Daily Briefs

Kansas
Student leader with record wore ‘white lives matter’ mask
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man who once threatened to storm a local courthouse and shoot officers is again the subject of controversy after wearing a “white lives matter” COVID-19 mask when he was sworn in as a student senator at Wichita State University.

Sam McCrory, 27, donned the mask Thursday, the day after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin  was convicted of the murder of George Floyd, The Wichita Eagle reported.  The mask apparently went unnoticed by the Student Government Association until the university’s student newspaper, The Sunflower, posted photographs of the ceremony on social media.

McCrory, an electrical engineering major, said he wore the mask to make a political point and to push back against “the modern left,” which he asserted “hates white people.”

Hannah Newby, a 23-year-old elementary education major, called the mask “disgusting.” Others turned to social media calling for the university to remove the newly elected senator and make a statement condemning him.

Wichita State officials didn’t return calls and emails from the paper seeking comment Friday.

The university also found itself at the center of controversy after protests against racism and police brutality erupted following Floyd’s death. The school canceled a virtual commencement speech by President Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, after students and faculty protested her appearance, arguing that the president had mishandled the Floyd demonstrations and faulting her for standing by him. The cancellation outraged some donors, and Jay Golden ended up resigning as the university’s president.

McCrory, who ran for the student senate this spring as a write-in candidate to represent the university’s large returning-adult population, said he didn’t think his mask was racist.

“People can wear Black Lives Matter masks and nobody cares. But if someone wears a white lives matter mask, all of a sudden there’s a huge firestorm,” he said.

McCrory first gained attention in 2015 when he was arrested and pleaded guilty to felony criminal threat for posting on Facebook plans to gather a group with guns and storm the Sedgwick County Courthouse to disrupt a murder trial. He was also convicted of criminal possession of a firearm for showing up to protests with guns, despite his criminal record.

Iowa
Trial set for 2 prison inmates accused of killing nurse, officer
ANAMOSA, Iowa (AP) — Trial has been set for two prison inmates accused of using a hammer to kill a prison nurse and correctional officer during an escape attempt last month from the Anamosa State Penitentiary.

Michael Dutcher and Thomas Woodard Jr. are scheduled to go on trial June 22 in Jones County for the March 23 deaths of nurse Lorena Schulte and correctional officer Robert McFarland, station WHO-TV reported.

Both men pleaded not guilty earlier this month to two counts each of first-degree murder and other charges. Investigators have said the pair used hammers to beat Schulte, 50, and McFarland, 46, to death and to seriously injure an inmate who tried to stop the attack. The inmates also are accused of briefly holding another female employee as a hostage.

Authorities have said Dutcher had a long history of disruptive behavior and threats and violence toward prison staff that resulted in discipline, while Woodard had only one blemish on his record: a 2018 assault of another inmate.

Both men are being held in the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison ahead of the trial.

Illinois
Bail denied for man accused in Chicago rapper’s 2020 killing
CHICAGO (AP) — A man charged in a Chicago rapper’s fatal shooting has been denied bail following his recent extradition from Texas to Cook County in the 2020 killing.

Demitri Jackson, 20, was recently arrested in Fort Worth, Texas, on a murder warrant related to the June 2020 shooting death of Kentray Young, 26, in Chicago’s Chatham neighborhood.

A Cook County judge denied Jackson bail on Sunday and ordered the former Chicago man back to court this Friday.

Jackson’s private attorney, Thomas Hallock, had argued against denying his client bail, explaining that Jackson was cooperative with authorities and left Chicago only after his grandmother’s death from cancer last fall, the Chicago Tribune reported.

But Judge David R. Navarro granted the prosecution’s no bail request, adding that Jackson faced natural life in prison if convicted of killing Young, who performed as Tray Savage and had been signed to the Glory Boyz Entertainment record label.

Prosecutors said in court that Jackson and Young were affiliated with the same street gang faction but gave no indication what prompted the shooting. Authorities said the men briefly “interacted” with each other from their vehicles before they drove away in different directions.

Prosecutors said both vehicles later returned to same area and Jackson and Young interacted again before Jackson moved his SUV to block street traffic before opening fire on Young’s vehicle, fatally striking Young in the neck as he tried to drive away.

Louisiana
2 life terms plus 50 years for ex-deputy who raped girls
LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) — A former Louisiana sheriff’s deputy has been sentenced to life in prison for raping and sexually assaulting three girls, all less than 11 years old.

Judge Michael Canaday ordered 34-year-old David Monceaux to serve two life terms and a 50-year sentence consecutively, the Calcasieu Parish District Attorney’s Office said in a news release. The terms are without probation, parole, or suspension of sentence,

News agencies report that Monceaux was convicted April 9 and sentenced Thursday on two counts of first-degree rape and three of sexual battery of a juvenile. His youngest victim was 4 years old.

He had worked at the Calcasieu Parish jail for two years when he was arrested in February 2020, The American Press reported.  Sheriff Tony Mancuso said at the time his office had received a complaint about Monceaux having inappropriate behavior with a juvenile.

All three children testified during the trial, KPLC-TV reported.

The assaults became known after one girl went to a school counselor after a sexual abuse program on “good touch bad touch.”

That girl testified she told the counselor that Monceaux “did bad touch” to her.

The case was tried even though Monceaux had confessed.

Public defender King Alexander told jurors, “It’s against our policy to plead someone guilty to life without parole. The clients have the right to overrule us on that, but Mr. Monceaux did not,” KPLC-TV reported.