Indiana
Court overturns murder conviction over hypnosis issue
ELKHART, Ind. (AP) - A federal appeals court has thrown out a 1994 attempted murder conviction, finding that an Indiana prosecutor concealed evidence by not disclosing that the state's sole eyewitness underwent hypnosis to sharpen his memory before testifying at trial.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago announced the decision in Mack Sims' case on Feb. 1.
Sims was sentenced to 35 years after he was convicted in Elkhart County in the shooting of security guard Shane Carey. The prosecution's case relied on Carey identifying Sims as the shooter and had no physical evidence linking Sims to the attack.
Sims appealed the conviction after learning in 2012 that Carey had undergone hypnosis before the trial.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a person who undergoes hypnosis could potentially fill memory gaps with fantasy or experience increased confidence in both accurate and inaccurate recollections.
The Northern District of Indiana court in South Bend denied Sims' appeal, stating that Carey had described and identified Sims multiple times before undergoing hypnosis. The appeals court rejected that reasoning, ruling that the suppression of evidence violated pretrial discovery rules.
"Considering the overall weakness of the prosecution case without Carey, the importance of his testimony, the explosive strength of the concealed hypnosis evidence, and the relatively mild impeachment of Carey that the defense managed at trial, habeas relief is required," the written order said.
The prosecutor who failed to disclose the hypnosis, Charles Wicks, declined to comment on the case. Wicks now is an Elkhart Superior Court judge.
The appeals court's decision is the latest rebuke of Elkhart County's criminal justice system. A northern Indiana police chief recently came under scrutiny after downplaying the beating of a handcuffed suspect by two officers.
Indiana
Man pleads guilty to 2 murder counts in 1998 triple-murder
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - A northern Indiana man has pleaded guilty to two counts of murder on the same day jury selection was set to begin in his third trial in a triple-murder case.
Forty-nine-year-old Wayne Kubsch pleaded guilty Monday morning in the September 1998 murders of his wife, Beth Kubsch, and her ex-husband, Rick Milewski.
The South Bend Tribune reports that under Kubsch's plea agreement, a third murder count in the killing of Aaron Milewski, the son of Beth Kubsch and her ex-husband, will be dropped.
All three victims were slain inside Kubsch's Mishawaka home.
Kubsch will serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
He was twice convicted and sentenced to death in the killings, but both convictions were overturned on appeal. Kubsch's third trial was set to start Feb. 25.
Montana
Prosecutors want longer minimum sentence for sex abuse
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - Prosecutors are pushing to restore Montana's mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison for convictions of certain sexual crimes against children.
State lawmakers are considering the measure pushed by the Montana County Attorneys Association that would set the higher minimum in sexual abuse cases against victims ages 12 or younger, the Billings Gazette reported Saturday.
The state Legislature in 2017 reduced the minimum to 10 years as part of a larger sentencing reform bill.
Proponents of the measure argue the higher sentence is needed to restore greater protections for victims, who benefit by their attackers being locked up longer.
The higher mandatory minimum would apply to convictions of sexual intercourse without consent, incest and sexual abuse of children.
The measure would keep in place the current law's five possible exceptions to the mandatory minimum, said Dan Guzynski, prosecution services bureau chief for the state attorney general's office. One of the exceptions is available in cases where the perpetrator is younger than 18.
The Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence has been opposed to mandatory minimums for years, said Kelsen Young, the organization's director. Most sexual crimes against children involve someone the child knows, such as a relative or a family friend, she said.
"For some survivors, the mandatory minimum is a barrier for coming forward and reporting," Young said. Victims want the attacks to stop, but they might not "want the perpetrator to suffer that level of punishment," she said.
Alabama
Sentencing set for murder of wife, son
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) - A judge has scheduled a sentencing hearing for March 28 for an Alabama man convicted of killing his wife and son.
Madison County Circuit Judge Donna Pate can sentence 39-year-old Stephen Marc Stone to either death by lethal injection or life without parole.
Jurors who convicted Stone of capital murder last week in the 2013 killings of his 32-year-old wife Krista and their 7-year-old son Zachary recommended the life term.
Lawmakers have barred judges from overriding the recommendations of jurors in capital cases. But that restriction doesn't apply in Stone's case because the slayings happened before the law changed in 2017.
Prosecutors accused the man of strangling the two in their home nearly six years ago. The defense argued that Stone was insane at the time of the slayings.
New York
Woman resorts to baseball bat after patty not available
NEW YORK (AP) - A woman who couldn't get a beef patty at a favorite New York eatery used a baseball bat in protest.
On Saturday, police released surveillance video of the woman in action in the Bronx - smashing a restaurant's windows after learning the eatery had run out of her favorite food.
Police say the woman at the Back Home restaurant in the Morrisania neighborhood came in on the afternoon of Jan. 15 and ordered a patty. She was told they'd run out, and she got upset.
Authorities say she left and came back to the Jamaican restaurant with the bat. The video shows a woman bashing in two windows.
She fled and police were still searching for her on Saturday.
The video shows a woman dressed in a black and white jacket and matching sneakers, swinging a multi-colored aluminum bat as bystanders tried to stop her before she walked away.
No one was injured during the incident.
The Back Home restaurant in the Morrisania neighborhood is a simple, affordable spot that offers Jamaican specialties like curry goat and oxtail, drawing people from around the city.
Published: Tue, Feb 12, 2019
