Rhode Island
Charges against man arrested during abortion rally dismissed
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Prosecutors have dismissed charges against a man arrested during an abortion protest in Rhode Island last summer, according to court records and the man’s lawyer.
Nicholas Morrell, 31, of Warwick, was arrested during a protest at the State House on June 25 held in response to the decision released the same day by the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which had provided a constitutional right to abortion since 1973 .
Charges of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and having a weapon other than a gun were dismissed by the prosection on Nov. 7, according to court records.
“The argument we made to the state is that a lot of this was recorded and his conduct was no different than anyone else there,” his attorney, Bryan Owens, said Tuesday. “I think he was unfairly charged.”
His client is neither abortion rights nor anti-abortion, Owens said.
A message was left with the state attorney general’s office.
An off-duty Providence police officer was charged with punching a political rival during the protest, but was acquitted of misdemeanor simple assault in November.
Louisiana
Former deputy pleads guilty in sex-crimes case
LIVINGSTON, La. (AP) — A former Louisiana sheriff’s deputy pleaded guilty Tuesday to several sex crimes involving children and was sentenced to 100 years in prison as part of a plea deal.
Dennis Perkins, a former high-ranking deputy with the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office, faced 150 counts of sex crimes when he was arrested in 2019. At Tuesday’s hearing, Perkins entered the plea to one count of second-degree rape, two counts of sexual battery of a child, one count of video voyeurism, two counts of production of child porn involving children under age 13 and one count of mingling of harmful substances, news outlets reported.
All of the remaining charges against him were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
The plea agreement was forged so young victims in the case would not have to testify. Prosecutors said they met with each victim to get approval to go forward with the plea deal.
Perkins, who at times cried during the hearing, faced several of his victims inside a Livingston Parish courtroom, WAFB-TV reported.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s been more than three years living in a box, and it’s not about me. I just want to make this statement. Jesus Christ has forgiven me. And I’m grateful for that. And, I hope and pray that anybody that this affected will also find forgiveness and healing through Jesus Christ.”
One of his victims took the stand earlier and told Perkins she hopes he spends every day worrying about his safety.
“You’re absolutely not worth my time,” she said. “Instead of protecting, you chose abuse. Have a nice life in prison.”
Perkins had been scheduled to go to trial on Jan. 9 but accepted the plea deal. Cynthia Perkins, a former teacher and Perkins’ now-ex-wife, pleaded guilty last year to several charges in the case. She was sentenced to 41 years in prison and had agreed to testify against Perkins if the case went to trial.
Indiana
Woman gets house arrest in barn fires case
ELKHART, Ind. (AP) — A woman who pleaded guilty to arson for allegedly helping her boyfriend set fire to several barns in northern Indiana was sentenced Tuesday to eight years on house arrest.
An Elkhart County judge gave Sherry Thomas a 10-year sentence, with eight years to be served under house arrest and two years suspended to probation. The 33-year-old Nappanee resident had pleaded guilty in December to one count of arson.
Thomas’ plea came after Superior Court Judge Stephen Bowers rejected an earlier plea deal for Thomas in late November.
Bowers said Tuesday that he likely would have sentenced Thomas to at least a handful of years in prison if not for the terms of her plea agreement.
Thomas was originally charged with eight counts of arson, but under her plea agreement prosecutors dismissed all but one offense she had faced and stipulated that any time served would be in community corrections and not prison, the South Bend Tribune reported.
Thomas’ boyfriend, Joseph Hershberger, was sentenced in November to 50 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to torching eight barns in 2021 in Elkhart County.
Both Thomas and Hershberger still face arson charges out of Marshall and Kosciusko counties for fires allegedly set there in 2021.
Washington
Court: Teacher wearing MAGA hat fell under protected speech
VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of a former teacher in Vancouver, Washington, concluding that his wearing a hat supporting former President Donald Trump to school was protected speech under the First Amendment.
Court documents show that science teacher Eric Dodge brought the “Make America Great Again” baseball cap with him to an Evergreen Public Schools building twice before the 2019-2020 school year. The Columbian reported. The first occasion was to a staff-only cultural sensitivity and racial bias training.
Wy’east Middle School Principal Caroline Garret allegedly told him to use better judgment. Dodge said he was “verbally attacked” by Garret and other school employees after bringing the hat again, and that retaliation amounted to a violation of his First Amendment rights.
