National Roundup

Florida
Woman convicted of sex on beach gets time served
BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) — A woman who was convicted of having sex on a Florida beach will not spend any more time in jail.

On Wednesday, a Bradenton judge sentenced 20-year-old Elissa Alvarez to time served.

She and 40-year-old Jose Caballero were found guilty May 4 of lewd and lascivious exhibition for having sex in public, including in front of a 3-year-old child.

The Bradenton Herald reports that Alvarez accepted the stat-recommended sentence during a hearing scheduled to discuss setting a sentencing date. Defense attorney Greg Hagopian said she is embarrassed by the incident.

Alvarez, who’s been in custody since May 4, was released Wednesday evening. Because she doesn’t have a criminal record, her conviction was withheld. She still must register as a sex offender unless she appeals.

Caballero will be sentenced July 6.

Missouri
Lawsuit filed in cop killing moves to federal court
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A wrongful death lawsuit filed by Michael Brown’s parents is moving to federal court.

The suit against the city of Ferguson, former police chief Tom Jackson and Darren Wilson, the officer who shot Brown, was filed last month in state court. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Jackson and Wilson filed to have the suit moved on grounds that it deals with constitutional issues.

Brown, who was 18 and black, was shot by the white officer on Aug. 9, touching off months of unrest.

Meanwhile, a lawsuit filed by Dorian Johnson, who was walking with Brown prior to the confrontation, has also been moved to federal court, also following a request from Jackson and Wilson. That suit claims that Wilson assaulted Johnson, violated his constitutional rights and inflicted emotional pain.

New York
Court: Apple must submit to named monitor
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal appeals panel has refused to disqualify a court-appointed monitor after a judge found Apple colluded with book publishers in 2010 to raise electronic book prices.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled against Apple Inc. Thursday. The three-judge panel concluded that a judge did not act improperly when she declined Apple’s request to disqualify a monitor she had appointed to evaluate Apple’s antitrust policies.

A lawyer for Apple, based in Cupertino, California, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The 2nd Circuit did not yet rule on a separate appeal in which Apple is challenging the judge’s finding that it colluded with publishers.

After a 2013 civil trial, a judge ordered the technology giant to modify contracts with publishers to prevent price fixing.

Mississippi
9th arrest made in deaths of 2 police officers
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — A ninth person has been arrested in connection with the shooting deaths of two Mississippi police officers who were killed during a traffic stop earlier this month, authorities said.

Spokesman Warren Strain with the Mississippi Department of Public Safety said in a statement Wednesday night that 25-year-old Brodrick Kendell Varnado of Hattiesburg was arrested and charged with accessory after the fact of capital murder.

No further details about the allegations against Varnado were immediately available.

Strain says Varnado was being held in the Forrest County jail awaiting an initial court appearance. It wasn’t clear if Varnado has a lawyer who could comment on the charge.

An eighth suspect, Jimmy “Jimbo” Velton Brady, 22, was arrested in the case on May 15 and charged with possession of a stolen weapon, Strain said. Strain declined to release details of the charge or how it related to the shooting. Brady was being held on $20,000 bond.

Strain said the state’s investigation remained ongoing but declined to give further details.

Police say 29-year-old Marvin Banks shot Hattiesburg Police Department patrolmen Benjamin Deen and Liquori Tate on May 9 after Deen pulled over a speeding car driven by Banks’ girlfriend. The officers died at a hospital. Banks is being held without bond on two counts of capital murder. He also was charged with grand larceny and possession of a weapon by a felon.

Georgia
Suspect arrested in 2002 death of college professor
SWAINSBORO, Ga. (AP) — Investigators have arrested a new suspect in the 2002 death of a college professor in Swainsboro.

Multiple news outlets report Phillip Scott Kirby Sr. was charged Wednesday with murder in the death of Emily Pestana-Mason. She was an associate professor at East Georgia College. Authorities say she was stabbed in the neck while her two daughters were home. The victim’s husband, Walter C. Mason Jr., was charged earlier with murder in her death.

Authorities say Kirby was in prison on another charge and was being released when he was charged in Pestana-Mason’s death. In 2004, a search warrant was obtained for a sample of Kirby’s blood for DNA testing, which was found to match a hair left on her body. Kirby said in court he plans to hire an attorney.

Pennsylvania
Feds say they indict 15 Chinese in test-taking plot
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Fifteen Chinese citizens have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on charges they conspired to take college admissions tests so others could fraudulently obtain student visas.

The indictment announced Thursday says the alleged conspirators took the tests run by Educational Testing Service and the College Board — such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test, or SAT — under false pretenses.

Prosecutors aren’t saying how many students benefited from the alleged scheme, but say some paid as much as $6,000 to have the tests taken in their name.

That was done by forging passports that included the students’ personal information next to a picture of the conspirator who was being paid to take the tests.

Two of the suspects were in custody, 10 will be sent court summonses and three are still in China.