Around Oregon/Idaho
Friday, July 31, 2009 10:47 AM PDT
Woman injured on MAX train seeks $1M
PORTLAND (AP) — A woman injured in an assault on a Yellow Line MAX train is suing TriMet for more than $1 million, contending the transit agency has a history of train assaults and has disregarded requests by police to beef up security.
Staci Lynn Smith filed suit Thursday in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
In June 2008, Smith was riding a MAX train near the Prescott Transit Station when she was struck in the head and pummeled by three teens; one ran off with her purse.
The Oregonian says the teens were convicted of third-degree assault, or lesser charges in adult and juvenile courts.
A TriMet spokeswoman declined comment on the lawsuit.
Oregon AG settlement blocks e-cigarette sales
PORTLAND (AP) — Oregon banned the sale of electronic cigarettes at a pair of travel store chains on Thursday in a move the state attorney general’s office says makes Oregon the first state to ban the products.
The ban on the ‘‘Njoy’’ brand electronic cigarette — part of an agreement that halts a civil lawsuit brought by the attorney general’s office — prohibits sales until the brand is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or until a court rules whether the FDA has the authority to regulate them.
The ban comes just a week after federal health officials said they found cancer-causing ingredients in electronic cigarettes, including a key ingredient in antifreeze.
Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, are battery operated devices that contain a heating element and a replaceable plastic cartridge with liquid ingredients that are vaporized and inhaled like smoke.
Manufacturers have said the devices are safe because they deliver the ingredients in a water vapor mist instead of smoke created by burning tobacco.
The FDA tested 19 varieties of e-cigarettes and found half contained forms of nitrosamine, a chemical known to cause cancer in humans.
The agency said quality control was ‘‘inconsistent or nonexistent,’’ and some varieties that claimed to have no nicotine actually contained low levels.
Brands tested included the Njoy e-cigarettes, which is produced by Sottera Inc. of Scottsdale, Ariz., as well as brands manufactured by Smoking Everywhere Inc., based in Sunrise, Fla.
Mother blames Idaho judge for son’s
conviction
LEWISTON (AP) — The mother of a man convicted of killing a northern Idaho woman in 2001 insists a new trial will fix the injustice and scorn inflicted on her son over the past eight years.
Earlier this month, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled that David Meister, 26, should get a new trial because the lower court applied the wrong standard in excluding another possible suspect’s confession during the 2003 trial.
Meister was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison for the fatal shooting of Tonya Hart in 2001.
She was shot twice at point-blank range on Dec. 11 when she opened the back door of her mobile home north of Moscow.
Meister’s mother, Leah Meister, 53, says she is confident the wrongs of the past will be corrected in a new trial.
‘‘I have faith in God,’’ she told the Lewiston Tribune during a telephone interview from her home in Bonners Ferry. ‘‘And no matter what happens, I know ultimately the wrongs will be righted.’’
She praised the Supreme Court’s conclusion that the judge erred, which put the jury in the position of rendering a verdict without all the facts. The high court’s ruling, and the hope of a new trial for her son, helped restore faith in a legal system, she said.
‘‘My son was convicted of a crime based on the jury being confused and not having the information that they needed to have,’’ she said.
State correction officials moved Meister two weeks ago from the Idaho State Penitentiary near Boise to the state prison in Orofino, in north central Idaho, in preparation for the court appearances leading up to a possible second trial.
But the state is hoping to avert a second trial. Within weeks of the supreme court ruling, the Idaho Attorney General filed motions asking the justices to reconsider. A new trial date has not been set.
Leah Meister said a new trial would help rehabilitate her son’s name. She scolded the media for what she called sensational coverage of the case and unfair treatment of her son.
‘‘I’ve felt that during the trial the press was pro-prosecution. I felt that you depicted my son as some derelict loser,’’ she said. ‘‘It was extraordinarily painful.’’
