Washington
Man convicted of aggravated murder in death of police officer
EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — A man accused of killing a police officer in Washington state last year has been convicted of aggravated first-degree murder.
A jury found Richard Rotter guilty Monday in the death of Everett police officer Dan Rocha, the Daily Herald reported.
The verdict means the 51-year-old Kennewick man faces life in prison without the possibility of parole when sentenced later this month.
It took about four hours of deliberations on Friday and Monday for a jury of eight women and four men to reach the unanimous verdict.
Jurors had the option of convicting Rotter of the lesser charge of second-degree murder but did not do so. The jury also found Rotter guilty of unlawful firearm possession, possession with the intent to manufacture or distribute methamphetamine, fentanyl and heroin, and attempting to elude police.
Rotter stood in a gray dress shirt with his hair slicked back. More than a dozen Everett police officers were present as Superior Court Judge Bruce Weiss announced the verdict.
In a statement, Everett Police Chief Dan Templeman said the verdict “comes with mixed feelings.”
“While on one hand, I am pleased to see that the defendant will be held accountable for his actions to the fullest extent of the law, it still doesn’t bring Dan back, nor does it change the fact that his family lost a loving son, husband, brother and father,” Templeman said.
Rocha was shot in the head after prosecutors say he and Rotter got into an altercation in the parking lot of a Starbucks in Everett on March 25, 2022. The shooter fled in a car. Police arrested Rotter following a nearby three-vehicle crash.
Prosecutors said Rotter appeared to be moving guns between two cars in the parking lot before Rocha confronted him.
The two talked calmly for about eight minutes before Rocha, who joined the police department in 2017, tried to arrest Rotter, a convicted felon, for investigation of unlawful firearm possession. Rocha was shot five times in a struggle with Rotter, prosecutors said.
Three of those shots were to his head and would have been fatal for Rocha on their own, an autopsy found.
The verdict came after nearly two weeks of testimony at the trial in Snohomish County Superior Court. The defendant didn’t testify.
Rotter’s public defender, Natalie Tarantino, told the jury her client had “no plan” to kill but instead, she said a combination of drug use and post-traumatic stress led him to shoot Rocha.
“It was reactionary and fast and impulsive, which are just the symptoms of his mental health disorders,” she said.
Missouri
Police: Woman charged in child drug deaths
CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri woman who was caring for a toddler that died with fentanyl and another drug in her system is facing criminal charges, and authorities say the woman may be responsible for the drug-related deaths of three other children.
Mary Curtis, 30, of Jennings, was jailed on $1 million cash-only bond. St. Louis County prosecutors on Thursday charged her with endangering the welfare of a child, in the death of 17-month-old Brailey Stevenson. Police did not disclose Curtis’ relationship with the child.
Curtis was watching Brailey in her home on March 20, when Brailey went to sleep on the floor, according to police. Curtis took the child to another home and called police. The child was pronounced dead at a hospital. A toxicology report found lethal levels of fentanyl and xylazine in her system, police said. The National Institute on Drug Abuse describes xylazine as a non-opioid veterinary tranquilizer not approved for human use that has been linked to an increasing number of overdose deaths.
A phone message left Monday with Curtis’ attorney wasn’t immediately returned.
Curtis was out on bond in connection with the death of a previous child. Police declined to elaborate, but Curtis’ mother, Nadine Richardon, told KTVI-TV that the earlier charge was filed after Curtis’ 17-day-old child died in 2021. Richardon said Curtis was using methadone to treat a heroin addiction at the time.
Curtis also was connected to two other child overdose cases that resulted in deaths, according to police, but they didn’t elaborate. Richardson said Curtis had drug-exposed twins born five months prematurely, who died soon after they were born in 2020.
It wasn’t clear if Curtis was being investigated in those two additional deaths.
Connecticut
Businessman gets 8 years in prison for theft of COVID funds
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut businessman who conspired with a now-former state lawmaker to steal federal coronavirus relief funds from the city of West Haven was sentenced Monday to eight years in prison for his role in the scheme.
A federal investigation found John Trasacco, 50, had conspired with former state Rep. Michael DiMassa to submit fraudulent invoices from two companies Trasacco controlled for goods and services never provided.
The list included thousands of items of personal protection equipment, billings for heating and air conditioning maintenance at several municipal buildings, COVID-19 supplies for the school board, and cleaning services for various city and school buildings, including one building that had been vacant and abandoned for years.
