Prosecutors and defense lawyers are bitterly at odds over the next steps in the case after the Supreme Court narrowed the scope of the prosecution by ruling that former presidents are entitled to broad immunity from criminal charges. The dueling proposals and testy courtroom exchanges reflected the extent to which the justices’ July opinion had upended the path of the case that charges Trump with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

“We may be dealing with an illegitimate indictment from the get-go,” Trump attorney John Lauro said. He added: “We want an orderly process that does justice to the Supreme Court opinion.”

Special counsel Jack Smith’s team filed a revised indictment last week to strip out certain allegations against Trump for which the Supreme Court said Trump, the Republican nominee for president, enjoyed immunity. Defense lawyers, however, believe that that indictment did not fully comply with the justices’ ruling.

Lauro told U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan that the Supreme Court’s opinion required the outright dismissal of the case, a position the judge made clear she did not accept. He complained that prosecutors were showing a “rush to judgment” with their plans to soon file court papers explaining why the remaining allegations should remain intact.

Chutkan was unmoved on that point as well.

“This case has been pending for over a year,” Chutkan said, referencing the fact that the matter has been frozen since last December while Trump pursued his immunity appeal. “We’re hardly sprinting to the finish here.” She said it was clear that whatever her ruling, it would be subject to a further appeal.

She also bristled at Lauro’s reference to the November election, such as when he said: “This process is inherently unfair, particularly during this sensitive time.”

“I understand that there is an election,” the judge replied. “I’ve said before … that the electoral process and the timing of the election … is not relevant here. The court is not concerned with the electoral schedule.”

Lauro told Chutkan that the case concerned momentous issues. “We are talking about the presidency of the United States,” he said. Chutkan shot back: “I’m not talking about the presidency of the United States. I’m talking about a four count indictment.”

She told Lauro that it appeared the defense was trying to delay the case because of the election. “That’s not going to be a factor I consider at all,” Chutkan said.

Pushing back on the defense’s claims that the special counsel wants to move too quickly, a member of Smith’s prosecution team noted that Trump’s lawyers filed a lengthy brief seeking to overturn his New York hush money conviction and dismiss the case less than two weeks after the Supreme Court’s ruling in July.

“The defense can move comprehensively, quickly and well. So can we,” Thomas Windom said.

The tense exchanges between Lauro and Chutkan defined the early hearings in the case. But there was a lighter start of Thursday’s session.

At the opening, Chutkan noted that it has been almost a year since she saw the lawyers in her courtroom. Lauro joked to the judge that “life was almost meaningless without seeing you.”

“Enjoy it while it lasts,” Chutkan said.

The hearing ended without the judge issuing an order about future dates in the case.

Trump was not in the courtoom and gave an economic speech in New York. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf for the revised indictment.

Defense lawyers said they intend to file multiple motions to dismiss the case, including one that piggybacks off a Florida judge’s ruling that said Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional.

Neither side envisions a trial happening before Election Day, especially given the amount of work ahead. Chutkan is tasked with determining which of the acts alleged in the indictment can remain part of the case in light of the Supreme Court opinion.

The justices in July ruled that former presidents enjoy absolute immunity for the exercise of their core constitutional duties and are presumptively immune from prosecution for all other official acts.

Smith’s team responded to the ruling with a revised indictment last week that removed references to Trump’s efforts to use the law enforcement powers of the Justice Department to remain in power, an area of conduct for which the Supreme Court said Trump is immune.

The case is one of two federal prosecutions against Trump. The other, charging him with illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, was dismissed in July by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon. She said Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unlawful.

Smith’s team has appealed that ruling. Trump’s lawyers say they intend to ask Chutkan to dismiss the election case on the same grounds.

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LYON, FRANCE — An American accused of sexually assaulting a Pennsylvania college student in 2013 and later sending her a Facebook message that said, “So I raped you,” has been detained in France after a three-year search.

A prosecutor in Metz, France, confirmed Tuesday that Ian Thomas Cleary, 31, of Saratoga, California, had been taken into custody last month and will be held pending extradition proceedings.

Cleary had been the subject of an international search since authorities in Pennsylvania issued a 2021 felony warrant in the case weeks after an Associated Press story detailed the reluctance of local prosecutors to pursue campus sex crimes.

The arrest warrant accuses Cleary of stalking an 18-year-old Gettysburg College student at a party, sneaking into her dorm and sexually assaulting her while she texted friends for help. He was a 20-year-old Gettysburg student at the time, but did not return to campus.

According to a French judicial official, Cleary was detained on the street in Metz on April 24 as part of a police check. He told a magistrate that he had “arrived in France two or three years ago” from Albania and had only recently come to Metz, but did not have housing there, the official said. A French lawyer appointed to represent him did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment Tuesday.

Cleary, according to his online posts, had previously spent time in France and also has ties to California and Maryland. His father is a tech executive in Silicon Valley, while his mother has lived in Baltimore. Neither he nor his parents have returned repeated phone and email messages left by the AP, including calls to his parents on Tuesday.

