West Virginia
Companies’ attempt to dismiss opioid lawsuit rejected
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Three drug distributors have been denied a request for summary judgment in a lawsuit filed in West Virginia by the city of Huntington and Cabell County over the opioid crisis.
U.S. District Judge David Faber on Wednesday rejected the companies’ attempt to dismiss the case. The trial is set to start May 3 in Charleston.
The lawsuit accuses drug distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson of fueling the local opioid epidemic.
“The repeated attempts by the Big Three distributors to delay their courtroom reckoning will not deter these communities from pursuing the resources they need now to combat the opioid crisis that has only worsened amid the COVID-19 pandemic,” plaintiffs attorneys Paul Farrell Jr. and Anne Kearse said in a statement.
Colorado
First female chief justice of State Supreme Court dies at age 77
DENVER (AP) — The first female Supreme Court chief justice of Colorado has died after living for years with multiple sclerosis.
Mary Mullarkey, who was 77, died Wednesday. She spent 23 years on the state’s highest court and 12 years as the court’s chief.
“Justice Mullarkey was an extraordinary individual with an unparalleled mind,” Democratic Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement. “Her impact on Colorado’s courts cannot be overstated. As the first female Supreme Court chief justice, she inspired countless future jurists. ... Justice Mullarkey never allowed multiple sclerosis to slow her down, but continued to bring compassion, zeal, and wisdom to the court. She is already deeply missed.”
Mullarkey was appointed to the state Supreme Court in 1987 and was elected to serve as chief justice in 1998. She was the longest-serving chief justice in state history when she retired in 2010, the Denver Post reported.
The former chief justice earned her undergraduate degree with honors from St. Norbert College and her law degree from Harvard University in 1968.
Before her appointment to the Colorado Supreme Court, Mullarkey specialized in the appellate practice and headed the appellate section in the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. She later served as Colorado’s solicitor general.
Mullarkey is survived by her husband Tom Korson, their son, Dr. Andrew Korson, daughter-in-law, Emily Korson, and two granddaughters. A mass of Christian burial is scheduled at the Cure d’Ars Catholic Church in Denver.
Wyoming
Man sentenced for treasure cemetery dig in Yellowstone
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A judge in Wyoming has sentenced a man to six months in prison for digging in a Yellowstone National Park cemetery in pursuit of a famous hidden treasure.
Wyoming U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl also ordered Rodrick Dow Craythorn, 52, of Syracuse, Utah, on Wednesday to serve six months of home detention and two years of probation, and to pay $31,566 in restitution.
Craythorn dug 17 holes and damaged a grave in the Fort Yellowstone cemetery in late 2019 and early 2020, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly in a statement called it “the most significant investigation of damage to archaeological resources” in the park’s recent history.
The cemetery listed on the National Register of Historic Places has at least 54 graves from 1888-1918, when the U.S. Army stationed soldiers in the area to protect the world’s first national park.
Craythorn pleaded guilty in January to illegally excavating or trafficking in archaeological resources and to damaging federal property.
Craythorn was seeking a treasure chest containing coins, gold and other valuables that Santa Fe, New Mexico, art and antiquities dealer Forrest Fenn stashed in the Rocky Mountain backcountry. Fenn published a book with a poem containing clues to where the treasure could be found.
For a decade, thousands of people roamed the Rockies in search of the treasure estimated to be worth at least $1 million.
Fenn announced in June the treasure had been found. He died in September at age 90 without saying who found the chest or specifically where.
A grandson of Fenn confirmed in December the finder was Jonathan “Jack” Stuef, 32, a medical student from Michigan. Fenn said before his death the treasure was in Wyoming but neither Stuef nor Fenn’s relatives have specified where.
Fenn hinted the treasure was north of Santa Fe in the Rocky Mountains of either New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming or Montana. Several treasure seekers had to be rescued from precarious situations and as many as six died.
Craythorn has taken full responsibility for his actions, his attorney, Chris Humphrey of Cheyenne, said Wednesday.
“To the National Park Service, the people of the United States and my family, I am truly sorry. I was motivated by the thrill of possibly finding a treasure, and my obsession clouded my judgment,” Craythorn said in an emailed statement.
Alabama
Ex-officer pleads guilty to killing his estranged wife
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A former Alabama police officer has pleaded guilty to killing his estranged wife, whose body was found in a high school parking lot over a year ago.
On Wednesday, Jason Bragg McIntosh, 46, pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of murder in the December 2019 death of Megan Louise Montgomery, news outlets reported. McIntosh was originally charged with capital murder.
Montgomery’s body was found in the parking lot below Mountain Brook High School by a routine patrol officer, who discovered her face down on the pavement with multiple gunshot wounds to the back and head, officers previously said.
Montgomery and McIntosh had been married for two years but months before her death, the pair had been involved in several domestic disputes, AL.Com reported.
McIntosh worked for the Birmingham and the Mountain Brook police departments before joining Hoover’s force in 1999. He resigned from the post in March 2019 following a domestic dispute between him and Montgomery, which ended with her being shot and wounded.
In May 2019, McIntosh was charged with domestic violence following another fight in which Montgomery suffered scrapes and red marks. That same month, Montgomery filed for divorce.
“Megan began dying on July 23, 2017, on their first date. Like a frog in a pot of boiling water, you gradually turn up the heat to boiling and the frog doesn’t know they’re dying. That’s what happened to Megan,” Montgomery’s mother, Susann Montgomery-Clark said after the proceedings. “That’s what domestic violence does.”
Under the plea deal, McIntosh was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
After the proceedings, McIntosh cried and hugged his family.
Attorney Tommy Spina said McIntosh “deeply regrets what he did and the pain he has inflicted onto so many people. He has accepted his punishment for those actions.”
