Court Digest

Georgia
Family alleges medical neglect killed man in jail
ATLANTA (AP) — The family of an 18-year-old who died in a Georgia jail said in a lawsuit that his death was the result of medical neglect by health care workers at the facility.

WXIA-TV reports that Tyrique Tookes died after about six weeks in the Fulton County Jail. He "began to complain of chest tightness with constant intense aching pain rated 10/10 on pain scale and aggravated by laying down, palpating chest and worse after eating" in late April 2019, the lawsuit says.

A physician's assistant at the facility, who was employed by the private correctional healthcare company NaphCare, said Tookes could be experiencing "possible heart burn."

According to the suit, the physician's assistant recommended Ibuprofen, Tums, ice packs and fluids – and to follow up if symptoms worsened. It says no medical doctor or other supervisor signed off on the assessment.

Jail records showed that Tookes was given antacids and compresses over the next four days. A scheduled follow-up appointment was "canceled on release," the lawsuit says, even though he wasn't released.

Tookes wasn't evaluated by any healthcare worker the next two days and was found unresponsive on May 4, 2019, according to the suit. "It was noted that his pupils were fixed, no pulse, muscle stiffed and non-moveable and his skin was cold to touch."

An autopsy said there wasn't evidence of injuries and that toxicology came back negative, the lawsuit says. Tookes' cause of death was ruled "Cardiac Tamponade due to ruptured ascending aorta."
According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, cardiac tamponade results from blood or fluid building up and putting pressure on the heart.

WXIA reports that more than a dozen defendants are named in the lawsuit, many of which are NaphCare workers employed at the jail. The Fulton County Sheriff's Office isn't listed. It said in a statement that the office doesn't comment on pending cases, according to the station.

Virginia
Marine Corps officer arrested  for assault in riot
An active-duty Marine Corps officer seen on camera scuffling with a police officer and helping other members of the pro-Trump mob force their way into the Capitol on Jan. 6 has been charged in the riot, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

Maj. Christopher Warnagiris, 40, of Woodbridge, Virginia, is the first active-duty service member to be charged in the insurrection, the Department of Justice said. Warnagiris, who has been stationed at Marine Corps Base Quantico since last summer, was arrested Thursday in Virginia, prosecutors said.

He faces charges including assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers, obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder and obstruction of justice.

Warnagiris, a field artillery officer who joined the Marine Corps in 2002 and completed tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, was ordered released after a brief appearance before a federal judge in Virginia. It was not immediately clear Thursday if he had an attorney to comment on his behalf.

Warnagiris, who was wearing a dark jacket, military green backpack and black and tan gloves, pushed past police officers standing guard outside Capitol doors and forced his way into the building, according to court documents. He then appeared to use his body to keep the door partially open and helped pull others inside, authorities said.

A U.S. Capitol Police officer, who moved between Warnagiris and the crowd outside, tried to pull the door shut while Warnagiris fought to keep it open, court documents say. The officer told the FBI that he had tried to push Warnagiris out of the way and the man shoved him back, authorities said.

A former coworker who recognized Warnagiris in photos reported him to the FBI in March, court documents say. The next day, FBI agents went to his military command and showed pictures to someone he works with, who identified the man in the photos as Warnagiris.

The Marine Corps said in a statement that "there is no place for racial hatred or extremism" in its ranks.

"Those who can't value the contributions of others, regardless of background, are destructive to our culture, our warfighting ability, and have no place in our ranks," it said.

More than 400 people have been charged so far in the siege. Among them are four members or reservists of the National Guard and about 40 military veterans, according to the Justice Department.

The charges against the rioters range from misdemeanor offenses, such as disorderly conduct in a restricted building, to serious conspiracy cases against members and associates of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers extremist groups.

Minnesota
2 more indicted in real estate agent's 2019 death
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Two more people have been indicted by a grand jury in the 2019 kidnapping and slaying of a real estate agent in Minnesota.

