Wisconsin
Woman accused in dismemberment slaying attacks her attorney
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — A woman accused in a grisly killing and dismemberment case in Wisconsin attacked her attorney Tuesday during a court hearing, moments after a judge agreed to delay her trial.
Taylor Schabusiness, 25, was seated in a Brown County circuit court when her attorney, Quinn Jolly, asked the judge for an additional two weeks for a defense expert to review his client’s competency to stand trial.
Moments after Judge Thomas Walsh reluctantly agreed to postpone her March 6 trial, Schabusiness attacked Jolly and was wrestled to the courtroom floor by a deputy, WLUK-TV reported. The courtroom was then cleared before the hearing resumed.
Schabusiness is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and third-degree sexual assault in the killing of Shad Thyrion, 25, in February 2022. Authorities say she strangled Thyrion at a home in Green Bay, sexually abused him and dismembered his body, leaving parts of him throughout the house and in a vehicle.
Schabusiness has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. She is being held on a $2 million cash bond.
Following her courtroom outburst, the judge moved her competency hearing from Tuesday to March 6. The judge also proposed a May 15 trial date.
At the end of the hearing, Jolly told the court he would file a motion to withdraw from the case as Schabusiness’ attorney but the judge did not immediately rule on that matter.
Florida
Prosecutor ousted by DeSantis filing appeal to get job back
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The elected state prosecutor suspended by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is filing an appeal in his federal lawsuit against the governor in a renewed bid to get his job back.
Andrew Warren, a twice-elected Democratic state attorney in Hillsborough County, filed a notice of appeal in the case Tuesday, seeking to bring it to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta.
DeSantis suspended Warren last year over the prosecutor’s signing of statements that said he would not pursue criminal charges against seekers or providers of abortion or gender transition treatments, as well as policies about not charging people with some minor crimes.
The notice of appeal comes a month after a federal judge in Tallahassee dismissed Warren’s lawsuit against DeSantis.
In that ruling, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle said federal law prevents him from returning Warren to office though a lawsuit that centered on state law, but that DeSantis violated the First Amendment and the Florida Constitution by removing the prosecutor.
“The idea that the Governor can get away with breaking federal and state law should offend anyone who believes in freedom — free speech, free elections, and that no one is above the law,” Warren said in a statement Tuesday. “We’ve proven that DeSantis broke the law, and I’ll keep fighting until I’m back doing the work that the people elected me to do.”
Missouri
Man accused of confining woman faces new charges
LIBERTY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri man accused of keeping a woman hidden in his basement while repeatedly sexually assaulting her was indicted by a grand jury on nine new charges, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Timothy M. Haslett, of Excelsior Springs, was indicted on one count of rape, four counts of sodomy, two counts of second-degree assault and one count each of kidnapping and endangering the welfare of a child, Clay County Prosecutor Zachary Thompson said.
Haslett, 40, is being held in the Clay County Detention Center on $3 million bond. If found guilty, he faces up to five life sentences and another 36 years in prison.
The charges supersede charges of rape, kidnapping and assault filed after Haslett was arrested in October when a woman told investigators she was raped repeatedly while being held captive in his basement for about a month.
“We would not be here today if not for the bravery of one woman and the tireless efforts of 16 different agencies,” Thompson said.
He said law enforcement officers have followed more than 100 leads and spent more than 1,200 hours on the case, but he said the investigation continues.
Court documents say the child endangerment charge stems from leaving unsecured weapons accessible to the child, KSHB-TV reported.
Thompson declined to comment on whether detectives are investigating the possibility of other possible victims.
Haslett’s public defender, Tiffany Leuty, did not return a call seeking comment. Haslett’s next court hearing is scheduled for Friday.
The woman, who has not been named, said she escaped when Haslett left the house to take his child to school and then ran to a neighbor’s home for help.
At the time, the victim was wearing latex lingerie and a metal collar with what appeared to be a padlock on the front, according to court documents.
In January, the Excelsior Springs Police Department said it was looking for 36-year-old Jaynie M. Crosdale as a potential witness in case. Thompson said Tuesday that police continue to look for Crosdale.
Maine
Judge upholds law allowing older sex abuse lawsuits
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A state judge on Tuesday upheld a Maine law that eliminated the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse, allowing survivors to pursue lawsuits for sex crimes that happened decades ago.
An attorney for more than a dozen plaintiffs who have brought civil lawsuits since the law went into effect praised the decision.
“Survivors have suffered a lifetime of pain that has affected their relationships at home, at work, and in the world. Now survivors are empowered to face those who allowed such heinous abuse and hold them accountable,” attorney Michael Bigos said in a statement.
