Rhode Island
Family of slain teen angry at defendant’s lenient sentence
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island woman has been sentenced to serve six years behind bars for fatally stabbing a 15-year-old boy, a sentence that outraged the victim’s family.
Twenty-year-old Natashza Charon was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison, with six to serve and the remainder suspended, after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the May 2017 death of Jaheim Carter during a fight in Providence.
The victim’s mother, Majeita Carter, told the Providence Journal that “justice wasn’t served at all” and Charon was “getting away with it.”
Prosecutors had sought 10 years behind bars.
The stabbing stemmed from a fight involving several people between members of Carter’s family and the family of Charon’s boyfriend. Charon was 18 at the time.
Charon’s attorney said her client is remorseful.
North Carolina
Defendant’s behavior in court may force mistrial
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina judge is considering declaring a mistrial in a murder case because the defendant refused to answer the prosecutors’ questions in court.
Brandon Lee already confessed to police that he killed his mother and hid her body in an ice bath for days before strangling his ex-girlfriend as well.
Lee’s lawyer says he “snapped” after years of childhood trauma and abuse by his mother. Lee says she provoked his attack that day.
The News & Observer reports that Lee took the stand Tuesday, demonstrating how he choked them even telling jurors that he screamed “Die! Die!” as he did it.
But when prosecutors tried to cross-examine him, he refused to cooperate, saying “I’m not scared of you!”
Judge Graham Shirley sent jurors home and may declare a mistrial.
South Dakota
Parents of autistic son take restraint lawsuit to high court
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Parents who say their son was improperly restrained at a children’s hospital and school have taken their case to the South Dakota Supreme Court.
Neil and Deb Graff are suing Children’s Care Hospital and School on behalf of their autistic son over its use of the prone restraint at the institution in 2010. The restraint involves bringing a person to the floor face-down and holding that person’s arms and legs. The Graff’s 2013 lawsuit says the restraint was used on Ben more than 130 times while he was a resident. The Argus Leader says it’s now prohibited under administrative rules.
The Graff’s attorney Michael Luce says a judge improperly excluded state Department of Health surveys which would have showed deficiencies in Ben’s care. There’s no timeline on when the Supreme Court will decide the case.
Iowa
Police kill cow running loose in downtown area
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police have shot a cow officers had tried to round up as it rambled across downtown Des Moines.
Police Sgt. Paul Parizek said Wednesday that the cow first seen Monday night was found Tuesday night near a hospital along a busy street. He says officers feared the animal would cause an accident as it moved in and out of traffic hampered by rain and poor visibility. They decided they couldn’t wait for a containment crew, so they shot it.
Officers tried to catch it Monday night before it vanished into a forested area along the Des Moines River, north of downtown.
A police Facebook post says: “We’re cops, not cowboys; it got away.”
Parizek says it’s unclear who owned the animal and how it got loose downtown.
Florida
No cut in 50-year prison term in $1.2B scheme
MIAMI (AP) — A disbarred South Florida lawyer convicted of operating a $1.2 billion fraud scheme will not get a reduction in his 50-year prison sentence.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday rejected the latest effort by 57-year-old Scott Rothstein to possibly get out of jail early.
Rothstein claims prosecutors improperly reneged on a promise to reduce his sentence because of his cooperation in other cases. They say he lied to them that some of the stolen money was spent on hidden jewelry for his then-wife.
Rothstein ran a now-defunct Fort Lauderdale law practice that included his admitted scam to persuade investors to put money into legal settlements that turned out to be phony.
The scheme imploded a decade ago. More than 30 people were convicted of crimes.
Illinois
New trial requested in ex-Chicago Bear girlfriend’s death
CHICAGO (AP) — An attorney for a woman convicted of murder in the 2007 shooting death of ex-Chicago Bear Shaun Gayle’s pregnant girlfriend is asking for a new trial or an evidentiary hearing because he contends the woman falsely confessed out of fear that police would charge her teenage son in the slaying.
The Chicago Tribune reports that attorney Jed Stone on Tuesday filed a petition in Lake County that contends there is also other evidence that helps prove Marni Yang didn’t shoot Rhoni Reuter.
Yang was convicted after a trial in which prosecutors argued that she killed the woman she perceived as rival for the Gayle’s affections. They played for jurors a taped conversation in which Yang told a friend she shot Reuter.
Yang is serving two life sentences in state prison.
Florida
Man gets prison for smuggling rhino horn cup from U.S. to UK
MIAMI (AP) — An Irish national has been sentenced to one year and two months in U.S. prison for trafficking a libation cup made from the horn of a protected black rhinoceros.
Court records show that 50-year-old Richard Sheridan was sentenced Tuesday in Miami federal court after pleading guilty to transporting and concealing the cup.
Authorities say Sheridan and Michael Hegarty, also an Irish national, bought the cup from a North Carolina auction house for $50,000 in 2012. They say the two then smuggled it out of the U.S. through Miami to the United Kingdom to sell.
Both men were indicted in 2014. Hegarty was sentenced to one year and six months after being extradited back to the U.S. in 2017. Sheridan was returned to the U.S. this past August.
