National Roundup

Ohio
Attorney: Slain teen grew upset when arrest threatened
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A teen fatally shot by a deputy during an Ohio courthouse scuffle had become upset when the deputy threatened to arrest him at the end of a hearing, the boy’s lawyer said.

The Wednesday scuffle broke out when her client, Joseph Haynes, resisted the deputy, attorney Jennifer Brisco told The Columbus Dispatch. The shooting happened around the corner from the courtroom where the hearing was held.

“Joseph was a little out of sorts because of how things went at the hearing,” Brisco told the paper. “The officer threatened to lock him up and a scuffle broke out. Joseph was resisting, and that’s when there was a scuffle.”

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien told the newspaper the teen was also upset by a judge’s order that he continue to wear an electronic monitoring device.

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office says Haynes was shot once in the abdomen after a Juvenile Court hearing in Columbus. He died minutes later at a downtown Columbus hospital.

The boy’s grandmother told the newspaper the deputy should have used a stun gun.

“There was no reason why that cop would have been terrified of Joey,” Geraldine Hayes said.

The deputy, who has not been identified, sustained bruises and cuts consistent with someone who’d been in a hand-to-hand confrontation, Keith Ferrell, executive vice president of the Fraternal Order of Police lodge that represents Franklin County deputies, said Thursday.

“It sounds like the deputy had no choice,” Ferrell said.

The hearing involved a firearms charge against the boy, Rick Minerd, investigations chief with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, said Wednesday.


Ohio
Ex-assisted living facility head gets  3 years in prison
PAINESVILLE, Ohio (AP) — The administrator of a now closed Ohio assisted living facility has been sentenced to three years in prison for causing the death of an elderly resident by stuffing eggs and medication into her mouth.

The News-Herald reports a Lake County assistant prosecutor said in court Wednesday that 55-year-old Alice Ramsey might not have been held accountable for the death of 85-year-old Mary Srpan if a new employee hadn’t gathered evidence of mistreatment.

Ramsey previously pleaded guilty to reckless homicide and patient abuse. Srpan died last January, two weeks after suffering respiratory distress at the Madison Township facility.

The employee used her cellphone to take photos of bruises on Srpan’s neck and to record Ramsey verbally abusing her.

Ramsey apologized in court, saying she wasn’t careful enough.

Florida
Officer guilty of threatening to release nude pics 
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A jury in Florida took just 20 minutes to find an officer who threatened to send nude photos of his former girlfriend to their colleagues on their police force guilty of extortion.

The SunSentinel reports jurors decided Wednesday that James Krey, 40, threatened to release the photos and a sex video unless she resigned from her position on the Davie Police Department in suburban Fort Lauderdale. He faces up to 15 years in prison when he’s sentenced in February.

The 26-year-old woman testified she met Krey when she was a rookie in late 2013 and their rocky relationship lasted more than a year. According to testimony, the pair apparently broke up and then got back together repeatedly over the course of several months.

She testified that March 9, 2015, started with the couple exchanging “I love you” text messages and ended with Krey demanding that she step down from the police force and leave Broward County.

“Jimmy, please don’t destroy me. I will leave the department,” she wrote in one message read to the jury.

“You’re going to have to leave Broward, sweetheart,” Krey replied. “Anywhere you go, I have people.”

The prosecutors, Chris Killoran and Whitney Mackay, told jurors that Kray convicted himself with the messages.

“Leave Davie,” Mackay said, while quoting from one of the text messages. It was preceded by nude photos the victim had sent him while they were together.

Defense lawyer Jeremy Kroll argued that there was nothing wrong with Krey having those photos. Mackay agreed, adding “but that does not give him the right to later share those pictures with the SWAT team.”

Kroll said his client, a former Davie Police Officer of the Year, handled the breakup poorly. But, he argued, Krey didn’t commit extortion. He said the woman had talked to others about moving away from Broward County.

Jurors agreed with prosecutors, who showed that Krey tied the release of the photos to his demand that she quit her job.

The woman, who still works for the Davie department, testified on Wednesday and returned later that day to hear the verdict. She left the courtroom in tears.

Krey had been suspended without pay.

He will remain free on a $30,000 bond.


Maryland
Town being sued over its rule banning topless women
OCEAN CITY, Md. (AP) — A Maryland town’s ordinance prohibiting topless women in public is being challenged by a lawsuit.

The Daily Times reports the suit filed Tuesday by five women in federal court includes Ocean City and several officials as defendants. Officials had unanimously passed the ordinance during an emergency session in June after the beach patrol said lifeguards would no longer approach and scold women who are topless.
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Eline’s lawyer, Devon Jacob, said Wednesday the ordinance violates an equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.

New Mexico
Officials: 5th grader mistakenly gave out pot candy in school
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Officials at an Albuquerque charter school say a fifth-grader mistook her parents’ medicinal marijuana for candy and passed it out to other students.

KRQE-TV in Albuquerque, New Mexico, reports the Albuquerque School of Excellence student handed out the pot edibles last week before teachers noticed her acting strangely.

Kristy Del Curto, Dean of Elementary Students, says that student also complained she couldn’t see.

Del Curto says three students ate one gummy and the student who passed out the candy ate three or four pieces.

Pot gummies can be two to 100 times more potent than traditional marijuana.

Del Curto says school officials called 911 and paramedics monitored all the students to make sure they were not having dangerous reactions.