Today is
Thursday November 21, 2024
DALLAS (AP) — The family of a man shot and killed by a Dallas police officer who said she mistook his apartment for her own was awarded nearly $100 million Wednesday in a federal civil trial.
The jury found after a three-day trial that ex-officer Amber Guyger used excessive force in the death of Botham Jean in 2018 and violated his constitutional rights. Jurors returned a verdict against her of $98.65 million.
“This verdict stands as a powerful testament to Botham’s life and the profound injustice of his death,” a statement from Jean’s family’s legal team said. “This case laid bare critical issues of racial bias and police accountability that cannot be ignored. Today’s verdict sends a clear message that law enforcement officers who commit crimes cannot be insulated from the consequences of their actions.”
Guyger said at the time that after a long work shift, she walked to Jean’s apartment — which was on the fourth floor, directly above hers on the third — and found the door unlocked. She said she thought the apartment was her own when she drew her gun and entered.
Jean, an accountant from the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia, had been eating a bowl of ice cream when Guyger entered his apartment and shot him.
Guyger was later fired from the Dallas Police Department, found guilty of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison. She was denied parole earlier this fall, media outlets reported.
The shooting drew widespread attention because of the circumstances surrounding it and because it was one of several shootings of Black men by white police officers.
During closing arguments, attorneys for Jean’s family asked the jury to send a message that Dallas County residents “are going to be safe in our homes,” The Dallas Morning News reported.
Guyger waived her right to participate in the trial, according to court filings, which the family said showed a lack of accountability for her actions.
HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that Ivette Palomeque has endured plenty of threats as a registered nurse in Houston, but she’s still shaken by the memory of a family threatening to shoot her and her colleagues at a local hospital. The incident happened years ago at a hospital where Palomeque no longer works. A patient died, and the grieving family was so upset and angry that they threatened to come back to the hospital with guns, Palomeque said. Fortunately, they never did. “It was scary because they had to actually put the unit on lockdown,” said Palomeque, a critical care nurse. “Staff were scared. Some were nowhere to be found, and later on we found out it was because they were hiding.”
The incident was a particularly egregious example of the threats, abuse and violence that Palomeque has seen during her 13 years as a nurse in the Houston area. She’s seen a pregnant colleague being kicked in the stomach. She’s also been hit and kicked by a woman who refused to leave the room so staff could perform CPR on her husband. Palomeque now works at Memorial Hermann – Texas Medical Center, which she credited for making her feel much safer than other places she’s worked. Experiences like Palomeque’s are all too common for nurses who have seen a steady increase in violence and abuse toward health care workers. The possibility of being exposed to workplace violence has long been a lamentable part of the job, but such incidents became more common during the COVID-19 pandemic and have not subsided since then, according to a 2024 survey by the nurses’ union and professional organization National Nurses United. The prevalence of violence and abuse has been harmful to nurses, who continue to experience high levels of burnout in the wake of the pandemic. That stress is causing many to reevaluate their careers; the National Nurses United survey found that more than six in 10 nurses were considering quitting their job or leaving the profession entirely due to workplace violence. “It takes its toll on the workforce,” said Serena Bumpus, the CEO of the Texas Nurses Association. “And that is a huge factor in whether or not nurses decide to stay where they are, or just in the profession as a whole.”
AUSTIN – The Austin American-Statesman says that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has asked a bankruptcy court judge to stop the sale of his Infowars platform, accusing satirical news company The Onion and Connecticut families of using a “flagrantly non-compliant Frankenstein bid” to win the auction for his media empire last week. Attorneys for Jones filed for a restraining order and temporary injunction on the sale of his company Free Speech Systems and Infowars on Monday evening. This comes after the backup bidder, First United American Companies LLC — a business associated with the ShopAlexJones.com website — filed a motion to disqualify The Onion’s winning bid on Monday morning.
