The attorney for Maria Butina, the Russian women whom U.S. federal prosecutors have charged with illegal foreign lobbying, says her passport has been handed over to U.S. immigration officials to expedite her anticipated deportation to Russia.

In an interview with Russia’s state run TASS news agency, defense attorney Robert Driscoll said he hopes the U.S. judge hearing Butina’s case will announce a verdict and sentencing date within two to six weeks of her next hearing, which is scheduled for February 26.

“Our hope would be that she’ll receive a sentence that will be equivalent to the time already served and that she will be released and deported soon after that,” Driscoll is quoted as telling TASS reporters.

Even if Butina receives a time-served sentence, which would trigger her immediate release, Driscoll said he would still need to negotiate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to arrange for the deportation of a convicted felon.

According to Butina’s plea bargain with prosecutors, U.S. officials have the right to keep her in custody until she’s done cooperating.

“We think she is done with cooperation now, but we need to make sure the government agrees with that,” said Driscoll. “It depends on how long the government says they need, wherever there are any other cases that she needs to testify about.

“I’ve been talking to them in advance, obviously, trying to make that transition as smooth as possible so that we don’t have her in ICE detention for any significant length of time,” Driscoll said, adding that he’s hopeful her transition from her Virginia jail to Russia can happen in less than a week.

“We’re working that out,” he said. “ICE already has her [Butina’s] passport. We’re trying to make sure this happens as quickly as possible,” he continued.

Butina, who in December pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an unregistered Russian agent, had been held in solitary confinement for months. Driscoll also told interviewers that, after her December plea, she was moved to a minimum-security cell and has since had access to a gym, meals with other female inmates, a prison chapel, and gets to watch television shows once or twice a week.

In January, Butina’s family told VOA that they were eagerly awaiting her return to her hometown of Barnaul, Siberia.

Driscoll said he’s not sure whether Butina would return to Russia via commercial or government flight.

Pete Cobus is VOA’s acting Moscow correspondent.

 
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Any day now — or perhaps weeks from now — a caravan of trucks hauling heavy equipment will begin the eight-mile climb up Mauna Kea, a sleeping volcano on the “Big Island” of Hawaii, the first step toward building the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), the largest in the world, and the first of its kind.

Unless, that is, Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) activists and their allies can find a way to stop them, as they did in 2015.

Land use is a particularly sensitive subject for the Kanaka Maoli. Mauna Kea is part of the Crown Lands, 7,300 square kilometers (1.8 million acres) of land that belonged to the Hawaiian monarchy before it was overthrown — with U.S. help — in 1893.

When Hawaii became a U.S. state in 1959, all Crown Land was turned over to the Hawaiian government, to be held in trust managed for the benefit of the people. Five years later, the state designated Mauna Kea a conservation district.

In 1968, the state leased more than 111,000 acres of Mauna Kea to the University of Hawaii for $1 a year, a deal that benefits only the university, but not, activists say, the Kanaka Maoli themselves. Since then, 13 telescopes have been built on Mauna Kea’s summit.

‘Kid in a candy shop’

In 2003, the University of California and the California Institute of Technology began developing the TMT. Consisting of 492 mirrors aligned into one contiguous mirror, it will give astronomers an unprecedented glimpse back in time and space — as far back as the first generation of stars to emerge out of the Big Bang more than 13 billion years ago.

The TMT will shed light on some of astronomy’s biggest mysteries:  black holes, dark matter, dark energy, as well as the possibility of life on other planets.

“For an astronomer, this is like being a kid in a candy shop,” said Doug Simons, director of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, explaining why scientists selected Mauna Kea as the site for the TMT.

“Mauna Kea is an absolute gem from the standpoint of astronomy,” said Simons of the 13 telescopes standing on Mauna Kea’s summit. “The site is among the darkest in the world, which means we can see faint things clearly.”

Mauna Kea also has a unique topography.

“It has a gentle slope as it rises 14,000 feet (4,200 meters) up from the Pacific Ocean. There are no jagged edges on Mauna Kea, which means trade winds blow up and over the top of the volcano with very little turbulence,” Simons said.

That means astronomers can get a better look into space from Mauna Kea than practically anywhere else.

