Court Roundup

 Missouri

Woman sues over husband’s death in jail 
MAYSVILLE, Mo. (AP) — The wife and three daughters of a man who died after being jailed are suing two northwest Missouri counties and several officials over medical treatment he received while incarcerated.
Janet Harris, of Maysville, and her three daughters allege in the federal lawsuit that the staff at the Daviess/DeKalb Regional Jail didn’t provide Timothy Harris medical treatment for a lung infection while he was jailed for 25 days. The 36-year-old died June 2 while being flown to a Kansas City hospital for treatment.
Jail administrator Robert Gray said he had been told not to comment on the lawsuit. He is one of 12 defendants, including both counties and their sheriffs, The St. Joseph News-Press reported.
Harris, a convicted felon, was jailed on May 8 after he tried to buy a rifle. The lawsuit alleges police used a stun gun and beat him, then placed him in solitary confinement.
Janet Harris says in the lawsuit that she observed during two visits that her husband’s breathing was shallow and labored and he appeared weak, pale and dramatically thinner.
According to the lawsuit, Janet Harris says her husband told her he had been denied medical care several times and was afraid he wasn’t going to survive. However, when he was allowed a nurse visit, he cancelled it because “he was too exhausted,” according to the lawsuit.
Harris was released on June 2 to Cameron Regional Medical Center, where he collapsed in the changing room and was twice resuscitated. When doctors drained his left lung, they determined it was almost completely filled an infection “which had persisted and gone untreated for a ‘long time,’” according to the lawsuit. He died while being flown to St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City.
Janet Harris claims her husband was mistreated because he had criticized law enforcement on social media.
The family is seeking monetary damages, attorney fees, medical and funeral expenses. The case has been referred to the Mediation and Assessment Program for possible negotiation.
Harris has a criminal history in Missouri dating back to 2007, with charges including unlawful use of a weapon, domestic assault and resisting arrest.
 
Nebraska
Trial begins over releasing child killer’s drawings 
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Trial began Friday in Lincoln on a lawsuit by the author of a book about an executed Nebraska child killer to try to force the state prison system to release the condemned man’s disturbing drawings.
Mark Pettit, a former investigative reporter, says the drawings of John Joubert depict Joubert’s fantasies to kill more children. Joubert was executed in the state’s electric chair in 1996 for killing two young boys in the Bellevue area in the 1980s.
Pettit is the author of “A Need to Kill: The True-Crime Account of John Joubert, Nebraska’s Most Notorious Serial Child Killer.”
Pettit’s lawsuit seeks to force the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services to release the drawings, which has refused to do so citing confidentiality laws.
 
Tennessee
Judge dismisses lawsuit over mosque cemetery
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — A judge has dismissed a lawsuit over a permit that was issued allowing a Middle Tennessee mosque to build a cemetery on its property.
A group of residents filed the suit after Rutherford County officials approved the request from the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro.
The Daily News Journal reports senior Judge Paul Summers, who sat on the case after local judges recused themselves, issued his opinion on Thursday. He ruled that the Board of Zoning Appeals properly approved the permit.
“The Board of Zoning Appeals heard public comments and received information from studies previously done on nearby property,” Summers said in his ruling. “There were many comments from the public on both sides of the issue. The record also reflects the BZA confirmed the signs on the property (to provide public notice about the meetings); they remained on display prior to the January meeting. The BZA announced the meeting and adequate notice to the public was given pursuant to the Open Meetings Act as to these petitioners.”
ICM attorney John Green said he was pleased with the ruling.
“As anticipated, the proper process in the judicial system has prevailed as members of the Islamic Center were always confident would happen,” said Green, who volunteered his legal services.
A lead plaintiff in the case, Bonnie Golczynski, and her attorney, Duncan Cates Cave, declined to say whether they would appeal. The plaintiffs had cited concerns about possible water contamination and traffic problems in their lawsuit.
Lou Ann Zelenik, who has supported the plaintiffs and was prepared to be an expert witness, indicated that the case could be over.
“You can’t appeal,” she said. “We’re done. I just hope there’s no significant drainage problems and no big accident on Bradyville Pike.”
 
Nevada
hospital claims tuberculosis case defamation 
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Las Vegas hospital is suing a personal injury lawyer over comments during a May news conference about a lawsuit filed over a tuberculosis outbreak last year.
Summerlin Hospital Medical Center accuses attorney Robert Cottle of implying the facility intentionally concealed or failed to diagnose a woman's tuberculosis infection because it would spark a state investigation.
Attorney John Cotton, representing the hospital, termed the Thursday filing in Clark County District Court an “enough is enough” lawsuit.
Cottle calls it sad that a corporation is suing him for what he calls protecting the public trust.
The complaint says Vanessa White had tuberculosis but wasn’t properly screened while she kept visiting her premature twin girls at the hospital last summer.
White and both babies died. Her illness was diagnosed during an autopsy.
 
Massachusetts
Woman, 102, charged faces murder charge 
BOSTON (AP) — A 102-year-old woman who prosecutors say killed her 100-year-old roommate in a Massachusetts nursing home nearly five years ago faces a second-degree murder charge.
Laura Lundquist is the oldest murder defendant in state history.
Lundquist was 98 when she was charged in 2009 on allegations she strangled Elizabeth Barrow, who was found with a plastic bag tied around her head at the Brandon Woods nursing home in Dartmouth.
Lundquist had a longstanding diagnosis of dementia and was ruled incompetent to stand trial. Since her indictment, she has been held at a state psychiatric hospital, while the murder charge against her remains active.