Court Roundup

Tennessee
Court denies U.S. asylum to German home-schoolers
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal appeals court has denied asylum to a Christian family that fled Germany because that country does not allow home schooling.
Many American home-school families and evangelical Christians have taken up the cause of Uwe and Hannelore Romeike. They faced fines and the threat of losing custody of their children because they refused to comply with Germany’s compulsory school attendance law. The family moved to Morristown in 2008.
On Tuesday, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Romeikes do not meet the criteria for asylum.
The court said U.S. immigration laws do not grant a safe haven to people everywhere who face restrictions that would normally be prohibited under our Constitution.
A representative of the family says they plan to appeal.

New Jersey
Lawyer: NJ dad of boy who shot pal is cooperating
TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) — The lawyer for a New Jersey man whose 4-year-old son shot and killed a 6-year-old playmate says his client is cooperating.
Robert Ebberup released a statement Wednesday in which he criticized the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office for arresting his client in front of his family while they ate dinner.
The lawyer says Anthony Senatore would have voluntarily turned himself in to face charges of child endangerment and enabling access by a minor to a loaded firearm.
Authorities say Senatore’s son took a loaded .22-caliber rifle from a bedroom on April 8 and fatally wounded neighbor Brandon Holt while they were playing outdoors.
Officials say four shotguns were found close to ammunition and accessible to Senatore’s three children in their Toms River home.
He’s due in court Thursday.

Pennsylvania
Appeals court weighs evidence in kid porn case
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is weighing how much evidence is too much in the case of a  man serving 50 years in prison for collecting child pornography.
Thirty-six-year-old Craig Alan Finley’s attorneys argue a federal court jury in Erie was prejudiced last year when prosecutors showed them 16 exhibits containing child pornography. The images made some jurors cry and were “over the top,” federal public defender Karen Gerlach argues.
But the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says U.S. Attorney David Hickton argued Tuesday that in child porn cases “the crime is the image.”
Hickton also contends prosecutors did use restraint considering 30,000 videos were found on the Titusville man’s home computer, and that jurors were shown only minutes of video with no sound.

Missouri
Mental exam ordered in double homicide case
VERSAILLES, Mo. (AP) — A man charged in the deaths of a central Missouri couple will undergo a mental exam before any more court hearings are held in the case.
Forty-three-year-old Derrell Spellmeyer of Eldon is charged with two counts of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the February deaths of Freddie and Carol Wilson of Versailles.
The Lake Sun Leader reports a Morgan County judge approved a request last week that Spellmeyer undergo a mental exam at Fulton State Hospital.
Two other people from Jefferson City — Mandy Mitchell and Garland Mitchell — also are charged in the Wilsons’ death.
Prosecutors say the suspects went to the Wilsons’ home to steal drugs. a