Illinois
Judge tosses out copyright lawsuit against Lady Gaga
CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a copyright lawsuit against Lady Gaga filed by a Chicago songwriter who accused her of stealing parts of one of her songs.
Rebecca Francescatti filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Chicago in 2011, alleging that Lady Gaga had copied music and the title lyric from her 1998 song “Juda.”
Gaga’s 2011 song is called “Judas.”
Judge Marvin Aspen ruled this week that the songs do not have common lyrics, have different themes and sound nothing alike musically.
The judge also concluded there wasn’t enough evidence that Gaga could have heard or known about Francescatti’s song before publishing “Judas.”
Aspen writes that the songs “are so utterly dissimilar that reasonable minds could not differ as to a lack of substantial similarity between them.”
Massachusetts
Man allegedly put hot sauce in boy’s mouth
SALEM, Mass. (AP) — Prosecutors allege a man living in a Massachusetts hotel put hot sauce in the mouth of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old son and then taped it shut.
Christopher Delcid was held on $250,000 bail after pleading not guilty Wednesday to assault and battery on a child and child abandonment.
The boy was found alone in the Danvers hotel room Tuesday. The child told police that bruises on his body were caused by his “daddy” who hit him with a shoe and a belt as punishment. The 21-year-old Delcid is not the child’s biological father.
Police responded to the hotel after getting a call from a relative concerned about the child.
The Salem News reports that Delcid’s lawyer said his client has alternate explanations for the toddler’s injuries.
The boy’s mother could face charges.
Colorado
FBI analysts OK’d to testify at Holmes trial
DENVER (AP) — Two FBI crime scene analysts will be allowed to testify at the trial of the man charged with the massacre at a Colorado movie theater.
The judge ruled on Wednesday that FBI experts in bullet trajectories are credible and can testify as prosecution witnesses at the trial of James Holmes.
Holmes’ lawyers had argued that testimony from crime scene experts is unreliable.
Holmes is charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder in the July 2012 attack, which killed 12 people and injured 70. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Holmes’ trial is scheduled to start with jury selection on Oct. 14.
Connecticut
Paramedic gets prison time for sexual assault
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A former paramedic who sexually assaulted an unconscious woman in an ambulance in Connecticut has been sentenced to 3? years in prison.
Fifty-two-year-old Mark Powell of North Haven was sentenced Wednesday in New Haven Superior Court. He agreed to the prison time and lifetime sex offender registration when he pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault in April.
The New Haven Register reports the victim said in court that Powell was a “monster” who sexually pleased himself at her expense.
Prosecutors say Powell and another paramedic responded to a Hamden party early Christmas morning in 2011 to treat an unconscious and intoxicated 22-year-old woman who fell and hit her head while dancing.
The woman said she woke up in the ambulance and Powell was touching her in a sexual way.
California
Radio personality Piolin told to pay $100K legal fees
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Spanish-language radio personality Piolin has been ordered to pay more than $100,000 in legal fees for six people he targeted in a failed lawsuit.
Lawyers for the six say a Los Angeles judge awarded attorneys’ fees Tuesday.
Piolin, whose real name is Eddie Sotelo, had a long-running radio show called “Por la Manana” on Univision until it was abruptly canceled without explanation last year.
Sotelo later sued six former Univision employees, alleging they engaged in a $4.9 million extortion plot and false accusations of sexual harassment.
That suit was thrown out in March.
Sotelo, whose nickname means “Tweety Bird,” now has a program on SiriusXM satellite radio.
A call to the attorney who handled his lawsuit, Jeffrey Spitz, wasn’t immediately returned Wednesday.
Texas
Man faces charge in death of boy burned years ago
CONROE, Texas (AP) — A Texas man is set to be arraigned on a capital murder charge in a childhood attack on a boy who died nearly 13 years later.
Authorities say Don Willburn Collins was 13 years old in 1998 when he poured gasoline on Robert Middleton and set him on fire on Middleton’s 8th birthday at his home in Splendora.
Middleton survived but died in 2011 of skin cancer that authorities blamed on his injuries.
Now 29, Collins is jailed on $1 million bond and is scheduled for arraignment Thursday in Conroe.
A judge ruled in March that Collins’ case could be transferred from juvenile to adult court.
E. Tay Bond, Collins’ attorney, has said there’s no credible evidence that could lead to a conviction.
Splendora is 35 miles northeast of Houston.
Maryland
Trial set for police officer in dog slaying
BALTIMORE (AP) — A Baltimore police officer faces trial July 28 on animal cruelty charges for allegedly cutting the throat of a dog that had been restrained after biting a woman.
Court records filed Thursday show that 49-year-old Jeffrey Bolger of Eldersburg is free on his own recognizance after being charged Wednesday.
The female Shar-Pei died from blood loss Saturday. Witnesses said Bolger cut her throat with a knife after saying he was going to gut the dog.
He was at the scene to assist other officers after one said the dog was foaming at the mouth and appeared to be malnourished. Police said Wednesday the dog had escaped from home.
Bolger couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday. His home phone number isn’t listed, and no defense attorney is listed in court records.
