National Roundup

South Dakota
Judge allows ­lobbyist to return to House floor
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A federal judge is allowing a longtime lobbyist to return to the South Dakota House floor after she alleged the Republican speaker banned her over a magazine column in which she wrote that the number of “wackies” in the Legislature was increasing.

U.S. District Judge Roberto Lange on Friday granted Yvonne Taylor, who heads the South Dakota Municipal League, a temporary restraining order preventing House Speaker Steve Haugaard from barring Taylor from that chamber’s floor, the Rapid City Journal reported.

According to Lange’s opinion, both sides are working toward a settlement, but he granted the order to “avert immediate or irreparable injury” to Taylor while discussions continue. The order lasts for at least two weeks.

“The public interest disfavors elected officials retaliating against journalists or columnists who write articles encouraging people to vote and criticizing close minded legislators,” Lange wrote. “The Court hopes that Haugaard was not doing that and had some other thought in mind.”

Taylor has lobbied since 1997 for the Municipal League, a nonprofit which advocates on behalf of the state’s municipalities. She allege d that Haugaard, an attorney from Sioux Falls, objected to a column she wrote in May which lamented the “wackies” who oppose government and any taxation, and that he barred her from the House floor during a private meeting at the Capitol on Jan. 14.

Taylor alleged in a lawsuit that Haugaard said her column made the Legislature look like “a bunch of buffoons,” and she accused him of unlawful retaliation and violating her free speech rights. She said banning her from the floor prevented her from being able to adequately represent her group’s members.

The House floor is typically open to lobbyists, journalists and members of the public.

Indiana
2 renominated for Indiana ­federal judge
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Nominations have been resubmitted by President Donald Trump for two federal judge positions in northern Indiana.

Holly Brady of Fort Wayne and Damon R. Leichty of South Bend were nominated a second time this past week after the Senate didn’t vote on them during the congressional session that ended in early January.

Trump first nominated Brady last April and she advanced with the Senate Judiciary Committee’s 11-10 vote in June. Brady is a partner in the Fort Wayne law firm of Haller & Colvin, where she handles employment and labor litigation representing employers.

Leichty was first nominated in July. Leichty is based at the Barnes & Thornburg law firm’s South Bend office, representing manufacturers in product liability cases and other litigation.

They would replace judges who’ve retired.

Tennessee
Former doctor sentenced to 5 years in scheme
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A former Tennessee doctor guilty of billing taxpayer-funded and private insurance to the tune of $3.5 million has been sentenced to more than five years in federal prison.

Robert Maughon pleaded with U.S. District Judge Pamela Reeves for leniency in a hearing on Friday. The Knoxville News Sentinel reports Maughon had struck a plea deal in an “allergy drop” scam and was seeking probation. The drops are administered under the tongue but have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Prosecutors argued that Maughon knew the allergy drops he was billing weren’t approved by the FDA. Reeves called the crimes “serious, serious offenses” and said Maughon needed to be punished for them.

Reeves sentenced Maughon, who surrendered his medical license earlier this year, to 63 months in federal prison.

Pennsylvania
Teen convicted of arranging ­parents’ slayings resentenced
BEAVER, Pa. (AP) — A man convicted as a teenager of hiring a pair of classmates to kill his parents in their western Pennsylvania home more than two decades ago could have a chance of parole beginning at age 76 following resentencing.

Brian Samuel, 39, was sentenced in 1997 to two consecutive life terms without possibility of parole, but a U.S. Supreme Court ruling barring mandatory life-without-parole terms for teenagers required him to be resentenced.

The Beaver County Times reports that a judge last week sentenced Samuel to 30-year-to-life terms to be served consecutively, or an aggregate sentence of 60 years to life.

Samuel was convicted of first-degree murder in the April 1996 deaths of William and Tresa Samuel in Aliquippa, about 20 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.

Prosecutors said Samuel was 16 when he hired 16-year-old Trazis Durham and 18-year-old Pete Schoonover to kill his parents in exchange for $12,000 each because the victims were going to cut him off from his generous grandparents.

All three defendants were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life terms after jurors couldn’t reach a unanimous decision on whether they should be executed. Durham also awaits resentencing.

Defense attorneys said in a sentencing memorandum that Samuel takes full responsibility and wishes to express remorse to his remaining relatives and the community. They cited a troubled home life and said he had earned a GED certificate in prison and recently completed classes for a barber license to be a productive member of society.

District Attorney David Lozier argued for a longer term, citing detailed plans Samuel made for his parents’ murders and his participation in the crime. He said the defendant “showed no remorse.”

Lozier also said evidence indicated Samuel was an uncooperative prisoner until the Supreme Court issued its ruling that cases like his be reconsidered, and “then he became a model prisoner.”


New Jersey
Handyman ­convicted of using hammer to kill former client
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A handyman who allegedly used a hammer to fatally beat a client who had fired him has been convicted of murder and other charges.

Nestor Francisco Canela Lopez now faces life in prison when he’s sentenced March 1.

Essex County prosecutors say the 40-year-old Bronx, New York man traveled to Charles Jeffrey’s Newark home in 2015 and beat him with a hammer, screwdriver and wrench. The 64-year-old victim was found in the home’s basement with the ball end of a hammer embedded in his head.

Authorities say Jeffery and his wife had fired Lopez shortly before the murder after jewelry went missing from the house.

Lopez claimed he acted in self-defense. But prosecutors say he showered in the victim’s home, changed clothes and threw out evidence to conceal his actions.