National Roundup

Pennsylvania
Cops: College football player stabs teammate with corkscrew

READING, Pa. (AP) - A Pennsylvania college football player is charged with stabbing a teammate with a corkscrew during a fight at a dormitory.

The Reading Eagle reports 18-year-old Albright College freshman Marquis Stewart, of Bethlehem, was arrested after the stabbing early Sunday in Crowell Hall. He is jailed on attempted homicide and other charges.

The victim was another freshman football player, 18-year-old Dhameer Madison, of New Castle, Delaware. He was taken to a hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.

It was unclear what led to the fight.

But police say Madison punched Stewart, who then grabbed a multi-tool device and used the corkscrew portion to stab Madison three times in the left rib cage.

Kansas
Same-sex birth certificates don't need court order

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Kansas officials say no court order will be needed in the future to process birth certificate applications of children from same-sex couples who conceive by artificial insemination.

That assurance came in a court filing Monday in a federal lawsuit that challenges the Kansas ban on same-sex marriages. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling already cleared the way for such marriages in Kansas, but the judge wanted evidence the state was complying with that decision.

Kansas also objected to the American Civil Liberties Union even raising the birth certificate issue because none of the plaintiffs in the federal gay marriage case are seeking to become parents.

The state says nothing has been offered in this or other lawsuits to show paternity laws that recognize biological differences between men and women are unconstitutional.

Wisconsin
Dahmer defense  himself in case

MILWAUKEE (AP) - One of the most high-profile defense lawyers in Wisconsin has himself for a client in an ethics case before the state Supreme Court.

Gerald Boyle gained fame representing Jeffrey Dahmer and former Green Bay Packers star Mark Chmura, among others during his 50-year career.

He faces a 60-day suspension over a complaint from state regulators who said he violated professional rules of conduct. Boyle is expected to argue Monday that such a penalty would be too high and that he deserves nothing more than a public reprimand, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The Office of Lawyer Regulation has charged Boyle with violations that include putting tens of thousands of dollars from clients into improper accounts and providing inadequate representation.

Mississippi
Family of killed man can sue complex owners

STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) - The Mississippi Supreme Court says the family of a man killed in 2008 can sue his apartment complex's owners for failing to warn him that his roommate might have violent tendencies.

The Commercial Dispatch reports that the high court overturned decisions by two lower courts in a lawsuit filed after Bobby Batiste's 2009 murder conviction in Andreas Galanis's death.

Oktibbeha County Circuit Court and the Mississippi Court of Appeals had ruled that Batiste's language in a 2006 complaint against a previous roommate was not sufficient to prove violent tendencies.

In the complaint, he wrote, "I don't want to get violent."

The ruling says the apartment complex matched the two as potential roommates.

Galanis' body was found the day after he notified authorities that money was missing from his account.

Colorado
Judge OKs $7M award for homes on sinking soil

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - A judge has upheld an arbitrator's award of more than $7 million to 20 homeowners at a golf course subdivision near Glenwood Springs whose properties were constructed on a soil linked to sinkholes and subsidence.

The Daily Sentinel reports the judge also ruled that defendants Hansen Construction and Steve Hansen owe more than $2 million in legal fees.

An attorney for the plaintiffs had said that two of the homes built by Hansen Construction were condemned and several others had shifted or been damaged as a result of being built on salt-laden evaporate.

The judge has not yet ruled on a jury's decision that the homes' developer, LB Rose Ranch LLC, should pay more than $6.7 million in the case.

Mississippi
Wife of man killed in explosion sues Omega Protein

MOSS POINT, Miss. (AP) - The wife of a man killed in a 2014 explosion at Omega Protein is suing the company, saying her husband did not receive adequate warnings about flammable hydrogen sulfide gasses inside a storage tank he was working on when it blew up.

The Sun Herald of Biloxi reports that Katlyn Taylor filed the lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court. Her husband, 25-year-old Jerry Lee Taylor II, was welding on the top of a metal storage tank at Omega's fish processing plant on July 28, 2014 when the tank exploded.

Katlyn Taylor is seeking punitive and compensatory damages for wrongful death, pain and suffering and other claims. She is asking for a jury trial.

Arizona
Hendrix family suing shop owner for guitar

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - The estate of Jimi Hendrix is suing a Tucson man for a guitar once owned by the legendary guitarist.

The Arizona Daily Star in Tucson reported Sunday that Experience Hendrix LLC, the company that runs Hendrix's estate, wants a Pima County Superior Court judge to order the guitar returned.

According to the Oct. 2, complaint, the estate says Harvey Moltz, owner of Rainbow Guitars, is not the rightful owner of the Acoustic Black Widow guitar.

Estate attorney Ed McPherson says the guitar is valued between $750,000 and $1 million. The lawsuit is also seeking damages.

Moltz says he purchased the guitar in June 2014 from someone who bought it from Sheldon Reynolds, ex-husband of Hendrix's adopted sister, Janie Hendrix.

McPherson says Reynolds, a former member of Earth, Wind, and Fire, stole it.

"The guitar is priceless to our family," Janie said in an email. She is the CEO of Experience Hendrix.

Published: Tue, Oct 13, 2015