National Roundup

Ohio
Student brings moonshine to class; suspended

DE GRAFF, Ohio (AP) - Officials say a 13-year-old Ohio boy was suspended for bringing moonshine to school, and a science teacher who knew he was making the illegal alcohol was reprimanded for not reporting that the boy brought it to class.

The boy brought the liquid to school in De Graff, about 50 miles northwest of Columbus, in January. Riverside Local Schools Superintendent Scott Mann tells the Dayton Daily News he thinks the teen wanted to show it to the teacher but didn't mean any harm. The teacher dumped it into a drain.

She later received a written reprimand for not immediately reporting the situation.

The Bellefontaine Examiner reports sheriff's investigators determined the teen and another boy had discussed the moonshine-making process with the teacher, and she'd warned them it could be dangerous.

Nevada
Vegas hospital sends miscarried babies to laundry

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Authorities say a Las Vegas hospital mistakenly sent two dead babies wrapped in linens to a laundry facility, leading to a grisly surprise for the cleaners.

The remains were in a load of laundry that Spring Valley Hospital sent Tuesday to the medical laundry company Angelica in nearby Henderson.

Henderson police spokeswoman Kathleen Richards says detectives determined it was an inadvertent mistake and it's not considered suspicious.

Hospital spokeswoman Gretchen Papez says a woman who suffered a miscarriage early in her pregnancy had arrived at the hospital by ambulance with the dead twins already wrapped in linens.

Papez says hospital officials are trying to determine how the mistake occurred.

She says officials have been in contact with the family after the remains were returned to the hospital.

Washington
High Court: State may try to justify railroad tax

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court says Alabama should have the chance to justify a fuel sales tax that it assesses on railroads but not on competitors in the trucking and barge industries.

The justices on Wednesday ruled 7-2 against CSX Transportation Inc., which had challenged the state's assessment of a 4 percent sales tax whenever the company purchased diesel fuel.

The railroad company argued that the tax was illegal under a federal law barring taxes that discriminate against railroads. Alabama officials said the tax system was fair because truckers already pay a different 19-cent per gallon tax on diesel fuel.

A federal appeals court ruled in favor of CSX, but the Supreme Court reversed. Justice Antonin Scalia said the appeals court was wrong in refusing to consider Alabama's justification.

Pennsylvania
Prosecutors are against death penalty hiatus

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Prosecutors and members of the Pennsylvania Legislature are speaking out against Gov. Tom Wolf's decision to impose a moratorium on executions in a state that last carried out the death penalty in 1999.

A news conference in the Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday, led by the state district attorneys' association and about a dozen Republican lawmakers, raised criticism about the legality of the governor's moratorium and whether it was fair to the victims' families.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Ron Marsico says he plans to conduct hearings throughout the state, starting later this month in Philadelphia, where he will hear stories of murder victims.

The state Supreme Court is reviewing the legality of Wolf's decision last month to issue a reprieve to the man convicted of a 1984 slaying in Philadelphia.

Louisiana
Federal suit filed over man shot to death in cop's car

NEW IBERIA, La. (AP) - A Jeanerette woman has filed a wrongful-death suit in federal court against Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal and the deputy who arrested her child's father.

The lawsuit says Victor White III died from a single gunshot wound while handcuffed in the back seat of the deputy's car.

The Advocate reports Shandell Bradley's attorneys allege Ackal fails to adequately train his deputies and tolerates excessive uses of force and unreasonable searches, which resulted in White's death on March 3, 2014.

The suit also claims Cpl. Justin Ortis, who arrested White that night, beat him and was negligent in failing to protect White's safety while he was in custody.

Maj. Ryan Turner, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office, said the agency had not been made aware of the suit as of Tuesday afternoon, but he did confirm Ortis is still employed as a deputy there.

White's family strongly disputes the Sheriff's Office and coroner's claims that the 22-year-old shot himself.

Among the allegations lodged against Ackal in the suit is that he hires and retains deputies "with demonstrable propensities for excessive force, violence, negligence and other misconduct," tolerates that conduct and encourages his deputies "to believe that they can violate" people's rights without adversely affecting their employment or opportunities for promotion.

A dollar amount related to funeral costs, emotional distress and the loss of both White's financial support and emotional care of the child was not specified in the suit, but it requests "an amount sufficient to make an example of those Defendants and to deter future misconduct."

It also requests a trial-by-jury.

Massachusetts
Police make arrest in 2008 sword slaying

HOLYOKE, Mass. (AP) - Authorities have made an arrest in the 2008 slaying of a Holyoke man who was stabbed with his own Samurai sword.

Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni announced Wednesday that 22-year-old Ismael Rodriguez has been charged with murder in connection with the June 2008 slaying of 45-year-old Humberto Brindis.

Brindis was found dead on the floor of his apartment suffering from a single stab wound.

The district attorney's spokeswoman says the suspect was 15 at the time but has been charged as an adult.

Police said at the time of the slaying that Brindis collected Samurai swords and one had been used in his killing.

Prosecutors did not immediately disclose the evidence that led them to Rodriguez.

Published: Thu, Mar 05, 2015