Court Digest

South Dakota
Jury acquits man in fatal shooting
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — A Rapid City man is free after prosecutors dropped a murder charge against him and a jury acquitted him of gun crimes in connection with a fatal shooting in Pine Ridge last year.

Phillip Pond, 39, was accused of shooting Justin Little Hawk during an argument in November 2020. Little Hawk died that December in a hospital.

Pond turned himself in in February and was indicted on second-degree murder. The Rapid City Journal reported Tuesday that prosecutors filed a new indictment in May charging Pond with illegally possessing a gun but dropped the homicide count.

Pond represented himself at trial. Proceedings lasted two days before the jury acquitted him May 27. Pond had argued that a number of people who told police he killed Little Hawk were lying.

Kentucky
Judge: Home incarceration for pardoned man facing new charge
LONDON, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky man charged with murder in federal court after his state homicide conviction was pardoned by a former governor will be released on bond pending trial.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Hanly A. Ingram issued an order Wednesday allowing Patrick Baker to be placed in home incarceration with electronic monitoring of his whereabouts despite an objection by prosecutors, news outlets reported.

Federal prosecutors argued Baker would pose a potential threat to the community, but Ingram’s order said that “strict conditions,” including 24-hour-a-day lockdown at his fiancée’s Frankfort home, “will sufficiently mitigate the evident danger risks.”

Baker was charged last week with murder committed during a robbery and kidnapping related to drug trafficking. A not-guilty plea was entered at his initial court appearance.

If convicted on the new federal charges in the shooting death of Donald Mills, Baker could face the death penalty or a maximum sentence of life in prison, according to his indictment.

Baker was convicted in 2017 of reckless homicide and other crimes in connection with Mills’ death and sentenced to 19 years in prison. Prosecutors said Baker posed as a law enforcement officer and killed Mills in his Knox County home. Baker had served two years of his sentence before being pardoned by former Gov. Matt Bevin.

Minnesota
Three young adults sue for right to carry guns
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Three young adults have filed a federal lawsuit alleging Minnesota’s minimum age of 21 to carry a gun is unconstitutional.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported  Wednesday that Kristin Worth, Austin Dye and Axel Anderson filed the action on Monday. Three gun groups — the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, Second Amendment Foundation and the Firearms Policy Coalition — joined them on the complaint.

They argue that minimum carry age of 21 is discriminatory since anyone at least 18 years old is considered an adult for most purposes.

“There is simply no legal or constitutional justification that an entire class of adult citizens in Minnesota should be completely denied their fundamental, individual right to keep and bear arms,” said Bryan Strawser, chairman of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus.

The lawsuit names state Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington as a defendant as well as Mille Lacs County Sheriff Don Lorge, Douglas County Sheriff Troy Wolbersen and Washington County Sheriff Dan Starry, the sheriffs in the counties where the young adults live.

A state Department of Public Safety spokesman said Tuesday the agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation. Lorge told the Star Tribune in an email he “will be inquiring with our attorney on the matter.” Wolbersen and Starry didn’t return messages.

California
Deputy accused of deleting evidence of 2019 assault
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy has been charged with deleting video evidence that prosecutors say showed her assaulting a man during an arrest two years ago.

Nicole Bell faces felony charges including concealing evidence as a peace officer and assault, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said in a statement Tuesday.

It wasn’t known Wednesday if Bell, 27, has an attorney who could speak on her behalf.

Bell is accused of assaulting the man while he sat in the back of a patrol vehicle in Lancaster on July 30, 2019, prosecutors said.

A family member of the man recorded some of the incident on a cell phone and prosecutors allege Bell deleted the video from the phone.

“Tampering or destroying evidence tarnishes law enforcement and creates mistrust among the public,” District Attorney George Gascón said in the statement.

The case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Idaho
Federal judge rules against suction-dredge gold miner
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A suction-dredge gold miner who operated in an Idaho river containing federally protected salmon and steelhead without required permits is facing what could be substantial fines.

A U.S. District Court judge last week ruled Shannon Poe of Concord, California, violated the Clean Water Act on the South Fork of the Clearwater River when he suction dredge-mined 42 days in 2014 and 2015.

Suction dredge miners use an underwater hose to suck up gravel and sort it for gold in a sluice box mounted on a watercraft. The sediment is discharged downstream.

The waterway where Poe operated is designated critical habitat for federally protected steelhead, salmon and bull trout. Critics say dredging can destroy fish spawning beds, and that discharged sediment can smother fish eggs.

Another miner who also operated a suction dredge on the South Fork of the Clearwater River for one day received a penalty of $6,600 in a separate case.

The penalty in Poe’s case, if any, has yet to be determined and will be the subject of additional court hearings.

The Idaho Conservation League filed a citizen enforcement lawsuit in August 2018 against Poe, saying federal and state officials didn’t act to make sure dozens of dredge miners followed the law.

“I think this (ruling) will have some repercussions for any miners who are thinking about mining without the required permit,” said the league’s Jonathan Oppenheimer.

