National Roundup

California
Significant reward offered in ­serial killer cold case
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Authorities are renewing their search for a serial killer they say committed at least 12 homicides, 45 rapes and dozens of burglaries across California in the 1970s and 1980s.

The FBI and Sacramento County officials plan a news conference Wednesday to announce what they say will be a significant reward in the 40-year-old cold case.

The FBI says the suspect terrorized citizens in multiple California counties.

He’s been linked to more than 175 crimes in all between 1976 and 1986.

The FBI has a new website that will include sketches of the suspect created by witnesses. It also will have interviews and other information about the case.

Among those scheduled to attend is the special agent in charge of the FBI region that stretches from Bakersfield to the Oregon border.

Pennsylvania
Lawyer for Jerry Sandusky charged with attempted tax evasion
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A lawyer who represented former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky at his child sex abuse trial faces new tax-related charges.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Harrisburg said Wednesday that 42-year-old Karl Rominger is charged with attempted tax evasion and failure to file a federal tax return.

Prosecutors say charges against the former attorney from Carlisle cover the years 2006 to 2012.

He signed a plea agreement last month that’s pending before the judge. A message to his lawyer wasn’t immediately returned Wednesday.

Rominger also awaits sentencing in August after pleading guilty in Cumberland County in May to stealing $767,000 in client funds.

Prosecutors say he spent the money on gambling and other interests.

Sandusky is appealing a 45-count conviction on child sexual abuse charges.

Washington
Law aimed at domestic ­violence on tribal lands upheld by court
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a federal law and its stiff prison terms aimed at people who have been convicted of repeated acts of domestic violence on Indian lands.

The justices said in a unanimous decision that the law can be used against defendants, even if they did not have lawyers in earlier domestic violence convictions in tribal courts.

The Sixth Amendment guarantees an attorney for criminal defendants in state and federal courts. Under the Indian Civil Rights Act, defendants have the right to hire their own attorneys in tribal court but are not guaranteed that one will be retained by the court for them.

The high court ruled in the case of Michael Bryant Jr., who received a 46-month federal prison term after pleading guilty to assaulting two women. Bryant’s record included at least five domestic assault convictions in tribal courts on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana. For most of these assaults, Bryant received jail time of a year or less, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in her opinion for the court.

But the U.S. appeals court in San Francisco threw out Bryant’s federal prison sentence because his earlier domestic violence convictions were handled without a lawyer.

The justices reversed that ruling Monday. “But, we have long held, the Bill of Rights, including the Sixth Amendment, does not govern tribal-court proceedings,” Ginsburg said.

The Indian Civil Rights Act restricts the right to a lawyer to sentences that exceed a year, Ginsburg said. And Bryant never received a sentence that long in tribal court, she said.

The case is U.S. v Bryant, 15-420.

Texas
Appeal in 1997 capital murder to be reviewed by original trial court
HOUSTON (AP) — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals says a 37-year-old man on Texas death row for a robbery and fatal shooting in Texarkana nearly 19 years ago will get a review of an appeal in his case.

Attorneys for convicted killer Julius Murphy argue Bowie County prosecutors at his 1998 trial improperly withheld evidence that two key witnesses were pressured into testifying against Murphy and that one of the witnesses gave false testimony.

The state’s highest criminal court Wednesday sent the appeal to Murphy’s trial court to be resolved. It also rejected an argument that evolving standards of decency show the death penalty is now unconstitutional.

Murphy was condemned for the slaying of 26-year-old Jason Erie, who was attacked after his car broke down near his father’s house in Texarkana.

Illinois
Agency: Police need rule against any kind of discrimination
CHICAGO (AP) — Accusations that an officer called President Barack Obama a racial slur have prompted the agency that investigates police misconduct in Chicago to recommend that the city’s police department enact a policy that prohibits officers from engaging in any kind of discrimination.

The recommendation from the Independent Police Review Authority’s chief administrator, Sharon Fairley, came after the agency suggested firing the officer, who is accused of making the remark in October when Obama was in Chicago and officers were deciding who would work on the presidential detail. An offended officer filed the complaint with IPRA.

IPRA’s recommendation was included in a letter sent May 12 to police Superintendent Eddie Johnson. When Johnson didn’t reply within the requested 30 days, IPRA posted the letter on its website Tuesday evening, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Chicago police didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. IPRA declined to name the officer citing union rules.

The department’s human resources policy explicitly prohibits officers from exhibiting racial bias, but similar language is not included in the Standards of Conduct for CPD members.

The police department has been criticized for having a code of silence among its officers. In this case, Fairley said other officers “were not as forthcoming as they should be” about the remark when IPRA interviewed them.

“This is troubling,” Fairley said, adding that she asked the department to remind officers that they are obligated to be truthful.