National Roundup

Ohio
Man charged with murder in wife’s hospital death

AKRON, Ohio (AP) — A man charged with shooting his wife of 45 years in a hospital intensive care unit in what may have been a mercy killing was charged Wednesday with aggravated murder.

John Wise appeared before a municipal court judge in Akron via video from jail Wednesday morning on an aggravated attempted murder charge. No plea was entered. He must return to court Aug. 22.

Prosecutors upgraded an attempted murder charge after an autopsy showed that Barbara Wise died from a gunshot wound to her head. A county medical examiner ruled her death was a homicide.

Wise, who lived with his wife in Massillon, is accused of shooting his wife at her bedside in the ICU unit of Akron General Medical Center Saturday. She died the next morning.

Wise appeared in court Tuesday and was apparently confused about initially being charged only with attempted murder, asking “Is she not dead?”

Visiting Judge Marvin Shapiro told Wise that he would soon have an attorney who could answer his questions.

Police said Barbara Wise had been in critical condition in the ICU for several days, but details of her illness haven’t been made public.

Emergency personnel responded to the Wises’ home a week before the shooting for a medical call that involved advanced life support, including oxygen and a heart monitor. Hospital and emergency officials have said they can’t disclose any information about patients because of privacy rules.

Wise entered the hospital on Saturday through the main entrance and went up to his wife’s room without drawing any attention, apparently keeping the handgun concealed, hospital spokesman Jim Gosky said. A doctor nearby heard a distinctive popping sound, he said.


California
Police: Baby was taken to back pregnancy claim

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man who believed he was the father of a newborn girl was shocked to learn his estranged wife had faked the pregnancy and snatched an infant from a hospital in an effort to continue the ruse, police said.

Grisel Ramirez, 48, is accused of posing as a visitor to enter Garden Grove Medical Center, where she attempted to abduct a baby Monday, Lt. Jeff Nightengale said Tuesday.

She remained held without bail and was due for arraignment Wednesday. Authorities have not yet filed any charges.

The husband had no idea she wasn’t pregnant, Nightengale said.

“She perpetuated this myth for several months, and they don’t live together and don’t see each other, so the husband totally believed it,” said Nightengale.

When the due date passed, Ramirez’ husband pressed her to meet the child and asked whether he needed to sign the birth certificate, police said.

“We interviewed him last night and he for sure thought he was the father of a baby girl,” Nightengale said. “He was upset and devastated that it wasn’t true.”

Ramirez, a waitress, may have approached other pregnant women and asked about their due dates and their baby’s gender at another Southern California hospital last month, Nightengale said.

One woman grew suspicious of the questions and told staff at Western Medical Center-Anaheim.

There was no surveillance video available at the hospital, so police used a photo lineup for the people who witnessed the woman’s strange activity on July 26. They identified Ramirez as the inquisitive lurker, they said.

Garden Grove Medical Center Director Sofia Abrina said Tuesday that Ramirez presented herself as a visitor who wanted to visit a patient when she entered the hospital Monday.
Abrina said when a sensor attached to a bracelet around the baby’s ankle set off alarms, the staff began searching and counting patients until Ramirez was apprehended.

Ramirez is accused of entering the room of the baby’s mother and posing as a nurse who told the woman to shower before a doctor came to examine her. Police said that once the baby’s mother was out of the room, Ramirez put the newborn in a purple tie-dyed tote bag and tried to carry her out of the ward.

Many hospital wards have security systems where patients, such as newborns or those with Alzheimer’s disease, are tagged with an electronic sensor — usually in a bracelet or anklet — that sets off an alarm when the patient leaves a certain perimeter.

The baby wasn’t harmed during the short time she was in the tote and was returned to her mother.


Iowa
Court appeal is denied in murder of spouse’s lover

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Court of Appeals has upheld the first-degree murder conviction of an eastern Iowa man who killed his wife’s lover after their three-way relationship failed.
The court rejected arguments Wednesday that Tonch Weldon’s conviction was tainted by decisions on testimony.

Weldon is serving life in prison in the death of Amy Gephart at his rural Blairstown home. Prosecutors said Gephart was involved in a three-way relationship with Weldon and his wife, Amanda. They say Weldon shot Gephart after his wife threatened to leave him for her, and then tried to kill himself.

Weldon had been drinking before the shooting, and he filed an intoxication defense.

The court says the judge didn’t abuse his discretion when he refused to allow an expert to testify that Weldon couldn’t have formed intent.


Mississippi
Casino: Man lied in suit over slot machine injury

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Lawyers for a Mississippi casino say a man lied under oath as part of a lawsuit that claims he was hurt by a slot machine.

Randy Perkins claims he was gambling at the Tunica Roadhouse Casino in August 2010 when the door of the machine fell open and hurt his left arm and back. He filed a $750,000 lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Greenville in July 2011.

The casino filed a motion this week to have the lawsuit dismissed. The casino denies the machine hurt Perkins and says he lied about six previous workman’s compensation claims in Ohio, Nebraska and Georgia.

Perkins, of Hickman County, Tenn., claims he was unemployed at the time, but alleges his injury prevented him from getting a job at a food plant in Louisiana.s