National Roundup

Ohio
Lawsuit by white nationalist against university set for 2019 trial
CINCINNATI (AP) — A federal judge has set a trial date in 2019 for a lawsuit over an Ohio college’s demand for a security fee from organizers of white nationalist Richard Spencer’s campus tour.

U.S. District Judge Susan J. Dlott scheduled a series of preliminary pretrial deadlines in her order Thursday leading to a March 18 jury trial, which would be more than a year after Spencer had planned to speak on the University of Cincinnati campus. The school, last October, agreed to let Spencer speak, and his tour organizers set a March 14 date, which is during the students’ spring break.

But the lawsuit was filed in January over UC’s security fee demand of nearly $11,000 that Spencer’s attorney at the time called discriminatory and unconstitutional. The school later said that amount was a “mere fraction” of its expected costs.

James Kolenich, a Cincinnati area attorney who recently took over the case, said there had been settlement discussions with the university. The school didn’t immediately comment Friday.

Spencer calls his views “alt-right” as he advocates a white “ethno-state” and espouses anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant beliefs. UC’s board of trustees publicly condemned hate last October while citing the fundamental right to free speech at a public university.

He spoke Monday at Michigan State University , where protesters far outnumbered his audience during that school’s spring break.

Spencer’s side this week dropped a federal lawsuit against Ohio State University over its refusal to book him. The school said Spencer’s appearance posed a “substantial risk” to public safety and of disruption.

Spencer’s lead tour organizer didn’t respond to a request for an explanation of the decision to drop the OSU lawsuit.

Ohio State pointed to deadly violence in the Charlottesville, Virginia, rally last August in which Spencer was a scheduled speaker, and his raucous October appearance at the University of Florida, where authorities estimated security costs at $600,000.

He had also wanted to speak at Kent State University in May, but that Ohio school said he couldn’t be accommodated during the busy time at the end of the school year.


Missouri
Victim’s daughter: Imprisoned man should be freed
SIKESTON, Mo. (AP) — The daughter of a Missouri woman who was fatally shot in 2000 says she believes the man convicted of the killing is innocent.

Crystal King said she supports David Robinson’s efforts to be freed, the Southeast Missourian reported . Robinson, 49, is awaiting a state Supreme Court decision after a special master appointed to review the case ruled last month that his murder conviction in the death of Sheila Box should be tossed out.

King was 17 years old and living in another state when her mother was killed. She is now 36, the same age her mother was when she died.

No physical evidence tied Robinson to Box’s killing. Two witnesses connected Robinson to the crime, but they have since recanted. Another Sikeston man, Romanze Mosby, confessed on tape in 2004 that he was the real killer.
Mosby, who killed himself in 2009, never signed an affidavit confirming his confession, and judges refused to allow it as evidence.

“I want to lend my support to David Robinson, and I think he’s innocent, and I think Romanze Mosby was the killer and that it was probably a robbery gone bad,” King said.

Box was shot to death in her SUV after leaving the Sikeston bar she and her fiancee owned with $300 in cash and checks.

King said the case has been difficult to hear about.

“It’s opened up a lot of old wounds, things I’d thought I’d dealt with and buried,” King said. “I can’t say there will ever be justice for this, but it needs to be rectified; he needs to be released. It’s just sad all the way around for everyone involved. There are no winners. A great disservice has been done to him and his family.”

The special master, Judge Darrell Missey, cited “clear and convincing evidence” that Robinson “is actually innocent of that crime.” He also criticized the investigator in the slaying, calling him the least credible witness in the case.

Delaware
Court date set for ex-teacher’s child sex plea
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A federal judge has rescheduled a court hearing at which a former Delaware teacher will plead guilty to child sex charges.

The judge on Thursday rescheduled the plea hearing for Joshua Rutherford for March 19 following the cancellation of a hearing that had been scheduled for earlier this week.

Rutherford, a former Smyrna High School teacher and track coach, reached a deal with prosecutors in January after the judge refused to dismiss the indictment against him.

Rutherford was charged with seeking child pornography and attempted inducement of a minor.

Authorities say Rutherford chatted online with an undercover investigator posing as a 14-year-old girl’s father and expressed interest in meeting the girl for sex. Prosecutors say he also boasted of a past sexual encounter with a real high-school-aged girl.

Minnesota
Plaque of Ten Commandments removed from courthouse
HIBBING, Minn. (AP) — A bronze plaque with the Ten Commandments is no longer on view at the St. Louis County Courthouse in Hibbing.

Property management removed the plaque at the direction of county administration on Monday.

St. Louis County communications manager Dana Kazel tells the Hibbing Daily Tribune that officials consulted with the county attorney’s office, which recommended removing the Ten Commandments based on past court decisions.

County Administrator Kevin Gray says the northeastern Minnesota county received a letter last month from the Madison, Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, questioning the plaque.

Gray says “the law and norms have developed considerably” since the plaque was installed decades ago.

The plaque reading “God’s Laws” had hung below the county seal and the words “district court” since the courthouse opened in 1958.