National Roundup

Ohio
Teen sentenced in death of undercover detective, informant
CLEVELAND (AP) — A teenager involved in a botched robbery that ended with the fatal shooting last year of an undercover Cleveland detective and his informant has been sentenced to a term in the Ohio youth services facility.

The sentence imposed Tuesday in Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court calls for the now-16-year-old to remain in custody until he’s 21. He could then be freed if he does well during his time at the facility. but if not he could face a sentence of 23 years to life in state prison.

The teenager apologized to the family of Detective James Skernivitz, saying, “I don’t expect immediate forgiveness because what I’ve done is unforgivable.”

Skernivitz, 53, and informant Scott Dingess, 50, were killed Sept. 3, 2020, while they were in an unmarked car preparing for a drug operation. A group of youths approached them and one fired several shots into the vehicle.

A married father of three and a 22-year member of the Cleveland force, Skernivitz had been sworn in as a member of a federal violent crime task force the day before he was killed. Authorities have not said whether he was working, either for the task force or for the gang unit to which he was normally assigned, when he was shot.

The teenager, who was 15 at the time and did not fire any shots, is the first person to plead guilty in the case. He pleaded guilty last month to two counts of aggravated murder.

As part of his plea deal, the teenager agreed to testify against his five other co-defendants, including the alleged shooter, who have all pleaded not guilty.

Nevada
Man sentenced in teen girls abduction and rape case
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada man who pleaded guilty in state and federal courts to crimes stemming from the abduction and rape of two teenage girls was sentenced Tuesday to about 15 more years in federal prison and lifetime supervision as a top-tier sex offender.

“I just wish I had more help before this, that’s all,” Jimmy Carter Kim said as he pleaded for leniency from U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware in Las Vegas.

Kim blamed his crimes on the death of his mother, his “dark place” emotional state and the use of drugs that had him “high all the time.”

“I just beg you show me any small amount of mercy,” he said.

Boulware had said he had trouble accepting the complex plea deal that let Kim combine his federal sentence with the 10-to-25 years plus lifetime supervision he received in state court in July.

But the judge finally said he was satisfied Kim would serve approximately “15 years starting from today,” after deducting time he has already served behind bars.

Kim, 32, has been in state and federal custody since his arrest in December 2015.

After prison, he will face a new psychiatric evaluation, federal supervision for 36 more years and a ban on contact with children.

The sentencing brought an end to years of court delays and negotiations that Kim’s deputy federal public defender, Rebecca Levy, and prosecutor Christopher Burton said avoided a trial at which victims would have to testify.

Burton called it “an effort to help (one) victim avoid retraumatization by having to relive everything that happened to her at the hands of the defendant.”

Kim was arrested after a 14-year-old Arizona girl escaped to a Las Vegas-area convenience store and told police he abducted her near her home; drove her to his father’s home in North Las Vegas; kept her locked for a month in a bedroom; threatened her with a handgun; raped her repeatedly; photographed her in sex acts; and left her with a bucket for a toilet when he was gone.

Kim pleaded guilty in state court to two felony charges of attempted sexual assault with a minor under 16, based on accounts by the Arizona girl and a 15-year-old from Las Vegas who went to Reno before telling police she had also been kept captive for two weeks at a home in North Las Vegas.

State prosecutors dropped 81 other criminal charges including kidnapping, sexual assault, lewdness, sexual battery and use of a minor in producing pornography. Convictions on the most serious charges — kidnapping and sex assault of a minor — could have gotten Kim life in state prison.

His guilty plea in federal court was to one count of sexual exploitation of children. He had also been charged in September 2018 with kidnapping and possession of child pornography.

Kim complained Tuesday that he was the victim of unspecified violence by other inmates. Boulware agreed to ask prison officials to assign him to a facility that specializes in protecting sex offenders.

Maine
Crematorium owner apologizes for failing to refrigerate bodies
LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — A funeral home operator who is accused of leaving bodies unattended without refrigeration apologized through his attorney, who says the business owner was going through a personal crisis.

A letter from the attorney for Affordable Cremation Solutions owner Ken Kincer said the man was in the grips of substance abuse and that his life had become a “living nightmare,” WMTW-TV reported.

But Taylor Asen, the attorney representing the families who are suing, says the families, not Kincer, are the victims in this case.

“I feel sorry for Mr. Kincer. He had a difficult year. We’ve all had a difficult year. Needless to say, that doesn’t excuse his conduct over the months in which he was taking bodies that he wasn’t able to care for,” he said.

The business was shut down and its funeral licenses were suspended in June by Maine’s Board of Funeral Service, which said it found unrefrigerated bodies stacked in its basement.

Investigators cited a public health violation because they found an odor of decomposition and the unrefrigerated bodies of 11 people in the basement.

The Board of Funeral Services is currently deciding whether to reinstate Kincer’s operating license, the TV station reported.

The letter from his attorney was filed in court following a lawsuit brought by families of the deceased whose bodies were in Kincer’s care.

Kincer’s attorney said the businessman turned to alcohol during a difficult time in which he went through a painful divorce and watched as his sister battled cancer.

“The last year and a half of Mr. Kincer’s life has been what can only be called a living nightmare. He is deeply in the grip of depression and alcoholism,” Clifford said.

Kincer is sorry for the pain and suffering he caused.

“The death of a loved one is a sad and often times traumatic experience and the added grief that has come to them was certainly not his intention,” the attorney wrote.