National Roundup

Texas
Woman jailed after slipping cuffs, stealing police SUV
LUFKIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas woman is being held on several charges after she slipped her handcuffs, stole a police SUV and then led officers on a pursuit that reached speeds of nearly 100 mph (160 kph).

Thirty-three-year-old Toscha Sponsler was being held Thursday in the Angelina County jail on charges that include evading arrest.

Authorities say Sponsler had been detained Saturday on suspicion of shoplifting and was in the back of the SUV when she managed to slip her hand through one of the cuffs.

Video released Tuesday by Lufkin police show her then squeezing through a partition to reach the front seat.

A chase went on for about 20 miles (30 kilometers) before a state trooper managed to spin her out.

Washington
Man who missed 1990 court date enters guilty plea
PORT ORCHARD, Wash. (AP) — A Poulsbo man who disappeared before his court date in 1990 and was arrested in Oklahoma last year entered a guilty plea to four counts of first-degree statutory rape.

The Kitsap Sun reports that 71-year-old Ronald Paulson placed an Alford plea on Wednesday. This guilty plea means that Paulson does not admit to the criminal acts but that the evidence against him would likely lead to a conviction.

Court documents indicate Paulson was charged in 1987 after state child welfare workers notified police about accusations that he assaulted a girl over several years.

Investigators in Washington state discovered Paulson was using the name Warren Big-Eagle and living in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma.

Paulson also pleaded guilty to indecent liberties and bail jumping. His sentencing is scheduled for November.

Connecticut
Woman gets jail for holding ex-husband hostage
PLYMOUTH, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut woman who held her ex-husband hostage at gunpoint until he could be rescued from a second-floor window by a SWAT team has been sentenced to 90 days in prison.

The Bristol Press reports that 54-year-old Diane Markeveys was sentenced Wednesday after accepting a deal that required her to plead guilty to first-degree threatening. In exchange, prosecutors dropped several other charges.

She pleaded under the Alford doctrine, meaning she disputes some evidence but acknowledges there’s enough to convict.

Her husband awoke at 6:30 a.m. on May 7 to find his room locked and his wife outside the door with a rifle. They lived together even though they were no longer married.

He was in the room for about two hours before his rescue.

Markeveys apologized in court.

California
Judge: Girl thought brain dead may be alive
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California judge says a teen girl declared brain dead more than three years ago after a tonsillectomy may still be technically alive.

The judge ruled Tuesday that Jahi McMath’s lawsuit against Children’s Hospital in Oakland can proceed and that it’s up to a jury to decide whether the girl is dead. The hospital had argued that the girl was barred from seeking damages because the county coroner signed a death certificate in January 2014.

Typically, there is a $250,000 cap in California on the amount of damages that families of children killed by medical malpractice can collect.

The case has been at the center of national debate over brain death since her mother refused to remove her daughter from life-support. The girl was 13 at the time. She is currently in New Jersey.

New York
State’s high court rules against assisted suicide
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York’s ban on assisted suicide stands after the state’s highest court rejected arguments from terminally ill patients who want the right to seek life-ending drugs from a doctor.

The Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that state lawmakers had a rational reason for passing a ban on assisted suicide and that the ban doesn’t violate the state constitution.

The case was brought by patients and advocates who say New Yorkers with a terminal illness shouldn’t have to suffer needlessly.

The ruling isn’t expected to end the debate as advocates will try again next year to pass legislation to permit physician-assisted suicide. That bill didn’t get a vote this year.

Colorado, Washington, Vermont, California, Oregon and Washington, D.C., have laws allowing people to seek a doctor’s help in ending their life.

California
Surgeon, nurses may face more child sex claims
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — Prosecutors say a brain surgeon and two nurses in jail awaiting trial for allegedly operating a child-sex ring caught on video may face more charges after investigators discovered additional video footage.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports Thursday that a prosecutor told a judge that the case is expanding.

Prosecutor Steven Moore declined to release the new video or discuss the new allegations outside court Wednesday.

Dr. James Kohut, Rashel Brandon and Emily Stephens are each charged with sexually assaulting multiple children. Police took seven children, ages 3 to 13, into protective custody.

Kohut’s attorney Jay Rorty says his client denies the charges.

Brandon’s attorney says she suffered severe abuse in her marriage and was exploited by Kohut.

Arizona
Man sentenced to death for killing 2 people 
PHOENIX (AP) — A 47-year-old Phoenix man convicted of killing two people whose bodies were found buried in his mother’s backyard has been sentenced to death.

Alan Champagne was sentenced this week to death for a first-degree murder conviction and to prison terms of varying lengths for convictions for second-degree murder, kidnapping and concealing a dead body.

Maricopa County Superior Court jurors convicted Champagne in the 2011 deaths of Philmon Tapaha and Brandi Nicole Hoffner.

Investigators say Champagne fatally shot Tapaha and choked Hoffner to death, put their bodies in a box, poured in lime to help with decomposition and buried it at his mother’s home.