Georgia
Man convicted of killing ride-share driver
DECATUR, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia jury has convicted a man of murder in the slaying of his girlfriend's ride-share driver.
De'Monte Anderson, 27, of Decatur, was also convicted of aggravated assault and possession of firearm during commission of a felony, news outlets reported. A judge on Friday sentenced him to life in prison, plus five years.
The DeKalb County district attorney said Anderson shot and killed 58-year-old Dwayne Roberts on Oct. 27, 2019.
Prosecutors said Anderson and his girlfriend got into a fight and Roberts was waiting to drive her to another place. Prosecutors said Anderson mistakenly accused his girlfriend of having an affair with Roberts.
After shooting Roberts twice, Anderson hit his girlfriend in the face, threatened to kill her, then drove away in his own car, prosecutors said. Police arrived moments later, and Roberts died on the way to a hospital.
Missouri
Man convicted of killing 2 women, 2 children
ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) — Jurors convicted a St. Louis man of murder Friday in the 2018 shooting of his girlfriend, her two children and her mother.
A St. Charles County jury deliberated less than two hours before finding Richard Darren Emery, 50, guilty of four counts of first-degree murder. Sentencing is scheduled for Saturday. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Emery was accused of killing K ate Kasten, 39, during a Dec. 28, 2018 shooting.
Prosecutors said Emery shot her after she told him to leave while the couple argued. He then kicked in a door to a bedroom where Kasten's mother, Jane Moeckel, 61, had barricaded herself with her grandchildren, Zoe, 8, and Jonathan, 10, and shot each of them at close range, police said.
Officers shot Emery twice during an ensuing chase before he stabbed a woman while trying unsuccessfully to steal her car. He was later arrested while hiding in a bathroom at a convenience store.
Emery's attorneys argued he suffered from a mental illness that prevented him from consciously committing the crime. They sought a second-degree murder conviction, which would avoid a death sentence.
Louisiana
Man admits kidnapping and plan to dismember gays
LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) — A 21-year-old Louisiana man has pleaded guilty to the grisly kidnapping of a teen he met through a dating app for gay and bisexual men, and his sworn statement says he planned to kill and dismember gays until he was caught or killed.
Federal prosecutors agreed to drop hate crime and other charges against Chance Seneca of Lafayette when he pleaded guilty Thursday, court documents show.
Seneca was 19 when he handcuffed, choked, stabbed and slit the wrists of 18-year-old Holden White, then called 911 and waited for police outside his father’s house. Court papers give only White’s initials but his family identified him at the time and called for the hate crime charge that was later added.
Seneca’s statement said he used Snapchat and the Grindr app, which is mainly used by gay and bisexual men, to set up a meeting with White, and tried to murder and dismember him on June 20, 2020. A day earlier, he said, he used the apps to set up a meeting with another gay man but decided not to kill him.
“The actions and intentions of the defendant in this case were shocking,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a news release. “The internet should be accessible and safe for all Americans, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation.”
U.S. District Judge Robert Summerhays scheduled sentencing for Jan. 25, 2023. The maximum sentence is life and a $250,000 fine, but it could be increased if the judge finds that Seneca chose the victim because of his actual or perceived gender or sexual orientation, according to the news release.
White survived but his wrists, cut to the bone, “required extensive medical care to rehabilitate the damaged and severed tendons” and his left hand has permanent nerve damage, according to the sworn statement.
“It is nothing short of miraculous that the victims who endured the vicious attacks from this defendant survived,” said U.S. Attorney Brandon B. Brown for the Western District of Louisiana.
Seneca also faces state charges of attempted second-degree murder and committing a hate crime. State prosecutors have coordinated with their federal counterparts and a similar agreement is expected “pretty shortly” in state court, Assistant District Attorney Don Knecht told The Advocate.
“I don’t want to let the proverbial cat out of the bag and ruin anything, but everything has been discussed while working with federal authorities and the victim,” he said.
In addition to the federal hate crime charge, Seneca had been charged in federal court with a second kidnapping charge and one each of attempted kidnapping, destroying records to obstruct justice and possessing a machine gun to further a violent crime.
New York
Tillerson to testify at corruption trial of Trump adviser
NEW YORK (AP) — Rex Tillerson, who served a turbulent term as secretary of state under former President Donald Trump, is set to testify against the ex-chair of Trump’s inaugural committee.
