Minnesota
Uncle: Bible gave OK to 'marry' 10-year-old niece
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- A Mound man charged with sex crimes for allegedly abusing his niece has told police it was God's will that he "marry" the girl when she was just 10 years old.
Fifty-eight-year-old James Wallace Fall will appear in Hennepin County District Court this month for alleged criminal sexual conduct. Authorities believe the abuse went on for nine years, until the niece, who is now 19, came forward in January.
The Star Tribune reports Fall "married" the girl in 2001, and began alternating nights in the beds of his niece and his 49-year-old wife.
Mound police say Fall believes the Bible justifies his actions.
Fall's attorney, David Risk, says some of his client's beliefs are outside the norm, and he'll ask the court to evaluate Fall's mental health.
Georgia
Court upholds two key changes in
malpractice rules
ATLANTA (AP) -- A sharply divided Georgia Supreme Court has upheld two key provisions of a sweeping 2005 law that changed the state's medical malpractice rules.
The court issued a 4-3 ruling Monday that upheld a part of the law that made it harder for patients to file medical malpractice lawsuits against emergency health care providers.
A separate 5-2 ruling released Monday also upheld as constitutional a provision that requires one side in a lawsuit to pay the other side's legal fees in some cases.
The two cases are among a flurry of challenges that have targeted Georgia's 2005 Tort Reform Act, which was championed by the health care and medical insurance industries.
The court has yet to rule on another lawsuit that sets a $350,000 cap on non-economic medical malpractice damages.
Missouri
CASA seeks more help as abuse, neglect cases rise
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri and Kansas need more Court Appointed Special Advocates because child abuse and neglect cases are on the rise in both states.
Johnson County, Kan., experienced an especially dramatic increase: a 35 percent jump in the number of filings in Johnson County District Court last year.
The Johnson County "child in need of care" docket increased to 451 new filings last year, which was up from 334 filings in 2008.
Such cases in Wyandotte County increased 7.9 percent, and Jackson County cases increased 6.8 percent.
CASA officials in both states say the heavier caseload had created even more need for volunteers and now there are waiting lists for children to get CASA workers.
Maine
Woman admits destroying her mother's home
SORRENTO, Maine (AP) -- A 26-year-old Maine woman is facing up to 42 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to charges she destroyed her mother's home, which had been seized as part of a drug case.
Cecelia Nicole Sanborn entered the plea in federal court in Bangor last week.
The Sorrento home was destroyed by fire on June 8, 2006, two days after her mother was found guilty of aggravated drug trafficking stemming from a large-scale marijuana operation in the house.
Hancock County Sheriff William Clark tells the Bangor Daily News Sanborn could also be ordered to pay restitution for the value of the home before it burned. Documents say the house was worth $135,000.
Sanborn is due to be sentenced later this year.
Connecticut
Judge unseals parts of search warrant in Yale
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- A Connecticut judge is planning to unseal parts of a search warrant that could shed more light on the killing of a Yale University graduate student last September.
New Haven Superior Court Judge Roland Fasano ruled last week that parts of the search warrant would be unsealed Monday in the case of a former Yale animal research technician Raymond Clark III.
Clark is accused of strangling 24-year-old Annie Le (LAY'), of Placerville, Calif. Her body was found stuffed behind a research lab wall on the day she was supposed to get married. The motive remains unclear.
The 24-year-old Clark has pleaded not guilty to murder charges.
Fasano ordered portions of the search warrant that he called "offending material" to be blacked out.
Illinois
Settlement reached in lawsuit over mentally ill
CHICAGO (AP) -- A class-action lawsuit agreement is set to require Illinois to help thousands of residents move out of large mental institutions and provide them support services.
The agreement was expected to be filed in court Monday. If approved by a judge, the state would have five years to help residents transition to apartments and small homes.
Advocates for the mentally ill are hailing it as a landmark that will save the state money.
The lawsuit was filed in 2005 by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups. It claimed Illinois violates the civil rights of 4,500 mentally ill people living in 25 facilities.
One plaintiff, 51-one-year-old Gilbert Parham, lives in a Chicago nursing home. He says he wants to find a place of his own and get a job.
Indiana
Butler won't invite chief justice to speak
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Butler University faculty members have scuttled a student-led drive to invite U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts to speak at his niece's May 8 commencement.
The move has disappointed students and some conservatives on the Indianapolis campus. Butler officials say they wanted to avoid controversy that might have been stirred by a Roberts visit.
Butler Faculty Senate President Jeanne VanTyle says the school has made only two exceptions to its no-politicians rule in three decades: once for then-Gov. Evan Bayh and last year for Gov. Mitch Daniels.
But Senior Class President Lindsay Rump says she's disappointed by the decision and wonders if Roberts' conservative views were the reason.
Rump says she doesn't agree with Roberts politically but was eager to hear from him.
Published: Tue, Mar 16, 2010
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