Massachusetts
Suspect in Tylenol poisonings in 1982, dead
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — The suspect in the 1982 Tylenol poisonings that killed seven people in the Chicago area and triggered a nationwide scare has died, police confirmed on Monday.
Officers, firefighters and EMTs responding to a report of unresponsive person about 4 p.m. Sunday found James Lewis dead in his Cambridge, Massachusetts, home, Cambridge Police Superintendent Frederick Cabral said in a statement. He was 76, police said.
“Following an investigation, Lewis’ death was determined to be not suspicious,” the statement said.
No one was ever charged in the deaths of seven people who took drugs laced with cyanide. Lewis served more than 12 years in prison for sending an extortion note to Johnson & Johnson, demanding $1 million to “stop the killing.”
When he was arrested in 1982 after a nationwide manhunt, he gave investigators a detailed account of how the killer might have operated. Lewis later admitted sending the letter and demanding the money, but he said he never intended to collect it.
New Mexico
Trial set for ex-priest charged with sexual coercion of minor
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A federal trial has been set for September for a former Catholic priest with a lengthy career at parishes across New Mexico who is charged with coercion and enticement of a minor through text messages to engage in sexual activity.
Daniel Balizan, a former pastor at a Santa Fe church, will stand trial on Sept. 11, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.
Balizan was arrested in late June and is under house arrest until the trial. The federal charges could carry a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum life sentence.
A redacted copy of an indictment accuses the 61-year-old Balizan of knowingly attempting to coerce an unnamed minor into sexual activity in August and September 2012 in Santa Fe County.
The Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe said in a statement that it received abuse allegations against Balizan in 2022 and promptly reported the information to authorities, leading to Balizan’s removal from service.
Last year, the diocese settled nearly 400 claims made by people who say they were abused by Roman Catholic clergy with a $121.5 million agreement. About 74 priests have been deemed “credibly accused” of sexually assaulting children while assigned to parishes and schools by the archdiocese.
California
Sex charges dismissed against reality TV doctor and his girlfriend
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) — A California judge has dismissed sex charges against a reality TV show doctor and his girlfriend who had been accused of drugging and raping women in a case that drew international attention.
Court records show that charges of assault with the intent to commit a sexual offense were dismissed Friday against Dr. Grant Robicheaux, a surgeon who previously appeared on a Bravo TV show called “Online Dating Rituals of the American Male,” and girlfriend Cerissa Riley.
The decision came after a preliminary hearing before Superior Court Judge Michael Leversen, who determined there was not sufficient evidence on the sex charges to proceed to trial, the Orange County Register reported.
The pair also faces drug charges and is due to appear in court July 19. Robicheaux is also charged with possession of an assault weapon. They previously pleaded not guilty.
A message seeking comment was left for the state attorney general’s office, which has been prosecuting the case.
The couple’s attorneys did not immediately comment on the decision, a spokesperson said.
The case drew international attention in 2018 when Robicheaux and Riley were charged in connection with up to seven victims who authorities said were plied with drugs and sexually assaulted at the pair’s home in the upscale community of Newport Beach when they were uncapable of resisting.
The case was also tied up in a contentious political battle between Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer and his predecessor Tony Rackauckas, who Spitzer accused of improperly handling the case and using it to draw publicity.
After winning election and taking office, Spitzer sought to dismiss the charges against the couple, saying there was insufficient evidence. The case was turned over to the state attorney general’s office, which later pared down the charges for prosecution.
Minnesota
Court sides with Amish families
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Members of a deeply conservative Amish community in Minnesota don’t need to install septic systems to dispose of their “gray water,” the state Court of Appeals ruled Monday in a long-running religious freedom case that went all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
A three-judge panel ruled that the government “failed to demonstrate a compelling state interest” to justify overriding the religious freedom of the Amish families that challenged state regulations governing the disposal of gray water, which is water that’s been used for dishwashing, laundry, and bathing, but not toilet waste.
The Swartzentruber Amish in southeastern Minnesota are among the most traditional Amish groups in the country, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch noted in a 2021 ruling. It sent the case back to Minnesota courts for reconsideration in light of a high court decision a month earlier in a different religious freedom case. That ruling went in favor of a Philadelphia-based Catholic foster care agency that said its religious views prevented it from working with same-sex couples.
A Minnesota district court last September concluded that the government showed that it had a compelling state interest “of the highest order” in requiring the Swartzentruber Amish to use septic tanks to protect groundwater supplies in the area. The families then appealed again. The Court of Appeals sided with them Monday, and sent the case back to the lower court for an order in favor of the Amish.
Fillmore County in 2013 started requiring homes to have modern septic systems to dispose of gray water. The Swartzentruber Amish sought an exemption, saying their religion prohibits that technology. They sued in 2017. For years they had discharged their gray water directly onto the ground. They offered instead to use mulch basins filled with wood chips to filter the water, as allowed in some other states, but the government argued that mulch basins would be ineffective.
The federal religious freedom law that was at issue in the Philadelphia case “prohibits governments from infringing sincerely held religious beliefs and practices except as a last resort,” Gorsuch explained at the time, urging the Minnesota court and local authorities to swiftly resolve the dispute.
