National Roundup

Massachusetts
Insurer must defend Bill Cosby defamation suits, court says
BOSTON (AP) — A federal appeals court says an insurance company must pick up Bill Cosby’s tab to fight defamation lawsuits brought by women who accused him of sexual misconduct.
But the ruling by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston doesn’t mean the insurance company, AIG, must pay any damages.

Cosby faces civil lawsuits alleging he defamed women when he accused them of lying about their allegations.

Cosby was convicted in April on three counts of aggravated indecent assault. The 80-year-old comedian is due to be sentenced in September and faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison.

Nebraska
Appeals court upholds $28.1 million verdict in Beatrice 6 case
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld a $28.1 million judgment against Gage County and two law enforcement officials for a Nebraska case involving six people who were wrongfully convicted of murder.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to overturn the jury’s 2016 verdict in a ruling issued Monday.

The verdict was awarded to the group, known as the Beatrice Six, for their wrongful conviction in the 1985 rape and killing of 68-year-old Helen Wilson. They spent more than 75 years combined in prison until DNA evidence cleared them in 2008. The evidence instead pointed to an Oklahoma City man who died in 1992.

The lawsuit alleged that law enforcement officials recklessly strove to close the case despite contradictory evidence.

New York
Judge rejects request to move trial of ex-top lawmaker
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge says the retrial of a former top New York lawmaker will not be moved elsewhere despite claims that pretrial publicity makes finding fair jurors impossible.

U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood said Monday that the extortion and bribery trial of former Republican Senate leader Dean Skelos and his son will take place in Manhattan because fair jurors can likely be found.

It’s scheduled to begin June 19.

In a written ruling, Wood rejected claims by lawyers for Skelos and his son, Adam, that pretrial publicity prevents a fair trial. Both have pleaded not guilty.

She also rejected a request to toss out the charges on grounds that grand jurors were improperly instructed about what constitutes official misconduct.

Washington
Man who initially received death penalty is resentenced
PORT ORCHARD, Wash. (AP) — A Washington man who received the death penalty as a juvenile has been re-sentenced to 48 years in prison following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that brought his case back to court.

Michael Furman was sentenced to death in 1990 for raping and killing 85-year-old Ann Presler in her Port Orchard home.

After the Washington state Supreme Court outlawed the death penalty for juveniles in 1993, Furman received a life sentence. In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court found that juveniles convicted of aggravated murder cannot be automatically sentenced to life in prison, allowing Furman and 30 other inmates in the state to be resentenced.

The Kitsap Sun reports the victim’s relatives were present at Furman’s hearing in Kitsap County Superior Court on Friday.

Furman’s attorney, Steve Lewis, had argued that the 60-year sentence sought by prosecutors was unconstitutional and Furman should be eligible to apply for release now.

Florida
Paper: Suspect viewed porn after random killings
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Newly released public records in the case of a man accused of terrorizing a Tampa neighborhood by randomly shooting four people show he visited porn sites on his iPhone after each slaying.

The Tampa Bay Times reports that Howell Donaldson’s cell phone data shows a “significant amount of Internet activity” within close proximity to the deaths of four people in the fall of 2017.

That detail emerges from more than 1,500 pages of investigative reports and audio recordings released by prosecutors in response to the paper’s public records request.

The records describe Donaldson as having behavioral changes that troubled his on-again, off-again girlfriend, even as his parents stood by him.

Massachusetts
Man who sent out photos of slain wife gets life sentence
BARNSTABLE, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts man who fatally stabbed his wife then sent photos of her body to friends saying he had killed her and needed someone to care for their children has been sentenced to life in prison.

The Cape Cod Times reports that Christopher Fratantonio received the mandatory sentence of life without parole following his first-degree murder conviction Friday in the February 2017 killing of 35-year-old Mary Fratantonio inside their Barnstable home.

Prosecutors say the couple’s 6-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son were at home at the time and the boy was in one of the photos.

The victim’s family says Christopher Fratantonio was controlling. He told police his wife was cruel, demanding and belittling.

His lawyer says her client has mental health issues and post-traumatic stress stemming from child sex abuse.

Florida
Man threatened to ‘shoot up’ dealership over car problems
PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. (AP) — A man has been charged with threatening to “shoot up” a Florida car dealership because of his vehicle’s mechanical problems.

The SunSentinel reports 26-year-old Christopher Cave called Pines Ford Lincoln June 2. “Guess what?” Cave said in a 98-second telephone message. “Kids shoot up schools,” he said, adding that they take his car payments but his car isn’t right. Then he said, “I shoot up dealerships.”

Police said the manager sent three employees home because he feared for their lives.

Cave is charged with making a false threat. He told investigators he left the message because he was frustrated with the dealership’s work on his car.

Cave was arrested June 4, and was being held Monday on $125,000 bond.