Court Roundup

Virginia
Principals in Va Tech lawsuit appeal to justices
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The state and attorneys representing two victims of the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre are seeking a hearing before the state Supreme Court.
They’ll appear Tuesday before a three-judge panel to make the case that the full court take their appeal.
The hearing stems from a successful suit against the state brought by two families who say their daughters could have survived if the university alerted the campus earlier of the killings on the Blacksburg campus by a student gunman.
Both sides are appealing various aspects of the case.
In June 2012, a judge upheld a jury’s negligence finding against the state, but the damages were sharply reduced. Tech was not named in the lawsuit.
Thirty-three people died during shooting rampage, including the gunman, who killed himself.

Indiana
Man gets 15 years for using hammer in attack on wife
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — A North Carolina man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to attacking his estranged wife with a hammer after she rejected his proposal that they reconcile.
Sixty-nine-year-old Raul H. Garcia was sentenced Monday by an Allen Superior Court judge who gave him 218 days’ credit for time served in the Allen County Jail. Garcia had previously pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated battery.
The Journal Gazette reports police say Garcia came to Fort Wayne from North Carolina in July so his wife could sign divorce papers, but instead asked if they could reconcile.
Prosecutors say Garcia started to choke his wife and then hit her repeatedly with a hammer after she rejected his proposal and began laughing at him.

Wisconsin
Harassment trial set for former district attorney
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A former Wisconsin prosecutor accused of sending racy text messages to a domestic abuse victim is due back in court next week to settle sexual harassment allegations.
Ken Kratz resigned from his position as Calumet County district attorney in 2010 after The Associated Press reported he tried to spark an affair with a woman while he prosecuted her ex-boyfriend for domestic abuse.
The woman has filed a federal lawsuit alleging Kratz sexually harassed her. She’s seeking unspecified damages. A trial is set to begin in the case on Feb. 19 in Milwaukee.
The state Office of Lawyer Regulation has recommended the state Supreme Court suspend Kratz’s law license for six months. The court has yet to issue a decision on the recommendation.

Oregon
Anti-whaling organization sues  whalers in crash
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The anti-whaling Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has sued Japanese whalers in federal court in Portland, Ore., accusing them of terrorizing one of the society’s crews in a January 2010 vessel collision off Antarctica.
The Oregonian reports that the complaint filed last week accuses the crew of the Shonan Maru No. 2 of ramming the Sea Shepherd’s high-speed vessel Ady Gil, slicing it in half. Minor injuries were reported aboard the Ady Gil.
The suit says the Shonan Maru No. 2 is owned by Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha Ltd.
The lawsuit names as defendants Kyodo Senpaku and the Institute of Cetacean Research, a Japanese research foundation that oversees the whaling fleet. The suit seeks $3 million in damages.
A Portland law firm listed as representing the defendants didn’t immediately return an Associated Press call for comment Monday.
In December 2011, the research institute and Kyodo Senpaku filed a federal lawsuit against Sea Shepherd in Washington state, alleging the conservation group interfered with the institute’s “scientific research whaling.” Last March, Sea Shepherd filed a counterclaim for the destruction of the Ady Gil.