Tennessee
Man gets 25 years in roadside killing of nurse
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The man who shot and killed a Tennessee nurse as she was driving to work two years ago was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Wednesday, according to the Nashville district attorney’s office.
In January, a jury found Devaunte Hill guilty of murder in the death of 26-year-old Caitlyn Kaufman. At trial, Hill admitted to killing Kaufman on Dec. 3, 2020, as she drove to St. Thomas West Hospital shortly after 6:00 p.m.
Hill testified that he had been using drugs when he got in the car with co-defendant James Cowan to go pick up Cowan’s girlfriend. While on the interstate, Kaufman cut them off, and “Cowan hit the brakes and it startled me,” Hill testified. “I remember picking up the gun and firing the shots, but I couldn’t recall in that moment how many shots I’d fired.”
A single bullet — one of six fired at her — killed Kaufman, according to testimony.
Kaufman’s Mazda CX-5 SUV was discovered wrecked along Interstate 440 around 9 p.m. by a Metro Parks officer who thought it was a single-vehicle wreck. He discovered the car riddled with bullets and Kaufman dead inside.
The jury acquitted Cowan, who said he was merely the driver and had no role in the shooting. Neither man knew Kaufman.
Kaufman was from Chicora, Pennsylvania, a small town in Butler County that sits 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Pittsburgh. She moved to Nashville in 2018 after accepting a job, family has said, fulfilling her longtime desire to live in the city.
Colorado
Man cites fear of homelessness in ax killings case
DENVER (AP) — An 81-year-old Colorado man accused of killing his wife and daughter with an ax told police he lost his job and was afraid they would end up homeless. Reginald Maclaren told police he didn’t regret killing them because he “knows they are in a better place,” according to court documents.
Maclaren was arrested Saturday in the killings and booked into jail Tuesday after being taken to the hospital for what police have described as a preexisting medical condition, Crystal Essman, a spokesperson for police in the Denver suburb of Englewood, said Wednesday.
Maclaren is scheduled to appear in court Monday, when prosecutors say they plan to file formal charges against him.
Police said Maclaren called authorities Saturday to tell them that his wife and adult daughter had been killed and that he thought he knew who the suspect was. When officers arrived at his apartment, they found the bodies of two women in trash cans in the living room, police said in a press release. One of the women had been dismembered with a saw, they said.
According to Maclaren’s arrest affidavit, he told investigators he had lost his job at Hospital Shared Services, which provides security to health care facilities, and did not have any money left. He said they would have to move out Saturday because he could not pay the rent. He also said he had regular interactions with people who were experiencing homelessness and knew what a miserable life that was, according to the affidavit.
During a press conference Tuesday, Englewood police’s division chief, Tracy Jones, said longtime detectives described Maclaren’s apartment as the “one of the most gruesome crime scenes” they had ever seen. All officers involved in the case are getting mental health support, he said.
Maclaren is being represented by a lawyer from the state public defender’s office, which doesn’t comment on its cases.
Iowa
Teen to testify against co-defendant in teacher’s death
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — One of two teenagers charged in the beating death of an Iowa high school teacher will testify against his co-defendant, a prosecutor announced Wednesday.
Jeremy Goodale has agreed to testify against Willard Miller during Miller’s upcoming trial, Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding said during a court hearing.
Goodale and Miller are each charged with first-degree murder in the November 2021 death of 66-year-old Nohema Graber, their Spanish teacher at Fairfield High School. Her body was found in a Fairfield park in November 2021.
Investigators have said Graber was beaten to death, possibly after a dispute over grades in her class.
Court records do not indicate that Goodale has reached a plea deal and it was unclear what he might receive in exchange for his testimony, The Des Moines Register reported. Goodale’s attorney declined to comment.
Miller is scheduled for trial in April and Goodale in May.
The disclosure came during a hearing on a motion by Miller to suppress evidence from interviews the two teenagers gave to investigators. The motion also accuses police of lying on search warrant applications in the case. Miller has a pending appeal before the Iowa Supreme Court on the denial of a previous motion to suppress on similar issues.
Missouri
Man found not guilty in deaths of five people
CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — A St. Louis County man has been found not guilty in the deaths of five people who were shot at an apartment complex in 2019.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that a jury deliberated less than two hours Wednesday before acquitting 33-year-old Anthony Watkins of five counts of first-degree murder and five weapons charges.
