From the Idaho Statesman

Owyhee County has spent more than $162,000 on something so obviously wonderful, it just has to be kept secret from taxpayers. So the county took a black marker and diligently crossed out 56 entries on a 240-page check register provided to the Idaho Freedom Foundation. County Prosecutor Douglas Emery decided the recipients of the taxpayer dollars – of which he’s one – should remain anonymous.

The Idaho Freedom Foundation has spent months making a simple request of government agencies throughout Idaho: Send us an electronic record of your last 18 months of operating expenditures, line by line, check by check. The request to Owyhee County shouldn’t have come as a surprise; I met with the county commissioners and the county prosecutor, who doubles as the county’s legal counsel, in March to explain to them how the Idaho Freedom Foundation was working to boost the transparency of local and state government agencies, and how their spending records would be made part of a free online database.

But Owyhee County soon proved it wouldn’t do what was easily accomplished by Canyon County, Nampa, Pocatello, Boise, Ketchum, Hayden, Meridian, the Ada County Highway District, Pocatello School District, Meridian Development Corporation, College of Western Idaho, Greater Boise Auditorium District and the Boise, Coeur d’Alene and Pocatello school districts – all of whom had no problem responding to our request quickly and thoroughly.

Owyhee County initially dismissed my public records request, sent by e-mail on April 30.

“The Owyhee County departments are not to accept e-mail records requests,” Owyhee County Prosecutor Douglas D. Emery told me in an e-mail denying my e-mail request. “Owyhee County is within its right to require uniformity in the request process and that our form be used and signed.” So I took my same request, word for word, pasted it onto Owyhee County’s form, and e-mailed it back. Success.

“I will route the (request) to the necessary departments for an estimation of the total pages of copies which will need to be generated. If there is a cost anticipated, I will advise,” Emery told me.

Twenty days later, on May 30, Owyhee County’s 240-page response came in the mail, complete with a letter dated May 14 and a bill for $66.

But the pages contained blacked-out entries for more than $162,000 of non-payroll expenses. And for some of the entries, both the recipient of the money and the dollar amount were redacted. To justify his actions, Emery cited portions of the public records law that allows records to be withheld if they are of a personal nature, are medical records or are records belonging to the Idaho Housing and Finance Association. Emery declined to elaborate on his legal selections, which seem odd to me.

Fortunately, not everyone is excited about government secrets, and with a little bit of sleuthing, I was able to find out that the bulk of the secretive payments went to a consultant, likely working on the Owyhee Initiative. More than $6,000 went to Emery, when he was under contract with the county as a deputy prosecutor in 2007-2008.

What’s not clear to me are the reasons Owyhee County declared these entries secret. Emery offers few answers.

“There is no secret that I worked for the Owyhee County as a deputy prosecutor under Matt Faulks, the former (county prosecutor), at $50 per hour approximately one day per week and performed such work for a number of months,” Emery wrote in an e-mail Thursday. “My prior position with the county and rate of pay is a matter of public record and likewise published in the Owyhee Avalanche. Details of personal withholdings and personal payroll information, however, is not.”

But payments to Emery weren’t reported in the county’s accounting as payroll, which means either Emery was hired as a contractor, not an employee, or the county’s accounting system is flawed. And what of the payments to the lands consultant? Emery won’t answer.

“If you desire further records or additional followup, please complete and sign the proper written public records form and submit payment for the expenses incurred to date,” Emery wrote in his final e-mail transmission.

I suspect Owyhee County’s decision to hold these expenses secret violates Idaho’s public records law. In fairness, I can’t be entirely sure of anything because of Emery’s steadfast refusal to openly discuss the matter.

Regardless, the county’s froward response to the public’s right to know is maddening, and it illustrates how little these county officials respect the taxpayers who ultimately pay the bills and expect to know – with only extraordinary exceptions – who is getting their money and why.

Wayne Hoffman is the executive director of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a nonprofit, non-partisan think tank. E-mail him at wayne@idahofreedom.net.

