For state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, whose career at the Statehouse has spanned four decades, primary night was like a last hurrah. But the Union County Democrat says he isn’t slowing down.
“I’m not ready to just play golf,” Lesniak told a small crowd of supporters at La Catena restaurant in Roselle Park after he finished fourth in the Democratic primary for governor.
Read the entire NJ.com article here.
For almost three decades, Kathy Fink has never had trouble securing a portion of Arizona’s statewide court reporting contract for her local firm—until last year.
“Even though our bids were lower, and even though we’d been doing it for 25 years and had the experience, we were eliminated,” Fink said.
The Arizona State Procurement office awarded 11 firms, which are mainly located in Maricopa County, its revised statewide certified court reporter and transcription services contract on May 31, 2016. The contract is good for one year with the option to renew for four additional years, which the state extended to May 31, 2018.
The state didn’t award any portion of this contract to vendors based in Pima County.
Read the entire Inside Tucson Business article here.
Originally published on May 26, 2017.
Pima County Prosecutor Tracy Miller grilled the defendant in a sexual assault case involving a 15-year-old girl, during his testimony at Superior Court on Thursday.
Orestes Roberto Ybarra, 35, was charged with two counts of sexual assault, and one count of sexual abuse and indecent exposure on May 30, 2015.
At the time of his arrest, Ybarra was a clinical assistant at Ideal Physical Therapy, now ATI Physical Therapy, a national rehabilitation center that owns 600 clinics operating in 24 states.
According to court documents, during a deep tissue massage Ybarra allegedly rubbed the victim’s vulva, and penetrated her buttocks with his finger and penis. She resisted, attempted to flee and Ybarra blocked the door, according to her original interview with a sexual assault specialist.
Ybarra scheduled the physical therapy session on Saturday, a day the clinic is normally closed, and for work he was not authorized to do. Although he received clinical training in-house, he understood a licensed physical therapist must be working at the time of treatment.
During his original interview with Tucson Police Department, Ybarra admitted he had broken multiple company protocols the day of the incident.
“I was concerned,” he said. “I thought I opened the door for a lawsuit.”
But Ybarra said he realized the implications were far more serious when he was contacted by TPD Detective Gerardo Diaz, and throughout his interview with police.
Ybarra told the court his direct supervisor was getting married the week of the incident, and he was under a lot of pressure to keep the clinic busy.
He denied assaulting the girl in any way, but he admitted during the massage treatment the pair was arguing about her boyfriend.
Earlier in the day, the state called TPD Criminalist Cheryl Langdon to testify against Ybarra. Langdon processed the DNA evidence used in the case, explaining the typical procedures for criminal investigations and later fielding questions from the grand jury.
One juror asked why it took until September for law enforcement to process DNA evidence for the case. After an initial objection from the defense to allow Langdon to speculate, Judge Casey McGinley asked based on her experience is this type of delay abnormal.
“Based on the urgency of the sample, some DNA requests are shelved, while others are collected with urgency,” Langdon said. One factor that contributes to expediting DNA analysis is whether the suspect poses a public threat, she added.
Can DNA evidence deteriorate over time, another juror asked? As long as the evidence is stored properly, DNA samples can last indefinitely, she said, and the evidence for this case met that threshold.
Diane Kerrihard, a forensic nurse at Southern Arizona Children’s Advocacy Center, conducted the initial interview with the teen. Kerrihard was certified as a sexual assault forensic nurse in the 1990s, she explained, and earned her credentials for youth cases more than three years ago.
Kerrihard has testified in at least 40 sexual assault cases throughout her career, but she is always more concerned with the wellbeing of her patients. The crux of the initial testing determines what type of treatment a victim may need and collecting evidence is secondary, she said.
“I personally don’t care about evidence, it’s more for their safety,” Kerrihard said.
Parents can be present during the process and an advocate also observes the procedure, she said, and at any time the child can stop the examination.
Kerrihard told the prosecution she did not find any bruises on the girl, but that doesn’t rule out sexual assault. She further said she wasn’t expecting to find any bruising, because less than 5 percent of children who are victims of sexual assault show signs of battery.
“People don’t want to leave evidence,” she said. “And if it’s been a while, the victim could have healed.” And physical penetration does not necessarily leave marks of any kind, she added.
Ybarra looked dazed after prosecutor Miller fired questions at him during the cross examination: why didn’t you contact the parents about a minor storming out of an off-hours session; why didn’t you contact your supervisors; why did you lie to your supervisor when he contacted you after talking to police?
