National Roundup

Texas
Twin brothers guilty in $2.7M financial fraud
SHERMAN, Texas (AP) — Twin businessmen from the Dallas area face up to five-year prison terms in a more than $2.5 million currency scam promising 200 percent returns over a few months.

Roger Wagner and Rodney Wagner pleaded guilty in Sherman to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The 52-year-old brothers from Grand Prairie were charged in what prosecutors say was a scheme during 2010.

Investigators say the twins solicited money from investors for foreign currency trading. The Wagner brothers said they had a system that could generate large returns, as much as 200 percent, over a period of 20 to 40 weeks. Investors instead lost about $2.7 million.

The brothers were indicted in 2015 and pleaded guilty Wednesday.

Tennessee
Man who killed 2 to be freed from mental hospital
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee appellate court says a man who believed Jesus commanded him to slaughter his father and stepmother in 1990 should be freed from the psychiatric hospital where he’s been held for decades.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reports the Court of Criminal Appeals also ruled Wednesday that David Cloar cannot be required to receive psychiatric treatment.

Cloar was found not guilty by reason of insanity after killing Jack Cloar and June Cloar with a knife at his father’s Morristown home.

Officials at the Middle Tennessee Mental Health Institute say Cloar’s psychotic symptoms have been kept in check with medication. Cloar says he will seek out treatment, although the court ruled the state cannot force him to do so.

Prosecutors can ask the Tennessee Supreme Court to review the decision.

South Carolina
Judge: Outside tests OK in black motorist’s death
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina judge says an outside lab can analyze brain tissue of a black motorist shot and killed by a white police officer while running from a traffic stop.

Circuit Judge Clifton Newman on Wednesday granted a defense motion to allow a Pennsylvania lab to conduct forensic tests.

Attorneys for the former North Charleston police officer charged with murder in the April 2015 shooting death of 50-year-old Walter Scott have said there’s no evidence state investigators ever analyzed brain tissue from the autopsy.

Defense documents filed with the court include a toxicology report showing traces of cocaine in Scott’s blood.

The shooting was captured on cellphone video and reignited the national debate over the treatment of blacks by white officers. Thirty-three-year-old ex-officer Michael Slager stands trial in October.

Florida
2 gunmen fatally shoot man ­holding baby at home
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A 35-year-old father is dead and his 11-month-old daughter is recovering from a gunshot wound after two masked men stormed into their house in Gainesville and starting firing shots from the front doorway, Gainesville police said Thursday.

The shooting, which happened about 11:39 p.m. Wednesday, also left a 21-year-old man who was inside the house injured. Both he and the infant were shot in the arm and their injuries are not considered life-threatening, police said in a news release.

According to Gainesville police spokesman Ben Tobias, there were more than 20 people in the house when the men started shooting. He said many of them were running down the street when officers started arriving less than one minute after getting a 911 call.

He said Antonio Mason was holding his daughter when he was shot in the chest. He died at the scene. Tobias said officers put tourniquets on the arms of the child and the other victim to help stabilize them before paramedics arrived. They were taken to a hospital for treatment.

Investigators say the shooters ran from the home and a search by multiple police officers, helicopters and K-9 units yielding nothing.

Tobias said officers don’t yet know the motive for the shooting.

“What kind of person can point a gun at a father holding an infant and make the barbaric decision to pull that trigger,” Tobias said in the statement.

He said the department has increased patrols in the neighborhood as the investigation continues.


Mississippi
Grand jury clears 3 officers in fatal shooting of man
A grand jury has ruled three Mississippi police officers were justified in the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old man whose weapon turned out to be a BB gun.

Biloxi Police Chief John Miller said Wesley Sheppard shot out a window in a vehicle with children inside and refused police orders to drop his weapon March 10. Police said Sheppard was standing on a bridge as he fired.
Miller said Thursday that Sheppard was hit by two bullets from about 50 yards as the three officers fired.

He identified them as Sgt. Will Hipple and patrol officers Lance Miller and Matthew Boone. Lance Miller is not related to the police chief. The chief said Hipple and Boone are white, and Miller is black. The victim in the shooting was white.

Miller released details of the shooting after the Harrison County grand jury ruled Monday the officers’ actions were justifiable.

A three-paragraph document concluded: “After full and deliberate consideration of all the facts and circumstances leading up to the March 10, 2016, shooting of Wesley Alan Sheppard, and the circumstances as they existed at the time of the shooting, the Grand Jury finds no criminal conduct on behalf of the officers involved from the Biloxi Police Department and further finds their actions were appropriate.”

Miller said Sheppard’s weapon, a BB gun, looked like a long gun to police.

“Our department has a very strong policy in these types of encounters and the officers followed that policy,” Miller said.

After the shooting, the officers were placed on administrative leave.

“Once our internal investigation was complete and there was no evidence the officers violated policy, they were allowed to return to work,” Miller said.

Miller said he was pleased the grand jury found no fault on the part of his officers. He said they have a combined experience of 30 years.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation was called in to investigate the shooting and their reports were submitted to the grand jury. The Gulfport Police Department’s crime scene unit gathered the evidence.