National Roundup

South Carolina
Man who killer said sold him guns out on bond
ANDERSON, S.C. (AP) — The man who South Carolina serial killer Todd Kohlhepp told authorities had sold him guns is out on bond.

Media outlets report federal court records show Dustan Lawson posted $30,000 bond Monday.

Federal indictments say Lawson bought 12 guns and five silencers from 2012 to 2016, saying they were for himself when he was actually giving them to a man referred to as “T.K.” in court papers.
Prosecutors refused to identify “T.K.,” but when detectives investigating Kohlhepp for seven South Carolina killings asked him how he got the guns, Kohlhepp told authorities they might want to talk to Lawson. Guns mentioned in Lawson’s indictment match ones warrants list as seized from Kohlhepp’s home.

Kohlhepp, who is now serving a life sentence, was barred from having guns as a convicted felon.

Florida
Drunken tourist can’t recall attack during Zombie bike ride
KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) — A tourist from Australia told police officers she was drunk and doesn’t remember attacking a 68-year-old rider in the annual Zombie Bike Ride in the Florida Keys.

The Miami Herald reports 32-year-old Prue Harvey was arrested Sunday on a felony battery charge on someone older than 65. A police report says Harvey shoved Linda Malcom off her bike in Key West.

Malcolm’s daughter told police Harvey was running between the bikes in the parade and gave one family “dirty looks” before shoving her mother. Malcolm suffered scrapes on her left knee. Her daughter chased Harvey to a church parking lot and called police.

The police report says Harvey was in town for a wedding. Jail records don’t list a lawyer or hometown.

Missouri
Public defenders: Too many cases presents dilemma
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Public defenders say two recent high court rulings have left them facing a troubling dilemma: take on too many cases and risk losing their law license to an ethics complaint, or refuse to take on an excessive workload and risk being held in contempt of court and jailed.

Missouri Supreme Court justices last month disciplined an attorney with a large caseload they said risked client neglect then later told a public defender she must ask permission before denying additional cases. Missouri State Public Defender Director Michael Barrett has long complained the public defender system is underfunded and that more attorneys are needed to ethically represent the state’s poor.

Public defenders have tried to limit their caseloads since the first ruling in September in which a Columbia-based public defender was placed on probation for a year for failing to properly represent six clients. A judge in Boone County appointed nearly 40 private attorneys to represent criminal defendants. But last week, the state Supreme Court ruled against a southeastern Missouri public defender who wanted the high court to block a lower court judge from forcing her to take on more clients.

“Last month, the Missouri Supreme Court warned public defenders that they must follow the ethics rules just like every other lawyer, and that the answer to an excessive caseload was to either quit or decline to accept more cases than can be handled ethically,” Barrett told The Kansas City Star. “Now the court tells us that we are indeed not like other lawyers and we must first get the court’s permission before declining a case on ethics grounds.”

To draw attention to the severe lack of public defenders for the number of cases requiring state-funded representation, Barrett last year appointed then-governor Jay Nixon as a defense attorney to represent a client. A court rejected the appointment. The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri filed a lawsuit this year blaming inadequate funding for indigent clients languishing in jail or appearing in court without attorneys. The organization wants to force the state to increase funding and adequately provide counsel to indigent defendants.

The head of Springfield’s public defender office has complained to the courts that attorneys are carrying excessive caseloads and cannot take on several cases, including that of a man charged with first-degree murder, the Springfield News-Leader reports. The letters state that the cases will be put on a waitlist until an attorney becomes available.

In Jackson County, about 25 public defenders filled a courtroom last Thursday to support Ruth Petsch, the head of the public defender’s Kansas City office. Petsch said public defenders are putting new cases on hold until they can figure out how to ethically take them on without risking their law licenses.

“If I take on more cases than I can ethically handle, I’m open to discipline,” Petsch said.

Pennsylvania
Man who stabbed fellow high school students pleads guilty
GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A man has pleaded guilty to stabbing 20 fellow students and a security guard at his suburban Pittsburgh high school more three years ago, and likely faces decades in prison when he returns for sentencing.

Alex Hribal (RY’-buhl) pleaded guilty Tuesday to 21 counts each of attempted homicide and aggravated assault, plus a weapons charge.

Hribal, who turned 20 earlier this month, was 16 when he used two eight-inch kitchen knives to stab and slash his way through the hallways of Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville on April 9, 2014.

Four students were critically injured at the school about 15 miles east of Pittsburgh, including one who required a liver transplant. All survived and have since recovered.

Hribal said nothing in court, other than to reply “guilty” to each charge.


Alabama
Man sentenced in church shooting that wounded 3
SELMA, Ala. (AP) — A man accused of shooting three people inside an Alabama church is going to prison for more than two decades after pleading guilty to attempted murder and assault charges.
Court records show a judge in Selma imposed the sentence on 27-year-old James Minter during a hearing Monday.

Minter pleaded guilty in a shooting that occurred in 2015 at Oasis Tabernacle Church in Dallas County.

Authorities and witnesses say Minter entered the church during Sunday morning worship and sat down in a pew before pulling out a gun. He opened fire, wounding his estranged girlfriend, their infant son and a pastor.

Authorities say the pastor and church members prevented more bloodshed by wrestling the gun away from the man.

District Attorney Michael Jackson calls the shooting an act of domestic violence.