Tillerson will be called Monday as a government witness at the federal trial of Tom Barrack, a billionaire private equity manager and Trump confidant who’s accused of secretly working as a foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates.
The former Exxon Mobil CEO would be the highest-profile witness so far at the trial, now in its third week in federal court in Brooklyn.
In 2018, Trump dumped Tillerson via Twitter, abruptly ending the service of a Cabinet secretary who had reportedly called the Republican president a “moron” but refused to step down, deepening disarray within the Trump administration.
Trump and Tillerson clashed on several foreign policy issues, including whether the U.S. would stay in the 2015 agreement to restrict Iran’s nuclear efforts, a deal Tillerson favored. Trump announced in 2018 that the U.S. was withdrawing from the agreement.
Barrack, 75, has pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, obstruction of justice and making false statements.
So far, prosecutors have relied on a trove of emails and other communications they say demonstrate how Barrack’s “unique access” to Trump to manipulate his campaign — and later his administration — to advance the interests of the UAE. The efforts included helping arrange an Oval Office meeting between Trump and Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in 2017.
At the same time, UAE officials were consorting with Barrack, the energy-rich Gulf state rewarded him by pouring millions of dollars into his business ventures.
New Hampshire
Couple sentenced for taking money from elderly relative
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A husband and wife have been sentenced to up to three years in prison after they were convicted of illegally taking nearly $50,000 from the man’s elderly father, who suffered from dementia.
Prosecutors said that Kile Madsen, 56, and Debora Madsen, 53, of Potsdam, New York, used the money, which was taken between 2015 and 2016, at casinos and at Kile Madsen’s business. They were indicted in 2018, after Kile Madsen’s father, of Hollis, had died.
The Madsens were sentenced Friday.
A jury convicted them of theft and conspiracy charges in July.
An attorney for Debora Madsen declined to comment. Kile Madsen’s attorney was out of the office and unavailable to comment.
Ohio
Woman accused of abandoning autistic son sentenced
CINCINNATI (AP) — An Indiana mother accused of having abandoned her 5-year-old autistic son on a dead-end street in Ohio earlier this year has been sentenced to six months in a lockdown facility where she will receive mental health and substance abuse treatment.
Heather Adkins, 33, of Shelbyville pleaded guilty last month in Hamilton County Court to child endangerment. A kidnapping charge was dropped as part of a plea agreement.
Prosecutors said Adkins drove from Indiana to Tennessee in February to drop off two of her three children with a friend but on the way back abandoned her son on a dead-end street in Colerain Township near Cincinnati, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) from her home.
Officials said the boy, who is nonverbal, was spotted by passing motorists as he tried to wave down cars in the rain. Adkins was arrested at a gas station in Georgetown, Ky., on an unrelated warrant. In court, Adkins acknowledged the facts of the case but denied that she intended to harm her son, WCPO-TV reported.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that after her release from River City Correctional Center, Adkins will be on probation for three years. Common Pleas Judge Jennifer Branch also ordered her last week to stay away from her son.
Arizona
Bench trial for a man accused of killing 2 women in Phoenix
PHOENIX (AP) — A bench trial is scheduled to begin Monday for a man accused of sexually attacking and fatally stabbing two young women in separate killings nearly 30 years ago near a metro Phoenix canal system.
Bryan Patrick Miller, 49, is charged with two counts each of first-degree murder, kidnapping and attempted sexual assault.
Prosecutors said the state is seeking the death penalty if Miller is convicted.
He waived his right to a jury trial so a Maricopa County Superior Court judge will decide Miller’s fate.
Miller is accused of killing 22-year-old Angela Brosso in November 1992 and 17-year-old Melanie Bernas in September 1993.
Brosso and Bernas both disappeared while riding their bicycles along the Arizona Canal in north Phoenix.
Authorities said Brosso’s body was found nude and decapitated in a field near a bike path that’s adjacent to the canal.
Ten months later, Bernas’ body was discovered floating in the canal.
Authorities said DNA evidence collected in the aftermath of both crimes showed the attacks were linked to the same suspect.
Miller was arrested for the murders in 2015, but denied any involvement although he acknowledged living in the vicinity of the killings at the time and said he rode his bike on paths in the area, according to Phoenix police.
It wasn’t until nine months ago that Miller wasn’t found mentally competent to stand trial.
