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A federal judge appointed by President Donald Trump authored something just shy of a dissent in a federal immigration case while invoking the pop singer Meatloaf and one of his better-known songs.

I suppose one might argue that two out of three aint bad, U.S. Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke wrote. But even Meatloaf would find fault with our [immigration precedent] rule.

The case is stylized as Sanchez Rosales v. Barr and concerns two Mexican nationals who broached the idea of applying for green cards with a non-attorney notario named Carlos Lewis. After that, Lewis filed asylum applications without consulting his clients and they were both ordered to appear for an immigration hearing in 2014.

Lewis advised them not to attend that hearing and they were ordered to be deported. Effectively, the duo followed their advocates legal advice and suffered the consequences for that error.

A motion and appeal of the deportation proceedings were timely filed and each was subsequently rejected by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). Lewis, the plaintiffs insist, helped craft each of those failed attemptshimself failing to note his initial advice to not attend the hearing that prompted the deportation order in the first place.

After obtaining proper legal counsel, Israel Sanchez Rosales and Maria Antonia Martinez Hernandez Sanchez were finally able to mention that Lewis advised them against attending the original hearing. But the BIA again rejected their motionclaiming the plaintiffs had been unable to show that they were prejudiced by ineffective assistance or fraud and that they also failed to show their return to Mexico would result in exceptional and extremely unusual hardship for their . . . children. Notably, the couples children are U.S. citizens and live in the United States.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in the couples favorfinding that the BIA made a clear error of law.

We conclude that the BIA erred by treating Petitioners failure to show prejudice caused by the alleged ineffective assistance as a basis for denying their motion to reopen proceedings, Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves noted. A showing of prejudice is not required when ineffective assistance leads to an in absentia order of removal.

Choe-Groves, a Barack Obama-appointed judge, actually sits on the U.S. Court of International Trade but was sitting by designation here.

While not a strictly a more typical dissent or concurrence, VanDyke signed off dubitante in order to doubt the holding in the case.

The majority opinion correctly concludes that circuit precedent compels our result in this case, he began, before citing the relevant precedent and admitting that it controls. I write separately because that precedent is silly and well illustrates our courts nasty habit of muddying immigration law and holding the BIAan appellate bodyto stilted standards to which we would never subject ourselves.

VanDyke went on to note that the Ninth Circuits immigration jurisprudence on Fifth Amendment issues is somewhat all over the place because the precedents are based on an out-datedrepealedlaw and a similar case that runs counter to the decision the court reached. He also cited another fairly recent Ninth Circuit decision on similar questions that reached the exact opposite decision.

Heres a tidy summary of those cases:

To sum up, a dubious and incomplete picture of BIA precedents was ratcheted into a rule supposedly meant to replicate exactly what the BIA was doing. Now, were applying that rule to reverse the BIA for not doing the thing they apparently did so often we decided to do it, too. And we have to apply it even though this court in Singh-Bhathal rejected an ineffective assistance claim indistinguishable from the one in this case. As my colleague remarked about another anomalous rule in a different corner of our immigration law, the rule our panel is forced to apply in this caselike so many of our courts immigration precedents is dumb, dumb, dumb.

This type of absurdity is regular fare in our immigration cases, he opined. Our circuits immigration jurisprudence is a hot mess. Its sharply at odds with the text and purposes of immigration law.

In an unforced fit of judicial realism, however, VanDyke spoke one of the tell-tale secrets about how U.S. judges actually interpret the law:

[O]ur jurisprudence betrays the nasty habit of acknowledging only those precedents that support the needs (and desired result) of the momentthat being to overturn the BIA.

VanDyke was nominated for the lifetime judgeship in September of 2019. A controversial series of reports ensued after the American Bar Association rated him not qualified and cited evidence that VanDyke might not be fair to persons who are gay, lesbian, or otherwise part of the LGBTQ community. Conservatives called that a political drive-by shooting, and VanDyke tearfully denied the accusation of bigotry during confirmation hearings. VanDyke was then confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December of 2019.