Elsa Segura, 29, of Fridley, and Lyndon Wiggins, 36, were indicted Thursday by a Hennepin County Grand Jury on four counts of aiding and abetting the crimes of first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, kidnapping and first-degree felony murder while committing kidnapping.

Wiggins' attorney, Joseph Friedberg, declined to comment Friday on the indictment. Segura's attorney, Amanda Montgomery, did not immediately return a message for comment.

Two other co-defendants, Cedric Berry, of Minneapolis, and Berry Davis, of Brooklyn Park, were indicted in February 2020 by a Hennepin County Grand Jury on the same charges.

Prosecutors said Monique Baugh, 28, was lured to a phony home showing in the Minneapolis suburb of Maple Grove, kidnapped and found shot to death in a Minneapolis alley on New Year's Eve.

Police believe that Baugh's boyfriend, Jon Mitchell-Momoh, was the intended victim in a dispute over a record deal with a fellow rapper.

Mitchell-Momoh told detectives he believed that he was targeted either because he had been flaunting "a lot of money" on his social media accounts or that people suspected him of cooperating with police, according to court filings.

A jury trial for Berry and Davis is scheduled to begin Monday.

Oklahoma
Lawyer: 'Tiger King's' Jeff Lowe willing to give up big cats
MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) — Netflix's "Tiger King" star Jeff Lowe and his wife are willing to give up their big cats to resolve a Justice Department civil complaint against them over the animals' care, their attorney told a federal judge.

At a hearing Wednesday where the judge found the couple in contempt for violating a previous order regarding the big cats, attorney Daniel Card said the Lowes "want out completely."

Jeff Lowe took over the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park from founder Joe Exotic in 2016. Lowe and his wife displayed big cats there until shutting down the park in August. They then moved to a new facility in Thackerville.

The civil complaint, filed in November, accused the Lowes of recurring inhumane treatment and improper handling of animals protected by the Endangered Species Act. U.S. District Judge John F. Heil III in January issued an order that, among other things, required the couple to prevent breeding; to relinquish all of their lion and tiger cubs to the federal government; and not to exhibit any of their big cats.

The judge in March found that the Lowes had violated his order, and on Wednesday fined them $1,000 per day until they get in compliance, according to The Oklahoman.

"They don't want to fight this anymore. They don't want to do it," Card told Heil. "They want to give the tigers to a ... sanctuary of their choice and be done with it."

Jeff Lowe was one of the central characters in the Netflix series that became a pop culture phenomenon last year. The series focused on Joe Exotic, a pseudonym for Joseph Maldonado-Passage. He is serving 22 years in federal prison for violating federal wildlife laws and for his role in a failed murder-for-hire plot targeting his chief rival, Carole Baskin, who runs a rescue sanctuary for big cats in Florida.


Washington
Man sentenced to 10 years in prison for death of firefighter
EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — A Snohomish County judge sentenced a man to 10 years in prison and parole for the rest of his life for the killing of an Everett firefighter 34 years ago.

Time stopped for the family of Everett firefighter Gary Parks on February 16, 1987, when Elmer Nash Jr., now 47, set fire to the Everett Community College library to cover up a burglary, KING5 reported.

Nash was 12-years-old at the time and went on to become a career criminal racking up 11 felony convictions as an adult along with 58 misdemeanors. He added one more misdemeanor last week when he failed to appear for his sentencing.

Instead, he was picked up by police, high, in Kent.

Nash attempted to apologize to the Parks family saying, "I'm sorry for your loss. I wish I could bring him back, but I can't," before starting to cry.

While he was a child at the time of the killing, Nash was tried as an adult.

In exchange for a guilty plea prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed to a sentence of just under three and a half years. After Nash's no-show at his original sentencing, prosecutors tacked nine more months onto their request.

But Judge David Kurtz decided that was not adequate, given Nash's life of crime.

"This is a grown man who has not grown up," said Kurtz.