Federal prosecutors determined Trasacco’s companies received approximately $431,982 from the scheme. A jury found Trasacco guilty on Dec. 2 of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. U.S. District Judge Omar A. Williams, who presided over Monday’s hearing, has ordered him to pay $143,994 in restitution.
Trasacco was remanded to custody following Monday’s court appearance. Once his prison sentence is complete, he must serve five years of supervised release.
Trascacco is the latest person involved in the scheme to be sentenced. Last month, Lauren DiMassa, 38, the former state lawmaker’s wife, was sentenced to six months in federal prison for her role. Former city employee, John Bernardo, 66, was sentenced to 13 months in prison.
Michael DiMassa, a Democrat, served as an aide to the city, with authority to approve reimbursement of COVID-19 expenditures.
He resigned from that job and the General Assembly after his 2021 arrest. He has pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy charges related to the total theft of more than $1.2 million in coronavirus relief funds from the city and agreed to pay more than $1.2 million in restitution. His sentencing is set for this month.
Maine
Environmental groups withdraw lawsuit over last Atlantic salmon
Portland, Maine (AP) — A coalition of environmental groups said Monday it is withdrawing a lawsuit against a renewable energy giant that it has accused of jeopardizing the last remaining wild Atlantic salmon in the U.S.
The groups sued Brookfield Renewable, claiming the company kills salmon on the Kennebec River with its dams. Atlantic salmon only return to a handful of U.S. rivers, all in Maine, and they are protected under the Endangered Species Act.
The conservationists were dealt a setback last month when the federal government ruled the salmon can coexist with hydroelectric dams on the Kennebec, as long as improvements are eventually made to allow salmon to pass through the dams more easily. They said Monday the federal government’s recent ruling in Brookfield’s favor “undermined the premise of our lawsuit,” and they had little choice but to withdraw it. The groups previously claimed Brookfield’s dams violated the Endangered Species Act.
The conservation groups say they can still shut down the dams by focusing on upcoming federal relicensing applications by Brookfield Renewable.
“We can accept nothing less than a solution that will save Atlantic salmon from extinction and restore other sea-run fish that cannot reach their spawning habitat,” the groups said in a statement.
The groups involved in the lawsuit were Atlantic Salmon Federation, Conservation Law Foundation, Maine Rivers and Natural Resources Council of Maine. Conservation groups have long advocated for removing dams from Maine rivers to aid salmon spawning.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said it plans to oversee a monitoring program to make sure the Kennebec River dams allow more fish to pass through the dams.
The withdrawal of the lawsuit makes sense in the light of the federal government’s finding that the salmon and dams can coexist, said David Heidrich, a spokesperson for Brookfield.
The government’s finding “confirmed that the four hydroelectric projects could continue to operate without jeopardizing the survival and recovery of Atlantic salmon and Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon,” Heidrich said.
The company is seeking to relicense one of its dams and amend the licenses for three others.
Wild Atlantic salmon populations in U.S. rivers have plummeted because of overfishing and habitat loss. The fish have also long grown in aquaculture farms off the coast of Maine and Washington State, though some of that fish farming has been curtailed due to concerns of disease and environmental degradation that could harm wild populations.
Massachusetts
State OKs $40M settlement in sergeant exam suit
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts has agreed to a $40 million settlement in a long-running case brought by police who had argued that the state’s promotional exam to attain the rank of sergeant discriminated against Black and Hispanic candidates.
The agreement could affect about 600 current and former police officers and calls on the state to create a new test that better measures the skills needed to serve as a police sergeant according to the settlement filed Friday in Suffolk Superior Court.
Judge Douglas Wilkins had ruled in October that the promotional exam amounted to a discriminatory process against Black and Hispanic candidates vying for police sergeant positions in departments across the state.
Both sides are due back in court May 10 for a final hearing during which Wilkins is expected to decide whether to approve the settlement.
Black and Hispanic Boston police officers found to be eligible for the settlement will be awarded at least $60,000 each.
In communities outside Boston, where officers of color would likely have been promoted if not for the state’s test, eligible officers will receive at least $45,000.
The class action lawsuit was brought by police officers who argued that they were either not promoted to sergeant or experienced a significant delay in promotions because of their exam scores. The lawsuit is more than a decade old.
The lawsuit focused on exams administered between 2005 and 2012, and involved officers from Boston, Brockton, Lawrence, Lowell, Methuen, Springfield, and Worcester, along with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
The settlement was agreed to by Attorney General Andrea Cambell’s office and lawyers representing the officers.
