Court Roundup

South Dakota Man guilty but mentally ill in stabbing case RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -- A Rapid City man accused of stabbing a house guest has been found guilty of aggravated assault but mentally ill at the time of the attack. The Rapid City Journal reports that Judge Wally Eklund determined that prosecutors didn't prove that 56-year-old Bartley Nicholson was guilty of premeditated attempted murder. Nicholson was accused of stabbing a man in May 2009 after they and another person had been drinking. Prosecutor Tracey Decker says the victim has recovered. Nicholson could have faced up to 25 years in prison had he been convicted of attempted murder. He faces up to 15 years on the aggravated assault charge. Sentencing is May 31. Decker says Eklund's ruling will allow Nicholson access to mental health care either in prison or the South Dakota Human Services Center. Texas Man acquitted in 1986 killing of Austin roommate AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- A Texas judge has acquitted a man charged in the 1986 fatal shooting of his roommate in a case once dropped. Judge Karen Sage on Wednesday found Jimmie Dale White not guilty in the death of Michael DesJardines. Sage dismissed as unreliable the testimony of main prosecution witness Euna White Kilbert, who is White's sister. She testified White confessed to her. The Austin American-Statesman reports Kilbert previously was convicted of making false statements about a bankruptcy case. The defense also said Kilbert held a grudge against White over her late son. White was arrested in 2003, but an outgoing judge, on Dec. 31, 2006, dismissed the case, saying too much time had passed and too many witnesses had died for a fair trial. An appellate court reinstated the case. Vermont Man competent for trial in baby death BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) -- A 26-year-old Vermont man has been found competent to go on trial for second degree murder in the death of his infant daughter. Joseph Brown of Newfane underwent a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation in February. During a Tuesday hearing in court in Brattleboro, Brown's attorneys and prosecutors agreed not to dispute the competency finding. Brown is charged with causing multiple injuries that led to the death of his 2-month-old daughter in September 2008. The medical examiner found that the infant died from blunt impacts to the skull, scalp contusions, skull fractures, subdural hemorrhaging, torso injuries and fractured ribs. The Brattleboro Reformer says Brown's lawyers claim their client has struggled with learning and emotional difficulties, which stem from severe childhood abuse. Connecticut Wrongfully convicted man sues HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- A Connecticut man who spent 20 years in prison for a killing he did not commit has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Hartford and the police officers who investigated the case. Miguel Roman says in his suit that that Hartford police "never deviated from" considering him as the only suspect even though there was evidence that pointed elsewhere. The complaint also says police questioned Roman mostly in English, even though they knew he spoke English poorly. The Hartford Courant reports that the suit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for pain, suffering, severe mental anguish and emotional distress. A police spokeswoman could not be reached for comment. Roman was convicted of the 1988 killing of 17-year-old Carmen Lopez. Pedro Miranda was convicted of the slaying this week. California Group sues Calif. over race-based prison lockdowns SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- California's use of race as a basis for locking prisoners in their cells after fights amounts to illegal discrimination and should be banned, attorneys representing inmates said in a class-action lawsuit filed Wednesday. The policy unfairly punishes innocent inmates simply because they have the same color skin as those involved in the violence, the nonprofit Prison Law Office said in its suit, filed in federal court in Sacramento. Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said lockdowns are sometimes necessary to protect safety and security. It is not the department's policy to base lockdowns and other restrictions solely on race or ethnicity, she said. However, a proposed revision to the department's lockdown policy says inmates often organize themselves based on race or geographical area. The policy acknowledges that some uninvolved inmates may be affected, but it is the department's goal to get them back to a normal routine as soon as possible. Rebekah Evenson, an attorney with the Berkeley-based Prison Law Office, said the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a similar argument in 2005 when it told the state to end its policy of housing inmates based on their race. The high court and other states have found that such race-based policies encourage violence by splitting inmates along racial lines, Evenson said. There were about 350 complete or partial race-based lockdowns annually in the California's 30 male prisons in recent years, according to the lawsuit. The lockdowns averaged two months in which inmates were generally denied visitors, exercise and educational programs. Four prisons imposed lockdowns lasting longer than a year, and eight had lockdowns exceeding 200 days. The class-action lawsuit was amended into a 2008 suit originally filed by an individual inmate who was seeking monetary damages for being confined to his cell. Published: Fri, Apr 29, 2011