From the Idaho Statesman

From the Moscow-Pullman Daily News

Deans, faculty disagree on value, necessity of independent contractor’s work

By Halley Griffin, Daily News staff writer
Posted on: Saturday, May 30, 2009

Magaly Rodriguez lives in Minnesota and occasionally travels to the University of Idaho to serve as an independent consultant and “Chief Inspiration Officer.”

The UI pays her $12,500 a month for her services, according to public records obtained by the Daily News.

Rodriguez is held on retainer by the UI, on a nine-month appointment that expires in June. The contract totals $112,500 and was signed during the same academic year that state holdbacks forced the UI to cut about $3.8 million from its budget.

She spends anywhere from zero to 10 days in Moscow per month, according to the contract between Rodriguez and the UI.

Deans and other administrators say the retainer with Rodriguez and consulting company Volentum is well worth the money spent, but the faculty who have participated in their workshops tell a different story.

While one dean praised the calming effect of the sessions, a professor likened them to “being sedated.”

Provost Doug Baker said Rodriguez’s consulting is one tool in adopting the university’s strategic plan.

He said she is “absolutely” worth the money.

“She’s helping us reshape our culture,” Baker said.

Rodriguez said she helps do that by building “global peacemaking communities,” and she claims to have coined the term “peacemaking.”

“If you want to know kind of really what I do, I’m interested in building communities,” she said in a phone interview Friday.

College of Science Dean Scott Wood called on Volentum’s services this February, when the university was considering the elimination of its undergraduate degrees in physics.

Rodriguez stepped in to facilitate a two-day workshop that ultimately helped save the program.

“We obviously got to a resolution,” Wood said. “I’m not convinced we would have gotten there without Magaly’s help.”

He said he’d bring her back “in a heartbeat.”

But physics professor Francesca Sammarruca wrote in an e-mail that she felt the workshop focused mainly on sharing feelings and resolving personal conflicts, while the problem facing the physics department did not arise from interpersonal conflicts.

“When I heard of a workshop with a professional facilitator, I was expecting a roundtable with a neutral moderator (who is knowledgeable in physics, science, and institutional planning). That would have been a format appropriate to the circumstances,” she wrote.

“The point is that her services cannot help with problems such as ours. The problem arose from a hasty decision. That decision needed to be discussed openly and thoroughly between the people involved in a (moderated) professional meeting, and at a much lower cost.”

Such retainer is “outrageous,” Sammarruca wrote, especially when everyone is being told to save money and resources where they can.

“That kind of money can support (seven) graduate students each month,” she wrote. “That’s a way to really help a department.”

Rodriguez’s travel, lodging and meal expenses are paid for by the university, but deducted from the $12,500 she receives monthly.

In fact, she takes home more pay during the months when she does not visit the university in person, and consults with administrators via telephone instead.

Baker has employed Rodriguez on an independent consulting basis for more than a year.

She and Volentum have signed one-time contracts for amounts from $10,000 to $15,500 for workshops that took place prior to the start of her retainer contract.

The $12,500 isn’t the sole cost each month. For each workshop there also are refreshments to be purchased and equipment to be rented.

One day’s lunch at a workshop for deans and administrators in May 2008 cost the UI $1,078.74.

But Baker said it is typical for a university to spend this kind of money on independent consultants.

“I think the university brings in that expertise on a variety of things,” he said. “You sometimes want to have (someone) on retainer for a period of time, and you do that to bring expertise that you don’t have.”

Baker said he does not yet know whether the contract with Volentum will be renewed after June. That decision will depend on the university’s budgetary capabilities.

Patricia Hartzell has been through about three Volentum workshops with the department of microbiology, molecular biology and biochemistry.

“I’m really perplexed as to what (administrators) thought the outcome would be, how it would change our life. Because it didn’t,” said Hartzell, a professor in the department. “I think they think they were successful.”

