National Roundup

Massachusetts
Feds: Man blamed in outbreak of meningitis 
BOSTON (AP) — A prosecutor in Massachusetts has told jurors that a former executive charged in a national meningitis outbreak ran his compounding pharmacy in an “extraordinarily dangerous” way that led to the deaths of 25 people.

Barry Cadden is the former president of the New England Compounding Center. He faces second-degree murder and other charges under federal racketeering laws. Tainted steroids made by the company killed 64 people and sickened about 700 others in 20 states in 2012.

During closing arguments Thursday, the prosecutor said Cadden repeatedly cut corners during the manufacturing process and didn’t take necessary steps to ensure the drugs were sterile.

Cadden’s lawyer is scheduled to give his closing argument later Thursday. He said previously that prosecutors are trying to blame Cadden for mistakes made by other employees.

Massachusetts
Woman in theft of weapons to serve 2 years in prison
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — A woman is headed to prison for her role in the theft of 16 weapons from a U.S. Army Reserve Center in Worcester, Massachusetts.

The U.S attorney’s office says 27-year-old Ashley Bigsbee was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to almost two years behind bars.

Bigsbee, of Dorchester, pleaded guilty in December to charges including conspiracy to possess and sell stolen weapons and aiding and abetting the sale of stolen firearms.

Authorities say Bigsbee and another person helped sell some of the six assault rifles and 10 handguns stolen from the Lincoln W. Stoddard U.S. Army Reserve Center in November 2015.

Bigsbee’s attorney had recommended that she enter drug treatment and be sentenced to time served of 7 ½ months, arguing that her two co-defendants were the main perpetrators.

Oklahoma
Child prostitution charges brought against lawmaker
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma prosecutors on Thursday filed child prostitution charges against a Republican state senator after police found him in a hotel room with a 17-year-old boy.

Ralph Shortey, 35, is charged in Cleveland County with engaging in child prostitution, transporting a minor for prostitution and engaging in prostitution within 1,000 feet of church. An arrest warrant was issued for him.

Shortey, a conservative Republican from south Oklahoma City, hasn’t replied to several phone messages seeking comment, and court records don’t show if he has retained an attorney yet.

Moore police said that acting on a tip from the teen’s father, officers went to the Super 8 Hotel last week and smelled marijuana coming from a room. They found Shortey and the teen alone inside.

A search of the teen’s tablet uncovered a series of sexually explicit exchanges in which Shortey offered the teen cash in exchange for “sexual stuff,” according to a police report. Police also found lotion and a box of condoms inside a backpack in the room.

The age of consent in Oklahoma is 16, but Oklahoma’s prostitution statute applies to any person under 18 years old.

The Oklahoma Senate imposed sanctions Wednesday on Shortey, voting 43-0 for a resolution that accuses him of “disorderly behavior.” Among other things, it removes Shortey from membership and leadership of various Senate committees, bars him from occupying his office and reserved parking spot at the Capitol, blocks his expense allowances and authorship of bills, and revokes his right to have an executive assistant.

Shortey, who was a county coordinator and early supporter of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, wasn’t present when the resolution was adopted and didn’t show up to his Capitol office on Wednesday.

In a statement following its passage, Senate President Pro Tem Mike Schulz said it was not intended to be “a presumption of guilt or innocence.”

“The Oklahoma Senate has full faith that the judicial system will play out appropriately and bring this matter to a lawful conclusion,” Schulz said. “This resolution reserves the right of the Oklahoma Senate to pursue further action
if more facts come to light.”

Oklahoma
Court affirms life sentence in man’s shooting death
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the life prison sentence of a man convicted of shooting another man to death.

The court handed down the decision Thursday to 57-year-old Franklin Savoy Combs of Holdenville. Combs was found guilty of first-degree murder by a jury in Hughes County of the May 13, 2013, shooting death of 38-year-old Gayland Moore.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation says a 911 call was made from Combs’ home on the day of the shooting. Officers found Moore dead at the residence and an investigation determined that he had died of a gunshot wound.

Among other things, the appellate court rejected claims by Combs that the evidence against him was insufficient.

Combs’ attorney, Traci Quick, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

Arkansas
Court rejects effort to block man’s execution
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Arkansas Supreme Court has rejected an effort to block the execution for one of eight inmates who are scheduled to be put to death next month.

Justices on Thursday denied a motion to recall the mandate in the case of convicted murderer Jason McGehee, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection on April 27. McGehee’s attorney had asked justices to vacate his death sentence and send his case back to a lower court for resentencing, citing problems with the verdict forms in his resentencing.

McGehee’s attorneys had filed the motion two weeks before Gov. Asa Hutchinson last month scheduled the executions to occur over a 10-day period in April. The state announced this week it had enough lethal injection drugs to move forward with the executions.

South Carolina
Officer’s lawyers want to limit what prosecutors say
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Attorneys want to limit what prosecutors can tell jurors in the federal civil rights trial of a white ex-South Carolina police officer who’s accused in a black motorist’s shooting death.

Court documents filed Wednesday show attorneys for Michael Slager want a judge to limit prosecutors’ ability to bring up any anguish suffered by the family of Walter Scott or any references to Slager’s mental state.

Attorneys for Slager and the government are scheduled to be in court Friday to hash out issues ahead of his May trial. Slager is accused of violating Scott’s civil rights when he shot him to death as the motorist ran from a traffic stop in April 2015.

Slager is also charged with murder in state court. His first trial there ended in a hung jury.