Court Roundup

Wisconsin Prosecutor won't charge Supreme Court justice MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A prosecutor says she won't file any criminal charges against Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser over allegations he choked a liberal colleague. Justice Ann Walsh Bradley accused Prosser of choking her in June as the justices deliberated on a legal challenge to Republican Gov. Scott Walker's contentious collective bargaining law, which strips most public workers of nearly all their union rights. Sauk County District Attorney Patricia Barrett is acting as a special prosecutor in the case. She says she has reviewed investigators' reports and decided there's no basis to file charges against either Walsh Bradley or Prosser. She told The Associated Press in an interview that accounts from other justices who witnessed the apparent altercation varied, but declined to elaborate further. Alabama Man pleads guilty to killing ex-wife FLORENCE, Ala. (AP) -- A 32-year-old Lauderdale County man will spend the rest of his life in prison for killing his ex-wife in 2009. Christopher Michael Rich pleaded guilty on Wednesday to capital murder for the shooting death and robbery of 24-year-old Hollie Elizabeth Newbury. As part of the plea agreement, Rich was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The TimesDaily reports that Rich admitted to Lauderdale County Circuit Court Judge Gil Self that he killed Newbury before taking her car. Rich provided no details about the shooting that occurred as the couple were swapping custody of their two daughters, then 6 years and 15 months, at a home on Alabama 17 in the Zip City community. The couple had divorced earlier that year. Mississippi Man sentenced to nearly 7 years for bank robbery GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) -- A 24-year-old Gulfport man has been sentenced to 82 months in a federal prison for his role in the robbery of a Hancock Bank branch on Feb. 4. The Sun Herald reports U.S. District Judge Walter J. Gex III sentenced Marcus Bernard Anderson on Wednesday. The sentencing of his co-defendant, 21-year-old Samuel D'Neal Goodwin of Wiggins, has been postponed until Oct. 26. Both pleaded guilty May 31 to robbing the bank branch. The FBI identified Goodwin as the one who fired two shots inside the bank during the holdup. No one was hurt. Court papers show about $12,140 was stolen. Massachusetts MCAD: Judge made biased hiring decision BOSTON (AP) -- The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination has ruled that a judge known for speaking out against corrupt employment practices ignored the recommendation of a hiring panel and passed over a female employee for a promotion because of her gender. The commission said the actions of Robert Mulligan, chief justice for administration and management, were probably "colored by gender stereotypes" and awarded the woman more than $200,000. The man chosen for the job was the panel's third choice. Mulligan told MCAD he decided not to promote the woman because he thought she was friendly with panel members. Mulligan has cracked down on corrupt hiring practices in the state Probation Department. He told The Boston Globe on Wednesday he selected the best person for the job. The state court system is appealing. Pennsylvania Family settles civil suit over gas drilling in area WASHINGTON, Pa. (AP) -- A western Pennsylvania family has settled its lawsuit over claims its drinking water was polluted and home value wiped out by natural gas drilling on neighboring properties. Stephanie and Chris Hallowich settled their lawsuit Tuesday against a trio of companies working in the Marcellus Shale. The settlement was sealed and a judge imposed a gag order. The suit claimed the family's health was adversely affected by water and air pollution from the drilling. It also claimed the Washington County property was rendered worthless by the nearby construction of gas wells, a processing station, access roads and a holding pond. The Post-Gazette report says the suit named drillers Range Resources and Mark West Energy Partners. Phone messages left Thursday for company spokesmen were not immediately returned. Oregon Man arrested for hate crime in fire at area mosque PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- A 24-year-old man has been arrested on hate crime charges for the November firebombing of a mosque in Corvallis, Ore., where the suspect in a Portland, Ore., bomb plot once worshipped, a federal law enforcement official said Thursday. The suspect in the Corvallis firebombing was identified as Cody Crawford, who lived a block from the mosque. Shortly after the firebombing, authorities searched his home. The firebombing came two days after the arrest in Portland of Mohamed Osman Mohamud in an FBI sting. He is charged with attempting to bomb a Christmas tree lighting ceremony attended by thousands in a downtown square. Court documents and friends describe Crawford as a young man with a drinking problem and minor run-ins with the law. Authorities turned their attention quickly to him after he said a flashlight found at the scene of the firebombing looked like his and it had disappeared from his porch. In the search, police and the FBI took DNA samples and seized computers, digital camera equipment, a gas can and a lighter from his house and sent the evidence off to