Many other faculty members interviewed for this story declined to be quoted, citing “fear of retaliation.”

Although they did not want their names used, their stories were the same. The consensus among them is Rodriguez is “a lovely person,” and is good at what she does. They question, however, her necessity to the university.

Faculty both on and off the record agree on another point: they feel patronized, and said the real issues are being swept under the carpet.

“The workshop reminded me of the “I’m OK, you’re OK,” workshops back in the 1970s. It focuses on improved relations, rather than solving problems,” computer science professor Paul Oman wrote in an e-mail. “The department members get along better, but we still have the same fundamental problems because all we do is agree to disagree rather than move in one direction for the good of the department.”

Licensed psychologist W. Rand Walker said the field has advanced significantly farther than the Volentum materials that he has reviewed.

“It is reminiscent of techniques that were developed in the 1960s by Carl Rogers and other humanistic psychologists,” said Walker, who has published materials on communication and therapeutic techniques. “It is also the same techniques that are used in ‘Natural Helpers’ programs that are used with junior high school students.”

Walker said the role consultants play in a university setting is important and shouldn’t be diminished.

“There are legitimate places for this, but you don’t pay $112,000 for it,” he said.

The computer science department had its first Volentum workshop in early 2008. Minutes from a faculty meeting last March summarize departmental reactions to the two-day retreat.

“While there appeared to be a general consensus that the retreat was beneficial, there were considerable mixed reactions to the specifics of the retreat,” read the minutes.

Specific comments reflect positively on the communication tools taught by Rodriguez, but include questions such as “Now what?” and “Can we address the real problems without her?” Faculty in numerous departments that have participated in Volentum workshops have said they feel the same way.

“I thought and I still think that she is a very nice woman and what she says is good information,” Hartzell said. “But I don’t think it solved our problems.”

Baker, however, believes most people have enjoyed and benefitted from their experiences with Rodriguez.

“I suspect you do have some sample bias,” he said. “My assessment is she’s done a pretty successful job.”

From the Moscow-Pullman Daily News

From the Times-News

Feds say state was violating law

By Nate Poppino
Times-News writer

Among its other tasks, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare inspects the state’s nursing homes, hospitals and other entities on behalf of the federal government.

Since 2006, Health and Welfare has posted its inspection reports on its Web site for public review. But those postings have stopped after the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services warned Idaho it was violating federal law.

In an April 30 memorandum to all state survey agency directors, CMS Survey and Certification Group Director Thomas E. Hamilton reiterated the process for releasing facility surveys under the Freedom of Information Act – requiring requests in writing, and allowing the documents to be released as long as nothing identifies individual patients and staff and pursuant to certain timelines and review.

On Friday, CMS regional spokeswoman Stephanie Magill said those specifications have also led Medicare to restrict posting the surveys and correction plans to the Internet. Some states – including Idaho – regularly posted the documents, while others didn’t. Now all states are consistent, she said.

Idaho officials aren’t pleased with the change. Health and Welfare spokesman Tom Shanahan said Thursday that the department has appealed the change, and spokeswoman Emily Simnitt said Friday afternoon that officials are still waiting for a response from CMS. Meanwhile, she said, further postings of all inspections on behalf of the federal agency are on hold.

“At this time, we are doing what CMS has asked us to do,” Simnitt said.

Federal regulations were previously silent on how public records requests for the surveys should be made, Magill said. For now, documents will be kept at central locations in each state and can be specifically requested in either physical or digital form.

One long-time administrator in the nursing-home and assisted-living industries said Friday that taking the surveys off the Internet may be a good thing. Scott Burpee, a current partner in Safe Haven Health Care, said that just enough information exists in nursing-home reports for someone familiar with a home to identify the patients involved in a case. That opens the door to possible patient-privacy violations, he said.

The Web postings also hold “marginal value” for families evaluating possible homes, Burpee said, noting that facilities are supposed to make recent reports available on-site and that a site tour is much more valuable than an inspection report that may lack needed context. It’s the same reason, he said, that administrators often aren’t fond of facility-rating Web sites developed by CMS.

