Colorado
Judge sets new Dec. 8 trial date on James Holmes
DENVER (AP) — The judge in the Colorado theater shootings has tentatively set a new trial date of Dec. 8.
Defendant James Holmes had been scheduled go on trial in October, but the judge ordered a delay because a doctor requested more time to complete Holmes’ second sanity evaluation.
The new date was announced Wednesday.
Holmes pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to charges of killing 12 people and injuring 70 in the 2012 attack. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Holmes underwent a sanity evaluation last year. The key findings haven’t been released, but the judge ordered a second after concluding the first was flawed.
This is Holmes’ third trial date. It was previously postponed after prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty and after prosecutors asked for another sanity evaluation.
Texas
No trauma on 8 decaying bodies inside mortuary
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — No signs of trauma or foul play were found on eight decaying bodies discovered at an abandoned funeral home in Fort Worth, Texas, officials said.
Seven of the eight bodies found Tuesday at the Johnson Family Mortuary were in advanced stages of decomposition, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office said Wednesday.
Authorities have said the business, owned by twin brothers Dondre and Derrick Johnson, was already under state investigation and its license was due to expire in two weeks.
Officials know the identities of five of the bodies, but one woman and two fetuses have not yet been identified, the coroner’s office said.
Fort Worth police are investigating the case on abuse-of-corpse charges. Police spokesman Sgt. Raymond Bush said Thursday no charges have been filed.
Phone and email messages also left Thursday for the Johnson brothers were not immediately returned.
The property owner said he told the brothers to vacate the building because they were in arrears with the rent. The owner told police that he found the decomposing bodies Tuesday, but no workers.
John Leslie, an attorney representing the landlord, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that the brothers owed his client rent.
“They have not paid my client,” Leslie said. “I’m not going to go into the amount or how much they are in delinquency, but further legal action is likely.”
The mortuary’s state license expires at the end of July, according to Kyle Smith, an attorney with the Texas Funeral Commission. The business is the focus of five commission investigations, Smith said. Further details on the review were not immediately released.
Delaware
Contestant sues to regain her lost pageant title
DOVER, Del. (AP) — A woman stripped of her Miss Delaware title last month for being too old is suing state pageant officials and the Miss America organization.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, Amanda Longacre is seeking to be reinstated as Miss Delaware and to be allowed to compete in the Miss America pageant. She also is seeking $500,000 in damages for herself and $2.5 million for other contestants who she claims were recruited to compete in pageants before being told they were too old.
Officials say Miss America pageant rules require contestants to be between 17 and 24. Longacre turns 25 on Oct. 22, after this year’s national pageant.
The lawsuit alleges that one or more other contestants in the 2014 Miss Delaware pageant also were too old to compete under those rules.
“It is a lawsuit without merit and we will defend it vigorously,” said Sharon Pearce, president of the Miss America organization.
State pageant representatives did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Wednesday.
New York
NYC jury awards shoplifter $500K for broken ankle
NEW YORK (AP) — A Brooklyn jury has awarded more than $500,000 to a man who sued the city for a broken ankle he suffered during an arrest for shoplifting.
The jury awarded Kevin Jarman $510,000 on Wednesday for the injury.
The 50-year-old Jarman had filed the suit after pleading guilty to shoplifting at a Queens Pathmark in 2011.
The New York Post reports that Jarman has received other payouts from the city.
In 2005, he sued the NYPD for false arrest after a drug sale charge was dropped. The city settled for $15,000.
Last month, the city settled for $20,000 after Jarman sued police for false arrest in another drug case.
Florida
City must pay $25,000 for bra shaking search
LAKELAND, Fla. (AP) — A Florida city has paid a $25,000 settlement to a woman ordered to shake out her bra during a traffic stop.
The Ledger in Lakeland, Florida, reports a check dated July 7 was paid to 29-year-old Zoe Brugger.
Authorities say Brugger was pulled over by Lakeland police officer Dustin Fetz in May 2013 for a broken headlight. Silent video taken from the patrol car shows her being forced to shake out her bra multiple times in a search for drugs. The officer also searched her car over her objections. No drugs were found.
Fetz has not been reprimanded for the search itself, but he served a one-day suspension for not having his microphone on.
City officials say they’re waiting for an executed release, freeing them from a lawsuit.
Ohio
Sheriff to probe heroin deaths as homicide cases
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio sheriff says his office will begin investigating heroin overdose deaths as homicides and pursue murder charges against dealers who provided the drugs.
Lucas County Sheriff John Sharp has dedicated three full-time and one part-time detective to investigate overdoses in his county, where heroin deaths have jumped from eight four years ago to 80 last year.
Tharp tells WTOL-TV in Toledo Thursday that his agency will gather the facts and turn them over to the county prosecutor.
The tactic is new in Lucas County but familiar to state and federal prosecutors elsewhere trying to reign in a heroin epidemic that continues to grow.
The state Health Department says heroin-related deaths soared 60 percent to 680 in 2012, the most recent year of available data.
