North Dakota
Fed judge drops case against man accused of threat
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A judge has agreed to dismiss a case against a Minnesota man accused of trying to extort $50 million from government agencies in the North Dakota city of Fargo and threatening to hold tribunals for politicians.
Federal prosecutors asked to drop the case against Brian Jacobson, of Battle Lake, Minn., after psychiatric evaluations found that he wasn’t competent to stand trial. The reports also showed that Jacobson is not a risk to hurt anyone.
Jacobson was charged with two counts of transmitting threatening communications. Authorities say he made the threats primarily in three voicemail messages to the U.S. Marshals Service in Fargo.
Jacobson lashed out at federal Judge Ralph Erickson during an August hearing. He told the judge he ruined “two careers” and said Erickson should be arrested and handcuffed.
New Hampshire
Man gets 35 to life for fatally shooting wife
NEWPORT, N.H. (AP) — A man who admitted shooting his wife in a jealous rage after learning she was having an affair was sentenced Wednesday to the maximum of 35 years to life in prison.
James Perriello, 42, pleaded guilty earlier this month to second-degree murder. He admitted shooting 42-year-old Natalie Perriello six times in the head on April 26, 2012, at their Grantham home. Another bullet lodged in a window frame above where the youngest of their four children slept.
Perriello said he had secretly taped his wife, a popular teacher at Lebanon High School, and discovered she was having an affair with a former student.
Perriello apologized in court Wednesday. He showed no visible reaction when the sentence was delivered while members of Natalie Perriello’s smiled at the maximum punishment.
His lawyer had argued for 18 to 36 years.
When he pleaded guilty in Sullivan County Superior Court on Dec. 3, Perriello said he was “very angry” the night he killed his wife.
The Perriellos had marital problems for years that got worse after the birth of their fourth child, according to court records. They had separated several months before the shooting but eventually got back together, sleeping in separate bedrooms.
They went to a counselor on the day of the shooting and later that night, Perriello continued to confront his wife about what he had heard on the recording.
Police learned through the recording that Natalie Perriello and her 20-year-old former student “were affectionate toward one another and had initiated a relationship.” Perriello also told police he had been monitoring his wife’s email, social media sites and text messages.
Perriello initially told police he went into the bedroom with a gun to scare his wife and that it accidentally went off when she tried to grab it. The first shot hit Natalie’s ring finger as she tried to grab for the gun. After Perriello shot her once in the head at close range, he fired five more shots into her head before letting her body drop to the floor.
The couple’s four children, ages 3 to 12 at the time of the shooting, are being raised by Natalie Perriello’s mother.
Just days before the shooting, James Perriello told several co-workers at a construction site that he believed his wife was having an affair and said at least three times that he “ought to just kill” her.
West Virginia
Lawyers: Death option should be removed in case
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (AP) — Lawyers for a federal inmate accused of killing another prisoner are asking a judge to remove the death penalty from the case.
The Exponent Telegram reports that the request is among several motions filed this month by Patrick Franklin Andrews’ lawyers in U.S. District Court in Clarksburg. Andrews’ lawyers also are seeking dismissal of the indictment.
The 33-year-old Andrews and 32-year-old co-defendant Kevin Bellinger are accused of killing another inmate, 28-year-old Jesse Harris, at the U.S. Penitentiary at Hazelton in 2007.
If Andrews is convicted, federal prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty. They won’t pursue it for Bellinger.
Andrews’ lawyers say the federal death penalty is arbitrary and discriminatory. Their motion asks U.S. District Judge Irene Keeley to change the case to a noncapital one.
Wisconsin
Couple in prayer death case seek release from jail
WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the case of a Wisconsin couple who prayed instead of seeking help as their 11-year-old daughter died from a treatable form of diabetes.
That means Dale and Leilani Neumann of Weston must now return to Marathon County court next month for a judge to decide whether they’ll begin serving their court-ordered sentences, which had been postponed pending an appeal, the Daily Herald Media reported.
Separate juries convicted the parents of second-degree reckless homicide in 2009. A judge ordered them to serve one month in jail per year for six years, a concession intended to ease the burden of caring for the couple’s surviving children, but the sentences were postponed.
To date, neither parent has spent a day in jail. A judge will decide the next steps Jan. 30.
Dale Neumann’s defense attorney, Steven L. Miller, said he’ll ask the judge to toss the sentences outright.
“The long and the short of it is, these people have been through enough,” Miller said.
But prosecutor Lance Leonhard said there’s no reason to delay their sentences any longer, and that they should begin serving immediately.
“All the issues have been resolved,” Leonhard said. “The judge permitted a stay for the appeals process to conclude. Well, that process has now concluded. There is nowhere else this case can go.”
The Neumanns’ daughter, Madeline Kara Neumann, died of undiagnosed diabetes at home in March 2008. Doctors testified that she’d have had a good chance of survival if she’d received medical care in time.
She had been growing weak for several weeks and eventually became too sick to speak, eat, drink or walk. Her parents resisted suggestions from her grandmother to take her to a doctor, saying medical intervention would take the glory away from God.
Dale Neumann testified that the possibility of death never entered their minds. After the girl died, Leilani Neumann told police God would raise Kara from the dead.
The Neumanns don’t belong to any organized religion or church but identify themselves as Pentecostal Christians. They say they believe visiting a doctor is akin to worshipping an idol.
