Ohio
Judge tosses death sentence of man on death row since1988
CLEVELAND (AP) - A judge in Ohio has ruled that a man who's been on death row for more than 30 years is intellectually disabled and has thrown out his death sentence.
Andre Jackson was convicted of aggravated murder in 1988 for fatally beating a 74-year-old employee at a laundromat in Euclid. Cleveland.com reports a Cuyahoga County judge has found Jackson is intellectually disabled now and likely was when Emily Zak was killed in 1987.
The ruling says executing Jackson would violate the U.S. Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
The Office of the Ohio Public Defender, representing Jackson, says the court reached a "just result."
The county prosecutor's office has vowed to appeal.
Authorities said the now 53-year-old Jackson beat Zak to death and stole a cash register.
New York
Eyewear website operator gets 2 more years in prison
NEW YORK (AP) - An eyewear website operator who has already served over five years in prison for threatening customers across the country with rape and murder was sentenced to an additional two years in prison Wednesday for resuming the same fraudulent online scam, minus the violent threats.
A disappointed Vitaly Borker tossed his head back when U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe announced the sentence in Manhattan.
Gardephe said in his over two decades as a judge and prosecutor he hadn't seen someone return "so quickly to exactly the same crime after doing four years, a harsh sentence."
He also fined Borker $55,000.
The judge said more prison time was necessary to protect society from a man who was still at "great risk" of committing fraud if freed.
Gardephe said the Brooklyn resident has failed to truly accept responsibility.
In a letter to the judge, Borker wrote: "Something is just not right inside my brain."
Gardephe agreed, noting that mental health professionals had concluded he suffered from bipolar disorder, narcissism, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.
He said the "conduct here, quite extraordinary, does reflect mental health issues."
The Ukrainian immigrant violated terms of his release by resuming fraud after serving a four-year prison sentence for harassing customers from 2007 to 2015.
He was sentenced to an additional two years in prison early last year for the release violation. Wednesday's sentencing stemmed from his arrest for what prosecutors said was nearly the exact same crime in which he ripped off people buying eyeglasses and seeking repairs online.
A trembling and tearful Borker apologized to Gardephe and promised to never let him down.
"It's over. It's over," Borker said.
When he was originally sentenced to four years in prison, Borker was told by the sentencing judge that victims who testified against him were "highly credible" when they said Borker had threatened them with rape and murder.
In the new case, prosecutors did not allege that Borker made violent threats but they said he continued peddling shoddy glasses as premium ware. They said emails called one customer a "stupid stupid lady" and a "total degenerate."
They also alleged that Borker posed as "Becky S" in emails to disgruntled customers, telling one: "I have been doing this for a decade. I will teach you a thing or 2 indeed."
Borker had pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy for his operation of a company called OpticsFast.
In a release, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said Borker was correctly given more prison time.
"Perhaps his second stint in federal prison will impress upon this shady businessman that seeking to make money by fraud and intimidation is a path to prison and not success," he said.
Texas
Prosecutors: Texas couple filmed sex abuse of dozens of kids
DALLAS (AP) - A Texas couple were sentenced Wednesday to 60 years each in prison for filming themselves sexually abusing kids, a case that prosecutors say involved more than two dozen young victims including babies.
A federal judge in Waco gave Christopher Almaguer and his wife Sarah Rashelle Almaguer the maximum prison sentences. They had pleaded guilty in October to one count each of sexual exploitation of children and production of child pornography.
Paul Perez Jr., Christopher Almaguer's brother, also was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of receiving child porn.
The Almaguers filmed themselves sexually assaulting at least 25 children - ranging in age from 8 months to 14 years old - including members of their own family, children they baby-sat for and kids from their Central Texas church, federal prosecutors said. Court records say the 27-year-olds were the legal guardians of at least one of the children.
"The sexual abuse involved here is the most indescribable abuse imaginable," John Bash, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, said Wednesday, adding that Almaguers are "probably two of the worst criminals in the history of Texas."
U.S. District Judge Alan Albright also sentenced Perez and both Almaguers to a lifetime of supervised release and ordered each of them to pay $10,000 to a victims' compensation fund.
State and federal law enforcement officials arrested the Almaguers last year in their hometown of Killeen, a city about 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of Austin, after receiving an anonymous tip to an online child exploitation hotline.
Bash said it's unknown how many people the Almaguers sent their child porn to online.
"These kids' suffering and abuse will continue for their entire lives because those images will be continually shared online," he said.
Maine
Supreme court rejects appeal of man who killed, buried wife
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Maine's supreme court has rejected the appeal of a man who's serving 55 years in prison for killing his wife and burying her body with a wedding band, flowers - and a bottle of Gucci cologne called "Guilty."
Luc Tieman, of Fairfield, contended the evidence was insufficient to convict and that a judge erred in admitting Facebook Messenger records into evidence.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday found that there was "ample evidence" of guilt and that the judge didn't abuse his discretion by admitting the messages.
Tieman originally told investigators 34-year-old Valerie Tieman disappeared at a Walmart, but he later changed his story to say he buried her behind his parents' home after she overdosed. An autopsy showed she had ingested painkillers but died from two gunshots.
Published: Fri, Apr 26, 2019
