Judge denies California town's request to halt hot sauce production

By Dana Feldman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Los Angeles suburb that sued to curb the strong, spicy odor emitted from a chili-processing plant lost its initial bid for a court injunction against the makers of the popular Sriracha-brand hot pepper sauce on Thursday.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert O'Brien denied a motion from the small city of Irwindale for a temporary restraining order against Huy Fong Foods, calling the request "rather edgy."

"You're asking for a very radical order on a 24-hour notice," O'Brien said during the brief proceedings.

The judge instead set a court hearing for November 12 to consider further arguments on whether there were grounds to issue a preliminary injunction against the chili factory while the court reviews the merits of a lawsuit brought against the company.

Irwindale, east of Los Angeles, filed suit on Monday saying the company has refused to take sufficient action to abate noxious fumes emanating from the plant strong enough to cause eye and throat irritation in nearby residents.

The suit says some residents have complained of headaches and others have been forced to remain indoors, or even to temporarily flee their own homes, to get relief from the smell of locally grown jalapeno chili peppers being crushed at the plant.

John Tate, an attorney for the company, said in court that the company has installed a filtration system to take care of excessive odor. He acknowledged that it does not resolve the problem completely but had "certainly improved the situation."

"The company purchased additional filters and installation was complete Tuesday," he said, adding that more time was needed to see how well the new system works before the end of chili-harvesting season in November, when production would be halted in any case until next year.

"If you shut us down now, we won't know if the system works and we'll be in the dark for nine months," he said.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Huy Fong Foods produces up to 200,000 bottles of hot sauce a day and sold more than $60 million worth last year.

The red-colored Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce, sold in clear squeezable plastic bottles with a green cap and trademark rooster logo, has become one of the top-selling condiments in the United States.

Celebrated in Bon Appetit magazine as the ingredient of the year for 2010, Sriracha, pronounced (sir-RAH-chah), has inspired cookbooks, a food festival and a movie documentary.

The company was founded 33 years ago by David Tran, an ethnic Chinese immigrant from Vietnam, who was quoted in the Los Angeles Times earlier this week as defending the pungent nature of the chilies used in his sauce.

"If it doesn't smell, we can't sell," he said.

(Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Steve Gorman and Mohammad Zargham)

BusinessLos Angeles Superior CourtHuy Fong FoodsLos Angeles

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West Virginia judge accused of framing lover's husband for crimes

CHARLESTON, W.Va. –  A West Virginia judge is accused of having an affair with his secretary and trying to frame her husband for several crimes over five years, including drug possession, larceny and assault.

Authorities said none of the schemes panned out for Mingo County Circuit Court Judge Michael Thornsbury, and he was charged Thursday with two counts of conspiracy.

A second county official was charged with extortion in an unrelated case in yet another blow to an area still reeling from the assassination of its sheriff in April.

Mingo County, a coalfields community of about 27,000 people on the state's southern border with Kentucky, has a long history of violence and government corruption.

It's the home of the legendary feud between the Hatfield and McCoy families, and was dubbed "Bloody Mingo" when unionizing miners battled security agents hired by coal companies in the early 20th century.

In 1988, former sheriff Johnie Owens was convicted of selling his office for $100,000, and in February, a woman was charged with tipping people off about pending indictments while she served on the grand jury.

On the courthouse steps in Williamson, resident Angie Combs took the latest allegations in stride.

"I'm not surprised -- too much corruption," she said. "This is embarrassing. It's the same old, same old."

But restaurant owner Peirce Whitt said the charges against his friend the judge were about a person, not a place.

"It has nothing to do with Mingo County or the people in Mingo County. We're still the good people that we are," he said.

"I'm sure if you go anyplace, you could find a bad person," Whitt said. "And that's not to say Judge Thornsbury is a bad person, because he hasn't been proven guilty yet."

Thornsbury, 57, faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. His attorney, Steve Jory, declined comment.

The indictment said the judge wanted a friend to plant a magnetic metal box in 2008 containing drugs on a vehicle belonging to the secretary's husband, Robert Woodruff. The judge's friend didn't go through with it.

When that failed, prosecutors said the judge got a state trooper to file a false complaint against Woodruff for larceny. The judge wanted the trooper to pursue a case against Woodruff, an employee of H. Coal Co., for salvaging mine-roof drill bits and scrap from his employer, even though he had permission to do so.

Thornsbury befriended the trooper and "purposely cultivated a relationship" to influence the way he carried out his law enforcement duties, the indictment said.

The officer, who was named trooper of the year in 2009, was placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation, said State Police spokesman Sgt. Michael Baylous.

County Prosecutor Michael Sparks intervened in the larceny case. He knew of the affair and "recognized that the criminal charges against Woodruff were improper," the indictment said.

The late sheriff, Eugene Crum, was working as magistrate at the time and dismissed the larceny case.

Thornsbury also tapped a friend, the county's emergency services director, to become the grand jury foreman, according to the indictment. The judge allegedly wrote subpoenas and had the grand jury issue them to help get private information about Woodruff.

The scheme was exposed when one of the businesses refused to cooperate.

When Robert Woodruff became the victim of an assault outside a convenience store last year by two men -- one of whom brandished a handgun -- the judge arranged for Woodruff to be identified as the perpetrator so he would receive "an exceptionally harsh sentence."

The county prosecutor dismissed the charges against Woodruff.

Attorney Mike Callaghan represents the secretary, Kim Woodruff, and her husband. He said they had been through a very rough time and were shocked. Callaghan represented handled the cases when Robert was accused of crimes.

