Court Digest

Kansas
Top court upholds convictions in triple murder case
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas' top court on Friday upheld the first-degree murder convictions of man sentenced to 150 years in prison over a triple homicide in Kansas City, Kansas, duplex.

The state Supreme Court unanimously rejected arguments from an attorney for MonDale Le'on Douglas that the judge gave flawed instructions to the jury in his trial and that a new trial was warranted because a prosecutor appeared during closing arguments to express a personal opinion that Douglas was the killer.

Douglas, now 31, was convicted of the fatal April 2018 shootings of 51-year-old Edward Rawlins, 46-year-old David Rawlins and 40-year-old Addrin Coats.

A woman called police the next day after seeing one of the victim's bodies lying near the front door of the duplex. Arriving officers found the other victims inside.

Each of Douglas' convictions in Wyandotte County District Court brought a sentence of a least 50 years in prison. District Judge Wesley Griffin ordered them to be served one after the other.

The Supreme Court said the trial's outcome would not have changed because of the prosecutor's remark or because Griffin didn't tell jurors they could convict Douglas of a lesser crime.

Justice Dan Biles wrote for the court that "overwhelming evidence" supported the verdict.

Georgia
Split verdict on murder charges for teen in 2 clerk shootings
MACON, Ga. (AP) — A middle Georgia teenager has been convicted of the 2018 armed robbery and murder of one convenience store clerk, but acquitted in the killing of a second clerk a week later.

The Telegraph of Macon reports a Bibb County jury on Thursday convicted Arie Jimelle Holloway in the death of the first clerk, Alpeshkumar Prajapati.

Jurors found Holloway not guilty in the death of Waqar Ali, who was shot dead at a separate convenience store a week later.

Calloway, in videotaped interrogations with investigators, said he shot Prajapati and that and his cousin, Jeremy Jerome Kendrick Jr., shot Ali. However, Calloway's attorney said the defendant, then 16, told investigators "what they wanted to hear" during a five-hour interrogation, emphasizing parts of the confession didn't line up and that police never found a murder weapon or other physical evidence linking Calloway to the deaths.

In one of the interrogations, Calloway admitted shooting Prajapati and said he watched as Kendrick robbed and shot Ali. Under Georgia law, that could have made Calloway guilty of felony murder in Ali's death.
But one eyewitness reported seeing a single gunman in the robbery of Ali.

Calloway faces from 30 years to life without parole in prison. He will be sentenced later.

Kendrick is set for trial later.

Nevada
State's execution drugs expiring as legal battle wages
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Nevada prison officials say one of the drugs they originally planned to use this month in the state's first execution of an inmate in 15 years expires July 31 and another expires six weeks after a new evidentiary hearing a judge has scheduled in October to decide if or when four-time convicted killer Zane Floyd will receive a lethal injection.

The state's lawyers said in new court filings Thursday two of the other four drugs in the four-drug execution protocol they've submitted to the court are available at least through February.

And corrections' officials told the judge before he ordered a delay in the execution on Monday that they have access to similar drugs that could substitute for the two closest to expiration.

In addition, the order blocking the execution previously scheduled the week of July 26 is subject to appeal by the state for another two weeks.

Floyd's lawyers he'd prefer to be killed by a firing squad or a single-dose of a powerful barbiturate than a combination of drugs that's never been tried before in an execution.

"Nevada seeks to execute Floyd using a novel, experimental and arbitrary protocol, unnecessarily risking that Floyd will suffer severe pain during his execution," they wrote Thursday.


Louisiana
Deputy charged with malfeasance in man's death
SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — A Louisiana sheriff's deputy has been charged with malfeasance in connection with the death of a 68-year-old man he and other deputies had arrested.

A Caddo Parish grand jury indicted deputy Ryan Chapman on Wednesday in connection with the death March 18 of William Walls, the Caddo Parish District Attorney's Office said in a news release Thursday.
Chapman was released on $7,500 bond. The indictment did not describe what he is accused of doing or failing to do in connection with Walls' death.

"We will be contacting the District Attorney to determine what the Grand Jury felt constituted a charge of malfeasance in office. It is important to note that Deputy Chapman is not charged with the death of Mr. Walls," Sheriff Steve Prator said in an emailed statement.

He said Chapman will do non-enforcement work "until more information is provided or the case is resolved."

"This matter was fully investigated by the Caddo Sheriff's Department and Deputy Chapman was cleared of wrongdoing. Deputy Chapman is an outstanding deputy and will be cleared," defense attorney Ronald Miciotto told KTBS-TV.

The sheriff's office said in March that Walls had a "medical episode" while in the back of a squad car and talking to deputies after being arrested, and died in a hospital. The sheriff's office also said the coroner's office had not found any evidence that Walls was mistreated and had found extensive heart disease.

Coroner's spokesman John Andrew Prime said Thursday he could not provide a written coroner's report.

Chapman was the only deputy indicted. If convicted, he could get up to five years at hard labor and a $5,000 fine.

Deputies went to Walls' property in March to arrest a man believed to be in a mobile home that Walls owned, the sheriff's office said.

