National Roundup

North Carolina
Couple accused of taking deputy’s patrol car
BENSON, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina couple is accused of stealing the patrol car of a sheriff’s deputy who was answering a call next door.

Johnston County Sheriff’s Capt. Jeff Caldwell told news outlets 36-year-old Charles Thomas Bullock was charged with stealing a car and stealing a firearm Monday, while 41-year-old Nicole Allsbrook Thomas was charged with conspiring to commit the thefts. The firearm charge stems from the gun that was in the patrol car’s trunk.

Caldwell said a deputy answered a general call for service at a place next door to where Bullock and Thomas live. Bullock and Thomas were able to drive off in the car, but were stopped a short time later.

It’s unclear whether the keys were left in the patrol car.

Reports didn’t include comment from the couple.

Ohio
Inmate in hot water: Police find escapee soaking in hot tub
WAVERLY, Ohio (AP) — An escaped inmate is back in custody after being found soaking in a hot tub at an Ohio senior living community, still wearing her yellow jail outfit.

The Pike County Sheriff’s Office says the 34-year-old woman fled while being booked on drug-possession charges Tuesday. She was captured by the sheriff and the local police chief several hours later when a 911 caller reported the woman sitting in the hot tub at a senior community’s activity center in Waverly, roughly 60 miles (97 kilometers) south of Columbus.

Authorities haven’t explained how or why the woman ended up there. A message seeking further comment was left Wednesday for the sheriff.

His office says the woman is being charged with felony escape in addition to the initial charges for alleged heroin possession.

Kansas
In wrongful conviction look-alike case state to pay $1.1M
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas has agreed to pay $1.1 million to a man who spent 17 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of a robbery that he says was committed by someone who looks just like him.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said Tuesday that a settlement was reached Monday with 42-year-old Richard Anthony Jones of Kansas City, Missouri.

Schmidt said Jones is the first person to agree to a settlement payout under a new state law that provides compensation to people who are wrongly imprisoned. Two other mistaken conviction lawsuits are pending in Kansas.

“We are committed to faithfully administering the new mistaken-conviction statute the legislature enacted,” Schmidt said in a news release. “In this case, it was possible on the existing record to resolve all issues quickly, satisfy all of the statute’s requirements, and agree to this outcome so Mr. Jones can receive the benefits to which he is entitled by law because he was mistakenly convicted.”

Eyewitness testimony sent Jones to prison for an attack and robbery in the parking lot of a Walmart in Roeland Park, Kansas. No physical evidence linked Jones to the crime, and he always maintained his innocence. He was freed after supporters found evidence that another man who looked just like him lived near the Walmart.

His lawyers with the Midwest Innocence Project and the Paul E. Wilson Defender Project at the University of Kansas presented the other man at a June 2017 hearing. After the victim and witnesses withdrew their identification of Jones, Johnson County District Judge Kevin Moriarty ordered Jones’ release. While not saying the other man committed the crime, Moriarty found that based on the new evidence, no reasonable juror would have convicted Jones. The other man, known as “Ricky,” testified at the hearing that he did not commit the robbery.

Investigators focused on Jones after his picture was picked out of a police database three months after the crime by a man who admitted he was on drugs during his only encounter with Jones, according to court documents filed by the defense. Jones’ lawyers argued the lineup of photos shown to the victim and other witnesses was “highly suggestive,” with Jones’ picture the only one of six photographs that resembled the description of the robbery suspect.

Under the settlement, Jones was granted a certificate of innocence and will receive counseling and health care through the state for two years. The settlement requires final approval by a state council.

Phone messages left Wednesday with the Midwest Innocence Project and the Paul E. Wilson Defender Project at the University of Kansas weren’t immediately returned.


Texas
Teen gets 12 years in prison for stabbing classmate
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A former high school student has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for cutting the throat of a classmate at a Fort Worth high school.

Taj Love, who is now 19, has pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for the May 2017 attack at Brewer High School. Prosecutors say Love used a pocket knife to stab another student in the throat during lunch after the two got into an argument over stolen property.

Authorities say the victim survived the attack but suffered permanent damage to his vocal cords.

The Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office says Love was sentenced Monday in Fort Worth.

Maryland
Man exonerated of murder after serving 27 years
BALTIMORE (AP) — Authorities say a Maryland man has spent nearly three decades in prison for a murder he didn’t commit.

The Baltimore Sun reports 47-year-old Clarence Shipley Jr. was exonerated and released Tuesday after being imprisoned for 27 years. Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby says the justice system erred when it sent Shipley to prison for the 1991 death of 29 year-old Kevin Smith.

Shipley was convicted on false witness testimony. Family and friends of Shipley hired a retired detective to review the case several years ago. The detective uncovered mistakes, and prosecutors say new witnesses identified the killer as a man who died in 2005.

Shipley now is the fourth man exonerated through the work of innocence nonprofit projects headed by Mosby, the University of Baltimore and George Washington University.