Court Digest

Kalamazoo
WMU loses appeal over athletes and virus vaccine requirement
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Thursday ruled in favor of athletes at Western Michigan University who sued to be allowed to play sports without getting a COVID-19 vaccination.

The court declined to stop a decision by a federal judge who said the WMU vaccine requirement likely violates the athletes’ constitutional right to follow their Christian religion.

The athletes, who now number at least 16 and are mostly women, sought a vaccine exemption on religious grounds but were ignored or denied, the appeals court said.

“We do not doubt (WMU’s) good faith, nor do we fail to appreciate the burdens COVID-19 has placed on this nation’s universities. ... But having announced a system under which student-athletes can seek individualized exemptions, the university must explain why it chose not to grant any to plaintiffs. And it did not fairly do so here,” the court said in a 3-0 opinion.

The court said the athletes are likely to prevail on their constitutional argument if WMU pursues a full-fledged appeal.

WMU argued that its vaccination policy is neutral toward religion. The school said athletes who seek a religious exemption are barred from competing but still are members of a team and can keep their scholarship.

“Yet playing on the team — and not just receiving a scholarship — is their goal, a point the university itself recognized,” the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said.

In their lawsuit, the athletes, who play soccer, basketball and four other sports, say they are “devoted Christian people” who believe that the Bible and their faith preclude them from getting a COVID-19 shot.

WMU athletes who aren’t vaccinated still can be required to wear a mask at practice or be regularly tested, under a September order from U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney.

Outside the athletic department, COVID-19 vaccinations are encouraged but not required for WMU students and staff. They, too, must be regularly tested if they decline to get a shot.

Florida
Man guilty of Chauvin lawyer threat in Floyd case
MIAMI (AP) — A Florida man has pleaded guilty to threatening to kill a lawyer who represented the former Minneapolis police officer convicted in the death of George Floyd.

William John Hartnett made the threat in a phone call from Miami on April 6, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release Thursday.

Hartnett, 42, faces a maximum of five years in prison at his sentencing Dec. 15. He pleaded guilty to one count of transmitting a threat through interstate communications.

Prosecutors said Hartnett called the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, which was paying for ex-officer Derek Chauvin’s defense. The 18-second message included several obscenity-laden threats against Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s defense lawyer.

Chauvin was convicted in April of two counts of murder and one count of manslaughter for killing Floyd, a Black man, by kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes in May 2020. Floyd’s death sparked protests nationwide and calls for police reforms intended to reduce confrontation and violence.

New Hampshire
Home confinement recommended for man in U.S. Capitol siege
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Federal prosecutors are recommending that a New Hampshire man who was arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 siege at the U.S. Capitol be sentenced to a month of home confinement and 60 hours of community service.

Thomas Gallagher, 62, of Bridgewater, pleaded guilty in July to a misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a U.S. Capitol building. The Valley News reports as part of a plea deal, prosecutors dropped three other charges, including remaining in a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a restricted building; and disorderly conduct in a U.S. Capitol building.

Gallagher faces sentencing on Oct. 13. According to sentencing memorandums filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., prosecutors note that he has no criminal record and appears to have stopped another person from throwing a chair inside the building.

According to the documents, Gallagher says he has felt “immense shame and anxiety” for entering the Capitol and is offering to pay $500 restitution. He also said he has no connections to far-right groups and began watching too much conservative news media during the 2020 presidential election.

Prosecutors said Gallagher’s conduct was “on the lower end of the spectrum of criminality” that day.

Texas
Man gets life in shooting deaths of family of 8
HOUSTON (AP) — A jury on Thursday convicted a man of capital murder in the 2015 shooting deaths of his ex-girlfriend, her husband and six children, including his own son, at a Houston-area home.

David Conley, 54, was sentenced to life in prison without parole. His trial lasted two days.

Prosecutors didn’t  pursue the death penalty against Conley, as state and defense experts concluded that he qualified as a person with an intellectual disability.

