National Roundup

Alaska
Two AGs seek pot business banking
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska and Hawaii attorneys general asked Congress to change laws so marijuana businesses can start using banks.

Alaska’s Jahna Lindemuth and Hawaii’s Doug Chin were among 19 attorneys general who urged U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday to move forward with legislation that would allow the marijuana businesses to stop working as cash only operations.

Chin said banks and other institutions are hindered by U.S. law from working with marijuana businesses. This creates a cash-only, “grey market” that hurts law enforcement and tax collections, he said.

The proposed legislation would provide a safe harbor for banks and other institutions that work with the marijuana industry. The officials said their legislation would protect public safety and result in billions of dollars being infused into the banking industry.

“Allowing banks to work with these businesses is good policy, which is why the concept has bipartisan support,” Lindemuth said.

The officials said U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ policy change earlier this month intensified the need for national legislation that clarifies how marijuana should be regulated and policed.

Sessions rescinded the 2013 Cole Memo, which deferred to states on enforcing marijuana laws.

“Despite the contradictions between federal and state law, the marijuana industry continues to grow rapidly,” the letter from the state attorney generals said. “Our banking system must be flexible enough to address the needs of businesses in the various states, with state input, while protecting the interests of the federal government.”

Colorado
Man’s body found encased in concrete in crawl space
DENVER (AP) — A woman has been charged with murder after her father’s body was found encased in concrete in the crawl space under his home in a Denver suburb.

KUSA-TV reported Tuesday that 69-year-old William Mussack’s body was found Jan. 10, a month after friends and family stopped hearing from him.

Court records say Mussack texted his son Dec. 7, saying he might have been drugged by his daughter, 45-year-old Dayna Jennings.

Authorities obtained a search warrant for the home where she lived with her father.

Investigators say Jennings asked for a lawyer and stopped talking as they broke up concrete in the house’s crawl space.

She was charged with first-degree murder after deliberation and tampering with a deceased human’s body.

Connecticut
Man gets prison for biting off part of wife’s nose
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut man who bit off a chunk of his wife’s nose, permanently disfiguring her, was sentenced to 6 years in prison.

The Hartford Court reports that 55-year-old Rodwell Clay was sentenced Tuesday after pleading under the Alford doctrine to a first-degree assault charge. That means while he does not agree with all the state’s allegations, he acknowledges there is enough evidence to convict.

Prosecutors say Clay bit his wife in their Bloomfield home in August 2015. The couple has since divorced and the victim says she wants nothing to do with Clay, who she says stalked, harassed and threatened her during their marriage.

Clay told the judge he still loves the victim, but apologized only after being prompted by his attorney.

Clay was sentenced to 15 years in prison, with 6 1/2 to serve, and three years’ probation.

Missouri
Man charged in stabbing death of woman whose body was burned
GRANDVIEW, Mo. (AP) — A suburban Kansas City man has been charged in the death of a 27-year-old woman whose body was found on fire near a burning trash bin.

Twenty-seven-year-old Kasanova Callier was charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of Lynnette Williams.

Her body was found Sunday night outside her apartment in Grandview. She had been stabbed.

Court records say police tracked the body’s dragging in the snow from an apartment complex stairwell nearby.

Witnesses reported a disturbance in an apartment where police had responded previously on domestic disturbances involving Callier and Williams. The couple had a baby together.

Court records say Callier told detectives that Williams was a bad mother and that he had to kill her because she had tried to stab him.

Minnesota
Court: Order to unlock phone with fingerprint constitutional
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that a judge’s order requiring a man to provide his fingerprint to unlock his cellphone was constitutional and didn’t violate his right against self-incrimination.

Wednesday’s decision comes in the case of Matthew Diamond, who wanted burglary and theft convictions overturned in connection with a 2014 robbery in Chaska.

Diamond’s attorney argued the district court violated Diamond’s Fifth Amendment right. Police found incriminating evidence on the cellphone after it was unlocked. The Supreme Court ruling affirms an earlier ruling by the Minnesota Court
of Appeals.The justices say the act of providing a fingerprint to unlock a cellphone wasn’t “testimonial” because it didn’t require Diamond to use his mind to provide information. They likened it to providing physical evidence, like a blood
sample or standing in a lineup.

Arkansas
Judge barred from execution cases says suit should stand
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas judge disqualified from handling execution cases after participating in an anti-death penalty demonstration says his lawsuit against the state’s highest court should be allowed to move forward.

Attorneys for Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen asked a federal court Tuesday to deny motions by state Supreme Court justices to dismiss his lawsuit challenging his disqualification.

Justices in April barred Griffen from hearing execution cases after he was photographed lying down on a cot outside the governor’s mansion the same day he blocked Arkansas from using a lethal injection drug over claims that the state misled a medical supply company. Griffen has said he was portraying Jesus and participating in a prayer vigil.

Griffen has argued the disqualification violated his constitutional rights and a state religious objections law.