Prosecutors said Watkins and another man, Terrance Wesley, were seeking missing drugs before they killed five men in a partially boarded-up apartment known for drug deals on July 6, 2019. But Watkins’ attorney, Robert Taaffe, sid Wesley was behind the killings and tried to implicate Watkins in an effort to get leniency.
Wesley reached a plea deal in July in exchange for his cooperation and testimony during the trial. He pleaded guilty to five counts of second-degree murder and weapons offenses and is awaiting sentencing.
St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell said in a statement that prosecutors struggled with witness availability during the trial.
Nebraska
Suit tossed in active shooter drill woman believed was real
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by an employee of Catholic Charities of Omaha who said she suffered physical and emotional injuries during an active shooter drill involving actors smeared in fake blood and a man firing blanks from a semiautomatic handgun.
Douglas County District Court Judge Timothy Burns ruled that Workers’ Compensation Court should decide Sandra Lopez’s claims against Catholic Charities over the drill last year at the organization’s headquarters, the Omaha World-Herald reported Wednesday.
Lopez said in the lawsuit that administrators did not warn employees that a drill was planned on May 19, 2022. One administrator who knew it was staged told her, “It is a shooting” as they ran out of the building together, according to the lawsuit.
Lopez said she hurt her back while fleeing and also has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Catholic Charities sought to have the lawsuit dismissed, contending it should be decided in Workers’ Compensation Court, which has jurisdiction over accidental work-related injuries.
Lopez’s attorney, Tom White, argued that Catholic Charities intentionally injured Lopez and other employees by not telling them the drill was staged. He said an exception to state laws should be made when an employer intentionally harms employees.
But Burns granted Catholic Charities’ motion to dismiss last week, saying Nebraska laws and court precedent established that Workers’ Compensation Court is the exclusive remedy in such cases.
White said he intends to appeal the ruling.
Burns said he agreed the alleged facts show Catholic Charities had a “specific intent to injure” Lopez. But he cited a 2013 Nebraska Supreme Court ruling that dismissed a lawsuit filed by the family of a grain bin worker who died because of criminal negligence by his employer.
The state Supreme Court said the man’s death was an accident, despite the employer’s negligence. It said any change to allow exceptions for intentional acts would have to be made by the Legislature.
The man who was hired by Catholic Charities to stage the drill, John Channels, of Omaha, was charged in August with five counts of making terroristic threats and one weapons count. Channels was not named in the lawsuit.
The incident unfolded when Channels showed up at Omaha Catholic Charities firing blanks and staging “victims” who appeared to have been wounded or killed, police said. The charity had hired him to test its workers’ preparedness for such an attack.
Police said the charity paid Channels $2,500 to carry out the mock shooting and went along with his request not to inform employees beforehand.
Kansas
Man pleads ‘no contest’ for trying to throw woman off bridge
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Lawrence man pleaded no contest to attempted second-degree murder on Wednesday after he tried to throw a woman off a bridge into the Kansas River last year.
In exchange for his plea, three felony charges of criminal threat were dismissed against 38-year-old Adam Blake Amyx Jr., the Lawrence Journal-World reported.
Prosecutors said a group of women were walking across the bridge on April 14, 2022, when they encountered Amyx yelling and cursing. When one of the women approached him, Amyx tried to pick her up and throw her off the bridge, Senior District Attorney David Greenwald said.
The woman escaped and called police. Greenwald said the fall likely would have killed her.
Before he entered his plea, Amyx told the judge he has mental health problems. But he said he is currently on medication and was confident he could make the plea decision.
Amyx is being held in the Douglas County jail on $50,000 bond. He will be sentenced May 26.
Massachusetts
Baby sitter gets 25 years for sexually exploiting children
BOSTON (AP) — A baby sitter who sexually abused two children she was supposed to be caring for, produced videos and images of the abuse that she then shared with another person, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison, federal prosecutors said.
Nichole Cyr, 27, of Fall River, was also sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Boston to five years of probation, the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston said in a statement.
“The crimes committed by Ms. Cyr are unconscionable and every parent’s nightmare,” U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a statement. “While a trusted babysitter, she sexually exploited two defenseless children who were 2 and 7 years old at the time. Specifically, she sexually abused the toddler on multiple occasions, documented it, and distributed that documentation.”
Cyr was arrested in July 2020 after images and video of the abuse were found on her cellphones, prosecutors said. According to the indictment, the crimes were committed between November 2019 and July 2020.
A forensic analysis revealed that Cyr had shared the material.
Cyr pleaded guilty in September to two counts of sexual exploitation of children.
