California
State seeks to block inmate's sex reassignment
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - California officials have asked a federal appeals court to block a judge's order that the state immediately provide a transgender prisoner with sex reassignment surgery.
The state filed a request for a stay Monday with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals while it appeals this month's ruling by U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar. He said California's corrections department must provide the surgery to 51-year-old Michelle-Lael Norsworthy, whose birth name is Jeffrey Bryan Norsworthy.
Tigar denied the state's request for a stay last week, ruling that Norsworthy is likely to win her case. In the meantime, the judge said she is suffering psychologically and emotionally while her rights are being violated.
The San Francisco-based judge is just the second in the nation to order a state prison system to provide the surgery. An order in a Massachusetts case was overturned, and the U.S. Supreme Court let that rejection stand without comment Monday.
If Tigar's order stands, Norsworthy would be the first inmate to receive such surgery in California.
In its request to the higher court, the state argued that Norsworthy had received substantial gender-related treatment over the years.
"Although the district court rested its ruling on a purported violation of the Eighth Amendment's proscription against cruel and unusual punishment, the record shows that Ms. Norsworthy has received extensive medical and mental-health treatment for her gender dysphoria for over 15 years," according to the request.
The state also argued that "no treating physician has ever determined that reassignment surgery is medically necessary."
Ohio
Woman gets jail in 100-year-old mother's death
BELLEFONTAINE, Ohio (AP) - A 77-year-old Ohio woman has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after admitting she caused her 100-year-old mother's death by severe neglect.
Logan County Common Pleas Judge Mark O'Connor sentenced Mary Strawser Monday and says it's "incredulous" that more wasn't done to take care of Strawser's mother.
Prosecutors say Strawser neglected her mother for years, leaving her to die on a couch in a dilapidated trailer in Rushsylvania.
Authorities found Blanche Cowen dead in 2014 after a mentally-disabled man who also lived in the trailer discovered she wasn't breathing. She was 84 pounds when she died.
Strawser's didn't make a statement in court.
Strawser pleaded guilty in March to reckless homicide and theft from an elderly person. She's eligible to apply for early release after 30 days behind bars.
South Carolina
Cops: Student put window cleaner in food
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Police say a University of South Carolina student has been arrested after her roommates set up a camera and caught her spitting and putting window cleaner in their food.
Investigators told media outlets the roommates set up the camera because they had several arguments with 22-year-old Hayley King and she refused to leave their off-campus apartment.
Columbia police say the camera caught King taking several containers of food out of a refrigerator in February and spitting or spraying window cleaner into them. Authorities say one of the roommates ate out of one of the containers before seeing the video.
King is charged with unlawful, malicious tampering with human drug product or food. Her lawyer didn't respond to a request to comment.
New Jersey
Groups sue over theme park's solar farm plans
JACKSON, N.J. (AP) - Environmental groups have filed suit over a New Jersey theme park's plans to cut nearly 19,000 trees to build a 90-acre solar farm.
The groups claim Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson is violating the state's municipal land use law. They say the plan would be harmful to the Barnegat Bay watershed.
The groups say the amusement park's parking lot and buildings would be a more appropriate location for a solar farm.
In a statement, Janet Tauro of Clean Water Action said it's illogical to destroy the forest to combat climate change.
Six Flags has said the facility would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 24 times what the undisturbed forest is capable of removing on its own. It has also pledged to replant nearly 26,000 trees.
North Carolina
Cop burned by free coffee sues Starbucks
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - A Raleigh police officer who got a free cup of Starbucks coffee is suing the company for $50,000 after he spilled it and got burned.
WRAL-TV reports attorneys said in court Monday that Matthew Kohr should be compensated for burns, blisters and emotional damage caused after the officer spilled a cup of coffee in his lap in 2012.
Kohr says in the lawsuit the lid popped off a cup of coffee he ordered at a Raleigh Starbucks and the cup collapsed. Kohr claims the incident caused such severe stress it activated his Crohn's disease which resulted in surgery to remove part of his intestine. The lawsuit also claims Kohr's wife, Melanie, lost a "source of emotional support, her social companion and her intimate partner."
Jury selection in the case is underway.
Georgia
Man who sent nudes to girl gets probation
MACON, Ga. (AP) - A Monroe man won't receive jail time for sending nude pictures to an underage girl, but will see probation.
The Macon Telegraph reports 23-year-old Mitchell Jared Harrison was sentenced to 10 years of probation during a hearing in Bibb County Superior Court Monday after pleading guilty to sending a then-12-year-old Macon girl nude pictures of himself in 2013. A prosecutor says Harrison met the girl on Facebook in July 2012. In April 2013, he exchanged text messages with the girl talking about meeting her in person to have sex.
Harrison's lawyer says Harrison didn't initially know the girl was 12 and when he learned her age, he cut off communication.
Harrison told the judge he was using drugs when he exchanged the messages, but has undergone rehabilitation.
Published: Wed, May 06, 2015
