Texas
Mistrial in abuse case against ex-MVP Wetteland
DENTON, Texas (AP) — A Texas judge has declared a mistrial in the child sex assault case against former All-Star and World Series MVP pitcher John Wetteland after the jury deadlocked.
The Denton County jury told Judge Lee Ann Breading three times that it was split before she declared a mistrial Friday. Wetteland, who played for the Texas Rangers from 1997 to 2000 and also played for the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners, was being tried on three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child.
When asked if the case will be retried, Denton County First Assistant District Attorney Jamie Beck said in an email Sunday: “We will move forward, whether this means it is resolved through negotiations or trial again is up to him.”
Wetteland, who is 56 and a Rangers’ Hall of Famer, faced 25 years to life in prison, if convicted.
Authorities had accused Wetteland of sexually assaulting a child three times between 2004 and 2006, starting when the child was 4 years old. Wetteland, who pleaded not guilty, testified in his own defense and said the accuser’s account of sexual abuse was a lie.
The accuser, who is now 22, said the abuse happened in the master bathroom shower of Wetteland’s home in Bartonville, located just south of Denton.
Wetteland’s attorneys said the accuser was manipulated to levy false accusations against Wetteland.
The accuser testified that he didn’t want to involve law enforcement. Instead, he had written a letter intended only for family members disclosing the abuse. But, according to testimony, an investigation started after the accuser’s high school learned of the allegations in 2019 when district software flagged a letter written in Google Docs that was linked to the accuser’s school-issued email.
Prosecutor Rachel Nichols said the accuser had “nothing to gain” by coming forward with abuse allegations.
“He’s not this evil kid,” Nichols said. “He didn’t want the world to know.”
California
Man ordered to stand trial in movie theater double killing
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — A man charged with fatally shooting two teenagers at a Southern California movie theater during a 2021 showing of “The Forever Purge” was ordered held for trial Friday on two counts of murder.
Joseph Jimenez Jr., 21, appeared in Riverside County Superior Court. The murder charges include sentencing enhancements that would make him eligible for the death penalty if convicted, although the district attorney’s office hadn’t decided whether to seek that sentence.
He has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. Prosecutors say the two different pleas are necessary because there will be two phases if the case goes to trial: a guilt phase, and if he is found guilty, a second phase to determine whether Jimenez was legally insane at the time of the crime.
Jimenez is accused of shooting two people in the back of the head as they watched a late-night showing of the horror-action film at a theater in Corona, southeast of Los Angeles, on July 26, 2021.
At Friday’s hearing, two friends who had gone to see the movie with Jimenez testified that his behavior that night had them “weirded out.”
“Joseph was talking to himself the whole time. It was groaning noises. It was random,” testified Julian Velasquez, a classmate from Santiago High in Corona, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported.
Jimenez also stared strangely at his friends. At one point, he went out to his car and returned with a satchel. He kept a hand buried in a satchel and claimed that it held a “strap,” or slang for a gun, the friends testified.
The friends said they were so uncomfortable with his behavior that they left the theater, pretending that they had to use the bathroom. They didn’t contact authorities.
Prosecutors allege that a few minutes later, Jimenez left his back-row seat, walked up and shot Rylee Goodrich, 18, and Anthony Barajas, 19. They were the only other people in the theater.
Goodrich died at the scene. Barajas, a budding social media star, died at a hospital.
At the hearing, Ramon Felis testified that he didn’t believe at the time that Goodrich and Barajas were in danger. However, several friends went to the police the next day after learning about the shootings.
A week after the shooting, Jimenez told a reporter that he had schizophrenia and had heard voices telling him to kill the teenagers in order to save his friends and family from harm.
Jimenez said he was diagnosed with schizophrenia about eight months earlier but had recently stopped taking his medication.
Wisconsin
Man convicted in fatal attack with an ax
SPARTA, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin man has been found guilty of killing his step-grandfather with an ax and severely injuring two others.
The jury in Monroe County Circuit Court on Thursday convicted Thomas Aspseter, 38, of first-degree intentional homicide, two counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, and two counts of aggravated battery involving a dangerous weapon.
Eighty-seven-year-old Bernard Waite was killed in the June 2021 attack at his home in Sparta that also wounded Waite’s brother and sister-in-law, Michael and Margaret Waite of Exeland.
Authorities say Aspseter had previously lived in Waite’s home, but had been asked to leave. A criminal complaint said the Waites returned to the home after a trip to Waukesha and found Aspseter on the property.
Bernard Waite again told Aspseter to leave and the attack took place a short time later.
According to the complaint, Aspseter shot himself in the throat with a rifle after the attack, called 911 and confessed to killing Waite.
A date for Aspseter’s sentencing has not been set yet.
