Ohio
Teens charged in shooting that killed16-year-old girl
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - Authorities in Ohio say a pair of 17-year-old boys will be in Juvenile Court this week to face charges in the shooting death of a 16-year-old girl.
Toledo police say a social media dispute led to a fight and the shooting Monday that killed Alexia Carey. Her grandfather was grazed by a bullet.
A prosecutor tells The Blade newspaper that investigators think several people fired shots, and it's not clear if either of the two teens who have been charged fired the fatal shot. The teens are scheduled to appear in court Tuesday to face the juvenile equivalent of felonious assault charges.
Prosecutors say charges against more people could be filed.
Carey was a student at Northwood High School near Toledo.
Utah
Court reinstates lawsuit by ex-members of polygamous sect
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit has ruled that former members of a polygamous sect have provided enough evidence for parts of a lawsuit to proceed against their previous lawyers.
The appeals court Thursday overturned the dismissal of some plaintiffs and claims after a federal judge had dismissed the lawsuit filed in 2016 by former members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, The Salt Lake Tribune reported .
The lawsuit claims the law firm Snow Christensen & Martineau portrayed itself as representing each member of the sect, but actually only represented Warren Jeffs - the imprisoned former leader of the sect. They claim the lawyers helped Jeffs find legal mechanisms to hide child rape as well as benefit from child labor.
In dismissing the lawsuit, Judge Ted Stewart had ruled that some of the plaintiffs waited too long to sue and others had not provided enough evidence of legal malpractice to go to trial.
Brent Hatch, an attorney representing the law firm, said the appeals court has upheld the dismissal of more than half the lawsuit's claims. The other claims were not advanced to trial but sent back to Stewart so he can hear additional evidence, he said.
"We're happy because we're confident that the remaining claims will be denied merit," Hatch said. "So we view it as a victory."
Attorneys for the former members did not return the newspaper's messages seeking comment Thursday.
Jeffs is serving a life sentence in Texas after being convicted of sexually assaulting girls he considered brides.
Oregon
Pro-gun parents: Portland schools violated civil rights
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Two sets of parents have filed suit against Portland Public Schools in federal court, accusing officials of violating their children's civil rights by helping facilitate protests advocating gun control after the shooting in Parkland, Florida last year.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the suit, filed by lawyer and Multnomah County Republican Party Chairman James Buchal on Wednesday, represents two Portland couples on behalf of their three children.
The parents are suing to recoup attorney fees and more than $8,500 one says he paid Portland schools for records related to a student walkout and last year's March For Our Lives. They want a judge to declare the district's alleged support for those events as a violation of the First Amendment.
District spokesman Harry Esteve said in a statement that the district believes the claims made in the lawsuit are baseless.
Colorado
Woman sentenced for faking illnesses to get donations
LOVELAND, Colo. (AP) - A Colorado woman accused of faking illnesses to get donations has been sentenced to a year in the Larimer County work release program and 10 years' probation.
The Loveland Daily Reporter-Herald reports 45-year-old Kristin Eagle, of Loveland, was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty in January to computer crimes and charitable fraud.
The plea deal allows Eagle to shed charges alleging theft between $100,000 and $1 million, two counts of identity theft, unauthorized financial transaction, and forgery of a government-issued document.
Eagle must also pay restitution in the case. Prosecutor Shaun Reinhart implied restitution could be as much as $19,000.
Defense attorney Daniel Jasinski argues that Eagle's crimes stemmed from unnoticed mental illnesses that led her to siphon funds from the Fort Collins mountain bike community.
Florida
Dad of student who died in plane crash sues Piper Aircraft
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) - The father of a student pilot who died when his plane crashed during his commercial pilot lesson in Florida is suing Piper Aircraft.
Twenty-five-year-old Navy veteran Zack Capra and Federal Aviation Administration pilot examiner John S. Azma were killed April 4, 2018, when the left wing came off the Piper PA-28 they were flying west of Daytona Beach International Airport.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports that Capra was a student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, which has since stopped flying Piper PA-28s.
Capra's father, John Charles Capra, said in the wrongful death lawsuit that the "horror and fear of impending death for pilots of an in-flight breakup of their aircraft cannot be overstated." He called it a "pilot's worst nightmare come true."
Piper did not respond to questions about the lawsuit.
Washington
Lawsuit: State watchdog failed twin girls starved by mother
YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) - Two girls who were nearly starved to death by their mother are now suing the state of Washington and a for-profit substance-abuse treatment provider.
The Yakima Herald-Republic reports that a lawsuit filed Monday in Thurston County Superior Court by attorneys Bryan G. Smith and Vito de la Cruz says the state Department of Children, Youth and Families and Triumph Treatment Services failed to properly supervise Kai Martinez when she was granted custody of her twin daughters.
The state Department of Children, Youth and Families declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Attempts to contact Triumph, which operated the halfway house in Yakima where the starvation is alleged to have taken place, were unsuccessful.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, as well as attorneys' fees and any other relief the court deems proper.
Published: Mon, Mar 18, 2019
