Paradise News

Category: Metro

  • Trump drops executive order against Paul Weiss after securing $40 million in free legal help

    BigLaw backs down

    Donald Trump has withdrawn an executive order targeting US law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (Paul, Weiss) after the firm agreed to provide $40 million (£31 million) in free legal services to support the administration’s priorities.

    The executive order, issued last week, had suspended the firm’s federal security clearances, barred its lawyers from entering government buildings, and threatened government contractors associated with the firm.

    The White House cited past work by Mark Pomerantz, a former Paul, Weiss partner who previously led a criminal investigation into Trump’s finances, as part of its justification. Pomerantz had reportedly compared Trump to a “mob boss” and played a central role in a New York probe into alleged hush-money payments.

    The administration has presented the resolution as a compromise reached following a meeting between Trump and Paul, Weiss chair Brad Karp. In a statement released by the White House, Karp said: “We are gratified that the President has agreed to withdraw the Executive Order concerning Paul, Weiss. We look forward to an engaged and constructive relationship with the President and his Administration.”

    As part of the deal, Paul, Weiss has committed to offering legal services that “represent the full spectrum of political viewpoints” and has reportedly agreed to disavow the use of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) considerations in its hiring and promotion practices, according to the White House. The $40 million in pro bono work will support Trump administration initiatives in areas including veterans’ affairs, antisemitism, and justice system reform.

    Taking to his own social media platform, Truth Social, Trump framed the deal with Paul, Weiss as a reaffirmation of “the bedrock principle of American Justice”: that it must remain fair and nonpartisan. The post criticised law firms that make hiring or client decisions based on political affiliation, claiming such practices “deny some Americans an equal opportunity” and betray the legal profession’s highest ideals. It also warned against lawyers engaging in partisan decision-making, which it said undermines their ethical obligation to represent the unpopular or politically disfavoured.

    The move comes amid a broader pattern of action by the Trump administration targeting law firms over their perceived political leanings and diversity policies. As reported earlier this week, the White House has launched probes into 20 top firms including A&O Shearman, Freshfields, and Hogan Lovells as part of a coordinated crackdown on DEI in the legal profession. Some firms have already responded by quietly editing or removing DEI-related content from their websites.

    The Law Society of England and Wales, along with legal bodies across the globe, has publicly condemned what it describes as “acts of intimidation, hindrance or harassment” against lawyers, while thousands of associates at US law firms have signed open letters accusing the administration of creating a “culture of fear” designed to punish firms that represent clients critical of the government.

    Earlier this month, Trump issued an executive order targeting summer vacation schemes accusing BigLaw firms of “racial discrimination” by implementing DEI policies in recruitment. The order has already impacted firms including Perkins Coie and Covington & Burling, who have seen security clearances revoked and contracts put under review.

    The post Trump drops executive order against Paul Weiss after securing $40 million in free legal help appeared first on Legal Cheek.

    Source: Legal Cheek

  • ‘What should I wear to my assessment centre?’

    Workwear dilemma for TC hopeful

    In our latest Career Conundrum, a law student wants your advice on what to wear to the office.

    “Hey! I’ve just secured an assessment centre at a law firm (eek!), and I’m beyond excited but also super nervous. I know this could be my chance to get onto my first ever vac scheme. But — I have no clue what to wear! I’ve heard that law firms are generally quite formal, but then I see stories about how some places are adopting a more ‘business casual’ dress code. I don’t want to look like I’m trying too hard, but I definitely don’t want to look too casual or unprofessional either.

    Should I go full blouse and blazer? Would a smart top with black trousers be enough? Do shoes really matter as much as people say they do? I don’t come from a background where I’ve needed ‘business wear’ before, so I’m also a bit worried about looking out of place if I don’t get it right.

    Would really appreciate any advice from those who’ve been through this process or know the industry well — what should I wear to my assessment centre?

    Thanks in advance!”

    If you have a career conundrum, email us at tips@legalcheek.com.