“None of the way the survey was designed was for that,” Burpee said of publishing the documents.

It’s not clear what CMS has in mind for dealing with the Internet and survey documents. Magill wasn’t sure Friday if the agency is reviewing the issue, and said she was still waiting for more details from her central office. Hamilton’s memo states that more detailed information on its contents “will follow in the near future.”

From the Times-News

From the Idaho Statesman

The judge says he can’t legislate from the bench, but doesn’t consider Pentico a threat.
BY DAN POPKEY – dpopkey@idahostatesman.com
Published: 05/12/09

The Republican Party’s libertarian wing is criticizing the conviction of a Mountain Home GOP official who defied a police order to stay away from Idaho Gov. Butch Otter’s office.

“Idahoans for Liberty,” a group including organizers of recent Tea Party events and backers of Texas Rep. Ron Paul, marched from the sentencing hearing Monday to Otter’s office.

The group said Elmore County Republican Vice Chairman Christopher Pentico’s rights to petition the government and to speak freely were violated. They asked Otter to pardon Pentico and stop enforcing the trespassing law on state property.

About 75 Pentico supporters packed the courtroom of Ada County Magistrate Kevin Swain on Monday. Swain found Pentico guilty April 21, but said the application of the trespassing law to public buildings raises “troubling questions.”

Swain said he was issuing the lightest of possible sentences and would strike Pentico’s conviction after he completes probation.

Pentico’s complaint stems in part from an incident he says occurred while he was a graduate student at Boise State University. He told the Statesman that a former university employee threatened to pull his arms from their sockets. Pentico did not complete his graduate degree, but in 2000 earned a bachelor’s degree in math and physics.

His allegations include conflicts of interest and other inappropriate actions by university and state officials to whom he has complained. Pentico, 42, has pressed his complaints for five years.

Pentico’s supporters have expanded their influence in the party, beginning last year when they helped unseat Otter’s choice for party chairman. They played a prominent role in defeating Otter’s plan for a gas tax increase and have won seats on county central committees across Idaho.

Last month, members of the Ada County Republican Central Committee tried to force a vote on a resolution alleging Otter violated Pentico’s right to due process. They won a majority on a procedural vote, but fell short of the two-thirds majority required for action.

In 2008, Idaho State Police barred Pentico from the governor’s office after repeated encounters with Otter and his staff. Though Otter said Pentico had never been threatening, his refusal to accept no for an answer was compromising his staff’s ability to do its work.

“If he’s disruptive to the staff – to the demeanor of the office – we have to remove him,” Otter told the Idaho Statesman last week.

Pentico also has spoken with Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, state schools Superintendent Tom Luna, dozens of legislators and top staffers to former Govs. Dirk Kempthorne and Jim Risch.

“He seems to think that if he comes 12 times, the answer will be different than the 11th time,” said Jon Hanian, Otter’s spokesman, after Pentico was sentenced to 30 days’ probation Monday.

Pentico has considered suing, but said Monday that too much time has passed.

Boise State spokesman Frank Zang said BSU considers the Pentico matter closed. “We reviewed and addressed any concerns he may have raised in years past. There are no current issues of which we are aware.”

Pentico was arrested after he defied a March 25, 2008, State Police order to stay away from the governor’s office, the Capitol Annex and the Department of Education. A police officer handcuffed Pentico on April 2 after Pentico returned to the governor’s office and didn’t immediately respond to an order to stop.

Swain rejected the request of the Ada County prosecutor’s office: five days in jail, two years’ probation, a $200 fine, and a ban on Pentico’s entering three offices where he was barred in 2008.

Rep. Pete Nielsen, R-Mountain Home, testified on Pentico’s behalf Monday. Nine other lawmakers signed a letter saying Pentico “has acted in a responsible and respectful manner.”