The company behind The Onion, Global Tetrahedron LLC, with the backing of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims’ families in Connecticut, bought Free Speech Systems and Infowars in an auction last week. According to court filings, First United American Companies believed the cash value of its bid to be higher than the cash value of Global Tetrahedron’s bid. Walter Cicack, the attorney representing First United American Companies, claimed bankruptcy Trustee Christopher Murray colluded with The Onion and the families and violated the terms of the auction set by the judge. The auction attracted only two bids, according to court records and stated by Murray in a status conference held Thursday. Each bid, Murray said in the conference, had different finances and plans, and so Murray made his decision based on which offer would best benefit Jones’ unsecured creditors. First United American Companies’ final bid was $3.5 million for the rights to Infowars and Free Speech Systems, according to evidence submitted in the Monday filing by First United American Companies. The Onion’s final bid was $1.75 million in cash assets with a distributable proceeds waiver — meaning the Connecticut families would forgo up to 100% of their entitlement of the funds to better serve the unsecured creditors depending on the amount of other bids — and the sharing of future revenue that Infowars and Free Speech Systems generates to the families.
SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Express-News reports that two conservative judges from Texas are being floated as possible U.S. Supreme Court nominees amid speculation that a justice may retire during President-elect Donald Trump’s second term. Judges Andrew Oldham and James Ho, both on the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, are viewed as likely members of Trump’s shortlist in the event of a vacancy on the high court, according to several legal experts. Both came up through Texas legal circles and were among the Trump appointees named to the 5th Circuit who have shifted the court further right. “The Trump administration will look for someone who’s got perfect ideological purity, and I think either of those two 5th Circuit judges would fit that mold,” said Lucas Powe, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law.
Conservative and legal activists are speculating that some of the U.S. Supreme Court’s oldest justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, may retire in the next two years, when Republicans will have a majority in the U.S. Senate and could confirm a nominee without the need for any Democratic support. Conservative justices currently hold a 6-3 majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, including three Trump appointees. If Trump can successfully replace sitting members with younger justices, he will not only have nominated a majority of the court but also solidified a conservative majority for generations. Federal judges are appointed to life terms. Legal experts said the 5th Circuit, which covers Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana, is a natural place to look for appointees. It is widely known as one of the most conservative benches in the country that has upheld Texas’ abortion restrictions, struck down gun prohibitions for domestic abusers and greenlit Texas’ border security measures.
SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Report says CPS Energy is actively working to plan for extreme growth in electricity demand over the next decade as new data centers come online in the state, executives told the utility’s board of trustees on Monday. Because San Antonio is located in the geographic center of Texas, CPS Energy will have to play a large part in upping the transmission capacity of electricity within the state as data centers continue to pop up across the state, said Elaina Ball, the utility’s chief strategy officer. CPS Energy expects to spend about $1.3 billion on transmission projects over the next five years to add a load-serving capacity of 1 gigawatt — enough electricity to power about 750,000 homes — to help Texas carry the demand load that new data centers will be generating, Chief Energy Delivery Officer Richard Medina said.
Data centers are specialized facilities designed to store, manage and process large volumes of digital data. They consume roughly 10 to 50 times the energy that a typical office building does. While data centers accounted for about 4% of the total U.S. electricity consumption load in 2023, it is projected to consume up to 9.1% of that load by 2030, according to the Electric Power Research Institute. Texas ranks second in the amount of electricity consumed by data centers within the United States. “We have never seen an industry demand an increase for power like we’re seeing right now,” Ball said. “Probably the closest was when there was adoption of HVAC technology, but it truly is a stunning amount of growth that everyone in our industry is grappling with … and we are no different here in Central Texas.” CPS Energy is planning to build three new substations and 15 new or upgraded transmission lines over the next three to five years, Medina said. In total, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has approved nine “San Antonio South Reliability Projects” to increase statewide system capacity, support growth and increase renewable generation in south and central Texas over the next decade. CPS Energy’s board of trustees approved the route and construction of two of these projects on Monday.
AUSTIN – Weeks after ProPublica reported on the deaths of two pregnant women whose miscarriages went untreated in Texas, state lawmakers have filed bills that would create new exceptions to the state’s strict abortion laws, broadening doctors’ ability to intervene when their patients face health risks. The legislation comes after the lawmaker who wrote one of Texas’ recent abortion bans wrote an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle defending the current exceptions as “plenty clear.” But more than 100 Texas OB-GYNs disagree with his position. In a public letter, written in response to ProPublica’s reporting, they urged changes. “As OB-GYNs in Texas, we know firsthand how much these laws restrict our ability to provide our patients with quality, evidence-based care,” they said.