Walls, who lived in a nearby mobile home, gave the deputies permission to search the other one, the sheriff's office said.

"During the search, Walls became aggravated with deputies and tried to re-enter his residence. For officer safety, Walls was detained and placed in a patrol car," the sheriff's office said. "Deputies continued their search on the property, then returned to the patrol car a short time later and were talking with Walls when he had a medical episode."

His son, Jason Walls, told KTBS his father thought deputies were looking for another son who lived in that trailer. He said he was on the phone with his father, trying to clarify the situation, when William Walls was arrested.

"My father did nothing wrong," Jason Walls said Thursday. "If it weren't for the actions of the deputies he would be alive today."

Deputies took William Walls out of the car and gave CPR until an ambulance arrived, the sheriff's office said.

The prosecutor's news release said Walls was handcuffed and put alone in the patrol car and "was later found in distress."

The same grand jury declined to charge deputies in an unrelated death at the Caddo Correctional Center, the district attorney's office said.

That was the March 16 death of Casey Simpson, 31, who was found not breathing in his cell and was pronounced dead at a hospital, news agencies reported.

The Caddo coroner said an autopsy found that his organs shut down because of diabetes. Authorities said Simpson had repeatedly refused to take his medicine and was evaluated at the jail clinic twice in the days before he died.

The grand jury did inspect the prison and released a report saying it had no medical treatment protocols for inmates, and previous protocols were outdated and unused. Grand jurors also said the jail does not treat inmates being seen for the first time any differently from those with "a continual medical complaint lasting multiple days."


Missouri
Settlement reached in 2018 Columbia Waffle House shooting
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The family of a man who was fatally shot by a security guard during a New Year's Day 2018 melee at a Columbia Waffle House has agreed to a settlement.

KMIZ-TV reports  that attorneys for members of Anthony Warren's family filed the proposed deal with the restaurant and guard in court on Wednesday. The terms are confidential, but the motion notes that structured settlements are in place for Warren's three children. A judge is set to review the settlement at a July 12 hearing.

Passion Hambright, the mother of the three children, sued Waffle House, the security firm Signal 88 and guard Robert Moses. Moses was breaking up a fight between two other people when a third person threw a carafe at Moses.

The security guard then turned and fired at Warren, who was standing nearby but uninvolved. Warren's mother, Mary Warren, joined into the lawsuit later.

A jury convicted Matthew McMillan of felony murder for Warren's death. McMillan and another man began fighting in the Waffle House, which caused Moses to intervene  in the first place. Prosecutors did not charge Moses for the shooting.

The security firm and the restaurant deny any liability as part of the settlement.

Georgia
Former school leader charged with murder in wife's death
MACON, Ga. (AP) — A former deputy school superintendent in middle Georgia has been charged with murder in the 2019 death of his wife, with investigators suggesting he was somehow responsible for her drug overdose.

The Bibb County Sheriff's Office said Friday that deputies arrested Edward Judie on Thursday after interviewing him about the death of his wife.

The 66-year-old Judie remained jailed on a felony murder charge Friday with no bail set.

Joyce Fox Judie was found dead in November 2019 at the couple's suburban home in northwest Macon. Edward Judie told deputies at the time that he and his wife had been drinking and he thought she had fallen asleep.

An autopsy found that Joyce Judie had "many times the lethal dose" of cocaine in her body on the night she died. Investigators say they determined that Edward Judie had bought cocaine that night.

Thursday, investigators said they interviewed Edward Judie and presented him with the evidence. Judie changed his story multiple times, investigators said, when presented with evidence that conflicted with his earlier statements.

 Judie was deputy superintendent of student affairs for the Bibb County school district from July 2011 to Sept. 2015. After a new superintendent replaced him, Judie consulted for a charter school.


North Dakota
Defendant accused of killing two will testify
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) — The attorney for a man accused of killing his mother and a Grand Forks police officer says the defendant will take that stand to testify during the trial which got underway this week.

Salamah Pendleton is accused of shooting at officers who were trying to execute an order to evict him and his mother, Lola Moore, from a Grand Forks apartment in May of last year. Moore and Officer Cody Holte were killed during an exchange of gunfire. Another officer was wounded in the shootout.

Defense attorney, Steven Mottinger, told jurors Thursday that Pendleton won't deny he fired a rifle, but that perspective and sequence of events will be important for jurors to remember.

"He's got a story to tell. He wants to tell it. And, we're looking forward to you hearing it," Mottinger said.

Police say Pendleton fired 41 rounds from an AK-47.

Prosecutor Carmell Mattison emphasized the state's reliance on photos and videos as evidence in the trial. Multiple clips of detailed and graphic body camera footage from the scene were shown to the jury, KVRR-TV reported.

"Many rounds, you can tell there were a lot of different weapons firing up there," said Grand Forks Sheriff's Dep. Blake Buchmeier, one of the witnesses the state called Thursday.

Pendleton faces two counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder as well as criminal mischief, terrorizing, reckless endangerment and possession with intent to deliver or manufacture marijuana.