[image via screengrab/YouTube]

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Trump-Appointed Judge Almost Dissents and Cites Meatloaf While Criticizing Silly Precedent in Unusual Opinion - Law & Crime

I have lived in six U.S. states during my long lifetime, living for years on the East Coast, in the Midwest, and on the West Coast.

I moved to California two years ago and can testify that it is the most socialistic, government-controlled state in the country.

Recently, though, numerous rays of constitutional rights have shown through: the constitutional right to the privacy of contracts, the right to private property, and the right of all people against discrimination.

These rights were protected by the outcomes of three citizen referendums, not by government.

Constitutional right to privacy of contracts

Article 1, Section 10, of the United States Constitution declares that no state shall enter into any law impairing the obligation of contracts.

Contracts are mutually agreed-upon private exchanges; when I agree with a contractor to pave my driveway, we exchange my money for his labor and materials.

In California this issue came into focus with Assembly Bill 5 and Proposition 22.

Rideshare drivers wanted to retain their individual freedom as independent contractors, but the state government tried to deny this freedom of contract between drivers and paying customers and mandate that drivers be treated as employees subject to state labor controls and union obligations.

TheWall Street Journalreports that when a poll asked 1,000 on-demand drivers whether they would prefer to be full-time employees instead of contractors, only 15 percent of respondents said theyd prefer full-time.

This is supposed to be a free country, but the state government doesnt see it that way. California voters, on the other hand, defended freedom.

Voters approved Proposition 22, which classifies app-based drivers as independent contractors, instead of employees, thereby protecting the freedom of drivers to continue entering into voluntary contracting arrangements.

The right to private property

Proposition 21 sought to expand local governments authority to enact rent control on residential property. That coercion would have trampled private owners rights to their rental properties.

The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states an individual shall not be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

If approved, Prop 21 would have amounted to a taking that required just compensation. If the state government was going to mandate rent control, it should have proposed to reimburse property owners for their financial losses, but it didnt.

In their wisdom, though, California voters rejected this proposition.

The right of all against discrimination

Proposition16 was deceptively titled and described on the November ballot, stating it would have Allow[ed] diversity as a factor in public employment, education, and contracting decisions.

In reality, the proposition would have authorized public employers, educators, and contractors to discriminate and treat people unequally in the name of advantaging others purely on the basis of their race or sex.

But the 14th Amendment states in part: government may not deny to any person the equal protection of the laws. This means that you cannot discriminateagainstanyone orforanyone. All must be treated equally.

Court checks governors powers

There is one other legal matter that should be cited here, related to Californias constitution of California. During the pandemic Gov. Gavin Newsom has unilaterally locked down literally anything he wishes, whenever he wishes, and for however long he wishes.

For this he was sued for exceeding his authority. The judge of the state Superior Court, County of Sutter, ruled on Nov. 2 that the governor unconstitutionally exercised legislative powers by unilaterally amending, altering, or changing existing statutory law or making new statutory law. The judge added that the governors executive order improperly amended existing statutory law, exceeding the governors authority and violating the separation of powers.

California State University students are now mandated to take a course on ethnic studies. Maybe, instead, the course should be on the U.S. Constitution to fend against bad government proposals.

Ronald L. Trowbridge, Ph.D., is a policy fellow at theIndependent Institutein Oakland, Calif. He was appointed by President Reagan to the United States Information Agency and later became chief of staff for U.S. Chief Justice Warren Burger.

Excerpt from:
Rays of constitutional rights shine through in California - OCRegister

From Judge Ezra Friedlander's opinion, joined by Judge Paul Mathias, in R.W. v. J.W., decided by the Indiana Court of Appeals Friday:

R.W. appeals from the entry of a permanent protective order against him, contending that the trial court erred by denying his motion to dismiss the petition for an order of protection filed by J.W., a woman with whom he was in a romantic relationship, and by finding that there was sufficient evidence to support the legal conclusion to issue the order. We affirm.

