Iowa: Man pleads not guilty to hitting prosecutor
DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A Dubuque man convicted of murder has pleaded not guilty to assaulting a prosecutor after the jury’s verdict.
The Telegraph Herald says Michael Mayton entered a not guilty plea on Monday to a willful injury charge. His trial is set for Oct. 25 in Dubuque County District Court.
Mayton is accused of hitting Dubuque County Attorney Ralph Potter with his cuffed hands as Mayton left the courtroom in July.
A jury had just found Mayton guilty of second-degree murder in the August 2009 stabbing death of his friend, David Tate.
Mayton’s sentencing in that case is scheduled for Friday.
New York: Soldier admits killing buddies near post
WATERTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — A Fort Drum military policeman admitted stabbing to death two Army buddies at their apartment near the northern New York military post and will be sentenced to 45 years to life in prison.
Spc. Joshua Hunter, who was raised in Ona, W.Va., repeatedly stabbed Waide James, 20, of Cocoa, Fla., and Diego Valbuena, 20, of Port Saint Lucie, Fla., last November in a duplex the three men shared near Fort Drum’s main entrance.
The three friends had returned in spring 2009 from a yearlong tour in Iraq with the 10th Mountain Division, Hunter as a military policeman and the other specialists as drivers. Hunter’s wife and parents say he returned from Iraq a changed man plagued by flashbacks.
The 20-year-old Hunter had Valbuena’s car when he was arrested in southern Ohio on Dec. 2, the day after the bodies were found. Detectives said he confessed to the killings, which happened either Nov. 29 or Nov. 30.
Hunter pleaded guilty Monday in Jefferson County Court to two counts of second-degree murder and waived his right to an appeal. He will draw consecutive terms at sentencing on Oct. 29. Hunter has to serve 45 years before being eligible for parole, prosecutor Cindy Intschert said Tuesday.
Hunter has not offered a motive for the killings, Intschert said.
In pleading guilty, Hunter avoided the possibility of being sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. The victims’ families were satisfied with the plea agreement, which removes the uncertainties of a trial.
Hunter’s wife, Emily Hunter, told The Associated Press last year that he claimed to have seen his best friend “blown to pieces” in Iraq. But Maj. Fred Harrell, a spokesman for Fort Drum, said there were no casualties in Hunter’s unit during the yearlong tour.
Indiana: Court delays hearing on school funding
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A judge has delayed a court hearing on a lawsuit filed against the state by three growing school districts unhappy with the way Indiana distributes education funding.
Hamilton Superior Court officials told The Indianapolis Star that the hearing to determine whether the lawsuit should be dismissed was bumped from Tuesday’s schedule because of an ongoing jury trial. A new hearing date hasn’t been set.
Hamilton Southeastern Schools, Franklin Township Schools and Middlebury Community Schools sued the state in February, claiming the school funding formula unfairly penalizes growing districts.
The state wants the lawsuit dismissed, arguing the districts don’t have the authority to challenge the constitutionality of a state law.
Connecticut: Sole survivor of home invasion testifies
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut doctor whose wife and two daughters were killed in a home invasion three years ago is testifying in the murder trial of one of the two suspects.
Dr. William Petit took the witness stand Tuesday morning in New Haven Superior Court during the trial of Steven Hayes.
Hayes and another man, Joshua Komisarjevsky (koh-mih-sar-JEV’-skee), are charged with capital felony, murder, sexual assault and other crimes in the July 2007 killings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela, at their home in Cheshire.
Both defendants face the possibility of the death penalty if convicted. Komisarjevsky is awaiting trial.
California: Teen white supremacist gets 3 years
VICTORVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A teen white supremacist gang member has been sentenced to three years in prison for threatening and assaulting a Southern California black family.
Richard Butler Cambria, an 18-year-old member of the Inland Empire Peckerwoods street gang, pleaded guilty to assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury and making criminal threats. He was sentenced Friday at Victorville Superior Court.
His 19-year-old co-defendant and fellow gang member, Tommy Lee Rhea, was sentenced to four years in prison in July.
The Victorville Daily Press says Rhea threatened a black family with a knife and Cambria waved a bat during the confrontation. Hate crime allegations were dropped.
Dr. Petit was severely beaten but managed to escape as his house was on fire.
North Carolina: Former Marine pleads guilty to killing wife
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A former Camp Lejeune Marine will spend the rest of his life in prison after pleading guilty to killing his wife, an Army nurse, officials said.
Multiple media outlets reported that Cpl. John Wimunc pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree murder in the 2008 death of his wife, Army 2nd Lt. Holley Lynn Wimunc, 24, of Dubuque, Iowa.
Firefighters found Wimunc's charred remains in a shallow grave in a woods near Camp Lejeune. The nurse at Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg had been reported missing two days after investigators found her apartment had been set on fire.
Holley Wimunc had been shot and dismembered before her remains were burned and wrapped in an air mattress, an autopsy said. Her death was one of three high-profile killings of female soldiers in Fayetteville during the summer of 2008.
The Wimuncs were divorcing after being married for about a year.
John Wimunc, who was 23 at the time of his wife's death, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, second-degree arson and conspiracy to commit arson, his attorney said. He pleaded guilty Monday and will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
