New Hampshire
Family fights cops after knives nixed at fun park
SALEM, N.H. (AP) — Five members of a Vermont family assaulted police officers during a melee that erupted when security guards at a New Hampshire amusement park told them to leave their knives in the car, police said Tuesday.
The fracas started at about 1:30 p.m. Monday when the Perry family tried to enter Canobie Lake Park in Salem. Some of the family members had knives on their belts and were told they couldn’t bring them into the park, police said.
The family became belligerent and eventually two Salem officers responded to quell the disturbance. The family became more irate, yelling profanities at the officers in front of other visitors, police said.
After several verbal warnings, an officer told one man he was under arrest and tried to handcuff him, leading to the fight that included people jumping on the backs of the officers, punching, kicking and grabbing for their weapons, police said. Two officers were injured, including one who was treated at a hospital for a dislocated shoulder.
As backup officers arrived, the mother of the family faked a seizure, police said. She was examined by paramedics and released at the scene.
Those arrested included Joshua Perry, 23, of Sutton, Vermont, who was charged with felony riot, resisting arrest with serious injury, trespassing and disorderly conduct. Brian Perry, 18, of Lyndonville, was charged with felony riot, assault and resisting arrest. E. Allan Perry, 45, of Lyndon, was charged with felony riot, felony assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. All three were held on $10,000 cash bail, assigned a public defender and scheduled to return to court on June 25.
Damian Perry, 18, of Lyndonville, was charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing. Ashley Perry, 20, of Sutton, was charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing. Each was released on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond. It could not immediately be determined if they had lawyers.
New York
Trial begins for ex-hedge fund owner’s brother
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City insider trading trial is underway for the brother of an imprisoned onetime billionaire hedge fund founder.
Opening statements are scheduled for Wednesday at the federal trial of Rengan Rajaratnam. He has pleaded not guilty to securities fraud charges.
His brother, Raj Rajaratnam, is the founder of the Galleon Group of hedge funds. He is serving an 11-year sentence for making up to $75 million illegally.
The charges against Rengan Rajaratnam are an extension of charges brought against his brother and two dozen other defendants who pleaded guilty or were convicted.
Prosecutors made extensive use of wiretaps in an insider trading case for the first time during the federal investigation, which began more than six years ago.
Ohio
Boy finds man’s mummified body in house’s closet
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — An adolescent boy found the mummified body of a man hanging in a closet while exploring what appeared to be an abandoned house in southwestern Ohio.
The director of the Montgomery County coroner’s office in Dayton says the body found Sunday had the hardened, leathery appearance of a mummy because 53-year-old Edward Brunton’s tissue had dried up and was preserved in his home’s cold, dark conditions.
Director Ken Betz says Brunton was homeless before inheriting money from his mother to buy the house in October 2009 and probably died soon after that. Betz says Brunton’s death was ruled a suicide caused by hanging by the neck.
Betz says Brunton’s house appeared vacant and the property was overgrown with weeds and posted with city cleanup warnings.
Massachusetts
Hernandez lawyers want subpoena of Patriot records
FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) — Aaron Hernandez’s attorneys asked a judge on Tuesday to approve their subpoena to the New England Patriots for the team’s medical, psychological and other records on the former player.
Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the June 2013 shooting death of Odin Lloyd, whose body was found in North Attleboro near Hernandez’s home.
On Monday, a Bristol Superior Court judge set a July deadline for the team to respond to the defense’s earlier requests for the 2010-2013 records. But in a motion filed Tuesday, Hernandez’s attorneys said the records are potentially relevant to his circumstances and state of mind, and asked to have them within 30 days.
A Patriots spokesman declined to comment Tuesday.
The motion seeks records including, but not limited to, “psychological testing, medication records, X-rays, MRIs, CT scans, drug or alcohol abuse-related records, other medical records, physical therapy records, scouting reports, and investigative reports.”
The motion said the request “is not intended as a general ‘fishing’ expedition” but is essential to preparing for his trial, which may begin in October.
Hernandez, a tight end, was drafted by the Patriots out of the University of Florida in 2010. The team released him in June 2013 hours after he was arrested in the slaying of Lloyd, a semi-professional football player who was dating the sister of Hernandez’s girlfriend.
Hernandez also pleaded not guilty last month in a separate case accusing him of killing two men in Boston in July 2012, about a month before he signed a five-year, $40 million contract extension.
Missouri
Court throws out $240M award from lawsuit
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A state appeals court has thrown out $240 million in punitive damages awarded to 16 eastern Missouri residents who sued over health problems from the Herculaneum lead smelter.
A jury awarded the damages against former smelter owners Fluor Corporation, A.T. Massey Coal and Doe Run Investment Holding Co after a three-month trial in 2011.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Missouri Court of Appeals’ Eastern District ruled Tuesday that an error in jury instructions requires fresh consideration off Fluor’s portion of the damages award. The jury awarded a total of $320 million in punitive damages and another $38 million in compensatory damages
Those awards came on top of a confidential settlement reached before the trial with the smelter’s current owners, Doe Run Resources Corp.
