Pennsylvania
Test case on 911 calls, evictions set for US trial
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A federal judge in Pennsylvania plans to hold a trial in a national test case over laws that threaten renters with eviction for making too many 911 calls.
U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno expects what he called the “complex and novel” case to eventually reach a federal appeals court, and scheduled a trial for next year.
The American Civil Liberties Union believes the laws endanger domestic violence victims and violate their free-speech rights.
The test case involves a Norristown, Pa., woman, Lakisha Briggs.
After a series of police calls involving her adult daughter, Briggs was afraid to call police during an attack by an ex-boyfriend.
The Norristown law orders landlords to evict tenants after three 911 calls within four months. City officials say it’s designed to promote peaceful neighborhoods and discourage nuisance calls.
Pennsylvania
Bail denied for man accused of Obama threat
SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — A federal judge has denied bail for a northeastern Pennsylvania man accused of threatening to kill President Barack Obama last month and stockpiling ammunition ahead of the president’s visit to the area.
Nicholas Savino, 42, of Clarks Summit, sent an email to the White House on Aug. 16 calling Obama the Antichrist and threatening to shoot him, authorities said. He was arrested a week later, just before Obama visited nearby Scranton.
Authorities said a search of his home turned up a loaded AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, 11,000 rounds of ammunition, a long-range scope and training manuals on long-range shooting.
Defense attorney Paul Ackoury sought Savino’s release on Wednesday, The (Scranton) Times-Tribune reported. Ackoury acknowledged that authorities found a lot of ammunition at Savino’s home but said that was because he was stockpiling it because he feared a weapons ban.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Fran Sempa opposed the request, saying Savino had made an explicit threat against the president days before Obama’s visit.
“It’s one thing to say he is a firearms enthusiast. That’s all fine and dandy until you look at it in the context of the threat,” Sempa said.
U.S. District Magistrate Judge Thomas Blewitt rejected the request, calling the reported 11,000 rounds “an outrageous amount of ammunition.”
Ackoury said after the hearing that he didn’t believe his client posed any threat and called the case a “tough situation.”
“He has a very supportive family. He is an accomplished young man and very bright,” he said. “It’s early in the case. We have to look at the situation and do our best to put up a defense.”
California
49ers’ linebacker responds to suit alleging shooting
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Attorneys for San Francisco 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith and former Niners tight end Delanie Walker have filed a response to a civil lawsuit filed by a Northern California man who says he was shot during a party at Smith’s house.
The San Jose Mercury News reports the attorneys allege that plaintiff Ronndale Esporlas “freely and voluntarily exposed himself to all risks of harm” by attending the party.
The response, filed Tuesday, also says that injuries suffered by Esporlas, who was shot in the leg, were not caused by the defendants.
In the lawsuit filed earlier this month, an attorney for Esporlas claims that Smith and Walker fired weapons illegally during the party in June of last year.
Santa Clara County prosecutors say they are considering criminal charges.
New York
Guilty plea to ex-girlfriend’s fatal beating
NEW CITY, N.Y. (AP) — A 66-year-old man has pleaded guilty to murder for beating his estranged girlfriend to death with a boot in her suburban New York home.
The Journal News reports that Riad Dib pleaded guilty Wednesday in Rockland County Court.
Ramapo police found Cecile Garbarino’s battered body in her Wesley Hills bedroom on Jan. 25.
Police said Dib had called 911 after beating Garbarino over a 2 1-/2-hour period.
Dib’s lawyers had planned a psychiatric defense before his guilty plea.
Dib is a Syrian national with a permanent resident card dated 2006. Prosecutors say he will likely serve more than 18 years in prison.
Washington
Son, 2nd teen arrested for assaulting mom
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Two teenage boys have been arrested in a bizarre sword attack on one teen’s mother that reportedly included a discussion of killing the woman and eating her liver, a Spokane County sheriff’s spokesman said Wednesday.
Spokane Valley deputies responding to an assault call early Tuesday found the bloody woman on her bed; next to her were two knives and a sword with a bent handle. The woman was hospitalized Wednesday in stable condition, Deputy Craig Chamberlin said. She was not identified.
“It doesn’t sound like she remembered the attack,” Chamberlin said in a phone interview. The woman told deputies the sword handle wasn’t previously bent. It wasn’t clear who called for help.
With no signs of forced entry into the apartment, deputies went looking for the victim’s 13-year-old son and a 14-year-old friend.
The other boy’s father thought his son had stayed with the 13-year-old, Chamberlin said. Then the man noticed his Dodge Durango SUV and its keys were missing.
Deputies tracked the teens through a crime spree that included breaking into a home and crashing the SUV into the side of a mobile home. A K-9 finally located them.
The injured woman’s 13-year-old son told deputies that his 14-year-old friend tried to kill the mother with a sword, Chamberlin said. The younger boy said he talked his friend into trying to kill his mother because he had taken “blue pills.” The spokesman said it was unclear what the blue pills were.
The boy said he would never have done anything like that sober, Chamberlin said.
The son also told deputies his friend tried to talk him into eating his mother’s liver, the sheriff’s spokesman said.
The older boy admitted attempting to kill his friend’s mother and said they were going to leave town later, the spokesman said. The older boy then asked for a lawyer.
There was no indication why the attack on the mother ended when it did.
Both boys were booked into juvenile detention for investigation of second-degree assault, taking a motor vehicle without permission, burglary, malicious mischief and hit and run.