A juror asked Ybarra why he wasn’t wearing underwear during the incident, or at the time of his arrest. “Typically, I don’t wear underwear,” he said.
He prefaced his testimony by saying he was nervous, especially as a father of two children — a daughter, 12, and a son, 9. As he answered the last two juror questions, Ybarra began to ramble and was lead back to his point by Judge McGinley.
Bail was set at $100,000, and he failed to make bond until his parents placed a lien on their home, which was valued at $120,525. He was released on bond in December 2015.
The modest courtroom was packed, forcing a handful of law enforcement officers and county employees to stand aback the room. During Ybarra’s cross examination, a note was passed from the audience to prosecutor Miller, who handed the communication to the bailiff. The quieted disruption was addressed by Judge McGinley after the jury left for the day. He praised the county staff and family members in attendance, and urged them to continue to care, but reminded them acting rather than reacting is the cornerstone of legal proceedings. He ended with a pointed quip, lightening the heavy mood of the day.
Final arguments and sentencing will proceed on Friday at 10:30 a.m.
It’s very important to understand who is feeding you information and why they are doing so, says Matti Friedman, an award-winning author and former reporter for the Associated Press’ Jerusalem bureau.
“We all need to be critical consumers of media, not just where Israel is concerned,” says Friedman. “The hostility to Israel expressed in mainstream media coverage is not dissipating. If anything, it’s growing – the story becomes more and more hostile as time goes on, and seems unaffected by other events.”
However, the proportion of biased and unfavorable coverage of Israel being published has somewhat improved, he says, because of newsroom cuts and the media’s shift towards other parts of the region as the Middle East continues to destabilize.
As an author, journalist and former soldier for the Israel Defense Forces, it’s his duty to help people better understand the world, says Friedman.
“I’m not writing about my experiences as a journalist or a soldier because they’re about me, but because those experiences contain helpful information for people trying to figure things out,” he says. “If someone walks out of a lecture, or puts down my book with a better grasp of a complex reality — I’ve done my job.”
Read the entire Arizona Jewish Post article here.
Originally published on April 27, 2017.
Lobbying in Washington, D.C., for an increase in protections for immigrant families was an invigorating experience, says Nicolas Rios, a high school student and member of Tucson’s Jewish-Latino Teen Coalition.
Rios, 16, a junior at BASIS Tucson North, heard about the JLTC from his college preparatory counselor.
Growing up in Southern Arizona sparked Rios’ interest in politics, as well as immigration and border-related issues, he says. Having the opportunity to engage with another dominant ethnic and religious group in Tucson piqued his interest in the JLTC.
“I had a very positive experience overall and there’s not too many opportunities like it, so I was really excited to be able do this sort of program,” says Rios.
Read the entire Arizona Jewish Post article here.
Originally published on April 27, 2017.
Rubbing a child’s genitals is an inexplicable act and obviously motivated by sexual gratification, said Pima County Prosecutor Virginia Dawn Aspacher, during closing arguments at Superior Court on Wednesday.
It was incredibly difficult for a young child to testify against her father, Aspacher said, but she knows what happened to her, just as her sister knows what happened to them — and now so does this courtroom full of strangers.
John William Inman, 32, was charged with two counts of child molestation during a four-month period starting Nov. 1, 2015. Inman was found guilty of molesting his 7-year-old daughter on Thursday. The second allegation of sexual misconduct with Inman’s youngest daughter, who turned 3 this year, was ruled a mistrial.
He was arrested on April 14, 2016. Bail was set at $50,000 and Inman’s father posted $25,000 bond on June 9, 2016.
As the child watched TV, Inman joined her on the couch rubbing her vagina with his fingers, Aspacher said, recalling the young girl’s testimony that day. His daughter further said she saw Inman molest his 3-year-old, while saying “I love you,” according to Aspacher.
Ultimately, the jury decides the credibility of witnesses who testify, she said, but every element of this evidence has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Defense Attorney Chelsea Padilla-Frankel said Inman’s daughter had trouble remembering being fondled during her testimony, because it never happened.
The defense argued that Inman’s youngest daughters were initially asked about the alleged molestation with misleading questions, in a “yes-or-no fashion,” by his teenage daughter. And the child was simply repeating a story her sister fabricated, Padilla-Frankel said.
But Aspacher refuted the claim reminding the jury that Francisca Serrano, a bilingual forensics interviewer at Southern Arizona Children’s Advocacy Center, said the initial interview of Inman’s youngest children was not misleading.
The defense insisted Inman’s children were asked a biased line of questioning, noting that Pima County Sheriff Deputy Jesus Rodriguez didn’t interview the pair, because he wasn’t qualified to do so.
