Indiana
Woman pleads guilty in abuse death of brother, 10
CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) — A northwest Indiana woman has pleaded guilty to neglect in the death of her 10-year-old brother, who prosecutors said endured months of abuse from her and her spouse before he died in 2020.
April L. Wright, 28, pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in death. She admitted in her plea agreement that she and her wife, Rachel R. Wright, 28, dislocated two of Leviticus Kuchta’s cervical vertebrae and his mandible, resulting in his death.
Prosecutors wrote in court filings that Leviticus “was repeatedly isolated and tortured” by his sister and her wife — the two people entrusted with his care, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported.
Officers found the boy dead in the couple’s Merrillville home in October 2020 after Rachel Wright called 911. The women initially told police Leviticus was injured while riding a dirt bike, but officers discovered dust and spider webs on the bike, court records state.
Prosecutors said the couple never sought medical care for Leviticus, whose numerous other injuries included facial cuts, puncture wounds, infected toes and bruised eyes.
If a Lake County judge accepts April Wright’s plea agreement at a Jan. 19. hearing, she could face 20 to 35 years in prison.
Rachel Wright pleaded guilty in October to one felony count of neglect and agreed to testify against April Wright. She will not be sentenced until her wife’s case is resolved, court documents state.
Texas
Jury acquits man in officer’s road rage clash death
HOUSTON (AP) — A jury in Texas has acquitted a man who said he fired in self-defense when he fatally shot an off-duty Houston police officer.
Robert Soliz was charged with murder for the death of police Sgt. Sean Rios, who was killed in a shootout while the sergeant was on his way to work.
The gun battle followed a road rage clash that led both Soliz and Rios to exit the highway in 2020. Soliz testified that Rios swerved into his lane, nearly hitting him, and that he never identified himself as a police officer. Prosecutors and defense attorneys differed on who fired first.
The jury found Soliz not guilty Tuesday after deliberating for more than seven hours, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Soliz looked back to his family after the verdict was read and mouthed “I told you,” according to the newspaper. Soliz remained jailed on other charges unrelated to Rios’ death.
“We saw the evidence differently than the jury, and though we cannot agree with the jury’s decision, we appreciate their time and service,” said David Mitcham, first assistant with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. “Our hearts remain with Sean Rios’s widow and four children, who will now grow up without their father. Officer Rios spent his time here on Earth serving and protecting the people of Houston, and he gave his life in that noble effort. He will always be remembered for the hero that he was.”
Defense attorney Paul Looney told Houston TV station KTRK that prosecutors didn’t have “a shred of evidence” to show the shooting was more than self-defense.
“They put this man and his family through hell for two years,” Looney said. “But I’m relieved because the damage wasn’t for life because it could have been life.”
Illinois
Jan. 6 rioter charged with murder in crash
CHICAGO (AP) — A central Illinois man who pleaded guilty to felony charges for his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S Capitol was charged with first-degree murder Wednesday in the death of a woman killed in a wrong-way car collision on Nov. 8, Sangamon County officials said.
According to the Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s office, Shane Jason Woods of Auburn was driving north in the southbound lanes on Interstate 55 in Springfield when his pickup truck slammed into a car driven by 35-year-old Lauren Wegner of Skokie, a village north of Chicago. Wegner died from injuries suffered in the crash, according to the county coroner’s office.
Three other vehicles were hit and two occupants sustained “great bodily harm,” the county sheriff’s office said.
Woods has been indicted on felony counts of first-degree murder, aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol and aggravated fleeing and eluding a peace officer and is being held in Sangamon County Jail, according to a press release from the county’s state’s attorney’s office. Woods’ bond is set at $2 million, but the county filed a petition to deny bail.
“The evidence will show the Defendant made numerous statements before and after the fatal collision on Interstate 55 which establish his intent to enter upon the highway for the purpose of striking another vehicle,” the petition said.
In a press conference Wednesday, Sangamon County State’s Attorney Dan Wright said prior to the crash, Woods was pulled over by Divernon police for speeding, then fled the traffic stop. A report from the sheriff’s office said Woods “made statements about committing suicide to the Divernon Police Officer,” and that his blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit — 0.177.
Divernon police did not respond to request for comment.
Woods was hospitalized after the crash and booked into jail when he was released on Nov. 11. The sheriff’s report added that the responding officer overheard Woods telling family in the hospital that “he had intended on crashing his vehicle into a truck tractor semi-trailer.”
Woods faces 20 to 60 years in prison if he is convicted of first-degree murder, Wright said.
