National Roundup

Wisconsin
Man to be sentenced for killing daughters
HUDSON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin man who killed his three daughters to get back at his ex-wife will soon learn if he’ll spend the rest of his life in prison.
A jury found in April that 35-year-old Aaron Schaffhausen was sane when he killed 11-year-old Amara, 8-year-old Sophie and 5-year-old Cecilia at their River Falls’ home. He’ll be sentenced Monday in St. Croix County.
He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison for each death. The judge must decide if that sentence will include the possibility of supervised release after at least 20 years, or if Schaffhausen will stay behind bars forever.
Schaffhausen admitted he killed the girls last July to get back at his ex-wife. Jurors found he had a mental defect, but knew the killings were wrong.

Connecticut
UConn professor faces sexual misconduct probe
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A University of Connecticut professor is under investigation amid allegations of sexual misconduct and child molestation.
UConn officials announced the investigations of 66-year-old Robert Miller on Monday. He hasn’t been charged with any crime.
According to UConn officials and the state attorney general’s office, university employees were notified as far back as 2006 that Miller had sexual contact with children, but it wasn’t until February of this year that school administrators were told of the claims. Miller was placed on administrative leave last month and barred from campus.
Officials say a student reported that Miller had sex with UConn students, visited freshman dorms and provided drugs to students. It’s not clear when that allegedly happened.
And a state police search warrant says five men allege Miller molested them more than two decades ago when they were attending a camp started by Paul Newman for ill children, where Miller was a counselor.

Pennsylvania
Penn St gets report on federal Sandusky probe
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Penn State says it’s received a preliminary report from the federal government regarding whether its handling of the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal complied with campus crime reporting requirements.
The school said Monday that neither it nor the U.S. Department of Education can release information about the report at this time. Penn State says school officials have given federal reviewers access to the records and information they’ve requested.
Prosecutors allege high-ranking university officials failed to properly report suspected abuse of children by Sandusky, a retired assistant football coach at the school.
The law, called the Clery Act, requires universities to publish annual reports and maintain a daily crime log. It’s named for Jeanne Clery, a 19-year-old Lehigh University freshman who was raped killed in a campus residence hall in 1986.

Missouri
Family asks high court to review drug searches
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A recent southwest Missouri high school graduate and his family have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review whether drug searches in high schools violate the Fourth Amendment rights of students against unlawful search and seizure.
Connor Mizer was sitting in a third-floor classroom at Central High School three years ago when a lockdown was announced and Greene County sheriff’s deputies brought in a drug-sniffing dog. The Springfield News-Leader reports the sweep didn’t turn up any drugs, but it sparked a court fight over whether warrantless searches in schools are allowed under the U.S. Constitution.
The district has won at both the district and appeals court levels, but Mizer, his mother and her former husband have continued the fight and are hoping the Supreme Court will hear the case.

Texas
Inmate set for execution tonight loses final appeal
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A Texas death row inmate has lost a federal court appeal that sought to halt his scheduled execution this week for the slaying of a retired South Texas sheriff’s deputy during a holdup 10 years ago.
Attorneys for John Quintanilla have told state lawyers they’ll now head to the U.S. Supreme Court to try to save the 36-year-old from lethal injection Tuesday evening in Huntsville.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals over the weekend refused Quintanilla’s appeal. He’s facing punishment for the fatal shooting of 60-year-old Victor Billings during a robbery in Victoria in 2002. Billings was a retired chief deputy from Jackson County and was at the amusement center with his wife.
The execution would be the first of two set for this week in Texas.

New Jersey
Groups seek ban in NJ on juvenile confinement
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey's American Civil Liberty Union and other groups are seeking to ban solitary confinement of juveniles held in state custody.
The groups, which include advocates for children and incarceration watchdogs, say there is a growing body of research that shows the practice is harmful to children. It's been linked to problems from hallucinations to depression and irrational anger.
The ACLU plans to file a petition with the state on Monday to change rules for juvenile detention centers to ban the disciplinary measure.
It is not clear how often the state's juvenile detention facilities use isolation. A spokeswoman for the Juvenile Justice Commission, which formulates statewide rules for the centers, did not immediately return a call.
Currently, juveniles can be on the restriction up to five days at a time and a total of 10 days per month as punishment for bad behavior in the detention center.
In its petition, the ACLU says five states now ban solitary confinement for juveniles and three have strict limits on it.
The petitioners are also calling for a rule that any juvenile detention center staff member found to use corporal punishment can be fired for it.
They also want to ban withholding meals, regular snacks, mail, court appearances and family visits as disciplinary options.
The groups say there are other ways to discipline rule-breakers in the facilities.
The state now allows staff to take away TV, radio and phone privileges, assign extra work, and other measures.