National Roundup

Oklahoma
Trial begins of woman in slaying of daughter with crucifix medallion
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A murder trial has begun for an Oklahoma woman charged with killing her 33-year-old daughter by forcing a crucifix and medallion down her throat because she believed the woman was possessed by the devil.
Fifty-one-year-old Juanita Gomez has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the 2016 death of Geneva Gomez inside the mother’s Oklahoma City home.
During opening statements Tuesday, prosecutors described the scene as horrific.
Geneva Gomez’s boyfriend, Francisco Merlos, testified that when he found Gomez’s body, her arms were spread out as if she had been crucified.
Juanita Gomez was found competent to stand trial by a psychologist who said she “was grossly feigning memory problems to appear incompetent.”
Testimony resumed Wednesday and the trial is expected to conclude this week.

Delaware
Ex-death row inmate faces charges related to prostitution
DOVER, Del. (AP) — A former death row inmate from Delaware who was later exonerated has been arrested in Hawaii on prostitution-related charges.
The Delaware State News reports that Isaiah Otis Wilmont McCoy was arrested by Honolulu police Jan. 3. He’s been charged with two counts of promoting prostitution and one count of criminal contempt.
A spokesman for federal prosecutors said McCoy was indicted in a separate federal case Jan. 4 and charged with sex trafficking by force. McCoy has been ordered held in custody pending a detention hearing.
McCoy was convicted of shooting a Maryland man in 2010 and was initially sentenced to death. He spent nearly seven years in prison before being found not guilty during a second trial.

West Virginia
Former funeral director sent to prison for false services claims
BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (AP) — A former West Virginia funeral director who filed false insurance claims for services for clients who were still alive has been sentenced to a year and a month in federal prison.
Sixty-one-year-old Joel L. McGuire of Alderson was sentenced Tuesday for wire fraud in federal court in Bluefield.
McGuire was the director of Broyles-McGuire Funeral Home in Union in Monroe County. Prosecutors say he sold insurance policies to pay for clients’ funerals upon their death. In 2012, McGuire submitted an insurance claim that he provided a funeral that cost more than $3,300 even though the client was still alive.
Prosecutors say the insurer reimbursed McGuire for the claim. He also admitted receiving more than $50,000 for other false claims for clients who had not died.
McGuire was ordered to pay full restitution.

Illinois
Girl charged in mom’s slaying to get mental review
STERLING, Ill. (AP) — A western Illinois girl charged with murder in her mother’s slaying will get a psychological assessment to help determine whether she’ll be tried as an adult.
The body of 53-year-old Peggy S. Schroeder was found in a burning home July 8 in Morrison, about 130 miles (210 kilometers) west of Chicago. Schroeder’s daughter was charged as a juvenile with two counts of first-degree murder, concealing a homicide and arson.
The teen allegedly shot her mother in the head and attempted to conceal the body by setting the house on fire.
Sauk Valley Media reports a Chicago psychiatrist hired by the defense is scheduled to interview the 15-year-old on Saturday. The evaluation should be ready for review in March.
Another girl is charged for allegedly helping conceal the killing.

North Carolina
Police officer cleared of any criminal liability in shooting
HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Prosecutors say a police officer in North Carolina who fatally shot a man during an attempted undercover drug purchase has been cleared of any criminal liability.
District Attorney Greg Newman said Tuesday that Hendersonville Police Officer Brandon McGaha has been cleared of any criminal liability.
News outlets report that Newman told the State Bureau of Investigation and Hendersonville Police Chief Herbert Blake that he found the November shooting to be justified.
Blake has said that 32-year-old Rufus Cedric Baker was shot by McGaha as he tried to escape during an arrest. McGaha said Baker appeared to be reaching for a weapon in his waistband.
The district attorney recommended that the SBI close its file on the shooting since it was justifiable.

Wisconsin
Landowners fight effort to take land for Foxconn
MOUNT PLEASANT, Wis. (AP) — A dozen homeowners living near the Wisconsin site for a massive Foxconn Technology Group complex are going to court to try to stop efforts to forcibly take their land.
The property owners say the community where the plant is to be located, the Village of Mount Pleasant, is violating their constitutional rights by incorrectly using eminent domain to take their homes. Eminent domain allows the government to take private property for public use with compensation.
The homeowners’ attorney, Erik Olsen, said the village claims it’s taking the land for public projects, such as roads and utilities, but he says it’s the Taiwan-based Foxconn that ultimately benefits. Eighteen acres (7 hectares) the village is acquiring for the Foxconn complex belong to the landowners.
The village’s attorney, Alan Marcuvitz, says the lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court, won’t stop the project.
The lawsuit seeks an injunction to block the Foxconn project permanently.
Meanwhile, Foxconn has given four families more time to leave rental properties that it plans to buy to make way for the 22-million-square-foot (2.04-million sq. meter) electronics factory. Instead of the 28 days the tenants were originally given to vacate their homes in the Village of Sturtevant, landlords have given them at least 90 days. One landlord said he was acting on Foxconn’s direction.
The Journal Sentinel reported that Foxconn decided to give the families more time to move after a reporter for the Milwaukee newspaper inquired about the eviction notices that upset the families who had to move on short notice.