Court Digest

Missouri
Prosecutor: Ex-police chief gets prison term for attacking ex-wife
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri police chief who was forced to resign following allegations he assaulted a father who tried to drown his 6-month-old daughter has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for attacking his ex-wife during a domestic dispute, a prosecutor said.

Greg Hallgrimson was sentenced Friday in the case in which authorities say he punched and knocked his ex-wife unconscious in June 2020, the Kansas City Star reported.

Hallgrimson was chief of the Greenwood Police Department when a man walked into the department in December 2018 and said he had just tried to drown his daughter in a retention pond. Hallgrimson and another officer rushed to the icy pond and pulled the unconscious child out of the water. She was rushed to a hospital, where she was treated for severe hypothermia. But prosecutors said that upon completing the rescue mission, Hallgrimson threw the father to the ground back at a police station and punched him in the face.

Hallgrimson was placed on administrative leave shortly after he was accused of assault and resigned in May 2019. Greenwood is about 20 miles southeast of Kansas City. A federal judge subsequently sentenced Hallgrimson, who pleaded guilty to violating the civil rights of the father, to five years of probation.

After Hallgrimson was indicted on a charge of violating the father’s civil rights but before he was sentenced to probation in that case, he hit his wife so hard that she was knocked unconscious, according to authorities.

The ex-wife was worried for her safety and initially told doctors the she broke her nose and fractured her eye socket falling down some stairs, the prosecutor said. Police began investigating about 17 months later. Defense attorneys for Hallgrimson had argued that Hallgrimson was not the initial aggressor because he was slapped first.

In a statement Friday, Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson said the sentence “sent an unmistakable message today that victims of domestic abuse will be heard and supported” in Clay County where the case was prosecuted.

Iowa
Woman who made fake cancer claims on social media must pay restitution but avoids prison
DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman who falsely claimed to have cancer and documented her “battle” on social media will stay out of prison after a judge gave her probation and a suspended sentence.

Madison Russo, 20, never had pancreatic cancer, leukemia nor the football-sized tumor wrapped around her spine she that claimed in postings on TikTok, GoFundMe, Facebook and LinkedIn. But over 400 people sent her donations. As part of the 10-year suspended sentence handed down Friday, she was ordered to pay $39,000 in restitution and a $1,370 fine. If she stays out of trouble for three years of probation, she’ll stay free.

The Bettendorf woman pleaded guilty in June to first-degree theft. In court on Friday, Judge John Telleen declined a defense request that would have wiped the conviction off her record if she completes probation successfully. He said people who deal with her in the future should know that she once engaged in a “criminal scheme,” and that “serious crimes must have serious consequences.”

“Through this scheme, you deceived your friends, your family, your community, other cancer victims, charities and strangers who were motivated by your supposedly tragic story to donate to help support you,” the judge said.
Russo told the court she made her story up because she hoped her fake cancer battle would force her troubled family to focus on her.

“A lot of people have made speculation as to why I did this and how somebody who looked like they had everything together could have such a mess,” she said. “I didn’t do this for money or greed. I didn’t do this for attention. I did this as an attempt to get my family back together.”

Her sentence also includes 100 hours of community service. She paid the $39,000 restitution earlier, and the money was being held by the court. GoFundMe has already sent refunds to donors.

Her scam unraveled when medical professionals spotted discrepancies in her story online. Police subpoenaed her medical records and found she had never been diagnosed with cancer at any medical facility in the area. She was arrested in January.

Scott County prosecutor Kelly Cunningham recommended against prison time because Russo had no criminal history, had good grades in college, was employed and was unlikely to reoffend.

Russo apologized to the court and her victims, and said she wished she had sought out help regarding her family.

“I fully acknowledge what I did was wrong. And I’m incredibly sorry,” she said through sobs. “If there was anything I could do to take it back I would. The reality is I can’t.”


California
Man faces attempted murder charge after deputy is shot during hit-and-run investigation
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — A 34-year-old man faces attempted murder charges after a sheriff’s deputy was wounded in an exchange of gunfire during a hit-and-run investigation last week in Southern California, authorities said.

Deputies searching for a hit-and-run suspect Wednesday evening in Palm Desert, near Palm Springs, came upon a vehicle with two people inside, the Riverside County Sheriff’s office said in a statement.

As the driver was being detained, the passenger fired at deputies and at least one fired back, the sheriff’s office said. One deputy and the passenger were both shot and hospitalized in stable condition.

The vehicle’s driver, a 34-year-old resident of Desert Hot Springs, was initially arrested on an outstanding warrant. Due to his “actions and involvement during the incident” he was later charged with attempted murder of a peace officer, the sheriff’s office said in a statement Saturday.

