Ohio
Police find frozen urine in vehicle of fatally shot man
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A police union official says a bomb squad found containers of frozen urine in the vehicle of man who police say lunged at an officer with a knife and was fatally shot.
The local police union leader, Jason Pappas, says the suspicious material was confirmed as urine after the confrontation Wednesday at Port Columbus International Airport. It's not clear why the man had those containers.
Investigators say he tried unsuccessfully to buy an airline ticket using a fake ID, then got into the fatal confrontation with airport police after returning to his illegally parked vehicle.
Police identified the man Thursday as 41-year-old Hashim Hanif Ibn Abdul-Rasheed of the Columbus area.
Pappas says two officers fired at the man. They weren't seriously hurt.
New Hampshire
Mother released on $250K bail had fled in 2004
NORTH HAVERHILL, N.H. (AP) - A New Hampshire woman who turned herself in to authorities a decade after fleeing with her 8-year-old daughter in a custody case has been released from jail on $250,000 cash bail.
Genevieve Kelley of Whitefield disappeared with her daughter, Mary Nunes, into Central America in 2004.
The 50-year-old Kelley turned herself into authorities in November. Her lawyer says she wants a trial; she faces two counts of custodial interference.
Kelley says her daughter, now 18, is safe. Authorities don't know where she is.
Kelley, a family practice doctor, was free after posting $50,000 bail in December. A judge set the higher bail Dec. 18 after a prosecutor raised questions about whether she failed to turn over passports she may hold in other names.
She was released Wednesday from the Grafton County Jail.
New Hampshire
Man pleads guilty in grave digging search for will
LANCASTER, N.H. (AP) - A New Hampshire man accused of helping a woman ransack her father's grave in search of his "real will" pleaded guilty in a plot a prosecutor described as "something out of an Edgar Allan Poe story."
Michael Day, 38, pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges including criminal mischief for breaking into the vault that held the remains of businessman Eddie Nash.
Nash's daughter, Melanie, and two others were also charged in the May 11 break-in at a Colebrook Village Cemetery.
Prosecutor John McCormick said those who happened upon the grave the next day found a "horrendous scene" reminiscent of a macabre Poe mystery, The Caledonian Record reported.
Police said cash, a bottle of vodka and cigarettes were taken from the grave, but there was no will.
Melanie Nash, 53, and another defendant have not yet entered pleas. A fourth pleaded guilty to criminal mischief and abuse of a corpse on Monday.
Also Wednesday, Nash's lawyer unsuccessfully tried to suppress statements she gave to police, including a written account from June in which she described discussing the plan with the others and holding a flashlight while the grave was searched.
"All this was done for the right reasons and I know my father would be OK with it," Nash wrote, adding, "We did it with respect."
The lawyer argued some statements were given before Nash was informed of her right against self-incrimination. But a judge ruled that Nash freely came to the police station after a warrant had been issued for her arrest and voluntarily gave her statements.
Eddie Nash died of a heart attack in 2004. He started a heavy equipment business in 1979 that is still run by his family.
Massachusetts
Thousands of convictions at stake in case
BOSTON (AP) - The state's highest court has heard arguments in a case involving thousands of people convicted of drug crimes based on tainted evidence.
The American Civil Liberties Union argued Thursday that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court should declare that any defendant affected by the state drug lab scandal involving a former chemist cannot be convicted of a harsher sentence if they seek a new trial.
The ACLU argued that many fear seeking a new trial because they can be prosecuted for crimes dropped when they entered their plea deal.
But the Suffolk and Essex district attorney's offices opposed the request, saying prosecutors should not be limited if a case is retried.
Chemist Annie Dookhan admitted she faked test results and was sentenced to at least three years in prison in 2013.
Wisconsin
Inmate can't use spiritual name on correspondence
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - A Wisconsin prisoner can't call himself only by his spiritual name on his letters.
Norman Green was convicted of homicide in 1991. He filed a lawsuit in 2011 demanding he be allowed to call himself only by the spiritual name Prince Atum-Ra Uhuru Mutawakkil in his correspondence. He contended a prison policy allowing inmates who have legally changed their names to use those new names applies to him.
The 4th District Court of Appeals rejected his arguments Thursday. The court concluded allowing inmates who adopt spiritual names to omit the name they were convicted under on correspondence would slow prison mail and hurt staff's ability to identify gang activity. The court noted that Green can use both names on his letters, though.
Court documents didn't list an attorney for Green.
Florida
Trial delayed for Canadian in sex tourism case
MIAMI (AP) - Trial has been delayed for a Canadian man accused of traveling to Florida to have sex with someone investigators say he believed was an underage boy.
U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore agreed to delay trial for Rene Roberge of Sherbrooke, Quebec, until Jan. 26. It had been set to begin Monday. Court papers show the case likely will end in a plea deal.
Authorities say Roberge flew to Florida after making contact on the Internet with undercover investigators posing as a 14-year-old boy and his father to arrange a sexual encounter. Agents also allegedly found child pornography on Roberge's tablet computer.
Roberge's attorney says additional charges are expected based on a second potential victim. Roberge currently has pleaded not guilty and could get up to life in prison.
Published: Fri, Jan 09, 2015
