Florida
Judge: Jury can tour school building where 17 were murdered
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The jury that will decide whether Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz gets a death sentence will tour the blood-stained, bullet-pocked building where he murdered 17 people four years ago, a judge has ruled.
Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer rejected a defense argument that a jury tour of the three-story building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is not necessary because there are videos and photos of the crime scene and would only serve to inflame the jurors’ passions.
Cruz’s lawyers said the tour was particularly unnecessary since he pleaded guilty in October and the jury will not have to decide whether he committed the murders, only whether he is sentenced to death or life without parole.
But Judge Scherer disagreed.
“The Court finds that a jury view of the crime scene remains useful and proper, even in light of the current posture of the case,” Scherer wrote in a ruling posted Monday. “The purpose of a jury view is to assist the jury in analyzing and applying the evidence presented at trial.”
Prosecutors want jurors to see the path Cruz, 23, took through the building on Feb. 14, 2018, to understand the carnage he unleashed as he walked methodically floor-to-floor, firing his semi-automatic rifle as he went. Shortly after the shooting, the building was fenced off and sealed — the dried blood, Valentine’s Day gifts and bullet holes still in place.
Jury selection began Monday for Cruz’s trial. The three-step selection process is expected to last two months, followed by a four-month trial.
The jurors will decide whether the aggravating factors of the killings — the multiple deaths, the planning, the cruelty — outweigh mitigating factors such as Cruz’s lifelong mental and emotional problems and the death of his parents.
Juries don’t typically tour crime scenes, but either side can request it if it believes a visit would help the members better understand the case. It is up to the judge to decide if they visit.
The building, which rises above the Stoneman Douglas campus, has been a grim, daily reminder of the shooting for students, staff and parents. The Broward County school district plans to demolish it after the trial.
New York
Man charged in Capitol riot gets prison for gun plea
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City man accused of taking part in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and still facing federal charges was sentenced Monday to 3 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty in state court to a count of criminal weapons possession.
Samuel Fisher, 33, had been arrested a couple of weeks after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, with authorities citing posts on social media that included firearms and talked about being at the Capitol.
Prosecutors said a search of Fisher’s apartment on Manhattan’s upper east side turned up multiple weapons and loaded high-capacity ammunition magazines.
In a statement after the sentencing, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Fisher “is a dangerous conspiracy theorist who participated in one of the gravest attacks on our democracy. Not only did he threaten to commit violence against his fellow citizens, he had the potential to follow through with his arsenal of advanced weaponry and ammunition.”
In court, attorney Wayne Gosnell told the judge that Fisher had been taking steps like getting help for substance abuse issues and mental health concerns.
In an email after court, he said Fisher was “gratified to be putting this chapter behind him and moving forward with his life” and that the court recognized “Fisher’s unique mental health and addiction issues and imposed a tough but fair sentence.”
Ohio
Woman convicted of murder in 1993 death of newborn
CHARDON, Ohio (AP) — A jury has convicted a woman of murder in the death of a newborn child authorities said was dumped in the woods in Ohio almost three decades ago.
Jurors in Geauga County deliberated for a few hours Monday before reaching a verdict in the case of Gail Eastwood Ritchey, 51, of Euclid. Her bail was then revoked by the judge and she was arrested. A sentencing date has not been set yet. She was acquitted of aggravated murder.
Newspaper carriers found the body of the newborn on a rural road in Thompson Township in March 1993, about a month after the child was born. Authorities have said the infant was dumped in woods in a garbage bag and that animals had mutilated the body and dragged it onto the roadway.
Community members paid for a funeral, burial and a headstone marked “Geauga’s Child.”
The defendant was identified as the child’s mother after a county sheriff’s detective submitted DNA to a public genealogical website, created a family tree of 1,400 relatives and finally narrowed the search to her. She was arrested in June 2019.
Defense attorney Steven Bradley disputed a Cuyahoga County coroner’s conclusion that the baby was born alive in the bathroom of a Shaker Heights home where his client worked as a nanny. Bradley said she put the newborn in a garbage bag and left it in the woods in Geauga County while driving a church group to a weekend retreat.
“She was isolated and alone,” Bradley said. “There was no one to confide with. She was alone with a group of people in her world that never saw her as pregnant. Neither did Gail.”
Prosecutors, however, argued that the defendant knew she was pregnant three months before the birth and did nothing to prepare, and they argued that showed intent.
