Maryland
Lawyer: Slain ice cream driver was stalking suspect
FREDERICK, Md. (AP) - The lawyer for a man charged with fatally shooting an ice cream truck driver as children lined up outside says his client had been stalked for months by the man he's accused of killing.
Defense attorney Carl Somerlock said Tuesday that Brandon Brown had been trying to find and kill Larnell Lyles over a $20 debt. The lawyer's version of events was first reported by The Frederick News-Post.
Somerlock says Lyles was surprised Saturday when he went to buy ice cream for some children and saw Brown in the truck. The lawyer won't say whether Lyles shot Brown.
Police say they are investigating a motive. A man who was helping Brown sell ice cream has told police there was no argument before Lyles pointed a revolver and fired.
North Carolina
Teacher quits after reading story of gay couple to class
EFLAND, N.C. (AP) - A teacher has resigned after reading his third-graders a story about a gay couple, sparking controversy in a small North Carolina town.
The News & Observer of Raleigh reports that Omar Currie read "King & King," about two princes who fall in love, after a student was called gay and told he acted like a girl.
The newspaper says assistant principal Meg Goodhand gave him the book. Currie says other administrators didn't support him.
A school committee upheld using the book. But three people filed complaints, including a parent who appealed the ruling to the superintendent. A public meeting is scheduled for Thursday as part of the appeal.
Schools spokesman Seth Stephens said Monday that Currie and Goodhand have resigned.
The newspaper says Goodhand wouldn't comment.
Arizona
Indictment: Man helped plan Texas cartoon shooting
PHOENIX (AP) - A Phoenix-area man has been charged with helping plan an attack on a provocative Texas cartoon contest featuring depictions of the Prophet Muhammad that ended with the two shooters' deaths last month.
An indictment filed in federal court in Phoenix last week alleges that Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem hosted the gunmen in his home beginning in January and provided the guns they used in the May 3 shooting.
Nadir Soofi and Elton Simpson were roommates in Phoenix and drove to Garland, Texas, to attack the event featuring cartoons deemed offensive to Muslims. They were killed by police after they opened fire outside the contest, injuring a security guard. No one attending the event in suburban Dallas was hurt.
Kareem practiced shooting with Simpson and Soofi in the remote desert outside Phoenix between January and May, the indictment said. He hosted the gunmen and others in his home to discuss the contest and the shooters' plans to travel to Texas to attack the event, according to the indictment.
Kareem is charged with conspiracy, making false statements and interstate transportation of firearms with intent to commit a felony. He is also known as Decarus Thomas.
He was arrested by the FBI on June 11, and he's set for a court appearance Tuesday in Phoenix.
Ohio
Trial reset for man accused of threatening House Speaker
CINCINNATI (AP) - A federal judge has rescheduled the trial for a former Cincinnati-area bartender charged with threatening to kill House Speaker John Boehner.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Black pushed back Michael Hoyt's trial back nearly two weeks on Tuesday. The nonjury trial is now scheduled to begin July 13.
Hoyt is charged with threatening to kill Boehner, either with a gun or by poisoning his drink. Authorities have said Hoyt was fired from Boehner's country club.
Hoyt has pleaded not guilty. His attorneys plan to argue he was insane at the time of the alleged offense.
Court documents indicate Hoyt has a history of mental illness.
Black found Hoyt competent to stand trial based on a report from a federal medical center where Hoyt was sent for evaluation and treatment.
Massachusetts
Police: Man threatened decapitation
LOWELL, Mass. (AP) - A Massachusetts man is being held on $10,000 bail after authorities say he threatened to cut off his neighbor's head with a machete unless he turned down his music.
The Sun reports that Michael Leone pleaded not guilty Monday to charges including threat to commit a crime and assault with a dangerous weapon over Sunday's confrontation.
Police responded to a call from a man who said his machete-brandishing neighbor had threatened to cut off someone's head unless he turned down his music.
Officers went to Leone's home where they found a machete and a .22- caliber rifle along with a 30-round magazine.
Leone's attorney argued for lower bail, saying her client was cooperative with police, telling them he was in a "bad mood" when the music woke him.
Ohio
Hispanics accuse border patrol agents of profiling
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - Two groups that work with Hispanics in Ohio are taking a racial profiling lawsuit against the U.S. Border Patrol before a judge, accusing agents of targeting and detaining Hispanics based on their ethnicity.
The trial was scheduled to get underway Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Toledo.
The lawsuit brought by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee and the Immigrant Worker Project said border patrol logs show a disproportionate number of stops involving Hispanics.
U.S. Justice Department lawyers have denied those claims of discrimination and said in court documents that all of the stops were legal. The government also argued that the analysis of border patrol logs was flawed and could not be used to show racial profiling.
Attorneys for the two groups said the incidents with border agents began in 2009 after the agency opened an office in Port Clinton to patrol along Lake Erie near the border with Canada.
Several people plan to testify about seven instances where agents lacked the needed suspicion or were motivated by race to stop someone, documents said.
The groups want the judge to declare that the border patrol's policies and practices violated the U.S. Constitution and to stop the agents from relying on race as part of their enforcement activities.
Published: Wed, Jun 17, 2015