To sum up the evidence before the trial court and in the words of the trial court, "[s]ome time between August 10th and September 11th the matter blew up and all of the parties involved, [K.B.], [R.W.] and [J.W.] were saying nasty things to each other, back and forth imploring the other to leave them alone." [K.B. was an acquaintance of J.W., and an ex-girlfriend of R.W.] The evidence and inferences therefrom supporting the issuance of the protective order in favor of J.W. was that K.B. was with R.W. after his relationship with J.W. soured. When they were together, R.W. had shared with J.W. his plans to send the video of a nude K.B. to the man she was then dating. A part of the plan involved creating a new account on social media through which to reach that man at work. J.W. counseled against R.W.'s plan.

R.W. left a threatening voicemail for J.W., which made J.W. feel threatened and terrified. R.W. made several attempts by various means to contact J.W.'s husband. During a period of time where K.B. was with R.W. in Chicago, she [presumably K.B.-EV] downloaded semi-nude and nude pictures of J.W. from R.W.'s password-protected phone. She then sent them to J.W. and R.W. with her own disparaging commentary about what was depicted, further adding commentary purported to be from B.O. {a man with whom J.W. had previously had a sexual relationship}.

R.W. contacted J.W. to inform her that "somehow" K.B. had come into possession of those photographs. He did nothing to stop any action by K.B. despite this awareness. K.B. feigned sympathy for J.W., adding that she did not want those photographs to come into the hands of J.W.'s four young sons or husband or be disseminated to her children's school and through the City of Valparaiso even though "someone" had told her that those actions were a possibility.

Just prior to the hearing set for the Illinois protective order, J.W. discovered that a Bumble account had been created with her email address containing pictures of her, one of which she had only sent to R.W. and the other of which had to be taken down from the account. The words used in that account to describe J.W. bore a striking similarity to the language used by K.B. when discussing her theory that J.W. had herpes and that her behavior was trashy or tramp-like.

At the hearing on J.W.'s protective order request, R.W. refused to answer 32 separate questions pertaining mostly to how K.B. came into possession of the pictures of J.W. that were meant only for R.W. and the creation and existence of the Bumble account, citing his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. "Although the refusal to testify in a civil case cannot be used against the one asserting the privilege in a subsequent criminal proceeding, the privilege against self-incrimination does not prohibit the trier of fact in a civil case from drawing adverse inferences from a witness'[s] refusal to testify."

The trial court correctly found from the evidence and the inferences from the evidence that "there is no evidence that R.W. tried to stop or block [K.B.'s] harassment or stalking behavior utilizing or threatening to use the photos against [J.W.]," and correctly concluded that "like [K.B.], [R.W.] was engaged in bringing harassment to bear on [J.W.]" There was more than sufficient evidence to support the trial court's findings of fact which, in turn, support the conclusions of law in favor of granting J.W.'s petition for a permanent protective order against R.W.

And here's Judge Terry Crone's concurrence:

I agree with the affirmance of the protective order against Rafer Weigel, but I write separately because I respectfully disagree with my colleagues' decision to refer to Weigel by his initials instead of his name.

No statute, court rule, or court policy entitles Weigel to anonymity. In fact, pursuant to the Rules on Access to Court Records adopted by the Indiana Supreme Court, Weigel's name is presumptively accessible to the public. See Ind. Access to Court Records Rule 4(A) ("A Court Record is accessible to the public except as provided in Rule 5."). Some of the stated purposes of those rules are to "[c]ontribute to public safety" and "[p]romote governmental accountability and transparency[.]"These overlap with the stated purposes of the Civil Protection Order Act, which was enacted by the Indiana General Assembly "to promote the: (1) protection and safety of all victims of domestic or family violence in a fair, prompt, and effective manner; (2) protection and safety of all victims of harassment in a fair, prompt, and effective manner; and (3) prevention of future domestic violence, family violence, and harassment."

As described in lurid detail above, Weigel threatened and publicly humiliated J.W., who sought and obtained a protective order against him. Weigel has challenged the sufficiency of the evidence supporting that order. If we had ruled in his favor, he could have petitioned to expunge all records relating to the protective order pursuant to Indiana Code Chapter 34-26-7.5. But since we have affirmed the trial court's determination that Weigel harassed J.W., I can think of no principled reason why this Court should shield his identity from the public.

