California
Revenge porn bill signed into law by Governor Brown
SACRAMENTO, California (AP) — California Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed a bill outlawing so-called revenge porn and levying possible jail time for people who post naked photos of their exes after bitter breakups.
Senate Bill 255, which takes effect immediately, makes it a misdemeanor to post identifiable nude pictures of someone else online without permission with the intent to cause emotional distress or humiliation. The penalty is up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
“Until now, there was no tool for law enforcement to protect victims,” the bill’s author, Sen. Anthony Cannella, said in a statement. “Too many have had their lives upended because of an action of another that they trusted.”
Cannella, a Republican, has said revenge porn is a growing problem in the age of social media, when photos and videos that were made privately during a relationship can find their way onto hundreds of websites.
Before the criminal law was enacted, California allowed victims to sue their virtual assailants, but that is an expensive and time-consuming option.
The American Civil Liberties Union had opposed the bill, arguing it might restrict free speech rights, which has been a concern in other states as well.
Florida lawmakers rejected a similar bill this year after constitutional free speech concerns surfaced there. Last year, the Missouri Supreme Court cited concerns about free speech in striking down part of a 2008 law enacted after a teenager who was teased online committed suicide.
Missouri
Judge rules in favor of KKK over leafleting lawsuit
ST. LOUIS (AP) — For the second time this year, a federal court has ruled that the eastern Missouri town of Desloge cannot ban the Ku Klux Klan — or any other group — from passing out handbills.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Nannette A. Baker’s ruling Tuesday stops Desloge from enforcing an ordinance that prohibits leafleting on the street. The American Civil Liberties Union sued on behalf of the KKK.
The ACLU initially filed suit in 2012, and a judge struck down the original ordinance. Desloge revised the law, but the ACLU also challenged the revision, claiming that it, too, violated free speech rights.
Desloge City Administrator Greg Camp says the ordinance is aimed at keeping pedestrians safe, not singling out offensive groups.
Camp says city officials haven’t decided whether to appeal.
Texas
Suit challenging execution drugs filed in Houston
HOUSTON (AP) — Three death row inmates are suing the Texas prison system to challenge what they contend is use of untested drugs in future executions.
One of the plaintiffs in the suit filed Tuesday in Houston federal court is Michael Yowell. He faces lethal injection next week in Huntsville for killing his parents at their home in Lubbock.
The lawsuit filed on the inmates’ behalf is demanding Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials fully disclose the drugs they’re using and their source so the condemned prisoners won’t endure pain and suffering.
Texas’ previous supply of pentobarbital, the drug it uses for executions, expired last month. And like other death penalty states, Texas has had difficulty obtaining new drug supplies for capital punishment use.
Corrections officials say they haven’t seen the lawsuit.
Pennsylvania
Police: Armed homeowner halts, subdues intruder
CRANBERRY, Pa. (AP) — Police say an armed western Pennsylvania homeowner subdued a burglary suspect until police could arrive.
Online court records don’t list an attorney for 27-year-old Matthew Fettis, of Gibsonia, who faces a preliminary hearing Friday on charges including burglarizing an occupied structure.
Fifty-one-year-old Joseph Eisel says he and his wife woke up to find Fettis in the bedroom of their Cranberry Township home about 3 a.m. Monday.
Eisel grabbed a 9mm pistol from a closet and chased Fettis down the hallway.
Eisel says, “It was just instinct. You jump up and protect your family.”
Police arrived to find Fettis lying in a fetal position on the floor, with Eisel holding him at gunpoint. Police say Fettis got into the home by throwing an antique metal wagon wheel through a basement window.
North Carolina
Man charged with shooting, killing his 2 neighbors
ARDEN, N.C. (AP) — A 59-year-old Buncombe County man is charged with fatally shooting his next-door neighbors in their driveway
The Asheville Citizen-Times reports the shooting in Arden was the result of an ongoing dispute that started years ago over a trash can.
Erwin Jarvis is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 54-year-old Robert Matheson and 50-year-old Genise Matheson. At a court appearance Tuesday, a judge agreed to appoint him a public defender. He is next set to appear in court Oct. 22.
Asheville police Sgt. Dave Romick says neighbors called 911 after hearing about 10 gunshots Monday evening. Police found the Mathesons dead in their driveway. The couple’s 12-year-old son was inside the house and uninjured.
Police records show officers were called to the Matheson’s or Jarvis’ home more than two dozen times over the past three years, including nine complaints of loud music.
Neighbors say their bitter feud began over Jarvis using the Matheson’s city-issued trash bin.
Jerrell Jackson said Jarvis began using the Mathesons’ rollout trash container after the family moved to South Carolina for some time and left the home unoccupied. They got upset about that when they moved back to Arden, he said.
Nebraska
Mom accused of extortion try in molestation case
SIDNEY, Neb. (AP) — A 29-year-old Nebraska Panhandle woman has been charged with extorting money from a man who’s now charged with molesting her 7-year-old daughter.
Jason Frei, of Potter, faces a felony charge of child sexual assault. Authorities say the 55-year-old groped the girl while giving her mother a massage on Aug. 15. The Associated Press isn’t using the mother’s name, in order to protect the girl’s privacy.
The woman later reported the incident. But the Cheyenne County deputy who investigated the case says Frei reported that the woman said she wouldn’t report the molestation if he paid her $20,000. A court document says Frei said he’d paid the woman $10,000 and showed the investigator a bank withdrawal receipt.
