National Roundup

North Carolina
Lawyer accused of threatening to kill judges
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Authorities in North Carolina say a lawyer with a suspended license has been arrested on charges he threatened to kill county judges.

News outlets report Cumberland County sheriff’s deputies arrested 48-year-old Dee Wayne Bray Jr. Tuesday on a felony charge of threatening an executive, legislative or court officer.

The Fayetteville Observer says records show the North Carolina State Bar suspended the defense attorney’s license in 2017, because he couldn’t represent his clients due to health reasons. A state bar fund reimbursed his clients more than $165,000.

The newspaper reports court documents say Bray’s acquaintances notified law enforcement after he told them a week ago that he wanted to kill judges in the Cumberland County Courthouse.

North Dakota
Opponents of refinery location take case to Supreme Court
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Two environmental groups who say North Dakota regulators should have intervened in the location of an oil refinery near the state’s top tourist attraction, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, are taking their case to the state Supreme Court.

The Bismarck Tribune says the Public Service Commission last year declined to review whether the refinery could be built just 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the park in the western Badlands. Regulators concluded the refinery would be too small to warrant review under state law.

The Environmental Law and Policy Center and the Dakota Resource Council don’t believe developer Meridian Energy Group is being forthright about the refinery’s size and asked a state judge to force the commission to hold a hearing. The judge sided with commissioners who didn’t want to get involved.

North Carolina
Lawsuit: Deputy fired for not training woman due to faith
SANFORD, N.C. (AP) — A former sheriff’s deputy in North Carolina is suing over his firing, saying he lost his job because his religious beliefs prevented him from training a woman.

The Sanford Herald reports that Lee County Deputy Manuel Torres is claiming religious discrimination in the lawsuit he filed July 31 in U.S. District Court.

The lawsuit says the 51-year-old Torres believes the Bible prohibits him from being alone with a woman who’s not his wife for extended periods of time. It says he requested a religious accommodation in July 2017 when he was told to train a female deputy.

It says he was fired about two months later.

Torres is seeking reinstatement to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, along with compensatory and punitive damages.

Indiana
State Supreme Court upholds sentence in triple-murder case
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s high court has upheld a sentence of life in prison without parole for a man convicted in the stabbing deaths of three people in northwestern Indiana.

The (Northwest Indiana) Times reports the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Derrick Cardosi’s arguments that his trial was flawed and there was insufficient evidence to convict him were without merits.

Cardosi was convicted of murder and other charges and sentenced in 2018 in the August 2016 killings of 20-year-old Justin L. Babbs, 23-year-old Richard Thomas and 39-year-old Kimberly Spears. The killings happened in Sumava Resorts, about 35 miles (55 kilometers) south of Gary.

The 27-year-old Cardosi is incarcerated at the Pendleton Correctional Facility. His co-defendant, Sebastian Wedding, pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors. He was sentenced to 55 years in prison.

Kentucky
Family of Kroger shooting victim sue store, accused shooter
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Relatives of a man killed in a shooting at a Kentucky grocery store last year are now suing the grocer and the man charged in the shooting.

The Courier Journal reports the lawsuit by Maurice Stallard’s family accuses Kroger Co. of allowing patrons to carry guns without any policy to ensure those patrons were licensed to carry firearms.

Stallard was one of two black people killed in the October shooting at the Louisville store. He was killed inside the store while Vicki Lee Jones was killed just outside the store. A 51-year-old white man named Gregory Bush has been charged with federal hate crimes in their deaths and the attempted slaying of another person based on his race.

California
Millionaire held without bail in murder case
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A millionaire murder suspect has been ordered held without bail in California after he was arrested and deported by Mexican authorities following four years on the run.

Attorneys on Wednesday agreed 55-year-old Peter Chadwick would be held without bail but his lawyer reserved the right to request bail in the future.

Chadwick was arrested Sunday near Puebla, Mexico, after widespread media coverage and a police-produced podcast about his wife’s slaying.

Authorities say Chadwick strangled Quee Choo Chadwick inside the couple’s Newport Beach home in 2012.

Her body was found a week later in suburban San Diego.

Chadwick skipped a court appearance in 2015 and vanished. He was placed on the U.S. Marshals’ 15 most wanted fugitive list last year.

He is due back in court Sept. 16.

New York
Ex-Boy Scout leader sentenced for possessing child pornography
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A former New York Boy Scout leader who had 10,000 images and 600 videos of child pornography has been sentenced to more than six years in prison.

Federal prosecutors say 34-year-old Russell Ruth of Lyons was sentenced Wednesday to 80 months in prison after pleading guilty in May to possessing child porn.

Ruth was arrested last year after investigators intercepted files he was uploading to his computer.

He was a longtime employee of the Boy Scouts of America and had been a director at Camp Babcock-Hovey in the Finger Lakes.