Court Roundup

Massachusetts
Lawyer gets 18 years on Internet sex luring charge
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts lawyer who was also a Boy Scout leader and substitute teacher has been sentenced to more than 18 years in prison for using the Internet to try to entice young boys into unlawful sexual conduct.
Andrew Myers of Northbridge was sentenced this week in federal court after pleading guilty in June to enticing and attempting to entice minors for sex, and possession of child pornography.
Prosecutors say the 34-year-old Myers sent sexually graphic emails to several minor boys proposing to perform sex acts on them.
Myers’ crimes were discovered when the mother of a 12-year-old Larimer County, Colo., boy went to police with evidence of sexually explicit chats between her son and a man police determined was Myers.
The Telegram & Gazette reports that Myers apologized in court.

Washington, D.C.
Defense wants lower sentence in massacre plot
WASHINGTON (AP) — A defense lawyer for a man who planned a mass shooting at the Washington headquarters of a conservative Christian lobbying group says his client should spend 11 1/2 years in prison for the failed plot, not the 45 years government lawyers recommended.
A lawyer for Floyd Corkins II made the recommendation Tuesday in a document filed in federal court in Washington. He argues his client was suffering from a mental illness when he entered a building housing the Family Research Council and shot and wounded a security guard in 2012.
The shooting made news in part because Corkins was carrying 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches and said he intended to smear them in his victims’ faces as a political statement.
A judge is scheduled to sentence Corkins on Sept. 19.

New York
Ruling: Club’s  strippers shielded under labor laws
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that exotic dancers at a New York City strip club are protected by labor laws and entitled to be paid at least a minimum wage.
The ruling came Tuesday in a class-action lawsuit brought by current and former dancers at Rick’s Cabaret in midtown Manhattan.
The lawsuit charged that the strippers were denied wages and required to pay a variety of fees to the club.
The club had argued that the dancers were independent contractors.
But Judge Paul Engelmayer ruled that the dancers were the “main attraction” at the club and integral to its success.
Rick’s Cabaret International says the ruling will have no impact on the club. It says it plans to appeal.

Nebraska
Appeals court: Evidence from car search back in
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A federal appeals court has reversed a Nebraska court’s ruling throwing out evidence from what it said was an improper search of a car by Omaha police that turned up drugs and nearly $2,000 in cash.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday also reversed the suppression of statements 36-year-old Shawn Morgan made to police confessing to being a drug dealer.
Court records show that when Omaha police approached Morgan’s car in a grocery store parking lot on April 17, 2012, he reached under his seat and did not immediately raise his hands when ordered to do so.
A lower court found that officers conducted an improper search of the car after handcuffing Morgan, but the appeals court said Tuesday that there was nothing improper about the search.

Missouri
Man set to be sentenced after sex slave trial
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A southwest Missouri man was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for keeping a young woman as a sex slave for six years.
Forty-six-year-old Edward Bagley was sentenced Wednesday after a federal court judge in Kansas City accepted a plea agreement. He pleaded guilty in January to one count of using an interstate facility to entice a minor into illegal sexual contact.
Bagley, of Lebanon, Mo., originally faced 11 federal charges. He was accused of enticing an underage girl to be his sex slave, torturing and mutilating her, and allowing others to view the torture sessions.
Bagley and his wife, Marilyn, said the woman voluntarily engaged in bondage and sadomasochism after she turned 18.
Marilyn Bagley and four other men are also scheduled to be sentenced this week.

Virginia
Court reporter sentenced for lying to agents
ABINGDON, Va. (AP) — A court reporter will spend more than a year in prison for lying to investigators.
U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Heaphy said Wednesday that 67-year-old Ernest Julius Benko of Norton was sentenced to 15 months in prison on Tuesday in federal court in Abingdon.
Blenko had pleaded guilty in June to obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy.
Court records show an attorney under investigation hired Benko in 2009 to record sworn statements from witnesses to falsely represent that the attorney didn’t do anything illegal or unethical. He was a court reporter for Wise County Circuit Court at the time.
When questioned by the FBI and Virginia State Police in September 2012, Benko denied knowledge of the attorney’s drug use.

Connecticut
Former candidate charged with stalking judge
STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) — A perennial candidate for public office has been charged with stalking a state judge presiding over her divorce.
Lisa Whitnum-Baker of Greenwich is charged with second-degree stalking, second-degree harassment and disorderly conduct. Her case was continued on Tuesday to Sept. 26.
The Hearst Connecticut Media Group reports that she denied stalking Superior Court Judge Jane Emons. Whitnum-Baker said she called the judge’s home but that it was not stalking.
Emons told police Whitnum-Baker woke her at 2:30 a.m., yelling at her. The judge hung up and according to an affidavit Whitnum-Baker called again and began to “rant” to the judge’s husband.
Whitnum-Baker sought the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate last year.
She has clashed with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who said her denunciations of Israel were anti-Semitic.