But Lanakilaoka Mangauil, the Kanaka Maoli director of the Hawaiian Cultural Center of Hamakua, views the TMT as a violation — culturally, environmentally and legally.

“Mauna Kea is what we call the wao akua, the realm for the high gods,” he said. “Many of the deities that we recognize live on the mountain, and we don’t climb to its summit unless we have to.”

The mountain is dotted with shrines and burial sites, which Mangauil said are at risk of desecration.

TMT developers, however, say there is no cause for concern.

“Great care was taken to identify the best location for TMT out of respect for Mauna Kea’s rich ancestral history and the spiritual beliefs of Native Hawaiian culture,” said TMT spokesman Scott Ishikawa. “The selected site is below the summit, has no archaeological shrines or features, and has no burials.”

Mangauil bristled at the suggestion this is a clash of culture versus science.  For Native Hawaiians, he said, culture and science are one and the same.

“Mauna Kea is a registered ice mountain, and the permafrost in that mountain dates all the way back to the ice age,” he said. “The mountain is the crown of the aquifer and critical to our watershed.”

He listed plant and animal species, including the Weiku bug, that don’t exist anywhere outside of Mauna Kea’s summit.

“How do you protect a natural fragile natural ecosystem? You just don’t access it,” he said.

TMT’s environmental impact statement says no wells extracting groundwater exist near the summit of Mauna Kea, and that it will collect all waste and transport it down the mountain for treatment and/or disposal elsewhere.

TMT’s Ishikawa suggested it could be months before crews start clearing the site, but Mangauil said he has heard rumors they could begin within a couple of weeks.

“Right now, everybody’s on red alert, watching the roads,” he said.  “And when we see those trucks, we’ll make our way to the mountain.”
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The number of hate crimes, or crimes against a protected minority, has increased over the last several years in the United States. Advocates fear the alleged false reporting of a hate crime by an American actor may cause people to doubt real victims and prevent some victims from going to the police. VOA’s Carolyn Presutti takes a look at the impact of a hate crime hoax in a country facing deep divisions.
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A California couple pleaded guilty Friday of torture and years of abuse that included shackling some of their 13 children to beds and starving them to the point it stunted their growth.

David and Louise Turpin will spend at least 25 years in prison after entering the pleas in Riverside County Superior Court to 14 counts that included cruelty toward all but their toddler daughter, and imprisoning the children in a house that appeared neatly kept outside, but was festered with filth and reeked of human waste.

The couple were arrested in January 2018 when their 17-year-old daughter called 911 after escaping from the family’s home in Perris, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles.

The children, who ranged in age from 2 to 29 at the time, were severely underweight and hadn’t bathed for months. They described being beaten, starved and caged.

David Turpin appeared stoic as he pleaded guilty, but Louise Turpin’s face turned red and she began crying and dabbed her eyes with a tissue.

They ‘ruined lives’

The two face prison terms of 25 years to life when they are sentenced April 19, Riverside District Attorney Mike Hestrin said. 

 

“The defendants ruined lives, so I think it’s just and fair that the sentence be equivalent to first-degree murder,” Hestrin said.  

  

Hestrin said he was impressed by how resilient the children were when he met with them, though he said the guilty pleas were important to spare them from having to testify at a trial. 

 

The couple had faced dozens of additional counts if they went to trial. During a preliminary hearing, a judge tossed out a single count involving their youngest daughter, finding she was the only child who didn’t suffer abuse.  

The Turpins had led a mostly solitary but seemingly unremarkable life until the teenager jumped from a window and ran for help.  

  

David Turpin, 57, had worked as an engineer for both Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Louise Turpin, 50, was listed as a housewife in a 2011 bankruptcy filing.  

  

The family led a nocturnal existence and slept during the day, which kept them largely out of sight from neighbors in a middle-class subdivision. 

 

In a recording of the 911 call played in court last year, the girl who escaped said two younger sisters and a brother were chained to their beds and she couldn’t take it any longer.  

‘Help my sisters’

  

They will wake up at night and they will start crying and they wanted me to call somebody,'' she said in a high-pitched voice.I wanted to call y’all so y’all can help my sisters.”  