"As a lawyer, I knew something was wrong," Callaghan said. "But never in my wildest dreams did I fathom the reason for the prosecution."

U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin said none of the men accused of helping Thornsbury in his "campaign to persecute" Robert Woodruff will be charged. However, "the investigation into Mingo County corruption is ongoing," he said.

Thornsbury has served as a circuit judge since January 1997. The state Supreme Court suspended him without pay late Thursday and suspended his law license. A replacement judge is set to report to the courthouse Friday.

Goodwin, however, is not seeking to hold Thornsbury in jail before his trial.

Thornsbury was also an assistant Mingo County prosecutor from 1981 to 1983.

Meanwhile, county commissioner and purchasing officer Dave Baisden was accused of trying to buy tires for his personal vehicle at a government discount, then terminating the county's contract with Appalachian Tire when it refused to cooperate.

Baisden, 66, was released on $10,000 bond and ordered not to discuss the case with any witnesses, including his two fellow commissioners.

In April, Mingo County's sheriff was shot twice in the head while parked in his cruiser, in a spot in downtown Williamson where Crum frequently had lunch. The suspect, Tennis Melvin Maynard, fled and pulled a gun on a pursuing deputy, authorities said.

Maynard was wounded by the deputy, and he's now facing first-degree murder charges. His trial is set for October.

The motive for the slaying has not been revealed.

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Pa. judge fines woman who cursed at jury selection

ERIE, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania woman has been fined $500 for cursing because she was frustrated with being picked to serve on a jury.

The Erie Times-News (http://bit.ly/1bQA4hF ) reports Erie County Judge Ernest DiSantis levied the fine Wednesday on Kathleen Port.

DiSantis told the Erie woman she was "totally out of line" and explained jury service is a duty of citizenship.

Port, whose phone number is unlisted, apologized several times but was fined nonetheless.

She told the judge she was upset because jury service would make her miss work and cost her income.

DiSantis says Port could have claimed a hardship on her jury service questionnaire, but did not.

Port was also thrown off the jury, which was picked to hear an illegal weapons case.

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Information from: Erie Times-News, http://www.goerie.com

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California pot shop billed as world's largest may stay open for now -judge

By Ronnie Cohen

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A medical marijuana dispensary billed as the world's largest cannabis store may stay open while the city of Oakland fights a U.S. government effort to shut it down or seize the property, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday.

There has been a tug-of-war in California between federal and local authorities over cannabis sold for purported health reasons.

In February, Magistrate Maria-Elena James, the same judge who ruled on Wednesday, said the city had no right to intervene in a federal prosecutor's civil-forfeiture action against the Harborside Health Center, which was featured on the Discovery Channel reality TV show "Weed Wars."

The city appealed the ruling, and James's latest order allows the dispensary to continue to sell marijuana to individuals carrying a doctor's recommendation while the appeal is under review. James called the question of Oakland's legal standing in the case "a matter of significant public interest."

Attorney Cedric Chao, who is representing the city in the case, called the ruling "very significant."

"The court has recognized that Oakland has legitimate interests in protecting its residents' health, in promoting public safety, and in protecting the integrity of its legislative framework for the regulation of medical cannabis," Chao said.

"Today's order, coming right before the July Fourth holiday, reminds us all that one of the strengths of our country is its independent judiciary."

Harborside's landlords have moved to evict the store under pressure from federal prosecutors, who have threatened to seize the property as part of a U.S. government crackdown on what it deems to be illegal pot shops in California.

The city of Oakland in October sued the federal government in an effort to allow Harborside to continue selling marijuana to its 100,000 patients. Oakland officials warned that a shutdown would lead to a "health crisis."

The city expects to collect $1.4 million in medical-pot sales tax revenue this year.

A representative for the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco was not immediately available for comment.

Federal authorities in recent years have launched a crackdown in California and other states against what prosecutors consider an illegal network of cannabis suppliers established under state medical marijuana laws.

California was the first to legalize pot for medical purposes, and nearly 20 other states and the District of Columbia have enacted similar statutes, though marijuana is classified as an illegal narcotic under federal law.

(Editing by Steve Gorman, Toni Reinhold)

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Russian "sleeping judge" resigns after video exposé

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian judge has resigned after a video apparently showed him asleep during a trial that ended with him sentencing the defendant to five years in a penal colony, Russian media reported on Friday.

Critics of the Russian justice system, which has a notoriously high conviction rate, were outraged when the video purporting to show judge Yevgeny Makhno sleeping through a defence lawyer's speech in court was posted online in January.

"The Judges Qualification Panel accepted Makhno's resignation from his judge's post," regional judge and panel member Valentina Pozharskaya told state news agency RIA Novosti.

The film, allegedly shot during a fraud trial last July in the far-eastern town of Blagoveshchensk, seems to show Makhno slumped in his chair fast asleep with his head cocked to one side.

The businessman sentenced to five years hard labour will have a new trial on February 14 after an appeal was lodged over the "unjust" sentence, Russian media said.

Russia's justice system has been in the spotlight recently over several high-profile court cases including the trial of punk protest collective Pussy Riot.

The band's three members were sentenced to two years in prison on charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred after they performed an anti-Putin prayer in Moscow's main cathedral in 2012, which Russian and foreign commentators called excessive.

Makhno will eventually be able to return to his post provided he retakes his exams, Russian media said.

(Editing by Douglas Busvine and Sonya Hepinstall)

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