National Roundup

New York
District attorney bars donations from lawyers with conflicts
NEW YORK (AP) — Manhattan’s district attorney says he’ll no longer accept campaign contributions from lawyers representing people investigated or prosecuted by his office.

Cyrus R. Vance had faced heavy criticism for taking money from attorneys who represented movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and a lawyer who represented the Trump Organization in a fraud investigation. Vance said Monday that he would stop accepting those kinds of contributions.

The announcement followed the release of a Columbia Law School report requested by Vance. It recommends that district attorneys either cap or refuse contributions from parties with potential conflicts of interest.

The district attorney’s donor list has included an attorney hired by Weinstein in 2015 to fend off a molestation allegation. And last year, Vance returned a $32,000 contribution from the Trump Organization lawyer.

Oklahoma
Trial set for man charged in killing of Lebanese man
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — An Oklahoma man facing first-degree murder and hate crime charges in the fatal shooting of his Lebanese neighbor is set for trial this week.

Stanley Vernon Majors is accused in the killing of 37-year-old Khalid Jabara in August 2016. Prosecutors say Majors, who is now 63, killed Jabara after bombarding him with racial insults in a feud with Jabara’s family that lasted several years.

Majors previously pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and malicious intimidation and harassment, which is Oklahoma’s hate-crime law.

Majors’ attorneys have indicated that they will present a mental health-based defense, though Majors was previously found competent to stand trial.

Jury selection is set to begin Monday, and officials say the trial could extend into next week.

Mississippi
Judge revives part of police brutality lawsuit
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge has revived part of a lawsuit alleging brutality by a Mississippi police officer.

U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett last week reversed himself and said George Wade Jr. could pursue claims that a Hattiesburg police officer used excessive force when he arrested Wade during a 2013 domestic disturbance call.

Starrett ruled in December that Wade’s version of events hadn’t been submitted as evidence. But Wade’s lawyer pointed out that Wade’s story had been included in the record and contradicts what police said.

Wade claims Officer Demetrius Breland needlessly broke his leg and kicked him in the groin, causing him to miss work. Breland says Wade was fighting him.

Other parts of the suit, including false arrest claims and claims of brutality against Wade’s dead father, remain dismissed.

Kentucky
State AG sues national opioid distributor
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s Democratic attorney general has sued a national opioid distributor for allegedly using misleading business practices to flood the state with dangerous and highly addictive prescription painkillers.

Andy Beshear announced Monday he has sued the San Francisco-based McKesson Corporation for, among other things, failing to report large volumes of opioid shipments in eastern Kentucky with state and federal authorities.

Beshear says in Floyd County alone between 2010 and 2016, the company shipped more than 18 million doses of prescription opioids. That’s enough for 477 pills for every man, woman and child in the county based on its population of 38,638.

McKesson has settled two similar lawsuits with the federal government in recent years.

This is the second lawsuit Beshear has filed against opioid distributors. He sued Endo Pharmaceuticals and Endo Health Solutions in November.


North Carolina
Doughnut-eating champ charged with stealing from Dunkin’
ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina man who made headlines when he was caught for break-ins after winning a doughnut-eating contest has been arrested again. And this time he’s accused of stealing from a doughnut shop.

The Virginian-Pilot newspaper reports 27-year-old Bradley Hardison of Elizabeth City was charged Thursday with stealing from a Dunkin’ Donuts in November.

An Elizabeth City Police Department statement says he’s charged with felonies including breaking and entering and larceny. It wasn’t clear if he helped himself to any doughnuts.
A phone listing for Hardison rang disconnected.

The Virginian-Pilot reported that in 2014, Hardison won a doughnut-eating contest put on by Elizabeth City police while he was wanted on suspicion of several break-ins. Investigators said they arrested Hardison after his win prompted further scrutiny, and he was convicted, according to the paper.

Texas
Lawsuit says bail system unfairly harms poor
DALLAS (AP) — A federal civil rights lawsuit alleges that Dallas County’s bail system unfairly harms poor people, violating their constitutional rights.

Four nonprofits filed the lawsuit Sunday on behalf of six Dallas County inmates. The lawsuit alleges that the county’s bail system does not consider a jailed defendant’s ability to pay to post bond, resulting in different treatment in the criminal justice system.

The lawsuit says that “while wealthier arrestees are released from custody almost immediately upon payment of money” to the county, arrestees like the plaintiffs who are “too poor to purchase their freedom” remain jailed “because of their poverty.”

County Judge Clay Jenkins tells The Dallas Morning News that the county has been working to put a risk assessment tool in place and improve the system.