Court Digest

Illinois
Man sentenced to 12 years for terror aid effort

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge has sentenced a suburban Chicago man to 12 years in prison for trying to help the Islamic State terrorist group by providing cellphones to be used as bomb detonators.

Joseph Jones, 38, of Zion was sentenced Wednesday after a jury convicted him in 2019 of conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization.

Prosecutors sought a 17-year term while Jones’ attorneys sought a sentence of time served, nearly four years.

Jones asked to speak during the hearing Wednesday, saying, “I am not a terrorist. I never had any intention of doing anything involving this crime. I allowed these people (investigators) to play on my sympathies.”

Minnesota
Man gets 30 years for running over and killing girlfriend

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Robbinsdale man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for killing his girlfriend by running over her with a vehicle and dragging her.

Jordan Jefferson, 30, was sentenced Wednesday after a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder and two counts of felony assault.

Jefferson was accused of killing of 28-year-old Ochea Brown last May in north Minneapolis by running her over and continuing to drive with her body trapped under the vehicle.

Jefferson was also found guilty of assaulting Brown and another woman who was in the vehicle. The witness told investigators Jefferson and Brown began arguing and that he punched her and told her to get out of the vehicle.

According to a complaint, Jefferson sped toward Brown, struck her and dragged her until he hit a house. Jefferson put her back in the vehicle and drove away only to crash again later.

During sentencing, Jefferson finally admitted to killing Brown after adamantly denying it during his trial.

Judge Martha A. Holton Dimick told Jefferson that she found his attempt to accept responsibility and show remorse only after being convicted by the jury as manipulative and insincere.

Ohio
Man admits paying poor Filipino moms for child porn

SIDNEY, Ohio (AP) — A registered sex offender from Ohio man has admitted using dating sites to connect with impoverished women in the Philippines and offering them money in return for sexually explicit photos of their children.

Charles Lee Frazier, 41, of Sidney, pleaded guilty Wednesday to attempting to produce child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio. He faces at least 25 years in prison and up to 50 years when he’s sentenced later this year.

Frazier also sent the mothers child porn images and discussed committing violent acts against children, prosecutors said.

Frazier sent money to women in the Philippines from April through July 2019, prosecutors said. Among them was a mother who said she needed the money for food.

Wisconsin
Judge denies plea withdrawal effort in 2018 crash

CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. (AP) — A judge has rejected a request to withdraw no contest pleas by a man convicted of causing a western Wisconsin crash that killed three Girl Scouts and a mother in 2018.

Colten Treu was sentenced to 54 years in prison after entering the pleas to four counts of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and one count of hit-and-run causing great bodily harm.

Treu’s new lawyer, Dennis Schertz, contends that Treu’s original attorneys “erroneously advised” him that he could still appeal his denied request for a change of venue, even after entering a plea.

Treu testified via video from prison Wednesday that he would not have entered a plea in the case, and would have gone to trial, if he had known that he would not be able to appeal the failed motion, the Leader Telegram reported.

Chippewa County Judge James Isaacson told Treu in denying his request that there is no evidence of improper advice by his original attorneys.

Authorities said Treu was huffing from an aerosol canister before he crashed his pickup truck into the victims as they picked up trash along a highway. He then drove away.

The four people killed were Jayna Kelley, 9, and Autumn Helgeson, 10, both of Lake Hallie, Wisconsin; and Haylee Hickle, 10, and her mother, Sara Jo Schneider, 32, both of the Town of Lafayette, Wisconsin.

A 10-year-old girl was injured in the crash and was hospitalized for three weeks.

The girls were fourth-graders and members of Troop 3055 in nearby Chippewa Falls.

New York
Settlement reached in teen athlete’s training drill death

FARMINGVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — The mother of a high school football player who died in New York after a 400-pound (181-kg) log fell on him during a military-style training drill has settled her lawsuit over the teen’s death for a seven-figure sum, according to her lawyers.

The family of 16-year-old Joshua Mileto, who was killed in the offseason training exercise in 2017, will use the settlement funds for academic and athletic scholarships in Mileto’s memory, Marcelo A. Buitrago, an attorney for the family, told Newsday.

Some of the money will go toward advocacy for policies to tighten youth-sports safety regulations, Buitrago said.

“They don’t want anything from this. This was never about the money for them,” he said. “This was about preventing it from happening again.”

Mileto, of Farmingville on Long Island, was participating in an Aug. 10, 2017, football training camp at Sachem East High School when the massive log he was carrying with several teammates fell and hit him on the head. The 5-foot-6, 134-pound (1.7-meter, 60-kg) Mileto was declared dead at a hospital.

The lawsuit, filed by Mileto’s mother, Sayyida Lynn Archarski-Mileto, against Sachem Central School District and the Sachem East Touchdown Club, a booster group that sponsored the camp, alleged negligence and wrongful death. Details of the settlement reached last month are bound by a confidentiality agreement, Buitrago said.

