Massachusetts: Church arsonist pleads guilty in state case
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts man serving a federal prison sentence for burning down a predominantly black church hours after Barack Obama was elected president has been sentenced to six years in a case brought by state prosecutors.
The sentence is concurrent with the nine-year federal term Benjamin Haskell received for arson in the fire that destroyed the Macedonia Church of God in Christ hours after Obama’s 2008 election. That means the 25-year-old Springfield man won’t have to serve additional time.
He pleaded guilty Tuesday to a 10-count state indictment that included drug distribution charges and a charge that he set fire to a vacant house back in 2003.
Superior Court Judge Cornelius Moriarty nearly rejected the plea bargain with prosecutors as too lenient, calling Haskell a “one-man crime wave.”
Maine: Court reverses conviction in 2007 fatal crash
FARMINGTON, Maine (AP) — Maine’s highest court has thrown out the conviction of a now 25-year-old Lincoln man for his role in a 2007 crash in Farmington that killed a co-worker.
The 5-2 decision by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court says the trial court judge allowed the jury to resume deliberations after it had acquitted Hurd on manslaughter and other charges.
Hurd was convicted last year on a charge of aggravated drunken driving — accomplice liability.
The Oct. 17, 2007, crash killed 34-year-year-old Terry Richardson Jr. of Dover-Foxcroft.
The Sun Journal says that after the jury gave the not guilty verdicts it was discharged, but reconvened after jurors had seen Richardson’s family members cry when the not guilty verdicts were read.
Nebraska: Man gets 18-36 months for killing beagle puppy
SIDNEY, Neb. (AP) — A 26-year-old Sidney man who fatally beat a 10-week-old beagle puppy has been given 18-to-36 months in prison.
Todd Hansel had pleaded no contest to a felony charge of animal cruelty. In exchange, Cheyenne County prosecutors dropped a charge of being a habitual criminal.
The Sidney Sun-Telegraph says that according to County Attorney Paul Schaub (shahb), Hansel also must pay court costs and more than $530 in restitution for a necropsy on the puppy’s body.
Hansel was arrested in March after the puppy died at a veterinary clinic. The dog belonged to Hansel and his girlfriend.
Hansel admitted to investigators that he hit the dog and threw it up some stairs.
Ohio: Man accused of fatally throwing baby to ground
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Police in Ohio say a 3-month-old baby boy was thrown to the ground repeatedly by his father during a domestic dispute and died at a hospital.
Columbus police have charged 20-year-old Quindell Sherman with murder. Detectives say in a news release that Sherman slammed the infant down several times Tuesday night amid a dispute with the child’s mother outside the woman’s home.
Sherman was arrested a short time later.
Police say the baby was taken to a hospital in critical condition and later died there.
Court records do not list an attorney for Sherman. He’s scheduled to appear in court Thursday morning.
New York: Doctor accused of prescription, painkiller scheme
NEW YORK (AP) — An 83-year-old doctor is accused of selling thousands of prescriptions for the painkiller oxycodone from his Staten Island home.
Dr. Felix Lanting was arrested Tuesday and charged with a felony count of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone.
According to a complaint filed in Brooklyn federal court, Lanting wrote more than 3,000 prescriptions for the painkiller since April, often without examining the patients.
It says about 490 of his patients were under the age of 30.
Court papers say at some point the doctor hired “goons” and “bouncers” to guard his house after the family of a customer who suffered an overdose took an ax to his door.
New Mexico: Court affirms convictions in Los Lunas murders
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The state Supreme Court has upheld the murder convictions of a Los Lunas man for killing his ex-wife’s father and brother in 2003.
The court on Tuesday unanimously affirmed Elias Chavez’s convictions of first-degree murder, aggravated battery and other charges. He was sentenced to life in prison for each of the killings.
The deaths occurred after Chavez attacked his estranged wife, Elaine Artiaga, in her parents’ home where she was staying while going through a divorce. Her father, Paul Artiaga and her brother, Jerome Artiaga, were fatally stabbed when they came to her aid. She also was stabbed, but recovered.
The court rejected Chavez’s argument that his right to a speedy trial was violated.
Colorado: State tries to enforce weapons destruction
DENVER (AP) — Colorado’s health department will argue before a federal appellate court that it has the authority to set an enforceable deadline for destroying chemical weapons stored at an Army facility outside Pueblo.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment officials are hoping to overturn a federal judge’s ruling that federal law limits the state’s authority to set timelines and deadlines for destroying mustard agent stored at the Pueblo Chemical Depot.
Public health officials argue that the outdated munitions should be destroyed by a 2017 deadline set by Congress.
Oregon: Judge rejects request to dismiss case
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon judge has rejected a defense request to dismiss aggravated murder charges against an Oregon man and his son accused in a 2008 bank bombing in Woodburn that killed two police officers.
Bruce Turnidge and his son, Joshua, are on trial in Marion County Circuit Court in Salem. The prosecution has rested its case.
Judge Thomas Hart rejected the defense request Tuesday outside the presence of the jury. The defense team for 34-year-old Joshua Turnidge then began presenting its case.
The Army counters the munitions predate Colorado’s 1989 regulations that prohibit hazardous waste storage and says they’ll be destroyed by 2021.
