National Roundup

Virginia State fighting to keep inmate on death row RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Attorneys for the state are fighting to keep a man on Virginia's death row after a federal court said his claims of mental deficiency were enough to warrant an appeal. The Attorney General's Office argued Tuesday before a panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Leon Winston waited too late to present evidence that he met Virginia's threshold for mental retardation, which would make him ineligible for execution. Justices said a U.S. Supreme Court opinion issued after Winston's case was ordered reviewed has made it more difficult to introduce evidence not presented earlier in such proceedings. Winston was convicted of the 2002 slayings of Anthony and Rhonda Robinson in Lynchburg. Rhonda Robinson was pregnant at the time, and her 4- and 8-year-old daughters watched her die. New York Strauss-Kahn countersues ho tel maid for $1M NEW YORK (AP) -- Dominique Strauss-Kahn is filing a $1 million countersuit against the New York City hotel maid who accused him of sexual assault, saying she seriously damaged his reputation with what he calls a bogus allegation. The disgraced French politician and former head of the International Monetary Fund said in court papers filed Monday that the Guinean-born Nafissatou Diallo made a "malicious and wanton false accusation" when she said he assaulted her one year ago after she arrived to clean his hotel suite. The married Strauss-Kahn, 63, says whatever happened was consensual, and he has denied doing anything violent. The criminal case against Strauss-Kahn was dismissed after prosecutors lost faith in Diallo's credibility. She then filed a civil lawsuit accusing him of assault. A judge this month rebuffed Strauss-Kahn's claim that he had diplomatic immunity. Diallo's lawyers, Kenneth W. Thompson and Douglas H. Wigdor, called the countersuit a "desperate ploy." Diallo, now 33, says Strauss-Kahn chased her down, tried to yank down her pantyhose and forced her to perform oral sex. Strauss-Kahn was arrested, resigned from the IMF and spent several days behind bars and three months on house arrest before prosecutors dropped the criminal case, saying Diallo had lied about her background and changed her account of what she did after leaving Strauss-Kahn's hotel room. The countersuit was first reported by the New York Post. Diallo's lawyers called Strauss-Kahn's defamation claim an example of the "misogynistic attitude" of a man who now faces preliminary charges of being involved in a hotel prostitution ring in France. As of last week, French investigators also were studying accusations that Strauss-Kahn may have been involved in a rape during a sex party in a Washington hotel in 2010. Separately, a French writer accused him last year of having tried to rape her during a 2003 interview, an accusation prosecutors said was too old to try. Strauss-Kahn denies all the allegations. The Associated Press generally doesn't name people who report being sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Diallo has done. Pennsylvania Pair charged in home invasion, assault WAYNESBURG, Pa. (AP) -- Police have charged a western Pennsylvania man and woman with assaulting an 85-year-old woman during a home invasion. Authorities arrested 32-year-old Mary Ann McChesney and 29-year-old Matthew Gabriel Barth on Tuesday and charged them with the invasion that took place on March 3, about 50 miles south of Pittsburgh. Police say McChesney knocked on the victim's door and claimed to be out of gas, and then restrained the woman while Barth allegedly ransacked the house in search of money. McChesney and Barth are being held in Greene County Prison, unable to post bond. They're facing robbery, theft, simple assault and other charges. No attorney was listed on court papers. Louisiana Judge refuses to toss confession in store slayings BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- A judge has refused to suppress a man's videotaped statement in which he confessed that he fatally shot two employees of a Baton Rouge auto parts store in 2011. The Advocate reports state District Judge Richard Anderson's ruling Monday means a jury will be allowed to hear Lee Turner Jr.'s statement when he stands trial on two counts of first-degree murder. A trial date has not been set. Anderson also ruled there was probable cause for East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's detectives to search Turner's home on March 28, 2011, the day after Edward Gurtner III and Randy Chaney were found shot to death inside the CarQuest Auto Parts. Detectives found money wrapped in rubber bands in Turner's bedroom and a Regions Bank bag in a trash can outside his home. Sgt. Sonya Harden testified in December at a hearing on Turner's motion to suppress his statement. The bank bag was consistent with the type CarQuest used, she said. Turner's attorneys said they will ask the state 1st Circuit Court of Appeal to review both of Anderson's rulings. Margaret Lagattuta, one of those attorneys, argued Monday that Turner's statement was not "free and voluntary" because it was made under duress. Lagattuta said detectives used death-penalty threats against Turner to get him to cooperate, telling him he did not want his then-unborn child to one day see reports of his father's execution on the news. Prosecutor Tracey Barbera countered that the tactics used by Harden and Lt. Leonardo Moore were unsuccessful, and that Turner only confessed when he was told during his 11-hour interrogation that a gun had just been found behind the store. Barbera called the discovery of the gun "the straw that broke the camel's back." Chaney, Gurtner and Turner all were CarQuest employees. Gurtner managed the store where he and Chaney were killed March 27, 2011. Turner was hired March 16, 2011, and had worked at two other CarQuest locations. Turner told detectives his initial motive was to rob store, but he wound up shooting Gurtner and Chaney because Gurtner recognized him. Published: Wed, May 16, 2012