California
‘Shield’ actor Jace charged in wife’s death
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities say actor Michael Jace is charged with homicide after his wife was found shot to death in their home.
The Los Angeles Times reports that city police arrived at the couple’s home in the Hyde Park neighborhood around 8:30 p.m. Monday and that 40-year-old April Jace was found dead inside.
Detective Eric Crosson tells the newspaper that Michael Jace was taken into custody Monday night and arrested on a homicide charge later. Jace was in custody and unavailable for comment.
The 50-year-old Jace played a police officer in the TV series “The Shield” and had roles in “Forrest Gump” and “Planet of the Apes.” The couple were married nine years and have children.
California
Death penalty sought in missing teenager case
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Prosecutors said Monday they are seeking the death penalty against a man charged with kidnapping and killing a 15-year-old Northern California girl whose body has not been found.
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said he made the decision to seek capital punishment against Antolin Garcia-Torres in the 2012 disappearance of Sierra LaMar after a “comprehensive review” by a committee of senior prosecutors.
“I have concluded that this defendant should face the ultimate penalty,” Rosen said. He said he would not be making any additional comments to ensure that Garcia-Torres receives a fair trial.
Garcia-Torres has pleaded not guilty to murder and kidnapping charges in the Sierra case. He is also accused of attempting to kidnap three women during carjackings in 2009.
The county’s Alternate Defender Office, which is representing Garcia-Torres, said it has always viewed Sierra’s disappearance as a missing person case, not a homicide, and was disappointed the district attorney decided to pursue the death penalty.
“As everyone is aware, there are serious issues with the administration of the death penalty not only here in California but around the nation,” David W. Epps, supervising attorney at the Alternate Defender Office, said in a statement.
Sierra’s family thinks Rosen is doing the “right thing,” cousin Keith LaMar told the San Jose Mercury News.
“I don’t personally feel society would be safe with someone like that back in it,” he said. “The best result that could come out of this is that Sierra would come home to us and that hasn’t happened.”
Sierra, who remains missing, was last seen by her family leaving her Morgan Hill home for school in March 2012. Her school books, purse and clothing were found near a shed in a field about 2 miles from her home on March 18.
Garcia-Torres was arrested two months later, after authorities say they found Sierra’s DNA in his car and his DNA in her handbag. Investigators seized Garcia-Torres’ Volkswagen Jetta on April 7 from a trailer he shared with his mother, girlfriend and young daughter.
Garcia-Torres lived about 7 miles from LaMar.
Sheriff’s officials have said Sierra and Garcia-Torres did not know each other. Her abduction is believed to be a random act of violence.
Rosen discussed his decision to pursue the death penalty with Sierra’s family. Keith LaMar, who participated in the discussion, said Rosen told family members he was not using the death penalty as a bargaining chip that would be taken away if Garcia-Torres led investigators to Sierra’s body.
California
Judge: Ex-TSA officer mentally unfit for trial
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal judge ruled Monday that a former security screener at Los Angeles International Airport will be sent to a mental institution rather than stand trial on charges he made threats on the eve of last year’s 9/11 anniversary.
U.S. District Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell found that Nna Alpha Onuoha isn’t competent to stand trial after reviewing a doctor’s evaluation and hearing a rambling, incoherent statement from the 30-year-old defendant, according to City News Service.
Onuoha, a former Transportation Security Administration officer, was arrested around midnight Sept. 13. The FBI said he had resigned earlier that day after a recent suspension for allegedly criticizing a 15-year-old girl’s wardrobe as too skimpy. The incident was publicized after the girl’s father blogged about it.
Onuoha is accused of making threatening calls to airport officials demanding that terminals be evacuated, according to the indictment. Prosecutors charged him with false information and hoaxes, and making telephonic threats.
If convicted, he faced up to 45 years in prison.
Florida
Miami pastor gets jail in fake Hirst art case
NEW YORK (AP) — A Miami pastor was sentenced Monday to six months in jail for peddling bogus examples of some of British artist Damien Hirst’s signature paintings.
Kevin Sutherland had faced a possible seven years in prison in the attempted grand larceny case, which accused him of knowingly trying to sell five fake Hirsts for $185,000 to an undercover detective. Sutherland, who plans to appeal, said he was just an art-world tyro who got confusing signals about the pieces’ authenticity.
Sutherland, 46, leads the small, nondenominational Mosaic Miami Church in Miami. Defense lawyer Sanford “Sam” Talkin emphasized Sutherland’s good works to the judge, and Mosaic Miami members and others wrote letters on his behalf.
Sutherland was convicted last month of agreeing to sell paintings and prints mimicking Hirst’s pharmaceutical-themed “spot” paintings and round “spin” paintings, two of the artist’s best-known themes.
Part of a group dubbed the Young British Artists in the 1990s, Hirst received Great Britain’s prestigious Turner Prize in 1995.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office noted that Sotheby’s auction house had raised red flags about the authenticity of one of the paintings, but Sutherland nonetheless told the detective he didn’t know of any doubts about them.
But Sutherland said the auction house never clearly told him the artworks were counterfeit. He said he believed their authenticity was guaranteed when he bought them from Vincent Lopreto, an admitted California art scammer who testified against him.
Lopreto pleaded guilty this year to identity theft and other charges. Two other men also admitted guilt in phony-Hirst cases brought by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.
“Because the art industry is largely unregulated, it is particularly important to hold accountable those who fraudulently deal artwork,” Vance said after Sutherland’s conviction.
