Court Digest

Nevada
Lawyer: Ex-Panic! At The Disco musician to face U.S. charges
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Federal prosecutors are expected to file drug and weapons charges against the original bass guitarist for Panic! At The Disco, the musician's lawyer told a Las Vegas judge on Wednesday.

Brent Matthew Wilson's attorney, Dustin Marcello, told Justice of the Peace Eric Goodman that he expects an indictment to be filed within days in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas. The local judge postponed a hearing on state charges until March 3.

Wilson, 33, a founding member of the Las Vegas-born band, appeared in court in shackles and jail clothing, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported . He has been jailed since Jan. 22 on felony drug possession and gun charges.

Wilson pleaded guilty in July 2018 to felony drug possession. Prosecutors say he is prohibited from having a gun and was in violation of his probation curfew when he was arrested last month.

Las Vegas police said Wilson was stopped while driving a vehicle that failed to yield to oncoming traffic. Officers reported finding a "white powder substance" and an unregistered handgun in the car and a small amount of a substance believed to be heroin in Wilson's pants pocket.

Wilson left Panic! At The Disco in 2006, after the group's first two years.

Fugitive who shot Georgia deputy gets 25 years in prison
DALTON, Ga. (AP) — A Texas fugitive who shot a Georgia deputy during a traffic stop last year, prompting a massive manhunt in the woods, has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Superior Court Judge Jim Wilbanks on Tuesday sentenced Dalton Lee Potter, 29, on numerous charges, including aggravated assault on a peace officer, The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported.

Potter was hauling explosives in a stolen trailer in northwest Georgia when deputies pulled him over on Sept. 6.

Potter fired several shots at Deputy Darrell Hackney and hit him once in the back, but authorities said the deputy's ballistic vest took the brunt of the shot. Hackney was treated and released that same night, Whitfield County Sheriff Scott Chitwood said.

Hackney and another deputy returned fire, but Potter fled south on Interstate 75. He wrecked the truck and escaped into the woods on foot, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said. He was arrested after a three-day manhunt in Resaca, where he's also accused of shooting a resident.

Resaca is about 75 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of Atlanta, and about 16 miles (26 kilometers) from the city of Dalton, where the deputy was shot.

Bert Poston, the district attorney for the Conasauga Judicial Circuit, said Potter has pending charges in Gordon County including another aggravated assault charge and pending charges in Texas.

A second Texas man, Jonathan Hosmer, 47, was also arrested in September after surveillance video recorded him leaving the scene of the truck crash. It's unclear why the truck was carrying explosives.


Tennessee
Judge keeps mother, son in Capitol riot jailed pending trial
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Washington, D.C., judge on Wednesday ordered that a Georgia woman and her Tennessee son remain jailed pending trial on charges for their involvement in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Lisa Eisenhart is accused of breaking into the Capitol with her son, Eric Munchel, who was photographed carrying flexible plastic handcuffs in the Senate chamber.

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled that "no condition or combination of conditions of release will reasonably assure the safety of the community" if the two are released pending trial.

Both of them "supported the violent overthrow of the United States government" and pose a "clear danger to our republic," the judge wrote.

Eisenhart's attorney filed a notice Thursday that she is appealing the ruling.

In separate hearings late last month, a federal magistrate judge in Nashville had ordered them released to home confinement. Prosecutors opposed the release, and at their request, the judge stayed his order until it could be reviewed by the District of Columbia court.

U.S. District Chief Judge Beryl Howell, of the District of Columbia, then blocked the release of Eisenhart and Munchel pending a hearing and ordered them transported to D.C. for further proceedings.

COVID-19-related complications slowed their transportation to Washington, and the two sought review of their detention, Judge Lamberth wrote. The judge on Wednesday arraigned the two and prosecutors made a new oral motion for pretrial detention.

Prosecutors say the two wore tactical and bulletproof vests in the Capitol and Munchel carried a stun gun. Munchel also recorded their storming of the Capitol, and prosecutors say that video shows the pair stashed weapons in a bag before entering the building. A search of Munchel's Nashville home turned up assault rifles, a sniper rifle with a tripod, shotguns, pistols, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and a drum-style magazine.

Lamberth wrote that the defense attorneys' portrayal of the offenses "as mere trespassing or civil disobedience is both unpersuasive and detached from reality."

The judge added that Eisenhart's words after the riots were chilling — that she would "rather die ... than live under oppression" and "would rather fight."

"If Eisenhart does not fear the ultimate consequence, the consequences for disobeying release conditions are unlikely to deter her," the judge wrote.

Likewise, the judge wrote that Munchel indicated after the riots that he was willing to take similar actions again, quoting Munchel saying: "the point of getting inside the building is to show them that we can, and we will."