The judge ruled in a motion in the first of the new civil lawsuits, but the decision is expected to be appealed.
A lawyer for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland contended that the 2021 law was unconstitutional because it made retroactive changes that violated both vested rights and due process rights.
But Justice Thomas McKeon sided with the plaintiff in the case, saying vested rights generally apply to property rights, not statutes of limitations, and that the law can apply to institutions as well as individuals accused of abuse.
But the judge also wrote that it was a “close case” and that attorneys for the diocese had raised “serious” constitutional concerns.
McKeon halted proceedings in the lawsuit until attorneys for the church have an opportunity to appeal to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. An attorney for the Diocese of Portland didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment.
Maine removed its statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse cases in 2000, but that change wasn’t retroactive, so victims couldn’t sue for older crimes. Changes to state law in 2021 made it possible for people to seek legal action for older claims that previously expired.
The diocese unsuccessfully fought against the law. The legislative sponsor said the goal was to give survivors a voice — not big settlements.
An attorney for the diocese contended survivors already had ample time to sue and that new litigation could lead to requests for damages in the “tens of millions of dollars.”
Illinois
Former road commissioner gets 3.5 years in kickback scheme
CHICAGO (AP) — A former suburban Chicago highway commissioner was sentenced to three and a half years in prison Tuesday for taking more than $280,000 in kickbacks from an excavation company.
Robert Czernek, 71, the former elected head of the Bloomingdale Township highway commission, pleaded guilty last March to one count of honest-services wire fraud. He was charged in an August 2020 indictment along with Debra Fazio, the owner of Bloomingdale-based Bulldog Earth Movers Inc., and her employee, Mario Giannini.
Czernek read from a written statement in court.
“I make no excuses for my conduct,” he said. “My crime was not a mistake, it was something that I did to enrich myself.”
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly credited Czernek for taking a plea deal from prosecutors and testifying at Giannini’s 2021 trial.
Giannini is appealing his May conviction on 14 counts of wire fraud. He was sentenced to five years in prison. Kennelly last March dismissed a wire fraud charge against Fazio, saying prosecutors had not proven she knew of the scheme or participated in it.
Czernek and Giannini will have to pay more than $500,000 restitution to the township.
London
UK: Thief admits stealing thousands of chocolate Easter eggs
LONDON (AP) — A man who prosecutors said broke into a U.K. industrial park to steal almost 200,000 chocolate Easter eggs has pleaded guilty to theft and criminal damage.
Prosecutors said Tuesday that Joby Pool, 32, used a metal grinder to break through a gate at an industrial park in Telford, central England, on Saturday, then used a stolen semi truck to tow away a trailer loaded with Cadbury Creme Eggs and other chocolate goods worth more than 31,000 pounds ($38,000).
West Mercia Police tweeted Monday that shortly after the break-in, officers stopped a vehicle “presumably purporting to be the Easter bunny” on a highway and arrested a man on suspicion of theft.
Prosecutor Owen Beale said Pool gave up when he realized police were after him.
Pool “walked towards the police with his hands up. He was arrested and the load was recovered,” Beale said.
He added that Pool had planned the theft and that he had previous convictions for handling stolen goods.
Pool entered guilty pleas to theft of a trailer, theft of its contents and criminal damage to a chain lock. He is expected to be sentenced next month.
California
Man gets prison for fentanyl sale that led to fatal overdose
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A Virginia man who admitted selling the fentanyl that caused the fatal overdose of a 22-year-old woman in Southern California has been sentenced to 14 years in federal prison.
Matthew Benjamin Hurley told the court during a hearing Monday that he holds himself “100 percent accountable” for the 2020 death of Rose Avelar in Huntington Beach, the Orange County Register reported.
Hurley, who referenced his own battle with addiction, accepted a plea deal last year, admitting to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl resulting in a death.
“I never meant for someone to get hurt,” Hurley told U.S. District Judge James V. Selna. “The person I am under substances is not who I want to be… I’m tired of the misery and pain my addiction has caused.”
Avelar’s relatives, who traveled from Massachusetts for the sentencing, described her as a “beautiful, driven young woman” who was excited about attending college in California.
“You robbed me of her,” Austin Avelar, Rose’s brother, told Hurley. “She died alone, far away from me and my family, and the pain of her death is so deep I feel it will never end.”
Hurley was one of more than a half-dozen alleged drug dealers who were federally charged in April 2022 after prosecutors said they sold fentanyl-laced narcotics that resulted in 10 deaths in Orange County, the Register reported.
