Wyoming
Woman accused of burning an abortion clinic has reached a plea agreement with prosecutors
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A college student who authorities say admitted setting fire to a building slated to become Wyoming’s only full-service abortion clinic has reached a plea agreement with prosecutors, federal court documents showed Monday.
Details of the proposed plea deal for Lorna Roxanne Green weren’t available to the public pending a judge’s approval of the agreement.
Green, 22, pleaded not guilty to an arson charge in U.S. District Court in Cheyenne in June. Green faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The plea agreement means Green could avoid going to trial, set for July 24.
Reached by phone, Green’s attorney, Ryan Semerad, declined to comment on the plea agreement. Federal prosecutors did not immediately return an email message seeking comment Monday.
Green told investigators she opposed abortion and was experiencing anxiety and having nightmares over the Wellspring Health Access clinic that was to open in Casper, Wyoming, last year, so she decided to burn it, according to court documents.
Investigators say Green broke a window at the clinic, filled aluminum baking pans with gasoline and set it ablaze on May 25, 2022. The clinic, which had drawn anti-abortion protesters, was scheduled to open a few weeks later but was not able to begin seeing patients until April because of the fire damage.
Surveillance video released by police soon after the fire showed a masked woman in a hooded shirt inside the clinic building. But Green was not arrested until March after the reward in the case was increased to $15,000 and tipsters named her as a possible suspect.
The facility is Wyoming’s only dedicated clinic in at least a decade to offer surgical abortions. It also offers abortion pills and women’s health care, the clinic says.
Before Wellspring opened, only one other clinic in Wyoming — a women’s health center in Jackson, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) away — provided medication abortions.
Abortion remains legal in conservative Wyoming although lawmakers passed a law banning abortion except in cases of rape or incest reported to police, or when the mother’s life is in danger. However, a state judge put the ban on hold while an opposing lawsuit proceeds.
Wyoming also became the first state to pass an explicit ban on abortion pills, which have been legal for decades and have become the predominant choice for abortion in the U.S. The same state judge who has put the abortion ban on hold also put the abortion pill ban on hold before it could take effect July 1.
Louisiana
Police chief convicted of taking drug money and family’s COVID stimulus funds
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A small-town police chief in Louisiana was convicted after taking money seized in narcotics investigations and stealing a family’s COVID-19 stimulus money, leaving them homeless, officials said Monday.
A jury last week found Mitch Bratton guilty of malfeasance in office, felony theft and possession of controlled dangerous substances, the state Attorney General’s office said in a news release. Bratton was recently reelected as chief of police in Grayson, a village of just more than 500 people in Caldwell Parish, south of Monroe.
It is unclear if Bratton is currently serving as chief of police. Officials for Grayson or the village’s police department could not immediately be reached for comment.
While serving as chief of police, Bratton was personally responsible for more than $10,000 in narcotics funds that went missing between 2016 and 2019, the release said.
Additionally, Bratton was convicted on one count of felony theft related to monies taken from a mother and son during the course of an arrest.
“That money was their COVID stimulus and had been set aside for home expenses. As a result of this theft, that family was unable to pay their bills, lost their home, and are still homeless to this day,” the press release stated.
During a search of his vehicle, State Police found Xanax and Suboxone loose inside — evidence from other drug cases that had not been documented, the Attorney General’s office said.
Bratton is scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 19. He faces up to five years in prison for each count.
Massachusetts
Mistrial for man charged with killing law officer and a bystander
DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — The trial of a Massachusetts man charged with killing a police officer and an innocent bystander while fleeing a car crash was declared a mistrial on Monday because the jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict.
Emanuel Lopes, 25, pleaded not guilty to 11 charges, including two counts of murder, in connection with the killings in July 2018. Prosecutors say he shot Weymouth police Sgt. Michael Chesna, 42, a military veteran and married father of two, as well as bystander Vera Adams, a 77-year-old widow.
Chesna’s widow sobbed when the mistrial was announced by Norfolk Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone after a monthlong trial including about two weeks of jury deliberations.
Prosecutor Greg Connor said Lopes was a calculating killer, but the defense said in court that he lacked criminal responsibility because he had a long history of mental illness and was in “a state of oblivion” on the day of the killings.
Chesna’s family declined comment when they left the courthouse.
