Court Digest

Iowa
Teen found guilty of 2nd-degree murder and manslaughter
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa teenager was found guilty on Thursday of second-degree murder and manslaughter in the deaths of two students that he shot at a Des Moines alternative school earlier this year.

Preston Walls, 19, had been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths, but jurors found him guilty of lesser charges. That seemed to indicate jurors accepted Walls’ claim that he fired on the students because he feared for his life.

Walls was charged in the deaths of Gionni Dameron, 18, and Rashad Carr, 16, at the Starts Right Here program on Jan. 23.

Walls also was found guilty of willful injury causing serious injury for his shooting of Will Keeps, a former Chicago gang member and rapper who started the Des Moines program for at-risk teens. He was acquitted of attempted murder in the shooting of Keeps.

If Walls had been convicted of first-degree murder, he would have faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison. His conviction of second-degree murder in the death of Carr and voluntary manslaughter in the death of Dameron means he will be eligible for parole.

Walls will be sentenced in November.

Defense attorneys acknowledged Walls killed the two students and shot Keeps, but they argued he did so because he believed his own life was in danger. Walls was set to graduate from the program two days after the shooting and said he thought Dameron and Carr would attack him when he left school because they wouldn’t have an opportunity later.

Defense lawyers noted during trial that Dameron was armed with a gun at the school on the day of the shooting.

“I was scared to walk out of that school at 1 o’clock. They waited outside the school for me before,” Walls told jurors.

Under questioning by prosecutors, Walls admitted shooting Carr nine times and shooting Dameron 13 times, as well as hitting Keeps with two bullets.

Police arrested Walls less than an hour after the shooting. Another person, Bravon Tukes, is scheduled to stand trial on murder charges on Oct. 2. He’s accused of picking up Walls after the shooting and driving away from the area.

Prosecutors argued Walls was affiliated with a gang that frequently had disputes with a rival gang, whose members included Dameron and Carr. Families of all the teens disputed that they were gang members.

Starts Right Here reopened within several weeks of the shooting and Keeps returned despite lingering injuries. The program, which is affiliated with Des Moines public schools, continues to operate with about 30 students this fall.

The families of Carr and Dameron have filed a lawsuit against the program and Keeps, claiming they failed to keep the program safe.

Massachusetts
Doctor charged with masturbating, exposing ­himself to 14-year-old girl
BOSTON (AP) — A Boston doctor was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday on charges that he masturbated and exposed himself within the view of a 14-year-old female seated next to him on a flight from Honolulu to Boston in May 2022.

Dr. Sudipta Mohanty, 33, was indicted on one count of lewd, indecent and obscene acts “while in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States.” He was arrested and charged by criminal complaint in August and released.

Mohanty hasn’t yet entered a plea.

Claudia Lagos, an attorney representing Mohanty, said he is “completely innocent” of the allegations.

“He is a well-respected primary care physician and educator, with multiple awards in both lines,” she said. “We are confident in the process ahead and certain that Dr. Mohanty’s excellent name will be restored. He is pleading not guilty to the indictment and looks forward to trial.”

Mohanty worked as a doctor at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. The hospital has said the Cambridge resident is on leave and no longer practicing at the hospital.

Investigators say Mohanty was a passenger aboard a Hawaiian Airlines Flight with a female companion and was allegedly seated next to a 14-year-old travelling with her grandparents, who were sitting nearby.

About halfway through the flight, investigators said, the 14-year-old noticed that Mohanty had covered himself with a blanket up to his neck and that his leg was bouncing up and down.

A short time later the minor saw that the blanket was on the floor, no longer covering Mohanty, and that Mohanty was masturbating, according to prosecutors.

The minor moved herself to an empty seat in a different row. After arriving in Boston, she told members of her family about the incident and police were notified.

The charge of lewd, indecent and obscene acts while in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States carries a sentence of up to 90 days in prison, one year of supervised release and a fine of up to $5,000.

Missouri
Criminal charges more than double after embattled  prosecutor resigns under fire
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Criminal prosecutions have more than doubled in St. Louis since the city’s progressive prosecutor resigned under fire, a newspaper analysis found.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch found that St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore filed more than 1,400 cases over the three-month period that started with his May 31 swearing-in. That compares to 620 cases filed over the same period when Kim Gardner led the office.

