Pennsylvania
Defendant sentenced in gun battle outside football game
MEDIA, Pa. (AP) — A man who was 15 when he was involved in a gunbattle outside a high school football game that set off a chain of events that ended in the death of an 8-year-old girl in Sharon Hill has been sentenced to 14 to 28 years in prison.
Nineteen-year-old Angelo Ford was sentenced Friday in Delaware County on several cases including attempted murder, aggravated assault, and related convictions stemming from the 2021 gunfire in Sharon Hill that eventually led to the death of Fanta Bility.
Prosecutors said Ford and a group of other males got into an argument while leaving an Academy Park High School football game in August 2021. Ford, then 15, pulled a handgun and exchanged gunfire with a 21-year-old man about a block away from the stadium, firing five times as the other person fired twice, authorities said.
Authorities said two shots went in the direction of three Sharon Hill police officers monitoring the crowd leaving the game. The officers returned fire toward a car they believed was involved, and one of the rounds hit Bility, who was leaving the game with her family, authorities said.
“There is not loss of life that night if AJ Ford doesn’t bring a gun,” Deputy District Attorney Laurie Moore said. “Fanta would still be here. She’d be 11 years old.”
Moore sought a term of 32 to 67 years, citing the trauma of the child’s family and the community. She also said Ford had never displayed an ounce of remorse, fleeing a juvenile facility after arrest and eluding police for more than a year as he posted Instagram videos taunting his pursuers and waving guns around.
“He hasn’t accepted responsibility for his actions,” Moore said. “He hasn’t thought once about anyone but AJ Ford in the history of this case.”
The other person involved in the shooting was sentenced to 32 to 64 months in prison. The three officers were fired and later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges. They were sentenced last year to five years of probation with the first 11 months on house arrest.
Defense attorney Mary Beth Welch sought leniency for Ford, arguing for a sentence similar to the one imposed on the other shooting defendant. She said her client had struggled with a traumatic childhood, behavioral disorders and learning disabilities and finally falling under the influence of a street gang that led to arrests before the shooting.
“You don’t need to punish him anymore,” Welch said. “A long sentence will break him, and these charges will be a life sentence. He needs an opportunity to start over.”
Ford read a short statement in which he apologized to the victims, their families and his own family, saying the case “took away my youth, I do not want it to take away my life.”
Judge G. Michael Green said Friday he wasn’t blaming Ford for the child’s death, but the defendant had “played a significant role” by firing on the crowded street. Ford’s sentence covered the shooting as well as assault, terroristic threats and weapons and other counts lodged against him while he was incarcerated in the county jail.
Green said he believed Ford could be rehabilitated and his statement was a “tremendous beginning,” but the gravity of his actions outside the stadium and thereafter warranted a lengthy sentence. Ford was given credit time for about two years already served.
Illinois
DOJ demands records from sheriff after July killing of woman
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department is demanding records related to the shooting of an Illinois woman who was killed in her home by a sheriff’s deputy as it investigates how local authorities treat Black residents and people with behavioral disabilities.
The government made a list of demands in dozens of categories in a letter to the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office, dated Thursday.
“The Sheriff’s Office, along with involved county agencies, has engaged in discussions and pledged full cooperation with the Department of Justice in its review,” Sheriff Paula Crouch said Friday.
Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman, was killed in July when deputies responded to a call about a possible prowler at her home in Springfield, Illinois. She was shot three times during a confrontation with an officer.
Sean Grayson, who is white, was fired. He is charged with murder and other crimes and has pleaded not guilty.
The Justice Department wants to know if the sheriff’s office has strategies when responding to people in “behavioral health crises,” among many other requests.
“The incident raises serious concerns about ... interactions with Black people and people with behavioral health disabilities,” the government said.
Andy Van Meter, chairman of the Sangamon County Board, said the Justice Department’s review is an important step in strengthening the public’s trust in the sheriff’s office.
Kansas
Prosecutors say officers involved in fatal shooting of Salina man won’t be charged
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The police officers and state troopers involved in the fatal shooting of Salina man were justified in their actions and won’t be charged, prosecutors said.
Salina police officers went to the home of Larry Wray Jr., 44, on July 24 to arrest him on an outstanding warrant. While doing so, an officer spotted Jesse Wray, 25, inside the detached garage, pointing a gun at the officer, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation said in a statement Friday. Jesse Wray also had a warrant, and the officers retreated, the KBI said.
