Tennessee
Woman won't face murder charges for abortion effort
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) - A Tennessee woman accused of trying to end her pregnancy with a coat hanger will not face attempted murder charges, her attorney said Monday.
Anna Yocca was charged with attempted first-degree murder when she was arrested in Murfreesboro in December.
According to police, Yocca filled a bathtub with water and attempted to self-abort last September. After she began bleeding, her boyfriend took her to a hospital where doctors delivered a 24-week-old, 1.5-pound boy. Doctors said the child will need medical support for the rest of his life because of the injuries he sustained. He is in state custody.
Public Defender Gerald Melton had asked the judge to dismiss the charge against Yocca, arguing that state law doesn't allow a pregnant woman to be charged with murdering her own fetus.
In court on Monday, Melton said the prosecutor in the case has agreed to bring a new indictment against Yocca before the grand jury next week. Melton told reporters outside the courtroom he anticipates the new charge will be aggravated assault.
"We're now in more realistic legal territory," Melton said.
Assistant District Attorney General Hugh Ammerman said he does not want to comment on the charges until after the grand jury meeting.
Melton said Yocca will have a psychiatric evaluation.
She is currently being held on a $200,000 bond, but he said the new indictment should carry a substantially lower bond.
He said he will be discussing her bond and release with the district attorney's office.
In the meantime, he said, "I see her every week. I think she's doing all right."
Massachusetts
Brothers charged with stealing from home of dead man
MILFORD, Mass. (AP) - Two brothers from Massachusetts are facing charges after police say they broke into a home and found the resident dead, but instead of calling authorities, stole the man's belongings.
Thirty-eight-year-old Mark Landry and 37-year-old Steven Landry, both of Bellingham, were held on $100,000 bail each after pleading not guilty at their arraignment Monday to breaking and entering and larceny.
Police say the brothers broke into the home and found the 68-year-old resident's body. He had apparently been dead for weeks. Police say the brothers returned to the home several times and stole electronics, medication, copper piping, checkbooks and even a vehicle.
Police were tipped off by someone who says the brothers tried to cash the dead man's checks.
Lawyers for the brothers denied the allegations during the arraignment.
Illinois
Police: Homicides rise while illegal gun seizures fall
CHICAGO (AP) - Chicago police say there have been about twice as many homicides and shootings so far this year as in the same period in 2015, but that the number of illegal guns seized has dropped.
On Tuesday, the department said there were 95 homicides and more than 400 shooting incidents as of the end of February.
But the department has seized at least 110 fewer illegal guns than in the same period last year. Along with a dramatic drop in the number of street stops made by officers, that total adds to evidence that the release of a video showing the fatal police shooting of Laquan McDonald - and the subsequent scrutiny it put the department under - has led to officers being less aggressive in efforts to combat crime.
Virginia
Witnesses dispute police claim that man shot himself
WINCHESTER, Va. (AP) - Virginia State Police say they're investigating after a man was shot and killed while being chased by Winchester police.
Authorities say he shot himself but witnesses dispute that.
In a news release, police say officers responding to a report of a fight Sunday afternoon found two people who then fled. Police say 20-year-old D'Londre Minifield stopped and fired a gun as officers approached, dying from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police say no officers opened fire.
Minifield's body was taken to the medical examiner's office for an autopsy.
Media outlets and police report that about 100 people gathered Monday at a protest including some who challenged the police department's version of events.
Eighteen-year-old Quay Pannell told The Winchester Star he was traveling in a car about 50 yards away and saw a police officer aiming a gun at Minifield and said the gun went off. Twenty-four-year-old Kayla Friesen says she saw police shoot Minifield as he was about to climb a fence.
Florida
Search is on for man who took cookie money
DELTONA, Fla. (AP) - Authorities are searching for a man they say grabbed a box of money from a table where a 12-year-old girl was selling Girl Scout cookies outside a central Florida Wal-Mart.
Volusia County Sheriff's spokesman Andrew Gant says the man ran to the parking lot Sunday afternoon and got into the passenger seat of a waiting car.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports surveillance video from the store showed the man approaching the store with a woman and small child before the theft.
Gant says the group walked back to the car and waited a few minutes before the man returned and took the money.
The sheriff's office didn't say how much money was stolen. An investigation continues.
Virginia
Parents file suit against officer who killed son
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - The parents of a man shot to death by a Virginia officer have filed a lawsuit against the officer.
The Virginian-Pilot reports that Audrey and Glennis Latham filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Norfolk officer Michael Carlton Edington Jr. in Norfolk Circuit Court on Monday. The lawsuit comes 20 months after Edington shot 35-year-old David Latham.
The lawsuit seeks $9 million and accuses Edington of using excessive force and illegally shooting Latham.
Police have said Edington shot Latham in June 2014, after Latham threatened the officer with a knife. The Lathams' lawyer, John Cooper, says Latham didn't act aggressively during the event.
Latham had been suffering from mental health problems.
Edington's lawyer, Jeffrey Swartz, did not comment, saying he hadn't read the lawsuit.
Edington was charged with voluntary manslaughter in June. A trial is scheduled for September.
Published: Wed, Mar 02, 2016
