Court Roundup

Florida
Juveniles accused of running child porn account

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. (AP) - Police are asking parents in South Florida to check the online accounts of their children after three teens were accused of creating an Instagram account to solicit and post explicit photos of other minors.

Pembroke Pines police arrested two boys, ages 12 and 13, and a girl, 13, on Thursday, following a 10-week investigation. They face charges of electronic transmission of child pornography.

"The Pembroke Pines Police Department urges the community to pay close attention to their children's online activity," Sgt. Angela Goodwin said in a news release Thursday. Parents who think their children may have been exploited can contact Pembroke Pines police or any other law enforcement agency.

Police say the social media account encouraged its 500 followers to post nude and sexually explicit photos of minors to "expose" them. The posts included their names and personal information. Many followers posted cruel comments in response to the images.

Sgt. Drew Jacobs told the South Florida Sun Sentinel he didn't know what prompted the investigation, how long the account had been active, or how many young people were exploited.

"All I know is it's multiple," he said.

Another spokesman, Sgt. Carlos Corretjer, said Friday the investigation is ongoing but no other arrests were imminent. He declined to discuss further details of the case.

Pembroke Pines is a suburb of Fort Lauderdale.

Pennsylvania
Governor imposes moratorium on death penalty

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Newly elected Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has imposed a moratorium on the death penalty in the state, calling the system of capital punishment "error-prone, expensive and anything but infallible."

Wolf said Friday the moratorium will remain in effect at least until he receives a report from a legislative commission that's been studying the topic for about four years.

Pennsylvania has 183 men and three women on death row.

The state has only executed three people since the U.S. Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976, the last one in 1999.

All three had voluntarily given up their appeals.

The Democrat's moratorium announcement fulfilled one of his campaign promises. He had said during his fall race against Republican Gov. Tom Corbett that he intended to issue such an order.

Vermont
Woman who helped kill prep teacher gets life

ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt. (AP) - A Vermont woman convicted along with her husband of killing a prep school teacher after they decided "to get a girl" has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Patricia Prue was sentenced Friday, a day after she gave up a possible insanity defense and changed her plea to guilty in the 2012 death of St. Johnsbury Academy teacher Melissa Jenkins.

Prue's husband, Allen Prue, is serving a life sentence for murder.

Patricia Prue apologized to the Jenkins' family and said she wished she had gotten mental health help.

The Prues lured the 32-year-old from her home with a ruse about a broken-down car, strangled her and dumped her body in a river.

Jenkins' vehicle was found idling on a road with her 2-year-old son inside.

Alabama
School: Alleged rape victim should reveal her name

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - A teenager who says she was raped after a school worker tried to use her as bait to catch an alleged sexual predator should be forced to publicly reveal her name to pursue a lawsuit, an Alabama school system argued in court.

Madison County schools filed documents with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week opposing anonymity for a now-19-year-old woman who maintains she was raped at school at age 14 during a scheme hatched by a teacher's aide to catch another student accused of improper sexual advances.

A lawyer for the young woman called the system's position unusual since victims of sexual assaults often are allowed to use only their initials or a pseudonym like "Jane Doe" in civil lawsuits.

"We were rather surprised by it," said Teri Mastando, a Huntsville attorney for the young woman and her father.

School board attorney Clay Carr said requiring the one-time student to use her name would be consistent with past rulings by the 11th Circuit.

The school system filed a document Monday arguing the former student is no longer a juvenile and her desire for anonymity isn't enough to keep her name out of the case if she becomes a plaintiff.

"Although she may prefer to proceed in her own behalf under a fictitious name, there is no evidence that any adverse consequence to (the teen) might result from continuing the litigation under her own real name," the school board argued in a court document.

The Associated Press has a policy against identifying victims of alleged sexual assaults and is not identifying the woman.

The school board's position came in response to a request by the ex-student to be included in a lawsuit filed by her father, who filed the lawsuit on her behalf while she was still underage.

Evidence shows a teacher's aide asked the then-14-year-old girl to go into a bathroom at Sparkman Middle School so a 16-year-old eighth-grader with a history of sexual harassment could be caught trying to have sex with her and disciplined.

The plan backfired and the girl says she was sexually assaulted in a bathroom stall. The teacher's aide resigned and no charges were filed against the male student because the girl initially said she was not threatened or forced to have sex.

A federal judge in 2013 dismissed a lawsuit filed by the young woman's father, ruling school officials didn't have sufficient reason to suspect the male student could be a threat.

The Obama administration and multiple private organizations are now asking the 11th Circuit to overturn a lower court's decision that dismissed the federal lawsuit filed by the girl's father.

The appeals court has said it would hear oral arguments in the case, but no date is set.

Published: Mon, Feb 16, 2015