New York
U.S. court revives European suit vs. R.J. Reynolds
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit by the European Union alleging that U.S. tobacco company R.J. Reynolds sponsored cigarette smuggling in Europe.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City ruled Wednesday that the European Union and 26 of its member states were within rights to sue in U.S. courts.
The lawsuit alleges RJR directed, managed and controlled a global money-laundering scheme with organized crime groups. It said the company laundered money through New York-based financial institutions.
A Brooklyn judge had dismissed the lawsuit. But the appeals court says a racketeering law can apply to a foreign enterprise or conduct outside the U.S.
Reynolds American Inc., based in Winston-Salem, N.C., said through a spokesman that it is considering additional appeals of the “entirely baseless” lawsuit.
Massachusetts
2 ex-collegiate football players face charges
BOSTON (AP) — Two former college football players who went to high school together were charged with beating up a homeless man.
Craig Parsons, a former Boston College tight end, and Anthony Varrichione, an ex-quarterback at Marist College, were accused of kicking and punching the 50-year-old man unconscious early Jan. 26 in the city’s Allston neighborhood.
Parsons and Varrichione were charged Wednesday with assault and battery causing serious bodily injury and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon — their shoes. Parsons also was charged with intimidating a witness.
Parsons’ attorney, Michael Doolin, said his client was wrongfully identified. “C.J. is a good kid from a good family. We are hopeful that he will be exonerated,” he said.
Varrichione’s lawyer, Tim Flaherty, said the same of his client. Neither attorney would comment further on the allegations.
The charges stem from a grand jury investigation in which several witnesses identified the two men, said Jake Wark, a spokesman for the Suffolk County district attorney’s office. Witnesses to the attack called police and one woman jumped in to try to help the victim, who was hospitalized for three days, according to Wark.
Parsons, 22, of Newton, Mass., is a Boston College senior. He was suspended and barred from campus less than a month before graduation, according to university spokesman Jack Dunn, who referred to the allegations as “disturbing” in a statement Wednesday.
Varrichione, 23, of Medway, Mass., was a quarterback at Marist and graduated from the New York school in the fall.
According to bios on their colleges’ websites, each man is over 6 feet tall and weighs more than 200 pounds. They previously were teammates at Xaverian Brothers, a Catholic high school in Westwood, Mass.
They are due back in Suffolk Superior Court on June 4.
Washington
Soldier accused of deliberately killing Iraqi teens
JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. (AP) — A U.S. soldier accused of deliberately killing two unarmed teenagers as they herded cattle in Iraq seven years ago is appearing in military court, with his lawyer claiming the charges are baseless.
Sgt. 1st Class Michael Barbera has been charged with premeditated murder and faces a mandatory life sentence. A preliminary hearing opened Wednesday at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state.
An Army prosecutor told an investigating officer the killings were unjustified. He noted that the charges were brought after a 2012 investigation by The Tribune-Review of Pittsburgh, which found that soldiers who served with Barbera had reported the slayings and remained troubled that he hadn’t been prosecuted.
Barbera’s civilian lawyer, David Coombs, noted that no soldier immediately reported the shootings and argued that the newspaper didn’t critically examine other soldiers’ claims.
Colorado
Holmes’ lawyers appeal order for 2nd sanity exam
DENVER (AP) — Attorneys for Colorado theater shooting defendant James Holmes are appealing a judge’s order requiring a second sanity evaluation to the state’s Supreme Court.
Court filings released Wednesday show defense lawyers plan to file an appeal of the judge’s ruling within 30 days. Arapahoe County District Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. says he will put the second examination on hold pending the appeal, and he will cancel court hearings next month.
Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to charges of killing 12 people and injuring 70 in the July 2012 attack. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Holmes underwent a mandatory sanity evaluation last year. Samour ruled the first exam was inadequate and ordered a second.
Holmes’ lawyers objected, saying the order was improper and violated Holmes’ rights.
Connecticut
Man charged with false report in hoax threat
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut man was charged with making a call in November in which he falsely claimed an armed man was on his way to shoot up Yale University, police said Wednesday.
Jeffrey Jones, 50, of Westbrook, has been charged with falsely reporting an incident, threatening, reckless endangerment, misuse of the emergency 911 system and breach of peace, police said.
A message left with a public defender wasn’t immediately returned. A home phone listing for Jones could not be found.
A 911 call was received Nov. 25 from a man at a pay phone about a mile from campus who said his roommate was on the way to the university to shoot people.
The call prompted a six-hour campus lockdown and room-by-room search by SWAT teams. No one was injured.
Classes weren’t in session at the time, but police said many students were still in their dorm rooms.
Police blocked off several streets near the Ivy League university’s Old Campus, in the heart of New Haven, and several local schools also were placed in lockdown. The response included several police departments, the FBI and other federal agencies, police said.
The incident came several weeks after a scare on another Connecticut campus. Central Connecticut State University was in lockdown for several hours Nov. 4 after reports by witnesses of a masked man carrying a gun or sword that turned out to be a student wearing a ninja-like Halloween costume.
