National Roundup

Tennessee
Court reschedules executions postponed by pandemic
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Supreme Court on Wednesday set two execution dates for 2022, a move that comes after executions in the state were put on hold due to the pandemic.

Oscar Smith had been sentenced to die on June 4, 2020, for the murders of his estranged wife, Judy Lynn Smith, and her two sons from a previous marriage, Chad and Jason Burnett, in Nashville. The state high court initially set a new execution date in February of this year before issuing an indefinite stay due to the pandemic. On Wednesday, the court set a new date of April 21, 2022.

An attorney for Smith, in a news release, criticized the court for setting a new execution date while litigation that Smith filed challenging the reliability of the fingerprint evidence in his case is still pending.

“The fingerprint examiner has been shown to have made multiple errors about print identification in this case, including failing to identify his own fingerprint,” said Amy D. Harwell, a federal public defender in the Nashville office.

Also on Wednesday, the court set an execution date of June 9, 2022, for Harold Nichols, who was convicted of rape and murder in the 1988 death of 21-year-old Karen Pulley in Hamilton County. Nichols had been scheduled to die in August of last year before Gov. Bill Lee issued a stay, which expired on Dec. 31.

Two other inmates have had executions postponed due to the pandemic — Byron Black and Pervis Payne. The court has not issued new execution dates in those two cases.

Alaska
Judge grants request to expand medication abortion providers
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A state court judge has granted a request to allow advanced practice clinicians in Alaska to provide medication abortion while an underlying legal case proceeds.

Superior Court Judge Josie Garton, in a written order Tuesday, said Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky “has shown that it is likely to succeed on the merits of its claim that prohibiting advanced practice clinicians from providing medication abortion violates patients’ right to privacy under the Alaska Constitution by significantly restricting the availability of abortions in this state without sufficient justification.”

“The law also likely violates patients’ right to equal protection, since it prevents patients seeking abortions from receiving care from advanced practice clinicians that patients experiencing miscarriage may receive from the same providers,” Garton wrote.

The ruling came on an injunction request by Planned Parenthood, which sued nearly two years ago to challenge a state law that dates back decades and limits who can perform abortions. The group also said the Alaska Board of Nursing had rejected requests for advanced practice clinicians to provide aspiration procedures to treat miscarriages.

The case is set for trial in July, where Planned Parenthood “will seek to make this ruling permanent and further expand access for qualified health care professionals to provide not only medication abortion but other safe, early abortion and miscarriage care,” the organization said in a statement.

The injunction sought by the group earlier this year and granted by Garton is to allow advanced practice clinicians to provide medication abortions. That category includes advanced practice registered nurses and physician assistants, attorneys for the group said in court documents.

Aaron Sadler, a spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Law, said the department plans “to proceed with the case and defend the statute,” which he said was enacted in 1970. Department attorneys are representing the state in the case.

Wisconsin
Rittenhouse juror dismissed after joke about Blake shooting
KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — A juror in Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial was dismissed Thursday after a court security officer reported that the man told a joke about the police shooting of Jacob Blake, which set off protests in the Wisconsin city where Rittenhouse is accused of shooting three people.

Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder said the security officer reported the remarks earlier this week. Prosecutor Thomas Binger said the remarks as shared showed racial bias. Blake, who is Black, was shot by a white Kenosha police officer and left partially paralyzed.

When Schroeder called the juror into the courtroom to discuss what he said, the juror said he didn’t want to repeat his comments. But Schroeder said it was “clear that the appearance of bias is present and it would seriously undermine the outcome of the case” and that the juror would be dismissed.

The juror then responded: “It wasn’t anything to do with the case. It wasn’t anything to do with Kyle.”

Rittenhouse, 18, of Antioch, Illinois, killed two people and injured a third during an August 2020 protest against police brutality in Kenosha. The protests started after the police officer shot Blake in the back while responding to a reported domestic disturbance. Blake had been fighting with officers and had a knife. The county prosecutor later declined to charge the officer.

Twenty jurors were seated this week for Rittenhouse’s trial on homicide and other charges, with Schroeder saying he would decide later which 12 would decide the case and which would be alternates.

Rittenhouse, who said he went to the protest that night to protect businesses from being damaged by protesters, could get life in prison if convicted in the politically polarizing case. Prosecutors have portrayed Rittenhouse as the instigator of the bloodshed, while his lawyer says Rittenhouse acted in self-defense.


Kentucky
Man sentenced for stealing guns from employer
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky man was sentenced to almost seven years in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution after admitting he stole more than 300 guns from the pawn shop where he worked.

U.S. District Judge Greg N. Stivers sentenced Brandon Wayne Parker, 41, of Horse Cave, on Wednesday to 82 months and ordered him to pay $99,588 in restitution, federal prosecutors said in a news release.

Parker was employed by Master Pawn in Horse Cave, which is a federally licensed firearms dealer. In a plea agreement, Parker admitted stealing about 335 firearms from the shop between November 2016 and August 2018. He also admitted providing false information on federal firearms purchase forms by entering identification information of legitimate purchasers without their knowledge, the release said.