Indeed, naming the perpetrator of such depraved acts could only contribute to public safety, promote governmental transparency and accountability (by this Court and by any law enforcement agency that might have occasion to enforce the protective order, respectively), and prevent future harassment of J.W. and others.

For a media account of the underlying scandal, see the Chicago Tribune (Sophie Sherry); Weigel had been a Chicago TV news anchor.

Go here to read the rest:
Indiana Judges Disagree: Should Targets of Protective Orders Be Pseudonymous? - Reason

Sean Ellis was 21 years old when he was convicted for the 1993 murder of Boston Police Det. John Mulligan.

Two mistrials and a third that cemented his lifetime sentence spelled out Elliss fate until 2015, when a court ruling reversed his convictions on first-degree murder and armed robbery charges. In 2018, after calls for another trial, charges against Ellis were withdrawn.

Now, Ellis, who spent over 22 years behind bars and whose attorneys had long sought that fourth trial, is telling his story in a new Netflix documentary that hit the streaming service Wednesday, Trial 4.

The eight-part series begins with Ellis out on bail.

He has maintained that he is innocent in the grisly crime that unfurled early one morning outside a Walgreens drugstore in Roslindale. The subsequent investigation was helmed by corrupt detectives that some have said may have worked to cover up their own wrongdoings in making a speedy arrest.

But whether Ellis is in prison or not, prosecutors have said hes their man.

Heres five things to know about the case and the details surrounding it:

Mulligan, a 27-year member of the police department, was shot as he worked a private security detail at a Walgreens drugstore on American Legion Highway in Roslindale early on Sept. 26, 1993.

The 52-year-old detective was over halfway through a midnight-to-6 a.m. shift when first responders received a 911 call for an officer needing assistance around 3:54 a.m. Mulligan was shot four or five times in the front of his head, according to a report inThe Boston Globe the following morning.

Investigators said Mulligans department-issued 9mm Glock semiautomatic pistol was missing, although he was shot with a different gun: a .25-caliber weapon.

This was a cold-blooded, premeditated murder of a Boston police officer, then-Police Commissioner William J. Bratton told reporters. There were some elements that would lead one to describe it as execution-style an assassination.

Ellis, then a 19-year-old from Dorchester, has said he went to the store to buy diapers. He was with Terry L. Patterson, also 19, of Hyde Park, who was convicted of murder in the case but later had his conviction overturned on appeal, according to theGlobe.

Witnesses told authorities they saw Pattersons Volkswagen Rabbit at the store, and one witness, Rosa Sanchez, told police she saw a man she later identified as Ellis crouched next to Mulligans Ford Explorer before shots were fired, the newspaper reported. A forensic examiner initially reported finding Pattersons fingerprints on the vehicle.

Later, Elliss then-girlfriend recalled him retrieving two guns from his home, which he left at her apartment, according to the Globe.She and a friend ultimately left the weapons Mulligans pistol and the firearm he was shot with in a field where police discovered them.

Over a week after Elliss arrest on Oct. 6, 1993, his mother, Mary Jackie Ellis, struggled to comprehend how her son was charged in such a horrific crime.

I wanted my children to follow my example, she told aGlobe reporter. I wanted them to become involved in their community, in cleaning up their buildings and taking pride in their neighborhood.

The senior Ellis admitted she had called the police before on her own son. In September 1992, authorities were called after her son allegedly left their house with the child of her then-boyfriend following an argument. Ellis was later charged with assault and battery, family abuse, and threatening to commit a crime and was placed on probation, the Globe reported.

When he was arrested for Mulligans murder, his only outstanding charges unrelated to the slaying were for kidnapping and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon both brought on by a family dispute, according to the newspaper.

Still, she explained, the murder didnt square right with what she knew about her son.

I cant visualize it, even in his deepest anger, that my son would take somebodys life, she said.

