Ohio
Mom's confession details how she smothered sons
BELLEFONTAINE, Ohio (AP) - An Ohio woman accused of suffocating her three young sons over a 13-month period says in a recorded police interview that she smothered each boy with a blanket over the face because she didn't want to see them suffering.
The Columbus Dispatch reports Brittany Pilkington also said she was depressed and worried her sons would eventually become abusive toward women.
A Logan County judge has been reviewing Pilkington's statements while considering a request to exclude her confession in the potential death penalty case. Her lawyers argue it was obtained unconstitutionally.
Prosecutors say the 24-year-old Bellefontaine woman knowingly agreed to be interviewed without a lawyer.
Authorities allege she killed the toddler and two infants out of jealousy at the attention her husband gave them. She has pleaded not guilty.
Tennessee
Banned from City Hall, man runs for mayor anyway
LEBANON, Tenn. (AP) - He's banned from City Hall by a court restraining order but that's not stopping a man from running for mayor of a Tennessee city.
The Tennessean reports 59-year-old Derek Dodson qualified to run for mayor of Lebanon, Tennessee. Though he hasn't actively campaigned so far, Dodson vowed to use his candidacy to speak out against incumbent Mayor Philip Craighead, who's seeking re-election.
The restraining order followed a Feb. 11 special Lebanon council meeting in which comments weren't allowed. Officials say Dodson spoke anyway in what they called an outburst.
Craighead hasn't commented on Dodson's candidacy. Since the restraining order, he says, "we were able to have council meetings and run them with a lot more dignity than before."
A Lebanon councilman is also running for mayor.
New York
Man convicted of murder for firing into wrong house
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) - A New York man who killed a young mother when he shot into the wrong house has been convicted of murder.
Federal prosecutors say a jury also convicted 39-year-old Damion Colabatistto of drug and weapons charges Wednesday following a trial in Rochester.
Authorities say Colabatistto was an enforcer for a drug organization and was trying to kill a rival drug dealer in 2009 when he and another man fired multiple times into a Rochester house. Moesha Harmon, a 20-year-old mother of two, was killed.
The second shooter, Angelo Ocasio, was convicted in May.
Prosecutors say the men were members of a violent drug organization that was responsible for numerous beatings and shootings and at least three other murders.
Florida
Cops: Uber driver admits to sexually battering woman
MIAMI (AP) - A Miami Uber driver has been arrested after police say he admitted to sexually battering a customer while she was incapacitated.
News outlets report arrest records show 26-year-old Nimer Abdallah was taken into custody Tuesday on a charge of sexual battery of a victim who was physically incapacitated.
A report says Abdallah picked up the female victim and another person to drive them home early Saturday. Investigators say at some point, Abdallah sexually battered the victim while she was intoxicated.
The victim said she awoke the following morning and found her pants and undergarments had been removed.
The report says Abdallah admitted the victim had been drinking and stated he was wrong for what he did.
Uber says it's aware of the investigation and has banned Abdallah from their service.
Washington
Court upholds conviction of bin Laden assistant
WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal appeals court has upheld the conspiracy conviction of a Guantanamo Bay detainee who once served as Osama bin Laden's personal assistant.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 6-3 on Thursday that a military tribunal was authorized to convict Ali Hamza al-Bahlul of conspiracy charges even though conspiracy isn't recognized as an international war crime.
Bahlul was tried and convicted before a military commission under a system created after the Sept. 11 attacks.
A divided three-judge panel of the same court threw out the conviction last year, but the decision was set aside after the full appeals court agreed to reconsider the case.
New York
Court: Local judge used position to bully, threaten
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York's highest court has refused to reinstate a village justice from Rockland County after finding he used his position to bully and intimidate other municipal officials.
The court found Thursday that Alan M. Simon, a justice of the Spring Valley Village Court since 2005 and the Ramapo Town Court since 2011, engaged in a "pattern of calculated misconduct."
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct determined this spring that Simon should be ousted. Simon appealed to the Court of Appeals, asking the court to impose censure instead.
In its decision the court said Simon threatened people with contempt without reason, was in a physical altercation with a student worker and engaged in "name calling" and what the court termed "ethnic smearing."
His attorney, Lawrence Mandelker, says his client is disappointed.
New York
Former MMA fighter found guilty of beating police officer
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (AP) - A former mixed martial arts fighter has been convicted of assaulting an upstate New York police officer who suffered a fractured skull while trying to arrest the man.
A jury deliberated less than three hours Wednesday before finding 33-year-old James Hilton of Lake George guilty of a felony assault charge for the August 2015 attack that left Schenectady Police Officer Mark Weekes with serious injuries.
Authorities say Hilton was drunk on a Schenectady street when Weekes attempted to take him into custody. Hilton attacked the officer, punching him more than two dozen times and fracturing his skull.
The jury rejected Hilton's defense lawyer's claims that he suffers post-traumatic stress disorder from his service with the Marines in Iraq.
Hilton faces up to 15 years in prison when he's sentenced Dec. 2.
Published: Fri, Oct 21, 2016
