Pennsylvania
Brother, friend held in disabled man’s death
NATRONA, Pa. (AP) — The brother and a second housemate of a mentally disabled western Pennsylvania man have been charged with fatally beating him before his body was found propped up on a couch by police, who were told he had fallen down the stairs.
The Valley News Dispatch in Tarentum reports Harrison Township police have added a criminal homicide charge against 56-year-old Larry Duff and 22-year-old Jason Link. The men have been jailed on aggravated assault and other charges since the Oct. 15 death of 61-year-old Ronald Duff.
Court documents allege Link punched the victim and Larry Duff beat him with a stick before he was given a bath and then set on the couch.
Mississippi
Judge won’t delay trial for former police officer
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge has denied a request to delay the trial of a former Jackson police officer charged with accepting bribes to protect drug shipments.
Anthony Ricardo Payne’s lawyer said in asking to delay the case that she needs more time to review the evidence with her client. The trial is scheduled for Nov. 13 in U.S. District Court in Jackson.
Two other former officers, Monyette Quintel Jefferson and Terence Dale Jenkins, pleaded guilty Oct. 17. They were charged with taking bribes from FBI agents they thought were drug dealers.
Their sentencing is Jan. 7.
Alabama
Man gets 161 yrs. in kidnapping and torture of woman
DOTHAN, Ala. (AP) — A 48-year-old man has been ordered to serve 161 years in prison in connection with the rape and sexual torture of a woman during a kidnapping.
The Dothan Eagle reports that a Houston county judge handed down the sentence for Kenneth Earl Morris on Tuesday.
A jury last month convicted Morris of three felony charges, which included first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping and sexual torture.
Circuit Court Judge Michael Conaway sentenced Morris to 80 years in prison for the rape offense, an additional 80 years for the kidnapping offense and one year for the sexual torture charge. He ordered all three sentences to be served consecutively.
Dothan police arrested Morris in August 2011 on the charges.
Connecticut
In trial, ex-officer denies sex with underage girl
NEW LONDON, Conn. (AP) — A former Norwich police officer has testified in his trial on charges of risk of injury to a minor that his sexual relationship with a teen began shortly after she turned the legal age of 16.
Kenneth Nieves said in New London Superior Court on Tuesday that he and the girl first had sex less than a week after her 16th birthday in February 2005. Nieves, who was married at the time, said he continued the affair through January 2008.
The age of consent in Connecticut is 16.
The girl testified Monday that their sexual relationship began when she was 14 or 15.
The 45-year-old Nieves said he knew when the girl turned 16 because his son joked about her getting her learner’s permit for driving. He said he knew the relationship was wrong.
Ohio
Suicide survivor dies during trial
CINCINNATI (AP) — An Ohio man who shot himself three times in a suicide attempt last year has died — right in the midst of his trial on criminal charges stemming from the standoff with police who tried to help him.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Robert Settle made it through jury selection Monday, but was taken to the hospital and died Tuesday. He was charged with attempted murder and felonious assault for firing at police officers who came to his aid in September 2011.
Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Charles Kubicki Jr. noted that Settle looked to be in failing health. He asked Settle Monday if he wanted to continue with the trial, but Settle said he wanted to get it over with.
Settle’s cause of death wasn’t known.
California
Makers of Obama documentary sue over contracts
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Creators of an anti-Obama documentary that has made millions at theaters are suing an executive producer for breach of agreement.
The movie, “2016: Obama’s America,” has grossed more than $33 million at the box office.
U-T San Diego says a lawsuit filed over the past week in San Diego claims that Dinesh D’Souza tried to wrest control of the production company from two partners.
A separate suit filed by a group of movie investors contends that D’Souza failed to share profits from a best-selling book he wrote that drew heavily on the film.
California
Jury: behavior doomed man killed by deputy
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A federal jury says a knife-wielding Northern California man shot to death by a Yolo County sheriff’s deputy was doomed by his own behavior.
The parents of Luis Gutierrez filed a civil rights lawsuit against the county and three deputies for the 2009 shooting death of the 26-year-old Woodland resident.
The suit claimed Gutierrez was unconstitutionally detained and killed.
But the Sacramento jury decided Tuesday that the actions of Gutierrez when stopped by deputies were to blame.
Gutierrez was walking on a sidewalk in a gang-infested Woodland area when gang task force deputies stopped him for questioning.
Deputies testified that Gutierrez ran and was chased and captured. He pulled a knife on a sergeant and a deputy shot him.
Mississippi
Judge lets suit over basketball beatings continue
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge will allow a lawsuit to go forward against Jackson Public Schools and former Murrah High School Basketball Coach Marlon Dorsey over Dorsey whipping players with a weight belt.
Only Dorsey and the Jackson district remain defendants after U.S. District Judge Tom Lee ruled Monday, The Clarion-Ledger reports. The suit says Dorsey abused players physically and verbally, and the district didn’t stop it, seeking damages as well as a bar on future punishment.
Dorsey was found in 2010 to be striking players with the belt. He later apologized.
