Ohio
Man pleads guilty in two murders
CLEVELAND (AP) — A convicted sex offender pleaded guilty Monday to hundreds of charges, including the murders of two women more than 15 years ago.
Elias Acevedo entered the pleas in a hushed courtroom as relatives of some of the victims watched, some wiping away tears.
In all, Acevedo, 49, agreed to plead guilty to 297 counts, including kidnapping and raping children. He accepted a life prison term under the plea deal.
The murder charges involve a Cleveland neighbor, Pamela Pemberton, who was killed in 1994, and 18-year-old Christina Adkins, who was pregnant when she disappeared in 1995.
Acevedo also was charged with rape and sexual assault involving attacks on minors, some dating back more than 25 years. He folded his cuffed handed together as Judge Michael Donnelly read the terms of the plea deal and explained it.
Acevedo’s case is the latest among a group of high-profile cases involving violence against women in and around Cleveland.
Authorities re-examined the disappearances of women in the city following the escape of three women held captive for a decade in the run-down home of Ariel Castro.
The prosecutor’s office says Acevedo most recently lived about a block away from Castro, who kidnapped the three women when they were in their teens or early 20s, imprisoned them in his home and raped them repeatedly, fathering a child with one of them.
The women escaped on May 6 while Castro was away from the home. Castro killed himself in prison on Sept. 3, just weeks into a life prison sentence.
Georgia
Girl sentenced to 8 years in sister’s death
DECATUR, Ga. (AP) — A teen accused of stabbing her 2-year old sister to death has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.
The 14-year-old girl appeared in court Monday and a judge sentenced her to serve eight years behind bars. The girl was ordered to spend the rest of her term on probation and will get credit for time that she’s already served since the November 2012 incident.
The Associated Press typically doesn’t identify juvenile crime suspects.
Investigators have said the teen was babysitting when the toddler was stabbed multiple times. Authorities found the girl’s body behind her family’s home.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the girl joined the group of people who searched for her sister and later called her father from police headquarters to say that she had stabbed her.
Pennsylvania
Defense wants to suppress video confession
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A suburban Philadelphia man accused of killing a baby and her grandmother in a botched ransom kidnapping wants to prevent a jury from seeing key prosecution evidence.
KYW-AM said attorneys for 27-year-old Raghunandan Yandamuri were in Montgomery County Court on Monday asking to have a videotaped confession suppressed should the case go to trial.
Prosecutors said the defendant describes in the video what happened to 10-month-old Saanvi Venna and her grandmother in October 2012.
Authorities allege Yandamuri kidnapped the baby from her family’s King of Prussia apartment and killed her grandmother who tried to protect the child. The girl’s body was found several days later.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Indiana
Woman accused of cutting penis
FRANKLIN, Ind. (AP) — A central Indiana woman is accused of holding a man against his will at a house trailer and using a box cutter to cut his penis.
The Indianapolis Star reports Johnson County sheriff’s deputies have arrested 35-year-old Bonita Lynn Vela of Franklin on preliminary charges of battery with a deadly weapon and criminal confinement with a deadly weapon.
Vela told police she thought the 18-year-old had molested her 2-year-old son, saying her suspicions developed after smoking marijuana. Police say the man denied it.
The man said Vela first tried stabbing his penis with a fork Saturday, then switched to the box cutter. The man was treated at Johnson Memorial Hospital.
Vela was being held on a $28,000 bond. Court records did not indicate whether she had hired an attorney.
Arizona
Man arrested in killing cited Satan, say police
MESA, Ariz. (AP) — Police say a 20-year-old Mesa man charged with first-degree murder in a fatal stabbing said before the stabbing that he worked for Satan.
Ricardo Alejandro Ramirez is being held in lieu of $1 million bond in the killing of 57-year-old William Bishop of Tempe in a restroom of a Mesa light rail station early Saturday morning.
A probable cause statement by police says a witness told investigators that Ramirez said outside the restroom that he was collecting souls for Satan and liked the taste of blood.
The witness told investigators he thought Ramirez was joking around until Ramirez attacked the victim.
Police arrested Ramirez about a block from the station.
It’s not immediately clear whether he has an attorney. Two court appearances have been scheduled for him in January.
Illinois
$7M to go for non-violent offender program
CHICAGO (AP) — State officials on Sunday announced $7 million more toward efforts to move non-violent incarcerated offenders into community-based programs.
The 18 grants are going to 34 counties through Adult Redeploy Illinois, a program run by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, according to a news release on Sunday.
“Community-based programs are more cost-effective and produce better results in rehabilitating non-violent offenders,” Gov. Pat Quinn said in a statement. “Everyone benefits when we can help offenders turn their lives around and become productive members of society without filling up our prisons.”
Quinn’s office says that since 2011, the program has diverted more than 1,000 non-violent offenders. State officials estimate in 2012 that the sites spent $4,400 per person versus approximately $21,500 per capita in incarceration costs.
Among those getting the most money are $1.5 million for the Cook County Justice Advisory Council, more than $640,000 for Winnebago County Circuit Court and more than $380,000 for the St. Clair County Probation Department.
