Defining ‘moral turpitude’ tricky for DOE
You can’t be a teacher in Nevada if you’ve been convicted of a felony or a “crime of moral turpitude.”
Trouble is, the state has no clear definition of the term “moral turpitude” for state Department of Education officials to use when licensing teachers and other education professionals. A proposed regulation that would specify qualifying crimes aims to change that.
“It’s probably just good common sense a lot of the things that are on there, things we know are wrong,” said Jason Dietrich, the state’s director of educator licensure. “It’s just working the logistics on some of it.”
Moral turpitude, which generally refers to crimes that violate a community’s accepted standards, arises mostly in immigration cases. But even there, case law is unclear, education officials said.
As it stands, defining moral turpitude falls to the state superintendent, Steve Canavero. But the state Education Department began seeking clarity about two years ago, launching the process that led to the draft regulation.
TURPITUDE
ment operation as an issue of federal overreach and police violence, the Bundy family used the internet to draw hundreds of protesters who espouse libertarian-minded, individual rights principles.
Protesters clashed with federal agents in the days leading up to the standoff, and Parker testified in the first trial that he drove to Bunkerville after seeing online postings that led him to believe constitutional rights were under threat. In the days that preceded the standoff, agents erected a First Amendment zone for protesters in the middle of the desert and used stun guns and police dogs to control angry protesters.
Awaiting judge’s ruling
Prosecutors for the U.S. attorney’s office, which declined to comment for this story, have tried in recent legal filings to limit what sort of evidence defense lawyers can introduce at trial. Their primary concern is to control the constitutional rights narrative.
In a motion filed last month, Nevada Acting U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre asked the court to prevent defense lawyers from “seeking to persuade jurors to acquit … based on political beliefs or values rather than upon the evidence.”
Myhre asked for a broad ban on what represented the marrow of the defense case in the first trial. His motion sought to block testimony about First and Second Amendment rights, police conduct in the days leading up to the standoff and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval’s criticism of BLM agents’ actions prior to the standoff.
U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro has not ruled on the motion.
The government is expected to condense its case the second time around. Two of the first six defen- dants, Gregory Burleson and Todd Engel, were convicted, so there are fewer defendants in the second trial. Prosecutors also whittled down their lists of witnesses.
New government witness
But they added another weapon to their arsenal with the addition of defendant Blaine Cooper as a government witness. Cooper pleaded guilty
in the case and was scheduled for sentencing last week. His sentencing hearing was postponed, leading some people in legal circles to speculate that he negotiated a deal with the government that offered him leniency in exchange for testimony.
Still, defense attorneys remain optimistic as they head into the first day of jury selection.
“I realize that typically retrials are better for the government,” Marchese said. “But this is a unique case, because it wasn’t as if our defense was ever any kind of secret. The government knew where we were coming from from day one.”
Parker’s friend Scott Drexler, also was photographed on the highway with a gun — and his lawyer too expressed confidence.
“As we saw in the last trial, the government had an exceedingly difficult time in communicating their case to the jury,” said attorney Todd Leventhal, who represents Drexler. “That’s because linking our clients to any crime or conspiracy is just not supported by the facts. I imagine the same will hold true in round two.”
Contact Jenny Wilson at jenwilson@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710. Follow @jennydwilson on Twitter.