Elliss first two trials in January and March 1995 both resulted in juries voting 9-3 to convict. He was ultimately convicted that September and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

His conviction sat on the theory of felony murder, according to the Globe. In other words, because Ellis participated in the robbery of Mulligan, he should be held responsible for his murder.

At the time of his third trial who exactly pulled the trigger and took Mulligans life had never been officially established, the Globe reported.

Mulligan, of West Roxbury, joined the Boston Police Department in 1966 and apparently loved his job.

Not long after joining the force, Mulligan began working practically around the clock, often picking up overtime shifts and raking in six-figure yearly salaries. After his death, he was remembered for racking up hundreds of arrests.

OneGlobereport called Mulligan an old-fashioned, bare-knuckles sort of cop headstrong and street-savvy and blunt.

Most people take the family first and their job second, Michael Carroll, then-vice president of the detectives union, told the Globe the day of Mulligans murder. John really enjoyed the job, to the extreme. He was relentless.

But his reputation in the department faltered in the years before his death.

In 1989, Mulligan was suspended after an internal investigation found he double-billed the force for some of his overtime shifts, according to the Globe.

In 1992, he was branded as a problem officer by the department, whose internal audit found he ranked fifth out of its 1,950 officers for having the most complaints filed against him. Mulligan was the subject of 24 misconduct investigations in his 27-year career.

And in 1986, Mulligan was mentioned in a federal corruption probe of the force, in which a drug dealer testified the detective was among many officers who protected his operations in exchange for payoffs, the Globewrote following Mulligans death.

Mulligan invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when he went before a grand jury; he was not charged with a crime.

In 2015, when Suffolk Superior Court Judge Carol Ball ordered a new trial for Ellis, she wrote how Elliss defense attorney, Rosemary Scapicchio, discovered new evidence that suggests there was corruption within the investigation of Mulligans homicide itself.

Balls ruling indicated police received tips that Mulligan was involved in crimes with the detectives who investigated his death, including the armed robbery of a suspected drug dealer only 17 days before his death, according to theGlobe.

Ball also wrote that authorities received tips from three different people that implicated a city police officer and his son in Mulligans murder, the newspaper reported. The tips said the pair believed the detective had harassed a teenage female relative all information Elliss defense did not receive, Ball said.

Richard Mulligan, the detectives brother, said his brother was never charged with a crime.

Sean Ellis is guilty, he said. The evidence is compelling. I dont think hes fully paid for what he did.

Prosecutors at the time also fired back, saying that Balls findings did not present one single piece of evidence that contradicts the strong evidence that proved Ellis guilt at trial.

In our judgment, this was a conviction based on direct, reliable, corroborated evidence, Jake Wark, a spokesman for then-Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley, told the Globe. We fully intend to present that evidence to a new jury if necessary.

Still, in 2016, the state Supreme Judicial Court ruled in favor of a new trial for Ellis based on the new evidence of corruption inherent in the case, including that the FBI had heard there was a contract out for Mulligans murder and that he and other detectives robbed a marijuana dealer of over $26,000 weeks before his death, according to theGlobe.

Elliss cousins, Celine Kirk, 17, and Tracy Brown, 23, two sisters, were shot and killed on Sept. 29, 1993 three days after Mulligans death in a Mattapan apartment.

Craig Hood, 18, of Brockton, confessed to the killings carried out in front of Browns two young children and told police the incident stemmed from an argument he had with Kirk over a gold chain, according to theGlobe.

Hood was convicted in 1995 of second-degree murder and sentenced to two consecutive life terms with eligibility for parole starting in 2033.

Following the murders, relatives of Kirk and Brown said Kirk was at the Walgreens the night Mulligan was murdered with Ellis, buying diapers for their niece, according to the Globe. The family members, who asked not to be identified, also had said Hood and Patterson knew one another, the newspaper reported.

One relative told theGlobe that Ellis was questioned by police about his and Kirks presence at the Walgreens the night of the murder only after the two sisters were killed.

Investigators, at the time, said only three employees were in the store at the time of Mulligans murder.

Ellis was arrested hours after the burials of Kirk and Brown.