Other officers and troopers arrived. Jesse Wray refused orders to come out. After a while, they saw smoke and flames coming from the garage and the door opened. A female came out with her hands up. Jesse Wray ran out behind her and crouched behind a pickup truck in what appeared to be a shooting stance, extending his hands toward officers, the statement said. Two officers fired nine rounds but didn’t hit him.
Jesse Wray then ran to the side of the garage where he encountered an officer and a trooper. They fired four shots, fatally wounding him. Investigators recovered a black BB gun that was designed to look like a revolver inside the damaged garage and determined the fire was intentionally set.
Saline County Jeffrey Abel said in a letter to the KBI on Nov. 4 that while video makes it clear Wray didn’t have a gun in his hand when he exited the garage, his gestures and posture “would lead any reasonable person to believe that a gun was being raised and pointed at officers.”
He added that nobody would be charged “because any reasonable officer would believe that the use of deadly force was justified.”
A funeral home obituary indicated that Jesse Wray was the son of Larry Wray.
Minnesota
Election judge charged with 2 felonies for allegedly letting 11 unregistered people vote
PARK RAPIDS, Minn. (AP) — A man who served as a head election judge in a Minnesota township has been charged with two felony counts for allegedly letting 11 people vote even though they weren’t registered.
Officials began investigating after Hubbard County Auditor Kay Rave could not find any completed voter registration forms among the ballots and other materials returned by Timothy Michael Scouton, 64, of Nevis, who had been head election judge in the Badoura Township precinct, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday.
Another election judge told an investigator from the county sheriff’s office that Scouton directed them not to use the registration forms, the complaint said, while another said Scouton told them that new voters needed only to sign the back of a book.
The complaint said the investigator then met with Scouton at the sheriff’s office. He was advised of his rights but declined to make a statement, and was then put under arrest, the complaint said. The complaint did not give a potential motive.
Scouton made his initial court appearance Friday and was released pending his next hearing Jan. 6. He did not immediately return a call seeking comment Saturday, and his attorney declined to comment on the case.
The office of Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon called the allegations “extremely serious” and said they must be thoroughly investigated.
“Election judges take an oath to administer elections in accordance with the law, a deliberate failure to do so is unlawful and a betrayal of the public trust,” the office said in a statement.
The charges carry maximum penalties of five years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.
Badoura Township is just east of Park Rapids, or about 160 miles (257 kilometers) northwest of Minneapolis.
Maine
Environmental group files intent to sue salmon farmer for pollution off coast
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — An environmental organization has served a notice of intent to sue one of the world’s largest aquaculture companies for violations of the Clean Water Act in Maine — allegations the fish farmer ardently denies.
Conservation Law Foundation contends Cooke Aquaculture’s salmon farming sites off the Maine coast pollute the state’s bays, where lobster fishing is a key industry. The farms consist of pens in the ocean where Atlantic salmon are grown for use as food.
The Boston-based law foundation stated in its Thursday notice that it was suing Cooke in a Maine federal court to bring the company into compliance. It states that the company discharges pollutants such as fish feces, dead fish and trash into Maine’s coastal waters.
“These enormous salmon cages are like sewage pipes to the marine environment,” said Heather Govern, vice president for the foundation’s clean air and water program. “Their solid waste smothers plants and ocean life while disease outbreaks and sea lice threaten nearby endangered wild salmon.”
Cooke swiftly denied the allegations, and company representatives said the firm fully complies with the laws. The company, based in New Brunswick, Canada, issued a statement that said the farms are “routinely inspected by state regulators and subject to regular monitoring reports” to ensure compliance.
“Finfish aquaculture has coexisted with heritage fisheries, such as lobstering, in Maine waters for more than 40 years. Lobster landings are not negatively affected by Atlantic salmon farms,” the company said in a statement.
Cooke is a global giant in aquaculture and describes itself as the world’s largest private family-owned seafood company. It states on its website that it operates in 14 countries.
Some environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, have targeted Cooke over the years with concerns about the sustainability of its operations in Maine and elsewhere. Sebastian Belle, executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Association, said Saturday that the Conservation Law Foundation has worked with salmon farmers to develop environmental standards, and the notice of intent to sue was a surprise.
“Given the fact that CLF and the other groups associated with the proposed suit have not expressed any of their concerns to the farmers and that all of them stand to financially benefit, one has to wonder why farmers would ever work cooperatively with these groups to address their concerns,” Belle said.