Padilla-Frankel told the jury a day, month or year from now they should never wonder what the truth is about this case, and if they aren’t completely convinced acquittal is the only choice.
“Frankly, there is a lot of reasonable doubt in this case,” she said.
Judge Howard J. Fell told the jury this case presents a unique set of circumstances, whereas the state has not submitted any evidence. And the sole evidence is contained in the witness testimony, he said.
If the jurors had any clarifying questions, they would communicate with him via the bailiff, and Fell would respond in writing. He gave the group until 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday to reach a verdict, but urged them not to rush and said they would reconvene the following morning if need be.
Inman was facing 20-48 years in prison if convicted on all counts, according to prosecutor Aspacher.
A warrant was issued for Inman’s arrest on Thursday, and a sentencing date will be set when he is apprehended.
Tucson City Council further discussed an early retirement incentive program for public safety officers, which could save the city more than $2.4 million next fiscal year.
The city anticipates about 12 officers from both the Tucson Police and Tucson Fire departments will take advantage of the retirement package.
The retirement incentive will offer a full payout of the officer’s sick leave, a one-time $50,000 cash payment and a three-year Medical benefit supplement. The temporary insurance package will pay about $28,800 annually, but the retiree will not receive government health coverage after the three-year mark.
City Manager Michael Ortega began by saying he wanted some direction from Mayor & Council before finalizing the retirement incentive offer. He further said the language regarding commissioned officer positions would be converted to civilian positions was misleading, and will be corrected when the proposal is complete.
Council Member Karin Uhlich, a Democrat representing Ward 3, confirmed the point of this initiative was to allow Tucson’s safety departments the opportunity to shape its supervising staff according to the community demand. For example, if a fire inspector is more valuable at a particular station, that change can be made because of the potential vacancy left by a retired officer, Uhlich said.
That is absolutely correct, Ortega said. “This gives us the best ability to really look at, and to really say, every vacancy is an opportunity. So how we approach that, and filling those positions is the key to that conversation.”
In order to minimize costs, the benefit package will be offered during a 45-day window, and local officers must declare their intent to retire by July 1, according to city documents. And officers will be granted a weeklong grace period if they change their minds.
For Tucson firefighters, this retirement incentive will only be offered to the rank of captain, or battalion, deputy and assistant chief. The amount of firefighters who can accept this offer is limited to 10 captains and two chief officers.
Similarly, the city’s offer will only be extended to officers who hold the rank of police sergeant, lieutenant, captain and assistant chief. And the amount of peace officers allowed to take up the proposal is capped at 10 sergeants and 13 commanders.
Creating vacancies in the police department’s upper management could potentially place more law officers in the field, said Mayor Jonathan Rothschild. And based on precinct needs, the opportunity for promoting police officers also opens up, Rothschild said.
Ortega said this initiative is simply speeding up the natural process of attrition for ranking officers while keeping in mind the importance of public safety.
“Vacancies give us an opportunity, from a management perspective, to look at how we do business,” Ortega said.
“What I’ve challenged both police and fire to do is really look hard at the basis for us providing services,” he said. “Whatever those services are, and because of some of the constraints that we’ve had, we obviously can’t afford to do exactly what we’ve always done.”
Council Member Shirley C. Scott, a Democrat of Ward 4, asked the language regarding replacing sanctioned officers be changed in writing before the council approves the final draft of the initiative.
What if the number of ranking public safety officers willing to retire exceeded the city’s estimates, asked Steve Kozachik, council member and Democrat of Ward 6?
That would be troubling, said Ortega. The burden of replacing the maximum amount of ranking officers could prove difficult, but he’s confident with the current estimates. He said although facing that challenge wouldn’t be easy, the financial and reframing flexibility could be an asset.
“That’s a discussion, on a macro scale, that would be a nice problem to have,” he said.
Tucson City Council discussed the progress of multiple initiatives recommended by a statewide task force that are designed to decrease the population of local jails.
The “Justice for All” report, compiled by the Arizona Supreme Court’s Task Force on Fair Justice for All: Court-Ordered Fines, Penalties, Fees, and Pretrial Policies, was released on Sept. 1, 2016.
The report recommended alternative options for non-violent offenders awaiting pretrial services including:
Christopher Hale, court administrator at Tucson City Court, said the city could quickly implement 17 of the 65 recommendations made by the task force’s report, according to city documents. Eight of the improvements were put into effect immediately, while others are still being worked on.