The Gettysburg accuser, Shannon Keeler, had a rape exam done the same day she was assaulted in 2013. She gathered witnesses and evidence and spent years urging officials to file charges. She went to authorities again in 2021 after discovering the Facebook messages that seemed to come from Cleary’s account.

“So I raped you,” the sender had written in a string of messages.

“I’ll never do it to anyone ever again.”

“I need to hear your voice.”

“I’ll pray for you.”

According to the June 2021 warrant, police verified that the Facebook account used to send the messages belonged to Ian Cleary. Adams County District Attorney Brian Sinnett, who filed it, did not immediately return a call Tuesday.

The AP does not typically name people who say they are sexual assault victims without their permission, which Keeler has granted. Her lawyer, reached Tuesday, had no immediate comment on Cleary’s detention.

After leaving Gettysburg, Cleary earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from Santa Clara University, near his family home in California, worked for Tesla, then moved to France for several years, according to his website, which describes his self-published medieval fiction.

Keeler, originally from Moorestown, New Jersey, stayed on to graduate from Gettysburg and help lead the women’s lacrosse team to a national title.

By 2023, two years after the warrant was filed, Keeler and her lawyers wondered how he was avoiding capture in the age of digital tracking. The U.S. Marshals Service thought he was likely overseas and on the move, even as he was the subject of an Interpol alert called a red notice.

Across the U.S., very few campus rapes are prosecuted, both because victims fear going to police and prosecutors hesitate to bring cases that can be hard to win, the AP investigation found.
Keeler, when the warrant was issued, said she was grateful, but knew it only happened “because I went public with my story, which no survivor should have to do in order to obtain justice.”

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Melvin Mario James Landry, 42, of San Jacinto allegedly killed Gilbert Wah in 2020.

A Banning jury deliberated two days in January before deadlocking, after which Riverside County Superior Court Judge Rene Navarro declared a mistrial.

The case was transferred a week ago from the Banning Justice Center to the Riverside Hall of Justice, where Superior Court Judge Bernard Schwartz began summoning panels of prospective jurors for screening as to their availability and qualifications.

The judge is expected to swear in a panel Monday afternoon, with opening statements possible Tuesday morning.

Landry, who is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Robert Presley Jail, is charged with murder and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.

According to a trial brief filed by the prosecution, on the night of July 23, 2020, Wah, his wife, Octavia Wah, and Landry got together at the victim’s house at 801 S. Camino Los Banos to “drink alcohol and smoke marijuana.”

The defense said in its brief Landry was in the midst of a divorce from his wife, Sylvia Joshua, because “he was caught cheating” on her. He was also suffering depression from the recent death of his mother and was upset that his sister had moved out of the area.

As he, the victim and Octavia Wah drank and smoked long into the night, tensions escalated due to Gilbert Wah’s references to Landry as a “pussy” and “bitch” — demeaning terms used to describe the defendant’s relationship with his wife, according to the prosecution’s brief.

Shortly after 3 a.m. on July 24, Wah became aggressive, slapping Landry across the face, the brief stated.

The defendant did not hit back, but instead went to his Dodge Durango pickup parked in front of the house, grabbed a semiautomatic handgun, then returned to the house and confronted Wah, firing a single shot into his heart, prosecutors allege.

The victim died on the spot.

His wife struck Landry and attempted to stop him from leaving, but he got away from her in his pickup. She called 911, and patrol deputies converged on the location.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Ken Thurm said as personnel were gearing up to begin a search, Landry “returned to the scene and surrendered.”

Court records show the defendant has a prior misdemeanor conviction in Riverside County for driving under the influence. He has a felony conviction in another jurisdiction, but the offense wasn’t listed.

Court papers indicated Wah, too, had a record, including battery on a peace officer in another state, as well as a fraud conviction locally.

The post Jury to be Seated for Retrial of Man Accused of Killing Friend After Slap appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Police found an assault rifle, ammunition, and five high-capacity magazines in the student’s dorm room on Friday. UC Riverside announced the student, who was not identified, was placed on interim suspension, the Riverside Press-Enterprise is reporting.

Police also found drawings in a journal depicting violent acts in the student’s dorm room, according to UC Riverside. The content of the drawings was not provided.

UC Riverside police officers executed a search warrant in the student’s dorm room after “finding evidence of a weapon” on campus. UC Riverside officials said the student is not in school and won’t be returning until an administrative hearing.

“A search of a room in the North District residential apartments revealed an assault rifle registered to a student, ammunition, five high- capacity magazines, and hand-drawn images in a journal depicting a violent act,” the school said in a statement.

The school’s policy prohibits students to possess, use, or manufacture a firearm.

The student was not arrested according to UC Riverside police records, and the case was sent to the Riverside County District Attorney who will decide whether to press charges.