The appeals panel concluded in a Dec. 29 ruling that the district failed to show evidence of a “tangible disruption” to school operations necessary to outweigh the teacher’s First Amendment rights, the court ruled.
“That some may not like the political message being conveyed is par for the course and cannot itself be a basis for finding disruption of a kind that outweighs the speaker’s First Amendment rights,” Judge Danielle J. Forrest wrote in the opinion.
The country’s freedom of expression does have significant exceptions. “There is hate speech, there is threatening speech,” First Amendment expert and dean emeritus at the Lewis & Clark Law School, Stephen Kanter, told The Oregonian/OregonLive, “but a MAGA hat falls far short of that.”
The appeals panel also found that both the Evergreen Public Schools and chief human resources officer Janae Gomes did not take any improper administrative action against Dodge.
Neither Dodge nor Garrett could be reached for comment by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Michael McFarland, a lawyer representing the school district and Gomes, said his clients are happy with the ruling.
Dodge resigned in 2020.
Colorado
Funeral home owner sentenced in body sales case
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes was sentenced to 20 years in prison Tuesday by a federal court judge.
Megan Hess received the maximum sentence after pleading guilty to mail fraud in November under a plea agreement in which other charges against her were dropped, The Daily Sentinel reported.
U.S. authorities said that on dozens of occasions, Hess and her mother, Shirley Koch, who also pleaded guilty to mail fraud, transferred bodies or body parts to third parties for research without families’ knowledge.
U.S. District Judge Christine Arguello in Grand Junction also sentenced Koch on Tuesday to 15 years in prison. Arguello sentenced the pair after victims testified about the pain they’d suffered under the scheme.
Hess, 48, and Koch, 69, operated the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in the western city of Montrose. They were arrested in 2020 and charged with six counts of mail fraud and three counts of illegal transportation of hazardous materials.
A grand jury indictment said that from 2010 through 2018, Hess and Koch offered to cremate bodies and provide the remains to families at a cost of $1,000 or more, but many of the cremations never occurred.
Hess created a nonprofit organization in 2009 called Sunset Mesa Funeral Foundation as a body-broker service doing business as Donor Services, authorities said.
On dozens of occasions, Hess and Koch transferred bodies or body parts to third parties for research without families’ knowledge, according to the U.S. Justice Department. The transfers were done through Sunset Mesa Funeral Foundation and Donor Services and families were given ashes that were not those of their loved ones, authorities said.
Hess and Koch also shipped bodies and body parts that tested positive for, or belonged to people who died from, infectious diseases including HIV and Hepatitis B and C, despite certifying to buyers that the remains were disease-free, authorities said.
Hess’ attorney, Ashley Petrey, told the court Tuesday Hess was motivated by a desire to advance medical research.
Assistant Unites States Attorney Tim Neff scoffed at the argument.
“Eight years of repeated conduct of this nature is all the court needs to know about her history and character,” Neff said.
Koch said during the sentencing hearing, “I acknowledge my guilt and take responsibility for my actions. I’m very sorry for harm I caused you and your families.”
Hess declined to address the court.
A victim restitution hearing was scheduled for March.
Maine
Mexico-to-England flight disrupted; 2 passengers face federal charges
BANGOR, Maine (AP) — A pair of passengers who disrupted a flight from Mexico to England, causing it to make an unplanned landing in the U.S., have been charged with federal crimes.
The two were among a group of three disruptive passengers who retrieved alcohol from a carry-on bag after being denied service and made racist remarks about the flight crew and passengers while filming the interactions, according to an FBI affidavit filed in federal court in Bangor, Maine. The behavior escalated over U.S. airspace, the affidavit said.
The TUI Airways captain diverted the flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Manchester, England, to the Bangor International Airport on Monday night after the cabin erupted in chaos with multiple passengers out of their seats and shouting at each other, the FBI said. The flight had 328 passengers.
Anthony Joseph James Kirby and Damien Jake Murphy, both 36, of Manchester, England, were removed from the plane and arrested, officials said. A third passenger was removed but not charged.
Kirby and Murphy were ordered detained without bail after initial court appearances Tuesday on federal charges of assault and interfering with a flight crew.
Kirby's attorney said Wednesday he needed more information about what happened on the plane. A phone message was left with Murphy's attorney.