School district superintendent Christopher J. Pellettieri said through a spokesperson: “The district was recently notified of a settlement agreement pertaining to this accident. Although this announcement signifies closure to the legal component of this tragedy, the grief, loss and continued efforts to heal and unite will remain for years to come.”

A separate lawsuit brought by families of players who saw Mileto die was dismissed by a state appeals court in 2019 on timeliness grounds.

Alabama
Trial date set for suspended DA

OPELIKA, Ala. (AP) — A suspended Alabama prosecutor facing ethics violations has a trial set for this summer.

Lee County District Attorney Brandon Hughes was arraigned on seven felony counts during a hearing Wednesday. He pleaded not guilty to five ethics violations, conspiracy to commit theft and perjury, WBRC-TV reported.

Appointed Circuit Judge Pamela Baschab set Hughes’ ethics trial for June.

Hughes was indicted in November. Less than 24 hours after the indictment, he was arrested in Montgomery County for a single perjury count for reportedly giving false information to the Alabama Ethics Commission. That count is currently bound over for grand jury consideration.

The indictment accuses Hughes of using public funds to pay attorneys to settle a private legal matter. Subsequent testimony given during a hearing in December suggested Hughes used public funds to litigate a settlement in a sex discrimination lawsuit filed by a former employee.

Additionally, court documents accuse Hughes of illegally hiring his children and issuing a subpoena to a private business to gather evidence for his potential criminal defense. He’s also charged with conspiring to steal a pickup from a business in Chambers County by using a Lee County search warrant.

Hughes maintains his innocence on all counts.

A judge appointed a longtime prosecutor from the office to serve as acting district attorney while Hughes’ case is completed.

Ohio
Federal judge extends stay on state heartbeat abortion ban

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A federal judge extended a temporary stay on Ohio’s 2019 “heartbeat” abortion ban on Wednesday, saying he will delay a decision on whether to permanently block the law until two intertwined abortion cases are decided.

U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett’s order means that enforcement of the law signed by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in April 2019 will remain on hold. Lawyers for Ohio abortion providers have asked Barrett to block the law permanently.

The measure would prohibit abortions after the first detectable fetal heartbeat, which can occur as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant. That fact has prompted opponents to argue that it effectively banned the procedure. The measure was twice vetoed by then-Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, before DeWine signed it.

Barrett wrote that he needs to see what happens in a case against a similar Tennessee law and in another case pending against an Ohio law that banned abortions in cases in which a fetal Down syndrome diagnosis is a factor in choosing the procedure.

In issuing his temporary injunction, Barrett concluded that the lawsuit against the Ohio heartbeat law would certainly succeed because the ban places an undue burden on a woman’s constitutional right to choose an abortion before a fetus is viable outside the womb.


Connecticut
Police sued over death of woman by ex-husband

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut police department is being sued over the 2019 shooting death of a 70-year-old woman by her ex-husband, on allegations officers could have prevented the killing.

James Taylor, a former owner of a garbage hauling company, broke into the Fairfield home of his ex-wife, Catherine Taylor, and fatally shot her in the head as she tried to flee, police said. James Taylor also tried to shoot his stepson, Donald Garamella, who disarmed James Taylor and held him until police arrived.

Garamella sued Fairfield police on Tuesday, saying officers were notified two days before the shooting that James Taylor was acting dangerously and had threatened his ex-wife, the Connecticut Post reported. Police were also informed at the time that Taylor had firearms, but police did not seize them, the lawsuit said.

Garamella is seeking unspecified damages.

Town Attorney James Baldwin declined comment on the lawsuit.

In a response to the lawsuit filed Thursday in Bridgeport Superior Court, lawyers for the town denied police were liable for the shooting and said the lawsuit is barred by government immunity.

James Taylor was charged with murder and other crimes. Six months after the shooting, he killed himself while free on $2 million bail, police said.

Kansas
Lawsuit in injuring of police officer set for trial

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A lawsuit filed by the family of a Wichita police officer who suffered brain injuries when he was run over by a stolen car is scheduled to go to trial on Aug. 9.

Officer Brian Arterburn was critically injured in February 2017 when he was hit by the car while putting down stop sticks during a police pursuit. He was treated in hospitals in Colorado and Texas before returning to Wichita and taking a medical retirement from the force.

The family is seeking $75 million plus punitive damages from Eddy’s Chevrolet Cadillac and its owners, and the car’s driver, Justin Terrazas. The lawsuit contends the dealership did not report the car was stolen for two months before the chase, despite being told it was being used for criminal activity, The Wichita Eagle reported.

The dealership has said previously that the vehicle was stolen and that it has “no clear understanding” of how Terrazas had it in his possession. Terrazas has refused to answer questions posed by The Eagle about where he got the Tahoe.

Terrazas is serving a sentence of more than 28 years after pleading guilty to several charges related to the incident.