"He compared himself — and the other insurrectionists — to the revolutionaries of 1776, indicating that he believes that violent revolt is appropriate," the judge wrote.

Both Munchel and Eisenhart are charged with violent entry and disorderly conduct on the Capitol grounds, conspiracy and civil disorder. They could each face up to 20 years if convicted.


Montana
State high court upholds permit for proposed silver mine
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Montana officials conducted an appropriate review before granting a water permit for a proposed silver and copper mine that would run beneath a wilderness area near the Idaho border, the Montana Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

The 5-2 ruling reversed a lower court decision from 2019 that said officials had failed to adequately consider potential damage to nearby streams from Hecla Mining Co.'s proposed Rock Creek Mine.

The mine beneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness near Noxon would employ about 300 people and cover almost 500 acres (202 hectares).

The state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation was sued by the Clark Fork Coalition, Earthworks and other environmental groups after granting the water permit in 2018.

A spokesperson for the natural resources department said in a statement that the decision was important for water users who rely on its interpretation of state law.

"The majority ruling confirms that the Department's analysis of water rights does not interfere with the fundamental right to a clean and healthful environment," spokesperson John Grassy said.

Opponents argued more review of the project was needed because water flowing into mining tunnels would deplete or completely drain multiple streams in violation of state water quality laws.

But a majority of justices said in a 75-page ruling that further review was not immediately required, in part because the state Department of Environmental Quality had not raised objections to the permit.

Attorney Katherine O'Brien with Earthjustice, who represented the environmentalists, expressed disappointment with the ruling. She said the mine also threatens populations of bull trout and other native fish, grizzly bears and lands that are sacred to the Ktunaxa Nation of Canada.

Hecla Mining Company vice president Luke Russell said the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho-based company was pleased with the decision upholding the permit. Before mining can proceed, the company still needs to resolve a separate legal challenge over potential impacts to imperiled species that is pending before U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula.

"We're doing everything we can to be ready and have agency approvals ready to move forward as soon as we can," Russell said.

The Cabinet Mountains Wilderness is protected under federal law, but mining is allowed on existing mining claims. Plans for the Rock Creek Mine date to the late 1980s.


Missouri
Court: Police search was 'warrantless intrusion'
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A federal appeals court panel has ruled that a gun-drawn police search of a St. Louis County home constituted a "severe, warrantless intrusion."

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the ruling Tuesday. At issue was a search in 2016 in which St. Louis County officers entered a Ballwin home searching for someone who skipped out on cab fare.

ACLU of Missouri attorney Anthony Rothert called it "a nightmare for this family and something that is not supposed to happen in this country."

The ruling allows a 2017 lawsuit to go to trial.

Jon Luer and Andrea Steinebach awoke about 3 a.m. on July 10, 2016, to find armed officers in their hallway. The court opinion said the two officers took Luer's stepson, who also was in the home, to let the cab driver look at him. The officers left after deciding he was not the suspect.

Massachusetts
Woman, 54, charged with killing friend held
PALMER, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts woman charged with fatally stabbing a friend who was trying to help her has been held without bail pending a mental health evaluation.

Brenda Mayhew, 54, is charged with murder in the killing of Marcia Wilson, 68, earlier this month in Wilson's Palmer home, according to a statement from the office of Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni.

Mayhew was taken into custody at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield on Tuesday and arraigned Wednesday.

A judge ordered the evaluation upon the advice of the court psychologist. Mayhew's family and attorney say she has been struggling with mental health issues.

According to the police report, Mayhew and Wilson were friends, and the victim had invited the suspect into her home because she had been "having a difficult time lately."

Police responding to a 911 call at about 8 a.m. on Feb. 8 forced entry into the home where they found Wilson, who was already dead, prosecutors said. Wilson's husband was also injured trying to defend his wife, according to police.

Mayhew is due in court again on March 8.

The case remains under investigation.

South Dakota
45 years in
prison for assault case solved
with genealogy
BELLE FOURCHE, S.D. (AP) — A man has been sentenced to 45 years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman in a 2012 Butte County case that was solved using forensic genealogy.
Shane Boice, 34, pleaded guilty to second-degree rape as part of a plea deal with prosecutors. Two burglary counts were dropped as part of the agreement.
Prosecutors said Boice had seen the victim outside her home and knew she lived alone. Wearing a mask, Boice broke into the victim's home and sexually assaulted her, the Rapid City Journal  reported.
Police tested DNA obtained from the crime scene at the time but found no match within DNA databases.
The police department and South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation continued to investigate the case and in 2018 decided to send a DNA sample to a genetic genealogy company.
The company found individuals in its database who were related to the person who contributed the DNA sample. Investigators found those people had a relative who lived in Belle Fourche at the time, which was Boice.
Officers used DNA from Boice's trash and found it matched the original DNA evidence, officials said.