Kansas
Wrongful conviction lawsuit reaches $12.5M settlement
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A local government in Kansas has agreed to pay $12.5 million to a man and his mother after he spent 23 years in prison for a double murder he did not commit.
The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, approved the settlement Thursday and said in a statement Friday that it admits no guilt in the wrongful conviction and two life sentences of Lamonte McIntyre in the mid 1990s.
McIntyre was 17 in 1994 when he was arrested in Kansas City for the shooting deaths of 21-year-old Doniel Quinn and 34-year-old Donald Ewing. McIntyre was freed in 2017 after a local prosecutor asked the court to vacate his convictions and drop all charges, calling his case an example of “manifest injustice.” Prosecutors presented no physical evidence tying McIntyre to the killings and their case largely hinged on testimony that was allegedly coerced.
The following year, McIntyre and his mother sued the unified government and former Kansas City, Kansas, police detective Roger Golubski, who they have accused, along with other police, of framing McIntyre for the killings. Their lawsuit sought up to $123 million in damages.
McIntyre and his mother have said Golubski coerced her into sex and then framed her teenage son for the double homicide because she rejected the detective’s later sexual advances. They also allege Golubski abused dozens of Black women for years and many officers were aware of his conduct.
Federal authorities are investigating Golubski, and the Kansas City, Kansas, police department revealed last October that it had been responding to subpoenas from the FBI since 2019 involving allegations against Golubski.
Golubski has denied the allegations. His attorney, Morgan Roach of Kansas City, did not immediately return phone messages left Friday at his office and on his cellphone seeking comment.
Thursday’s settlement also resolves the lawsuit against Golubski, said attorney Cheryl Pilate, who represents McIntyre and his mother.
“Lamonte now hopes to put this painful chapter behind him and move forward with his life,” Pilate said in an email. “Lamonte remains deeply committed to the cause of justice, particularly in Wyandotte County, and will continue to be a voice for those who have suffered wrongful convictions or other injustices.”
In 2020, McIntyre was awarded a certificate of innocence and $1.5 million from Kansas after the state attorney general’s office initially fought his compensation claim. McIntyre now lives in Arizona.
Massachusetts
Mother and son who ran drug ring get lengthy prison terms
BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts mother and son who ran a large-scale drug ring that made and distributed hundreds of thousands of counterfeit pills containing the powerful opioid fentanyl to the region north of Boston have both received lengthy prison terms.
Vincent Caruso, 27, was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison, while his mother, Laurie Caruso, 52, was sentenced to nine years behind bars, federal prosecutors said in a statement Thursday.
Vincent Caruso and his associates were also involved in shootings and armed robberies, which they bragged about on social media, prosecutor Joshua Levy said in a statement.
“Caruso, along with his mother and co-conspirator Laurie Caruso, pumped poison and violence into our communities and you won’t be hearing from them on Instagram for a long, long time,” he said.
The son, who according to prosecutors was an admitted member of the Crips gang, led the operation that sold the pills to multiple street gangs for further distribution in the Lynn area. Laurie Caruso was her son’s right hand and was the primary distributor, authorities said.
They distributed about 36 kilograms (79.5 pounds) of fentanyl, mostly in the form of an estimated 360,000 pills, a significant portion of which were manufactured by Caruso’s organization using multiple pill presses.
It is estimated the Carusos generated millions of dollars that were then laundered by conducting cash transactions through sports bets at a New Hampshire casino, prosecutors said.
The Carusos “brought nothing but poison, mayhem, and violence to the North Shore of Massachusetts, and beyond,” said Joseph Bonavolonta, head of the FBI’s Boston bureau. “They peddled hundreds of thousands of counterfeit pills containing fentanyl, capitalizing on those struggling with addiction, while raking in an obscene amount of money.”
The Carusos were arrested in June 2021, along with other members of the drug ring. Two others have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.
Vincent Caruso pleaded guilty in March to drug, gun and money laundering charges. His mother pleaded guilty in February to a drug charge.
Massachusetts
Woman gets probation in attack on women speaking Spanish
BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts woman charged with attacking a mother and daughter for speaking Spanish in 2020 has been found guilty of misdemeanor assault and battery. Stephanie Armstrong was sentenced Thursday to two years of probation following a two-day, non-jury trial in Boston Municipal Court. Prosecutors say Armstrong and another woman assaulted a mother and her teenage daughter outside a subway station in the city’s majority Latino East Boston neighborhood. The two defendants told police at the time they approached the mother and daughter because they believed they were making fun of them in Spanish. Armstrong’s lawyer said Friday he’d comment later.
New York
Man suspected of killing 3 in NYC arrested in Maine
NEW YORK (AP) — A man who was wanted in a grisly triple homicide in New York City has been arrested in Maine, police said.
Travis Blake, 29, was arrested Thursday in Bar Harbor in the deaths of two women and a man whose bodies were found inside a home in Queens on June 24, a New York Police Department spokesperson said.
Officers responded to a 911 call and found 22-year-old Varshana Malcolm on a bed with her hands bound and her mouth duct-taped, police said. The officers then searched the basement and found two more victims. Karleen Barnett, 55, had been stabbed several times, and Barnett’s son Dervon Brightly, 35, had suffered severe head trauma. All three were pronounced dead at the scene.
Blake was identified as a suspect in the murders on Wednesday. Police said he was Barnett’s former boyfriend and had lived at the home where the victims were found.
