National Roundup

Iowa
4 charged after burning body found in rural Iowa ditch
KELLOGG, Iowa (AP) — Four people have been charged in the strangulation death of a man whose body was found burning last week in a rural central Iowa ditch.

Steven Vogel, 31, of Grinnell, was arrested Tuesday in the death of 44-year-old Michael Williams, of Grinnell, the Iowa Department of Public Safety said. He’s charged with first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse.

Police acknowledged that the killing of Williams, who is Black, had led to fears that he may have been targeted because of his race. Grinnell College even canceled classes Monday based on that fear. But police said Williams and Vogel, who is white, were well acquainted.

“The investigation has revealed no evidence to show the acts against Michael Williams were motivated by his race nor that his death was the result of a hate crime,” police said in a release.
It wasn’t immediately known whether Vogel had a lawyer who could comment on his behalf.

Betty Andrews, president of the Iowa-Nebraska NAACP, said during a news conference with police Tuesday that based on the evidence, she also believes there is no indication that Williams was targeted because of his race. However, she said she will evaluate additional evidence as it becomes available.

“Given that the current climate where racial justice is on the front burner for so many ... we understand the fear this kind of incident evokes,” Andrews said.

Investigators said that they believe Vogel strangled Williams on Sept. 12, but a possible motive wasn’t released. Willliams’ body was wrapped and bound and dumped in a ditch near Kellogg on Sept. 16, where it was set on fire, police said. His body was found ablaze after authorities were called that evening about the fire.

The others arrested, who also are white, are Julia Cox, 55, Roy Lee Garner, 57, and Cody Johnson, 29, all of Grinnell. They’re each charged with abuse of a corpse, destruction of evidence and accessory after the fact.

Online court records for Cox and Garner didn’t yet list lawyers for them on Wednesday morning. Cases hadn’t yet been logged as of Wednesday morning in the online court system for Vogel and Johnson.

Louisiana
1 officer dismissed from Sterling wrongful death lawsuit
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A white Louisiana police officer who assisted in the arrest in which Alton Sterling was fatally shot has been dismissed from a wrongful death lawsuit.

A state district judge dismissed Howie Lake II from the case Monday at the request of Lake and his attorney, The Advocate reported.

Lake used a stun gun on Sterling, a 37-year-old Black man, and helped wrestle him to the ground during the 2016 encounter in Baton Rouge. Lake did not fire his gun. Former Baton Rouge officer Blane Salamoni shot Sterling six times during the struggle outside a convenience store where Sterling was selling homemade CDs.

Federal and state prosecutors declined to criminally charge Salamoni and Lake.

In 2017, Sterling’s family sued the city, its police department and former police chief and the two officers. The lawsuit alleges the shooting fit a pattern of racist behavior and excessive force by police.

Lake’s attorney had argued there was “absolutely nothing” the officer could have done to prevent Salamoni from fatally shooting Sterling, according to The Advocate.

A lawyer for the Sterling family said attorneys would be meeting to consider their options following the decision.

Salamoni and the others named remain in the suit defendants. It will go to court on March 1, 2021, unless a settlement is reached, news outlets have reported.

Alabama
Prosecutors oppose jailed speaker’s bid for leniency
OPELIKA, Ala. (AP) — Former Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard doesn’t deserve any reduction of his four-year prison sentence for ethics violations because he has not shown remorse and was convicted of serious crimes that undermined public trust, prosecutors told a judge.

Responding to a bid from Hubbard to lessen his punishment, the attorney general’s office argued in a court document filed Tuesday that the one-time Republican leader is a danger to society and should remain behind bars.

“He caused great harm to the state, its citizens’ confidence in its government, and its government’s reputation across the country. Were this malicious conduct left unchecked, it would grow like a cancer,” prosecutors told a court.

Convicted in 2016, Hubbard began serving his sentence earlier this month. Earlier appeals overturned half of his 12 convictions but left the others in place.

Jurors convicted Hubbard after prosecutors accused him of leveraging his public office to obtain clients and investments for his private businesses. The defense maintained the transactions were all legal.

In seeking a reprieve, defense attorneys argued that Hubbard, 58, already has suffered because he was forced out of office, lost his business and had to go to jail. Hubbard deserves leniency since some of his original convictions were overturned on appeal, they argued.

The attorney general’s office rejected the claims, arguing that Hubbard — who engineered the Republican Party’s takeover of the Alabama Statehouse — does not deserve time off his term or probation to aid with rehabilitation since he’s never publicly admitted doing anything wrong and sees “no need to do better.”

“For too long Alabama’s citizens got shortchanged by Hubbard’s greed in office. Now, after a jury and this court held him accountable for his crimes, Hubbard asks for leniency. But leniency must be earned,” the state argued.

Kansas
Suspected drug dealer, deported last year, charged
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An accused drug dealer who was deported last year is once again facing drug charges after illegally returning to the U.S.

The Wichita Eagle reports that 28-year-old Raul Valenzuela-Arce was charged Thursday in U.S. District Court in Topeka. He is accused of distributing methamphetamine.

An affidavit from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation says Valenzuela-Arce was arrested in March 2019 in Topeka on state drug and gun charges. The affidavit says Valenzuela-Arce agreed while jailed to become a KBI informant. In return, charges against him would be dismissed.

But instead of helping police, Valenzuela-Arce allegedly returned to committing drug crimes. Court filings show he was deported to Mexico in November.

Investigators said they found out that Valenzuela-Arce was back in Topeka on July 22, and he was arrested again.