Montana
Self-proclaimed 'prepper' sentenced on weapons charges
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) - A Montana judge has sentenced a self-proclaimed "prepper" who stockpiled weapons in preparation for society's collapse to four years in prison.
U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen sentenced 62-year-old Bruce Boone Wann of Kila on Friday. Wann previously pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a machine gun, an unregistered silencer, a short-barreled rifle and a grenade.
Prosecutors say those items were among a larger illegal weapons cache.
The Missoulian reports Wann's attorney, Shandor Badaruddin, told the judge that Wann was preparing for a future collapse, and didn't intend to hurt anyone.
Wann told the judge he is a prepper who has put away a five-year food supply. He says he would have used the explosives to blow down trees to keep people from stealing food or harming his family.
Maryland
Charges dropped against woman accused of assaulting Conway
ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) - Prosecutors have dropped a criminal case against a Maryland woman who was charged with assaulting White House counselor Kellyanne Conway during a confrontation last year at a restaurant in a Washington suburb.
A trial for Mary Elizabeth Inabinett, 63, of Chevy Chase, was scheduled to start Monday morning in Montgomery County, Maryland. Instead, a county prosecutor asked a judge to dismiss the charges.
Police had charged Inabinett last November with second-degree assault and disorderly conduct.
Conway told police she was attending a birthday party with her teenage daughter at a Mexican restaurant in Bethesda, Maryland, last October when she felt somebody grab her shoulders from behind and shake her.
The woman who confronted Conway yelled, "Shame on you" and "other comments believed to be about Conway's political views," according to a charging document prepared by Montgomery County police.
Conway wasn't injured, the document says.
Montgomery County prosecutor Kathy Knight said Inabinett sent Conway a letter apologizing for the incident.
"She has apologized for choosing this time and place to vent her political views," Knight said. "That was inappropriate."
Knight noted Inabinett had never been arrested for a crime before.
Ramon Korionoff, a spokesman for the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office said dropping the charges is "the best resolution for this particular set of circumstances."
Maraya Pratt, an attorney for Inabinett said she couldn't immediately comment.
In a CNN interview earlier this year, Conway said she was standing next to her middle school-aged daughter and some of her daughter's friends when the woman began shaking her "to the point where I thought maybe somebody was hugging me." She said it felt "weird" and "a little aggressive," so she turned around to face the woman.
"She was just unhinged. She was out of control," she said. "Her whole face was terror and anger."
Conway said she told President Donald Trump about the incident "long after" it happened. She said Trump asked her, "Are you OK? Is your daughter OK? Are the other girls OK?"
The restaurant's manager told police the woman who confronted Conway had to be forcibly removed from the premises.
Conway told police the woman yelled and gestured at her for 8 to 10 minutes before she was escorted out of the restaurant. Conway's daughter provided officers with a short video clip and photograph of the encounter.
North Carolina
Unsuccessful abortions focus of bill in N. Carolina Senate
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The abortion debate is intensifying in North Carolina over a Republican measure supporters say will ensure doctors care properly for live babies delivered in unsuccessful abortions.
Abortion-rights activists argue the proposal slated for state Senate floor debate late Monday is unnecessary for a non-existent problem and is designed to intimidate physicians and women who need medically necessary later-term abortions.
The bill requires health care practitioners to treat medically a child born alive after an abortion like any person. They could face a felony with active prison time and monetary penalties if they don't.
Social conservatives present data showing post-abortion live births occur and describe adults who say they survived them.
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper criticized the measure through a spokeswoman, raising expectations he'd veto it if given legislative approval.
Colorado
State U.S. attorney: treat overdose deaths as homicides
DENVER (AP) - Colorado's new U.S. attorney is encouraging law enforcement in the state to investigate opioid overdose deaths as homicides.
The Colorado Sun reports Jason Dunn is also digging into data on doctors and nurses who prescribe unusually large quantities of opioid painkillers, with an eye toward prosecuting those who are illegally diverting the drugs and, he feels, adding to the scourge of heroin.
Dunn says there are dealers who either know they are selling fentanyl instead of heroin or know that it has already caused death and continue to sell it.
The tactics mark a redoubling of efforts that began in Colorado's U.S. Attorney's Office under Dunn's predecessors and amid growing efforts statewide to tackle an epidemic that killed 560 Coloradans in 2017.
Montana
2nd jury convicts man in fatal shooting in Billings
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - A second jury has convicted a man in a fatal shooting in Billings.
The Gazette reports 36-year-old Joseph Polak II was found guilty Friday of deliberate homicide in the April 28, 2015, death of 29-year-old Scott Hofferber. Polak was previously convicted in the case, but the Montana Supreme Court ordered a new trial based on wrongly excluded evidence.
Polak's defense attorneys called Hofferber a "meth-crazed maniac" and said he had a nail puller in his hand when he was shot. They also argued that half the methamphetamine in Hofferber's system that night could have been enough to cause irrational thoughts, paranoia, aggression or violent behavior.
But prosecutors said a self-defense claim wasn't supported because Hofferber's threat didn't warrant the shooting.
Published: Tue, Apr 16, 2019
