Lawyer: Cancer doc can’t post $9M bond
DETROIT (AP) — The lawyer for a Detroit-area cancer specialist accused of intentionally misdiagnosing patients says his client cannot post a $9 million bond.
Christopher Andreoff made the comment Wednesday, a day after a federal judge ordered bond for Dr. Farid Fata be increased from $170,000.
Prosecutors asked for the higher bond for fear the 48-year-old Fata would flee the country. They say FBI tracing shows Fata and his wife have $9 million in liquid assets.
A federal grand jury indicted Fata on Wednesday on health care fraud. The government says Fata ripped off Medicare by giving chemotherapy to patients who didn’t need it and diagnosing cancer when it wasn’t apparent.
Andreoff says his client is innocent. Fata is being held in the Wayne County jail pending a Tuesday preliminary examination.
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Court: Panhandling law violates free speech
GRAND RAPIDS (AP) — A federal appeals court has struck down a state law banning panhandling in public places.
The Sixth U.S. Circuit court recently agreed with a lower court’s opinion that the law violates First Amendment protections for free speech.The case stems from the arrest of two Grand Rapids men arrested in 2011 for begging.
The appellate opinion says the law “would chill a substantial amount of First Amendment-protected activity.” It added that Michigan’s interest in preventing fraud can be better served by a more narrowly tailored statute.
James Speet and Ernest Sims were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, which called the ruling a “victory for free speech.”
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Juror stunned by government corruption
EASTHAM, Mass. (AP) — A juror in Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger’s trial says testimony showed that the man once listed as the FBI’s most wanted fugitive was a “bad, bad man,” but she was still stunned by revelations of government corruption that enabled him to operate for years.
Janet Uhlar-Tinney also says failure by prosecutors to provide sufficient evidence to back allegations by former mobsters who testified against Bulger made it impossible to determine without reasonable doubt that he killed eight of 19 victims.
Uhlar-Tinney says many jurors were shaking when the verdict was handed down Monday. Bulger was convicted of 11 murders as well as other charges, from extortion to money laundering.
Uhlar-Tinney says the two-month trial was consuming and some jurors lost weight or had trouble sleeping.
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Prowling ninja says he was just trying to help
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A 19-year-old western Pennsylvania man who dressed up as a ninja and lurked near homes says he meant no harm and was just trying to help police catch bad guys.
But neighbors who saw him sneaking around called police.
The man, Todd Kapcsos, of Johnstown, was in court last week and waived his right to a preliminary hearing on charges of loitering, prowling at night and disorderly conduct.
Police in Johnstown say they don’t condone such behavior and that Kapcsos frightened some elderly residents who saw him sneaking around.
One neighbor, Chris Trevino, tells WJAC-TV, “It looked more like he was trying to break into homes, not like he was gonna be a ninja and save the world.”
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