The passenger and the deputy, who were not identified, remained hospitalized Saturday.

The deputies will be placed on paid administrative leave during the investigation, per department rules, the initial news release said.

Investigators from the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office and the California Highway Patrol are leading the investigation.

New Jersey
2nd man charged with murder in 2021 birthday party gunfire
BRIDGETON, N.J. (AP) — A second man is facing murder charges in connection with gunfire at a 2021 New Jersey birthday party that claimed three lives and injured 11 other people.

Prosecutors in Cumberland County announced Saturday that 30-year-old Arthur Armstead was charged with two counts of first-degree murder as well as attempted murder, conspiracy and firearms offenses in the May 2021 shooting in Fairfield Township.

Authorities said hundreds of people had gathered for the 90s-themed birthday party when gunfire erupted, killing 30-year-old Kevin Elliott, 25-year-old Asia Hester of Bridgeton and 19-year-old Brailyn Holmes of Millville. Eleven other people ranging in age from 19 to 35 were taken to hospitals for treatment for injuries that ranged from minor to serious.

Zedekiah Holmes, Brailyn Holmes’ brother, was charged in August 2021 with first-degree murder in the deaths of Elliott and Hester.

Prosecutors said Armstead is charged in the deaths of Elliott and Brailyn Holmes. He was charged earlier with obstruction and hindering prosecution. Officials said he reportedly fled to Delaware after the shooting and several days later went to an Atlantic City casino hotel before turning himself in to state police in Bridgeton.

It’s unclear whether Armstead has an attorney; a listed number for him couldn’t be found Saturday.

The Press of Atlantic City reported in 2021 that nine other people were facing charges, one on attempted murder and other charges and other people on firearms offenses or hindering the investigation.


New York
Shooter gets 23 years to life for ambushing police twice in 12 hours
NEW YORK (AP) — A shooter who ambushed New York City police twice in 12 hours, wounding two officers, has been sentenced to 23 years to life in prison.

Robert Williams, 47, pleaded guilty last month to two counts of attempted murder of a police officer in the February 2020 shootings in the Bronx.

But he said during his sentencing Friday that he didn’t have deadly intent.

“I apologize to my family, the precinct and the cop. I wasn’t trying to kill nobody,” Williams said, asserting that police had beaten and used a stun gun on him in the past. Prosecutors have said Williams told investigators after his arrest that he was “tired” of police.

Bronx Judge Ralph Fabrizio was unmoved.

“Your actions are inexcusable,” the judge told Williams on Friday.

On the night of Feb. 8, 2020, Williams walked up to a marked police van on a Bronx street, asked officers for directions and then fired into the van at them, wounding Sgt. Paul Stroffolino in the chin and neck, prosecutors said. Williams then ran off.

The next morning, Williams went into a Bronx police station and started shooting, hitting Lt. Jose Gautreaux in the arm and narrowly missing other police personnel before running out of bullets, according to prosecutors. They said police shot at Williams, who then laid down and tossed his pistol.

The injured officers survived. Stroffolino attended the sentencing but left it to his partner, Sgt. Brian Hanlon, to describe what they went through.

“I still carry the vivid image of my partner holding his neck and blood all over the front of his uniform,” Hanlon said.

“The one thing we fear the most and what families especially feel the most — a coward walking up to the car and opening fire. Someone who I’ve never met once in my life, someone who knows nothing about me,” he said, and told Williams: “I hope you wake up miserable every single day.”


Texas
Man accused of killing 15-year-old beaten by teen’s family members in courtroom melee
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A man accused of fatally shooting a 15-year-old last year was beaten by members of the teen’s family during a courtroom melee in San Antonio, authorities said.

Victor Rivas, 18, who is charged with murder in the May 2022 death of Ethan Soto, was in a Bexar County courtroom Friday awaiting a preliminary hearing when he was attacked.

Rivas’ attorney, Adam LaHood, said his client was “going to be bruised and swollen” but was not otherwise injured.

Four people — two men and two juveniles — were arrested and will be charged with assault and disrupting court proceedings, the Bexar County sheriff’s office said. Their names haven’t been released.

Last week in Houston, a brawl broke out during a Harris County court hearing when family members of a murdered 16-year-old girl tried to attack her ex-boyfriend after he’d pleaded guilty to shooting her.

As deputies responded to the commotion in Houston courtroom on Oct. 17, an inmate who was left unattended in a holding area managed to walk out of the courthouse. The Harris County sheriff’s office said Thursday that the inmate had been recaptured.