National Roundup

Pennsylvania
Judge defends priest’s child concealing guilt
SMETHPORT, Pa. (AP) — A judge says a jury had more than enough evidence to convict a suspended Catholic priest for his relationship with a 15-year-old northwestern Pennsylvania boy whose mother told the priest to stop contacting the teen.
Sixty-year-old Samuel Slocum, of Cyclone, remains suspended by the Erie diocese and is serving two years’ probation for his January conviction. Slocum’s Superior Court appeal argues he didn’t illegally conceal the boy’s whereabouts nor did he “corrupt” the youth because the priest never encouraged him to do anything illegal or inappropriate.
But the Bradford Era reports Senior Judge William Morgan, who presided at the McKean County trial, says in a court filing that the priest secretly contacted he boy and enticed him to visit with gifts, including a phone and computer he used to contact the boy, despite knowing his mother forbade that.

Idaho
Car dealer gets prison in scheme to launder money
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Another used car dealer from Idaho who was ensnared in a money-laundering scheme is headed to federal prison.
This time, it’s Kurt Bates of Nampa, the 45-year-old former general manager of the West Coast Car Co. in Boise.
On Tuesday, Bates was sentenced to 12 months in prison for his role in the case dating to 2008.
That was when employees of West Coast agreed to sell two cars to undercover federal Internal Revenue Service agents posing as drug dealers.
In his case, Bates acknowledged in U.S. District Court that he failed to notify law enforcement officers that the crime had been committed.
Another defendant in the case, Joseph Monte Johnson, formerly of Idaho Falls, is already serving 40 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to related money-laundering charges.

California
Judge won’t stop $1.2 billion San Diego project
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A $1.2 billion Navy redevelopment project on San Diego’s waterfront has survived a court challenge that argued it didn’t properly address the issue of terrorism.
U-T San Diego says a federal judge ruled Wednesday against a group that argued the current environmental assessment didn’t properly consider possible terrorist threats.
Ian Trowbridge of the Navy Broadway Complex Coalition says he expects the group to appeal the ruling.
The Navy Broadway Complex is a joint venture between the Navy and U-T publisher and developer Douglas Manchester. Manchester agreed to build the Navy a new headquarters for free in return for the rights to build eight blocks of office, hotel, shopping and museum space.
The project still faces objections from the California Coastal Commission, which revoked its approval last year.

Alabama
5 men found not guilty in trial over cockfighting raid
MOULTON, Ala. (AP) — Five men have been found not guilty on all charges in connection with the raid of a cockfighting operation in August 2011.
The Decatur Daily reports that each of the defendants was found not guilty on Wednesday by a Lawrence County jury.
The defendants — 36-year-old Joseph Lynn Holmes of Hanceville, 53-year-old Larry Dale McCroy of Hanceville, 33-year-old Zackary Clay McLeroy of Cullman, 34-year-old James Russell Garnett of Vinemont and 54-year-old Grady Darrel McCroy of Cullman — faced charges of cruelty to animals and gambling on cockfighting.
Prosecutors say the charges stemmed from an August cockfighting event held in a barn where gamecocks fought in an octagon-shaped ring with bleachers and chairs on both sides.

New York
State ordered to pay $600K to rape victim
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A judge has ordered the state to pay more than $600,000 to an Albany woman who was raped five years ago by a guard at a western New York prison.
The Times Union of Albany reports that the judgment was handed down this week by Court of Claims Judge Philip J. Patti.
Court records say the woman was raped in June 2007 at Albion state prison in Orleans County by Donald Lasker, who was later fired and sentenced to two months of weekends in jail.
The woman was incarcerated for a probation violation on her conviction for unauthorized use of a credit card.
The newspaper reports that an earlier attempted rape was disrupted by a prison sergeant, but no action was taken to discipline Lasker, who had been under investigation for allegedly raping another female inmate.

Arizona
Court dismisses appeal by critics of Arizona law
PHOENIX (AP) — An appeals court has dismissed an appeal by opponents of Arizona’s immigration law that was aimed at thwarting a U.S. Supreme Court ruling over the statute’s most contentious section.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal by a coalition of civil rights groups that are challenging the law and last week sought to dismiss its appeal.
The appeal sought to bar enforcement of the law’s requirement that police, while enforcing other laws, question the immigration status of those they suspect are in the country illegally.
The court has since denied the request.
The coalition’s lawyers say the dismissal was needed because it would be quicker to continue challenging the questioning requirement in a lower court rather than tying up the case for months in the appeals court.

Minnesota
St. Paul approves $385,000 over privacy claims
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — St. Paul’s city council has approved a $385,000 settlement agreement with a former police officer who accused other officers of illegally accessing her driver’s license information.
Anne Marie Rasmusson, who worked for Eden Prairie and St. Paul, filed a lawsuit, claiming more than 140 officers looked at her private data between 2005 and 2012 without a legitimate reason.
The suit cited the demotion of one Eden Prairie officer who encouraged subordinates to look up Rasmusson because she had an attractive new look.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports the council voted Wednesday to accept the settlement without discussion.
Her attorneys also expect her to receive $280,000 in a settlement with additional plaintiff cities other than Minneapolis, where her case is still pending.