Prosecutor, law school get grant for new look at old cases
DETROIT (AP) — The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office and a law school are getting $451,000 from the federal government to take a fresh look at cases that might have led to wrongful convictions.
The grant from the U.S. Justice Department will be used to determine if DNA testing might produce new evidence. The Innocence Project at Western Michigan University-Cooley Law School says it's reviewing 135 cases in Wayne County.
Officials say forensic science has “undergone tremendous changes over the years and offers the ability to both exonerate and convict.”
Valerie Newman, who as an appellate lawyer had worked to exonerate the wrongly convicted, now runs Wayne County's conviction integrity unit and says her group's work will be enhanced by the grant.
Judge refuses to order school to put teen on soccer team
LADUE, Mo. (AP) — A federal judge has refused to order a Missouri high school to put a 16-year-old boy on a soccer team while his family sues for discrimination.
KSDK-TV reports that a federal judge denied the temporary restraining order last week. The lawsuit is pending.
The lawsuit says the boy, identified as John Doe, didn’t make the varsity soccer team at Ladue Horton Watkins High School, and was barred from returning to the junior varsity team because younger players are given precedence.
The lawsuit says that’s discrimination, noting that the school lets female juniors play on the girls’ junior varsity team.
In denying the restraining order, the judge said the school can set parameters for eligibility and success.
Funeral director who took corpse pictures gets probation
EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania funeral director who took photos of corpses to gross out her friends and relatives has been spared a prison term.
Angeliegha Stewart was sentenced recently to 10 years probation after she pleaded guilty to 16 counts of abuse of a corpse. She also was permanently barred from working in the funeral industry.
The sentence was imposed after several people spoke about being devastated by the photos taken of their loved ones.
Authorities have said Stewart took pictures of one corpse during an organ-harvesting process and others of a decomposing corpse. Some of the corpses were in caskets; some were not.
Stewart has said she took the photos to share with colleagues, but also admitted showing a specific, gruesome photo to her ex-boyfriend to "gross him out."
Man sues store after slipping on chile pod
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico man suing a supermarket chain after he says he slipped and fell on a green chile pod.
The Albuquerque Journal reports a lawyer for Richard Berman filed a lawsuit in Santa Fe District Court two years after the chile allegedly swept Berman off his feet.
Berman is seeking damages from Sprouts Farmers Markets for injuries he suffered to his neck, shoulder, back and left knee. The lawsuit claims Berman continues to suffer from headaches and other pains.
The lawsuit says Sprouts "knew or should have known that the floor of the store, where the green chile was located, was subject to routine heavy foot traffic."
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