National Roundup

Pennsylvania
Woman accused of shooting beau who rubbed pizza in her face
MILLMONT, Pa. (AP) — A woman shot her boyfriend because he grabbed her by the hair and “gently smooshed” a slice of pizza in her face during an argument, he testified at a hearing.

Jennifer Boop, 31, of Millmont, was ordered to stand trial on attempted homicide, aggravated assault and other charges following last week’s preliminary hearing, The (Sunbury) Daily Item reported.

Brandon Doan, 34 who lived with Boop and her two daughters from a previous relationship, described the Oct. 12 shooting from the witness stand.

“I grabbed her by the hair and gently smooshed the pizza in her face,” Doan said. “She quickly shot me.”

Doan testified he couldn’t recall why the couple had started arguing but said things escalated after Boop refused to promptly agree to pack up and leave.

“She didn’t obey, so you had to go further?” Boop’s attorney Kathleen Dautrich asked Doan on cross-examination.

Doan said Boop grabbed his .38 Special revolver from its holster on a bedroom dresser and shot him in the upper chest. He spent two weeks in the hospital and still wears a neck brace because bullet fragments are lodged near his spine and have left him with a severely weakened left arm.

Police contend Boop told them she called 911, then called her mother and Doan’s mother before trying to help stop Doan’s bleeding. Boop told police she didn’t mean to fire the gun but was trying to scare Doan into letting go of her hair, authorities said.

“It sounds like my client was bullied,” Dautrich said after the hearing. “I never saw anyone smoosh anything gently. What was next?”


Ohio
Man accused of raping teen relative changes lawyers again
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man who denied allegations of imprisoning and raping a teenage relative has changed attorneys again, and his newly appointed lawyer is one he previously fired.

Fifty-three-year-old Timothy Ciboro’s fourth attorney withdrew because he’s taking a job with the prosecutor, so a county judge in Toledo reappointed attorney John Thebes to the case last week. Thebes tells WTOL-TV he thinks the judge wanted to appoint someone familiar with the case.

Ciboro has pleaded not guilty. He had sought to represent himself, but the judge ended Ciboro’s self-representation last month, citing his courtroom conduct that included frequent interruptions and outbursts.

His 28-year-old son, Esten Ciboro, is charged with rape and also pleaded not guilty. The son is representing himself and hasn’t responded to requests for comment.

Arkansas
Judge prohibits enforcement of anti-begging law 
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal judge is prohibiting Arkansas from enforcing its anti-begging law.

U.S. District Judge Billy Joe Wilson last week agreed with the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas that the law unconstitutionally restricts freedom of speech.

Wilson wrote that regulating speech based on content must promote a compelling government interest and said banning all begging everywhere by everyone “does not come close to chinning this bar.”

The ACLU says it filed the lawsuit against Arkansas State Police director Col. Bill Bryant on behalf of Michael Rodgers, a veteran convicted of loitering with intent to beg, and Glynn Dilbeck, a homeless man cited for begging to help pay his daughter’s medical bills.

Wilson wrote that Rodgers’ conviction was overturned by a circuit court and that charges against Dilbeck were dismissed.

New Jersey
Suit challenges surgery mandate for gender change on birth certificate
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A transgender woman in New Jersey has filed a federal lawsuit that says the state’s requirement that she prove she underwent sexual reassignment surgery to change the gender on her birth certificate is a “state-sanctioned compulsion.”

NJ.com reported last week the lawsuit was filed against the state Department of Health earlier this month.

The suit states the plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe, doesn’t plan to undergo surgery to change her anatomy from male to female.

The lawsuit states her constitutional rights to due process and equal protection were violated.

The attorney general’s office declined to comment.

Julie Chovanes, co-founder of a national advocacy organization, is representing the plaintiff along with another attorney.

Chovanes says her group successfully sued Pennsylvania, resulting in an amended birth certificate and a law change.

Indiana
Man says winning candidate was dead, files suit
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — A Democrat who ran for the Allen County Council is challenging the results because one of the three contested seats went to a candidate who died shortly before the election.

Palermo Galindo says Republican Roy Buskirk should never have been certified as one of the three winners because he died of cancer on Nov. 4, four days before the election. The (Fort Wayne) Journal Gazette reports Galindo filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Allen County Election Board.

Galindo was the fourth top vote-getter in the election and his attorneys argue one of the three contested seats should be his because Republicans did not fill the ballot vacancy created by Buskirk’s death.

Pennsylvania
Plastic surgeon cleared of witness tampering charges
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A federal court jury in Pittsburgh has acquitted a plastic surgeon on all 10 counts that he tampered with witnesses and falsified records to thwart a government investigation.

The jury deliberated just 90 minutes Tuesday before finding 70-year-old Dr. Daniel Teet not guilty following a trial that began Nov. 10.

Prosecutors say the Greensburg doctor told grand jury witnesses to lie and fudged records to thwart a probe into allegations that Teet overmedicated drug-dependent patients.

Teet was never charged with overprescribing drugs and never lost his medical license.

Teet’s attorneys argued he was a reputable surgeon wrongly accused by junkies and disgruntled former employees.

Teet didn’t comment on the verdict, but defense attorney Michael DeRiso says, “We’re thankful that the system worked ... This was a case of government over-reaching.”