the chiefs said, and any legislative aid would greatly aid public safety efforts.
"There's no one strike, two strikes, three strikes," said Fairfield interim police Chief Burney Matthews regarding Jessica's Law. "There's only one strike, you're out."
Vacaville's top cop said he delved into opposing arguments, but felt the good about Prop. 83 outweighed any challenges that may arise.
"It will likely have its problems but, on the whole, it'll balance," Vacaville Chief Richard Word said.
Opponents of the proposition say it will cause an additional drain on police resources, punish more offenders convicted of misdemeanor and nonviolent crimes including statutory rape, force offenders to reside in rural areas with smaller police forces and saddle taxpayers with a cost of tens of millions of dollars per year.
Area chiefs expressed concern that the residential restriction could cause bleed over into their communities and that the lifetime GPS monitoring could have a significant impact on city budgets.
They hastened to add, though, that the ability to ensure the community's safety is well worth any cost.
Sex offender must remain in custody despite castration
02 Nov 2006 12:00 am
A sex offender must remain in custody even though he was chemically and surgically castrated after admitting to molesting 15 teenagers. A state appellate court in Fresno ruled yesterday that Edward Flores could still commit sex crimes.
The 46-year-old was sentenced to a state hospital in 1997 under the state's sexually violent predator commitment law following several convictions.
A jury ruled in 2005 that Flores was likely to commit more sex crimes even after being castrated. But defense lawyers filed an appeal saying medical tests showed he could no longer be sexually aroused.
Most second-time child sex offenders are required to undergo chemical castration to reduce sexual impulses through drugs. Surgical castration removes the testicles to stop the production of sex hormones.
Examining Domestic Violence: White ribbons show pledge over violence
WILL OREMUS
27 Oct 2006 12:00 am
The most visible part that men play in domestic violence cases is that of abuser. Backed by a macho culture that celebrates power, some men lash out when they think their control in a relationship is threatened, and the results can be devastating for female victims.
Many domestic violence-related programs are dedicated to helping women escape from abusive relationships. But a growing number are taking a harder look at the less-obvious roles men play, from victim to recovering batterer to anti-violence activist.
Of the 23 jury trials involving domestic violence cases in San Mateo County in 2006, four, or about 17 percent, have been female-against-male, said Deputy District Attorney Karen Guidotti, who leads the office’s domestic violence unit. The numbers were similar in 2005.
“An inability to control one’s temper doesn’t travel with the Y chromosome,” Guidotti said.
In a dramatic example, 29-year-old Nan Yang was convicted last month in Santa Clara County of fatally stabbing developer Birk McCandless, namesake of Birk’s Restaurant in Santa Clara. McCandless, 57, was reportedly trying to end a relationship with her.
Yang also was convicted of abusing previous boyfriends. She faces 15 years to life and will be sentenced in November.
Male-victim cases run the gamut in regard to the nature and severity of abuse, said Dan Nishigaya, supervising deputy district attorney for Santa Clara County.
“We see it across all genders, same-sex and heterosexual, all socioeconomic classes, and all racial and economic backgrounds,” he said.
While experts say domestic violence is chronically under-reported, the problem may be more severe among male victims, Guidotti said, due to what he called the “shame factor.”
The need to counter this attitude is part of the motivation behind the White Ribbon Campaign, an international program instituted statewide this year with the passage of a resolution authored by Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Leland Yee, D-San Francisco/Daly City. The campaign calls on men to wear white ribbons and sign a pledge not to commit, condone or remain silent about domestic violence.
Karr child porn charges dismissed
KIM CURTIS
05 Oct 2006 2:25 pm
A judge dismissed child pornography charges Thursday against former JonBenet Ramsey murder suspect John Mark Karr after prosecutors said they didn't have enough evidence to take the case to trial.
Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Rene Chouteau ordered Karr released immediately, bringing an end to his two-month odyssey in the U.S. criminal justice system after he was extradited from Thailand on suspicion of killing the 6-year-old beauty queen.
The misdemeanor pornography case fell apart almost as quickly, as investigators admitted losing vital computer evidence that was seized from Karr in April 2001 when he was working as a substitute teacher in Sonoma and Napa counties.