Ohio
Man convicted of 4 murders in 2019, could face death penalty
CLEVELAND (AP) — A Cleveland man could face the death penalty following his conviction in the murders of his ex-girlfriend, her 2-year-old daughter, the couple’s 6-year-old son and a neighbor three years ago.
Cleveland.com reported that jurors in Cuyahoga County deliberated for more than nine hours before convicting 29-year-old Armond Johnson Sr. of aggravated murder and eight other charges Friday in the July 2019 slayings.
Authorities said he shot and killed 25-year-old Takeyra Collins, then set a fire in her house that killed his 6-year-old son Armond Jr. and the boy’s 2-year-old sister, Aubree Stone. Police said he then shot the woman’s neighbor, 35-year-old David Cousin Jr., whose body was found in a vacant lot next to the address.
Prosecutors said Collins was shot 10 times in her bedroom, while the children were found lying on the floor next to each other in the boy’s bedroom after 2-year-old Aubree woke up and went into her brother’s bedroom, where they both died of smoke inhalation prosecutors said.
Authorities said Johnson and Collins had lived together and planned to get married after his March 2019 release from prison, but a month before the slayings she called off the wedding and kicked him out of the house, accusing him of abusing her and threatening her with a gun.
Defense attorneys questioned the reliability of DNA and cellphone evidence presented and challenged other parts of the investigation. Jurors acquitted Johnson of one aggravated burglary count and the aggravated murder count associated with that charge.
“We’re just glad that justice was served for Takeyra and for the kids,” Collins’ aunt, Tiffany Collins, said after the conviction.
Johnson is eligible for the death penalty since jurors found that more than two people were killed, the felonies of kidnapping and aggravated arson were also committed, victims under the age of 13 were killed, Johnson was on post-release control from prison at the time and a witness was killed.
In the penalty phase of the trial slated to begin Sept. 28, defense attorneys will be able to present evidence such as aspects of the defendant’s upbringing and mental health to try to persuade jurors not to recommend capital punishment. The judge cannot impose the death penalty if the jury rejects it and instead recommends a life sentence.
Oregon
No indictment against ex-doctor accused of abuse
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Clackamas County grand jury has declined to indict a former suburban Portland doctor on criminal charges of sexual misconduct and abuse of patients, finding there isn’t enough evidence to prove the claims, the county district attorney’s office announced.
The grand jury heard testimony from 41 witnesses before returning a “not true bill” on the claims against Dr. David Farley, meaning prosecutors could not prove the allegations without a reasonable doubt, the district attorney’s office said in a Saturday statement reported by The Oregonian/Oregon Live.
Farley, formerly of West Lynn, still faces a civil suit filed by dozens of patients who allege sexual abuse during his work at West Linn Family Health Clinic, Legacy Meridian Park Hospital and Providence Willamette Falls Medical Center, according to court records.
In 2020, the Oregon Medical Board stripped Farley of his state medical license for dishonorable and unprofessional conduct and gross or repeated negligence.
That same year, a judge denied a request by Farley to postpone the civil case against him. The suit alleged Farley performed unnecessary pelvic exams and engaged in sexual battery while the plaintiffs were in his care.
Karen O’Kasey, Farley’s lawyer at the time, argued among other things that postponing the civil suit would protect Farley’s Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in the police investigation.
O’Kasey was out of the country Sunday and couldn’t immediately be reached by telephone.
Farley abruptly announced his retirement in 2020 and moved out of state, The Oregonian/Oregon Live reported.
Ohio
Trial in 2016 slayings of 8 members of family delayed
WAVERLY, Ohio (AP) — The first jury trial in the shooting deaths of eight members of a single Ohio family more than six years ago has been delayed for a week.
Opening statements in the trial of 30-year-old George Wagner IV were scheduled to begin Tuesday in Pike County Court. But a court filing Monday said the proceedings have been delayed until Sept. 12 due to the illness of someone involved.
Wagner could face the death penalty if convicted in the 2016 slayings of the Rhoden family near Piketon in southern Ohio. A 12-person jury with six alternates was selected last week in county court in Waverly, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) south of Columbus.
Authorities say the shootings of seven adults and a teenage boy stemmed from a dispute over custody of a child that George’s brother, Jake Wagner, had with Hanna Rhoden, one of the victims. George Wagner’s parents and his brother, Jake, were also charged.
Jake Wagner pleaded guilty last year, admitting to killing five of the victims. His plea was part of a deal with prosecutors that spared him from being sentenced to death. Wagner’s mother, Angela Wagner, also pleaded guilty to helping plan the slayings. Jake and George’s father, George “Billy” Wagner III, has pleaded not guilty.
The Wagners spent months planning the killings motivated by the custody dispute, prosecutors have alleged.
