Court Digest

Missouri
Husband, wife plead guilty in Capitol insurrection
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A southwestern Missouri couple have pleaded guilty for their roles in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in January.

Kelsey Wilson, 30, and Zachary Wilson, 32, both of Springfield, each pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to a misdemeanor count of knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building, the Kansas City Star reported.

Kelsey Wilson was arrested in August on the charge. Her husband was arrested in February. Both face up to six months in prison and a $5,000 fine when they’re sentenced Dec. 10.

Court records indicated Kelsey Wilson was a new first-grade teacher at Dayspring Christian School in Springfield at the time of her arrest. The Star reported that she told investigators she expected to be fired following her arrest.
The school confirmed Tuesday that she was no longer employed there.

Massachusetts
Woman faces 4th trial after murder conviction overturned
BOSTON (AP) — The highest court in Massachusetts overturned the murder conviction of a woman found guilty of killing her wife, saying a prosecution witness who testified about paint evidence at the scene “lacked the necessary expertise.”

After Monday’s Supreme Judicial Court decision was released, the Northwestern District Attorney’s office said it would try Cara Lee Rintala a fourth time.

Rintala’s wife, Annamarie Cochrane Rintala, was found strangled in the basement of the couple’s Granby home in 2010. Both women were paramedics.

Cara Lee Rintala’s first two trials ended with hung juries, but she was convicted of first-degree murder in 2016 and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The prosecution’s case at the third trial relied heavily on the testimony of a paint quality engineer who said that paint found on and near the victim’s body was still fresh, even though medical experts testified that the body had been there for up to eight hours.

Prosecutors argued that Cara Lee Rintala used the paint to contaminate the crime scene.

The high court in its decision said the paint expert’s testimony “lacked the requisite reliability and therefore should not have been admitted” and because “it was significant and likely swayed the jury’s verdict, we conclude that the error was prejudicial, and we therefore vacate the judgment against the defendant.”

“We are overjoyed by the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision reversing Miss Rintala’s conviction,” said her appeals attorney, Chauncey Wood.

Cara Lee Rintala remains behind bars, but Wood said he would request a bail hearing.

First Assistant District Attorney Steven Gagne called the court’s decision “profoundly disappointing,” but added that in the interests of justice for the victim’s family, the case will be tried again.

“We ultimately think this case should be reached by a jury rather than an appellate court,” Gagne said in a statement.

Maryland
Baltimore financier gets 18 months for prostitution charge
BALTIMORE (AP) — A Baltimore financier accused of spending at least $90,000 for sex with women, including women he supplied with drugs, was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison on a prostitution charge, according to federal prosecutors.

Charles “Chuck” Nabit, 66, pleaded guilty earlier this year to transporting a person to engage in prostitution. U.S. District Judge George L. Russell III also ordered Nabit to pay a $55,000 fine and a $5,100 special assessment.

Nabit owns homes in Bethany Beach, Delaware; and Deerfield Beach, Florida. He owns Westport Group LLC and previously owned a Baltimore drug treatment center.

Seven women whom Nabit paid for sex either regularly used narcotics or had serious substance abuse problems, prosecutors said. A court filing that accompanied his plea agreement says Nabit regularly transported victims to and from his Baltimore office for sex and recorded sexual encounters with a camera despite objections.

“Charles Nabit paid thousands of dollars for commercial sex with victims that he knew were addicted to narcotics, including one woman that he personally supplied with cocaine and another who died from an overdose,” acting U.S. Attorney Jonathan Lenzner said in a statement. “Rather than use his abundant resources to help these victims, Nabit perpetuated their victimization for his own gratification.”

California
LA sheriff’s deputy accidentally opens fire in courtroom
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy accidentally fired a gun inside a courtroom last month, potentially injuring a colleague and prompting an internal investigation, officials said.

The Sheriff’s Department confirmed in a statement that the shooting took place in the Van Nuys’ courthouse on Aug. 16, describing the incident as an “unintentional discharge,” the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

A department spokeswoman declined to detail the circumstances of the shooting or say if anyone was injured.

“Due to the active investigation we are unable to offer further comment at this time, but what we can say is based on the results of the investigation, proper administrative action will be taken if warranted,” the statement read.

A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Superior Court system declined to answer questions from the Times about the incident, referring all queries to the Sheriff’s Department.

News of the shooting was first made public by Court Watch LA, an advocacy group seeking increased transparency in the county’s court system. Rebecca Brown, a legal fellow with the National Lawyers’ Guild who runs the Court Watch account, said she was first notified of the shooting Saturday.

An attorney sent a note to Court Watch saying the gun went off while the courtroom was filled with several attorneys and clients waiting to have their cases heard that morning. The attorney told Court Watch the bullet struck another deputy’s radio, and the other deputy appeared to be hurt. Details about the potential injury were not available.

Brown said she was frustrated by the lack of transparency around the shooting, as it took nearly six weeks for any information to become public.

