Indiana
House GOP files marriage ban amendment
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A House Republican has introduced a measure that seeks to place Indiana’s gay marriage ban in the state constitution.
The House resolution filed Thursday by state Rep. Eric Turner of Cicero would strengthen Indiana’s existing ban and limit future expansion of benefits for same-sex couples.
The formal introduction of the measure tees up a legislative fight that has been waiting in the wings for months. Supporters and opponents have been lobbying members of the House Judiciary Committee behind the scenes and publicly.
The 13-member panel will be the first testing ground for both sides.
If lawmakers approve the ban measure this year, it would head to voters in November. The measure won broad bipartisan support in 2011. But that support appears to have softened somewhat amid shifting national attitudes.
South Carolina
State Supreme Court to hear FOIA appeal
SUMTER, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina Supreme Court will hear an appeal by The Item of Sumter’s parent company over the release of a 2010 autopsy.
The Item reported Thursday the lawsuit involves the autopsy of 25-year-old Aaron Leon Jacobs, who was shot in the back by officers investigating a carjacking. At issue is whether the autopsy records should be made available under the state’s Freedom of Information Act.
The hearing is set for Feb. 5. Lawyers for Osteen Publishing Co. and Sumter County Coroner Harvin Bullock are to present their arguments.
Circuit Judge Clifton Newman ruled last July that Bullock was not required under the Freedom of Information law to release the report. Bullock says the report is a medical record and therefore protected from public release.
Texas
Man on trial for assault flees courthouse
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A man charged with beating his ex-girlfriend and setting her house on fire has fled from a South Texas courtroom after stepping out to say he needed to make a call.
Bexar (bayr) County jail records do not list 31-year-old Christopher Jones as being in custody Thursday. A judge in San Antonio issued a warrant for Jones after he disappeared Wednesday during jury selection.
Jones faces up to life in prison if convicted of aggravated assault in the February 2012 attack on his former girlfriend at her apartment.
Defense attorney Scott McCrum says Jones, who was free on bond prior to trial, said he wanted to call his father about a legal matter.
Investigators later found the defendant’s electronic ankle monitor dumped several miles away.
Louisiana
Court: Brumfield is not disabled, can be executed
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A federal appeals court has ruled that condemned killer Kevan Brumfield is not mentally disabled and can be put to death for the 1993 ambush slaying of Baton Rouge police Cpl. Betty Smothers.
The Advocate reports a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans said U.S. District Judge James Brady erred in concluding in February 2012 that Brumfield is mentally disabled and ineligible for execution.
Smothers was working an off-duty security job when she was fatally shot shortly after midnight on Jan. 7, 1993, while driving a grocery store manager to a bank to make a night deposit.
The manager, Kimen Lee, survived the attack despite being shot numerous times.
Rhode Island
Panel mulls using mental records in gun checks
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A panel created by Rhode Island lawmakers is continuing its review of ways to use mental health records in firearm background checks.
The task force is scheduled to meet Thursday at the Statehouse. It’s looking at why the state currently doesn’t provide mental health records to the national firearm background check system.
While most states already provide the records, the practice is prohibited in Rhode Island by state medical privacy laws. Lawmakers say they want to find a way to prevent dangerous, mentally unstable individuals from getting guns without stigmatizing common mental illnesses like depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.
The commission includes lawmakers, law enforcement officials, gun rights advocates and mental health experts. It is expected to report its findings to the General Assembly within a few months.
Missouri
Man appeals death sentence in girl’s death
JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — A man convicted of raping and murdering a 9-year-old southwest Missouri girl is asking the Missouri Supreme Court to reduce his death penalty sentence to life without parole.
The Missouri Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday on 38-year-old Christopher Collings’ appeal of his first-degree murder conviction and death sentence in the 2007 slaying of 9-year-old Rowan Ford. She was raped and killed after being taken from her home in Stella.
The Joplin Globe reports Collings’ attorney argued that that videotaped confessions Collings made to investigators should have been suppressed. They also contend Collings did not plan the girl’s death, a condition required for imposition of the death penalty.
Prosecutors contend Collings was read his rights before he confessed and evidence showed he planned to rape and kill Rowena.
Oregon
2nd death row inmate wants execution
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A second Oregon death row inmate is challenging the state to carry out its death penalty.
Jason Van Brumwell agrees with fellow inmate Gary Haugen that pursuing appeals is pointless and he should be executed.
The 38-year-old Brumwell was sent to death row in 2007 with Haugen after the two were convicted of a prison killing.
The Oregonian reports Brumwell announced his intentions Wednesday at a hearing in Marion County Circuit Court.
Haugen dropped his appeals in 2011 and said he wanted to be executed. That was blocked by Gov. John Kitzhaber who has said no inmate will be put to death as long as he’s governor.
There are 34 men and one woman on Oregon’s death row. No inmate has been given a lethal injection since 1997.