Dan Popkey: 377-6438

From the Idaho Statesman

From the Times-News

By Andrea Jackson
Times-News writer

The Times-News has challenged the closure of hearings and the sealing of documents in the murder case against Fortino Leon of Jerome.

In court papers filed Friday, Times-News attorney Fritz Haemmerle cited a recent closure of a hearing in the case, sealing of key court documents and confusion over the status of the case in requesting a hearing to argue that the proceedings should be open to public view.

Haemmerle argued the public has a constitutional right to observe court proceedings.

“Public access to criminal trials permits the public to participate in and serve as a check upon the judicial process, an essential component in our structure of self-government,” Haemmerle wrote. “It should be evident that logic dictates that the public has a right to know why a defendant facing murder charges is not being tried, or when that defendant might be tried.”

The mental competency of Leon, 73, has been at issue in the court since he was accused of first-degree murder in the July shooting of Javier Zavala-Paniagua, 22, in the street in front of his home in Jerome. He also is charged with aggravated assault and aggravated battery in relation to the alleged shooting of his estranged wife, Maria Leon, 41, who was apparently living with Zavala-Paniagua at the time of the shootings.

The case has not proceeded to a preliminary hearing or grand jury because the court has yet to rule if Leon is mentally fit to stand trial.

On April 15, 5th District Judge Jason Walker had granted requests from the Times-News and KMVT-TV to video record and photograph Leon’s court appearance the following day. But “thereafter, without any explanation, the court ordered the case closed to the public, and reporters … removed from the courtroom,” Haemmerle wrote.

On April 17, Walker issued a written order that also sealed various documents, saying it was “to preserve the defendant’s right to a fair trial,” though he did not specify why closure was needed to do so. In previous hearings he had denied defense motions to close the case, saying it was important to keep it open.

“Prior to the order being issued there was no public hearing or fact-finding made by the court as to why the order was issued or why it was necessary to seal the documents,” Haemmerle wrote. “The last hearing on this matter was abruptly shut without the court explaining what aspect of the criminal case remains open, if any.

“The right to a fair trial is fundamental, significant and important,” Haemmerle wrote. “However, the court has not recognized or evaluated the public’s equally compelling right to access under the First Amendment. This right needs to be acknowledged and addressed. Only when the state’s interest is found to be more compelling can the court prevent the public’s right to access.”

Times-News Editor James G. Wright said the newspaper is acting as the public’s representative in asserting that sealing court files and closing proceedings runs counter to basic principles of American democracy.

“Any effort to wall off our courts from the public, even with the best of intentions, erodes our fundamental civil rights and undermines respect for the rule of law,” Wright said Friday. “The public cannot have confidence in the fairness and competence of its judicial system if it cannot see that system at work.”

While not a party in Friday’s filing, the Associated Press has agreed to help cover the cost of the legal challenge, Wright said.

Haemmerle asked for a hearing on the motions to be set for June 11.

Andrea Jackson may be reached at 208-735-3380 or ajackson@magicvalley.com

From the Times-News

From the Times-News

By Andrea Jackson
Times-News writer

Public documents were sealed from community sight this week in the murder case against Iranian refugee Majid Kolestani.

Kolestani, 43 – a man who identifies as a woman and also goes by the first name Nastaran – is accused of shooting 29-year-old Iranian refugee Ehsan Velayati Kababian to death in his car along Fifth Avenue East in Twin Falls on Aug. 25. Friends of the pair say possible motive is jealousy over a woman Kababian may have been romancing in Iran.

Twin Falls 5th District Court Judge Randy Stoker recently denied Kolestani’s requests to dismiss the case and another to change venue because of pretrial publicity.

Stoker on Tuesday sealed an unspecified motion and order. Last year he sealed four documents in September involving the preservation of evidence, court records show.

The move to seal mirrors others from recent serious criminal cases.

A Times-News request to view a sealed police affidavit regarding a rape reported outside Woody’s on April 16 was denied this week in Twin Falls 5th District Court.

