National Roundup

Ohio
Mom charged in classroom brawl sues school, cops
CINCINNATI (AP) — A woman facing misdemeanor charges for allegedly helping her daughter beat up a female classmate is suing the Cincinnati school district and police.
Authorities say 31-year-old Precious Allen held the 15-year-old girl down in a Withrow High School classroom and told her 14-year-old daughter to hit the girl with a combination lock. Police say the victim suffered cuts and bruises in the Feb. 7 scuffle.
A grand jury indicted Allen on misdemeanor assault and trespassing charges. Her daughter is facing juvenile charges.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Allen claims in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday that her daughter was a victim of bullying and that the school intentionally deleted video that would have proved she is innocent.

New Hampshire
City sues parking meter ‘Robin Hood’ group
KEENE, N.H. (AP) — The city of Keene, N.H., has sued a group that feeds change into parking meters that are about to expire, saying members are harassing enforcement officers.
The group calls itself “Robin Hood of Keene.” Members walk city streets with rolls and dimes of quarters to feed the meters.
WMUR-TV reports the city accuses the group of interfering with officers’ work. It asks them to stay at least 50 feet away.
The group records its time outside and posts videos online, sometimes showing members following the officers.
The city says one officer suffered stress, anxiety and heart palpitations from the group’s actions.
Group member Garret Ean says he’s not trying to cause any medical problems. He says he tries to keep a good demeanor with all the parking meter enforcers.

Mississippi
Appeals court dismisses suit on greenhouse gas
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal appeals panel has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a group of Mississippi Gulf Coast residents and landowners who alleged that emissions by energy companies contributed to global warming, which intensified Hurricane Katrina, which, in turn, damaged their property.
In the lawsuit, the landowners sought compensatory and punitive damages against 32 companies and the Tennessee Valley Authority. The companies had argued that global warming was not attributable only to them but resulted from the emissions of greenhouse gases from millions of sources dating back to the Industrial Revolution.
The case has taken a circuitous route through the federal courts before winding up Tuesday before a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
The landowners sued in September of 2005, about a month after Katrina. U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. in Gulfport, Miss., dismissed the lawsuit in 2007 with prejudice, meaning it could not be filed again.
A 5th Circuit panel in October of 2009 reinstated part of the lawsuit. The companies appealed and 5th Circuit agreed to a hearing before the full court. Before a hearing could be held, the 5th Circuit found it didn’t have a quorum — or majority — of judges available to hear the companies’ appeal after many of them recused themselves.
The 5th Circuit dismissed the appeal and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case shortly thereafter.
The same group of Gulf Coast residents and property owners filed in May of 2011 what they conceded in court records were essentially several of the same arguments against many of the same energy companies in the same Mississippi district court. The district court in March of 2012 ruled that, among other things, that the doctrine of res judicata barred their claims.
The doctrine of res judicata prevents the same parties from re-litigating the same issue after a final court decision.
On Tuesday, the three-judge upheld the Mississippi judge’s decision. The panel said it would not let landowners renew an appeal in what was the same case.

Alabama
Trials set for 2 former Alabama prison employees
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge has set trials in June and July for two former state prison employees accused in the beating death of an inmate.
Former corrections Lt. Michael Smith and former correctional officer Joseph Sanders had originally been set for trial together in June, but U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson recently granted a request by both men that they be tried separately. The judge scheduled Smith’s trial to start June 12 and Sanders’ trial to start July 1, with both in Montgomery.
They are among four former prison employees indicted in the 2010 beating death of inmate Rocrast Mack at Ventress Correctional Facility in Clayton. Two defendants, Matthew Davidson and Scottie Glenn, have already pleaded guilty to violating Mack’s civil rights and conspiring to cover up how he died.

Kentucky
Ex-officer pleads guilty to drug-related crimes
ASHLAND, Ky. (AP) — A former eastern Kentucky police officer has entered a guilty plea in federal court to drug-related charges.
The Independent reports 32-year-old Melvin Charles Schoch Jr. pleaded guilty on Monday to charges of attempting to possess oxycodone with intent to distribute and possessing a firearm during the commission of a drug crime. He had been scheduled for trial on May 28.
According to the plea agreement, Schoch, while he was an officer for the Ashland Police Department, entered a home looking to take prescription pills and money under the guise of serving a search warrant. Court records show that neither drugs nor cash were found.
According to Judge David Bunning, sentencing guidelines call for Schoch to spend at least five years in federal prison on the charges.

Utah
Auction ordered  for starving horses seized
SPANISH FORK, Utah (AP) — A Utah judge has ordered a public auction to sell off 40 horses seized from a woman and her son in an animal cruelty case at a ranch in Spanish Fork.
Fourth District Judge Fred Howard granted a motion from the Utah County Attorney’s Office on Tuesday to order the sale of nearly half of the 100 horses owned by Trudy and Rory Childs.
They are scheduled to appear in court on June 11 for a preliminary hearing on 20 counts each of cruelty to an animal.
The (Provo) Daily Herald reports the auction is scheduled May 25.
Deputies say a dozen of the Childs’ horses died of starvation in recent months and dozens more were so malnourished they couldn’t stand.e