Wegner’s driver’s license showed a Clayton, North Carolina address, according to the coroner’s office. However, an obituary said she was from Skokie and her funeral is on Sunday.
It was not immediately clear who is representing Woods in the case. Dwight Crawley, Woods’ defense attorney for the U.S. Capitol riot case, did not immediately return a call requesting comment.
Woods pleaded guilty in September to felony charges for assaulting a law enforcement officer and a member of the news media during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol building, federal prosecutors said. He is one of hundreds of Americans charged for crimes during the insurrection.
During the siege, Woods rammed his shoulder into a U.S. Capitol Police officer, knocking her into a bicycle barricade, and tackled a member of the media, according to court documents. His sentencing is scheduled for January 13, 2023.
The charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding a law enforcement officer carries a statutory maximum sentence of eight years in prison. The federal assault charge carries a statutory maximum sentence of one year.
Woods is among more than 30 Illinois residents charged in the Capitol riot.
California
Water polo coach convicted of sexual assault of teen players
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California water polo coach was convicted Wednesday of sexually assaulting teenage girls during underwater training sessions while he claimed to be preparing them for competition, prosecutors said.
Jurors convicted Bahram Hojreh — who coached for the International Water Polo Club in Los Alamitos, California, and Kennedy High School in nearby La Palma — of 22 felony counts including sexual battery and lewd acts on a child on nine teenage victims from 2012 to 2017, the Orange County District Attorney’s office said in a statement.
Hojreh, 46, was also convicted of a lesser assault charge on a tenth victim, prosecutors said.
During trial, victims testified that the coach abused them underwater during coaching sessions and claimed it was to “toughen them up” for competition. In some instances, their parents were poolside when the assaults occurred at an Olympic-size pool at a military base in Los Alamitos, prosecutors said.
“The wounds these young girls suffered at the hands of this monster may not be visible, but they are very, very real and they are scars that they will carry with them forever,” District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in the statement.
Hojreh is being held without bail pending sentencing. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 12.
A message seeking comment was left for his lawyer.
After the allegations, Hojreh was barred from participation in USA Water Polo events.
A group of players who accused him of abuse filed a lawsuit against the club and USA Water Polo, alleging they failed to protect them. Last year, they reached a $14 million settlement.
Louisiana
Prosecutors, defense win freedom for man in 1983 killing
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A man who spent nearly four decades behind bars for a 1983 killing won his freedom Thursday after New Orleans prosecutors joined defense lawyers in asking to have his murder conviction overturned.
Attorneys on both sides said evidence of inconsistencies in the only eyewitness’s testimony was kept from the jury that convicted Raymond Flanks. Their joint motion to vacate his conviction was approved Thursday morning by a state judge.
Flanks, 59, who is identified in some court records as Raymond Flank, was convicted in the December 1983 shooting death of Martin Carnesi during an armed robbery outside the home he shared with his wife.
Carnesi’s wife had identified Flanks as the killer. But her description of the suspect and the car he used differed at trial from her earlier statements to police and a grand jury.
The motion seeking to have the conviction thrown out said that Faye Carnesi, who is now deceased, had described the killer as having a white blotch on his cheek, that he was in his late 20s and that he drove an old car.
“Given that Mr. Flank was 20-years old, had no white blotches on his face, and drove a new car, these were important discrepancies,” the motion said. The information might have affected the jury’s decision, it said.
According to the motion, Flanks had been arrested for the armed robbery of a grocery store — he was later convicted and has not contested that verdict — when he was implicated in the Carnesi death.
Flanks was tried twice for the Carnesi killing. The first jury, in 1984, deadlocked even after being told the gun Flanks had when he was arrested for the grocery robbery was the murder weapon. That later turned out to be false, based on a 1985 examination of the weapon by a federal laboratory.
Prosecutors tried him again later in 1985, winning a first-degree murder conviction and life sentence.
“The parties agree that, in this case which relied on a single eyewitness, competent counsel armed with the favorable evidence would have been able to present a compelling case that Mrs. Carnesi was innocently mistaken when presented with the wrong suspect,” the motion said.
The Innocence Project New Orleans, which advocated for Flanks’ release, noted that the case involved “cross-racial identification” — the eyewitness was white, the victim was Black — and said most wrongful convictions in New Orleans that involve withheld evidence involve Black defendants.
Flanks’ case was the latest in a series of conviction reversals sought jointly by District Attorney Jason Williams, who ran on a reform platform before taking office in January 2021, and criminal justice advocates. Williams has touted his office’s efforts to review longstanding convictions that resulted from nonunanimous jury verdicts, which are now illegal in Louisiana, and other dubious convictions from decades ago.