Conley was convicted in the Aug. 8, 2015 deaths of Valerie Jackson, 40, and her husband, Dwayne Jackson, 50, at the couple’s home in northwestern Harris County. Prosecutors charged him in the deaths of the children — Nathaniel, 13, Dewayne, 10, Honesty, 11, Caleb, 9, Trinity, 7, and Jonah, 6 — but he was not tried for their killings. Conley admitted to killing the whole family in a video recording that was played for jurors of an interview with homicide detectives.

Nathaniel was Conley’s son from his relationship with Valerie Jackson, while the Jacksons were the parents of the other five children, authorities said. All of the victims were shot in the head one at a time after Conley held the family hostage, according to authorities.

During the trial, Valerie Jackson’s mother told jurors that her daughter had sent her Facebook messages just before the family was killed saying that Conley had a gun.

After the shooting, family members of the Jacksons criticized authorities for not entering the home sooner and questioned why it took deputies four visits and repeated 911 calls before they went inside.

Investigators said that they didn’t have enough information to go into the home until they saw the body of one of the children through a window.

New York
New charges for man accused in journalist abduction case
NEW YORK (AP) — An Afghan man already facing charges in the 2008 gunpoint kidnapping of a New York Times reporter and another journalist was charged on Thursday in the killing of three American soldiers.

A revised indictment against Haji Najibullah accused him of commanding the Taliban fighters behind a fatal ambush of Matthew L. Hilton, Joseph A. McKay and Mark Palmateer in Afghanistan, also in 2008. The document also alleges Najibullah helped down an American military helicopter in a separate attack later in the year.

An attorney for Najibullah, who’s in U.S. custody, declined Thursday to comment on the new charges.

Najibullah, 45, was brought to the United States last year to face original charges including hostage taking, conspiracy and kidnapping. Prosecutors alleged he orchestrated the abduction of David Rohde, who then worked for the Times, and Afghan journalist Tahir Ludin as they were heading to interview a Taliban leader.

Both victims made a dramatic escape from a Taliban-controlled compound in Pakistan’s tribal areas more than seven months after their Nov. 10, 2008, kidnapping. Their driver, Asadullah Mangal, was a third kidnapping victim and escaped a few weeks after Ludin and Rohde.

An arraignment for Najibullah is set for Oct. 15 in federal court in Manhattan. If convicted, he faces life in prison.

Colorado
Judge orders body cam video release after media challenge
DENVER (AP) — A judge on Thursday ordered the release of police camera footage of an incident in which a Greeley officer is accused of using a chokehold during an arrest, siding with news media that argued a new Colorado law requires disclosure of video upon request involving alleged police misconduct.

Officer Ken Amick was charged with second-degree assault on June 28 after he allegedly put a suspect in a chokehold on June 7. In July, Weld County District Court Judge Vincente Geraldo Vigil blocked the release of footage after Amick and prosecutors argued it could prejudice a potential jury.

A coalition of news media petitioned for the release, arguing a Colorado law enacted this year in response to nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis requires that footage be made public, upon request, when a complaint is lodged against a police officer.

Vigil reversed that ruling Thursday and ordered the Weld County District Attorney’s Office to release the video as soon as possible, KDVR-TV reports. He said concerns about its influence on jurors can be dealt with during jury selection.

Vigil also said the defense could seek a change of venue if it can prove pre-trial publicity requires it.

Amick, who is on administrative leave without pay, is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 22.

Colorado law requires officer body camera footage to be released within 21 days if a complaint is filed against an officer. It allows for prosecutors, officers and police departments to request delays when criminal cases are pending.

Colorado law also bans the use of chokeholds by law enforcement.

Rachael Johnson, a Colorado-based attorney for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, had argued in an objection to the July order that “Coloradans have a significant interest in the disclosure of information about police officers who use excessive force, especially when an officer places a citizen in a chokehold or neck restraints.”

The media coalition represented by Johnson includes KDVR-TV, KUSA-TV, KMGH-TV, KCNC-TV, The Associated Press, The Gazette of Colorado Springs and The Denver Gazette.

Florida man guilty of Chauvin lawyer threat in Floyd case

MIAMI (AP) — A Florida man has pleaded guilty to threatening to kill a lawyer who represented the former Minneapolis police officer convicted in the death of George Floyd.

William John Hartnett made the threat in a phone call from Miami on April 6, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release Thursday.