    The post ‘What should I wear to my assessment centre?’ appeared first on Legal Cheek.

    Source: Legal Cheek

  • Florida couple sentenced in death of starved 11-month-old daughter

    LAKE COUNTY, Fla. (TCN) — A couple will spend time behind bars in connection with the death of their malnourished baby, who was found in a dirty playpen caked with dried feces.

    On March 17, the Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office said a judge sentenced 27-year-old Margaret Lehman to 13 years and 30-year-old Mark Brittian Jr. to 13 1/4 years in prison for the aggravated manslaughter of their 11-month-old daughter, Marcelyn Brittian.

    In September 2021, the Leesburg Police Department responded to the couple’s home to a report of an unresponsive infant. Officers reportedly noticed the home was in “deplorable conditions with a heavy odor of garbage and rotting food throughout the house.”

    Police located Marcelyn Brittian in a dirty playpen, and she was “covered in dirt and dried feces.” Authorities attempted lifesaving measures on the child, but hospital professionals later pronounced her deceased.

    According to prosecutors, investigators asked Lehman and Brittian Jr. about their child’s death, and they both said the victim and their 3-year-old child were “happy and healthy.”

    Further investigation revealed Brittian Jr. had allegedly called two other people 15 minutes before calling law enforcement that morning. Medical examiners also determined the 11-month-old girl likely hadn’t eaten in around two to three days and was “extremely malnourished.” Officials arrested and charged the baby’s parents, and family members took custody of the 3-year-old.

    State Attorney for the Fifth Judicial Circuit Bill Gladson said, “This is disgusting. The most vulnerable of our society has been victimized by the most evil. At least in prison, they’ll both receive food, unlike their innocent children.”

    • Lake County Couple Sentenced in Manslaughter Case of Their 11-Month-Old Child – Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office

    Source: True Crime Daily

  • Man arrested for allegedly fatally stabbing young mother near her kids in 2007

    FREDERICK, Colo. (TCN) — Authorities recently arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of fatally stabbing a young mother near her children almost 18 years ago.

    According to a news release from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), on April 6, 2007, Frederick Police responded to a home on Larkspur Circle and discovered 25-year-old Jessica Bejarano’s body in the bathroom with a single stab wound to her chest. Bejarano’s two kids, ages 4 and 2, were inside the residence at the time.

    Per an affidavit reviewed by KUSA-TV, Bejarano’s 4-year-old daughter told police she witnessed a large man come into her home and kill her mom. The CBI said officials investigated multiple leads, including the victim’s husband, but they learned he was at work when his wife was killed.

    The case went cold for decades until authorities obtained a DNA sample and learned it was a match to Darrell Burklund.

    According to KUSA, investigators interviewed Burklund multiple times throughout the years, as well as family members and other people connected to the maintenance company the victim hired for home repairs. Burklund reportedly worked as a contractor for a maintenance company Bejarano used.

    Bejarano allegedly said she was “creeped out” by Burklund, who would do some of her repairs. The suspect’s boss reportedly fired him because of customers’ concerns regarding his behavior.

    According to the CBI, authorities interviewed Burklund and arrested him on March 14 on a charge of second-degree murder. Burklund reportedly told authorities he knew the victim’s husband wasn’t home when he went to her home and knocked on the door. Burklund and Bejarano allegedly got into a dispute, and she scratched him before he “lost it” and stabbed her. Burklund reportedly fled to Nebraska and threw the knife he used to stab her out of his window while driving.

    Burklund was booked into the York County Sheriff’s Detention Center and will appear for an extradition hearing before he’s transported back to Colorado to face charges.

    According to KUSA, Burklund wrote a note to the victim’s daughter after his confession apologizing for his crimes. Part of the letter said, “If I could go back to that day I could [guarantee] things would be different. The things I put your family thru has worked on me all this time. As is your case my family meant everything to me. I don’t expect your forgiveness my conscience will torture me the rest of my life. If I could turn back the hands of time you, your brother, and dad would enjoy your mom while you were growing up. I’m so sorry this happened.”