Texas’ abortion ban threatens up to 99 years in prison, $100,000 in fines and loss of medical license for doctors who provide abortions. The state’s health and safety code currently includes exceptions if a pregnant woman “has a life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy that places the female at risk of death or poses a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function unless the abortion is performed or induced.” A separate exception exists that provides doctors with some legal protections if they perform an abortion for an ectopic pregnancy or in cases when a patient’s water breaks. The bills, filed in the state House and Senate last week, create new health exceptions. They would allow doctors to induce or perform abortions necessary to preserve the mental or physical health of a patient, including preserving the patient’s fertility. Doctors could also provide abortions in cases where the fetus had an anomaly that would make it unable to survive outside the womb or able to survive only with “extraordinary medical interventions.” State Rep. Donna Howard, who filed the bill in the Texas House, said ProPublica’s recent reporting adds to evidence that the current legislation is a threat to the safety of pregnant women in Texas and increases the urgency to make changes. “This is my reaction,” she said. “It’s one of extreme sadness and disbelief that we are at a point where we are allowing women to die because we haven’t been able to clarify the law,” she said.
McALLEN (AP) — Texas is offering a parcel of rural ranchland along the U.S.-Mexico border to use as a staging area for potential mass deportations under President-elect Donald Trump.
The property, which Texas originally purchased last month, is located in rural Starr County in the Rio Grande Valley. Republican Dawn Buckingham, the Texas Land Commissioner, sent a letter on Thursday to Trump extending the offer.
The land offer is the latest illustration of a sharp divide between states and local governments on whether to support or resist Trump’s plans for mass deportations of migrants living in the U.S. illegally. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council voted to become a “sanctuary” jurisdiction, limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities to carry out deportations.
Texas leaders have long backed aggressive measures on the border to curb crossings, including installing razor-wire barriers and passing a law last year that would allow law enforcement to arrest migrants who cross the border illegally.
“By offering this newly-acquired 1400-acre property to the incoming Trump Administration for the construction of a facility for the processing, detention, and coordination of what will be the largest deportation of violent criminals in our nation’s history, I stand united with President Donald Trump to ensure American families are protected,” Buckingham said in a statement.
Trump has said he plans to begin his deportation efforts on the first day of his presidency. He frequently attacked illegal immigration during his campaign, linking a record spike in unauthorized border crossings to issues ranging from drug trafficking to high housing prices.
There are an estimated 11 million people in the country illegally. Questions remain about how people would be identified and where they would be detained.
The president-elect’s transition team did not say whether they would accept Texas’ offer but sent a statement.
“On day one, President Trump will marshal every lever of power to secure the border, protect their communities, and launch the largest mass deportation operation of illegal immigrant criminals in history,” Karoline Leavitt, the transition spokeswoman for Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance, said Wednesday.
The Texas General Land Office did not respond to a request for comment on the amount paid for the land, but the commissioner stated the previous owner resisted the creation of a border wall.
A 1.5-mile (2.4 kilometer) stretch of border wall was built under Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in 2021 on that land. Buckingham said with the recent purchase, the state has created another easement for more border wall construction.
DALLAS (AP) — A Dallas anesthesiologist was sentenced Wednesday to 190 years in prison for injecting a nerve-blocking agent and other drugs into bags of intravenous fluid at a surgical center where he worked, leading to the death of a coworker and causing cardiac emergencies for several patients.
The emergencies began two days after Raynaldo Rivera Ortiz Jr. was notified of a disciplinary inquiry into an incident during which he allegedly “deviated from the standard of care” during an anesthesia procedure when a patient experienced a medical emergency.
Ortiz, who had a history of disciplinary actions against him, complained to other physicians that the center was trying to “crucify” him.
Court documents show that Ortiz, who was arrested in September 2022 and convicted in April, waived his appearance at sentencing in federal court.
An attorney listed in court documents for Ortiz did not immediately return a phone call for comment.
Prosecutors said numerous patients at Surgicare North Dallas suffered cardiac emergencies during routine medical procedures performed by various doctors from May through August in 2022. Another anesthesiologist who had worked there died while treating herself for dehydration using an IV bag from the facility, prosecutors said.
The surgical center staff concluded that these cases suggested a pattern of intentional adulteration of IV bags used at the center.
They identified 10 additional unexpected cardiac emergencies that occurred during otherwise unremarkable surgeries in the months before his arrest, which was an exceptionally high rate of complications over such a short period, according to the complaint.
His medical license was suspended following his arrest by the Texas Medical Board.