LOUISIANA
Man caught on camera choking ex-girlfriend's dog
SLIDELL, La. (AP) — A Louisiana man was recorded on a doorbell camera choking his estranged girlfriend's dog, police said.
Shane Michael Mitchell stole the dog, Rubyjean, and choked her on Sunday after arguing with his estranged girlfriend, Slidell police said in a news release. They sent undercover investigators to surveil and arrest him after reviewing the video.
"I was sick to my stomach watching that video," Slidell Police Chief Randy Fandal said Tuesday. How someone can "hurt a defenseless animal is beyond me."
Investigators found Mitchell in a Slidell apartment building after he refused to cooperate with authorities, and recovered the dog, which was returned to its owner, police said. Mitchell, 30, was booked into jail on animal cruelty charges. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer
to comment on his behalf.
"I had the opportunity to meet Rubyjean this afternoon, and she was as sweet and well-mannered as could be," Fandal said Tuesday. "We are glad this had a happy ending for both the dog and her owner."
KENTUCKY
Family of woman killed by police hires civil rights attorney Crump
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A prominent civil rights and personal injury attorney has been hired by the family of a black woman who was fatally shot by Kentucky police in her home.
Attorney Ben Crump has represented the families of other high-profile black shooting victims, including Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery.
He was hired Monday by the family of Breonna Taylor, who was 26 when officers entered her Louisville home early March 13 as part of a narcotics investigation and fatally shot her, news outlets reported.
Police said they were returning fire after one officer was shot in the apartment and wounded.
A defense attorney for Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, has said in court filings that Walker fired in self-defense because police did not announce themselves and he thought officers were breaking in.
The police department has declined to answer several questions about the case, citing an ongoing internal investigation.
Taylor's family filed a lawsuit last month police that says the officers were not looking for Taylor or her boyfriend, but for a suspect who was already in custody.
"Breonna Taylor was shot at least eight times by the officers' gunfire and died as a result. Breonna had posed no threat to the officers and did nothing to deserve to die at their hands," reads the complaint, which was filed by two local attorneys.
Crump called the killing "inexcusable" in a statement to news outlets.
"We stand with the family of this young woman in demanding answers from the Louisville Police Department," Crump said. "Despite the tragic circumstances surrounding her death, the Department has not provided any answers regarding the facts and circumstances of how this tragedy occurred, nor have they taken responsibility for her senseless killing."
Louisville Metro Police Department spokeswoman Jessie Halladay said in an email that the internal investigation continues. She declined to comment further.
Crump also represents the family of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who was fatally shot in February in a coastal Georgia town. A white father and son were arrested last week after video emerged of them confronting Arbery, which led to a struggle with punches thrown, three shots fired and Arbery collapsing dead.
The men told police they suspected Arbery was a burglar and it took more than two months for the arrests, which is fueling calls for the resignation of local authorities who initially investigated the case and reforms to Georgia's criminal justice system.
Crump also was involved in the 2012 case of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black Florida teenager shot and killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer.
TEXAS
High courts hit by ransomware attack, won’t pay
DALLAS (AP) — Texas courts have been hit with a ransomware attack that took down the website and case management systems for the state's appellate and high courts.
The attack on the courts' network was discovered by staff Friday morning after beginning overnight, according a statement the Office of Court Administration issued Monday. It says staff limited the damage by disabling part of their network and that the courts will not will not pay any ransom.
Local trial courts appear to have been unaffected and there is no current evidence that sensitive or personnel information was compromised, according to the statement.
Hackers use ransomware to invade computer systems and encrypt files in an effort to extort ransom payments to unlock them. The hack left Texas' top civil and criminal courts without a working case management system or internet in their offices and led staff to put out rulings over Twitter, Blake Hawthorne, the top administrator of the Supreme Court of Texas, said Tuesday.
He said the courts' separate document filings system remains operational, the courts are working to ensure lawyers and the public can access court records through other means and that the courts are still granting motions for extensions on deadlines.
"We're trying to use everything available to us to keep access to the courts so we're using Twitter and social media," Hawthorne said.
The judicial branch has set up a temporary website and is working with the Texas Department of Information Resources and law enforcement to respond to the attack, according to the statement. It says the attack is not related to the courts' shift to remote hearings during the coronavirus pandemic.
A Texas Department of Information Resources spokeswoman said questions should be directed to the courts. An FBI spokeswoman did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The hack follows a ransomware attack of unprecedented size that hit more than 20 local governments in Texas last summer.
