South Carolina
Woman says aliens told her to break into park
FORT MILL, S.C. (AP) - Police say a couple broke into a theme park that was closed for the offseason near the South Carolina-North Carolina line, and the woman told investigators that God and aliens directed her there.
York County sheriff's deputies told local media outlets that Francis Greene and Jason Lee were arrested Friday night after a security officer at the Carowinds theme park found their truck abandoned in the parking lot. The officer also found an 8-month-old boy alone in the truck.
The guard said the couple returned to the truck 20 minutes after leaving it.
Greene is charged with child neglect, filing a false police report and trespassing. Lee is charged with child neglect and trespassing. It was not clear whether they had attorneys.
The baby was taken into protective custody.
Ohio
Inmate receives medicine for man with same name
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - A sheriff in Ohio says an inmate was given two weeks' worth of medication meant for another man with the same name.
An investigation is underway into how the mix-up happened at the Lucas County jail in Toledo.
The inmate's sister tells The Blade newspaper in Toledo that he was given medications to treat psychological disorders in November.
She says he got six or seven medications three times a day instead of just his usual dose of extra-strength aspirin for headaches.
The woman says her brother began feeling suicidal and was hospitalized for two days. She says he's better now.
Officials with the sheriff's department say they can't release many details. The medications are handed out by a jail nursing staff.
Wisconsin
Man gets 40 years in killing, dismemberment
WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) - A Wisconsin man was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years in prison in the fatal shooting and dismemberment of a Minnesota man.
Kou Thao, 28, of Wausau, pleaded no contest in September to second-degree intentional homicide in the April 2013 death of 58-year-old Tong Pao Hang, of St. Paul, Minnesota.
Thao was sentenced in Marathon County Circuit Court. The Wausau Daily Herald Media reported his sentence also includes 20 years of extended supervision after his release.
Thao, who was also convicted of hiding a corpse and possession of a firearm by a felon, was accused of shooting and dismembering Hang, and taking Hang's severed head to Milwaukee in the trunk of his car in the spring of 2013. Other body parts were found in the basement of a Milwaukee home.
A motive in the killing was unclear. Prosecutors have said it appeared the two men met just days before the shooting.
A Marathon County judge ruled last year that Thao was mentally capable of assisting with his own defense.
Thao's attorney, Steven Kohn, had argued his client deserved less than the maximum sentence of 80 years in the prison system, including time in prison and on supervision.
"I don't think this is a young man who is a worst-case offender and for whom we have no hope," Kohn said Wednesday.
But Marathon County Deputy District Attorney Theresa Wetzsteon told Judge Michael Moran that Thao had a "pattern of criminal behavior and violence" as far back as 2002.
Hang's son, Shoua Neng Hang, said that his father was a loving man who was devoted to his family and took his children fishing and camping.
"Losing and saying goodbye to my father is one of the most difficult things I have gone through," Hang said. "If tears could build a stairway to heaven, I would walk right up there and bring my dad home again."
When it was Thao's turn to speak, he said the killing was not premeditated or intentional, but that it happened in the heat of the moment. He also apologized to the victim's family and his own, according to the newspaper.
"I am not a monster," Thao said. "I am truly sorry."
Before sentencing Thao, the judge said that the crime had shocked the community.
"It's more like an execution than an accident," Moran said.
Massachusetts
Kin: Man who killed doctor had blamed him for mother's death
BOSTON (AP) - A man who walked into a leading hospital, asked for a cardiac surgeon by name and fatally shot him outside an examination room had been upset about his mother's death and had blamed the doctor for it, relatives said.
Gunman Stephen Pasceri entered Brigham and Women's Hospital on Tuesday morning seeking Dr. Michael Davidson and then shot him twice, police said. He then killed himself, and officers found his body with the weapon shortly afterward.
Pasceri's sister and brother said Wednesday they were shocked by his actions and believe he held Davidson responsible for the November death of their mother, who had heart and lung problems.
Marguerite Joly told the Boston Herald her mother, Marguerite Pasceri, was Davidson's patient and her brother and the doctor had "a fine relationship." She said she doesn't know why her brother snapped.
"I think it comes down to the fact that my brother thought it was the doctor's fault that my mother died," Joly said.
Gregory Pasceri told The Boston Globe his brother, who was from Millbury, recently learned about a lung medication the doctor prescribed for his mother, which his brother believed caused a fatal complication.
"It really destroyed my brother," Gregory Pasceri said. "I had no idea he was going to take it to that extreme."
Four of Davidson's colleagues said he was a doting father and a caring doctor and mentor who also played in a rock band with co-workers.
"You should all be assured that Michael Davidson was one of the kindest and best physicians and men that ever walked on this earth," said Dr. Andrew Eisenhauer, an interventional cardiologist. "We knew that, his patients knew that and his family knew that."
Earlier Wednesday, hospital employees held a memorial service at the main entrance and lowered the hospital's logo flag to half-staff.
Brigham and Women's president Betsy Nabel said the hospital would evaluate its safety protocols.
The hospital, which is affiliated with Harvard, said it was "truly devastating" that Davidson's life was taken "in this horrible manner."
"Dr. Davidson was a wonderful and inspiring cardiac surgeon who devoted his career to saving lives and improving the quality of life of every patient he cared for," the hospital said in a statement.
Davidson had worked there since 2006 and was an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.
Published: Fri, Jan 23, 2015