Defense lawyers tried twice unsuccessfully to get the charges dismissed and were seeking to have evidence barred from trial when prosecutors gave up.
Prosecutors acknowledged that if Karr were convicted he would not have served any additional time in jail, because he spent several months behind bars awaiting trial in 2001. They said they were seeking to have him register as a sex offender.
Karr, who moved to California from Alabama with his wife and three sons, first came to the attention of Sonoma County officials after an informant told authorities about alarming e-mails he had been sending her.
Gov. Schwarzenegger declares prison emergency to alleviate crowding with inmate transfers
Associated Press
05 Oct 2006 9:22 am
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency Wednesday in California's critically crowded prisons, a step that allows him to use his executive powers to ship inmates to other states.
The move comes five weeks after state lawmakers failed to act on a $6 billion prison construction plan Schwarzenegger sought after calling a special session of the Legislature.
"Our prisons are now beyond maximum capacity, and we must act immediately and aggressively to resolve this issue," Schwarzenegger said in a statement.
California has the nation's largest state prison population with 172,000 inmates. Its prison system is about 70 percent over capacity. Without swift action, the prisons will run out of bed space as early as June, according to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Schwarzenegger's order permits Tilton to move convicts against their will if needed, starting with foreign nationals who would be deported after their release.
Oakland Man Suspected Of Running Torture Chamber
CBS 5 / BCN
04 Oct 2006 10:51 pm
Authorities arrested a man Tuesday night who they believe brutally tortured and killed a woman and may have tortured at least two other women in his east Oakland home, Oakland homicide Detective Tony Jones said during a press conference Wednesday.
On Aug. 26, [the suspect], 41, drove a woman suffering from severe trauma over her entire body to Highland Hospital, Jones said. The woman was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Authorities later identified the woman, who worked as an administrative assistant for Coldwell Banker in Berkeley.
[The suspect], who was employed as a roofer, told police he found [her] in a car. Police, however, were quickly able to determine that [he] had not been inside the car where [he] claimed to have found her.
Police then obtained a search warrant for [his] residence. They found [the victim's] blood and blood belonging to two other women in the basement of the residence, Jones said.
Jones would not elaborate on what the basement looked like, except to say that "it was a 'Silence of the Lambs' type of setting down there." He also said that the room was "very dark and frightening" even for the experienced police officers working the case.
Jessica's Law Controversial Provisions
28 Sep 2006 9:46 am
With the elections just around the corner, California Connected unravels the finer details of the hotly debated Proposition 83, often referred to as Jessica's Law. If passed by the voters, Proposition 83 would become one of the toughest laws in the nation to clamp down on sex offenders. But Jessica's Law isn't without its controversy. Two of its key provisions have some people concerned that California may be going too far and could leave some communities at great risk. At issue is a proposed boundary barring sex offenders from living within two thousand feet of a school or a park. That rule could push predators out of California cities and into suburban and rural areas.
The measure would also require registered sex offenders to wear a satellite tracking device for the rest of their lives. Opponents question the cost of that GPS device and the manpower needed to monitor the almost 100,000 sex offenders registered in the state.
California Connected traveled the state to get all sides of the debate.
Before heading to the polls, tune-in to our special "Jessica's Law" edition of California Connected Friday, September 29.
Please Check Local Listings for show times.
Former Teacher Sentenced To Jail For Having Sex With 10th Grader
27 Sep 2006 2:36 pm
A former history teacher in San Diego will spend a year behind bars for having had a sexual relationship with one of her 16-year-old male students, at times supplying him with drugs and alcohol.
Superior Court Judge Frank Brown also placed 27-year-old Danielle Walls on five years probation Tuesday but did not order her to register as a sex offender, telling a packed courtroom: "I don't see her as a predator."
Walls pleaded guilty July 26 to having sex with the teen four times between April and June 2004 and to a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor by encouraging him to use cocaine and alcohol.
The victim's mother said the relationship went on for more than a year and a half before she learned of it.
"Danielle Walls raped my son repeatedly. It was inappropriate, immoral and illegal," she said.