In that case, Justin Wicklund, 24, is charged with rape, after he was arrested hours following the alleged incident unfolded outside Woody’s Bar and Grill.

Judge Howard Smyser sealed the “affidavit in support of warrant for arrest,” because it “contain(s) highly intimate facts or statements, the publication of which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person,” according to court records.

Prosecutors asked Smyser to seal the rape case document, and on Tuesday he decided Wicklund’s lawyer, Joe Rockstahl, of Twin Falls, can get a copy for defending his client.

On April 16 in Jerome County, Judge Jason Walker shut the public out of a criminal hearing in a first-degree murder case without saying if 73-year-old Fortino Leon is mentally fit to stand trial or why he was sealing the hearing.

Fortino Leon, 73, is accused of first-degree murder in the July shooting of Javier Zavala-Paniagua, 22, in the street in front of his home in Jerome. He also is charged with aggravated assault and aggravated battery in relation to the shooting of his estranged wife, Maria Leon, 41, who was living with Zavala-Paniagua at the time.

On April 17 in an order filed with the Jerome County 5th District Court, Walker wrote that he sealed the hearing to protect Leon’s right to a fair trial, and continued Leon’s commitment with the Idaho Department of Correction for 180 days.

Prior proceedings related to Leon’s mental competency have been held in open court.

Any willful or intentional disclosure of a confidential court record may be treated as a contempt of court, according to Idaho judicial rules.

Andrea Jackson may be reached at ajackson@magicvalley.com or 208-735-3380.

From the Times-News

From the Times-News

By Andrea Jackson
Times-News writer

Fifth District Court Judge Jason Walker said Friday that he closed a status hearing on the commitment of an accused murderer “to preserve the defendant’s right to a fair trial,” even though prior proceedings related to the man’s mental competency have been held in open court during the 9-month-old criminal case.

Fortino Leon, 73, is accused of first-degree murder in the July shooting of Javier Zavala-Paniagua, 22, in the street in front of his home in Jerome. He also is charged with aggravated assault and aggravated battery in relation to the shooting of his estranged wife, Maria Leon, 41, who was living with Zavala-Paniagua at the time.

Walker on Thursday abruptly closed Leon’s status hearing – a day after granting media permission to place cameras in the courtroom – without saying why, or determining whether Leon was fit for trial.

On Friday, Walker signed an order saying Leon “continues to lack the capacity to assist in his own defense … It is unlikely that the defendant will be fit to proceed in the foreseeable future.”

That order stays proceedings for at least 180 days so the state can continue to monitor Leon.

“If at any time the Department of Health and Welfare determines the defendant is fit to proceed with trial it shall immediately notify the court and the matter shall be set for a hearing,” the judge’s order said. “If, after a hearing on the matter, the court agrees…and finds the conditions which justified the commitment to the department do not continue to exist, criminal proceedings may resume.”

Walker’s belated written order doesn’t say if he will also bar the public from the next scheduled hearing in the case, which is set for Oct. 15. Nor does it say how closing Thursday’s hearing preserved Leon’s rights. Leon’s mental status was discussed in open court in at least three previous hearings.

Leon’s mental fitness has been in question since at least November, when he was placed in the Idaho Department of Correction Secure Medical Program. Letters addressing Leon’s mental condition have been part of the public court file, and have been discussed by attorneys in at least two open court hearings that resulted in prior commitment extensions. Walker had previously rejected defense motions to close the case to the public. Thursday’s closure came in response to a motion from the prosecution.

“Judge Walker’s action is baffling, particularly in light of his previous strong statement that it is important that the public know the facts of this case,” said James G. Wright, editor of the Times-News. “We have asked our attorney to review the closure and we are considering our options in ensuring that the public isn’t shut out of future proceedings in this or any other murder case.”

