News for Joseph Tully

Phone sex might be expensive and short-lived for consumers, but it doesn’t pay much for the workers on the other line.
That’s according to a class action filed on Tuesday alleging a California-based phone sex operator misclassifies its “phone actors” as independent contractors, depriving them of overtime pay and “off the clock” work. As a result, the sex talk workers, most of whom are women, are paid below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour in...

Phone sex might be expensive and short-lived for consumers, but it doesn’t pay much for the workers on the other line.
That’s according to a class action filed on Tuesday alleging a California-based phone sex operator misclassifies its “phone actors” as independent contractors, depriving them of overtime pay and “off the clock” work. As a result, the sex talk workers, most of whom are women, are paid below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour in...

Two men pleaded no contest to felony assault charges with hate crime enhancements Thursday for beating a Sikh man in Richmond last September. Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Patricia Scanlon sentenced each to three years in prison.
Colton Leblanc and Chase Little, both from Texas, beat Maan Singh Khalsa through the window of his car at a stoplight in Richmond, knocking off his turban and cutting off a fistful of his hair.
Khalsa suffered an injured eye, damage to his teeth...

Two Texas men on Thursday pleaded no contest to hate-crime charges that stemmed from them beating a Sikh man in the Bay Area last year.
Colton LeBlanc, 25, and Chase Little, 31, were sentenced to prison for three years apiece. The pair were former contractors at the Chevron Richmond Refinery.
Investigators say they viciously attacked Maan Singh Khalsa at a Richmond stop light in September.
The Texas men's attorneys downplayed the attack.
"I don't think he's hated by the...

On a sunny Saturday afternoon in an undisclosed Redding location, James Benno was choosing his words very carefully. Who can blame him? I’m asking him questions about concentrated cannabis, and just two days earlier, the Shasta County District Attorney’s office had announced it intends to retry Benno and his adult sons, Jacob and Logan, on one felony count each of manufacturing concentrated cannabis.
That’s worth a maximum seven years in the county jail, according to the...

Shasta County marijuana and weapons case isn't over yet.

A Shasta County jury acquitted medical marijuana activist James Benno and his two sons Wednesday on all but two felony counts during their trial in Shasta County Superior Court, one of the three defense attorneys involved in the case said.
A mistrial was declared on those two concentrated marijuana-related counts, paving the way for a possible retrial on both of them.
Jurors, who began their deliberations late Tuesday morning, announced early Wednesday afternoon they were...

In a turn of events since Monday, the Benno family marijuana and weapons trial was not declared a mistrial Tuesday morning.
On Monday court officials believed that Judge Stephen Baker discovered some "undisclosed information" that forced him to recuse himself and that a mistrial would be declared.
On Tuesday, Judge Baker did step down and assistant presiding Judge Dan Flynn stepped in, and no mistrial was declared. The proceedings will continue next Monday.
With the jury...

A Shasta County Superior Court judge presiding over the criminal trial for outspoken medical marijuana activist James Benno and his two sons is expected to declare a mistrial Tuesday after issuing an order Friday afternoon disqualifying himself from the case.
In his order, Superior Court Judge Stephen Baker said he would declare the mistrial and the case would then he sent back to Superior Court Judge Dan Flynn for reassignment to another judge for re-trial.
His order caught the...