National Roundup

Ohio
Judges, prison system at odds over plan for bed reduction
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio judges and the state prison system are at odds over a new law meant to reduce prison time for low-level offenders who commit minor probation violations.

At issue is a mandate capping the amount of time judges can send offenders convicted of minor crimes to prison for violations like missing counseling appointments and committing misdemeanors.

The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction says some judges aren’t always following the law and are sending offenders to prison for longer-than-allowed sentences.

The prison system had counted on the law decreasing Ohio’s inmate population by around 400 this year and as much as 1,100 next year.

Some judges question the constitutionality of the short sentencing caps and say they reduce incentives for inmates to follow probation rules.

Texas
Condemned killer of woman, son, 7, loses appeal
HOUSTON (AP) — A federal appeals court has rejected an appeal from a Fort Worth man sent to death row for killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend and her 7-year-old son in 2005.

Attorneys for 50-year-old Stephen Barbee argued unsuccessfully to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that lawyers at his 2006 trial were deficient for telling jurors Barbee was responsible for the slayings but didn’t intend for the victims to die.

Lisa Underwood and her son, Jayden, were suffocated at their home in Fort Worth.  Both later were found buried in a shallow grave in nearby Denton County.

Prosecutors said Barbee didn’t want his wife of four months to know Underwood was seven months pregnant, presumably by him. DNA evidence subsequently revealed Barbee wasn’t the father.

He doesn’t yet have an execution date.

Delaware
Juvenile killer loses appeal for prison assault
DOVER, Del. (AP) — Delaware’s Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from man sentenced to life without parole for assaulting a prison guard while serving an earlier life sentence for a murder he committed as a juvenile.

In a ruling Tuesday, the court said the appeal by Desi Sykes had no merit.

Sykes was sentenced to life in 1990 for fatally shooting a man in Dover in 1988, when Sykes was a young teenager.

That sentence was interrupted, however, by the life sentence he received as an adult in 1996 for the attempted murder of the prison guard, who was beaten with a horseshoe and stabbed in the eye.

Sykes also must serve an additional 100-plus years for the prison assault before resuming the juvenile sentence, which was modified in 2014 to 30 years.

Florida
Former FSU?attorney guilty in underage sex sting operation
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A former Florida State University attorney has been convicted of trying to meet underage girls on the internet for sex.

A U.S. Department of Justice news release says 71-year-old Dayton Cramer was convicted in Tallahassee federal court Wednesday of attempted enticement of a minor. He faces up to life in prison at his June 5 sentencing.

The former FSU deputy general counsel was charged last February. Authorities say Cramer had responded to fake online ads in which investigators posed as a 14-year-old girl and also as the stepmother of a 13-year-old girl who was being offered for sex.

Authorities say Cramer discussed sexual activity with several undercover officers. He was arrested after going to meet what he thought was the 13-year-old girl’s stepmother to arrange a sexual encounter.

Washington
Budget bill could end Supreme Court email search case
WASHINGTON (AP) — The budget bill before Congress includes an update to federal law that makes clear that authorities with a warrant can obtain emails and other data held by American technology companies but stored on servers overseas.

Passage of the Cloud Act probably would end a Supreme Court dispute between Microsoft and the Trump administration over emails the government wants as part of a drug trafficking investigation.

U.S. authorities obtained a warrant for the emails, but Microsoft has refused to provide the emails because they are kept on a Microsoft server in Ireland.

The Cloud Act has the backing of both the administration and Microsoft, but it’s opposed by privacy groups. The Cloud Act also would regulate how foreign governments.

Missouri
Judge: Public defenders’ ­caseload too high
CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — The head judge in St. Louis County has ruled that the public defender’s office has too many cases to effectively represent their clients and ordered a wait list.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the order Judge Douglas Beach issued Monday also seeks to have private lawyers take on some low-level cases to help ease the workloads of those representing indigent clients.

A statement says the order comes after months of meetings with public defenders, prosecutors, judges, legal associations and law enforcement officers to find ways to reduce public defenders’ work load.

The head of the county’s public defender office has testified that high caseloads could put public defenders at risk of violating the rules of professional conduct by not providing adequate representation for their clients.

Arizona
Court to consider testimony about drug couriers
PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Supreme Court has agreed to rule on an appeal challenging trial testimony by officers about characteristics and behaviors of drug couriers.

The appeal is on behalf of Erick Antonio Escalante, a Verde Valley man convicted in Yavapai County Superior Court of transporting methamphetamine for sale and other drug crimes.

The state Court of Appeals last year upheld Escalante’s convictions, which stemmed from a 2015 traffic stop near Cottonwood.

The Court of Appeals said prosecutors used impermissible drug courier profile evidence to try to show guilt but that there was substantial evidence of Escalante’s guilt and that his defense chose not to object to the impermissible evidence.

Escalante is serving a 14-year prison sentence.