Opinion

Candidates to run for Cass County state’s attorney post admits that,

Published

12 months ago

February 12, 2022

They made a mistake in the trial and say that the error is not a cause for any misconduct.

The Cass County District Court jury decided to find Bazile guilty of sexual imposition grossly sexy. However, Bazile’s lawyer, Tyler Morrow, appealed the verdict before the State Supreme Court, arguing that Bazile should be given a new trial based on Younggren’s Bazile questions in preparation.

FARGO — – A Cass County prosecutor who is in the running for the Cass County state’s attorney has admitted in court filings having a mistake in the trial of an individual charged and eventually found guilty of sexual infliction.

In contrast, Ryan Younggren, who successfully prosecuted Mackenzy Bazile, maintains that the mistake he committed while questioning Bazile during the Cass County District Court trial in April 2021 did not amount to misconduct in the prosecution and shouldn’t lead to an appeal for Bazile.

According to court documents, the girl was 13 years old and resided with relatives within Fargo in 2017. She awoke in the night to discover Bazile, the 20-year-old, who was at the time and was a close friend with the young girl engaging in sexual relations with her.

The girl was pregnant and had a baby, and DNA tests showed an extremely high likelihood Bazile had been the father, as court records indicate.

Following his conviction, during a trial for gross sexual imposition, Bazile has been sentenced to 90 days of prison time, with five years remaining subject to his ability to complete his probation.

Bazile’s lawyer, Tyler Morrow, appealed the verdict before the State Supreme Court, arguing Bazile merits a new trial due to Younggren’s questions about Bazile during the trial.

In the oral argument in front of the Supreme Court on Feb. 8, Morrow claimed that during the trial of Bazile, Younggren inquired of Bazile about the lack of a number of the relatives of the victim’s in the courtroom, with Younggren insisting that it was because they were not supportive of the victim during the trial.

Morrow explained that Younggren had asked the questions even though the family members were not allowed to be in the courtroom. Younggren requested the judge to block the family members from being witnesses that could be summoned to be called to testify.

When he raised the issue of prosecutorial misconduct, Morrow asked the Supreme Court to accept it as such and award Bazile an opportunity to retry the case.

In a written submission in brief to Supreme Court and oral arguments before the high court, Younggren admitted that the questioning was an error and that he had noted this fact in the trial.

Court records show that when Morrow protested against Younggren’s questioning during the trial, the judge informed jurors that any references to family members that were not present were insignificant and shouldn’t be considered.

Younggren stated to Supreme Court justices that his purpose in asking the questions was to demonstrate the courage of the victim to face family members who doubt him. However, he added that the questions could have had the unintended impact of increasing juror support for Bazile since it highlighted the family’s support for him.

However, the questioning was not correct; Younggren told the justices, “was it a manifest injustice? I argue that it was not,” Younggren stated.

In hearing arguments following oral arguments, the Supreme Court considered the matter.

In a telephone interview, Younggren stated that when Bazile questioned him and he snuck a glance at how family members were locked up. Younggren also highlighted issues he brought up in oral and written cases at the Supreme Court.

Younggren, Assistant Cass County state’s attorney, has declared his candidacy for the post as Cass County state’s attorney, which is likely to be vacant by December, when Birch Burdick, who has announced his retirement, will leave the office.

Kim Hegvik, a fellow assistant Cass County state’s attorney, is also an applicant for the position of state’s attorney.

News

Former Tesla Employees Sue The Company Over An Alleged Abusive Behaviour Reminiscent.

Published

4 weeks ago

January 10, 2023

MartinTorres

Kaylen Barker, a Black woman who worked in the Tesla manufacturing facility, filed a lawsuit last week in California asserting that the automaker allows “rampant acts of racism” within its manufacturing facilities.

The lawsuit of Barker details a string of racist incidents that escalated in 2023, which the automaker was said to have been unaware of until a colleague hit her with a “hot tool”, at her and slammed her with a racial insult and used insulting words. The confrontation resulted in Barker with a swollen thigh, and she is still suffering “emotional distress, humiliation, shame and embarrassment,” according to the suit.

The offender was fired and rehired 2 weeks later, per the lawsuit. The lawsuit states that Barker was employed at the Tesla factory in Lathrop, California.

“Being a Black worker at a Tesla’s renowned California factory is to be forced to step back in time and suffer painful abuses reminiscent of the Jim Crow era,” the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit that Barker filed in the Superior Court of California claims that she was subjected to harassment following her appointment to supervise coworkers working in the brakes department of Tesla vehicles.

The suit claims an employee claimed that the “Black girl” should not be promoted over her and Barker “is Black and doesn’t know anything.”

Barker, 25, who is 25, said she would inform Tesla’s Human Resources department “and” her supervisor after each incident of racism; however, Barker wasn’t informed of any corrective measures taking place until the incident involving that hot instrument, as stated in the lawsuit.

Tesla has not responded to a request for comments.

The automaker has faced allegations of racism issues in its work environment before.

Owen Diaz, a former Tesla employee, received $136.9 million in compensation last year when the jury found that the company discriminated against racial minorities in the workplace. Others Tesla employees have been suing in recent times, accusing the company of having a toxic environment within its manufacturing facility.

Tesla was unconvinced of the verdict in the case of Diaz.

“While we strongly believe that these facts don’t justify the verdict reached by the jury in San Francisco, we do recognize that in 2015 and 2016 we were not perfect,” Valerie Capers Workman, Tesla’s vice president at the time of employees, wrote in an article on the Tesla blog. “We’re still far from being perfect. However, we’ve come quite many steps from 5 months ago.”

Workman left Tesla in late March, per her LinkedIn profile, and released Tesla’s first equity, diversity and inclusion report in 2023.

Black as well as African American employees are 10 per cent of Tesla’s US workforce, as per the 2020 report. Additionally, women make up 21% of the US workforce. Women comprise 17% of the top leadership positions in Tesla’s US workforce.

Tesla isn’t the only automaker to have employees who have been able to report experiencing racism in the production plant.

A lawsuit filed in 2018 by General Motors described nooses being hanging and “whites-only” written on a bathroom. GM has stated in the past that harassment and discrimination are unacceptable and to treat any reported incident with compassion and urgency. Ford has also been sued, claiming it discriminates against people of colour. Ford has stated that it is against discrimination and takes allegations seriously.