National Roundup

Arkansas
Program gives dogs, prisoners a second chance
TUCKER, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas has a number of dogs behind bars, but they’re not in the pound.
They’re part of a program called Paws in Prison that pairs pooches with prisoners for obedience training.
Arkansas Department of Correction spokeswoman Shea Wilson says some of the dogs in the program were at risk of being euthanized in animal shelters. Meanwhile, some of the inmates who train the dogs are serving life sentences.
Wilson says the program is about second chances for both the dogs and the inmates.
The program works with animal shelters and rescue groups across the state to set up obedience training with inmates before the dogs are adopted by people across the country.
Wilson says more than 200 dogs have gone through the program since it began in December 2011.

West Virginia
Woman decries torture case against husband
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia woman whose husband is accused of torturing her for years is accusing prosecutors of pushing the case against him over her objections.
Stephanie Lizon accuses Jackson County prosecutors of threatening to take her son if she didn’t cooperate in the case against her husband, Peter.
Last July, Stephanie Lizon fled from her husband while at a Parkersburg equipment rental company. A domestic violence shelter worker says she claimed he locked her up and beat her for years.
Peter Lizon was charged with malicious wounding but wasn’t indicted. Stephanie Lizon denied the allegations in court.
She tells The Charleston Gazette she’s eight months pregnant and living out of her car while family in Virginia raises her son.
Jackson County Prosecutor Kenny Skeen didn’t immediately respond for comment.

Pennsylvania
Man acquitted in friend’s softball shoving death
BEDFORD, Pa. (AP) — A western Pennsylvania man has been acquitted of charges that he caused his friend’s death by pushing the other man when they had a drunken argument about softball and who had been in more car accidents.
The Altoona Mirror reports 52-year-old Randy Foor, of Bedford Township, was cleared of charges of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault. The jury deliberated just 45 minutes Thursday after a two-day trial.
Foor and Sprigg were friends who got into a physical confrontation after Foor refused to let Sprigg join his softball team. The argument on Aug. 11, 2012 escalated before Foor shoved Sprigg, who hit his head on the sidewalk at Foor’s Bedford home. Sprigg died nearly seven weeks later.
Foor claimed he was defending himself against his physically larger friend, but Bedford County prosecutors had argued Foor was the aggressor.

North Carolina
Woman gets life after 23 years on death row
WILSON, N.C. (AP) — A woman who has spent 23 years on North Carolina’s death row for the beating death of her husband has been sentenced to life in prison.
The News & Observer of Raleigh reported that a judge in Wilson made the decision Thursday involving 70-year-old Patricia Jennings.
She had been sentenced to die in 1990 for the beating death of her 80-year-old husband, Bill Jennings.
Superior Court Judge Wayland Sermons ruled that Jennings had received poor legal counsel at the time of her trial. Her attorneys failed to ask that jurors consider she had no significant criminal history.
Jennings’ attorneys agreed to drop a separate claim that the State Bureau of Investigation concealed favorable lab results and used false and unreliable evidence to get her conviction and death sentence.

Texas
Man guilty in porn case offers to mentor youths
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — A South Texas man who pleaded guilty in a child pornography case then sought leniency by offering to mentor youths must serve nearly 13 years in prison.
A federal judge in Corpus Christi on Thursday sentenced 70-year-old Jose Luis Salazar. Salazar in March pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of minors by distributing child pornography.
Salazar during sentencing told Senior U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack that he never physically hurt anyone, had a lot to offer society and he could be useful mentoring children.
The judge told Salazar he didn’t understand the gravity of his crime and that’s why he was being sentenced to 151 months behind bars.
The investigation began in 2012 when an undercover Corpus Christi police officer downloaded child porn from a computer eventually traced to Salazar.

Iowa
Court says no  punitive damages in sex bias cases 
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court says courts cannot award punitive damages against those who violate the Iowa Civil Rights Act by engaging in sexual harassment and discrimination.
In a case followed closely by trial lawyers and employers, the court ruled Friday that lawmakers did not intend for punitive damages — awarded to victims to punish wrongdoing — to be available under the law.
The ruling came in response to lawsuits filed against Manley Toy Direct in Indianola, a subsidiary of Hong Kong company.
Three employees say a supervisor and a coworker repeatedly made vulgar and harassing comments to women, including name-calling and sexually explicit discussions.

New Mexico
Massage owner: deputies violated her civil rights
FARMINGTON, N.M. (AP) — A woman is suing the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office over claims that her civil rights were violated during a prostitution sting at her Farmington massage parlor.
The Farmington Daily Times reports that an attorney for Asian Massage owner Wei Lu filed the filed the lawsuit this month in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque.
According to the lawsuit, deputies violated Lu’s civil rights by targeting her based on her ethnicity because other massage parlors and salons in Farmington were not targeted in the sting.
Lu was charged with two misdemeanors for not having the proper massage parlor license. Those charges were  dropped.
San Juan County Sheriff’s Capt. Brice Current called the lawsuit “frivolous.”