National Roundup

Florida
Lawyer who represented George Zimmerman arrested
KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) — A central Florida defense attorney who briefly represented George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case is accused of witness tampering in a juvenile rape case, sheriff’s officials said.

Hal Uhrig, who works for The Defense Group, was arrested Monday on charges of solicitation to commit perjury and witness tampering, Osceola County Sheriff Marcos López said during a news conference.

Uhrig, who represents a man accused of raping a child when she was 9, arranged a meeting with his client, the victim and her father, the sheriff said.

“The point of the meeting was to keep the rapist from going to jail,” López said.

“The attorney instructed the victim and her father that they should do three things. Write a declination, basically a letter, to the state attorney saying the rape didn’t happen; avoid being served with a subpoena so you don’t have to go to court to testify; (and) lie during your deposition and say the rape didn’t happen,” López said.

The victim’s family told the state attorney’s office about Uhrig’s requests in July and the sheriff’s sex crimes unit began investigating. The girl is now a teenager, the sheriff said.

The child’s father met with Uhrig again, wearing a recording device, the sheriff said. The attorney asked the father to read a script on a computer screen that was apparently his client’s defense of the rape charge.

Uhrig, 75, was arrested Monday as he was getting into an elevator at the courthouse in Kissimmee, officials said. Uhrig later told Orlando TV station Fox-35 that he is “not guilty of this.”

“We’re just going to go back to the boards like we always do. Sort out what happened,” Uhrig said. He bonded out of jail and was scheduled to make a first appearance in court on Tuesday.

The sheriff said he finds the allegations troubling and said officials don’t know whether similar requests were made to other victims in cases Uhrig was involved in.

“If you’re an attorney you’ve been practicing law for a long time and there’s no way you’re going to jeopardize your career on something like this, especially at that age, it’s retirement time,” Lopez said. “So I think that this wasn’t his first rodeo. Unless someone else comes forward we won’t know that, but that’s what I suspect at this time.”

Zimmerman was charged in the 2012 killing of teenager Trayvon Martin, but was later acquitted at trial after claiming self-defense.

Uhrig’s bio on the law firm’s website said he is a former assistant attorney general for Florida, and spent six years with the Gainesville Police Department before graduating from law school.

Georgia
Utah lab to analyze DNA evidence from Atlanta child murders
ATLANTA (AP) — A Utah laboratory will examine DNA evidence from a string of killings committed in Atlanta during the 1970s and 1980s, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said.

Bottoms wrote in a tweet on Monday that city investigators were traveling to Salt Lake City to provide “old DNA evidence” to a private lab.

“It is my sincere hope that there will be concrete answers for the families,” she said. The mayor did not identify the laboratory involved.

Between 1979-1981, at least 29 Black children and young adults — mostly boys — were killed in the city.

Wayne Williams has long been considered the main suspect, but he’s never been charged in connection with the children’s deaths. He was sentenced in 1982 to serve two life prison sentences for the murders of two adults.

In March 2019, Bottoms and then-Police Chief Erika Shields announced that evidence from the “Atlanta Child Murders” cases would be reviewed to see if it could be tested further.

The mayor said at the time that she was hopeful that technological advancements and newly available genetic databases could turn up new information.

Bottoms also said in July that investigators extended the timeline to 1970-1985 to see whether additional victims were overlooked, news outlets reported.


Florida
School massacre families settle suit with district
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The families of the 17 people killed in the 2018 Florida high school massacre, most of the wounded and others traumatized have reached a $25 million settlement with the Broward County school district in a lawsuit that had accused it of negligence.

David Brill, the families’ attorney, confirmed Monday that 52 families from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland  will be part of the settlement, which was first reported by the South Florida SunSentinel.  He would not say how much each family will receive, but the families of the 14 students and three staff members killed will get the largest shares. Those will be equal.

The settlement comes after the school district had won a state Supreme Court ruling that could have capped total damages at $300,000 without approval from the Legislature.

“This settlement is fair and remarkable given the circumstances,” Brill said. Still, he said, it is “nowhere near enough money to compensate the victims. Indeed, there isn’t enough money in existence to do that.”

The school district declined comment.

Andrew Pollack, whose 18-year-old daughter, Meadow, died in the shooting, told the SunSentinel the settlement is “painful money.”

“It’s hard to talk about money because your daughter was murdered,” he said. “How could you be happy about it?”

Two school board members who were elected after having family members killed in the shooting did not take part in district discussions of the settlement. Lori Alhadeff lost her 14-year-old daughter, Alyssa, and Debbi Hixon lost her husband, athletic director Chris Hixon. Their families will receive payments.

Money will also be paid to 16 of the 17 wounded and 19 people who suffered severe trauma.

The family of one severely wounded student, Anthony Borges, is pursuing their own lawsuit, saying his injuries will require a lifetime of medical treatment that requires a larger payment. He was shot in the lungs, abdomen and legs.

Their attorney, Alex Arreaza, said Borges’ “physical wounds were healing, but the (post-traumatic stress disorder) is manifesting itself more all the time.” He expects a settlement soon.

The other families still have lawsuits pending against the Broward Sheriff’s Office and former Deputy Scot Peterson, the school’s armed resource officer, for his failure to enter the building to confront the shooter. Peterson, who is also facing criminal charges, has said he did not know where the shots were coming from.

They are also suing two security guards who they say didn’t respond when the gunman arrived on campus.

Nikolas Cruz will plead guilty Wednesday to 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, his attorneys said last week. He will face either a death sentence or life in prison without parole.