Iowa
Man sentenced to up to 92 years in prison for shooting sheriff’s deputy during robbery
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A Chicago man who was convicted of shooting and seriously wounding an Iowa sheriff’s deputy during a convenience store robbery in 2021 has been sentenced to up to 92 years in prison.
Thirty-eight-year-old Stanley Donahue will have to serve at least 60 years before he is eligible for parole. He was sentenced Friday on multiple charges including attempted murder of a peace officer related to the shooting in Coggon, a town about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Prosecutors said Donahue robbed two employees at a Casey’s store and confined them in a cooler before shooting Linn County deputy Will Halverson seven times on June 20, 2021.
Donahue fled and was later arrested after a more than 12-hour manhunt that ended when he was spotted by a television news crew.
Halverson said at the sentencing hearing that the shooting had permanently affected his life even though he was able to return to work after he recovered from his injuries. On the night he was shot, Halverson said he thought he was going to die.
“It’s OK to feel scared about spending the rest of your life in prison,” Halverson said. “Use your time wisely. Use that time you have there to change your life for the better.”
But after Halverson’s testimony, Donahue started making comments disrupting the hearing and cursing at the deputy. Donahue even mocked Halverson for becoming emotional during his testimony at trial.
Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks said Donahue’s outburst and a comment he made to Halverson after his conviction in February shows he doesn’t feel any remorse. After his trial, Donahue looked at Halverson and his family and said “It should of been worse than what it was,” followed by an expletive.
“There’s no indication that Stanley Donahue won’t commit another horrific crime like this again if given an opportunity, and his criminal history demonstrates he will,” Maybanks said.
Judge Christopher Bruns said he believed there was little chance of rehabilitating Donahue after he had spent much of his adult life in prison and his crimes continued to escalate over the years.
Donahue declined to make a statement at his sentencing hearing.
One of the former convenience store clerks, Madelyn Stepanek, also told the judge that the robbery was the “scariest night I have ever experienced,” and it forever changed how safe she feels in the community she grew up in.
“After that night it felt as though a part of my identity and life that I had known was taken away,” Stepanek said. “These crimes flipped our community in a drastic way and it hurt me along with my family for a lifetime.”
Virginia
Mom of boy who shot teacher takes responsibility
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — Four months after a 6-year-old Virginia boy shot and wounded his teacher as she taught class, an attorney for the boy’s mother said it still is not clear how the boy got the gun.
Police have said Deja Taylor legally purchased the gun used in the Jan. 6 shooting and Taylor’s attorney, James Ellenson, has said she believed her gun was secured on a high closet shelf with a trigger lock. In an interview ABC’s “Good Morning America” aired Wednesday, Ellenson said no one knows how he got it.
“People have talked to him about that, but I don’t know that any adult knows exactly how he got the gun,” Ellenson said.
Taylor said her son has ADHD and while attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder might affect others mildly, she described her son as “off the wall,” saying he “doesn’t sit still ever.”
Ellenson has said the boy was under a care plan that included a family member accompanying him to class every day. The week of the shooting was the first when a parent was not in class with him. The change was made because the boy had started medication and was meeting his goals academically, Taylor said.
Taylor was charged last month with felony neglect and reckless storage of a firearm. A trial date of Aug. 15 has been set. Ellenson has said Taylor wants to reach a plea agreement with prosecutors.
The felony neglect charge is punishable by up to five years in prison. The misdemeanor charge of recklessly storing a firearm is punishable by up to one year in jail. The boy will not be prosecuted.
Taylor said she does feel responsibility for the shooting and apologized to the teacher, 25-year-old Abigail Zwerner.
“That is my son, so I am, as a parent, obviously willing to take responsibility for him because he can’t take responsibility for himself,” Taylor said. “I just truly would like to apologize ... she did get hurt. We were actually kind of forming a relationship with me having to be in the classroom. And she is really a bright person.”
Zwerner was shot in the hand and chest as she sat at a reading table in her first-grade classroom at Richneck Elementary. She spent nearly two weeks in the hospital, has had four surgeries and later told NBC she sometimes “can’t get up out of bed.”
Zwerner filed a $40 million lawsuit that accuses school officials of gross negligence and of ignoring multiple warnings the day of the shooting. Zwerner’s attorneys say school officials knew the boy “had a history of random violence” at school and at home, including an episode the year before when he “strangled and choked” his kindergarten teacher. The boy was sent to another school, but allowed his return for first grade this school year, Zwerner’s lawsuit states.