Gardner, a Democrat, was elected in 2016 to become the city’s first Black circuit attorney. She was part of a movement of prosecutors who sought diversion to mental health or drug abuse treatment for low-level crimes, pledged to hold police more accountable, and proactively sought to free inmates who were wrongfully convicted.

But she announced in May that she would resign as she faced an ouster effort by Missouri’s attorney general and scrutiny from Republican state lawmakers.

Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson picked Gore, a former assistant U.S. attorney, to replace her. Since then, he’s tackled a backlog of 4,500 pending charge applications, hiring more than 20 attorneys to help. But the office still is understaffed because the number of attorneys in the office fell by half during Gardner’s tenure.

“I don’t think there’s any magic to what we’re doing,” Gore said. “We are just charging the violations of law.”

Many of the cases left to be charged are complex cases, including five homicides, that require updated investigations. The goal, Gore said, is to clear the backlog by the beginning of 2024.

California
State settles with Google over location ­privacy practices for $93M
OAKLAND, California (AP) — Search giant Google agreed to a $93 million settlement with the state of California on Thursday over its location-privacy practices.

The settlement follows a $391.5 million settlement with 40 states, reached in November 2022, to resolve an investigation into how the company tracked users’ locations.

The states’ investigation was sparked by a 2018 Associated Press story, which found that Google continued to track people’s location data even after they opted out of such tracking by disabling a feature the company called “location history.”

“Our investigation revealed that Google was telling its users one thing — that it would no longer track their location once they opted out — but doing the opposite and continuing to track its users’ movements for its own commercial gain. That’s unacceptable, and we’re holding Google accountable with today’s settlement,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement.

As part of the settlement, in which Google admitted no wrongdoing, the company also agreed to a number of restrictions, including providing more transparency about location tracking, disclosing to users that their location information may be used for ad personalization, and showing additional information to users when enabling location-related account settings.

“Consistent with improvements we’ve made in recent years, we have settled this matter, which was based on outdated product policies that we changed years ago,” Google said in a statement.

Indiana
Man charged with child neglect after 2-year-old finds gun on bed and shoots him in back
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — An Indiana man faces felony charges after he was shot in the back by a 2-year-old boy who found the weapon on a bed, according to authorities.

Justin T. Wiley, 32, of Fort Wayne was charged this week with neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury and unlawful possession of a handgun. He is not legally allowed to carry a gun because of prior felony convictions, The Journal Gazette reported.

Fort Wayne police officers found Wiley on Sept. 9 suffering from a gunshot wound in his middle to upper back, according to a probable cause affidavit.

He was shot in the home of a woman who has an active protection order against him. Wiley told police he put the gun on a bed before the 2-year-old boy grabbed it and pulled the trigger, according to the affidavit.

The woman told officers she heard the gunshot. Wiley then yelled, “He shot me.”

The child had injuries to his gunpowder-marked right pointer finger, including swelling and blistering, and he repeatedly said “owie” while looking at his finger, according to the affidavit.

Wiley was released on bond following his initial court appearance on Monday.

The Associated Press left a message Thursday at a phone number listed for Wiley seeking comment on the charges. Court records do not list an attorney who can speak on his behalf.

Texas
College basketball guard ends assault case with plea deal
DENTON, Texas (AP) — Kansas guard Arterio Morris entered a plea deal to end a misdemeanor assault case against him in Texas, canceling a trial scheduled for October, his attorney said Thursday.

Morris was originally charged with a Class A misdemeanor on allegations he assaulted an ex-girlfriend in the Dallas area in June 2022, shortly before he enrolled at the University of Texas. Morris transferred to Kansas after the 2022-2023 season.

The initial charge could have carried up to a year in jail. After several trial delays, Morris entered a nolo contendere plea, also known as a no contest plea, to a Class C assault misdemeanor and must pay a $362 fine, Morris’ attorney, Justin Moore, said. The plea allows a defendant to accept consequences of the charge without admitting guilt.

Despite the arrest, Texas had let Morris, a top national recruit out of Dallas, play in all 38 games last season as the Longhorns advanced to the regional final of the NCAA Tournament. He averaged nearly 12 minutes and 4.7 points per game.