Court Digest

Indiana
Boy’s competency hearing in girl’s death delayed
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — A court hearing has been delayed until November to determine if a 14-year-old boy accused in the strangulation death of a northern Indiana girl is competent to stand trial in her killing.

The hearing for the boy, who police believe killed 6-year-old Grace Ross in March, had been scheduled for Thursday before a St. Joseph County magistrate, but it was continued until Nov. 17.

The postponement is the third time the boy’s competency hearing has been delayed, as doctors called in by prosecutors and the boy’s attorneys have taken longer than expected to conduct interviews with him and compile their reports, the South Bend Tribun e reported.

The boy is charged with murder and child molestation in juvenile court in Grace Ross’ death. His name is being withheld because of his age.

If he is deemed competent to stand trial, a December date has been set for his trial in juvenile court.

St. Joseph County prosecutors have said they want to see the results of those exams before deciding if they will move to have the boy waived to superior, or “adult,” court.

Grace Ross was found dead March 12 in a wooded area in New Carlisle, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) east of Chicago, about two hours after she had been reported missing from the nearby apartment complex where she lived.

An autopsy concluded her death to be a homicide by asphyxiation.

Georgia
High court upholds conviction in inmate strangling
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — The Georgia Supreme Court has upheld the murder conviction of a former inmate at Augusta State Medical Prison accused of strangling his cellmate.

Thomas Tiraboschi was fairly tried and convicted in the 2013 death of 48-year-old Chris Lowery, the court ruled Tuesday, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

A Richmond County jury convicted the 43-year-old Tiraboschi in 2015, and a judge sentenced him to life without parole.

Tiraboschi told guards he had killed his cellmate, according to the Chronicle. His attorneys said the judge should not have allowed prosecutors to introduce evidence about Tiraboschi’s previous conviction for vehicular homicide and theft.

The Supreme Court said any error was harmless in part because of overwhelming evidence of Tiraboschi’s guilt, according to the Chronicle.

Texas
Death-row inmate sues for pastor’s touch during execution
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — A Texas death-row inmate has sued state prison officials to allow his pastor to lay hands on him as he dies from a lethal injection.

John Henry Ramirez, 37, is scheduled to be put to death in the Texas death chamber on Sept. 8, but his attorneys said in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Corpus Christi that state prison officials had denied his request to have his pastor lay hands on him as he dies.

The lawsuit asked a federal judge to allow Dana Moore, pastor of the Second Baptist Church, a Corpus Christi congregation of about 200 worshippers, to be present in the death chamber at his execution and lay hands on him as Ramirez dies. The lawsuit states that Moore has ministered to Ramirez for five years.

Officials of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which operates the Texas state prison system, had no comment, said a department spokesman.

The lawsuit cites a 2019 U.S. Supreme Court order that stayed Patrick Murphy’s execution unless the inmate’s Buddhist spiritual advisor be allowed to accompany Murphy in the Texas execution chamber. Murphy, who is one of the “Texas 7” gang of escaped inmates convicted of killing a suburban Dallas police officer, has not received a new execution date.

Ramirez was condemned for the 2004 stabbing death of Pablo Castro, a 45-year-old Corpus Christi convenience store worker. Authorities say Castro was stabbed after a robbery that netted just $1.25.

Ramirez has already had two stays of execution, once in 2017 so he could get a new attorney and again last September because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ohio
Judge orders $8M asset freeze for ex-utility regulator
CLEVELAND (AP) — A judge in Columbus has frozen $8 million in assets of Sam Randazzo, a former Ohio utility regulator and current target of an FBI investigation, to preserve the assets for future collection.

Franklin County Judge Chris Brown filed the order Thursday in response to a motion filed this week by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost as part of a lawsuit against Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp.

Yost in a motion last week seeking to add Randazzo and two fired FirstEnergy executives to the lawsuit, said he would seek forfeiture of $4.3 million the company admitted paying Randazzo in January 2019 for his future help as chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

Randazzo was appointed as Ohio’s top utility regulator by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in February 2019 and took office two months later.

Yost in the asset seizure motion said Randazzo had transferred a home worth $500,000 to his son and had sold four properties worth a combined $4.8 million. Brown froze the $8 million in assets after a hearing with Yost’s office Thursday.

“Randazzo is making moves that will make it harder to hold him financially accountable for accepting bribes,” Yost said in a statement Friday. “As the federal investigation continues, we need to make sure that his assets are available for recovery when his time comes to pay.”

A message seeking comment was left with Randazzo’s attorney, Roger Sugarman, on Friday.

Randazzo resigned his utilities commission post last November after FBI agents searched his Columbus townhome and FirstEnergy initially revealed the $4.3 million payment.

FirstEnergy in the deferred prosecution agreement said Randazzo helped write a 2019 energy bill that lies at the heart of a $60 million bribery scandal secretly funded by the company.

