National Roundup

Ohio
AG to appeal over Down syndrome ban on abortions
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s attorney general says he will appeal a federal judge’s decision to put on hold a state law that bans doctors from performing abortions based on a diagnosis of Down syndrome.

Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine says Ohio has “profound interests in combating discrimination against a class of human beings based upon disability.”

Judge Timothy Black said Wednesday that opponents of the law are “highly likely” to successfully argue the law is unconstitutional. Black’s ruling means the law won’t take effect next week while a related lawsuit continues.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued the state Department of Health, the state medical board and county prosecutors on behalf of Planned Parenthood and several abortion providers. It is seeking to have the law declared unconstitutional and thrown out.

Illinois
Innocence ­certificates ­withheld for 5 exonerated men
CHICAGO (AP) — A Cook County, Illinois, judge has refused to grant innocence certificates to five men allegedly framed with drug charges by a Chicago police sergeant.

Judge LeRoy K. Martin Jr. ruled Thursday that because the men only received probation as a result of former Sgt. Ronald Watts’ actions, they don’t qualify for the certificates.

Martin encouraged lawyers for the men to file an appeal, saying he would “be OK with the appellate court reversing” him.

Defense attorney Joshua Tepfer said he would appeal Martin’s ruling.

In February, the judge granted certificates of innocence to nine other men who served prison time based on convictions built on false testimony by Watts and members of the tactical unit he commanded. Watts was charged with and convicted of shaking down an FBI informant.

Oklahoma
Federal judge rejects women’s suit over ­wrongful ­conviction
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — A federal judge has rejected an exonerated woman’s allegation that an Oklahoma city violated her civil rights when she was prosecuted for murder in connection with the 1994 death of her son.

Michelle Murphy was freed after serving 20 years in prison when new DNA evidence was discovered, The Tulsa World reported.

Murphy told police she found her 3-month-old son with his throat cut on Sept. 12, 1994.

Former Tulsa District Attorney Tim Harris suggested Murphy could’ve been the source of some of the blood found at the crime scene. Forensic tests have since proven that none of the blood at the scene was Murphy’s.

Murphy sued the city of Tulsa in 2015, alleging prosecutors, police and the city committed various wrongful acts during her prosecution. She later amended the lawsuit to limit the target of her allegations to the city. She alleged that the city violated her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination through the use of her allegedly coerced statement to police at her trial. She alleged that her 14th Amendment right to a fair trial also was violated.

But Chief U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell granted ruled in favor of the city on Tuesday after determining attorneys for Murphy failed to produce evidence that Tulsa had a policy or custom that led to the violation of her rights.

David Keesling, an attorney for Murphy, said she plans to appeal to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“This just presents us with the next step, which is not the last step in this process,” Keesling said.

Alabama
Sheriff legally used inmate food funds for beach house
GADSDEN, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama sheriff legally used more than $750,000 of funds meant to feed inmates to purchase a beach house.

Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin told The Birmingham News he follows a state law passed before World War II that allows sheriffs to keep “excess” inmate-feeding funds for themselves.

Entrekin reported on state ethics forms that he made “more than $250,000” each of the past three years through the funds.

The sheriff’s annual salary is more than $93,000. He and his wife purchased a four-bedroom house with an in-ground pool and canal access in September for $740,000.

Entrekin got a $592,000 mortgage. The home is one of several properties with a total assessed value of more than $1.7 million that the couple own together or separately.


Texas
Court backs activist who ­challenged ­county gun ban
DALLAS (AP) — A Texas appeals court has ruled in favor of a gun-rights activist who had complained that county officials were unlawfully barring firearms from being brought into a public building.

The Court of Appeals for the 1st District of Texas found in favor of Terry Holcomb Sr. by ruling, in part, that Waller County had no standing to sue Holcomb in 2016 because a complaint he lodged should have been heard by the state attorney general’s office.

Thursday’s finding reversed a lower-court ruling.

Holcomb had challenged the county’s ban on license-holders from bringing a firearm into the county government building.

The county northwest of Houston took the unusual step of suing Holcomb, with officials explaining at the time they hoped a ruling would clarify state law on gun restrictions.

Illinois
Federal jury finds in favor of officer who shot teen in back
CHICAGO (AP) — A federal jury has rejected claims a suburban Chicago police officer used excessive force and doctored the scene of the fatal shooting of 17-year-old.

Zion Police Officer Eric Hill shot Justus Howell twice in the back during a foot chase in April 2015. Lake County State’s Attorney Mike Nerheim said the shooting was justified.

Hill said the boy pointed a gun at him during the chase. Police say Howell got into a fight while trying to buy a gun before the shooting. In the lawsuit, Howell’s family said the teen did not have the gun in his hand at the time.

After the jury’s verdict, the teen’s mother, LaToya Howell, said her son “did not get justice in this life.”

Hill’s lawyer, Thomas DiCianni, said he was happy Hill has been exonerated, adding there were no winners in the case.