National Roundup

Ohio
Prosecutor: No more plea bargains in gun violence cases
CINCINNATI (AP) — The top prosecutor in one of Ohio’s most populous counties has decided that his office will no longer offer plea bargains in any cases involving gun violence or possession of illegal firearms.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters announced his decision Tuesday, saying it will take effect immediately.

“It’s time for this nonsense to end,” Deters said.

The directive comes in the wake of a violent holiday weekend in Cincinnati. Among the incidents was a Fourth of July shooting at a downtown park where authorities say a 19-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy opened fire on each other, leaving both of them dead and three innocent bystanders wounded.

Hundreds of teens were gathered at Smale Park when the shooting occurred shortly before 11 p.m. Sunday, authorities have said. At the time, police officers were working to clear out the riverfront park before its closing time.

“People must be held accountable for their choices. As a community, we must stand together and say ‘enough is enough,’” Deters said. “No amount of money can fix the problems we are facing. Parents must parent their children. Communities must speak up.”

Maine
Mom complains of Suboxone in son’s McDonald’s Happy Meal box
AUBURN, Maine (AP) — Police have charged two Maine people with drug crimes after a mother complained that she found a medication used to treat opioid use disorder in her son’s Happy Meal box at McDonald’s.

Auburn police said Wednesday they reviewed video surveillance footage and concluded the incident was the result of an accident by an employee. They said the employee had the medication, Suboxone, in a shirt pocket and bent over to retrieve something when it fell out, landing in the Happy Meal box.

Police said the employee who dropped the prescription had obtained it illegally from another employee earlier in the shift. They charged one employee with unlawful possession of drugs and another with unlawful trafficking in schedule drugs.

The two people are expected to appear in court in November. It was unclear on Wednesday if the two people had retained attorneys.


Missouri
Ex-Steak ‘n Shake worker liable for viral Facebook post
ST. LOUIS (BridgeTower Media Newswire) — A federal jury in St. Louis has found a former Steak ‘n Shake worker liable for defamation for her viral Facebook post alleging that a local store sold burgers with live worms in them. 

On June 17, the jury returned an $80,000 verdict for Steak N Shake Inc. against Melissa White. The breakdown was $70,000 in actual damages and $10,000 in punitive damages.

The company sued White in 2018 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri after White posted to Facebook that she was fired from the company’s store in Florissant because she found live worms in hamburger patties and refused to sell them to the public.

At the time of the lawsuit’s filing, the post received about 7,300 reactions and more than 36,000 shares.

The company denied White’s assertions. It said that, at the time of the post, it had not fired her, nor had the company instructed her to sell meat to its customers with worms inside of it or actually sold contaminated meat to customers. 

The company asked White to remove the post, but she refused to do so, according to the suit.

Samuel Henderson of the Henderson Law Firm in St. Louis represented White. In a statement, he said his client are disappointed with the verdict. He said she contended all along that she used social media to inform the public.

“Unfortunately the jurors didn’t see it that way,” and awarded “a tremendous, excessive” amount of money, he said.

“What this means for Ms. White was that she was terminated from her job, she was sued by Steak ‘n Shake and now she’s most likely going to need to file for bankruptcy, all because she tried to do the right thing,” Henderson said. “We’ll continue to advocate on her behalf as much as we can.”


Illinois
Man whose case helped end state death penalty dies
CHICAGO (AP) — A former Illinois death row inmate whose exoneration became an incentive to end the death penalty in the state has died, his attorney announced Wednesday.

Attorney Jim Montgomery told WBBM Radio  that Anthony Porter, 66, died this week. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office said Porter died from “anoxic brain injury, probable opioid toxicity,” and ruled the death an accident.

Porter was exonerated in 1999 and released from prison after another man confessed to the Aug. 15, 1982 fatal shooting of two people as they sat in a park on Chicago’s South Side.

Alstory Simon  confessed to the crime during an investigation of the murders by a team of journalism students from Northwestern University. Simon was later convicted and sentenced to 37 years in prison.

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office re-examined Simon’s conviction in 2013 after he recanted his confession. Simon alleged he was coerced into making it by a private investigator, working with the journalism students, who he says promised him he would get an early release and a share of the profits from book and movie deals.

In 2014, State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez noted the investigation of the case was corrupted and her office could no longer maintain the legitimacy of Simon’s conviction. Alvarez would not say if she believed Simon was innocent.

Simon was released from prison in October, 2014.

Porter’s case helped lead former Gov. George Ryan to halt all executions in Illinois. Ryan declared a moratorium on executions in 2003 and cleared death row by commuting the death sentences of more than 150 inmates to life in prison. Illinois, led by Gov. Pat Quinn, abolished the death penalty in 2011.

Porter was arrested in 2011 for stealing deodorant from a Chicago pharmacy. He pleaded guilty to retail theft and was sentenced in 2012 to one year in prison.