be examined. Crawford insisted in an Associated Press interview that he was "100 percent innocent." In the Portland case, Mohamud has pleaded not guilty to attempting to detonate a weapon of mass destruction, and his defense lawyers have suggested they're going to mount a defense based on entrapment. Ohio State high court sets 2 execution dates for 2013 COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- The Ohio Supreme Court has set two execution dates for 2013, the furthest into the future the court has ever scheduled death penalty procedures. The announcement Thursday brings to 10 the number of executions scheduled from September through May 2013. But uncertainty hangs over those dates because of a shortage of the drug Ohio uses to put inmates to death and because of questions about how well the state follows its execution procedures. The court set a March 6, 2013 date for Frederick Treesh, sentenced to die for killing a security guard at an adult bookstore in Cleveland in 1994. The court also set a May 1, 2013 date for Steven Smith, sentenced to death for raping and killing his girlfriend's 6-month-old daughter in 1998. Kentucky Court turns away challenge to death sentence LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- The Kentucky Supreme Court has turned away a death row inmate's challenge to his sentence, saying testimony about a rough childhood did not explain "pre-meditated, cold-blooded murder." The high court's ruling, issued Thursday, came in the case of Benny Lee Hodge, who was convicted of killing Tammy Acker and attacking her father, Dr. Roscoe Acker, in their home in the Fleming-Neon community in Letcher County, and stealing more than $2 million in 1985. Dr. Acker survived a strangulation attempt, but Tammy Acker was fatally stabbed more than a dozen times with a large kitchen knife. Hodge claimed his trial attorney was ineffective because he didn't present evidence of an abusive childhood to the jury. A second man, Roger Dale Epperson, is also on death row for the attacks. Washington Potential jurors will be asked about hate groups SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- Potential jurors in the trial of a man who planted a bomb at Spokane's Martin Luther King Jr. day parade will be asked if they are involved with the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations or any white supremacy group when jury selection begins Sept. 12. Kevin Harpham, who has extensive ties to white supremacist groups, has pleaded not guilty to attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, committing a hate crime and other charges. He could face life in prison if convicted. The bomb was found by authorities and defused before it could explode during the Jan. 17 parade. Nebraska Tribe drops lawsuit against state over doctor OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- An American Indian tribe has dropped its lawsuit against Nebraska about whether the state had authority over doctors hired by the tribe. The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and a doctor it hired, Rosa Huguet, filed the federal lawsuit in June because the state had refused to recognize Huguet's credential. But in a filing earlier this week, an attorney for the tribe and Huguet said the lawsuit was being dismissed because the state had changed its stance and acknowledged that a tribal clinic and Huguet fell under federal jurisdiction. Huguet, who is licensed in Puerto Rico, was hired in July 2010 after the national health care overhaul measure was adopted. She was named director and was the only doctor of the tribe's Fred LeRoy Health and Wellness Center in Omaha. Before enactment of the new law, tribal doctors had to be licensed by the states where they would practice. The new law allows a tribal doctor to hold a license in any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia or a U.S. territory, the lawsuit said. State officials refused to recognize Huguet's credential and ordered her to stop practicing, the tribe said. Tribal officials brought the lawsuit after learning that the state health agency's Board of Medicine and Surgery had referred the matter of Huguet's licensing to the Nebraska Attorney General's Office, trying to bar her from practicing in the state. The lawsuit sought a temporary restraining order to keep the state from taking any action against Huguet regarding her medical license and a judgment stating that Huguet's Puerto Rico medical license was sufficient to meet the licensing standard under federal law. In a news release, the tribe said its sovereignty was affirmed by the state's bow to federal authority. The tribe also said the new federal provision on licensing would make it easier for tribes to recruit doctors. Arizona Man accused of stuffing snakes down shorts PHOENIX (AP) -- Police say an Arizona man stole several baby albino boa constrictors at a pet store by stuffing them in his shorts. Eric Fiegel was arrested Tuesday after police reviewed surveillance footage from Predator's Reptile Center in Mesa. They say a July 30 video shows the 22-year-old man entering the store, removing several snakes from their cage and placing them in the pocket of his shorts before exiting the store without paying. Police say Fiegel then traveled to another pet store and traded several of the snakes for $175 and a large reptile tank. Published: Fri, Aug 26, 2011