    Burklund was 54 years old when he allegedly killed Bejarano.

    In a statement, CBI Director Chris Schaefer said, “This arrest is the culmination of years of tireless work by our investigators for the unwavering pursuit of justice for Jessica Bejarano and her family.”

    The victim’s mother, Cece Merrow, added, “We are grateful for the diligent and hard work of the CBI and its cold case team (especially Agent Kevin Koback). We never gave up hope. Chris Schaefer, who was on Jessica’s case from day one, made a promise that he would not retire until Jessica’s case was solved. He has kept his promise.”

    • 72-Year Old Arrested in 2007 Frederick Homicide of Young Mother – Colorado Bureau of Investigation
    • ‘My conscience will torture me the rest of my life’ | DNA evidence connects 72-year-old to 2007 Colorado murder – KUSA
    • York County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center

    Source: True Crime Daily

  • Milwaukee man allegedly threw 1-year-old girl off balcony after 'tug of war' with her mother

    MILWAUKEE, Wis. (TCN) — A 31-year-old man is in custody for allegedly battering a 25-year-old woman, threatening to kill her, and throwing her 1-year-old daughter off a balcony.

    According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, on March 13, Milwaukee Police Department officers went to Froedtert Hospital regarding a child abuse claim and spoke with a 25-year-old woman who claimed Jaimann Eiland hurt her and her daughter. The woman reportedly told police that she got home at around 5 p.m. and heard her daughter cry. She asked Eiland what happened, and he allegedly claimed the girl ran into him. The woman and Eiland argued because she didn’t believe him, at which point Eiland allegedly picked up the 1-year-old and began shaking her.

    Eiland allegedly put the girl down, then pushed the child’s mother. The mother sprayed Mace at Eiland before trying to call for help. Eiland, however, allegedly took her phone away and told her, “You gone die today.”

    The mother brought her daughter out to a second-story balcony, but Eiland reportedly followed and grabbed the 1-year-old by the neck. Eiland and the woman reportedly started fighting over the child and pulled her back and forth as Eiland held her in the air. WITI-TV reports Eiland allegedly “intentionally threw” the child off the balcony before beating the woman for about a minute.

    Eiland is married to the woman’s mother.

    Eiland reportedly went to a local police precinct for an interview and described his fight with the mother as a “tug of war” over the child and that she fell over the balcony.

    The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports the child was taken to the hospital, where she was treated for abrasions to her forehead and cheek, as well as other bruising on her body. She did not sustain any skeletal or cranial fractures. The drop from the balcony to the street was nearly 16 feet. The girl’s mother has a sprained finger and required stitches on her forehead.

    Court records show Eiland is charged with substantial battery — intending bodily harm, domestic abuse — infliction of physical pain or injury, and child abuse — high probability/great harm. His bond was set at $15,000. If he bonds out, Eiland must wear a GPS monitor and cannot have any contact with the victims.

    • Milwaukee woman claims family member assaulted her and threw her child off a 15-foot balcony – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
    • Child dropped from second-story balcony; Milwaukee man charged – WITI
    •  Wisconsin vs. Jaimann Laurenze Eiland

    Source: True Crime Daily

  • Remains found in Utah desert over 40 years ago positively identified as missing teen

    PROVO, Utah (TCN) — Investigators closed a cold case this week after they positively identified the remains of a John Doe found in the desert 42 years ago.

    According to the Provo Police Department, 17-year-old Robby Peay ran away from a youth treatment center in Salt Lake City on Oct. 7, 1982. He was reported missing to the Provo Police Department and listed in national databases after he failed to return.

    About four months later, in February 1983, a body was found in Arches National Park in Moab with a gunshot wound to the head. Police said the victim “appeared to have similar characteristics to Peay,” but officials could not positively identify the remains due to the amount of decomposition. He became listed as a John Doe.

