National Roundup

Nevada
Not guilty plea in ­mannequin attempted ­murder case
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A man who police suspect killed two sleeping homeless men in Las Vegas pleaded not guilty Thursday to attempted murder in an unusual case charging him with trying to kill a mannequin that police posed as a decoy near the scene of the earlier slayings.

Shane Allen Schindler, 30, has not been charged in the Jan. 4 bludgeoning death of Daniel Aldape or the Feb. 3 killing of David Dunn, who police say were apparently sleeping when they were attacked. The county coroner determined that both men died of head injuries.

Schindler was arrested Feb. 22 after police said he was seen on surveillance video creeping up on the mannequin in a vacant downtown lot, pulling a hood over his head and using a two-handed grip to pummel the blanket-covered head of the decoy with a 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) ball-peen hammer.

Schindler told police following his arrest that he knew it was a mannequin he was attacking.

But prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo has said Schindler could not have known he wasn’t attacking a human.

Schindler’s court-appointed attorney, Ashley Sisolak, has withdrawn a challenge of his mental competency. She declined outside court Thursday to comment about the case.

Schindler, who moved to Las Vegas from Bay City, Michigan, entered the plea in Nevada state court to attempted murder and carrying a concealed weapon, the hammer. A grand jury indicted him last week. A judge set trial for Aug. 8.

Clark County Public Defender Phil Kohn has derided the charge of attempted murder as a legal impossibility, saying someone can’t kill an inanimate object.

But Nevada appellate law appears to support the charge. The state Supreme Court in 1976 and 1989 pointed to intent when it rejected arguments of legal impossibility in attempted crimes.

Iowa
Woman who ran Super Bowl ticket scam gets 51 months
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman has been imprisoned for duping dozens of people into buying nonexistent tickets to the Super Bowl and other big events.

The Sioux City Journal reports that Ranae Van Roekel, of Boyden, was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Sioux City to 51 months. The judge also ordered her to pay nearly $468,000 in restitution. Van Roekel had pleaded guilty to mail and income tax fraud.

Prosecutors say Van Roekel was a self-employed ticket broker who ran the business Get ‘em Now Tickets from January 2008 to June 2012. Victims say she falsely claimed to have personal relationships and ties to events that gave her an inside track for deeply discounted tickets, hotel rooms and VIP passes.


Kentucky
Judge faces protests after self-recusal in gay adoptions
GLASGOW, Ky. (AP) — Protesters have called for a Kentucky judge to resign after he recused himself from adoption cases involving one or more gay parents.

News outlets report that an April 27 order by Barren-Metcalfe Family Court Judge Mitchell Nance says he believes there are no circumstances in which gay adoption would be in children’s best interests. The Fairness Campaign of Kentucky organized a group of 15 protesters outside the county courthouse Wednesday.

Fairness Campaign director Chris Hartman says Nance shouldn’t be on the bench if he cannot put aside personal biases, especially since the law doesn’t prohibit the adoptions. He says the American Civil Liberties Union is exploring further action.

Nance’s decision must be approved by the Kentucky Supreme Court. A case manager, Julie Jolly, said the judge would have no comment.

Pennsylvania
Judge orders prosecutors to charge engineer in Amtrak crash
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia judge has ordered prosecutors to charge the speeding Amtrak engineer involved in a 2015 derailment that killed eight people and injured about 200, days after they declined to do so.

Municipal Court Judge Marsha Neifield on Thursday ordered the arrest of engineer Brandon Bostian on involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment charges.

The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office had announced Tuesday, as the two-year deadline to bring charges loomed Friday, that it couldn’t prove Bostian acted with “conscious disregard” when he accelerated the train to 106 mph on a 50 mph curve.

That judgment call prompted civil lawyers representing the family of a technology executive killed to seek a private citizen’s complaint. They believe Bostian should be held accountable.

Otherwise, veteran lawyer Richard Sprague said, “it’s almost like inviting drivers of vehicles and cars to drive recklessly.”

The city quickly referred the prosecution to the state attorney general Thursday to avoid a potential conflict of interest. Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s office said it’s reviewing the matter. It could appeal the order to the state’s Superior Court.

Federal investigators concluded that Bostian lost track of his location before the May 12, 2015, crash after learning a nearby commuter train had been struck with a rock.

The train had left Philadelphia minutes before, heading toward New York.

“We cannot conclude that the evidence rises to the high level necessary to charge the engineer or anyone else with a criminal offense,” the District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday in an unsigned statement. The current district attorney, Seth Williams, is awaiting trial in a federal bribery indictment.

Amtrak has taken responsibility for the crash and agreed to pay $265 million to settle related claims.

It’s rare but not unprecedented for citizens to seek private criminal complaints when they object to a prosecutor’s decision. Pennsylvania judges can approve or reject their petitions, but typically give wide latitude to a prosecutor’s discretion. It’s not clear if any such cases in recent memory in Philadelphia have survived when the prosecutor appealed.

The Amtrak complaint involves only the death of New York executive Rachel Jacobs, 39, who left behind a husband and 2-year-old son. Her father, a Michigan lawyer, had urged Williams to press charges.

“I just feel that my daughter’s death needs to be vindicated. Here is a woman who died and nobody’s being punished,” the father, John Jacobs, told The Associated Press this week. “Somebody should be held responsible.”

The misdemeanor charges each carry a maximum five-year sentence. Bostian’s attorney did not return messages this week seeking comment.