National Roundup

Connecticut
City settles housing lawsuit over group home denial
WOLCOTT, Conn. (AP) — The town of Wolcott said Monday it has agreed to settle a federal lawsuit filed after it failed to allow a group home for mentally disabled adults to open in a residential neighborhood.

The U.S. Justice Department said the settlement would allow SELF Inc. to operate a home with up to 13 residents. The town agreed to amend zoning regulations to permit group homes with the same number of people allowed in other residences of the same size, and implementing a reasonable accommodation policy, federal officials said.

The town also agreed to pay $350,000 in damages to SELF and L&R Realty, as well as a $10,000 penalty to the federal government, according to the settlement agreement.

“The town of Wolcott supports the rights of disabled persons to fair housing and will continue to do so in the future,” Mayor Thomas Dunn said in a statement. “The matters in litigation have been resolved to the satisfaction of all parties and we will move ahead from here.”

SELF and L&R Realty filed a complaint with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development in December 2020, alleging that the town, after learning of plans for the home, amended its zoning regulations to prohibit any community residence for adults with disabilities from operating in Wolcott.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development referred the case to the Justice Department, which filed the lawsuit, alleging Wolcott had violated the federal Fair Housing Act.

“Local governments do not have the right to use zoning laws and restrictions as a vehicle to discriminate against people with disabilities,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said Monday. “Individuals with disabilities have the right to equal housing opportunities, and the Department of Justice is committed to vigorous enforcement of federal law to stop municipalities from violating this right.”

The settlement must still be approved by a U.S. District Court judge.

Georgia
No bond for woman accused of killing man in search for baby
ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia judge has denied bond for a woman accused of fatally shooting an innocent man as her family knocked on apartment doors while searching for their missing 1-year-old relative.

Santana Miller, 34, and her brother Delarius Miller, 38, have both been charged with murder in the death of Aziz Hassan at an apartment complex in Clarkston on the night of Nov. 10, according to WSB-TV.

Santana Miller’s attorney Stacy Levy told a DeKalb County judge Friday that her client has cooperated with investigators and had acted in self-defense during last month’s shooting after feeling threatened by Hassan, who was armed and thought the group was trying to steal from him. Despite Levy’s arguments, the judge denied bond.

Authorities said the Miller siblings were desperately searching for Blaise Barnett, their missing 1-year-old cousin who had been abducted when his family’s SUV was stolen the night before, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. A group of the child’s family and friends arrived at the apartment complex with guns and knocked on random doors to try to find the baby, police said.

Members of Hassan’s household told investigators that Hassan believed the search party was trying to steal the rims off of his vehicle. They told investigators he opened fire when the group began threatening him, the Journal-Constitution reported.

Hassan was shot around 11:40 p.m. and was found dead lying at the top of the stairwell outside the door of his condo. Prosecutors said Hassan had a gun on him, but it was holstered, according to WSB-TV.

“My father was innocent,” Hassan’s daughter Firmesk Sardarkhan told the judge Friday. “I don’t want the murderers of my father to see the outside of a prison cell.”

Santana Miller told police her relatives were speaking with another resident of the apartment complex when Hassan confronted them with a gun and fired several rounds.

She told officials that she and her brother returned fire.

The missing toddler was found safe at a home near the police station a day later. It is unknown who stole the car with the child inside but police said Hassan was not involved in the kidnapping.

Delarius Miller’s bond hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.

North Carolina
New charges for funeral director accused of hiding corpses
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina funeral home director who was accused last summer of hiding two corpses on residential property is facing new charges from a state agency, according to a news release.

The state Department of Insurance says in a news release on Monday that Jeremiah Randall Whitt, 40, of Yanceyville is charged with obtaining property by false pretense.

Whitt, who owns a funeral home in Caswell County, is accused of failing to return $5,162.01 in excess funds from a life insurance policy to the estate after burial expenses had been satisfied, the news release said. He was arrested on Nov. 30 and is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, the department said.

In June, Whitt was accused by the Caswell County Sheriff’s Office of hiding two corpses on residential property after he was hired to cremate the remains, news outlets reported. The investigators said Whitt took money from the families to have the remains cremated but never did the work.

The department also filed charges against Whitt nearly a year ago, saying he tried to obtain payment for services by claiming to have witnessed a document signature of a woman who had been dead for nearly a year.


Missouri
Man pleads guilty to participating in Jan. 6 riot
WASHINGTON (AP) — An eastern Missouri man pleaded guilty Monday to participating in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Paul S. Westover, 53, of Lake St. Louis, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. In exchange for his plea, one felony charge and three other misdemeanors were dismissed, The Kansas City Star reported.

Federal prosecutors alleged Westover entered the Senate wing of the Capitol, including an area of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, during the insurrection. He was in the building for about 35 minutes.

Westover will be sentenced Feb. 16. He faces a maximum penalty of six months in prison, a $5,000 fine and five years’ probation. He also must pay $500 in restitution for damage to the Capitol building,
Seventeen Missouri residents have been charged with participating in the riot, and five have now pleaded guilty.