Florida
Mom charged in 2018 death of infant found in seaside inlet
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A Florida woman appeared in court Friday on a first-degree murder charge in the 2018 death of her newborn infant whose body was found floating in a seaside inlet.
A Palm Beach County judge ordered Arya Singh, 29, held without bail during a brief hearing. She was arrested Thursday in the death of a female infant known only as “Baby June” whose remains were found June 1, 2018, in Boynton Beach Inlet.
Authorities say the case was solved by Palm Beach sheriff’s detectives using DNA collected from the father and covertly from Singh herself. A genealogy website helped piece together the baby’s family tree.
Investigators also obtained cellphone records showing Singh had been near the Boynton Beach Inlet about 40 hours before the baby’s body was found.
Detectives say the father, who cooperated in the probe, assumed Singh had an abortion. Over the years, the investigation grew cold after attempts to find a match among about 700 babies born in hospitals around the same time were unsuccessful.
Singh, who works as a security guard, did not enter a plea at Friday’s hearing. Her attorney, Michael Salnick, declined comment in an email other than to say “we will have an opportunity at a later time to discuss in court.”
Singh’s next court date is set for Jan. 17. If convicted, she faces either life in prison or the death penalty.
Ohio
Court: State can’t appeal block on ‘heartbeat’ abortion law
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s ban on most abortions will remain blocked after the First District Court of Appeals on Friday denied the state’s request to appeal a judge’s preliminary block on the law.
The ruling regards Ohio’s so-called “heartbeat” abortion ban, which outlaws the procedure after the first cardiac activity is detected. That can be as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before many people know they’re pregnant.
Preterm-Cleveland and other Ohio abortion clinics challenge the law as a violation of the Ohio Constitution.
The ruling allows the case to proceed in county court, where the state is arguing that the Ohio Constitution doesn’t mention abortion and therefore doesn’t protect the right to one.
Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Christian Jenkins knocked that argument when he issued his preliminary injunction from the bench in October. He said a right doesn’t have to be named to be protected.
A previous challenge to the Ohio law’s constitutionality under the U.S. Constitution was dropped after the nation’s high court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortions in June.
Swift action by Republican Attorney General Dave Yost allowed the Ohio law, signed in 2019, to take immediate effect in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, but only briefly until the challenge under the state’s constitution was filed.
Two different groups announced plans this week to pursue ballot issues to change Ohio’s constitution permanently to protect abortion rights. Majority Republicans at the Statehouse have said they want to raise the threshold for changing the constitution from a simple majority to a 60% supermajority to try to thwart that effort.
Pennsylvania
Former detective sentenced to decades in rape case
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A former Philadelphia police officer convicted of sexually assaulting or exploiting three male witnesses and informants was sentenced Friday to between 24.5 and 49 years in prison, according to court records.
Philip Nordo, 56, was convicted in June on multiple charges of rape, official oppression and stalking, leading prosecutors to review convictions and overturn or drop prosecutions in at least 11 cases in which the disgraced detective played a pivotal role.
Nordo was fired in 2017 amid an internal affairs investigation into the allegations later revealed in a 2019 grand jury presentment that detailed allegations of grooming and compelling witnesses and informants into submitting to sexual abuse.
The report said the meetings took place in hotel rooms, interview rooms and police vehicles, sometimes after Nordo displayed his firearm.
Nordo has maintained his innocence in the charges, and his attorney has said he plans to appeal noting they believe the accusers have credibility issues. His attorney had asked the judge Friday to consider his career and service and sentence him to 10 years.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Common Pleas Court Judge Giovanni Campbell said during the hearing Friday that Nordo exhibited “sophisticated and invasive” tactics to target his victims, and he “violated the humanity” of those he subjected to abuse.
California
Man avoids prison after 2021 attack on tortoise
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California man avoided prison time Friday after he drunkenly trespassed at a preschool last year and attacked a pet tortoise named Michelangelo, The San Jose Mercury News reported.
The 42-year-old man was also linked to other break-ins at the East San Jose school, and stole thousands of dollars of items in the days before and after the attack on Michelangelo, a decades-old African sulcata, in January 2021.
The school’s owner discovered Michelangelo bleeding last year after the attack, impaled in the shell with 6-inch (15-centimeter) shards from a wooden garden gate post. The man had also shoved a rake handle between the animal’s head and leg and broke flood lamps and put the shattered glass on the tortoise’s back, The Mercury News reported.
