National Roundup

Massachusetts
Man sues after asking for real butter, getting a substitute instead

BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts man who sued a pair of Dunkin’ Donuts owners because he said he was given a butter substitute when he asked for real butter on his bagel has won a settlement.

The Boston Globe reports that Jan Polanik’s suits name two companies that together own more than 20 stores.

Polanik’s lawyer, Thomas Shapiro, acknowledged that his client’s complaint is “a minor thing,” but they decided to sue “to stop the practice of representing one thing and selling a different thing.”

Shapiro did not disclose the settlement’s terms, because it ­hasn’t yet been filed with the court.

An attorney for one franchisee confirms that the case has been settled and the stores have changed their butter-serving protocol.

Pennsylvania
Death penalty sought for man charged in teen’s dismemberment

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty against a Pennsylvania man charged along with his girlfriend in the rape, death and dismemberment of her 14-year-old adopted daughter.

Bucks County prosecutors made the announcement Friday, when 44-year-old Jacob Sullivan waived his formal arraignment on homicide, rape, kidnapping and other charges in the death of Grace Packer in July.

Prosecutors say 42-year-old Sara Packer watched Sullivan act out a rape-murder fantasy they shared. Prosecutors say the couple stored Grace’s body in cat litter for months, then hacked it up and dumped it in a remote area where hunters found it in October.

Prosecutors had already signaled their intention to seek the death penalty against Sara Packer. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Their trial has been scheduled for March 2018.

New Orleans
Man indicted for murder 10 days after his death

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A defense attorney says New Orleans prosecutors secured a murder indictment against a man on the eve of his funeral, 10 days after he died in his sleep.

John Fuller, who previously served as a lawyer for the late Steven “Shaq” Burns Jr., told multiple media outlets that his client’s indictment Thursday by an Orleans Parish grand jury was a troubling affront to the man’s grieving relatives.

A spokesman for District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office says prosecutors weren’t informed of Burns’ March 20 death before the indictment. The spokesman says the case against Burns will be dropped once his death is confirmed.

The indictment charged Burns with second-degree murder and conspiracy in the September 2011 killing of a man working as an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration.

South Carolina
Woman accused of leaving toddler at Wal-Mart store

ANDERSON, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina woman has been arrested and charged after police found her 2-year-old son asleep alone in a shopping cart in a Wal-Mart.

Local media said a police report states several employees noticed the boy sleeping in the game room of the Anderson store Thursday.

Paging the parents didn’t work so they called police.

Responding officers noticed a woman watching them and say she walked away when they approached her. Twenty-nine-year-old Ashley Spivey of Anderson is charged with child neglect.

Police say she told them she had left the child with her boyfriend and didn’t know where he was.

Investigators called the man who was at work and told them Spivey had dropped him off Thursday morning.

Ohio
Cops: Woman shot in Victoria’s Secret PINK in fight over man

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Police in Ohio say one woman shot another woman in a Victoria’s Secret PINK store full of shoppers, apparently because of a fight over a man.

Columbus police say the injured 23-year-old woman was hospitalized in stable condition with a chest wound after the Thursday afternoon shooting.

Deputy Chief Thomas Quinlan tells The Columbus Dispatch the women had “bad blood” between them before they had an unexpected encounter at a PINK store, part of the corporate family that includes Victoria’s Secret. The shooting occurred in an upstairs room of the store at the popular Easton Town Center shopping area, which prohibits firearms.

Police say the 22-year-old woman who fired was jailed on a felonious assault charge.

West Virginia
Man indicted on murder charge in shooting of teen

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia man accused of fatally shooting a black teenager after the two bumped into each other and exchanged words has been indicted on a murder charge.

Media report a Kanawha County grand jury handed down the indictment on Thursday against 62-year-old William Ronald Pulliam, who is white, in the fatal shooting of 15-year-old James Means.

Police say the teen had a BB gun in his waistband but nothing in his hands when he was shot in the chest and in the back November. Police have said Pulliam showed no remorse and told investigators, “That’s another piece of trash off the street.”

Pulliam has said that he shot in self-defense after he felt threatened.

Court documents say Pulliam will be arraigned on April 24.

Florida
7-11 clerk refuses dirty pennies, woman pulls pair of guns

MELBOURNE, Fla. (AP) — Police in Florida are trying to identify a woman they say pulled a pair of guns on a convenience store clerk after he refused to accept a jar of dirty pennies as payment.

Melbourne police tell Florida Today the woman showed up early Wednesday morning at a 7-Eleven, picked up a few items and then gave the clerk the pennies. Police say the clerk told the woman the coins were dirty and “gunked-up.” The clerk says the woman got angry and began throwing things after he told her there were too many pennies for the store to accept.

Police say the woman told the clerk she was going to kill him before leaving the store and returned with two guns. The clerk sustained only minor injuries in the confrontation.

The woman fled the scene in a vehicle.