Boston Police Dets. Walter Robinson, Kenneth Acerra, and John Brazil played pivotal roles in the investigation against Ellis.

The trio helped secure witnesses and physical evidence from Mulligans murder, Ball, the Suffolk Superior Court judge, wrote in 2015. All three had also been the detectives later accused of joining Mulligan in robbing the suspected drug dealer just a little more than two weeks before his death.

Ball wrote that the prosecution was in a rush to judgement with Elliss arrest and subsequent conviction.

From the beginning of the investigation, the apparent criminal misconduct of Detectives Acerra, Robinson, Brazil, and Mulligan gave the surviving partners a motive to cover up any evidence of their own crimes and to contribute to a quick arrest and conclusion to the investigation so that it did not turn in their direction, Ball wrote, according to the Globe. Defense counsel should have had the opportunity to make that argument to the jury.

In 1998, Robinson and Acerra pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from a 27-count indictment, including that they stole over $200,000 and took bribes in exchange for offering lenient sentence recommendations, according to the Associated Press.

Brazil was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony.

In 2016, the state Supreme Judicial Court ordered another trial for Ellis based on the new evidence that Mulligan was a corrupt officer and on his association with the trio of detectives who investigated his death.

These detectives would likely fear that a prolonged and comprehensive investigation of the victims murder would uncover leads that might reveal their own corruption, the late Chief Justice Ralph Gants wrote in the courts decision.

Additionally, Sanchez the key eye witness who identified both Ellis and Patterson as the two men she saw around Mulligans car and Acerra knew one another, GBH reported.

Acerra and Sanchezs aunt had been romantically involved at one point. Sanchez, and her husband, had initially identified another man not Ellis as the one she saw at the scene, according to the Globe.

Prosecutors have long said that even with the compelling corruption evidence introduced in recent years, there remain elements of the case that support the case against Ellis.

The information surrounding Mulligans own past does not delineate from the facts that Ellis possessed the murder weapon and his then-girlfriends fingerprint was found on Mulligans pistol.

Although prosecutors intended to bring Ellis back to court after his release in 2015, charges against him were withdrawn in December 2018.

The trial evidence and testimony in 1995 proved Mr. Ellis guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Jurors at the time called the case against him overwhelming, then-acting Suffolk County District Attorney John Pappas said. But the passage of more than two and a half decades has seriously compromised our ability to prove it again. For this reason, my office will file paperwork today ending the prosecution of Mr. Ellis for first-degree murder and armed robbery.

Pappas noted however that Elliss two convictions for possessing the murder weapon and Mulligans pistol remained undisturbed.

He also acknowledged that the decision to drop the more serious charges had to do with three corrupt police detectives. Pappas said prosecutors did not believe Mulligan was involved in the corruption, but it is now inextricably intertwined with the investigation and critical witnesses in the case.

Furthermore, the decision to withdraw charges was not made based on the notion that Ellis was wrongfully convicted, according to Pappas.

Let me be clear: that is not the case here, he said. If at any point we had any reason to believe that Mr. Ellis was wrongfully charged or convicted, we would have acted on it immediately.

Patterson, whose murder conviction was overturned on an appeal, eventually received a reduced charge of manslaughter in 2006, according to the Globe. He was ordered to serve 22 years but was soon released based on good behavior and time already served.

In the 25 years since Det. Mulligan was murdered in cold blood, not one piece of evidence developed by prosecutors, defense counsel, or anyone else has pointed to anyone but Sean Ellis and Terry Patterson, Pappas said. Of all the people in all the world who might have killed John Mulligan, only they were present at the time and place he was killed by their own admissions, supported by eyewitnesses and physical evidence.

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5 things to know about the Boston murder case at the center of a new Netflix documentary series - Boston.com

For years, Keith Raniere won glowing endorsements from the Hollywood actresses, millionaires and Ivy League graduates who studied his teachings during self-help classes offered by his company Nxivm.