Speaking on behalf of 5th Judicial District Administrative Judge Barry Wood, who is out of town and unavailable for comment, District Court Judge John Melanson of Rupert said judges don’t want to the public to think they’re acting in secret.

“The courts are sensitive to the need to keep hearings open,” Melanson said. “I think a judge has it in his power to close a proceeding when he determines it should be done.”

Andrea Jackson may be reached at 208-735-3380 or ajackson@magicvalley.com

From the Times-News

From the Times-News

Unusual move comes without warning or explanation

By Andrea Jackson
Times-News writer

JEROME – Fifth District Court Judge Jason Walker Thursday shut the public out of a criminal hearing in a first-degree murder case without saying if 73-year-old Fortino Leon is mentally fit to stand trial or why he was sealing the case.

Leon’s mental fitness has been in question since at least November, when he was placed in the Idaho Department of Correction Secure Medical Program.

He is accused of first-degree murder for the July shooting of Javier Zavala-Paniagua, 22, outside a Jerome residence at 221 Fifth Ave. E. Leon is also charged with aggravated assault and aggravated battery for shooting his estranged wife, Maria Leon, 41.

Neighbors have said Maria Leon was living with Zavala-Paniagua for at a least a month before the shooting unfolded in front of their home on a sunny day, along a quiet residential street, in the presence of children riding on scooters.

On Thursday, just a day after granting media requests to allow cameras in the courtroom, Walker without explanation closed the hearing and asked reporters to leave the courtroom. He said only that he was granting a motion from prosecutors “to seal the proceedings.” There was no discussion of that motion in the open courtroom.

Walker allowed lawyers in the case, witnesses, and Maria Leon to remain in court.

Sealing a murder proceeding is unusual, even when issues involve the mental health of the accused, local attorneys familiar with such cases said Thursday. Judges commonly weigh matters in open court, and close proceedings only after ruling the defendant is not competent to stand trial. It’s unclear why Walker, a former Minidoka County prosecutor appointed to the bench in Camas County in 2007, closed his courtroom at this time, or what might come next for Leon.

A specific motion from the state to seal proceedings has not been filed, nor is there an order of involuntary commitment, according to the Idaho State Judiciary online case repository on Thursday. Leon’s paper case file was unavailable for public inspection, but an application for involuntary commitment filed Tuesday contains the state’s motion, according to the clerk’s office in Jerome.

In closing the courtroom, Walker apologized to reporters, saying, “So I’ve done what I hate to do to the press, and that is, I told you, you could be here, only to tell you, you can’t be here.” He said he granted the state’s motion “because of the nature of the proceedings … And the importance of the issues that I have to deal with today.”

He said he couldn’t tell the public what might happen at Thursday’s hearing.

“What’s going to take place … I’m afraid I can’t even share with you that at this point,” he said.

The Jerome County prosecutor on the case, Paul Kroeger would not say why he asked Walker to seal proceedings.

It’s not the first time, though, that Walker has been asked to bar the public from hearings in this case. But in September the judge denied a defense request to close Leon’s preliminary hearing, saying that, “It’s important for the public to understand what’s going on in this case.”

At that hearing, Walker sealed a psychological report at the request of prosecutors and the defense. Sealing reports of that nature is not uncommon.

Walker extended Leon’s commitment in December and then again February, after the IDOC detailed Leon’s mental condition in letters to the court. Walker previously decided to keep those IDOC letters about Leon open for public view.

On Dec. 10, the IDOC said Leon could not assist in his own defense, but it added “if he is provided with appropriate interventions from attending Department of Correction clinical staff Mr. Leon may be re-evaluated for competency to assist in his own defense.”

A Jan. 29 IDOC letter filed in court said Leon “has exhibited some progress” but still lacked the ability to participate in his own defense.

Leon claimed memory problems in July during a first court appearance, requesting medication and saying “I don’t have a good memory.”

From the Times-News

From the Idaho Falls Post Register
April 14, 2009

A lawyer for Thana Singarajah said that would help his case.

