Judge: Utility not required to power home
PONTIAC (AP) — A judge says a Michigan utility isn’t required to supply power to a home where a couple installed their own meter.
Andrea McNinch and Phillip Sullivan sued seeking to have power restored to their home in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak. The Oakland Press of Pontiac reports DTE Energy Co. deemed the situation unsafe and shut off power Dec. 18.
Oakland County Chief Circuit Judge Nanci Grant said McNinch and Sullivan failed to articulate why they are unwilling to use a DTE-approved meter.
DTE spokesman Scott Simons says tampering with or removing meters is illegal and a “serious safety situation.”
McNinch says she swapped the so-called smart meter due to concerns that it might cause health problems. DTE says the meters are safe.
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Conviction tossed in case of man who acted as his own lawyer
FERNDALE (AP) — A man who insisted on acting as his own lawyer has persuaded the state Court of Appeals to throw out his conviction — because a judge didn’t fully explain the risk of acting as his own lawyer.
The court ruled recently there are key steps that must be followed when a defendant wants to go solo. And in the case of Jimmy Aldaoud, Oakland County Judge Daniel O’Brien didn’t explain the length of a possible prison sentence.
Before trial, Aldaoud said he had spent 16 months — “day and night” — studying law books. He was convicted of home invasion and sentenced to at least three years in prison.
Aldaoud admitted taking tools from a Ferndale garage in 2012 but claimed it was a misdemeanor, not a felony.
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Professor who lost job offer over Twitter sues
CHICAGO (AP) — A professor who lost a University of Illinois job offer over his profane, anti-Israel Twitter messages has sued the university’s board of trustees and key administrators to try to get that job.
In his lawsuit, Steven Salaita asks the court for an order letting him go to work at the University of Illinois’ Urbana-Champaign campus. He also seeks unspecified monetary damages.
Salaita was offered a job teaching Native American Studies starting last August. The offer was rescinded after he wrote the Twitter messages. Some university donors complained they were anti-Semitic.
Salaita left a job at Virginia Tech University to come to Illinois but his hiring hadn’t yet been approved by the trustees.
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Judge dismisses lawsuit filed by stabbed pregnant woman
BANGOR, Maine (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against the state of Maine by a pregnant mental health worker who was stabbed by a patient at the state-run Riverview Psychiatric Center.
Jamie Hill-Spotswood argued in the suit that less than a week before the March 2013 attack she told the assistant director of nursing at the Augusta hospital that she was 18 weeks pregnant and felt unsafe because there was no security on the floor where she worked, which was occupied by violent patients.
The Portland Press Herald reports that a judge Thursday rejected Hill-Spotswood’s claims that the state had failed to protect her, saying that her attacker created the danger, not the state.
The baby was born healthy. The patient was convicted of assault.
Hill-Spotswood’s lawyer says he will appeal.
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