Most of them have now distanced themselves from Mr. Raniere after he was convicted and sentenced to 120 years in prison for using Nxivm (pronounced NEX-ee-um) to commit sex trafficking and other crimes.

Among other things, a jury found that women in Nxivm were recruited under false pretenses to join a secret sorority that Mr. Raniere formed, where they were branded with his initials near their pelvises, groomed to be his sexual partners and kept in line with blackmail.

Still, despite trial evidence that Mr. Raniere possessed child pornography, manipulated his followers by keeping them starved and sleep-deprived and committed a long list of federal crimes, a handful of these recruits insist that Mr. Raniere changed the world for good. And now, they are unleashing a public campaign to undermine his conviction.

Last month, eight of his female supporters including a former actress, corporate lawyer and doctor released videos online that pushed back against the groups reputation as a sex cult, saying they consented to being branded and were never forced into sexual relationships with Mr. Raniere.

At a news conference on the day of Mr. Ranieres sentencing, his supporters defended their time with Nxivm. Their comments came after they watched a former Nxivm member tell the court that Mr. Raniere sexually abused her starting when she was 15 and he was 45 an allegation that Mr. Ranieres lawyers have never disputed.

The effort to exonerate Mr. Raniere was in keeping with how Nxivm had long dealt with its critics; former members who challenged Mr. Ranieres methods were shunned from the community and sometimes targeted with lawsuits that drove them into bankruptcy.

Nxivm lured recruits with its expensive Executive Success Programs, tapping into a desire for personal growth within elite circles. Around 18,000 people have taken its courses since 1998.

What made Nxivm an illegal enterprise, prosecutors said, was the fraud, extortion, immigration violations and sex crimes that took place over 15 years under Mr. Ranieres direction. A jury convicted Mr. Raniere on all counts after a six-week trial last year. Five women in his inner circle have also pleaded guilty to felony charges.

And yet, Mr. Raniere maintains a small and loyal following among people with careers in law, medicine and business. In letters to the court last month, Mr. Ranieres supporters touted their degrees from top universities.

Cults like going after people who are bright because they will represent the cult very well, said Rachel Bernstein, a therapist who specializes in treating former cult members. Intelligence is not a predictor of cult involvement.

Cult experts say it is not uncommon for followers to stand by a leader who has gone to prison or died. Clinging to the group may be more comforting than the prospect of leaving, which may require finding a job or reconciling with family and long-lost friends.

Theyre what we call true believers, said Janja Lalich, a sociologist and cult expert who has worked with Nxivm defectors. It shows the depth of their indoctrination and the extent to which they have internalized his rhetoric.

During the pandemic, Mr. Ranieres supporters regularly danced outside the Brooklyn jail where he was housed. They released a jailhouse phone call with Mr. Raniere as a podcast.

One vocal supporter of Mr. Raniere is Nicki Clyne, the former television actress from Battlestar Galactica who now describes herself as an advocate for criminal justice reform.

Ms. Clyne has said she was part of the secret womens group inside Nxivm called DOS, an acronym for a Latin phrase meaning Lord/Master of the Obedient Female Companions.

Trial witnesses testified that the group had a pyramid structure where lower-ranking women were referred to as slaves and overseen by female masters who reported to Mr. Raniere.

To honor their vow to the group, the women were regularly required to hand over what was known as collateral, including nude photographs or the rights to their financial assets, according to trial testimony.

Prosecutors said it was extortion and fraud. Former DOS members testified at trial that they obeyed Mr. Ranieres sexual orders under the fear that their collateral would be released.

Ms. Clyne was not charged, but prosecutors said in a court filing last month that she had directed some women inside DOS to delete the collateral from their computers and transfer it to hard drives stored with her lawyer. Ms. Clyne denied the allegation in an emailed statement.

Ms. Clyne is married to Allison Mack, the former television actress who is awaiting sentencing after she pleaded guilty to crimes stemming from her role as a top DOS recruiter. Prosecutors have called it a sham marriage to allow Ms. Clyne, a Canadian native, to stay in the United States.

Ms. Clyne said in her statement that the marriage was born from genuine love.

