National Roundup

Arkansas
Judge threatens to halt issuing birth certificates
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas judge is threatening to block the state from issuing new birth certificates if attorneys don’t quickly fix a birth certificate law that the U.S. Supreme Court says illegally favors heterosexual parents.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox on Monday gave attorneys for the state and three same-sex couples until Jan. 5 to find language that should be stricken from the state’s law.

The U.S. Supreme Court in June sided with Fox’s 2015 ruling that struck down part of the law defining parents by gender. That overturned a decision by the state Supreme Court.

The state Supreme Court last month ordered Fox to come up with a way for the state to comply with the U.S. court’s decision.

New York
Sex assault victims billed for rape kits will be reimbursed
NEW YORK (AP) — Dozens of sexual assault survivors were improperly billed for their rape exams by a New York City hospital, the state’s attorney general said Tuesday.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said that under an agreement with his office, the Brooklyn Hospital Center will reimburse patients who paid out of pocket for a rape kit and will inform rape survivors going forward that under a 2005 New York state law the rape kits can be billed to the state’s Office of Victim Services.

Schneiderman said he has also sent letters to 10 other hospitals throughout the state seeking information on how they bill sexual assault survivors and hopes the agreement with Brooklyn Hospital will serve as a model.

“These kits are used on what is undoubtedly one of the worst days of a survivor’s life,” Schneiderman said. “The absolute last thing they should have to worry about is how they’ll pay for their care at the hospital. But we have found contrary to law that way too often they do have to worry.”

Schneiderman said a woman contacted his office in January about her experience being treated at Brooklyn Hospital after she was sexually assaulted in 2015.

“After her visit, in complete violation of state law, she was billed seven different times for her rape kit, hundreds of dollars each time,” Schneiderman said.

He said that when the woman did not pay the bill, the hospital sent it to a collection agency, which he called “intolerable.”

Brooklyn Hospital said in a statement that it regrets “the inadvertent breakdown in our billing processes related to sexual assault victims.” Spokeswoman Kim Flodin said the hospital worked with Schneiderman’s office to develop protocols “to ensure that these billing issues do not occur again.”

The federal Violence Against Women Act prohibits hospitals from charging assault survivors for their rape kits, but advocates say enforcement of the law has been haphazard. States including Louisiana and Illinois have also passed laws to make sure survivors aren’t charged for the kits.

Schneiderman said his office investigated and found that in all but one of the 86 forensic rape exams conducted at Brooklyn Hospital between January 2015 and February 2017, the hospital either improperly billed the patient or billed the patient’s insurance carrier without advising the patient of the option to bill the state.

Schneiderman said it’s unclear how many other hospitals are improperly billing patients for rape kits.

Advocates for sexual assault survivors praised the agreement with Brooklyn Hospital.

“Think about it for a moment, how traumatic is sexual assault?” said Sonia Ossorio, president of the New York chapter of the National Organization for Women, who joined Schneiderman at a news conference at his Manhattan office. “And it’s re-traumatizing to have bills arrive in the mail asking you to pay for basically what is collection of evidence of a crime scene.”


Ohio
Ohio State will pay $450,000 to settle lake-jump death claim
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio State University will pay $450,000 to settle a negligence claim over the death of a student who died from accidental trauma caused by diving into shallow water during a traditional cold-weather lake jump.

Twenty-two-year-old Austin Singletary died Nov. 25, 2015, in the Mirror Lake jump that drew thousands of students.

The settlement agreement was filed Nov. 21 in Ohio’s Court of Claims. The university doesn’t admit any liability and will install a family-donated bench honoring Singletary on campus.

Ohio State spokesman Chris Davey said Tuesday the university’s sympathy continues to be with Singletary’s family and friends.

Family attorney William Posey says all parties were pleased that there has been a resolution.

Ohio State announced after the death of the third-year Dayton student that it would end the lake event.

Louisiana
Trial date set for priest in child pornography case
ST. MARTINVILLE, La. (AP) — A Louisiana priest facing 500 counts of possession of child pornography goes on trial Feb. 5.

The Advertiser reports the St. Martin Parish Clerk of Court’s criminal department said attorneys had agreed by phone Monday to reschedule the Rev. F. David Broussard’s trial. He was scheduled Monday to appear before state District Judge Vincent J. Borne, but an apparent scheduling conflict with Broussard’s defense attorney, Thomas Guilbeau, led to the new date.

Meanwhile, Broussard remains free on $25,000 bond. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Broussard was arrested in July 2016 after a repair technician found more than 500 images of child sex abuse on Broussard’s personal computer. Following his arrest, he was suspended from his priestly duties at St. Bernard Roman Catholic Church in Breaux Bridge.

Louisiana
Suspected serial killer pleads not guilty to murder
CLINTON, La. (AP) — A suspected serial killer has pleaded not guilty to murder and attempted murder charges in a string of Louisiana shootings that killed three men and wounded a fourth.

The Advocate reports 36-year-old Ryan Sharpe entered his plea Tuesday during his first court appearance since his October arrest.

A grand jury indicted Sharpe on charges including first-degree murder in the three shootings that occurred in East Feliciana Parish. The fourth shooting occurred in neighboring East Baton Rouge Parish.

The shootings occurred in a rural area north of Baton Rouge and left residents on edge for weeks after he first killing in July. The victims were middle-aged or older white men who were shot at their homes or on their property. Sharpe, the owner of a plumbing company, also is white.