Defendant sentenced in gun battle outside football game
MEDIA, Pa. (AP) — A man who was 15 when he was involved in a gunbattle outside a high school football game that set off a chain of events that ended in the death of an 8-year-old girl in Sharon Hill has been sentenced to 14 to 28 years in prison.
Nineteen-year-old Angelo Ford was sentenced Friday in Delaware County on several cases including attempted murder, aggravated assault, and related convictions stemming from the 2021 gunfire in Sharon Hill that eventually led to the death of Fanta Bility.
Prosecutors said Ford and a group of other males got into an argument while leaving an Academy Park High School football game in August 2021. Ford, then 15, pulled a handgun and exchanged gunfire with a 21-year-old man about a block away from the stadium, firing five times as the other person fired twice, authorities said.
Authorities said two shots went in the direction of three Sharon Hill police officers monitoring the crowd leaving the game. The officers returned fire toward a car they believed was involved, and one of the rounds hit Bility, who was leaving the game with her family, authorities said.
“There is not loss of life that night if AJ Ford doesn’t bring a gun,” Deputy District Attorney Laurie Moore said. “Fanta would still be here. She’d be 11 years old.”
Moore sought a term of 32 to 67 years, citing the trauma of the child’s family and the community. She also said Ford had never displayed an ounce of remorse, fleeing a juvenile facility after arrest and eluding police for more than a year as he posted Instagram videos taunting his pursuers and waving guns around.
“He hasn’t accepted responsibility for his actions,” Moore said. “He hasn’t thought once about anyone but AJ Ford in the history of this case.”
The other person involved in the shooting was sentenced to 32 to 64 months in prison. The three officers were fired and later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges. They were sentenced last year to five years of probation with the first 11 months on house arrest.
Defense attorney Mary Beth Welch sought leniency for Ford, arguing for a sentence similar to the one imposed on the other shooting defendant. She said her client had struggled with a traumatic childhood, behavioral disorders and learning disabilities and finally falling under the influence of a street gang that led to arrests before the shooting.
“You don’t need to punish him anymore,” Welch said. “A long sentence will break him, and these charges will be a life sentence. He needs an opportunity to start over.”
Ford read a short statement in which he apologized to the victims, their families and his own family, saying the case “took away my youth, I do not want it to take away my life.”
Judge G. Michael Green said Friday he wasn’t blaming Ford for the child’s death, but the defendant had “played a significant role” by firing on the crowded street. Ford’s sentence covered the shooting as well as assault, terroristic threats and weapons and other counts lodged against him while he was incarcerated in the county jail.
Green said he believed Ford could be rehabilitated and his statement was a “tremendous beginning,” but the gravity of his actions outside the stadium and thereafter warranted a lengthy sentence. Ford was given credit time for about two years already served.
Illinois
DOJ demands records from sheriff after July killing of woman
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department is demanding records related to the shooting of an Illinois woman who was killed in her home by a sheriff’s deputy as it investigates how local authorities treat Black residents and people with behavioral disabilities.
The government made a list of demands in dozens of categories in a letter to the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office, dated Thursday.
“The Sheriff’s Office, along with involved county agencies, has engaged in discussions and pledged full cooperation with the Department of Justice in its review,” Sheriff Paula Crouch said Friday.
Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman, was killed in July when deputies responded to a call about a possible prowler at her home in Springfield, Illinois. She was shot three times during a confrontation with an officer.
Sean Grayson, who is white, was fired. He is charged with murder and other crimes and has pleaded not guilty.
The Justice Department wants to know if the sheriff’s office has strategies when responding to people in “behavioral health crises,” among many other requests.
“The incident raises serious concerns about ... interactions with Black people and people with behavioral health disabilities,” the government said.
Andy Van Meter, chairman of the Sangamon County Board, said the Justice Department’s review is an important step in strengthening the public’s trust in the sheriff’s office.
Kansas
Prosecutors say officers involved in fatal shooting of Salina man won’t be charged
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The police officers and state troopers involved in the fatal shooting of Salina man were justified in their actions and won’t be charged, prosecutors said.
Salina police officers went to the home of Larry Wray Jr., 44, on July 24 to arrest him on an outstanding warrant. While doing so, an officer spotted Jesse Wray, 25, inside the detached garage, pointing a gun at the officer, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation said in a statement Friday. Jesse Wray also had a warrant, and the officers retreated, the KBI said.