With regards to Mr. Raniere, she said: If I discover that predatory, underage sex took place, I will denounce it wholeheartedly and reconsider my views.

She and other followers of Mr. Raniere were now reviewing the trial evidence and keeping an open mind, she said.

In the videos released last month, Ms. Clyne and seven other former DOS members said they voluntarily participated in the master-slave relationship.

Everyones going like, if you say anything different than whats been said, then youre an idiot, youve been brainwashed, youve been abused, Sahajo Haertel, who describes herself on LinkedIn as a humanitarian and entrepreneur, said in one video.

But Mr. Ranieres supporters have gone further than just sharing their experiences: they have sought to publicly undermine confidence in the legal system by attacking the prosecutors, the victims and the judge who oversaw Mr. Ranieres trial.

Several showed up to the Brooklyn U.S. attorneys office in September with a video camera to ask prosecutors to sign an affidavit swearing that they followed due process. And last month, they filed a letter with the court that accused the government of tampering with evidence on Mr. Ranieres computer.

Mr. Ranieres lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said during his clients sentencing that he did not believe the claim was valid and refused to file it himself, even after Mr. Raniere and his supporters asked him many, many times.

These publicity campaigns are distinct from the legal work in the case that has to be done, Mr. Agnifilo said in a statement.

Prosecutors have said Nxivm was financed largely by Clare Bronfman, an heiress to the Seagrams liquor fortune, who was sentenced to over six years in prison for her crimes on behalf of Nxivm.

Ronald Sullivan, a lawyer for Ms. Bronfman, said she was not funding the recent publicity effort.

None of Mr. Ranieres supporters testified at trial, which would have required them to answer questions under oath during cross-examination by prosecutors.

Ms. Clyne and another woman, Michele Hatchette, wrote in affidavits to the court last month that they chose not to testify because of threats from prosecutors. The judge dismissed the claim, saying there was scant and highly questionable evidence of any intimidation.

Ms. Hatchette appeared in a September television interview to defend Nxivm, saying, I think there is a difference between being branded and getting a brand.

But during the criminal investigation, Ms. Hatchette told prosecutors in interviews that she wanted to leave DOS after she was assigned to seduce Mr. Raniere, according to a court filing last month.

She only stayed, she told prosecutors, because of the material she had handed over as collateral, including letters addressed to the police that accused her siblings of abusing their children, the filing said.

In an emailed statement, Ms. Hatchette said: As a result of my experiences in DOS, I am a stronger, more confident woman than I ever thought I could be, and I have an unwavering trust in myself.

Mr. Ranieres relentless publicity campaign backfired with one longtime follower.

Ivy Nevares, 43, who dated Mr. Raniere, said in an interview that she decided to denounce him publicly after seeing the recent efforts to promote him. She said the attacks on his victims were abhorrent.

At Mr. Ranieres sentencing, Ms. Nevares told the court that she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after Mr. Raniere subjected her to indentured servitude during her nearly 17 years in Nxivm.

Pulled in by Mr. Ranieres teachings, Ms. Nevares moved from New York City to Nxivms headquarters near Albany, N.Y., where the group controlled her rent, her income and her work visa as a Mexican immigrant.

Mr. Raniere demanded she weigh 95 pounds and claimed his spiritual energy would kill him unless he had sex constantly, she told the court.

In early 2018, the government subpoenaed her to testify before a grand jury. On the advice of a lawyer provided by Ms. Bronfman, however, she invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, she said in the interview.

She left the group a few months later. It took her almost a year to stop viewing Mr. Raniere as a Jesus-type figure, she said. I was in the bubble of Nxivm for so long that I didnt know how I could navigate the world, she said.

Ms. Nevares said she wanted to warn the public about what she sees as efforts to rebuild Nxivm and Mr. Ranieres reputation.

If you want to go on believing hes God on Earth, thats fine, she said. But dont go around enrolling people into this very dangerous criminal organization.

Read more from the original source:
Nxivms Leader Is Guilty of Ugly Crimes. These Die-Hards Stand by Him. - The New York Times