National Roundup

Florida
Man gets life for shooting fish and wildlife officer
PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) — A man has been sentenced to life in prison for shooting a Florida wildlife officer and then attempting to run him down with his own patrol boat.

Circuit Judge Brantley Clark Jr. on Tuesday ordered 22-year-old Samuel Reager to spend his natural life plus four more decades behind bars. He was convicted for the August 2015 open-water gunfight with
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commissioner Officer David Brady in Panama City.

Authorities say Reager ran the boat aground and escaped, prompting a massive manhunt.

Reager was convicted Feb. 9 of first-degree attempted murder on a law enforcement officer.

The News Herald reports Reager’s sentences are consecutive, so if the life sentence is overturned for any reason, he would begin serving the 45-year sentence with no credit for time served.

Delaware
Bill would require taking guns from mentally ill
DOVER, Del. (AP) — The Delaware House has unanimously approved a “red flag” bill requiring efforts to temporarily seize guns from people with mental health issues who make an “explicit or imminent threat” to kill or injure someone.

House Bill 302 imposes a series of “duties to warn.”

It requires licensed mental health professionals to tell police if a patient makes such a threat and has the ability to carry it out.

Police are then required to investigate, and if the risk is verified, seek court permission to remove weapons and ammunition.

Sponsors say this makes law enforcement and courts responsible for taking action to protect potential victims.

Ohio
Ex-Cincy athlete says she was kicked off team due to photos
CINCINNATI (AP) — A former University of Cincinnati volleyball player is suing the school, saying she was kicked off the team for posting photos on Instagram that were “too sexy.”

Nineteen-year-old Shalom Ifeanyi filed the lawsuit in federal court last week, alleging racial and sex discrimination by the university and volleyball coach Molly Alvey.

Ifeanyi says she was removed from the team because she did not fit the description of a UC volleyball player. She alleges Alvey harassed her about the pictures posted to her social media accounts.

The teenager is seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorney fees. UC Athletics spokesman Ryan Koslen says the university has no comment on pending legal matters.

Louisiana
Officials won’t have to testify about removal of monument
SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that four members of a local governing board in Louisiana don’t have to submit to questions from lawyers fighting the removal of a Confederate monument from courthouse grounds.

The four members of the Caddo Parish Commission in north Louisiana voted for a resolution last year authorizing removal of the monument at the Caddo courthouse in Shreveport.

The Shreveport chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy is fighting removal.

The group’s lawyers planned to question the commissioners about their votes in depositions.

The commissioners argued that they are legally immune from having to testify about the motives for their votes. U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Hornsby agreed in a Tuesday ruling. A trial is set for June 25.

Wyoming
Boot camp suggested for more women following lawsuit
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — A female Wyoming prisoner sued the state last year for gender discrimination after she was sent to prison despite a judge’s recommendation that she go to a boot camp.

The Casper Star-Tribune reported Tuesday that in the aftermath of that lawsuit, Wyoming judges have recommended sending three more women to boot camps. No woman received a boot-camp recommendation prior to 2017.

Inmates sent to boot camp can petition the court for a sentence reduction if they successfully complete a months-long program. Wyoming’s Newcastle program is only open to men, meaning women have to be sent out of state.

Because of the lack of options for women, the state Department of Corrections sent Taylor Blanchard to prison initially. After Blanchard sued, the state sent her to a boot camp in Florida.

Maine
Records in murder case improperly obtained
BELFAST, Maine (AP) — A judge says prosecutors improperly obtained a psychological evaluation and other records in the case against a Maine woman charged in the fatal beating of her 10-year-old daughter.

Superior Court Justice Robert Murray gave prosecutors 48 hours to hand over any paper records and ordered them to destroy any electronic records.

Sharon Carrillo and her husband are accused of taking turns beating Sharon’s daughter, Marissa Kennedy. The girl died in late February in Stockton Springs.

The defense contends prosecutors deceitfully obtained records from a boarding school for people with learning disabilities that Sharon Carrillo attended. They say prosecutors used a bogus court appearance in Maine as leverage to obtain the records.

Assistant Attorney General Leane Zainea acknowledged the mistake, but contends it was an inadvertent procedural error.

Montana
Jail inmate charged with murder-for-hire
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — A Frenchtown resident charged with a 2013 double homicide is now charged with offering to pay several fellow jail inmates to kill a witness in the case.

The Missoulian reports Caressa Jill Hardy was charged last week with two counts of solicitation to commit homicide. Prosecutors say in one case Hardy offered to kill a fellow inmate’s girlfriend in exchange.

Hardy, who was previously known as Glenn Dibley, learned during trial preparation that a woman with whom he had children reported witnessing the killings of Thomas Korjack and Robert Orozco. Their remains have not been found.

Hardy pleaded not guilty to the deliberate homicide charges last September, but has not entered a plea on the solicitation charges.