National Roundup

Iowa
Driver whose ­passenger drowned in icy lake takes plea deal
DELHI, Iowa (AP) — A driver whose passenger drowned after the vehicle they were in broke through ice in eastern Iowa has taken a plea deal.

Delaware County District Court records say 37-year-old Joshua Juengel, of Manchester, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and leaving the crash scene. Prosecutors dropped related charges in exchange for Juengel’s pleas.

A witness spotted Juengel’s vehicle doing doughnuts on the ice before it plunged into the frigid water of Lake Delhi on Jan. 8. The body of 23-year-old Alex Salow was found in the vehicle.

The deal includes a recommendation that Juengel be given 10 years in prison and be required to serve at least seven years before becoming eligible for parole. His sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 21.

New York
Officials: 37 lbs. of cocaine, $664K in cash seized in bust
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Authorities say they’ve seized 37 pounds (17 kilograms) of cocaine and more than $660,000 in cash and charged three men after an investigation in western New York.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says the Erie County Sheriff’s Office started the investigation after stopping a tractor-trailer with Alabama plates outside Buffalo last month.

Federal prosecutors say officers observed three men involved in a drug deal five days later in West Seneca and arrested two Alabama men, ages 22 and 41, and a 41-year-old Buffalo man.

Police say they seized 17 individually packaged pressed powder bricks of cocaine and $664,000 in cash in 52 shrink-wrapped and taped bundles.

Authorities say all three men are being detained.

North Carolina
Athlete, Duke resolve lawsuit over sexual ­misconduct policy
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — A breach-of-contract lawsuit brought against Duke University by a soccer player accused of sexual misconduct has been resolved, but neither party will reveal the terms.

The News & Observer reports the case ended Monday, months after Ciaran McKenna won a permanent injunction preventing Duke from punishing him with a six-semester suspension.

Another student had accused McKenna of sexual misconduct during a 2015 encounter. He was found responsible in an internal disciplinary process at the university, but his lawsuit contended Duke mishandled the case. His lawyers used his signed letter-of-intent and scholarship letter to argue Duke broke its agreement with the player by holding two campus hearings, going against written procedure.

His attorney, Emilia Beskind, says McKenna is currently a student at Duke in good standing and with no disciplinary record.

Georgia
Ex-police officer gets 9 years in plot to rob drug dealers
AUBURN, Ga. (AP) — A former Georgia police officer has been sentenced to nine years in prison for his involvement in a conspiracy to extort and rob drug dealers.

Federal prosecutors said in a news release that former Auburn police Cpl. Charles F. Hubbard was sentenced Monday. His prison time is to be followed by three years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney BJay Pak says the 54-year-old Hubbard and others extorted and robbed drug dealers between 2009 and 2016. He was fired following his arrest in 2016.

Hubbard pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to obtain property by extortion and possess cocaine with the intent to distribute.

Prosecutors say Hubbard was arrested after participating in a plan proposed by a confidential law enforcement source that involved him seizing money during a fake traffic stop.

Maine
Judge denies request to move trial because of all-white jury
BANGOR, Maine (AP) — A federal judge has rejected an accused heroin dealer’s request to move his trial because the entire jury pool in Bangor, Maine, was white.

Myron Crosby Jr. of Springfield, Massachusetts, told the judge he didn’t think he could get a fair trial because he’s African-American, and the jury is white. The 55-year-old told the judge he’d like to be tried by a jury of his peers in Massachusetts or Connecticut.

The Bangor Daily News reported that U.S. District Judge John Woodcock told Crosby that no one has ever interpreted “being tried by a jury of one’s peers as being tried by a jury of one’s race.”

The trial began Tuesday. Crosby is charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess more than one kilogram of heroin.

California
Judge rejects gag order request in Stormy Daniels’ case
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal judge rejected a request for a gag order on Tuesday that would’ve prohibited porn actress Stormy Daniels’s lawyer from discussing her lawsuit against President Donald Trump with reporters and the public.

U.S. District Judge S. James Otero’s order came after an attorney for Michael Cohen, Trump’s former longtime personal lawyer, alleged that Daniels’ lawyer had been running a “smear campaign” against the president.

Cohen’s attorney, Brent Blakely, argued Michael Avenatti’s frequent television appearances and near-daily tweets about Trump and Cohen could taint future jurors.

The judge said last week he had some concerns about statements that Avenatti has made about Cohen, but the standard for a gag order was high and it didn’t seem as though Cohen had met that burden.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said she had sex with Trump in 2006, when he was married, a claim he denies. Days before the 2016 presidential election, she was paid $130,000 for her silence in a deal handled by Cohen. She’s suing to invalidate the nondisclosure agreement.

Otero also agreed to continue delaying the case for another 45 days because of a federal investigation into Cohen’s business practices in New York.

Cohen argued that the criminal investigation overlapped with issues in the lawsuit and his right against self-incrimination would be adversely affected because he won’t be able to respond and defend himself.