California: ACLU wants probe into use of LA veterans property
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The American Civil Liberties Union says the federal government isn't doing enough to help Los Angeles military veterans.
The ACLU wrote Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, the U.S. Department of Justice and California Attorney General Kamala Harris asking for an investigation into the VA's stewardship of its sprawling West Los Angeles property.
The ACLU says the VA is failing to abide by the terms of the 1888 deed specifying that hundreds of acres must be used in perpetuity as a home for disabled soldiers.
In a statement Tuesday, the ACLU says portions of the property have been leased for private school tennis courts as well as theaters instead of housing homeless veterans.
Missouri: St. Louis Art Museum sues to keep mummy mask
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- The St. Louis Art Museum has filed a federal lawsuit in its effort to keep a 3,200-year-old mummy mask that Egypt wants back.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the suit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis.
The museum claims the U.S. government is trying to seize the Ka-Nefer-Nefer mask and return it to Egypt. But the museum says it has legal rights to the mask it purchased from a New York art dealer for $499,000 in 1998.
Egypt officials have claimed the mask was stolen in the early 1990s from a storage room near a pyramid.
The suit claims there is no proof the mask was stolen. It also claims that the statute of limitations has expired for any seizure.
Massachusetts: Killer paroled in 2007 facing new charges
SALEM, Mass. (AP) -- Authorities say a convicted killer paroled in 2007 is facing new charges of assaulting his girlfriend.
The charges against 51-year-old Charles Doucette of Beverly are drawing renewed criticism of the state's parole system, which came under fire when a parolee serving three life sentences killed a veteran Woburn police officer.
Doucette pleaded not guilty in Salem District Court on Tuesday to charges including assault and battery and witness intimidation and was ordered held until a Feb. 24 dangerousness hearing.
Doucette was paroled in 2007 after serving 15 years on a second-degree murder conviction for a 1987 slaying in Salem.
The fatal shooting of Woburn officer Jack Maguire by parolee Dominic Cinelli in December led to the resignation of five parole board members and a proposed overhaul of the parole system.
Missouri: Court denies new trial in KCFD discrimination suit
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The Missouri Court of Appeals has denied a new trial for a former Kansas City firefighter who sued the Fire Department for sexual discrimination.
Retired Battalion Chief Kathleen Kline won a $50,000 civil judgment in federal court against the department in 2001. The Kansas City Star reports the suit decided Tuesday covered the time from then until she retired in 2006.
Kline argued that she was the victim of discrimination and retaliation, but a Jackson County jury ruled in favor of the Fire Department in 2009. She argued in her appeal that the judge erred in several ways in not granting her a new trial, but Tuesday's decision rejected those claims.
A different former female firefighter sued the department and won a $285,000 judgment in federal court in 2002.
Pennsylvania: Man convicted in man's death, wife's wounding
BEAVER, Pa. (AP) -- A western Pennsylvania jury has convicted a man of murder and other charges in the shooting that wounded his estranged wife and killed her friend.
The jury found 56-year-old Gregory Baker guilty of third-degree murder Tuesday in the December 2009 shooting that killed Thomas Dougherty and wounded Linda Baker. Linda Baker had filed for divorce in the days before the shooting.
Authorities say Gregory Baker shot the pair as they left a restaurant in Rochester, Beaver County. Dougherty was struck four times in the chest.
The charge carries a sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison. Following the verdict, Linda Baker told reporters she feared her husband would try to kill her if he's ever released from prison.
A sentencing date has not been set.
Tennessee: Nursing company sued over groping patient
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) -- A McMinnville, Tenn.-based nursing company has been sued by a former employee who says the company did nothing to stop an 800-pound male client from groping nurses and demanding sexual favors.
The former employee filed a civil lawsuit against Nurse One/Team One that claimed the company required her to work as a home nurse with a patient who had repeatedly sexually groped and propositioned her and other nurses in his McMinnville home.
U.S. Federal Magistrate Bill Carter in Chattanooga had a private mediation with both parties on Tuesday.
According to court records obtained by the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the woman is represented by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and is seeking back pay for herself and other female employees.
The newspaper reported the company could not be reached Tuesday for comment.
Louisiana: Jury convicts New Orleans cop on 2 counts
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Henry Hollins, a veteran New Orleans police officer who prosecutors said carried a "portable sex kit" in the trunk of his cruiser, has been convicted of attempted aggravated rape and second-degree kidnapping.
The conviction came Tuesday after a five-day trial. A 40-year-old woman accused Hollins of raping her after stopping her in 2009.
The woman testified that after Hollins' partner left his shift early, Hollins took her to a warehouse and raped her, with his gun and stun gun at arm's length.
Hollins, 47, is scheduled to be sentenced next week. Wednesday's Times-Picayune reported he faces up to 50 years on each count.
Hollins had been indicted for aggravated rape and aggravated kidnapping.
The defense hammered the victim's character and trustworthiness during the trial.
Hollins' attorney, Martin Regan, listed several instances when the Mississippi woman said differing things on the stand and to police, such as how many days she had been in New Orleans before the attack. The woman also vacillated about whether she was a prostitute, the extent of her criminal record and whether she had sex that day, Regan said. The woman also resisted saying whether she had filed a lawsuit against Hollins and told different stories about whether she was handcuffed during her rape, Regan said.
"If you say, 'Maybe she's telling the truth, maybe she's not,'" that qualifies as reasonable doubt," Regan, told the jury during closing arguments. "If you find she has lied to you, you can disregard her entire testimony."
In response, Assistant District Attorney Bobby Freeman accused Regan of disregarding the rape shield law that limits a defendant's ability to cross-examine rape complainants about their past sexual behavior, and argued that it was precisely because of the woman's past criminal and sexual history that Hollins picked her as his victim.
"He sized her up as fit prey. ... He knew that at the moment he ran her name," Freeman said.
Assistant District Attorney Payal Patel also called Hollins' character into question during closing arguments when she emphasized the "portable sex kit" in the trunk of his police car -- a collection of sex toys, unused condoms, male enhancement pills, and a bag of used condoms.
Patel also stressed the importance of testimony from a second woman, who didn't know the victim, who described an experience similar to the victim's. Hollins also drove her around in his police vehicle, while he asked her what she could do for him in exchange for not arresting her, she said. She chose to be arrested, and he didn't rape her, she said.
Published: Thu, Feb 17, 2011