    Several months later, officials discovered Peay’s truck in Lake Powell, 350 miles from Moab. Police did not have any additional leads at the time, so the case went cold. His family filed for him to be declared legally dead in 1990, and they placed a gravestone for him in Provo Cemetery.

    Peay’s disappearance remained a cold case until 2018 when a Provo Police detective entered the teen’s information into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs). A forensic dentist reportedly noted that Peay’s X-ray data had the incorrect number. When fixed, the data “resulted in a high percentage match with the John Doe” found in Arches in 1983. However, the Office of the Medical Examiner required DNA for a positive identification.

    Investigators learned Peay had been adopted at birth, so they worked to unseal court paperwork regarding his adoption. He did not have any living direct biological family members, but genealogical testing led detectives to an uncle. He provided detectives with the “much-needed DNA sample for comparison testing.”

    Provo Police detectives filed to exhume the remains found in Arches. Around the same time, NamUs reportedly learned another agency had the John Doe’s DNA on file, and after comparison, it came back as a match to Peay.

    Detective Sergeant Nick Patterson said in the statement, “Working cold cases as a detective is both challenging and time-consuming. Sifting through old files and photos, trying to reconstruct the past, can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. But the moment you uncover that long-awaited lead — the one that has eluded investigators for years — makes all the effort worthwhile.”

    • 1982 Missing Person Cold Case Solved – Provo Police Department

    Source: True Crime Daily

  • Cold-blooded killing covered up by trailer fire

    Twenty-one-year-old Kelcey Fike was a beloved daughter and friend ready to live happily ever after with the love of her life in a humble mobile home. Tragically, the home caught fire, and responders found Kelcey’s lifeless body in the bedroom and her cherished dog deceased in the living room. But investigators determined the flames were a coverup for a brutal killing, and years later, the case remains unsolved.

    Source: True Crime Daily

  • Judicial Watch Victory: Federal Judge Upholds the Right to Inspect Maryland Voter Rolls

    (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today announced that District Court Judge Matthew J. Maddox of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland struck down a Maryland State Board of Elections regulation that restricted and criminalized the use of voter registration lists for voter fraud and other “investigations.” Citing a separate Judicial Watch court victory in Maryland that opened up voter rolls to public scrutiny under federal law, the court recognized that restricting the use of the state’s voter rolls presented an obstacle to upholding federal voter roll maintenance as required by the National Voter Registration Act’s (NVRA).

    This ruling comes in the case Katherine Strauch Sullivan, et al., v. Michael G. Summers, et al., (No. 1:24-cv-00172), in which Judicial Watch filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court court) brief in support of the Maryland voters who challenged the new rule:

    One of the many necessary documents in order to determine whether a jurisdiction is in compliance with the NVRA’s list maintenance provisions are the voter registration list with voter history for prior general federal elections. These records were at issue in 2017, when Judicial Watch sued in this Court alleging that the state law requirement to be a Maryland registered voter was unlawful and preempted by the NVRA’s public disclosure provision…. This Court agreed, finding that both the records requested in the voter registration list were subject to disclosure under the NVRA and the state’s requirement to be a registered voter frustrated the purposes of the federal law and was preempted by it.

    As several federal courts have recognized, the public records provisions of the National Voter Registration Act were intended to enhance the ability of private groups to monitor whether states are removing ineligible voters from their voter rolls. In August 2019, a federal court in Maryland noted that organizations “such as Judicial Watch” have “the resources and expertise that few individuals can marshal. By excluding these organizations from access to voter registration lists,” the purpose of the federal law is undermined. That court ordered Maryland to produce the voter registration list, with fields indicating name, home address, most recent voter activity, and active or inactive status. In April 2020, the same court ordered Maryland to provide Judicial Watch with the dates of birth.

    Judge Maddox notes in his opinion: “On or around June 2023, the SBE [Maryland State Board of Elections] adopted the regulation restricting the use of voter registration lists by Maryland voters who request them.”

