National Roundup

Montana
Billings man found guilty of animal cruelty
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A Justice Court jury has found a Billings livestock breeder guilty of five misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty in the deaths of five horses.
Yellowstone County prosecutors argued James Leachman was responsible for placing unbreakable identification leg bands on the horses and failing to remove them as the animals grew, causing injuries that were never treated. Four of the horses either died or were put down because of the injuries. Another had a broken leg.
Leachman’s defense attorney argued the horses were injured in some other way, despite prosecution photos showing the leg bands cutting into the animals’ flesh.
Sentencing is set for Dec. 12.
The case began with reports of starving horses. Leachman’s 800 horses were fed by the county and volunteers last winter before being rounded up and sold at auction.

Mississippi
Death row inmate appeals his 2009 death sentence
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Wednesday in an appeal from death row inmate Bobby Batiste.
Batiste, a former Mississippi State University student, was sentenced to death in 2009 for killing his roommate.
Batiste was convicted of capital murder in Oktibbeha County in the March 2008 death of 28-year-old Andreas Galanis.
Prosecutors say Galanis died from a blow to the head after the two got into a fight at their off-campus apartment.
The fight began when Galanis discovered money missing from his checking account, prosecutors said. Batiste told police Galanis attacked him first, according to court records.
Lawyers for Batiste will ask the Supreme Court to consider his claim of self-defense.

Pennsylvania
Firm settles project lawsuit by chief justice
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A law firm will pay $4 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court over how one of its former partners handled a development deal for a new Family Court building in Philadelphia.
Chief Justice Ronald Castille filed suit last month alleging lawyer Jeffrey Rotwitt cost the state millions in unnecessary fees by signing a deal that made him co-developer of the project after being hired by the court to find a suitable site.
Castille said Rotwitt’s conflicting roles cost the state money.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports Rotwitt’s former firm will pay $2 million, with insurance covering the rest. Rotwitt signed the settlement but doesn’t have to pay any money. He says the terms of the agreement are “a total victory.”

Indiana
Not-guilty plea entered in body in freezer case
KOKOMO, Ind. (AP) — A judge has entered a not-guilty plea for a central Indiana man charged with killing a homeless man whose decomposing body was found in an unplugged freezer.
A Howard County judge also set a March trial date for 52-year-old Walter Logan of Kokomo during a hearing Wednesday. A court staffer says a public defender for Logan wasn’t immediately appointed.
Court documents say Logan told investigators that he duct-taped 29-year-old Alex Shipp’s nose and mouth and put Shipp’s body in his basement freezer after he died. Kokomo police say investigators found Shipp’s body Sunday, a day after his mother reported he was missing.
Investigators in the city about 40 miles north of Indianapolis say the men fought after drinking, taking drugs and having sex.

Alabama
Man convicted of killing woman after 2nd trial
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A jury has convicted a Montgomery man of murder after his second trial in the 2011 slaying of 52-year-old Julie Ann Nelson of Deatsville.
The Montgomery Advertiser reports that 46-year-old Nevis Jennings is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 10. He was found guilty of murder and second-degree arson on Tuesday.
Circuit Court Judge Gene Reese denied his attorney’s request that he remain out on bail through Christmas.
Reese had reset the trial Sept. 27 after an earlier jury failed to reach a verdict. The jury on Tuesday returned a verdict after about an hour and a half.
Nelson was found dead March 28, 2011, at Jennings’ work site on Lemon Street in Montgomery. Jennings was arrested five months later.

Ohio
Record is sealed in ‘M-A-S-H’ hot dog fraud case
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — A judge has agreed to seal the court record after the grandson of the famous Tony Packo’s hot dog restaurant founder was acquitted of theft charges.
The (Toledo) Blade reports that Tony Packo III was in court Tuesday seeking to have the record sealed. He was found not guilty in October of scheming with a former company controller to steal $250,000 from the eatery made famous on the iconic TV series “M-A-S-H.”
Judge Frederick McDonald granted the 39-year-old Packo’s request, meaning the case will be erased from the public forum.
However, the judge excluded trial transcripts from the order because a related civil case and IRS audit are pending.

Indiana
Federal judge delays execution for man’s appeal
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A federal judge has issued a stay of execution for a man who admitted raping and killing a 15-year-old girl at her southern Indiana home more than a decade ago.
The judge in Evansville granted the request Tuesday from attorneys for 40-year-old Roy Lee Ward, giving them until March 4 to submit an appeal of his conviction and death sentence.
The state Supreme Court had scheduled Ward’s execution for next week while acknowledging that federal courts could still review his case.
Ward pleaded guilty in 2007 for the 2001 stabbing death of Stacy Payne at her family’s home in Dale, about 30 miles east of Evansville. His first conviction and death sentence was overturned in 2004.
The state Supreme Court upheld his death sentence in a 2009 ruling.