National Roundup

Mississippi
Judge weighs whether to give death penalty in girl’s slaying
GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi judge has begun examining evidence and hearing testimony into whether a man should receive the death penalty after he admitted to sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl and hanging her by using her socks.

News outlets report that Harrison County Circuit Court Judge Lisa Dodson reviewed crime scene photos and autopsy photos of the child Monday as she decides whether to sentence Alberto Garcia to death or life without parole for the 2014 killing of Ja’Naya Thompson. Testimony resumes Tuesday.

The 32-year-old Garcia pleaded guilty Jan. 18 to capital murder.

The child’s body was found in an abandoned trailer in July 2014.

Garcia had implicated Julian Gray, a neighbor. A grand jury found insufficient evidence to indict Gray.

Pennsylvania
Woman who maimed hand in meat slicer wins $1.6M verdict
EASTON, Pa. (AP) — A jury has awarded more than $1.6 million to a Pennsylvania woman who badly injured her right hand when a meat slicer fell and cut it.

The verdict was reached Friday in Northampton County.

Tanya Fuller was working for a company that sharpens kitchen equipment when she was hurt in July 2013.

She was picking up the slicer from Easton Health & Rehabilitation Center and helping an employee of Healthcare Services Group load it into her van when it fell.

Fuller sued the nursing home and the worker’s employer, saying the worker was playing with her pit bull when the slicer cut her.

Fuller had five hand surgeries. Her index finger was amputated and her thumb was fused so she can use her hand like a claw.

North Carolina
Judge: Release video in police shooting of man
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina judge has ordered the release of video showing a fatal shooting by Charlotte-Mecklenburg police in 2012.

The Charlotte Observer reported that the ruling Monday is the second time a judge has ordered the release of video of a Charlotte police shooting under a new state law.

Mecklenburg County Superior Judge Lisa Bell ruled the police department must release to the newspaper the footage in the killing of 28-year-old Michael Laney, whose family and police give conflicting accounts of what happened.

A prosecutor ruled officers were justified in the shooting. Family members said the shooting was unnecessary and officers overreacted.

Earlier this month, another judge ordered the release of video in the June 2 police shooting of Rodney Rodriguez Smith. That video hasn’t yet been released.

Massachusetts
Man arrested after discovery of $20M cash held without bail
BOSTON (AP) — A Brazilian man arrested in connection with the discovery of about $20 million in cash hidden inside a box spring in a Massachusetts apartment has been held without bail.

A judge on Monday ruled that 28-year-old Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha is a flight risk and held him on a charge of conspiring to commit money laundering.

Rocha was arrested this month when the money was discovered in a Westborough apartment.

Prosecutors say Rocha was part of a scheme to transfer millions of dollars to Brazil by laundering the cash through Hong Kong. The money was from TelexFree, a defunct internet phone company authorities say was a massive pyramid scheme.

The Boston Herald reports that Rocha’s lawyer argued that his client had no criminal record and should be granted bail with GPS monitoring.

Alaska
Strip club owner gets probation for dumping human waste
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska man convicted of illegally dumping human waste into a harbor from a floating strip club he was operating has been spared serving prison time.

Darren Byler instead was sentenced Monday in Anchorage to five years of probation and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine, in increments of no less than $2,000 a year, beginning this year. U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason warned Byler that failure to pay the fine could result in him going to prison.

Federal prosecutors were seeking an 18-month prison term.

Byler, who plans to appeal the case, has repeatedly said he was targeted because of disapproval over the business he ran on the 94-foot “Wild Alaskan,” a converted crabbing boat. Speaking to the court before his sentence was handed up, he said the prison term sought by prosecutors was overkill. He repeatedly called it a “poop charge.”

“This case was all about an emotionally charged political witch hunt” by various entities, including the Coast Guard and the prosecution, he said in a written statement released after the sentencing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Reardon noted the “very, very serious conduct” involved.

“This is not an inconsequential case,” he said. “This is not a trivial case.”

Byler was convicted in 2015 of dumping sewage in misdemeanor violation of the federal Refuse Act and for a felony charge of lying to federal authorities about it. His wife, Kimberly Riedel-Byler, was found not guilty of the same charges.

Federal prosecutors aid Byler piped sewage aboard Wild Alaskan bathrooms into the harbor near Kodiak in 2014. The Bylers were accused of telling the Coast Guard they were properly disposing of the waste.

Reardon has said evidence showed the U.S. Coast Guard tried to work with Byler to bring his waste disposal practices into compliance.

Byler twice asked for a new trial, but the requests were denied.

The Wild Alaskan opened for business in June 2014 and encountered problems early on. The floating bar was briefly shut down by the Coast Guard after someone reported that an overloaded water taxi took patrons to the converted vessel. The Coast Guard also found the boat had an expired locator beacon, expired inflatable devices on two life rafts and inoperable navigation sidelights.

Byler said at the time that he believed his troubles happened because people disapproved of the exotic dancers aboard his boat.

The boat operated as a strip club until late 2014, court documents said.