The Newport News School Board argues her injuries fall under the state’s workers compensation act and cannot be addressed through her suit. The board pushed back against Zwerner’s claims that the child should not have remained in her class, saying he was in the process of being evaluated and treated for possible ADHD — which causes inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. Even if he had been found in need of additional services, state and federal laws would have applied “for the purpose of keeping such children in the classroom with their peers when possible.”
Virginia
Deputies indicted over arrest of man with dementia who died
FRONT ROYAL, Va. (AP) — A current and a former sheriff’s deputy in Virginia have been indicted on assault charges following the death of a 77-year-old man with dementia who was injured during his arrest after a traffic stop.
Zachary Fadely, a former deputy in the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, is charged with malicious wounding. Tyler Poe, who remains employed by the sheriff’s office, faces a less serious felony charge of unlawful wounding.
The indictments were announced Monday by Amy Ashworth, Prince William County commonwealth’s attorney, who was appointed as special prosecutor to investigate the case.
Both deputies were involved in the arrest of Ralph Ennis, who was stopped after a deputy reportedly observed him speeding and driving erratically in April 2022. Ennis failed to stop when a deputy activated his sirens and led officers on a chase at speeds of between 35 to 45 mph for several minutes before stopping in a convenience store parking lot.
A civil lawsuit filed by Ennis’ family alleges that he suffered severe head wounds when deputies tackled him from behind and that he died from his injuries two weeks later.
The family said Ennis suffered from dementia and was confused and disoriented during the traffic stop, which was recorded on bodycam video. A police officer from the Town of Front Royal Police Department is heard on the video calling Ennis’ treatment “unjust” and “uncalled for.”
Online court records did not list an attorney for either Fadely or Poe in the criminal case. Their civil attorneys did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment Tuesday.
New Mexico
‘Rust’ movie medic gets $1.15 million partial settlement
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico judge has approved a $1.15 million settlement between a medic who worked on the “Rust” film set and one of several defendants she accused of negligence in the fatal 2021 shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin during a rehearsal.
Court records show the partial settlement between Cherlyn Schaefer and prop master Sarah Zachry was approved during a hearing Monday. Schaefer told the judge there’s not a day that goes by when she doesn’t think about what happened, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.
In her civil complaint, Schaefer said she fought desperately in a failed attempt to save the life of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. She said the shock, trauma and emotional distress that followed has made it impossible for her to continue working in her field.
Prosecutors dismissed an involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor and producer last month, citing new evidence and the need for more time to investigate.
State District Judge Kathleen McGarry Ellenwood had entered a default judgment against Zachry in November after the film worker failed to file responses within court deadlines.
Zachry’s current attorney, Nathan Winger, told the court Monday that her previous attorney, William Waggoner, let deadlines pass without her permission, and she intends to seek damages from him to fund her settlement with Schaefer. Waggoner disputes the claim.
Justin Rodriguez, one of several attorneys representing Schaefer, said the settlement “is a small portion of what we expect to receive in the future.” The remaining defendants include Rust Movie Productions, weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and assistant director David Halls, but not Baldwin.
Schaefer’s complaint claims Zachry and Gutierrez-Reed failed to ensure there were no live rounds in Baldwin’s weapon. An involuntary manslaughter charge remains pending against Gutierrez-Reed, but her attorneys have said they fully expect her to be exonerated.
Iowa
Parents accused of helping son flee country before trial
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The parents of an Iowa man who fled to Jordan before his attempted murder trial have been arrested after prosecutors accused them of helping their son escape the country.
Ali Younes, 19, had been set to go on trial next week for allegedly attacking a woman on the University of Iowa campus last April and stealing a pair of earrings from her that were valued at $20,000. Prosecutors have said he tackled the woman and strangled her until she passed out before taking the earrings.
But authorities say that last weekend Younes cut off his GPS ankle monitor he was wearing while out on house arrest awaiting trial. Then he used Jordanian travel documents to board a flight in Chicago on Saturday. He had been ordered to surrender his U.S. passport when he was released on bail last June.
Younes’ attorney declined to comment Wednesday morning.
The Johnson County Attorney’s office said prosecutors worked with University of Iowa police and federal authorities to track down Younes’ parents and arrest them Tuesday. His father, Alfred Younes, was arrested while trying to board a flight at the Omaha airport while his mother, Lima Younes, was arrested in Sioux County in northwest Iowa.
Both parents will be returned to Johnson County to face charges that they helped their son escape the country.
