Texas: Man challenges admission to fatal stabbing
BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A man accused of killing the executive director of the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art told police that he was drunk and angry during the fatal stabbing.
A pretrial hearing resumes Tuesday in Brownsville for 20-year-old Ernesto Ivan Martinez as he seeks to have his videotaped admission banned as evidence.
Martinez is charged with murder in the October killing of Barry Horn at the 59-year-old’s home.
The videotapes, played in court Thursday, show Martinez telling police that he got drunk because he previously was sexually assaulted by Horn.
The Brownsville Herald reported Friday that police have portrayed Martinez as Horn’s former partner until they had a falling out.
Martinez, who also is charged with burglary of a habitation and theft, was arrested in Matamoros, Mexico.
California: County sued over mental health cuts to budget
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A federal lawsuit wants to prevent Sacramento County from making budget cuts that could force thousands of mentally ill people out of community treatment programs.
The suit filed Thursday against the county and the Board of Supervisors contends that a proposal to eliminate outpatient care for about 5,000 people on June 30 will violate state and federal laws and increase the chance of harm to the patients.
It was filed in Sacramento federal court by two legal groups and a disability rights group.
A county spokeswoman says officials haven’t seen the suit.
The county’s mental health services department wants to shave $17 million from its budget by cutting its ties to five outpatient programs and instead opening four new county-run clinics.
Nevada: State Supreme Court referees judge-lawyer spat
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Animosity between a rural Nevada judge and public defender has the Nevada Supreme Court stepping in as referee.
Sixth Judicial District Judge Richard Wagner in Winnemucca entered a blanket order in March 2009 recusing himself from all cases involving Humboldt County Public Defender Matt Stermitz.
In a second order three days later, Wagner sought instead to require that Stermitz not be involved in any future proceedings assigned to his court.
Additional orders by the judge reassigned three cases from Stermitz to another lawyer who was work under the authority of the public defender’s office.
On Wednesday, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled Wagner properly removed himself from Stermitz’s cases. From that moment on, the court said he no longer had authority to direct how public defender cases are otherwise handled.
Mississippi: Lawsuit contends inmates’ appeals are inadequate
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — An attorney for 16 Mississippi death row inmates filed a lawsuit Thursday claiming a state office failed in its duty to provide adequate legal representation for prisoners’ post-conviction appeals.
The lawsuit against the state was filed in Hinds County Chancery Court by Jackson attorney Jim Craig, who has handled dozens of death row appeals.
Craig contends in the lawsuit, which gives only one side of the legal argument, that the Mississippi Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel is inadequately staffed and its attorneys are not versed in handling death row appeals.
Attorney General Jim Hood said: “We are withholding comment until we have seen the complaint and made a determination on the veracity of the allegations.”
Among the 16 inmates is Gerald James Holland, whose execution was set Thursday for May 20 by the Mississippi Supreme Court. Holland, at 72, is the oldest inmate on Mississippi’s death row.
Craig asks a judge to delay Holland’s execution and to not allow execution dates to be set for the other 15 plaintiffs until a ruling is issued in the case.
The lawsuit, Craig said in court documents, was filed to “compel the state to provide the plaintiffs with competent and conscientious counsel for future proceedings and to remedy the denial of those rights in past proceedings.”
Craig said he wants the Hinds County court to allow the inmates to pursue new post-conviction claims and bar any attempts that the state to argue the inmates had exhausted all appeal avenues.
In a post-conviction petition, in which an inmate argues he has found new evidence — or a possible constitutional issue — that could persuade a court to order a new trial.
Texas: Judge refuses to dismiss coach’s drug charges
CLARKSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A judge has refused to dismiss drug charges against a former high school coach in east Texas, even though a state prosecutor says there isn’t enough evidence to proceed.
The Paris News reports that state District Judge John F. Miller of Red River County rejected a request this week from the Texas Attorney General’s Office to drop charges against former Texarkana Liberty-Eylau (EYE’-lou) High School boys basketball coach Vergil Richardson.
Richardson was arrested during a 2007 raid of a home he owns in Clarksville, about 140 miles northeast of Dallas. Richardson said he didn’t live there and didn’t know drugs were present.
Richardson filed a federal lawsuit against the county and others and says that’s why the judge won’t dismiss the case.
Florida: Woman gets four life terms for 2 men’s deaths
BARTOW, Fla. (AP) — A Lakeland woman has received four life terms for her part in the murder of two half brothers.
A Polk County judge sentenced 34-year-old Susan Wallen on Thursday, a day after jurors found her guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, plus burglary and armed robbery.
Prosecutors say Wallen ordered her boyfriend, 40-year-old John Odom, to kill and rob 30-year-old Henry Todd Bruder and 42-year-old Dion Travis White in June 2008.
Odom and Wallen were arrested several days later at the Tuskegee National Forest in Alabama.
Odom pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in January and was sentenced to life in prison.
