Indiana: State lawmaker wants to eliminate judge age limit
KOKOMO, Ind. (AP) — A state lawmaker wants to remove an age restriction for superior court judges.
Indiana law currently prohibits a superior court judge from taking the oath of office if he or she is over age 70. There is no such restriction on circuit judges.
But Republican state Sen. Jim Buck of Kokomo plans to introduce legislation in the coming session that will eliminate the age limit, making the rules the same for all judges.
The Kokomo Tribune reports that would mean Howard County Superior Court Judge George Hopkins would be eligible to run for re-election in 2012 when he’s older than 70.
Colorado: Meeker trial set for man accused of hatchet death
MEEKER, Colo. (AP) — A man accused of killing his father with a hatchet over the 2009 Fourth of July weekend goes to trial this week in Rio Blanco County.
Jerry Snider Jr., 30, is accused of hitting his father in the head nine times with a hatchet. After the killing, Snider took Jerry Snider Sr.’s wallet and truck and made purchases with his father’s debit card, prosecutors said.
The younger Snider has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. The (Grand Junction) Sentinel reports that jury selection opens Tuesday in Meeker.
The younger Snider’s request to move the trial out of Rio Blanco County because of pretrial publicity was rejected. The jury will be told prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty in the case. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
During a pretrial conference Wednesday, public defender Tina Fang called for Judge Gail Nichols to prevent some photos of hatchet wounds and resulting blood from being presented to the jury. They would trigger an emotional response and aren’t necessary, she argued.
But Nichols admitted the photos as evidence, saying they show the depth of the wounds, an issue that could be important for prosecutors in responding to a self-defense argument that has been raised by Fang.
Nichols sided with the defense over another piece of evidence. Prosecutors wanted to introduce evidence suggesting the younger Snider killed and gutted a cat and hung it from a tree in 1997.
Nichols wrote that the allegations regarding the cat resulted from an incident that occurred so long ago it was of limited relevance, and that it involved details that are “gory and inherently prejudicial” to Jerry Snider Jr.
Court officials anticipate a lengthy trial.
Connecticut: Case of death row inmate heads to state’s high court
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut’s Supreme Court plans to hear the appeal of a death row inmate convicted of killing a West Hartford man in exchange for a broken snowmobile.
Eduardo Santiago’s attorneys will argue his case in February before the high court.
The former Torrington man was convicted in 2004 in the 2000 shooting death of Joseph Niwinski. Prosecutors say Santiago carried out the murder-for-hire scheme with a second man in exchange for the snowmobile, promised by a third man.
Santiago’s appeal says prosecutors failed to prove he’s the one who pulled the trigger. He also says Connecticut’s death penalty is unconstitutional, that his statements to police were coerced, and that he was not allowed to offer details to the jury about his childhood abuse.
Pennsylvania: Feds say miners were warned of inspection
KITTANNING, Pa. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Labor has sued a western Pennsylvania coal mining firm for allegedly warning miners about two inspections last year.
The federal lawsuit filed late last week targets Rosebud Mining Co. of Kittanning.
The Labor Department says surface workers warned underground miners that inspectors had arrived at Rosebud’s Mine 78 in Somerset County in August and at the Tracy Lynne Mine in Armstrong County in November.
The mines were two of 111 that federal mine officials ordered inspected because of a record of safety violations after an April 5 explosion killed 29 West Virginia miners.
Rosebud president Jim Baker says he wasn’t aware of the allegations when the suit was filed Dec. 30.
California: Family of girl who died at LA rave files $5M claim
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The family of a 15-year-old girl who died of an ecstasy overdose after a rave has filed a claim seeking $5 million in damages from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission.
The Los Angeles Times said Sunday that the family of Sasha Rodriguez filed the claim with both the city and county on Thursday. The move is a necessary step before a lawsuit can be filed.
The claim says the Coliseum knew or should have known that the Electric Daisy Carnival in June would promote and facilitate the use of illegal drugs. Rodriguez overdosed and collapsed at the event, and died days later at a hospital.
Coliseum General Manager Patrick Lynch told the Times he hadn’t seen the claim and could not comment.
Kansas: Placenta photo gets Kan. nursing students expelled
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Four students who posed for photos with a human placenta have been kicked out of a suburban Kansas City nursing program after one of the pictures was posted on Facebook.
One of the students, Doyle Byrnes, has filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Kansas seeking to force Johnson County Community College to reinstate her before classes resume Jan. 19.
The Kansas City Star reported that Byrnes and several other students were attending a lab course at Olathe Medical Center in November when one of them asked a nursing instructor for permission to photograph the placenta so they could share the experience on Facebook.
The lawsuit against the college and several of its employees said that the nursing instructor responded, “Oh, you girls,” but didn’t tell them not to do it or that it could result in discipline.
Afterward, Byrnes posted a photo on the social networking site showing her smiling broadly, wearing a lab coat and surgical gloves and leaning over the placenta in a tray.
Nothing in the photos identified the woman from whom the placenta came.
The photo was on Facebook for about three hours until the nursing instructor called Byrnes and told her to remove it. Byrnes asked if she was in trouble and the instructor replied she was not, the lawsuit says. Byrnes removed the photo immediately and has since closed her Facebook account.
Byrnes and the other three students who posed with the placenta were expelled the next day. The lawsuit didn’t fully identify the other students.
Jeanne Walsh, director of nursing at the college, criticized Byrnes in a letter that was included as an exhibit with the complaint.
“Your demeanor and lack of professional behavior surrounding this event was considered a disruption to the learning environment,” the letter said.
The defendants’ attorney, Thomas Hammond, didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail sent Saturday night by The Associated Press.
Clifford Cohen, who represents Byrnes, argues that his client was deprived of due process and that nothing in the school’s code of conduct addresses photographs or social media. He said Byrnes’ actions were not disrespectful.
“They’re not giggly teenagers,” Cohen said of the four expelled students. “They all impress me as serious, career-minded women who are utterly stunned at what’s happened to them.”
Court documents say that Walsh had said she would support Byrnes if she sought readmission to the nursing school next fall. But Cohen said his client plans to move to another state in a few months and seek work there.
Cohen said his client’s career hangs in the balance.
“With this kind of black mark on her record, who knows whether she can enroll in another nursing school,” he said. “Would she be able to get a job?”