Amelia Cramer, Chief Deputy at the Pima County Attorney’s office, presented an update on the initiatives aimed at quelling overcrowding in the Pima County jail.
Pima County recently received a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge, a national endowment designed to help reduce over-incarceration by providing support for local jurisdictions to create fairer judicial practices, which helped finance some the county’s new programs.
The county was awarded $1.5 million for the next two years from the MacArthur Foundation grant, the option to extend the financial award for a third year has yet to be determined.
Cramer came across two cases that epitomized the need for Pima County to take part in this program about two years ago, she said.
The first case concerned a severely mentally ill woman who spent 45 days in jail, because a bench warrant had been issued for her arrest for failure to appear in court. The woman was originally charged with a misdemeanor for stealing a candy bar, she said.
During that same week, a man from Northwest Tucson shot rounds through his front door at Tucson Police Department officers, she said, and was released the next day on a $150,000 cash bond. This defendant was wealthy enough to post bail, Cramer said.
“We need more safety, in terms of those who are violent and dangerous predators in our community, to make sure they are in custody,” Cramer said. “And we need more justice for those who are poor, and can’t afford to post bail.”
In 2014, Pima County jail was housing almost 2,300 inmates, Cramer said, and the overall capacity of the facility is 2,377. According to county projections, Pima County jail will see an 18 percent increase of inmates by 2020, which would place the number of county inmates at about 2,800, she said.
“And you all, Mayor and Council, are well familiar with the costs of the current jail, can you imagine how much greater those costs would be if the county had to build yet another jail,” she said. “So the county began looking for ways in which to reduce the jail population in a manner that would be safe, and also ensure justice.”
The county recently determined that more than 80 percent of inmates housed in Pima County jail have not been sentenced, Cramer said. Although inmates in jail and prison are often erroneously lumped together, the two populations are quite different, she added.
When the county began implementing their automated reminder system, there was a 24 percent decrease in defendants failing to appear in court. The city is planning in rolling out its own Interactive Voice Response system, which will offer reminders in both English or Spanish via a mobile alert.
Council Member Richard Fimbres, a Democrat of Ward 5, asked Cramer what is being done to combat recidivism.
Council Member Regina Romero, a Democrat of Ward 1, further asked Cramer whether the MacArthur provides bias training for law enforcement and judges, which can prevent cultural discrimination for peace officers in the field and presiding judges.
Cramer said there are efforts being made, at the city and county level, to recognize and reduce implicit bias for law enforcement and within the criminal justice system.
Hale, court administrator at Tucson City Court, said city court is an innovator and leader regarding limited jurisdiction courts, which is why they were able to immediately implement some of the improvements recommended by the statewide task force.
For example, Tucson City Court hasn’t issued a failure to pay warrant in at least 10 years, Hale said. “We’ve just been ahead of the curve for a long time, and I just wanted to make that clear.”
Michael J. Thurman testified against his former friend and co-defendant Quentin L. Evans, on Thursday, during the tail end of an armed robbery and kidnapping trial at Pima County Superior Court.
According to court records, at about midnight on March 5, 2015, Javier Figueroa, Moises Enriquez, Travis Vertrees and Omar Estrada-Vasquez were robbed at gunpoint by three men, while arriving at Figueroa’s home.
Thurman said Figueroa was considered a thief amongst his friends, and the robbery was supposed to teach him a lesson, but until the night of incident talking about the robbery was just a joke.
Rebecca Mueller, deputy Pima County attorney, asked Thurman how their discussion went from being to a joke to something serious.
“Alcohol and drugs will do a lot of things to your thinking, but I can’t really answer that,” Thurman said.
Mueller said at some point it was no longer a joke, which Thurman confirmed.
Thurman, 19, was 17 at the time of his arrest, and was on probation services for a previous felony conviction.
Defense attorney Stephanie K. Bond evoked a range of emotions from Thurman during the cross examination. At one point, Judge Sean E. Brearcliffe directed Thurman to simply answer Bond’s questions.
As Bond went through his prior interviews, she methodically identified the inconsistencies with his testimony. Thurman said he was being medicated at the time.
Evans and Thurman were charged with five counts of armed robbery, kidnapping, aggravated robbery and aggravated assault. In exchange for his testimony, Thurman is being charged with one count of attempted armed robbery, and will serve between two and nine years in prison.
Mueller walked Thurman through the night of crime, also pointing out where his testimony and prior interviews with police were inconsistent.
Thurman said he restrained one of the victims with makeshift handcuffs, and held all three outside, while Evans and another suspect entered the Figueroa residence in search of marijuana and money.
