National Roundup

Pennsylvania
Police: man cut up victim’s body with chain saw
PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania man is accused of robbing and killing an acquaintance in a drug-related dispute, and then cutting up the body with a chain saw.
Police found some of the victim’s remains Sunday in a creek in Hamilton, a tiny village about 60 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. The remains were identified through fingerprints as those of 33-year-old Chet Allen Haddow, of Punxsutawney.
Police say they also found Haddow’s car, set on fire, in a different location.
Thirty-two-year-old Michael Shugars, of Brookville, was arraigned Tuesday and will have a preliminary hearing Oct. 1 on charges including criminal homicide and abuse of a corpse. He is in jail without bond, and online court records don’t list an attorney for him.
Troopers believe the men were friends before the drug dispute turned deadly.

Florida
‘Hiccup Girl’ murder trial on hold in Florida
CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — A court psychologist is performing a last-minute competency evaluation on a Florida woman who gained fame because of her uncontrollable hiccupping and was later charged with murder.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys were about to start presenting their cases Wednesday morning against 22-year-old Jennifer Mee. But Mee’s attorney says he recently discovered that she was schizophrenic, and the judge ordered the evaluation.
She’s charged in the 2010 death of Shannon Griffin in St. Petersburg. Prosecutors say Mee lured Griffin to a home under the pretense of buying marijuana — but instead, two of Mee’s friends robbed him at gunpoint. Griffin was shot several times.
As a teen, Mee suffered from prolonged hiccups of up to 50 a minute in 2007. Videos of her hiccupping gained her national attention.

Virginia
Lawyer says deal reached in case of mansion chef
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — An attorney representing a former chef at the Virginia governor’s mansion who was charged with stealing from the home’s kitchen says an agreement has been reached.
Attorney Steve Benjamin said Wednesday a “favorable resolution” has been reached in the case against Todd Schneider. Benjamin refused to provide further details. The prosecutor refused to comment, citing a gag order.
The agreement will be presented in court Wednesday.
Schneider faces four felony counts of embezzlement.
The case against Schneider brought to light allegations of misconduct against Gov. Bob McDonnell and his family. Schneider told investigators the first family took undisclosed gifts from a wealthy donor, took items from the kitchen and that the governor required him and other state employees to work private and political events.

Tennessee
Judge: Parents can name their baby ‘Messiah’
NEWPORT, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee judge has ruled in favor of parents who want their 8-month-old baby to be named “Messiah.”
At a paternity hearing last month, child support magistrate Lu Ann Ballew was asked to decide Messiah Deshawn Martin’s surname.
She ended up changing the baby’s first name as well, saying that Messiah was a title reserved for Jesus Christ.
That decision quickly made international news.
On Wednesday, Chancellor Telford E. Forgety Jr. overturned that decision, ruling that the lower court acted unconstitutionally. He said the lower court violated the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution.
The child’s mother, Jaleesa Martin, expressed relief after the hearing. She says the original ruling was “ridiculous” and says she is glad the court fight is over.

West Virginia
Civil lawsuits in judge corruption case on hold
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The attorney for a southern West Virginia couple allegedly harassed for years by a judge trying to frame the husband for false crimes has temporarily delayed plans to file civil lawsuits.
Federal prosecutors say Mingo County Circuit Judge Michael Thornsbury had an affair with his secretary and tried to frame her husband for various crimes between 2008 and 2012.
He’s accused of enlisting the help of a state trooper and commandeering the grand jury in the scheme.
Thornsbury has pleaded not guilty and awaits trial Oct. 15.
Last month, Charleston attorney Mike Callaghan notified the state Supreme Court, the County Commission, State Police and the city of Gilbert of intent to sue.
On Wednesday, he said insurance company attorneys wanted to discuss the potential for a settlement, and he’s agreed.

New Mexico
Prison ‘strip and straddle’ lawsuit deal agreed on
LOS LUNAS, N.M. (AP) — State correctional officials and nearly 500 former and current inmates have reached a settlement agreement that would pay out $750,000 to inmates allegedly forced to strip down and sit front to back for long periods.
Court documents show that the agreement was reached after several months of negotiations and two mediations, the Albuquerque Journal reports.
The proposed agreement, which a judge still has to approve, also calls for a change in the so-called “controlled seating” policy. The deal mandates a 1-foot-wide gap between inmates if they’re told to sit and straddle each other in times of unrest or emergency.
The class-action lawsuit was filed in 2011 after inmates claimed they were subjected to the practice at least four times in 2009 and 2010 at the Los Lunas Correctional Facility.
Inmates described being guarded by gun-wielding corrections officers wearing face masks, being forced to strip to their underwear and sitting single file on the gymnasium floor with their genitals touching the next inmate, according to court documents.
Inmates said they were held in this position for several hours without access to a bathroom, the lawsuit said. In one instance, an inmate urinated on the prisoner in front of him, and several prisoners were forced to sit in the urine, the lawsuit says.
As part of the proposed agreement, inmates and their lawyers would divvy up the settlement, and the “correctional seating” policy would change.
State Department of Corrections spokeswoman Alex Tomlin said she could not comment on the agreement because it hadn’t yet been finalized. She did say that “controlled seating” operations are very rare but are still an option for corrections officers who are trying to take control of a chaotic situation.