“She literally treated him like a piece of garbage,” prosecutors said. “Tossed him in the woods … didn’t even bury him.”
After the verdict, Bradley said he was “frankly shocked and surprised.”
“I certainly respect the jury’s verdict, but the state frankly did not have enough evidence to meet their burden of proof,” he said.
The defendant, who did not testify, later married the newborn’s father. They have three adult children. Authorities said she told investigators at the time of her arrest that she had disposed of another infant’s body two years prior to the birth of her son.
Pennsylvania
Ex-handyman pleads to 3rd-degree murder in 2019 slaying
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A former handyman has pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in the death of a western Pennsylvania woman whose body was found nearly a year after she went missing in 2019.
Douglas Berry, 50, of McKeesport, also pleaded guilty to burglary, theft and receiving stolen property Monday as part of an agreement with Allegheny County prosecutors who agreed to recommend a sentence of 17 to 40 years in state prison.
Elizabeth Wiesenfeld, 67, was reported missing to Whitehall police in April 2019. Remains later identified as hers were found nearly a year later in a garbage bag in a section of Plum Borough known for illegal dumping and off-road vehicle use.
Authorities said Wiesenfeld had told her family she was afraid of Berry, who had been doing work on her house and kept showing up even though she had stopped hiring him.
Berry told the court that he wanted everyone to know “how sorry I am for the mistakes I’ve made,” the Tribune-Review reported.
“I’ve learned to pray for forgiveness,” he said. “I apologize to the family for not doing more, and I apologize to Betsy. I can’t move mountains.”
Since her death, Wiesenfeld’s first grandson has been born and her first granddaughter is set to arrive soon. Her brother, Christopher Lagi, said in a victim impact statement that “she died on the verge of a great outpouring of love.”
Minnesota
Man sentenced to 12 years for Red Lake Reservation killing of woman
BEMIDJI, Minn. (AP) — A man accused in the beating death of a woman on the Red Lake Indian Reservation was sentenced Monday to 12 years in prison.
William Jones IV pleaded guilty last year to one count of second-degree murder for the 2019 killing at the victim’s house in Ponemah, located on the north side of Lower Red Lake.
Authorities say Jones, 24, repeatedly assaulted the woman by hitting her and throwing her against the wall. At one point the victim’s head was struck and she suffered a brain injury.
The woman remained in the house unconscious for two days and Jones made no attempt to contact emergency personnel or render first aid, prosecutors said. Jones’ mother arrived at the home two days after the assault and called for help. The victim died in a Fargo, North Dakota hospital 16 days after she was beaten.
This case was the result of an investigation conducted by the Red Lake Tribal Police Department and the FBI Headwaters Safe Trails Task Force.
California
Man sentenced for buying Coachella tickets with firm’s funds
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Southern California man was sentenced to two years in federal prison for embezzling more than $350,000 from his employer to pay for Coachella tickets, a hot tub and other extravagant personal expenses.
As manager of the tech firm Networks 2000, Matthew P. Hernandez controlled finances and was able to transfer company money to his personal accounts, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
He issued direct deposits from the company’s checking account to pay off personal credit card debt and used corporate credit cards to buy luxury items including a home gym, a $3,500 hot tub and a watch priced more than $1,000, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.
The scheme involved hundreds of transactions over seven years, prosecutors said.
Hernandez, 46, had pleaded guilty to wire fraud. He was sentenced on Friday. The sentencing also ordered him to pay restitution of more than $356,600 to the San Diego-based company, the Times said.
Georgia
State official accused of faking pregnancies pleads guilty
ATLANTA (AP) — A state official accused of faking multiple pregnancies and using at least one of those ruses to get out of work and be paid for the time off has pleaded guilty to identity fraud and making false statements, prosecutors said.
Robin Folsom was sentenced to five years of probation, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said Monday. Folsom, former director of external affairs for the Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency, was also ordered to pay more than $12,000 in restitution to the state.
Folsom, 43, had supervised the agency’s marketing and media communications. In October 2020, she told human resources officials that she was pregnant, and then announced that she had given birth in May 2021, according to the state Office of the Inspector General.
A man claiming to be the child’s father later emailed the agency, claiming that Folsom needed several weeks of rest after the birth. The agency approved about seven weeks of paid leave.
Folsom resigned in October 2021, shortly after being interviewed by state investigators.