During an interview with law enforcement in July 2015, Thurman said Evans bragged about pistol whipping one victim during the home invasion — a claim he denied during his testimony.
Figueroa told the Tucson Police Department that he recognized the defendants, because they used their street names during the crime.
TPD obtained a search warrant for Evans’ residence, and found a semiautomatic handgun, a revolver, a black mask and identification cards belonging to the victims as well as Estrada’s watch and wallet.
Thurman and Evans were inseparable at the time of their arrest, he said. The two friends moved into Evans’ new apartment one day prior to the incident.
Thurman’s step-mother died in December 2014, of an alleged drug overdose, according to a letter written by his biological mother, Michele Keller.
Keller gave birth to her son while in prison, and Thurman remained under his stepmother’s care until her death. Keller served multiple sentences in prison for drug offenses, but has remained clean and sober for more than 10 years.
The defendant’s bond was originally set at $50,000. Thurman’s bail was reduced to $10,000, but he has remained in jail since his arrest. Keller pleaded with the court to release Thurman in her custody, although she could not afford bail.
Judge Brearcliffe told the jury that they are ahead of schedule, but some witnesses cannot testify early. The trial is set to end on Friday, March 31.
The Amphitheater School Board approved two measures that will bolster programming for its gifted students on Tuesday.
The board agreed to improve Amphi’s Realizing Excellence through Academic and Creative Help program by: hiring at least three new full-time elementary school teachers and increasing the time allocated for instruction; and expand instruction in English high school classes for advanced students.
Spending an estimated $117,660 for supplementary textbooks and technology for the district’s elementary and middle schools will be explored at a later date.
Patrick Nelson, superintendent for Amphi, said the initial report that earmarked ways the district can improve its REACH curriculum would be too costly, so school operations identified the three most pressing issues.
“Implementation of the entire report would be, at this point in time, prohibitively expensive and probably not doable — unless the governor and the legislature come through with quite a bit of additional funding,” Nelson said.
Monica Nelson, associate superintendent for Amphi, said this discussion would only address the first steps towards revamping the REACH program, which were identified by meeting with parents and teachers involved in the curriculum.
“And we felt like we couldn’t do everything, that’s why we called these, very carefully, ‘first steps,’” she said.
Deanna M. Day, vice president of Amphi’s Governing Board, asked for clarification about why there’s a difference between the cluster model — a technique that groups gifted students together — in elementary school compared to high school.
Donna Shreve, a department chair at REACH, said the cluster model of instruction at the elementary school level is mandated, whereas high school students can choose whether they want to attend a seminar-style cluster class.
Shreve further said expanding the push-in technique — where gifted instructors would visit a student’s regular English class, teaching joint curriculum throughout the year — would make the advanced programming more efficient at the 9th and 10th grade level. “So by having the REACH teacher push-in to that classroom, then they’ll get those services.”
One of the biggest concerns is the inconsistency in Amphi’s gifted program, said Melanie Derksen, a department chair at REACH. Students in middle school receive daily advanced instruction, but once they reach high school the program diminishes, she said.
“We need to figure out what we can do, in 9th and 10th grade, for our REACH teachers to service these children,” Derksen said.
Jo Grant, president of Amphi’s Governing Board, asked how the REACH committee and Amphi school operations choose the three items being considered that evening.
Shreve said the glaring shortfall of the REACH program was in outreach to the youngest gifted students at Amphi schools, which is also the greatest concern for parents.
At the high school level, the REACH chairs, as well as Associate Superintendent Nelson, said if they had to choose between implementing a boost in programming for freshman and sophomores, or continuing to fund the gifted internship program, they would choose the former.
Reducing, or removing, the junior- and senior-level internship opportunities in order to supplement the costs of enhancing outreach for younger high school students would be a detriment to Amphi students and the community overall, said Scott A. Leska, an Amphi Governing Board member.
“I think that’s a disservice to those students who are looking forward to it,” he said.
The original framework for assessing, and improving, Amphi’s advanced curriculum was not a matter of choosing between slashing one part of the program to fund another, said Cymry DeBoucher, an honors internship coordinator at Canyon del Oro High School.
Moreover, the honors work DeBoucher is involved with is much more than a once a week seminar class for Amphi’s brightest pupils, she said. Honors counselors often spend up to 15 hours each week, scheduling job interviews for students looking for advanced-level internships, and molding the direction of these pupils beyond graduate school.
“We also see academic competitions as an important part of what should be provided to gifted students,” she said. “And that may or may not be part of the gifted process, but it certainly has been at my high school for 20 years.”
