National Roundup

Louisiana
Murder conviction voided in accused serial killer’s case
CLINTON, La. (AP) — A Louisiana man had his first-degree murder conviction voided by a judge on Tuesday after his lawyer argued that the jury’s split verdict was unconstitutional.

A jury had found Ryan Sharpe guilty in  December 2019 of killing 48-year-old Brad Defranceschi, a Boy Scouts employee, in an 11-1 verdict.

On Tuesday, Sharpe’s lawyer Tommy Damico argued that Sharpe’s conviction should be voided and a new trial held because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in April that banned non-unanimous jury decisions.
A district judge agreed with Damico and set a new trial for Sharpe for December, news outlets reported.

“He clearly was entitled to a new trial,” Damico said.

Split verdicts were voted unconstitutional by Louisiana residents in 2018. But because the killings in Sharpe’s case were before 2019 and since prosecutors declined the death penalty, the jury was allowed to return a non-unanimous decision.

Defranceschi was the second person gunned down in a string of shootings authorities said they believe Sharpe committed.

The four shootings, which all happened in a rural area north of Baton Rouge within a 7-mile (11-kilometer) radius of Sharpe’s home, left residents anxious for weeks during the summer and fall of 2017.

Defranceschi was fatally shot in October 2017 while trimming weeds in front of his house on Boy Scouts camp property in Clinton, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northeast of Baton Rouge.

Sharpe’s accused of second-degree murder in the September 2017 death of former Baton Rouge Park and Recreation Commissioner Carroll Breeden Sr., who was also killed in his front yard.

Other charges against Sharpe remain pending. He was charged with second-degree murder in the July 2017 shooting of 62-year-old Tommy Bass, who was killed in the carport of his home. He was also charged with attempted first-degree murder in the September 2017 shooting of 47-year-old Buck Hornsby, who was wounded while exercising on his property.

Texas
Inmate granted parole after 40 years on death row
HOUSTON (AP) — An intellectually disabled Texas inmate who has spent nearly four decades on death row has been granted parole, according to The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that it would be unconstitutional to execute Bobby James Moore because of his mental disability.

Moore, 60, was granted parole on Monday. Parole board spokesman Raymond Estrada said Moore will be released “upon processing by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.”

Moore fatally shot 72-year-old Houston grocery store clerk James McCarble in 1980 during a robbery. He was eligible for release despite his life sentence because his crime occurred before Texas introduced the option of life without parole in 2005.

State Sen. John Whitmire, who spoke to board representatives, said the decision to release Moore was made after reviewing the time he had served, including consideration for his disability and the fact he was just 20 at the time of the offense, according to the Houston Chronicle.

“We agree with the U.S. Supreme Court that the intellectually disabled should not be executed,” said Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg in a statement. “His crime was heinous; the decision to grant parole is the exclusive authority of the state’s parole board.”

California
Network drops ‘Cops’ after 33 seasons
LOS ANGELES (AP) — After 33 seasons on the air, “Cops” has been dropped by the Paramount Network as protests against police proliferate around the world.

“Cops is not on the Paramount Network and we don’t have any current or future plans for it to return,” a spokesperson for the cable channel said in a statement Tuesday.

The show had been pulled temporarily from the air in late May, when protests aimed at police over the death of George Floyd began to gain momentum. That move was made permanent Tuesday.

It’s not clear whether the company that makes the show, Langley Productions, would try to find a new home for it. A voicemail at a company phone number was not accepting messages.

The reality show, with its widely known reggae theme song “Bad Boys,” allowed viewers to ride along with police officers on patrol in various cities.

It ran on the Fox network for 25 years until 2013, when Viacom-owned Spike TV picked it up. The show remained on the air after Spike was re-branded as the Paramount Network in 2018.

Virginia
Lawyer: Stun gun use by officer result of mistaken identity
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — Lawyers say a Fairfax County police officer charged with assault after firing a stun gun at an unarmed African American man believed his target was somebody else.

WTOP Radio reports that both a prosecutor and a defense lawyer for Officer Tyler Timberlake agreed at a hearing Tuesday in Fairfax County General District Court that Timberlake thought he shot a person named Anthony, who had an extensive criminal record. But the victim was somebody else entirely.

Defense attorney Brandon Shapiro said the fact is relevant to Timberlake’s defense because it shows his actions toward the individual were not irrational.

Body-worn camera footage released by Fairfax County Police shows Timberlake, who is white, arrived on scene Friday in the county’s Gum Springs neighborhood, advanced on an African American man and quickly fired his stun gun after other officers had spent several minutes trying to persuade him to get into an ambulance to go to a detox center.

Prosecutor Bob Frank disagreed about the relevance of the mistaken identity.

“A mistake on his part does not justify what he did,” Frank said.

Shapiro said Timberlake has no history of previous incidents and that the widely seen video is jeopardizing his client’s right to a fair trial.

A judge granted a request from Shapiro that prosecutors turn over other video from before and after the shooting., including what Shapiro said were urgent requests for backup from officers prior to Timberlake’s arrival on the scene.

The victim, who was acting in a disoriented manner in the middle of a residential street when he was shot, was treated at a hospital and released.

Timberlake, who is free pending trial, did not attend the hearing.