National Roundup

Wisconsin
State Supreme Court candidate gets help from Republicans
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A conservative-backed incumbent Wisconsin Supreme Court justice running for re-election is renting space from the state Republican Party and getting help from the GOP in circulating his nomination papers, the latest signs of how partisan the races have become in recent years.

Justice Dan Kelly’s close relationship with Republicans was reported by the Wisconsin State Journal  on Thursday. Both of Kelly’s opponents, Dane County Circuit Judge Jill Karofsky and Marquette University law professor Ed Fallone, are backed by liberals. But the Democratic Party is not helping either of them circulate papers or renting them office space.

There is nothing illegal about the state GOP assisting Kelly and the party has been involved in past Supreme Court campaigns, including helping conservative candidates gather signatures required to get on the ballot. Democrats and liberal groups have also long supported candidates in the races that are nonpartisan in name only.

Both Karofsky and Fallone spoke at the state Democratic Party convention earlier this year. Brian Hagedorn, a conservative elected to the court in April, spoke at the Republican convention.
The Supreme Court currently has a 5-2 conservative majority.

Virginia
Man accused of hiding missing body to be retried
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — A Virginia man will be tried a second time on a charge of concealing a body that’s never been found.

Christopher Terry is accused of burying a missing 3-month-old girl in a shallow grave, based on a confession police said he gave, recanted and then gave again. The baby’s mother also has told multiple versions of what might have happened to Arieanna Day, even claiming that the little girl is still alive somewhere. No one has been charged with killing her.

But a Montgomery County judge ruled Wednesday that Terry will be tried again in April after a jury deadlocked  in September.

Arieanna disappeared from her mother’s Roanoke home in September 2018, but the circumstances surrounding the case have been riddled with inconsistencies, The Roanoke Times reported.
Terry referred to the baby as his daughter in recorded police interviews, but Terry’s defense attorney said he didn’t even know if that was true.

Terry first told investigators that the baby seemed injured when he picked her up from her mother’s apartment, and that she died in his lap as he drove home to Blacksburg. He said he stopped outside town, scooped out a shallow grave near railroad tracks and left the child there, recordings played in court revealed.

Terry recanted that confession after nothing was found in a search of the alleged location, but confessed again to investigators a day later, the newspaper reported.

Arieanna’s mother, Jessica Day, has also told police variously that her baby died from being smothered after they fell asleep together, that the girl was given to a relative, that she was kidnapped by an adoption agency and that she was injured in a fall.

Ahead of the first trial, Day called Terry’s attorney and claimed Arieanna was actually alive.

Hawaii
Family files suit over woman’s death in jail
HONOLULU (AP) — The family of a Hawaii woman who killed herself in view of jail surveillance cameras has filed a lawsuit against the police department that was holding her.

Leslie Lutao, 59, took her life while in Kauai Police Department custody following her June 2017 arrest for a traffic warrant, Hawaii News Now reported.

An autopsy report listed Lutao’s cause of death as asphyxia due to foreign body obstruction.

Attorney Michael Green filed the lawsuit on behalf of Lutao’s husband and her four grown children.

A video of the interior of Lutao’s jail cell showed her entering shortly before 12 p.m. and trying for more than an hour to kill herself. Paramedics arrived around 2:40 p.m. and began attempts to resuscitate her, Hawaii News Now reported.

Officers assigned to monitor cameras should have noticed Lutao’s behavior prior to her death in one of the jail’s six cells, Green said.

“If they had been there earlier, I have no doubt they could have saved her,” Green said.

Jessica Lancaster, Lutao’s daughter, said her mother suffered from depression.

Kauai police responded to an attempt by Lutao to kill herself the year before and therefore should have placed her on suicide watch, during which officers consistently monitor a person, Lancaster said.

The Kauai Police Department declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Massachusetts
Woman charged after animals, kids found living in squalor
MARION, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts woman has been arrested on animal cruelty charges and her house condemned after authorities say they found dozens of animals and some children living in squalid conditions.

Lauren Fisher, 65, of Marion, was arraigned Thursday in Wareham District Court following her arrest Wednesday.

Marion police started investigating earlier this month after getting a report that multiple animals were being neglected and deceased animals had been recently removed from the property, according to a statement from Chief John Garcia.

Dozens of animals were inside the home and on the property, including miniature horses, potbelly pigs, ducks, rabbits, turkeys, hens, chickens, dogs, cats and exotic birds, police said in a release.

The exact number of animals was not disclosed.

Five people were also living in the home, including children, police said.

The animals were taken by the Animal Rescue League and the children were placed with relatives.

Fisher faced similar charges 20 years ago.

It’s was not clear if she had an attorney who could respond to the allegations.