Federal and state agencies repeatedly notified Poe of the violations, but Poe denied being subject to the Clean Water Act, according to the lawsuit. The Idaho Conservation League also said Poe was encouraging unpermitted mining by other gold seekers in Idaho rivers.

Poe’s defense in the lawsuit was to argue he didn’t need any type of Clean Water Act permit because his suction dredge didn’t add pollutants to the river. He said that even if his suction dredge did add pollutants, it would be considered dredged or fill material regulated under a different section of the Clean Water Act, also not requiring a specific type of permit.

But Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald E. Bush disagreed. He said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers agreed that the operation of a suction dredge resulted in discharge of processed waste, requiring the permit.

Poe’s attorney, Constance Brooks, didn’t return a call from The Associated press on Tuesday.

Washington
Woman gets 17 years in prison for fatal stabbing
BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — A Washington state woman was sentenced to nearly two decades in prison for fatally stabbing her father to death during an argument over a cigarette in April 2020, a judge said.

Whatcom County Superior Court Judge Robert Olson sentenced Kali Marie McConnell, 34, on Monday to 17 years in prison with three years probation, The Bellingham Herald reported.

McConnell accepted a deal and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in May in the death of her father, Dale M. Henefin, 57. She was previously charged with first-degree aggravated murder, first-degree murder, second-degree assault and first-degree burglary. The deal lowered her charges.

The Whatcom County medical examiner’s office said Henefin died after his brain failed to receive enough oxygen following a single stab wound to the left side of his chest, The Herald previously reported. His death was ruled a homicide.

Prosecuting Attorney Eric Richey said he believes the agreed 17-year sentence recommendation between the prosecution and defense was a just resolution. Richey said McConnell did not go to her father’s house with the premeditation to kill him.

Her public defender, Maialisa Vanyo, said the sentence was significant and that it will impact McConnell’s life and the lives of everyone she loves, including her three children. Vanyo said McConnell does and will continue to struggle with profound grief and regret over her father’s murder.

“I just want everyone to know how truly sorry I am for all the pain that I’ve caused. I’m devastated by the amount of lives that have been negatively affected by this horrible incident,” McConnell said during her sentencing hearing. “I wish I had the power to turn back time before all of this happened. I wish I had the power to bring my dad back. I feel terrible, and I pray that someday I’ll be forgiven.”

Court records show McConnell was also sentenced in a second-degree assault case from an unrelated event in March. Her prison time for the separate sentence will be served simultaneously.

Missouri
Governor states pardon of 4-decade inmate not a priority
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson says addressing the clemency petition for Kevin Strickland is not a “priority,” even though prosecutors say Strickland didn’t commit the triple murder that put him behind bars more than four decades ago.

Parson has a backlog of about 3,000 clemency requests, the Kansas City Star reported.

“When something like that comes up, we look at those cases, but I don’t know that that necessarily makes it a priority to jump in front of the line,” Parson said during a Monday news conference. “We understand some cases are going to draw more attention through the media than others, but we’re just going to look at those things.”

Parson noted that Strickland, 62, was tried “by a jury of his peers” and found guilty. But he added that he knew there was “a lot more information out there.”

Several state lawmakers from both sides of the aisle signed a letter seeking a pardon for Strickland, who has maintained his innocence since he was convicted in the April 1978 deaths of three people in Kansas City.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker has called for his release. Federal prosecutors in the Western District of Missouri, Jackson County’s presiding judge, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and members of the team that convicted Strickland also have said he deserves to be exonerated.

The Star reported in September that two men who pleaded guilty in the killings for decades swore Strickland was not with them and two other accomplices during the shooting. The only eyewitness also recanted and wanted Strickland released.

Strickland applied for clemency Tuesday, saying he does not want a commutation of his sentence. Anything less than a full pardon “would leave an unjust and undeserved stain on my criminal record,” he wrote.

“Through a full pardon, you have the power not only to correct my wrongful conviction, but also to ensure that my innocence is finally recognized,” Strickland wrote.

If Strickland is released, he will not be eligible for compensation from the state. Under Missouri law, the state compensates only inmates who are exonerated through DNA evidence, according to the Midwest Innocence Project. The law would not apply to Strickland’s case.

Iowa
Man again convicted of murder in girlfriend’s death
CLINTON, Iowa (AP) — A Dubuque man has again been convicted of second-degree murder in the 2017 knife death of his girlfriend.

A Clinton County jury on Tuesday found Fontae Buelow, 29, guilty in the death of 21-year-old Samantha Link, of Peosta, the Telegraph Herald reported. Buelow has long maintained that Link stabbed herself at his home on on March 31, 2017. Prosecutors have said Buelow stabbed her three times in the chest.

Buelow was previously convicted by a jury in 2018 of second-degree murder in the case and was sentenced to 50 years in prison, but state appellate courts ordered a new trial, saying the trial judge wrongly excluded information about Link’s prior suicide attempt and mental health records that may have supported Buelow’s contention that Link stabbed herself.

Buelow’s new trial was held in Clinton County to avoid pretrial publicity. On Tuesday, Buelow was ordered transferred back to Dubuque County Jail to await his sentencing hearing, which was not immediately set.