Pennsylvania
Sunoco cuts ties with gas station owner over billboard slur
WORTHINGTON, Pa. (AP) - Sunoco is cutting ties with a Pennsylvania gas station owner after his digital billboard down the street flashed a racial slur and praised the acquittal of a white police officer in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teen.
Former East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfeld was acquitted of a homicide charge last week. After the jury's verdict, a digital billboard in Worthington displayed photos of Rosfeld and 17-year-old Antwon Rose II. The message branded Rose a "criminal" and said, "Justice Served, Get over it." A separate message asked why black people can use a racial slur and white people can't.
The Tribune-Review reports that Sunoco is halting fuel deliveries and removing Sunoco signage from the station. A Sunoco spokeswoman says the messages are "unacceptable and do not represent our values and beliefs in any way."
Washington
Judge sets April sentencing in Russian secret agent case
WASHINGTON (AP) - A Russian gun-rights activist will be sentenced next month after admitting she was a secret agent for the Kremlin who tried to infiltrate conservative U.S. political groups as Donald Trump rose to power.
Maria Butina appeared briefly Thursday in federal court in Washington and U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan set Butina's sentencing for April 26.
Butina, who wore a green jail uniform with her hair pulled back in a long ponytail, did not speak during the court hearing.
In December, she pleaded guilty to a single charge of conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent and agreed to cooperate with investigators as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors.
Butina admitted that she and former Russian lawmaker Alexander Torshin used their contacts in the National Rifle Association to pursue back channels to American conservatives during the 2016 campaign, when Trump, a Republican, defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.
The charges against Butina were brought by federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., and her case is unrelated to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Mueller concluded his investigation and turned over his report to Attorney General William Barr last week. In a four-page letter to Congress, Barr said the special counsel did not find that Trump's campaign "conspired or coordinated" with the Russian government to influence the 2016 presidential election. Mueller reached no conclusion on whether Trump obstructed the federal investigation, but the attorney general said there was insufficient evidence Trump obstructed justice by trying to interfere with Mueller's probe.
Butina faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, though her lawyers have previously noted that federal sentencing guidelines recommend no time to six months. She has been jailed since her arrest in July.
Louisiana
Judge: Attorney general's suit must make governor defendant
NATCHITOCHES, La. (AP) - A judge says if Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry wants to continue a dispute over the governor's appointments to a water commission, he must name Gov. John Bel Edwards as defendant in the lawsuit.
Judge Lala Sylvester says Landry has 45 days to amend the lawsuit if he wants to proceed.
The Republican attorney general claims the Democratic governor improperly appointed two members to the Red River Waterway Commission instead of another appointee nominated by local officials. The governor's office says the appointments followed the law.
Landry sued the regulatory commission in Natchitoches Parish court in September.
Sylvester ruled Monday that Landry must sue Edwards directly in the dispute because if Landry won, it could affect the governor's constitutional authority over appointments.
Landry's office indicated it would amend the lawsuit.
Illinois
Reputed Chicago gang member, killer set for prison release
CHICAGO (AP) - A convicted murderer who is suspected of belonging to the notorious "Ripper Crew" that killed as many as 20 Chicago-area women in the 1980s is scheduled for release from prison this week.
The Chicago Tribune reports that 58-year-old Thomas Kokoraleis was sentenced to life in prison for the 1982 slaying of 21-year-old Lorraine "Lorry" Ann Borowski. Prosecutors allowed him to plead guilty on appeal in exchange for a 70-year prison term. That deal allows for his release Friday.
An Illinois Prisoner Review Board spokesman says the state is legally required to release Kokoraleis because he has served the maximum possible amount of time on that sentence.
Kokoraleis was denied release in September 2017 after he failed to find an approved place to live in violation of parole-eligibility requirements.
Virginia
Life sentence issued for murder of Muslim teen
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) - A man was sentenced Thursday to life in prison for raping and killing a Muslim teenager in Virginia as she walked back to a mosque with friends for pre-dawn religious services.
The life sentence without possibility of parole imposed Thursday on Darwin Martinez-Torres of Sterling was a formality after his guilty plea last year in the June 2017 slaying of 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen of Reston. That plea bargain required a life sentence but eliminated a potential death penalty.
Hassanen's death received widespread attention amid concerns her slaying was motivated by anti-Muslim sentiment. Prosecutors, though, say Martinez-Torres attacked her after he got out of his car to chase Nabra's group of friends in a road-rage confrontation.
Fairfax County prosecutors say the attack began when Martinez-Torres drove by and honked his horn at one of Nabra's friends who had been riding his bicycle in the road as they walked back to their mosque. The friend yelled back at Martinez-Torres, who started chasing the group, first in his car, and then on foot.
Prosecutors said Nabra, who was wearing sandals, couldn't run as fast the others, and Martinez-Torres caught up with her, wielding a baseball bat.
Martinez-Torres, a native of El Salvador who federal immigration authorities have said is in the country illegally, was caught shortly after the attack. He initially denied attacking Nabra but quickly confessed under questioning from detectives. He told them that he "got out of control" and that after he first struck Nabra with the bat he "just kept thinking ugly things."
Police have said he took her to a nearby pond and raped her while she lay unconscious, then dumped her body in the water after she died.
Martinez-Torres' lawyer, Joseph Flood, has said his client has intellectual disabilities, and that his IQ is below 68.
The plea deal carries an unusual provision that requires Martinez-Torres to answer any questions posed of him by the victim's family over the next year.
Nabra's father, Mahmoud Hassanen, has been outspoken about his concerns that Nabra's death may have been a hate crime. Prosecutors have characterized it as a road-rage attack.
Published: Fri, Mar 29, 2019