UC Riverside officials also said the incident was not a result of “any recent campus events.” Pro-Palestinian demonstrators had set up encampments on campus and were demonstrating.

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Joseph Henry Mokate of Hemet is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at Banning’s Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility and is set to make his next court appearance Friday for a felony settlement conference, according to jail and court records.

Mokate is accused in the slaying of 29-year-old Boris Stepanyuk of Winchester. Stepanyuk’s body was found at the intersection just before 7 p.m. April 25; he had suffered a “possible stab wound,” according to the sheriff’s department.

It’s not clear what led investigators to Mokate. He was arrested in Palm Desert about three hours after Stepanyuk’s body was discovered. A relationship between the two men, if any, was not disclosed by investigators nor was a possible motive.

City News Service reported that Mokate pulled a weapon and stabbed Stepanyuk at least once in the upper body, after which he fled. Witnesses called 911, and patrol deputies and paramedics reached the location a short time later.

Court records show Mokate has no felony criminal convictions in Riverside County.

According to a GoFundMe page established for Stepanyuk’s mother and his younger brother, the victim was studying medicine and had dreams of becoming a surgeon.

“Boris was brilliant and worked hard to get into medical school,” the page reads. “After graduating from Point Loma Charter School, he graduated from UCSD. Then, he attended the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Boris was funny but reserved and quiet. He loved his family and his dog, a huskie named Mischa. He regularly enjoyed daily sunrise and sunset walks with her through his neighborhood.”

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CORONA, CA — A 24-year-old motorist who allegedly caused a collision that triggered a deadly fire on the Riverside (91) Freeway in Corona because he was driving drunk was re-arrested Thursday after he was briefly released from custody.

Christopher Magallon of Santa Ana was booked back into the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside in the predawn hours Thursday on suspicion of DUI gross vehicular manslaughter, DUI causing great bodily injury and DUI resulting in property damage.

Magallon is being held on $75,000 bail.

He had originally been taken into custody Monday morning after the fatal crash, and California Highway Patrol investigators submitted a request to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office for a criminal complaint against the suspect.

However, prosecutors returned the case to the CHP Wednesday based on unspecified evidentiary concerns, and Magallon’s speedy arraignment window guaranteed by state law came and went, leading to a “flash release” from custody. Before he could leave the downtown Riverside jail, however, he was re- arrested on the same allegations.

CHP investigators were preparing Thursday to resubmit their case to the D.A.’s office. The next arraignment window will close Monday.

According to the CHP, the suspect was at the wheel of a Lincoln Mark LT westbound on the 91 about 12:30 a.m. Monday, approaching the Interstate 15 interchange, when he “veered to the right and struck the left rear” of a Toyota 4Runner.

“After the impact, the Toyota overturned and caught fire, with the driver trapped inside,” Officer Javier Navarro said.

Corona Fire Department personnel reached the location within a few minutes and extinguished the fully engulfed SUV in the fast lane. The victim, a man whose identity has yet to be released by the coroner’s office, was pronounced dead at the scene. He was the sole occupant of the vehicle.

Magallon’s Lincoln was found broken down in the center divider. He was still in the pickup when CHP officers detained him.

Navarro alleged that evidence collected at the scene confirmed the suspect was drunk.

Background information on him was unavailable.

All westbound lanes were shut down until 5 a.m. Monday, when the closures were lifted.

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RIVERSIDE, CA — An unlicensed driver who backed into a California Highway Patrol motorcycle officer during a traffic stop, injuring the lawman, pleaded guilty Monday to assault on a peace officer with a deadly weapon and other charges.

Prudencio Xajil Alvarado, 57, admitted the assault count, along with DUI resulting in great bodily injury and being an unlicensed operator of a motor vehicle, as part of a plea directly to Riverside County Superior Court Judge Thomas Kelly, without input or objection from the District Attorney’s Office.

Kelly did not specify a potential term of imprisonment. He scheduled Alvarado’s sentencing for July 10 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.

The defendant remains free on $35,000 bail.

According to CHP Officer Javier Navarro, about 9:30 a.m. Oct. 18, 2022, the victim, identified only as a motor officer from the agency’s Riverside office, spotted the defendant’s Nissan Maxima on Indiana Avenue, just south of the Riverside (91) Freeway, and observed an unspecified infraction, prompting the lawman to conduct an enforcement stop.

Alvarado complied, pulling over to the curb, and the motor unit stopped a short distance behind him, Navarro said.

“As the officer began to dismount his motorcycle to contact the driver, Alvarado placed the Nissan into reverse and accelerated toward the officer,” the CHP spokesman said. “The Nissan collided into the motorcycle, disabling it and subsequently causing minor injuries to the officer.”

The lawman immediately arrested the defendant without further incident.

“Alvarado displayed objective signs and symptoms of alcohol intoxication,” Navarro said.

The officer was treated for his injuries but not hospitalized. The defendant was not hurt.

Alvarado has no documented prior felony or misdemeanor convictions in Riverside County.

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