New Hampshire
Tech support call leads to arrest of laptop burglar
DOVER, N.H. (AP) — Mike Witonis got an email from Apple thanking him for calling customer service about his laptop computer. Problem is, someone had stolen it from him a year earlier.
Police eventually arrested 24-year-old Casey Wentworth of Portsmouth on Monday and charged him with burglary. He’s accused of taking the laptop from Witonis’ home in Dover in February 2013.
When the break-in happened, police said they couldn’t identify any suspects. Detectives contacted Apple and the laptop’s serial number was flagged.
When Witonis got the email, he contacted police, who said the person who called customer service used the serial number of the stolen computer.
Witonis tells WMUR-TV the discovery was sort of shocking.
Wentworth is scheduled to be arraigned on May 2. It wasn’t immediately known if he had a lawyer.
Wisconsin
Federal judge refuses to toss John Doe lawsuit
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal judge in Milwaukee says a lawsuit seeking to stop a secret investigation into possible illegal coordination between conservative groups and recent recall campaigns can continue.
The conservative organization Club for Growth filed a federal lawsuit in February arguing the probe amounts to harassment and violates conservatives’ free speech rights.
The prosecutors leading the investigation asked U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa to dismiss the suit, arguing federal courts should stay out of the case.
Randa refused the request Tuesday, concluding that key First Amendment rights are at stake in the case and Club for Growth has standing to bring a lawsuit. The judge also noted prosecutors wouldn’t be immune from an injunction halting the investigation.
Wyoming
Gay marriage lawsuit may affect Wyoming
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A legal challenge to Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage could have ramifications for Wyoming and other western states.
The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals is set to begin hearing arguments Thursday in a case that seeks to let gay couples marry in Utah.
The case is one of dozens of pending lawsuits in about 30 states across the country, including Wyoming. They seek to override gay marriage bans at the state or federal level.
The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports the ruling could also affect Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming.
Four same-sex couples and supporters filed a lawsuit last month against Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead and other officials. The lawsuit challenges Wyoming law specifying marriage may only exist between one man and one woman.
Ohio
Prosecutor appealing ruling on GPS tracking
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A prosecutor said he will ask the Ohio Supreme Court to consider whether police can use GPS devices to track vehicles without a warrant.
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien will request an appeal of last week’s ruling by a county appeals court that threw out evidence in a burglary case because a detective placed a GPS device on a suspect’s car without asking a judge for a warrant, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Common Pleas Judge Michael J. Holbrook ruled in February 2013 that some evidence against 22-year-old burglary suspect Montie Sullivan was inadmissible because it violated his constitutional right against illegal searches.
Holbrook relied on a 2012 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that found that placing a GPS device on a vehicle and tracking it constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment. That ruling, however, did not address the need for a warrant.
Last week, a three-judge panel of the appeals court upheld the ruling.
Sullivan’s attorney said the appeals court decision means that prosecutors “have no evidence left” against him.
The Franklin County detective placed the device on the outside of a car registered to Sullivan in a public parking lot on Jan. 14, 2010, after Sullivan and another man were linked to a series of home invasions. The car’s movements were monitored until the detective noticed the car lingering in the area of a residence south of Columbus on Jan. 23.
Within minutes, a resident reported a home invasion. By the time deputies arrived, two gunmen had fled after shooting through a side door. The GPS was used to track the pair to an apartment, where they were arrested.
North Carolina
Military says Marine fatally shot colleague
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (AP) — A Marine was in custody Wednesday after military officials say he shot and fatally wounded a colleague with his M4 rifle while standing guard at the main gate of a North Carolina base.
The shooting happened at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, when the Marine fired on his colleague inside a guard shack at Camp Lejeune, Camp Lejeune spokesman Nat Fahy said.
Law enforcement and emergency personnel attempted to revive the shooting victim, who received a single shot, but the person was later pronounced dead at a base hospital, Fahy said.
The shooting came less than a week after a shooting rampage by a soldier at Fort Hood in Texas killed three and wounded 16 others.
Fahy stressed the difference in the two situations.
“We understand that people are at a state of heightened sensitivity, given what happened over at Fort Hood,” Fahy said. “It’s important that we convey that this is not a Fort Hood-like incident. It was an isolated incident that’s no longer active.”
The Marine who fired the shot from his M4 rifle was in custody and was awaiting questioning by Naval Criminal Investigative Services, Fahy said Tuesday night.
The name of the shooter, who Fahy said was a male, hasn’t been released, and Fahy said the victim’s name is being withheld until relatives are notified. There were other guards at the gate, but no one else was hurt.
The shack is about 15 feet by 15 feet and sits under a canopy, Fahy said. He didn’t know whether anyone other than the two Marines involved in the shooting were inside the shack at the time.
Fahy said the main gate remained open after the shooting.
He said authorities isolated the area immediately after the shooting, and when it was determined the situation was secure, traffic was allowed to pass on and off the base.
“At no time was the base ever on lockdown,” Fahy said.
