National Roundup

Nebraska
Judge dismisses lawsuit over 2015 prison riot
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a Nebraska inmate’s lawsuit alleging prison officials failed to protect him from gangs and fires in a 2015 riot that left two dead.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that the lawsuit was tossed out Friday. The judge found no evidence that prison staff were deliberately indifferent to Brian Guerry’s health and safety in the May 10, 2015 riot at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution.

Guerry alleges he was exposed to burning plastic and blood in water in his cell for days after the riot. He alleges prison staff allowed general population inmates to prey on protective custody inmates in the riot.

Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf says prison official’s actions were responses to the emergency situation and not due to “sadistic or malicious intent.”

Connecticut
Man pleads guilty to hacking into iCloud accounts of celebrities
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut man has pleaded guilty to hacking into the iCloud accounts of Hollywood stars and others so he could steal personal information, including private photographs and videos.

Federal prosecutors say 26-year-old George Garofano, of North Branford, pleaded guilty Wednesday to unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information.

The charge stemmed from the investigation into the 2014 scandal in which the private photos of Jennifer Lawrence, Kirsten Dunst, Kate Upton and others were made public.

Prosecutors say Garofano sent emails that appeared to be from Apple encouraging victims to disclose usernames and passwords. He then used the information to illegally access nearly 250 iCloud accounts.

Garofano, who remains free on $50,000 bond, faces up to five years in prison at sentencing at a date to be determined.

California
Teacher who accidentally fired gun in class resigns
SEASIDE, Calif. (AP) — A teacher who accidentally fired a gun inside a Northern California classroom while teaching firearm safety has resigned.

KSBW-TV reports that Dennis Alexander submitted his resignation to the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District on March 29. It will be effective at the end of the school year.

Police say Alexander last month was pointing the gun at the ceiling to make sure it was not loaded when the weapon discharged. No one sustained serious injuries .

School district spokeswoman Marci McFadden says Alexander remains on administrative leave while the internal disciplinary process continues.

Alexander is an administration of justice teacher at Seaside High School, reserve Sand City police officer, and Seaside City Council member.

The coastal community is about 115 miles (185 kilometers) south of San Francisco.

Delaware
Professor accused of abusing lab rats
NEWARK, Del. (AP) — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is accusing an award-winning University of Delaware professor of abusing lab rats.

The News Journal of Wilmington reports PETA filed complaints Wednesday with the school’s president and a federal agency that helps fund the professor’s research. They say an associate professor in the school’s psychology and brain sciences department, Tania Roth, has subjected rats to “psychologically distressing and painful experiments” for nearly 18 years.

Roth’s research focuses on how early life stressors can alter the brain and affect genetic behavior and expression. University spokesman Peter Bothum says the university follows federal animal welfare guidelines. Roth declined the Journal’s request for comment.

PETA will host a meeting on Roth’s research Thursday, marking the first time it has targeted a researcher at a Delaware university.

Massachusetts
Lawyer: Insanity defense likely in beating deaths
WOBURN, Mass. (AP) — The lawyer for a Maine man charged with beating his mother, his grandparents and his grandparents’ caretaker to death with a baseball bat in Massachusetts says he will likely pursue an insanity defense.

Orion Krause was held without bail at a mental health facility after pleading not guilty Wednesday in Middlesex Superior Court to four counts of murder. He has been ruled competent for trial.

His lawyer, Edward Wayland, said after the proceedings that “I think mental illness will be the explanation for this event.”

Krause, of Rockport, Maine, and a 2017 graduate of Oberlin College in Ohio, is charged with killing the victims in his grandparents Groton, Massachusetts, home last September.

The victims have been identified as Elizabeth Krause, Frank Darby Lackey III, Elizabeth Lackey, and Bertha Mae Parker.

Mississippi
Students charged in break-in at Univ. of Alabama
Four Mississippi State University students are accused of breaking into the University of Alabama’s athletic facility and stealing memorabilia.

The break-in happened during the pre-dawn hours of April 4, six days before Alabama’s national championship football team met with President Donald Trump at the White House, authorities said.

The four managed to get inside the Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility and stole “various items of memorabilia,” court records state.

The crime was captured on security video, the records show.

Mississippi State is “fully cooperating” with law enforcement as they investigate, school spokesman Sid Salter said in an emailed statement.

“The future status of the students with MSU will be determined after they have received their due process of law rights according to existing university policies,” Salter said.

“Clearly, these individuals will have to face the consequences of their actions, whatever those actions might be,” he added.

All four men are charged with third-degree burglary, a felony.

In Alabama, the athletic facility on the main campus in Tuscaloosa is “the centerpiece of Crimson Tide Athletics” and home to Alabama’s football program, the university says on its website. It was unoccupied when the crime occurred, authorities said.

The four students are from the Mississippi towns of Starkville, Columbus, Laurel and Madison.