Pennsylvania
82-year-old man charged with molesting aide
CONNELLSVILLE, Pa. (AP) - An 82-year-old Pennsylvania man has been charged with molesting a health care aide who was trying to help him shower at his home.
The aide told police that John Owade greeted her July 1 by saying, "Do you want to play a game?" while wearing only an unfastened robe. Police say the aide had been visiting the Dunbar Township home for about five weeks to assist Owade and his wife, who wasn't home at the time.
The 21-year-old aide told police that Owade later grabbed her wrists and forced himself on her before she ran away.
The (Uniontown) Herald-Standard reports that Owade faces a July 21 preliminary hearing on indecent assault and rape charges.
Online court records don't list an attorney for him. His home phone was disconnected Tuesday.
Maine
Haiti orphanage founder says he never abused kids
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - The founder of an orphanage in Haiti who is accused by a Maine activist of molesting boys told jurors that he "never sexually abused children anywhere."
Michael Geilenfeld, a U.S. citizen, testified Monday in his defamation lawsuit against Paul Kendrick in federal court in Portland that the activist who leveled the accusations and refused to back down began sending email "blitzes" starting Jan. 31, 2011.
"I never sexually abused children anywhere," Geilenfeld testified. "I did not know what he was relying on. . This is the first time I had heard from him."
Geilenfeld and Hearts with Haiti, a Raleigh, North Carolina-based charity that raises money for the orphanage, contend the accusations cost the orphanage more than $2 million in donations.
The Portland Press Herald reported that Geilenfeld told jurors that he's gay and that his sexual orientation has led to past accusations of child abuse in an island nation that he described as "very homophobic." But he said the allegations of abuse that were made in 1987, 1990 and 1995 were quickly dispelled.
"These allegations to me were just vicious, vile lies," Geilenfeld said.
Geilenfeld and his lawyers also hold Kendrick responsible for Geilenfeld's arrest last fall in Haiti. He was released after 237 days when a judge dismissed charges. Attorneys for the accusers have petitioned to have the case re-examined.
Kendrick, for his part, has insisted that the allegations are true.
U.S. District Judge John Woodcock said jurors will likely be asked to focus on two issues: whether Kendrick's allegations were false and whether the accusations were made negligently.
Kendrick's team said jurors will hear from seven accusers. Two of them are expected to testify in the courtroom, and jurors will hear videotaped testimony from five others.
Massachusetts
Lawyer: client was coerced into talking by cops
FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) - An attorney for an associate of former NFL player Aaron Hernandez says his client was pressured into talking to police investigating the death of Odin Lloyd.
The Herald News reports that attorneys presented final arguments Monday for why Carlos Ortiz's statements should either be allowed or suppressed when he is tried on a murder charge in Lloyd's 2013 shooting. Hernandez was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
Defense attorney John Connors says police used coercive and manipulative tactics to pressure Ortiz into talking even when he said he was tired and wanted to go home. Connors also says police "minimized" Ortiz's Miranda rights.
Prosecutors countered that Ortiz was "alert, sober and lucid," during questioning and never asserted his right to an attorney.
The judge didn't immediately rule.
Pennsylvania
Papers: Paterno asked Urban Meyer for job
BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) - The son of late Penn State football coach Joe Paterno sent a handwritten letter to Ohio State coach Urban Meyer in December, asking for a job.
The letter from Jay Paterno, dated two days before Christmas, was publicized in court documents released Monday as part of a federal lawsuit Paterno and former Penn State offensive line coach Bill Kenney are pursuing against the NCAA.
Both allege they've been unable to find other jobs since the NCAA sanctioned Penn State for its handling of the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal.
Paterno's letter congratulates Meyer for his success and wishes him luck in college football's playoffs. Ohio State went on to win the national championship.
Paterno sent similar letters to West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen and Georgia coach Mark Richt.
Wisconsin
State court to rule on John Doe probe's validity
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The Wisconsin Supreme Court is set to rule Thursday on whether a secret probe into whether Gov. Scott Walker's 2012 recall campaign illegally coordinated with conservative groups.
Unnamed petitioners have filed two lawsuits seeking to halt the John Doe proceeding, Wisconsin's version of a grand jury investigation where information is tightly controlled. Prosecutors have filed their own action seeking to reinstate quashed subpoenas in the probe. The high court is expected to rule in all three lawsuits.
The case centers political activity conducted by Wisconsin Club for Growth and other conservative groups during the recall campaign and whether they violated state laws that bar coordination with candidates, require disclosure of political donations and limit how much money can be collected. No one has been charged so far.
Wisconsin
Court upholds conviction of man in girls' death
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - An appeals court says a man who killed his young daughters to hurt his ex-wife was properly convicted.
Prosecutors charged Aaron Schaffhausen with killing his three girls at their River Falls home in 2012. He pleaded guilty but maintained he was insane. A jury determined he was suffering from a mental disease but didn't lack the capacity to understand his conduct was wrong.
Schaffhausen argued the trial judge wrongly told jurors to decide who qualified as expert witnesses and failed to provide expert witnesses' reports to the jury.
The 3rd District Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that letting jurors decide who was an expert was harmless and Schaffhausen didn't identify anything in the reports that wasn't presented to the jury in court.
Published: Wed, Jul 15, 2015
