National Roundup

Virginia
Prosecutor says botched case freed man who was accused of murdering friend
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — A Virginia man accused of slaying his longtime friend is a free man because of a prosecutor’s mistake.

The Virginian-Pilot reports Leander Williams III now faces no charges. The 44-year-old Williams said he shot 43-year-old Antonio Bernard Cameron in self-defense in 2016.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Colin Stolle says he fired his chief deputy Scott Vachris last week for giving bad advice to a trial prosecutor, who asked him how to respond to the judge’s denial of his request for more time. Vachris told the prosecutor to have the charges dismissed, apparently thinking they could try him again.

But charges dropped once a trial has begun can’t be re-filed, so Williams is now a free man, protected by the double jeopardy law.

Nevada
City ordered to pay sergeant $1M for violating leave rights
RENO, Nev. (AP) — A federal jury ordered the city of Reno to pay a police sergeant more than $1 million for violating his medical leave rights.

The Reno Gazette-Journal reports the award for Reno Police Sgt. Michael Browett could be as much as $2 million once the judge figures in liquidated damages.

Reno City Attorney Karl Hall plans to appeal the verdict and declined to comment further.

Browett argued in a lawsuit filed two years ago that Assistant Police Chief Jason Soto retaliated against him for taking sick leave to care for his wife — who had suffered complications giving birth to their son — by passing him over for promotion five times.

Court documents say Browett ranked first on the lieutenant’s exam in 2015 with a score of 90 percent, but was not promoted after interviewing several times with a panel of command staff.

Ohio
DOJ will share Rx painkiller data for opioid lawsuit talks
CLEVELAND (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice has agreed to share some federal data about prescription painkiller sales to help with settlement talks between local governments and drug companies they’re targeting in hundreds of lawsuits over the opioid epidemic.

Cleveland.com reports the department agreed to release certain data if a judge requires that it not be circulated publicly and be returned or destroyed when the litigation is finished.

The information would include a year-by-year, state-by-state breakdown of companies that made and distributed most of the opioids in each state between 2006 and 2014. It also would include how many pills were sold annually in each state and each drug company’s market share.

A federal judge overseeing the settlement talks has said the information could help “track whose pills went where.”

Idaho
Gun control bill aimed at domestic abusers is killed
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho’s House has spiked a proposal that would have prevented convicted domestic abusers from owning guns.

House GOP members voted 39-31 on Tuesday to prevent the measure from moving to the Senate after critics argued the bill infringed upon the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

A recent opinion from the Idaho Attorney General’s office countered HB 585 did not violate constitutional rights.

Twenty Republican members joined the House’s 11 Democratic members in support.

However, in Idaho, efforts to increase any hint of gun control are often blocked by GOP legislative leaders — particularly in a year where every state lawmaker is up for re-election in the upcoming May primary election.

Utah
State Bar ­apologizes for sending nude photo to lawyers
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Utah State Bar has apologized after it emailed a photo of a topless woman to all active attorneys in the state.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports the state bar had emailed lawyers Monday to advertise its spring convention, but included in that email was the photo of the bare-chested woman.

Communications director Matt Page says the state bar is investigating how the image was sent out.

Page says the email was created internally, but he has no idea how the photo entered the email.

Bar executive director John Baldwin says the state bar’s “goal is to find out what happened and insure it never happens again.”

The state bar issued an apology about 30 minutes after the email was sent.

Ohio
Court grants DNA testing results to condemned killer
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court is allowing a condemned killer fuller access to DNA testing of a cigarette butt his attorneys say could determine his innocence.

Death row inmate Tyrone Noling was convicted of the 1990 double murder in Portage County in northeastern Ohio of Bearnhardt and Cora Hartig, both 81.

The Supreme Court ruled 5-2 Tuesday in favor of providing Noling’s attorneys the DNA profile from tests on the cigarette butt found at the scene.

Noling’s attorneys argue the profile could help them match the DNA to other suspects.

Lead attorney Brian Howe said Tuesday that lawyers are continuing their efforts to exonerate Noling of a crime he didn’t commit.

Portage County Prosecutor Victor Vigluicci says the cigarette butt’s relevance has been repeatedly disproven.

Colorado
Man re-tried for killing of wife in 2001
GOLDEN, Colo. (AP) — Prosecutors allege that a man being re-tried for killing his wife in 2001 shot her in the head while she slept and put her body in a dumpster at work.

Michael Blagg is on trial for the second time in the death of Jennifer Blagg.

He was convicted of murder in Grand Junction in 2004 but his conviction was overturned 10 years later after the judge learned a juror concealed her experience with domestic violence in order to serve on the jury.

This time Blagg is being tried in suburban Denver due to concern that an impartial jury couldn’t be found in Mesa County.

The Blaggs’ daughter, Abby, disappeared when Jennifer Blagg was killed and has never been found.

Blagg’s lawyer claims a child predator killed Jennifer Blagg and kidnapped Abby.