“I can’t imagine if I worked in a courthouse, and I heard a gunshot go off and then there’s no follow up after that,” she told the Times.

Tennessee
Woman convicted of vehicular homicide in officer’s death
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — A jury has convicted a woman of vehicular homicide by intoxication in the hit-and-run death of a Chattanooga police officer.

Jurors deliberated at the Hamilton County Courthouse for nearly 15 hours before returning the verdict on Saturday for Janet Hinds in the 2019 death of Officer Nicholas Galinger, news outlets reported.

She also was convicted of reckless driving, leaving the scene of a crime, failure to report an accident, speeding, failing to exercise due care, failure to maintain lane and driving under the influence. Hinds was acquitted of failure to render aid and violating a traffic control device.

The verdict came after a six-day trial before Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Don Poole. Hinds hit Galinger with her car late one night while he was inspecting a manhole cover that had water flowing from it. Prosecutors argued that Hinds had too much to drink and was driving faster than the speed limit. Defense attorney Ben McGowan argued that the crash was misfortunate, but an accident.

Hinds was scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 1.

Tennessee
State senator acquitted on 15 charges in federal theft case
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee state senator charged with stealing $600,000 in federal grant money from a health care school she operated has been acquitted on 15 of 20 charges, according to court records.

U.S. District Court Judge Sheryl Lipman filed the order Sunday after lawyers for Sen. Katrina Robinson filed a motion Friday seeking acquittal on all charges, Memphis news outlets reported.

Robinson, 40, a Memphis Democrat elected to the Tennessee General Assembly in 2018, was charged in July 2020 with wire fraud as well as theft and embezzlement involving government programs after the FBI searched the school and her home.

She was accused of stealing federal grant money awarded to The Healthcare Institute, which provides training in the health care field, including nursing assistant jobs in geriatric care.

The school received more than $2.2 million in federal grants from the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The federal grant money was earmarked for student scholarships from 2015 through 2019.

Robinson’s attorneys argued for an acquittal Friday after federal prosecutors rested their case. They argued that prosecutors didn’t prove allegations that Robinson used the federal grant funds on personal expenses.

The trial was expected to continue Tuesday on the five remaining charges, court filings show.

Kansas
Former worker plans to change plea in water tampering case
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A former Kansas utility worker accused of remotely tampering with a public water system’s cleaning procedures has notified a federal court that he plans to change his plea.

Wyatt Travnichek was indicted in March with remotely accessing the Post Rock Rural Water District’s systems in March 2019, about two months after he quit his job with the Ellsworth County utility. He initially pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Travnichek is accused of shutting down the facility’s cleaning and disinfecting procedures. When he worked for the utility, he would monitor the water plant remotely by logging into its computer system.

A notation entered in the docket on Monday shows a change-of-plea hearing is set for Oct. 20 before U.S. District Judge Toby Crouse in Topeka.

His case has highlighted the  difficulty smaller utilities face in protecting against hackers. A 2016 report from the federal Department of Energy said the Department of Homeland Security responded to 25 water cybersecurity incidents in 2015.

Georgia
Judge upholds disqualification of mayoral candidate
PORT WENTWORTH, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia judge Monday upheld a city official’s decision to disqualify a candidate for mayor because of a past felony conviction.

Julius Hall had filed paperwork to run in the November election for mayor of Port Wentworth, a city of 11,000 outside Savannah. When a city clerk disqualified him because of a 1991 conviction on a federal cocaine conspiracy charge, Hall sued in Chatham County Superior Court.

Judge Lisa Goldwire Colbert ruled the city official had correctly applied a provision of the Georgia Constitution saying felons can’t seek elected office until 10 years after finishing their sentence. Hall was released from prison in 2016.

Hall’s attorneys argued the constitutional restriction no longer applied to him because the state Board of Pardons and Paroles in January agreed to restore Hall’s civil rights. The document signed by the board’s executive director says those rights include Hall’s ability to “run for and hold public office.”

The judge wrote that the board has power to remove “disabilities imposed by law as a result of a conviction,” such as Georgia’s prohibition on voting by people with felony convictions who have not completed their sentences. But the judge ruled the board has “no authority to remove eligibility requirements to hold public office.”

Hall said he plans to appeal the judge’s decision, WTOC-TV reported.

Kentucky
Police: Man arrested after human remains found in backyard
HODGENVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky man has been arrested after police found human remains in his backyard, authorities said.

David Puyear, 59, of Buffalo, was charged with murder and lodged in the Larue County jail, Kentucky State Police said Monday in a statement.

Police executed a search warrant at Puyear’s property Friday after an extensive investigation stemming from information authorities received about the possibility of a body being buried on the property, the statement said. Detectives found the remains of an unidentified person beneath a large pile of debris in the backyard of the residence, police said.

The remains were taken to the Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office in Louisville to be examined and identified.

Further information wasn’t immediately released.