Vermont
Man’s bail set at $100K in bogus bear report
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont man who told police he urged his girlfriend to jump off a cliff in a drug-induced haze because of an imagined bear attack was being held on $100,000 bail on charges including attempted murder and arson.
Lucas Gingras had been held without bail since June 25. Judge James Crucitti changed bail conditions Monday and set special conditions if he’s released, including no possession of firearms, no contact with his girlfriend and that he wear a tracking device.
Gingras has pleaded not guilty. Authorities said he had taken MDMA and used the same drug to spike his girlfriend’s drink at a cabin in Milton, where he initially told investigators the couple had been attacked by a bear, leading to a stove being overturned and the cabin being set on fire.
But later, Gingras said he thought the drug caused him to hallucinate that a bear was near the cabin. Gingras said he believed he heard something trying to get into the cabin and set it on fire before the couple fled to the cliff where he urged his girlfriend to jump, police said.
Police said Gingras actually kicked Ladonna Merriman over the edge of the 70-foot-high cliff, leaving her hospitalized with injuries including a broken back and punctured lung. Her condition wasn’t immediately known Tuesday and a phone number listed in her name was out of service.
Chittenden County prosecutor T.J. Donovan had said Gingras invented “an incredible fantastic story” to mislead investigators about his plan to kill his girlfriend. Donovan said Merriman had tried to leave Gingras in the days before her June 18 fall.
Massachusetts
Police: Taco Bell employee shot customer with BB
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — Police say a Massachusetts Taco Bell employee used a BB gun to shoot a customer who was enraged when no one came to the drive-thru window to take his order.
Twenty-six-year-old Steven Noska is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday on charges including assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
Police tell The Republican newspaper in Springfield that it started at 4 a.m. Sunday when the customer approached the still-open drive-thru. After banging on the window and getting no response, he got out of his car and banged on the locked door.
Police say the two fought and that Noska then went to his car, got the BB gun and shot the customer several times. Police say the customer bit Noska on the arm.
It’s not clear if Noska has a lawyer.
New Jersey
4 teens charged in sex assault on 15-year-old girl
ELMWOOD PARK, N.J. (AP) — Four teens are facing charges from what New Jersey authorities say was the sexual assault of a highly intoxicated 15-year-old girl that was videotaped on a cellphone.
The Bergen County prosecutor has charged three 18-year-olds, Justin Draper, Craig Howe and Ashari Wilson, with aggravated sexual assault. A 17-year-old faces the same charge as a juvenile.
Wilson is also charged with manufacturing child pornography.
The prosecutor’s office says the assault took place in June behind the Elmwood Park home where Draper and Howe live. The girl was later found unconscious by her parents on the front lawn of her home.
A friend later told the girl she had seen a video of her engaging in sex.
Arkansas
Lawyers say man sentenced to die is mentally ill
TEXARKANA, Ark. (AP) — Lawyers for a man who was sentenced to death for an Arkansas murder more than 20 years ago argue their client has a mental disability.
The Texarkana Gazette reports that a California psychologist testified that 47-year-old Frank Williams Jr. is mentally disabled. Williams was found guilty of capital murder in the October 1992 shooting death of farmer Clyde Spence in Lafayette County.
State and federal laws prohibit the death penalty for offenders who are mentally disabled. A jury will determine whether Williams should receive a new sentence of life without parole instead of death by lethal injection.
The state’s supreme court recently overturned his sentence and sent the case back to trial court for another look at punishment.
The adults remain held on bail.
Maryland
Judge refuses to use Redskins name in ruling
GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A federal judge has joined the ranks of those refusing to use the Washington Redskins’ nickname.
U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte issued a pretrial ruling last week in a lawsuit against the team in which he explicitly refused to use the Redskins name. In a footnote, he noted that his refusal to use the name was a conscious decision but did not elaborate.
Lawyers on the case told The Washington Post that Messitte also ordered them not to use the name in court hearings.
The name has come under fire as a racial slur. Last month the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ruled that the name should be stripped of its trademark protection.
In his ruling, the judge allowed a former New York Giants linebacker, Barrett Green, to move ahead with a lawsuit claiming he was wrongly targeted in a bounty program run by a former Redskins assistant resulting in a career-ending knee injury. In doing so, however, he dismissed some of Green’s specific claims.
Florida
Judge and bailiff may have had relationship
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A central Florida judge is under investigation over whether she had an improper relationship with a bailiff.
The Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission on Monday filed notice of formal charges with the state Supreme Court against Polk County Judge Susan Flood. Flood has been asked to respond to allegations about her relationship with former bailiff James Maxcy.
The Ledger reports that the investigation stems from an investigation into another Polk County employee.
A judicial assistant was fired last year for falsifying time sheets. The employee then alleged she was fired in retaliation for making sexual harassment complaints, which were later recanted.
The newspaper reports that Circuit Judge Beth Harlan retired in exchange for prosecutors dropping charges against her alleging that she approved the false timecards.