  

The intervention by authorities marked a new start for the children, who lived in such isolation that the teen who called for help didn’t know her address and some of her siblings didn’t understand the role of the police when they arrived at the house.  

  

Two girls had been hastily released from their chains when police showed up, but a 22-year-old son remained shackled.  

  

The young man said he and his siblings had been suspected of stealing food and being disrespectful, a detective testified. The man said he had been tied up with ropes at first and then, after learning to wriggle free, restrained with increasingly larger chains on and off over six years.  

  

Authorities said the children were deprived of food and things other kids take for granted, such as toys and games, and were allowed to do little except write in journals.  

Although the parents filed reports with the state that they home-schooled their children, the oldest child had completed only the third grade and a 12-year-old couldn’t recite the full alphabet. 

 

An investigator testified that some suffered from severe malnutrition and muscle wasting, including an 11-year-old girl who had arms the size of an infant’s.  

  

The kids, whose names all begin with the letter J, were rarely allowed outside, though they went out on Halloween and traveled as a family to Disneyland and Las Vegas, investigators said. The children spent most of their time locked in their rooms except for limited meals or using the bathroom.  

  

All the children were hospitalized immediately after they were discovered. Riverside County authorities then obtained temporary conservatorship over the adults.  

Happy not to testify

  

Jack Osborn, an attorney who represents the seven adult children in probate court, said they were happy the guilty plea spared them from testifying.  

  

“They are relieved they can now move forward with their lives and not have the specter of a trial hanging over their heads and all the stress that would have caused,” Osborn said. 

 

The adult children are all living together, attending school and getting healthy while leading lives similar to those of their peers. He said they value their privacy. 

 

The social services agency tasked with overseeing the younger children declined to comment on their cases, citing confidentiality laws. 

 

Jessica Borelli, a clinical psychologist and professor of psychological science at University of California-Irvine, said children who suffer such trauma face many challenges but she has seen people make miraculous recoveries. The guilty pleas from their parents, she said, could help, especially since many abuse survivors struggle with feelings of self-doubt. 

 

It is a pretty clear affirmation of how they were mistreated,'' she said.If there is any part of them that needs validation that how they were treated was wrong and was abuse, this is it.” 

 

The children have not spoken publicly, though they will be allowed to speak at the sentencing if they choose to, Hestrin said. 

I was very taken by their optimism, by their hope for the future, for their future,'' Hestrin said.They have a zest for life and huge smiles and I am optimistic for them, and I think that’s how they feel about their future.” 
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The play-by-play announcer who calls University of Iowa men’s basketball games was suspended Friday for the rest of the season for referring to the University of Maryland’s Bruno Fernando as “King Kong” during a game.

Hawkeye Sports Properties, the multimedia rights manager for University of Iowa athletics, announced the suspension of Gary Dolphin just hours before the 21st-ranked Hawkeyes were to host Indiana University. 

 

Fernando had 11 points and 11 rebounds, including a go-ahead putback with 7.8 seconds left, to help No. 24 Maryland beat Iowa 66-65 on Tuesday night in Iowa City. In describing the game’s closing moments, Dolphin said the 6-foot-10-inch, 240-pound African-American who was born in Angola “was King Kong at the end of the game.”

The reference was to a movie monster, resembling a huge gorilla, that has appeared in films and other media since 1933.

This was Dolphin’s second suspension of the season.

He sat out two games after being caught on an open microphone criticizing Iowa guard Maishe Dailey in a win over the University of Pittsburgh in late November. Coach Fran McCaffery called Dolphin’s comments about Dailey “inexcusable.”

Jim Albracht will replace Dolphin for the rest of the season. Bobby Hansen, Iowa’s color commentator, will continue in that role.

Dolphin, a fan favorite who is also Iowa’s football play-by-play man, apologized in a statement released Friday.

“During the broadcast, I used a comparison when trying to describe a talented Maryland basketball player. In no way did I intend to offend or disparage the player,” he said. “I take full responsibility for my inappropriate word choice and offer a sincere apology to him and anyone else who was offended. I will use this as an opportunity to grow as a person and learn more about unconscious bias.”

Iowa’s athletic department released a statement supporting Dolphin’s suspension, saying it “values diversity and is committed to creating a welcoming environment for all members of its campus community.”
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