Other officers and troopers arrived. Jesse Wray refused orders to come out. After a while, they saw smoke and flames coming from the garage and the door opened. A female came out with her hands up. Jesse Wray ran out behind her and crouched behind a pickup truck in what appeared to be a shooting stance, extending his hands toward officers, the statement said. Two officers fired nine rounds but didn’t hit him.
Jesse Wray then ran to the side of the garage where he encountered an officer and a trooper. They fired four shots, fatally wounding him. Investigators recovered a black BB gun that was designed to look like a revolver inside the damaged garage and determined the fire was intentionally set.
Saline County Jeffrey Abel said in a letter to the KBI on Nov. 4 that while video makes it clear Wray didn’t have a gun in his hand when he exited the garage, his gestures and posture “would lead any reasonable person to believe that a gun was being raised and pointed at officers.”
He added that nobody would be charged “because any reasonable officer would believe that the use of deadly force was justified.”
A funeral home obituary indicated that Jesse Wray was the son of Larry Wray.
Minnesota
Election judge charged with 2 felonies for allegedly letting 11 unregistered people vote
PARK RAPIDS, Minn. (AP) — A man who served as a head election judge in a Minnesota township has been charged with two felony counts for allegedly letting 11 people vote even though they weren’t registered.
Officials began investigating after Hubbard County Auditor Kay Rave could not find any completed voter registration forms among the ballots and other materials returned by Timothy Michael Scouton, 64, of Nevis, who had been head election judge in the Badoura Township precinct, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday.
Another election judge told an investigator from the county sheriff’s office that Scouton directed them not to use the registration forms, the complaint said, while another said Scouton told them that new voters needed only to sign the back of a book.
The complaint said the investigator then met with Scouton at the sheriff’s office. He was advised of his rights but declined to make a statement, and was then put under arrest, the complaint said. The complaint did not give a potential motive.
Scouton made his initial court appearance Friday and was released pending his next hearing Jan. 6. He did not immediately return a call seeking comment Saturday, and his attorney declined to comment on the case.
The office of Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon called the allegations “extremely serious” and said they must be thoroughly investigated.
“Election judges take an oath to administer elections in accordance with the law, a deliberate failure to do so is unlawful and a betrayal of the public trust,” the office said in a statement.
The charges carry maximum penalties of five years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.
Badoura Township is just east of Park Rapids, or about 160 miles (257 kilometers) northwest of Minneapolis.
Maine
Environmental group files intent to sue salmon farmer for pollution off coast
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — An environmental organization has served a notice of intent to sue one of the world’s largest aquaculture companies for violations of the Clean Water Act in Maine — allegations the fish farmer ardently denies.
Conservation Law Foundation contends Cooke Aquaculture’s salmon farming sites off the Maine coast pollute the state’s bays, where lobster fishing is a key industry. The farms consist of pens in the ocean where Atlantic salmon are grown for use as food.
The Boston-based law foundation stated in its Thursday notice that it was suing Cooke in a Maine federal court to bring the company into compliance. It states that the company discharges pollutants such as fish feces, dead fish and trash into Maine’s coastal waters.
“These enormous salmon cages are like sewage pipes to the marine environment,” said Heather Govern, vice president for the foundation’s clean air and water program. “Their solid waste smothers plants and ocean life while disease outbreaks and sea lice threaten nearby endangered wild salmon.”
Cooke swiftly denied the allegations, and company representatives said the firm fully complies with the laws. The company, based in New Brunswick, Canada, issued a statement that said the farms are “routinely inspected by state regulators and subject to regular monitoring reports” to ensure compliance.
“Finfish aquaculture has coexisted with heritage fisheries, such as lobstering, in Maine waters for more than 40 years. Lobster landings are not negatively affected by Atlantic salmon farms,” the company said in a statement.
Cooke is a global giant in aquaculture and describes itself as the world’s largest private family-owned seafood company. It states on its website that it operates in 14 countries.
Some environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, have targeted Cooke over the years with concerns about the sustainability of its operations in Maine and elsewhere. Sebastian Belle, executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Association, said Saturday that the Conservation Law Foundation has worked with salmon farmers to develop environmental standards, and the notice of intent to sue was a surprise.
“Given the fact that CLF and the other groups associated with the proposed suit have not expressed any of their concerns to the farmers and that all of them stand to financially benefit, one has to wonder why farmers would ever work cooperatively with these groups to address their concerns,” Belle said.
