Nebraska
Judge dismisses lawsuit over long solitary confinement
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against Nebraska prison officials by an inmate who'd been held in solitary confinement for more than two years.
Dylan Landers said in his October 2017 lawsuit that the segregation amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.
The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf disagreed. Kopf said in his ruling issued Monday that Landers didn't provide evidence that he was denied "the minimal civilized measure of life's necessities" and that prison officials were deliberately indifferent to "an excessive risk to inmate health or safety."
Landers has been serving time for theft, burglary and other crimes. He was placed in solitary at the Tecumseh prison in May 2015 while being investigated for involvement in that year's Mother's Day riot. He remained in solitary until February 2017. A month later he was again put in solitary pending an investigation of a "serious act of violent behavior."
Oklahoma
U.S. Senate confirms justice as federal judge
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The U.S. Senate has confirmed President Donald Trump's nomination of an Oklahoma Supreme Court justice as a federal judge.
The Senate voted 53-47 on Tuesday to confirm Patrick Wyrick to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.
The vote was split along party lines with Senate records showing all 53 Republicans voting for confirmation and all 45 Democrats joined by two independents who caucus with the Democrats voting no.
Wyrick's first nomination had expired and he was renominated by the president earlier this year.
His confirmation comes after the Republican-controlled Senate voted last week to limit debate on many nominees.
Wyrick was named to the state Supreme Court in February 2017 after six years as solicitor general under then-state Attorney General Scott Pruitt.
Delaware
Judge refuses to dismiss discrimination suit against HBCU
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - A federal judge has denied a request by officials at historically black Delaware State University to dismiss a racial discrimination lawsuit filed by a former white employee.
The judge's ruling Tuesday affirmed a recommendation made last month by a federal magistrate, who found that Jeffrey DeMoss has pleaded sufficient facts to show that race was a motivating factor in his termination.
DeMoss has alleged, among other things, that he overheard former university President Harry Williams call him a "white fat (expletive)" in a phone call. DeMoss also says a school official told him that his termination was motivated by race and the university wanted a black person in his position.
DeMoss was executive director for dining and auxiliary services and operations director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Center.
Ohio
Pastor convicted of sex charges seeks new trial
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - A former minister in Ohio convicted of child sex trafficking after a woman told jurors he groomed her for sex when she was 14 and encouraged her to have sex with two other pastors is seeking a new trial.
Attorneys for 40-year-old Anthony Haynes filed a motion Tuesday asking a federal court to vacate the verdict against Haynes and grant a new trial. Haynes was found guilty last month of charges including sex trafficking and child sexual exploitation.
Prosecutors say Haynes paid the girl for sex during a three-year period after promising her mother he would protect her.
Haynes denied having sex with the girl and testified she tried to manipulate him.
Oregon
Deputies respond to home invasion, find robot vacuum
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Deputies in Portland, Oregon responded to a possible home invasion, but the intruder they found wasn't alive or a person.
It was a robotic vacuum cleaner.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports a house sitter in Cedar Hills called 911 Monday, saying someone was inside the bathroom.
The Washington County Sheriff's Office says deputies entered the home and ordered the burglar out, but nothing happened.
Deputies then opened the bathroom door with guns drawn and discovered the automatic vacuum cleaner.
Sgt. Danny DiPietro says this encounter was his first "Roomba burglar" in 13 years on the job.
He says the office is still "having a good laugh about it."
Pennsylvania
Mistrial declared for man who snapped $4.5M statue's thumb
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A jury is unable to reach a verdict in the trial of a Delaware man who admitted he broke a thumb off a $4.5 million statue at a Philadelphia museum.
Michael Rohana was attending a Christmas-themed ugly sweater party at the Franklin Institute in December 2017 when he entered a traveling exhibit featuring ancient Chinese terra cotta warrior statues.
Authorities say the 25-year-old took photos while posing next to a statue known as "The Cavalryman," then snapped off the statue's left thumb. The vandalism outraged Chinese officials.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that a jury deadlocked Tuesday on charges of theft and concealment of an object of cultural heritage. Rohana's lawyers argued he wasn't charged under the right law.
A mistrial was declared. Prosecutors say they'll decide by May whether to retry the case.
Massachusetts
Wrongful death lawsuit in texting suicide case resolved
BOSTON (AP) - The wrongful death lawsuit brought against the Massachusetts woman convicted of sending her suicidal boyfriend a series of text messages urging him to kill himself has been resolved.
Michelle Carter was convicted in 2017 of involuntary manslaughter in the 2014 death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy III. The 22-year-old woman, who was 17 at the time of Roy's death, began serving a 15-month sentence in February.
Eric Goldman, an attorney for Roy's mother, told the Boston Herald the case has been "resolved" but declined to provide details.
Carter's attorneys also refused comment.
Roy killed himself by filling his pickup truck with carbon monoxide in a Fairhaven, Massachusetts, parking lot. When he had second thoughts about killing himself, Carter texted him to "get back in" the truck.
Published: Thu, Apr 11, 2019
