National Roundup

Pennsylvania
Man who shot teen, took selfie with him appeals
GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A lawyer for a 19-year-old Pennsylvania man convicted of shooting a friend and then posing for a selfie with the dying teen has appealed his sentence.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that the attorney for Maxwell Morton, of Jeannette, filed an appeal Tuesday asking a judge to impose a lesser sentence than the 15 to 30 years in prison issued last week.

Defense attorney Pat Thomassey says the “court did not give appropriate weight to the defendant’s overwhelming remorse and regret regarding the accidental shooting of his friend.”

Morton was convicted in February of third-degree murder for the 2015 shooting of 16-year-old Ryan Mangan.

He said he and Mangan were playing with a handgun and he thought it wasn’t loaded when he pointed it at Mangan and pulled the trigger.

New Jersey
Town agrees to settle lawsuits after denying plan for mosque
BERNARDS TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — A town in New Jersey has agreed to settle two lawsuits over its denial of a proposed mosque.

The Bernards Township committee voted on Tuesday night to settle the lawsuits filed by the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge and the Department of Justice.

The lawsuits came in 2016 after the town denied the plan for a mosque. Some residents say their opposition is because of the location of the mosque, not religious intolerance. But founders of the mosque say the planning board’s denial is illegal. Justice Department officials said the town discriminated against the Islamic Society based on religion, along with other claims.

The terms of the settlements were not immediately released.

Iowa
Man pleads not guilty in fatal shooting of parents, sister
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man accused of fatally shooting his mother, father and sister has pleaded not guilty.

Court records say 21-year-old Chase Nicholson filed written pleas Tuesday in Polk County to charges of first-degree murder. The records don’t indicate if a trial date has been set.

Authorities say Nicholson used a shotgun that was recovered at the family home in Bondurant, where the bodies were found April 6. The three killed were identified as 58-year-old Mark Nicholson; 56-year-old Charla Nicholson and 24-year-old Tawni Nicholson.

Chase Nicholson surrendered April 7 in Neosho, Missouri. Police there have said Nicholson told an officer that he had killed three people the night before.

Virginia
Guilty plea in thefts from helicopter fleet
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A Virginia man has pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $100,000 worth of military equipment used to support the Marine One helicopter fleet that transports the president.

Thirty-four-year-old Branden Baker acknowledged Tuesday in federal court in Alexandria that he stole more than 50 image intensifiers and other night-vision equipment from Marine Helicopter Squadron One, which is headquartered at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. He sold the stolen equipment on eBay.

Authorities say the thefts occurred from 2013 through 2015.

Baker faces up to 10 years in prison for theft of government property when he is sentenced in August.

The plea agreement also requires Baker to pay $94,000 in restitution.

California
Man convicted of 1981 murder of 77-year-old man
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California jury has convicted a man for the 1981 robbery and murder of a 77-year-old widower he met through a magazine ad.

Sixty-five-year-old James Andrew Melton of Los Angeles was found guilty Monday of first-degree murder and other charges that carry a possible life sentence.

Prosecutors say Melton planned to rob wealthy older men. He placed an ad for a romantic encounter in The Advocate and Anthony DeSousa replied.

Authorities say Melton went to DeSousa’s Newport Beach home, where DeSousa was bound, robbed, beaten and strangled and his home burglarized.

Authorities say Melton took jewelry and other items and fled in the victim’s car.

It was Melton’s third trial. The first ended with a death sentence but was overturned and the second ended in mistrial.

New York
Alcoholics Anonymous sues for return of 12-step manuscript
NEW YORK (AP) — Alcoholics Anonymous is demanding the return of its 1939 original manuscript describing the “Twelve Step” program of recovery from alcoholism.

Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc. in New York state court last Thursday sued an Alabama man, Ken Roberts, who owns the manuscript, a New York art gallery and a California auction house.

The manuscript is to be sold June 8 at auction. The lawsuit said the manuscript was gifted to a man who left instructions for it to be given to Alcoholics Anonymous upon his death. But it never was.

Now, it is being advertised by Profiles in History, which plans to auction it in two weeks.

On a web page devoted to the auction, Profiles in History described it as “The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous” and “The Bible to Millions,” saying its 161 typed pages included handwritten edits by AA founders, including William Griffith Wilson, also known as Bill W. It said it had sold 30 million copies since 1939, been translated into 43 languages and has been ranked by the Library of Congress as a top non-fiction book that shaped America.
The auction house estimated it will sell for between $2 million and $3 million.

The lawsuit said the original working draft copy of the manuscript is “an original, historical document of unique importance.” It said it “indisputably belongs” to Alcoholics Anonymous after Barry Leach, who received it from Wilson’s widow, signed and notarized a letter in April 1979 saying it would belong to the organization upon his death. He died in 1985.

The lawsuit blamed “either extreme negligence or potentially wrongful actions” around the time of Leach’s death for it never reaching Alcoholics Anonymous.

The lawsuit said Roberts bought it at a Sotheby’s auction in 2007 for $850,000 at a time when Alcoholics Anonymous was not aware of Leach’s notarized letter.