Mississippi: Death row man denied mental evaluation
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court has denied death row inmate Joseph Daniel Burns’ request for a mental evaluation.
A July 21 execution date has been set for Burns, who was sentenced to death in Lee County for the 1994 robbery and murder of a motel clerk.
The Supreme Court in a 6-2 order on Wednesday said Burns had failed to show any reason why he should have a mental evaluation. Two justices said Burns should be allowed to see a psychologist.
Glenn Swartzfager, director of the Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel, has said an evaluation was sought for Burns to be used in his clemency proceedings and any other court action that might be filed in his case.
Maine: Man sentenced to 45 years for brutal attack
BELFAST, Maine (AP) — A 23-year-old Maine man is going to prison for 45 years for robbing and kidnapping an elderly woman before slashing her throat and leaving her for dead.
Stanley Ward, of Belfast, was sentenced Wednesday in Waldo County Superior Court. He pleaded guilty in April to robbery, kidnapping and attempted murder for last November’s attack on 73-year-old Patricia Moss.
According to the Bangor Daily News, Ward knew Moss because his father used to mow her lawn, and he showed up at her doorstep saying he needed money. She let him in her house, where he attacked her, forced her to write him a $300 check and then took her to a camper in a nearby town and left her to die.
But Moss regained consciousness and sought help.
Connecticut: Man in fight charged with manslaughter
VERNON, Conn. (AP) — State authorities have added a manslaughter charge against a man accused of throwing what turned out to be a fatal punch that killed a University of Connecticut student during the school’s annual Spring Weekend celebration in April.
Nineteen-year-old Edi Rapo of East Hartford was charged with second-degree manslaughter Wednesday at Rockville Superior Court. He posted $200,000bail and is due back in court July 30. The charge carries one to 10 years in prison.
Authorities say Rapo punched 20-year-old Jafar Karzoun of Milford once in the face on April 23. Karzoun fell to the ground, hit his head and died on May 1.
Rapo, who was not a UConn student, was initially charged with second-degree assault and breach of peace. He told police he didn’t intend or expect to knock out Karzoun.
Virginia: Ex-principal wants murder verdict nullified
BEDFORD, Va. (AP) — Lawyers for a former high school administrator are asking a Bedford County judge to nullify a first-degree murder conviction in his estranged wife’s slaying because jurors saw her journal entries.
Wesley Earnest’s lawyers filed a motion Wednesday, arguing that the viewing of the entries violated Earnest’s right to a fair trial. The judge had excluded the journals from being introduced at trial because Earnest was unable to question those presenting evidence against him.
The former high school administrator in Lynchburg and Chesapeake was convicted in April in the 2007 shooting death of Jocelyn Earnest.
It’s unclear how jurors gained access to the journals.
Jocelyn Earnest was a former West Virginia University women’s basketball player.
Ohio: Drug charge dropped for local Cleveland activist
EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) — Prosecutors have dropped a drug charge against a Cleveland-area community activist in what police had said was a drug distribution ring operating from his barbershop.
The move came Wednesday following an order from a state appeals court that prosecutors must release the name of an informant in the case against Art McKoy.
East Cleveland police had said McKoy was at his Superfly barbershop in February 2008 when the informant bought heroin from someone else and that several undercover buys were made at the now-closed barbershop.
The 66-year-old McKoy is founder of the group Black on Black Crime Inc., which organizes rallies and vigils for missing children and homicide victims.
He says “the case was built on lies” and that he’s angry that he had to close his business and was labeled a drug dealer.
Kentucky: Federal charges remain in laser pointer case
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — State authorities have dropped charges against a Cynthiana man they accused of aiming a laser pointer into the cockpit of a Lexington police helicopter.
However the Lexington Herald-Leader reports federal authorities have charged him with interfering with an aircraft, the indictment returned June 17.
Two charges of wanton endangerment against Jonathan Tyrone Maybrier were dismissed on Monday in Fayette Circuit Court.
The federal indictment accuses Maybrier of discharging a laser into the cockpit, temporarily blinding the pilot.
The newspaper reported no federal court date has been set for Maybrier.
Ohio: Conviction of adviser upheld in fraud case
CINCINNATI (AP) — A federal appeals court has refused to allow a new trial for an investment adviser serving 12 years in the loss of $216 million at the state agency for injured workers.
The three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati on Wednesday rejected Mark Lay’s argument that there was insufficient evidence of fraud and that jurors were not properly instructed.
Lay was among more than a dozen people convicted in Ohio’s wide-reaching corruption scandal at the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.
He was the chief executive and founder of the now-defunct MDL Capital Management of Pittsburgh. Prosecutors said he hid the extent of the risk he took in a hedge fund in which the bureau was the sole investor.
Lay’s attorney says he plans to ask the court to reconsider.
