National Roundup

Pennsylvania
Man breaks into home to drink beer with owner
STEWARTSTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Police say a drunken Pennsylvania man who didn’t want to drink alone forced his way into a woman’s home and sat down with two 12-packs of beer.

Thirty-nine-year-old Sean Haller, of Stewartstown, faces charges including criminal trespass and remained in the York County jail on Monday.

Southern Regional police say a woman called them on Sept. 12 to report Haller had entered her home and refused to leave. Police say Haller had done the same thing in another woman’s home earlier that day.

Police found Haller in the second woman’s home and say he refused to leave, even though there were children inside. They say officers had to go inside and get him.

He faces a preliminary hearing Nov. 1.

Oklahoma
FBI searched ex-senator’s office for porn
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Court records show the FBI searched the Capitol office of a former Oklahoma senator in March because a campaign aide allegedly saw child pornography on his computer.

Republican Sen. Ralph Shortey resigned in March after being arrested when police in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore found him in a motel room with a 17-year-old boy he had allegedly hired for sex.

The Oklahoman reports that the FBI seized a CD-ROM and an SD card from Shortey’s office the day after his resignation. The newly released court records show that someone contacted Moore police about the alleged pornography after seeing news about Shortey’s arrest.

Shortey faces three child pornography counts and one child sex trafficking count. He’s pleaded not guilty.


Wisconsin
Chief: Man accused of shooting wife is ‘calculated killer’
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin police chief says he believes a man accused of fatally shooting his wife and blowing up their house will say she asked him to kill her.

Madison police Chief Mike Koval says 50-year-old Lee Anne Pirus may have been dead for weeks or months before being found in the rubble of their house Friday. Her 59-year-old husband, Steven Pirus, is jailed on possible charges of first-degree intentional homicide, arson and recklessly endangering safety.

The Dane County medical examiner’s office says the victim died from “homicidal firearm trauma.”

Authorities allege Steven Pirus manipulated his home’s natural gas system to cause the explosion. Koval says Pirus may try to “show himself as a humanitarian trying to help his wife.” But, Koval describes him as a “cold, calculated killer.”

Rhode Island
Legal defense fund created for Michael Flynn in Russia probe
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The family of former national security adviser Michael Flynn has established a legal defense fund for him as he is scrutinized by investigators looking into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election.

“The various investigations arising out of the 2016 presidential election have placed a tremendous financial burden on our brother Mike and his family,” Flynn’s brother Joe Flynn and sister Barbara Redgate wrote in a statement announcing the Michael T. Flynn Legal Defense Fund . “The enormous expense of attorneys’ fees and other related expenses far exceed their ability to pay.”

They said Flynn, a retired lieutenant general, devoted 33 years of his life to the U.S. while serving in the Army.

The fund will accept contributions from U.S. citizens and permanent residents only, according to its website.

Flynn was forced to resign his post in President Donald Trump’s administration in February after White House officials said he had misled them about the nature of diplomatic conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S.
Since then, he has opened a new consulting firm that is advising private equity firms.

Investigators are looking at a wide range of Flynn’s actions, including foreign contracts and payments, and whether he lied to officials.

Ohio
Judges critical of program keeping low-level felons out of prison
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — State judges have continued to criticize a program allowing low-level felony offenders to remain in their communities under supervision without going to prison.

At issue are efforts to ensure public safety while reducing the number of people sent to prison. Counties have said the state isn’t providing enough money to communities required to carry out the program.

Cuyahoga County last week joined Stark County in deciding not to implement the program until next summer.

“The state’s offer of resources is completely inadequate to the demands that it will put on our local jails and our systems,” said Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish.

Judge Kristin Farmer of Stark County Common Pleas Court likened the money offered by the state as a bribe to judges.

Franklin County judges meet Tuesday to decide whether to participate before a mandatory 2018 mandate kicks in for the state’s 10 biggest counties, the Columbus Dispatch reported. Franklin County is slated to receive $4.5 million for the program over a two-year period.

To date, 48 Ohio counties have agreed to participate, including Clinton County in southern Ohio. Clinton County Judge John Rudduck said the program has been instrumental in helping develop sentencing alternatives.

Noncompliance from some counties in the state while other counties participate is “patently unconstitutional,” said Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien. A “uniform operation” of laws is violated when a defendant is sentenced to prison in one county for a crime they would not receive prison time for in another county, he said.

The Ohio Judicial Conference is working to collaborate with judges to implement the program. An uneven application across the state could lead to challenges, said Paul Pfeifer, the conference’s executive director.

“I’d fully expect a test case to be filed on that issue,” said Pfeifer, a former Ohio Supreme Court justice.

Offenders in the program are non-violent and typically guilty of drug possession or theft. They would be housed in local jails, in halfway-house type programs or on supervised probation.

About 4,000 offenders convicted of fifth-degree felonies were sentenced last year, according to the state corrections department. Ohio has about 50,250 inmates, down from 50,700 a year ago.