National Roundup

Texas
Lawyer’s DUI wristbands draw ire from MADD
BOSTON (The Daily Record Newswire) A Texas criminal defense attorney’s unique advertising method has drawn the attention — and the ire — of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Lubbock-based Stephen Hamilton created wristbands that read “Drinking Tonight? Know Your Rights!” along with his name and phone number.
For about one year, he has handed them out at local bars.
According to EverythingLubbock.com, Hamilton said that the State Bar of Texas reviewed the wristbands as attorney advertising and approved the language.
“The sign on the road that says drink, drive, go to jail. It’s a catchy slogan. That ain’t the law in Texas,” Hamilton said. “If you are over the age of 21 you can consume alcohol and operate a motor vehicle. You can drive as long as you are not intoxicated.”
MADD has objected to the wristbands.
MADD member Amanda Eldredge told the local publication that it would be better if the wristbands were an advertisement for a taxi service, saying the wristbands “almost encourage” drinking and driving. “MADD wants you to be a safe, sober driver,” she said.
Hamilton said he thinks the wristbands may actually have the opposite effect.
“It may actually prevent people from drinking and driving because people can look at their band and it is saying ‘Know your rights’ and they start thinking maybe I have had too much to drink. Maybe I shouldn’t be driving tonight.”
The wristbands have yet to translate into clients, Hamilton said.

Indiana
31-year prison term for teen who killed his father
SOUTH BEND, Wash. (AP) — A South Bend teenager who killed his father two years ago in a dispute over driving privileges was sentenced to 31 years in prison.
Now 18, Devon R. Moore was given the maximum sentence last week in a Pacific County court.
The Daily News reports he pleaded guilty to murder with a firearm in the shooting death of Timothy Moore.
Moore told his son he could have a car as long as he stayed on the honor roll. But, when he didn’t make the honor roll in November 2010, they quarreled.
Prosecutors say Devon Moore shot his father four times as he slept, buried the body in a remote area and told people his father was missing. Woodcutters found the body.

Nebraska
Pool hall wins court round in smoking ban fight
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A pool hall has won a round in the court fight against Nebraska’s smoking ban.
A judge on Tuesday refused to find Big John’s Billiards Inc. in contempt.
Big John’s has been fighting the statewide smoking ban since it went into effect in 2009.
In October Big John’s in Omaha put out ashtrays and set up signs warning that it’s a “smoker-friendly pool hall.”
Douglas County prosecutors soon filed a motion asking Judge Jodi Nelson to hold Big John’s in contempt and order it not to permit smoking.
The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Big John’s attorney told Nelson on Tuesday that she had never ordered the business not to allow smoking nor barred it from setting up the signs.
The judge agreed and overruled the motion.

Massachusetts
Suit filed against Kraft Group over fatal crash
DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — The family of a woman who died in a crash about a mile from Gillette Stadium after drinking in the stadium parking lot during a concert, as well as a woman who survived the same crash, have sued the Kraft Group, owner of the stadium and the New England Patriots.
The lawsuit brought by the family of Debra Davis of Milton and Nina Houlihan of Norton, says the Kraft Group was willfully negligent and had a duty to monitor the parking lot and prevent underage drinking outside the 2008 concert. Both women were 20.
Davis’ family is seeking $2.5 million Houlihan is seeking $250,000.
The Boston Globe reports that a lawyer for the Kraft Group said in court Tuesday the women brought their own alcohol and were trespassing because they did not have tickets.

Connecticut
Nurse charged with trying to recruit sex slaves
VERNON, Conn. (AP) — Vernon police have accused a nurse practitioner who ran a family practice of trying to recruit a patient and her daughters to be his sex slaves.
A warrant that unsealed in Superior Court in Rockville on Tuesday says 44-year-old Jay T. Mohler-Avery of Hartford allegedly tried to take delivery of the patient’s 18-month-old daughter so he could sexually assault her.
The Hartford Courant reports that Mohler-Avery is jailed on charges of attempted sexual assault, conspiracy to commit sexual assault and other allegations.
An unidentified woman said Mohler-Avery expressed an interest in her 18-month-old daughter, asking her to bring the infant to him so he could “break her in early.”
It wasn’t known Wednesday morning if he’s represented by a lawyer.
Mohler-Avery also was charged with larceny and insurance fraud for allegedly billing Medicaid without providing services.

Missouri
Sick homeless woman’s death in jail prompts suit
RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Mo. (AP) — A lawsuit alleges that St. Mary’s Health Center in suburban St. Louis failed to diagnose a homeless woman’s life-threatening condition before allowing police to take her to jail for refusing to leave the hospital’s emergency room.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the family of Anna Brown filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Tuesday against the hospital. The suit also names Saint Louis University Hospital, which examined and released Brown previously. Several physicians are also named.
Brown died in 2011 after blood clots that had formed in her legs moved into her lungs. About an hour before her death, doctors at St. Mary’s deemed her fit for confinement and staff asked police to remove her.
Brown had been at St. Mary’s demanding more treatment for severe pain in her legs.a