A judge sentenced the man Friday to two years of probation and mandatory mental health and substance abuse treatment. He had pleaded no contest to charges of animal abuse, commercial burglary and vandalism earlier this year, the newspaper reported.
The man is now also banned from having any animals for 10 years. His public defender said his client’s behavior against the tortoise was the result of excessive intoxication, rather than animal cruelty, the newspaper wrote.
The preschool did not return the newspaper’s request for comment Friday.
Washington
Man gets 2 years for threatening Black shoppers
EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — A suburban Seattle man was sentenced Friday to two years in federal prison for threatening to shoot Black customers at grocery stores in Buffalo, New York, and at businesses in other states.
Joey George of Lynnwood pleaded guilty in November to making interstate threats and the hate crime of interference with a federally protected activity, The Daily Herald reported.
As part of a plea agreement George admitted he made phone calls threatening to shoot Black customers at grocery stores in Buffalo, restaurants in California and Connecticut, and a marijuana dispensary in Maryland.
According to the plea agreement, George started making calls in July — telling staff at one store to “take him seriously” as he was “preparing to shoot all Black customers.” One store closed.
In May, a man massacred 10 Black shoppers and employees and hurt several others at Tops Friendly Supermarket in Buffalo. A 19-year-old white man, Payton Gendron, has pleaded guilty to murder and hate-motivated terrorism charges, guaranteeing he will spend the rest of his life in prison.
George did not call the same store but referenced it in threats, prosecutors said.
His calls to businesses in other states also involved threats to Black people and in one case, Hispanic people, prosecutors said.
“What he did in this case was deplorable,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Woods said at sentencing Friday.
George’s public defender, Mohammad Hamoudi, said his client has autism and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after a traumatic, abusive childhood that caused him to disassociate from reality.
While at the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac, George has been seeing a psychologist, Hamoudi said.
In court Friday, George said he regrets his actions.
“What I did was wrong, and there is no excuse,” he said. “And I feel bad for the people that I scared.”
U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo Martinez sentenced George to two years, the middle of the sentencing guidelines range. He called George’s actions “nothing other than terrorizing to the victims on the other end of those calls.”
Martinez also said the case shows the need for more mental health care.
“The fact that intellectually disabled people with severe mental health challenges end up in courtrooms and courthouses, rather than in places where they can be taken care of and perhaps helped, is one of the most difficult things in today’s society,” the judge said.
Tennessee
Records: Capitol rioter plotted to kill dozens of federal agents
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Newly unsealed court documents show that a Tennessee man arrested for his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection also conspired with another person in a failed attempt to kill dozens of federal agents involved in the investigation.
More than 880 people have been charged with crimes related to the attack on Jan. 6, 2021, the Justice Department said. Earlier this year, Edward Kelley, 33, was one of many rioters arrested on charges of illegally entering the U.S. Capitol and assaulting an officer.
According to the FBI, Kelley later discussed plans with 26-year-old Austin Carter to kill law enforcement personnel who had worked in his criminal investigation, and made a list of targets. Court records show that a witness provided the list of 37 names to a local Tennessee police department on Tuesday.
Kelley and Carter discussed collecting information and plans to law enforcement officials on the list, which also included on the FBI’s Knoxville field office.
“You guys are taking them out at their office,” said Kelley, who was recorded by the unidentified witness on Wednesday. “What you and Austin need to do is recruit as many as you can, call who you need to, and you’re going to attack their office.”
When the witness asked if the attack was taking place at the Knoxville office, Kelley said yes.
Carter later told the witness that “this is the time, add up or put up” and “to definitely make sure you got everything racked, locked up and loaded.”
Attorneys for Kelley and Carter did not immediately return messages for comment.
Both Kelley and Carter made their appearance in court on Friday in Knoxville before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jill E. McCook. They are charged with conspiracy, retaliating against a federal official, interstate communication of a threat and solicitation to commit a crime of violence.
“Federal law enforcement agents put their lives on the line every day to protect the public,” U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III said in a press release Friday. “Planning and threatening violence against them is among the most serious of crimes. It is absolutely unacceptable and will be vigorously investigated and prosecuted.”
The two men are scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 3. Meanwhile, Carter’s detention hearing is scheduled for Dec. 21.