    A voter requesting access to the voter registration list, including voting history, must provide a signed and sworn statement that the list is not intended for commercial solicitation or any other purpose “not related to the electoral process.” …

    As they have done in the past, Plaintiffs [Sullivan] anticipate using the registered voter list from the SBE [State Board of Elections] and voting histories for registered voters to conduct statewide investigative canvasses to identify and analyze what they believe are potential errors, irregularities, or anomalies within MDVOTERS [voter database going back to 2006].

    Judge Maddox’s memorandum opinion concludes:

    In sum, the Court concludes as a matter of law that the Use Restriction in COMAR [Code of Maryland Regulations] … presents an obstacle to accomplishing and executing the purposes and objectives of the NVRA [National Voter Registration Act] and is, therefore, preempted.

    “This new federal court ruling affirming transparency requirement for voter registration list is an important victory for Maryland voters and election integrity,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “It was truly outrageous Maryland election officials tried to criminalize voters asking questions about election integrity.”

    Judicial Watch is a national leader in voting integrity and voting rights. As part of its work, Judicial Watch assembled a team of highly experienced voting rights attorneys who stopped discriminatory elections in Hawaii, and cleaned up voter rolls in California, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, among other achievements.

    Earlier this month, Judicial Watch sent a notice letter to Lt. Governor Deidre M. Henderson, notifying her that Utah is currently in violation of federal NVRA public disclosure requirements. The notice letter warns of a lawsuit after 90 days if the issues are not resolved.

    In July 2023, Judicial Watch filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief, supporting the decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine, which struck down Maine’s policy restricting the use and distribution of the state’s voter registration list. The lawsuit is now in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. According to a national study conducted by Judicial Watch in 2020, Maine’s statewide registration rate was 101% of eligible voters.

    Also in July 2023, Judicial Watch settled a federal lawsuit against the Illinois State Board of Elections, requiring it to grant access to its centralized statewide list of registered voters. State officials had refused to allow the nonprofit Illinois Conservative Union and three lawfully registered Illinois voters to obtain a copy of the state’s voter registration list, despite their lawful request for those records under federal law.

    In recent years, Judicial Watch’s analysis and use of voter registration lists has led to lawsuits and legal actions that have resulted in the removal of four million names from voter rolls in nearly a dozen states and localities, including Los Angeles County and New York City.

    ###

    Source: Judicial Watch

  • Woman celebrates her son-in-law's death during interrogation

    One comment about clothing left Geoward Eustaquio shot multiple times and Cynthia Cdebaca gloating about his death.

    Source: True Crime Daily

  • Tourist who stabbed his girlfriend in the face and neck with steak knife at Hawaii resort is sentenced

    HAWAI’I COUNTY, Hawaii (TCN) — A 67-year-old California man will spend two decades behind bars for stabbing his 64-year-old girlfriend multiple times at a beach resort nearly three years ago.

    The Hawai’i County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office announced March 19 that Richard Lopez received a sentence of 20 years in prison, and the court also ordered him to serve a mandatory minimum of six years and eight months.

    The defendant previously pleaded guilty in December 2024 to second-degree attempted murder. Prosecutors said the court “accepted his submission that he was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance at the time of the incident.”

    Lopez and his girlfriend of 17 years were visiting Hawai’i Island when he stabbed her at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort on Sept. 1, 2022. According to an initial release from the prosecuting attorney’s office, the victim sustained stab and slash wounds to her face and neck. Lopez was originally indicted on charges of second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and abuse of a family or household member.

    The defendant remained in custody during criminal proceedings in lieu of $1 million bail.

    • California man sentenced to 20-year prison term for domestic stabbing at Waikoloa Beach Marriot Resort – Hawai’i County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office
    • Prosecutors indict California man with attempted murder, assault, and felony abuse in Waikoloa domestic stabbing incident, 9/14/2022 – Hawai’i County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office

    Source: True Crime Daily