National Roundup

Wisconsin
High court says voters decide if they are confined
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court said Monday that it is up to each individual voter to determine for themselves whether they are "indefinitely confined" and therefore able to request and submit an absentee ballot without showing photo identification.

The ruling came in a case filed earlier this year by the Wisconsin Republican Party against the Dane County clerk. The court took emergency action in March and ordered the clerk to stop telling voters that because of the pandemic and a statewide stay-at-home order, anyone could request an absentee ballot as indefinitely confined. The Milwaukee County clerk issued similar advice.

The clerks rescinded their advice after the court's initial ruling. The court has since struck down the stay-at-home order.

The court said Monday that it agreed with the Wisconsin Elections Commission's interpretation that it's up to each individual voter to decide whether he or she is legitimately indefinitely confined.

The court's final decision is a more full examination of the issue, but is consistent with its previous ruling. The court was largely unanimous, but liberals dissented in parts, saying the conservative majority was being too narrow in saying who could legally call themselves indefinitely confined.

President Donald Trump,  in a separate case, had wanted to disqualify more than 28,000 ballots in Dane and Milwaukee counties from voters who identified themselves as indefinitely confined. The court rejected that case  on Monday.

In its ruling on indefinitely confined voters, the high court said the ballots of anyone who falsely claimed to be indefinitely confined "would not count."

Statewide, about 215,000 voters said they were indefinitely confined for the presidential election. That is nearly four-times higher than in 2016, an increase elections officials said was due to the pandemic.

State law allows for voters to declare they are indefinitely confined because of age, disability or infirmity.


Nebraska
Inmate involved in prison escape loses appeal
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska inmate who escaped from a maxim security prison with another inmate in laundry carts has lost an appeal that claimed he was forced to participate.

The Omaha World-Herald reports  that the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled Friday against Timothy Clausen. The court said that if Clausen wanted to assert that he was forced to join in the escape with fellow inmate Armon Dixon, he should have turned himself in as soon as the two separated.

The court also rejected Clausen's argument that he was denied a fair trial when Dixon and another inmate were barred from testifying in his defense and Clausen's own testimony was stricken.

Dixon, while willing to describe how he and Clausen managed to escape, told the trial judge that he wouldn't testify about who provided him drugs and a cellphone that were used in the escape unless he was given immunity.

The trial judge ruled that the information was closely associated with the crime and that to not allow prosecutors to question Dixon about that would be unfair. Jacobsen also ruled out testimony from the cellmate, saying it was based on hearsay.

Clausen's testimony was also stricken after he shouted to jurors about the disqualification of his two witnesses.

Nebraska
Omaha police working through 1,700 untested rape kits
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Omaha Police Department continues to work through hundreds of backlogged, untested rape kits in an effort to solve those cases.

The department received a nearly $2 million federal grant two years ago to help get through the 1,700 kit backlog. The department has sent nearly a third of those untested rape kits — 535 — to the Nebraska State Patrol's lab for testing so far, television station WOWT reported.

The department has received the results of about 300 of those tests, and of those, about 176 have usable DNA, police said. The DNA profiles developed from the kits get entered into a nationwide database looking for matches.

Officials have been able to identify about 46 possible offenders from the kits, Omaha Police Capt. Anna Colon said.

"The biggest challenge is actually trying to find the victims because a lot of them they've moved, they've changed their phone numbers they've moved on with their lives," Colon said.

The police department has separate personnel working on the cold cases, officials said. So far, no arrests have been made. Colon said the department is keeping up with testing of new sexual assault kits to prevent another backlog.

Tennessee
Sports broker pleads guilty in ticket scheme
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Prosecutors in Tennessee said a sports broker pleaded guilty to felony theft and must repay more than $700,000 to investors he bilked through fraudulent high-end ticket package agreements.

Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich's office said 53-year-old Rick Barlow pleaded guilty last week and received a two-year prison sentence.

Prosecutors say between June 2012 and April 2019 Barlow claimed to be a high-end corporate hospitality agent and sports event broker who bought and sold event packages for a profit.

Barlow promised packages for high-profile events, but instead used the money to pay off debts and expenses, including gambling debts, and often used money from one victim to repay another, prosecutors said.

His agreements promised to use investors' money on packages ranging from the Super Bowl to the Kentucky Derby.

He operated under various names, including Barlow Sports and Entertainment, Game Day Partners, On Demand Hospitality and Geauxforit Hospitality, Weirich's office said.