By HEATHER WELLS

An attorney for the former director of the Idaho Falls-based Family
Care Center believes notes from a Post Register reporter could help
his client’s case.

In a court hearing Monday, Michael Gaffney, Thana Singarajah’s
attorney, told a judge he wanted Corey Taule to hand over any
documents compiled during the course of his coverage of Singarajah’s
efforts to build Pearl House, a group home for troubled youths.

The story began five years ago when Singarajah, then the center’s
executive director, went public with his vision for an $8 million
facility on Hitt Road.

He envisioned a facility with 65 beds, office space for Family Care
Center staff, charter and vocational schools and a skate park.

But the project has had difficulties. Last year, the Idaho Department
of Commerce pulled a $650,000 grant intended to help build Pearl House
because the state agency had lost confidence in the project.

The Family Care Center board on March 10, 2008, stripped Singarajah of
his executive director duties “for a variety of reasons, including his
refusal to provide requested information to the Board,” according to
court documents.

The Post Register has written 11 stories about Singarajah in the past
year and a half.

In November, Singarajah sued Family Care Center and two members of its
board of directors, President Ron Carlson and Vice President Mike
Stamper, for defamation, invasion of privacy, breach of contract and
lost wages.

On Jan. 2, Family Care Center answered that suit. It denied all
charges and asked the court to dismiss Singarajah’s suit. Finally, the
center filed a counterclaim that details several counts of alleged
misconduct unearthed by a forensic audit that the center’s board of
directors ordered last year.

At Monday’s hearing, Gaffney was particularly interested in any
documents involving statements from Carlson that appeared in a May
article by Taule. The statements were defamatory, Gaffney said.

“I think the argument is fairly straightforward,” he said.

The Post Register’s attorney, Steve Wright, disagreed with Gaffney’s request.

“Clearly our key point is the Constitution protects the media from
being dragged into this type of dispute,” he said.

The solution is to ask the individuals about the statements attributed
to them, Wright said, and the Post Register should not be used as an
investigative arm in a case.

The judge said he’d take the motion under advisement.

From the Idaho Falls Post Register

BOISE – Idaho Gov. Butch Otter has signed into law legislation revamping and strengthening Idaho’s Open Meeting Law.

The bill, SB 1142, sponsored by Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, passed the Senate unanimously and the House on a 59-10 vote. It was endorsed by an array of media, civic and local government groups, including IDOG.

Work on the bill began after an Idaho Supreme Court decision in 2007 made parts of the law near-impossible to enforce. The bill restores the law’s enforceability, eliminates incentives for ignorance of the law created by the Supreme Court decision, and replaces them with incentives for compliance. It also narrows the scope of several of the law’s exemptions, sets new fines, and makes other changes.

The court decision, State of Idaho vs. Yzaguirre, gave a new interpretation to the word “knowingly” in the existing law, essentially holding that if a public official didn’t know about or misunderstood the Idaho open meeting law, he or she couldn’t “knowingly” violate it. This interpretation came into play when an open meeting complaint was filed against the state Board of Education in 2008, and Wasden, after an extensive investigation, concluded that while the board may have violated the law, he couldn’t prove that they’d done so “knowingly.”

While many states have “knowingly” language in their Open Meeting Laws, in most cases it is a trigger for more severe penalties than simple violations that don’t carry that modifer. Florida’s law, for example, has a two-tiered approach in which violations are punishable by fines of up to $500, but knowing violations are subject to misdemeanor criminal penalties.

Idaho already had a two-tiered system for violations; in the current law, first-time violations are punishable by a fine of up to $150, while repeat violations are subject to a fine of up to $300. SB 1142 sets out a new two-tiered violation system, to allow all violations to be sanctioned, but to set a very low civil fine of up to $50 for the first-time or simple violation. The more egregious, intentional or repeated violations would bring civil fines of up to $500.

You can read the full bill here: https://www.legislature.idaho.gov/legislation/2009/S1142.htm