Arkansas: Inmates left unwatched while prisoner slain
FORT SMITH, Ark. (AP) — A report by the Sebastian County Sheriff’s Office says jailers left inmates unguarded for an hour during the time an inmate accused of sex crimes with children was strangled.
The Times Record in Fort Smith reports 64-year-old Gary Van Wolf was likely lured from his cell, strangled, then dragged back to his cell. The inmate was found dead Sept. 16.
The sheriff’s office has named 25-year-old inmate Ashley Eugene Kaufman as the suspect in the death.
Wolf was charged with two counts of sexual assault for allegedly fondling two boys, something Kaufman learned when he and Wolf made video court appearances.
Three jail employees were reprimanded, but the report also cites problems of overcrowding and too few jail staff members.
Nebraska: Man gets 10-15 years for fire at mom’s house
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln man who set a fire at his mother’s house has been given 10-to-15 years in prison.
Thomas Wyman had pleaded no contest to arson after prosecutors dropped three counts of terroristic threats. He was sentenced on Monday by Judge John Colborn in Lancaster County District Court. According to the Lincoln Journal Star, Colborn said Wyman posed a substantial threat to the community.
Records say Wyman’s mother called police on April 6 when a drunken, drugged-up Wyman was outside her home, pounding on a door.
Officers say they saw Wyman go to the back of the house, pour gasoline on the patio door and toss a lighted cigarette into a pool of the gas. Flames erupted on the deck.
There were three people inside the house, include Wyman’s mother and his son.
Mississippi: Police say home-invasion suspect killed accomplice
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Jackson police say a teenage suspect in a home invasion killed one of his accomplices while shooting at a victim who was trying to get away.
Authorities charged Darius Moore and Clarence Whitaker, both 18, and 16-year-old Deante Noble with capital murder, aggravated assault, attempted armed robbery and house burglary.
Moore allegedly shot their accomplice, 20-year-old Shermaine Smith, during the Aug. 26 crime.
Noble and Moore had their preliminary hearings Monday in Hinds County Court.
Noble’s attorney, Damon Stevenson, and Moore’s attorney, Hinds County Assistant Public Defender Jacinta Hall, argued to County Judge William Barnett that evidence in the case doesn’t support a capital murder charge.
Capital murder in Mississippi is defined as a murder committed during the commission of another felony. It carries the possibility of a death sentence or life in prison without parole.
Jackson Detective Carlotta Bacon testified at the hearing.
Bacon said the suspects tried to get into the home by asking about a lost dog, but people inside wouldn’t open the door.
Then the suspects allegedly said someone was breaking into a car, and, as the door opened, Moore rushed in and began shooting, according to police. One of the home’s two occupants ran to a neighbor’s house. He was shot in the back, but survived.
Moore told police, “I shot as the punk ran. I started firing at the punk,” Bacon testified.
The suspects noticed Smith lying on the ground not far from the house and left him there, Bacon said.
Whitaker came forward and told police what happened. He has not had a preliminary hearing.
The Clarion-Ledger newspaper said the judge sent the case to a Hinds County grand jury.
Barnett did not set bond for Moore because he is the alleged shooter. He set Noble’s bond at $250,000.
Utah: ACLU asks court to halt street gang injunction
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah are asking the Utah Supreme Court to halt an injunction against one of Ogden’s largest street gangs.
The ACLU filed a brief Monday saying the court should put the injunction on hold pending appeals.
The injunction bans the 485-plus members of Ogden Trece from associating with one another, possessing guns and being in the vicinity of illegal drugs. It also sets an 11 p.m. curfew.
Weber County Attorney Dee Smith says the injunction gives law enforcement the ability to keep the gang members from congregating and intimidating residents.
The ACLU says the injunction violates constitutional rights of free assembly and could be used to sweep up law-abiding people who may not even be members of the gang.
Kansas: Trial delayed so witness can donate kidney
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A federal trial involving a Topeka city employee has been delayed so a key witness can donate a kidney.
A trial in John Tiffany’s lawsuit against the city of Topeka was scheduled to begin Monday in federal court in Kansas City, Kan. Tiffany accused the city of firing him when he asked for accommodations after he was diagnosed with brain cancer.
The trial was delayed because Corrie Lynn Wright, a manager in the city’s department of housing and neighborhood development, was notified that a match had been found for her kidney. Wright was on a national kidney donation registry and will undergo surgery between Sept. 27 and Oct. 18.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Wright is the only current city employee who worked in the same office as Tiffany and helped train him.
Louisiana: Court arguments set in single-sex classroom case
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court is the latest setting for a fight over single-sex classrooms between lawyers for a south Louisiana school system and the American Civil Liberties Union.
ACLU lawyers filed a federal suit in 2009 against the Vermilion Parish School District on behalf of an unnamed parent whose two daughters were placed in single-sex classes at Rene A. Rost Middle School.
School officials said the sex-segregated classes were voluntary. The ACLU disagreed, saying the co-educational classes were special-needs classes and mostly male.
A district court sided with the local school board.