The agreement calls for FirstEnergy to pay $230 million in penalties and abide by a long list of reform-minded provisions to avoid prosecution on a criminal conspiracy charge.

In a statement of facts attached to the prosecution agreement and signed by FirstEnergy CEO and President Steven Strah, the company admitted Randazzo also helped the company fix its “Ohio hole” after his appointment as commission chair.

Top executives of FirstEnergy were looking to avoid resetting rates for its three Ohio electric companies at the utilities commission in 2024, something Wall Street rating agencies had said would hurt the company’s bottom line.

The commission in November 2019 with Randazzo in charge issued an order saying, “we find that is no longer necessary or appropriate” for FirstEnergy’s Ohio electric companies to file rate cases in 2024. In January, with Randazzo no longer at the commission, the companies were ordered to file rates cases in 2024


Nebraska
Violin teacher found guilty of sexual assault of a student
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha violin teacher was found guilty Thursday of third-degree sexual assault of a child by a judge after pleading no contest to the charge.

Michael B. Godfrey, 79, will be sentenced in October, the Omaha World-Herald reported.

The girl told investigators she was assaulted when her mother dropped her off at Godfrey’s house for violin lessons, according to a court document.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said the family of the girl was “thrilled” with the plea deal.

“He’ll have to register as a sex offender,” Kleine said. “He’s facing up to five years. And the victim won’t have to testify. It’s a result we’re very pleased with, as is the family.”

Oklahoma
Judge rules officer justified in shooting driver
NEWKIRK, Okla. (AP) — An Oklahoma police lieutenant charged with first-degree manslaughter after he opened fire on a pickup truck, killing the driver, was justified in the shooting, a judge has ruled.

Kay County District Judge Lee Turner dismissed the case Thursday against Lt. John Mitchell, 41, who had been facing trial in the 2019 fatal shooting of Micheal Ann Godsey in Blackwell, The Oklahoman reported.

“The magnitude of this ruling potentially is just huge,” attorney Gary James told the newspaper.

Mitchell has remained on the force while the case was pending.

Mitchell joined a pursuit of Godsey early May 20, 2019, after shots were fired across the city, including at Godsey’s mother, another driver and a police officer. Mitchell fired an AR-15 rifle during the pursuit and after Godsey stopped. He then fired further with a handgun.

“Hey, I put 60 rounds in that dude, man. Hopefully, she’s down,” he told other officers, according to dashcam videos entered into evidence at the preliminary hearing. Prosecuting the case was Jason Hicks, the district attorney of Caddo, Grady, Jefferson and Stephens counties. He said Thursday he will appeal.

“The opinion is wrong,” Hicks said.

The prosecutor argued that the lieutenant never gave Godsey a chance when she turned a corner and appeared to be surrendering.

He argued three other officers didn’t engage in gunfire at that time, only Mitchell.

In a 44-page opinion, the judge Thursday rejected those arguments.

The judge called Godsey, 34, a violent fleeing felon who was a threat to officers as long as she was in possession of a handgun and not in custody. He also wrote it was highly unlikely that she was surrendering to officers.

“There was no indication made by her on 13th Street that she intended to surrender, such as by putting her pickup in park or throwing her handgun outside of her pickup. Those actions would have been the actions of a person in control of their faculties, which Ms. Godsey wasn’t at any time that night,” the judge wrote.

Mitchell could still face trial if the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals rules against him.


Arkanasa
Jury clears ex-senator of bribery conspiracy charge
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal jury on Thursday acquitted a former Arkansas lawmaker of conspiring to bribe an ex-judge who admitted to lowering a jury’s award in a negligence lawsuit in exchange for campaign contributions.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported  that jurors deadlocked on another bribery charge and seven wire fraud charges in the case against former state Sen. Gilbert Baker. Jurors had been deliberating since Friday in the case.

Baker was accused of conspiring with former state Judge Michael Maggio, who admitted to accepting campaign donations from a nursing home operator, then reducing a judgment against that company by $4.2 million.

Michael Maggio, the nursing home operator, has not been charged with any crimes and has denied any wrongdoing. Maggio was sentenced in 2015 to 10 years in prison.

Baker is a former chairman of the state Republican party who ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination for a U.S. Senate seat in 2010.

Baker was among several recent federal corruption cases that have involved Arkansas lawmakers and lobbyists.

Virginia
Former customs officer pleads guilty to child porn charges
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer pleaded guilty Thursday to seven counts of possession of child pornography.

Former federal officer Steve Keith Didieu will be sentenced in December. The 43-year-old from Manassas pleaded guilty Thursday in Prince William Circuit Court. He will have to register as a sex offender following imprisonment.

Prosecutors said Didieu communicated with people online to trade images of child pornography. They said images found in his social media accounts featured victims as young as toddlers.

He was working as an officer with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency at the time investigators discovered the images, according to a statement from Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring.