Court Digest

Ohio
Man charged with murder in college student’s death
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The man charged in the shooting death of an Ohio State University student from New Jersey is due to make his initial court appearance on Tuesday.

Kintie Mitchell Jr., 18, of Columbus, is charged with murder in the death of Chase Meola, 23, who was found dead early Sunday in an alley, authorities said. The shooting occurred after some people were asked to leave a house party near the school’s campus and an altercation occurred outside the residence, authorities said.

No other injuries were reported in the shooting.

Meola was a fifth-year marketing major from Mahwah, New Jersey. It wasn’t clear if he was involved in the altercation that led to the shooting.

Minnesota
Judge upholds state’s extended ballot counting
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge has upheld a Minnesota state court agreement that allows counting of absentee ballots received up to seven days after Election Day.

Republicans had asked U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel to block the seven-day extension that Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon agreed to in state court after a citizens’ rights group cited concerns about voter safety due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ballots still must be postmarked by Election Day to be counted.

But Brasel ruled late Sunday night that the plaintiffs in the case — a pair of Republicans serving as electors in the presidential election — don’t have standing and denied their motion for a preliminary injunction.

Previously, ballots had to be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day — but a consent decree in the state case  allowed ballots postmarked on or before Election Day to be counted if they were received within the following seven days.

Brasel’s decision to keep the extension intact comes just days after a federal appeals court blocked a similar extension in Wisconsin — a win for Republicans who have fought attempts to expand voting across the country. The Minnesota plaintiffs had pointed to that ruling to bolster their case.

A majority of states require mail-in ballots to be received by Election Day, while others accept them days or even weeks later if they are postmarked by Election Day. Tens of millions of Americans are likely to vote by mail this year because of concerns about coronavirus exposure at polling places.

The federal lawsuit in Minnesota was filed by Republican state Rep. Eric Lucero and GOP activist James Carson, who both would participate in the Electoral College if President Donald Trump carries Minnesota. Their lawsuit, backed by the conservative-leaning Honest Elections Project, argued that the extension violates federal law that establishes Nov. 3 as the date of the 2020 election.

Attorneys for the state said the extension should stay in place, arguing that blocking it would create confusion and likely disenfranchise voters who are relying on instructions they have already received about deadlines for returning ballots by mail.

Brasel rejected a variety of claims from the plaintiffs in ruling against their request to stop the extended counting, including their assertion that it would dilute the value of their own votes by counting “unlawful” ballots after Election Day. She also rejected their claim that the consent decree created chaos and uncertainty, ruling that information about the new absentee process had been clearly communicated to voters.

“In reality, the Electors are in danger of creating confusion rather (than) avoiding” it, Brasel wrote.

Trump narrowly missed winning Minnesota in 2016 and had vowed in 2020 to become the first Republican to capture the state since Richard Nixon in 1972. But recent polls have showed Joe Biden leading, and Trump’s campaign has scaled back some TV ad buys in the state.

Texas
Black man who police led by rope sues city for $1M
GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — A Black man who was led by a rope by two white officers on horseback has sued a southeast Texas city and its police department for $1 million, saying he suffered humiliation and fear during his arrest.

A lawsuit filed last week in Galveston County district court on behalf of Donald Neely, 44, alleged the officers’ conduct was “extreme and outrageous,” both physically injuring Neely and causing him emotional distress, news outlets reported, citing the court documents.

Photos of the August 2019 encounter showed Neely being led by the officers on a rope linked to handcuffs — reminiscent of pictures showing slaves in chains.

Neely, who was homeless at the time, was sleeping on a sidewalk when he was arrested for criminal trespass and led around the block to a mounted patrol staging area. In body-camera video, one officer could be heard twice saying that leading Neely by rope down city streets would look “bad.”

The lawsuit accused the city and the department of negligence, and stated that the officers should have known Neely would consider it offensive to be led on the rope “as though he was a slave.”

“Neely felt as though he was put on display as slaves once were,” the lawsuit stated.

In a statement at the time, Police Chief Vernon Hale called the tactic a “trained technique and best practice in some scenarios.” However, he said he believed his officers “showed poor judgment,” adding that the department since changed its policy to prevent use of the technique.

A Texas Rangers investigation determined the officers didn’t break the law. Neely’s criminal trespass charge was dismissed in court. His lawsuit also alleges malicious prosecution connected to the charge.

City officials declined to comment on the lawsuit to news outlets.

A status conference was set for January.

Maryland
Case against man linked to extremist group could be near end
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Federal prosecutors and defense attorneys may be close to resolving the criminal case against a Maryland man whom the FBI linked to a violent white supremacist group, a court filing says.

In Friday’s status report, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Windom said efforts to resolve the case against William Bilbrough IV have been “slowed somewhat” by defense attorneys’ ability to confer with their jailed client and “the timing of facility mail,” an apparent reference to the jail.

“The parties expect disposition in this case within the next month. If no such disposition is achieved, the parties propose setting a deadline for an additional status report (on Nov. 9),” Windom wrote.

Bilbrough’s attorney, Robert Bonsib, declined to comment Sunday on the status of the case or WIndom’s court filing.

Bilbrough, of Denton, Maryland, was 19 when FBI agents arrested him and two other men in January as part of a broader investigation of The Base. Authorities said the three men were members of the group and that its goal was to accelerate the overthrow of the U.S. government and replace it with a white supremacist regime. Authorities in Georgia and Wisconsin also arrested four other men linked to The Base.

U.S. Army veteran Brian Mark Lemley Jr., of Elkton, Maryland, and Patrik Mathews, a former Canadian Armed Forces reservist, pleaded not guilty in Maryland to federal charges including transporting a firearm and ammunition with the intent to commit a felony. Bilbrough pleaded not guilty to charges that he helped transport and harbor Mathews, who is accused of illegally entering the U.S. from Canada.

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang hasn’t set a trial date for the case.

Lemley and Mathews discussed “the planning of violence” at a gun rights rally in Richmond, Virginia, in January, according to prosecutors.

Lemley and Mathews also face separate but related federal charges in Delaware, where they shared a home. A closed-circuit television camera and microphone that investigators installed in the home captured Lemley talking about using a thermal imaging scope affixed to his rifle to ambush unsuspecting civilians and police officers, prosecutors said.

“I need to claim my first victim,” Lemley said on Dec. 23, according to prosecutors.

“And the thing is you’ve got tons of guys who ... should be radicalized enough to know that all you gotta do is start making things go wrong and if Virginia can spiral out to ... full blown civil war,” Mathews said, according to prosecutors.

Bilbrough, who worked as a pizza delivery driver and lived with his grandmother, is the only defendant in the case who isn’t facing firearms-related charges. A prosecutor has said Bilbrough participated in early discussions about traveling to Richmond but had tried to distance himself from the group shortly before his arrest.

Illinois
Man charged in hit-and-run death of woman in wheelchair
ST. CHARLES, Ill. (AP) — A suburban Chicago man faces felony charges after he allegedly drove away after hitting and killing an elderly woman crossing the street in her wheelchair, authorities said.

According to the  (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald, St. Charles Police allege that 23-year-old Andrew J. Jensen of St. Charles was driving on South 13th Street on Friday afternoon when his pickup truck struck Helen Radnoti, 88, of Chicago, as she crossed the street with her adult son. She was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Police that Jensen, who drove off, surrendered to police on Friday night.

On Sunday, the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office charged Jensen with felony counts of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in personal injury or death and failure to report an accident or death. He was also cited for failing to yield at a crossswalk.

Jensen was taken into custody and was scheduled to appear in court on Monday for a bond hearing.

Maine
Razor blades found in pizza dough leads to man’s arrest
SACO, Maine (AP) — A man suspected of putting razor blades into fresh pizza dough sold at a Maine supermarket was arrested, officials said.

A customer at the Hannaford’s grocery story in Saco, Maine found razor blades in a Portland Pie brand pizza dough purchased on Oct. 5, authorities said.

Portland Pie-branded products are supplied by It’ll Be Pizza. The man arrested in Dover, New Hampshire, is a former employee of the company, police said.

The police investigation widened in subsequent days to include other tampering cases in Sanford, Maine, and in Dover, New Hampshire.

Hannaford on Sunday issued a recall for all Portland Pie dough and cheese products sold between Aug. 1 and Oct. 11 at its 184 stores in New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

“Out of an abundance of caution, Hannaford has expanded its recall for Portland Pie pizza dough to include all Portland Pie branded products at all Hannaford stores,” said spokesperson Ericka Dodge.

The spokesperson referred other questions Monday to the Saco Police Department, which is leading the investigation.

Nicholas R. Mitchell, 38, of Dover, remained detained Monday on a fugitive from justice charge at the Strafford County Jail in Dover, New Hampshire. The jail didn’t have any information on whether he had a lawyer.
Saco Deputy Police Chief Corey Huntress said the suspect will be extradited back to Maine. Charges will be revealed when he’s arraigned in court in Maine, Huntress said Monday.

Missouri
Ex-youth pastor charged with child sex abuse
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A former youth pastor was charged with seven felonies following accusations he sexually abused a child in Missouri.

Jeff Taylor, 46, of Strafford, Missouri, was charged Thursday with five counts of statutory sodomy and two counts of statutory rape, the Springfield News-Leader reported.

Taylor is accused of sexually abusing a child for several years beginning when the victim was younger than 14. He was booked into the Green County jail Wednesday, a day after the victim reported it to law enforcement.

Taylor allegedly told the Greene County Sheriff’s deputies that he engaged in sexual activity with the victim and said his actions were “based in love,” according to a court document.

Taylor worked at the First Baptist Church in Strafford until a few days, court documents say.

If convicted, he faces a possible life sentence. Online court records do not list an attorney for Taylor.