National Roundup

Massachusetts
Drug lab cases sent to high court
BOSTON (AP) — A justice of Massachusetts’ highest court has agreed to ask the full court to decide two cases in which prosecutors are challenging how lower courts are handling drug convictions now in jeopardy because of alleged misconduct by a chemist at a state drug-testing lab.
Annie Dookhan has pleaded not guilty to faking test results and evidence tampering.
Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett is challenging whether retired judges appointed as special magistrates to hear Dookhan cases have the authority to put sentences on hold while requests for new trials are pending.
Justice Margot Botsford said Wednesday she would ask the full court to decide the cases of two individuals. She was reluctant to have a request by defense lawyers for the court to come up with a “global solution” for thousands of connected challenges.

Illinois
Gov. wants appeal of concealed carry ruling
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Gov. Pat Quinn wants the state’s attorney general to appeal a federal court ruling that Illinois’ concealed carry ban is unconstitutional. An appeal would put the matter before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Illinois is the only state with such a ban. Quinn said Wednesday that an appeal is Illinois’ “only hope” of maintaining it.
Gun-rights advocates have argued that the prohibition violates the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment.
In December, a three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Illinois’ ban and gave lawmakers until June 8 to legalize the concealed carry of firearms.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan disagrees with Quinn. She told reporters Wednesday that she wants to see what lawmakers will do before considering an appeal.
Both Quinn and Madigan support an assault weapons ban.

Montana
Man pleads guilty to waterboarding four children
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A Montana man accused of waterboarding four children as a learning experience for them has reached a plea deal with prosecutors in which he will receive probation.
The children were the Jefferson County man’s 9- and 12-year-old sons and two neighbor kids, ages 13 and 15, according to court documents filed by prosecutors.
The 42-year-old man pleaded guilty Friday to four misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Prosecutors dropped felony charges that included making threats against public officials and others.
In keeping with the plea agreement, District Judge James B. Wheelis sentenced the man to 180 days in jail for each charge, all suspended. That amounts to two years of probation, minus the 80 days he has already spent in custody, the Independent Record reported.
The Associated Press is withholding the man’s name because it doesn’t identify minors who are victims of crime or abuse, and releasing the man’s name would identify his sons.
The man was arrested in December at the Helena airport after returning on a flight from Alaska.
His girlfriend at the time said he broke her wrist and some fingers Dec. 5 when she tried to stop him from waterboarding his sons, court documents said. She said the man straddled each boy with his hands over the child’s face and mouth, and dumped water on their faces to simulate drowning, the records said.
The woman told investigators that the man described it as a learning experience for the boys.
The two neighbor children told a Child Protective Services worker that the man also had waterboarded them, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said in court records that a witness had reported that the man had body armor, assault rifles and armor-piercing ammunition.
Investigators found some ammunition and three rifles that may have belonged to the man. Authorities did not elaborate on what kinds of weapons specifically were found or suspected.

Arizona
High court turns down death row inmate’s appeal
PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Supreme Court has denied the appeal of a death row inmate convicted of murdering a north Phoenix couple who lived next door to him.
The unanimous ruling Wednesday upholds the convictions and death sentences of Steven John Parker.
He was sentenced to death for the Sept. 26, 2005 murders of Wayne and Faye Smith in their home.
Their wallets were missing, and somebody used their credit cards in western Arizona and California.
Parker was arrested months later after DNA evidence linked him to blood found in the Smiths’ house. He said he’d cut himself while helping Wayne Smith with yard work and gone into the house to wash off the blood.

Nevada
Death penalty on table in death of Vegas boy, 7
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Prosecutors are considering the death penalty for a mother and stepfather who pleaded not guilty to murder and felony child abuse in a case alleging they beat the woman’s 7-year-old son to death for lying about reading the Bible.
An aide to Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said Wednesday that a decision could be made next week about whether Dina Palmer and Markiece Palmer will face capital murder charges in the death of Roderick “RJ” Arrington.
The boy died last Nov. 30 at a Las Vegas hospital, after authorities say child welfare investigators failed to respond to school officials’ concerns about his injuries.
Dina Palmer and Markiece Palmer entered their pleas Tuesday in Clark County District Court. A judge scheduled a March 27 hearing to set a trial date.

Pennsylvania
Ex-traffic court judge admits to fixing tickets
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A former president judge of Philadelphia’s traffic court has pleaded guilty to fixing tickets for a strip club owner and others in exchange for favors.
Fortunato Perri Sr. is one of nine judges named in January in a widespread ticket-fixing scheme alleged by the FBI.
Perri was charged separately from the others and had been expected to plead guilty. Two other retired judges have also pleaded guilty.
He faces up to six months in prison after Wednesday’s fraud and conspiracy plea.
Defense lawyer Brian McMonagle will seek probation for his 77-year-old client. The sentencing is scheduled for June 21.
Court documents allege that Perri fixed tickets in 2010 in exchange for car repairs and other favors. Perri joined the court in 1997.