Hartnett, 42, faces a maximum of five years in prison at his sentencing Dec. 15. He pleaded guilty to one count of transmitting a threat through interstate communications.

Prosecutors said Hartnett called the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, which was paying for ex-officer Derek Chauvin’s defense. The 18-second message included several obscenity-laden threats against Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s defense lawyer.

Chauvin was convicted in April of two counts of murder and one count of manslaughter for killing Floyd, a Black man, by kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes in May 2020. Floyd’s death sparked protests nationwide and calls for police reforms intended to reduce confrontation and violence.

Illinois
Woman convicted in brother’s neglect death
MONTICELLO, Ill. (AP) — A central Illinois woman has been convicted in the neglect death of her brother, whose body was found surrounded by garbage and other filth prosecutors said contributed to his death.

A Piatt County jury convicted Christie Brown, 64, on Thursday of criminal neglect in Ronald Blankenship’s the August 2018 death. A judge set her sentencing for Dec. 7.

Blankenship, 64, was found dead in his bedroom in the Monticello home the siblings co-owned. His body was surrounded by used adult diapers, overflowing garbage bags and other filth, The (Champaign) News-Gazette reported.

Six medical professionals testified that those deplorable conditions made it easier for Blankenship to catch ailments.

A forensic pathologist found Blankenship’s main cause of death was bronchial pneumonia due to chronic bronchitis, but also listed “medical neglect” as a contributing factor.

Blankenship’s physician said he got pneumonia easily because his long-term tracheotomy gave bacteria a more direct route into his body, and it was important to keep that area clean.

Assistant State’s Attorney Victoria Dedman told jurors it was logical to conclude that the home’s unsanitary conditions contributed to Blankenship’s death.

Defense attorney Andrew Wessler said Blankenship, a former nurse, had been sick for years and had to use a walker. He contended Blankenship did not seem to want medical help.

Brown was also convicted of animal cruelty after two ailing dogs found at the residence had to be euthanized.

Illinois
Jury convicts ex-professor of murder in stabbing death
CHICAGO (AP) — A jury convicted a former Northwestern University professor of first-degree murder on Thursday in the 2017 stabbing death of his boyfriend.

Jurors in Cook County deliberated less than two hours before returning the guilty verdict against Wyndham Lathem, 47, a renowned microbiologist whom Northwestern fired after he fled the Chicago area following the killing.

During nine days of testimony, prosecutors described Lathem as a coldblooded killer who stabbed defenseless 26-year-old Trenton James Cornell-Duranleau. Defense attorneys argued their client was a bystander framed by the actual killer, alleged co-conspirator Andrew Warren, a British national who pleaded guilty to his role in the slaying.

Jurors were sent back to deliberate around 3:30 p.m. Thursday after a few hours of closing arguments and reached their decision about 5:15 p.m.

On Tuesday, Lathem testified that Warren alone stabbed Cornell-Duranleau during what started as a methamphetamine-fueled sexual encounter involving the three men.

Warren in 2019 pleaded guilty to first-degree murder as part of a plea agreement that called for him to testify against Lathem in exchange for receiving a 45-year prison sentence.

Warren, who was an Oxford University financial officer at the time of the slaying, testified that he flew from England to Chicago to meet Lathem and take part in a pact to kill each other before agreeing to kill Cornell-Duranleau at Lathem’s suggestion.

He testified that he did, in fact, stab Cornell-Duranleau, but only after Lathem had already begun stabbing him.

Illinois
Man charged in death of 1-year-old
MILWAUKEE (AP) — A man charged in the death of a 1-year-old boy in Milwaukee told police he shook the child after he let out a loud cry, prosecutors said Thursday.

Antonio Homan, 22, of Chicago, is charged with first degree reckless homicide in the death of Zion Price. The child died Monday, three days after police found him unresponsive. The preliminary cause of death was listed as blunt force trauma to the head.

Homan told police he became frustrated when he heard the boy cry. He said the child stopped breathing after he shook him. Bruising was found on the victim’s face, chest and legs, according to the criminal complaint.

Homan’s attorney, Jason Findling, declined to comment. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 13.