National Roundup

Ohio Condo association says Virgin Mary statue must go HILLIARD, Ohio (AP) -- A condominium association in Ohio has told a woman to remove a statue of the Virgin Mary from outside her condo or face a possible $50 fine. A letter sent to Lilla (LEE'-luh) Kozlowski last week said her 3-foot tall white statue in the Columbus suburb of Hilliard violated the association's rules. Kozlowski tells WCMH-TV there are other lawn decorations in the community and says she's had her statue since 2000 and has never had a complaint from neighbors. Her husband has distributed copies of the letter with a hand-written message urging neighbors to help them. At least one has written the association in support of the statue. The condo property manager who signed the letter did not immediately return a call for comment on Friday. Washington Inmate charged with aggravated murder in death EVERETT, Wash. (AP) -- Prosecutors have filed an aggravated murder charge against a Washington prison inmate accused of strangling a guard at the Monroe Correctional Complex. Thursday's filing came as a newly released court document quoted Byron Scherf as saying he deserves to die for killing Officer Jayme Biendl. Prosecutor Mark Roe says he is giving Scherf's lawyers until March 7 to provide any information they want him to consider before he decides whether to seek the death penalty. In Washington state, aggravated murder is punishable either by death or life in prison without parole. Scherf is already serving life without parole for attacks on women. In earlier court papers, detectives say Scherf confessed to killing Biendl on Jan. 29 in the prison chapel, saying he was angry with the way she spoke to him minutes earlier. Connecticut Home invasion defense can't preview photos NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- Attorneys for a man charged with killing a mother and her two daughters in a home invasion can't show photos of the victims to prospective jurors, a judge ruled Thursday. Attorneys for Joshua Komisarjevsky said the photos would help evaluate if emotions would affect potential jurors' ability to serve impartially, but Judge Jon Blue said it's inappropriate to show trial evidence during jury selection. Prosecutors had objected to the defense request, saying that it's unclear what photos will be shown during the trial and that courts routinely deny such requests. Komisarjevsky is charged with killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters during a home invasion in 2007 in Cheshire, a wealthy New Haven suburb. His co-defendant, Steven Hayes, was convicted last year and was sentenced to death. Hawke-Petit's husband and the girls' father, Dr. William Petit, was beaten with a baseball bat but survived. Hayes was convicted of sexually assaulting and strangling Hawke-Petit and killing the girls. Authorities say the children were tied to their beds, with gasoline poured on or around them, before the house was set on fire, leading to their deaths from smoke inhalation. Komisarjevsky and Hayes have blamed each other for escalating the crime. Blue also denied a defense request to sequester the jury because of the media attention the case has garnered. Blue said the defense had not proved the media coverage had corrupted the atmosphere and said sequestering the jury would impose a significant burden that would narrow the cross section of potential jurors available to serve. Blue announced a new schedule that calls for jury selection to start March 16 and the trial to begin Sept. 19. The plan is to select 21 jurors, including 12 regulars, six alternates and three backups. Pennsylvania Man convicted of shipping items to Iran PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- An Iranian man who lives outside Philadelphia faces more than six years in prison after being convicted of shipping banned products and equipment to his native country. A federal jury on Thursday convicted 43-year-old Mohammad Reza Vaghari, of Broomall, of sending the products to Iran by way of the United Arab Emirates. Prosecutors say he and another man sent laboratory equipment, laptop computers and other products to Dubai, where coconspirators forwarded them to Iran. Vaghari is being held under house arrest until a bail hearing Tuesday. His attorney says he conceded the items were shipped to Dubai but denied they ever reached Iran. Vaghari's business partner, 44-year-old Mir Hossein Ghaemi, pleaded guilty to related charges last year. Pennsylvania Court rejects new Lesko kill-for-thrill trial GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) -- The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has rejected a request for a new trial and sentencing for a western Pennsylvania man on death row for killing an Apollo police officer in 1980 in a so-called kill-for-thrill spree. Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck tells the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that Thursday's 7-0 opinion brings 52-year-old John Lesko "closer to the death penalty" although he can still raise the same arguments in federal appeals. The Supreme Court rejected a 2006 ruling by a county judge that Lesko's attorney was deficient during the 1981 murder trial and a 1995 resentencing hearing. Peck appealed saying if the Lesko case wasn't suitable for the death penalty, it probably wasn't for any other case. Lesko and Michael Travaglia, who has pursued separate appeals, were sentenced to death for killing rookie police officer Leonard Miller Jan. 3, 1980 days after killing three others. Oklahoma Man in shooting spree won't be freed from hospital SALLISAW, Okla. (AP) -- A Sallisaw man who killed two people and wounded eight during a 2002 shooting spree in eastern Oklahoma will not be released from a secure mental hospital where he's been held since 2007. A Sequoyah County judge refused to release 27-year-old Daniel Hawke Fears for weekly treatments at a nearby unlocked mental facility. The Tulsa World reports that District Judge Jeff Payton found that Fears can receive the recommended therapy at the Oklahoma Forensic Center in Vinita where he's currently being held. Killed in the Oct. 26, 2002, shooting were 61-year-old Patsy Wells of Sallisaw and 68-year-old Reba Spangler of Fort Smith, Ark., who was at a Sallisaw auto dealership. The state Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Fears' initial murder conviction and found him not guilty by reason of insanity. Published: Mon, Feb 28, 2011