Outside, Weymouth police Chief Richard Fuller said the department is “extremely disappointed,” with the mistrial but insisted that “We will have justice.”
The Norfolk district attorney’s office says it will retry the case.
Lopes was fleeing the scene of a minor car crash and Chesna was investigating. Prosecutors say Lopes threw a large rock at the officer’s head, knocking him to the ground unconscious, then grabbed the officer’s gun and shot him multiple times.
As he fled, Lopes shot Adams, who was on her porch. When he was caught, Chesna’s service weapon was out of ammunition, authorities said.
Florida
Trump lawyers ask judge to postpone trial without setting a date
MIAMI (AP) — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump are asking a judge to postpone his criminal trial without setting a new date as he stands accused of illegally hoarding classified documents at his Florida estate.
In a late Monday filing, Trump’s defense attorneys said the case was “extraordinary,” with a large volume of documents and footage to be reviewed as the former president leads the race for the Republican nomination to unseat President Joe Biden. They cited challenges to select jurors and concerns about whether he would get a fair trial if scheduled before the November 2024 election.
“The government’s request to begin a trial of this magnitude within six months of indictment is unreasonable, telling, and would result in a miscarriage of justice,” said the document filed by Chris Kise, one of Trump’s lawyers.
The Justice Department had previously proposed to set the trial date for Dec. 11.
Earlier on Monday, Trump’s lawyers filed paperwork saying they agreed with federal prosecutors to delay to next week a pretrial hearing that specifically discusses how classified information is handled in court.
The hearing to discuss the Classified Information Procedures Act had previously been set for Friday. But an attorney for Trump’s valet Walt Nauta, who was charged alongside the former president, said he has another bench trial this week in Washington preventing him from appearing Friday in South Florida.
The attorneys said in their filing that they can appear at the pretrial conference to go over the 1980 law on July 18, adding they had also checked with U.S. attorneys on moving the date.
The judge in the case, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, still needs to agree to the new date.
Trump and Nauta were charged in a 38-count indictment with conspiring to hide classified documents at Mar-a-Lago from federal investigators. Both men have pleaded not guilty.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has slammed the prosecution as an effort to hurt his bid to reclaim the White House in 2024.
Connecticut
Ex-UConn football player ordered re-arrested on brick-throwing charges at ESPN
A judge has ordered the re-arrest of former UConn football player Dennis Hernandez after he failed to appear in court last week on charges related to throwing a brick at the ESPN campus in Bristol, Connecticut.
The 37-year-old, who was known as DJ Hernandez when he played quarterback and wide receiver at UConn in the mid-2000s, was originally arrested in March. Police said he went to ESPN in a car, possibly an Uber, and threw a bag containing a brick and a note over a fence and onto the property before leaving.
The note said: “To all media outlets, It’s about time you all realeyes the affect media has on all family members. Since you’re a world wide leader maybe you could lead how media and messages are delivered brick by brick. Clean it up! Yours truly, Dennis J. Hernandez,” according to police.
Hernandez, the older brother of the late New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez, was scheduled to enter a plea on July 7 to a misdemeanor charge of breach of peace. He did not show up for that court appearance, according to court records.
No lawyers for Hernandez are listed in court records. Email messages sent to several addresses associated with him were not immediately returned. A phone message seeking comment was also left at the public defender’s office. Hernandez grew up in Bristol and recently had lived in Florida.
His younger brother, Aaron Hernandez, a tight end for the Patriots, killed himself in 2017 in a prison cell while serving a murder sentence.
In March, Bristol police said they received an anonymous complaint from someone who said they were concerned about Dennis Hernandez because he said he wanted to destroy property at the state Capitol and at ESPN.
ESPN has declined comment other than to say in a statement that it is cooperating with police.
Illinois
Man arrested after girl, 10, fatally assaulted
ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) — A suburban Chicago man has been charged with murder and kidnapping in connection with the death of a 10-year-old girl in Rockford, police said.
The girl was reported missing about noon Saturday after her 6-year-old sister told their mother that a man had taken the two girls while they were outside playing, Rockford police said. The younger girl was able to get away, news outlets reported.
Officers found the older girl unresponsive about 12:40 p.m. outside a home, police said. She was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. It wasn’t clear Monday how exactly the girl died. Her name hasn’t been released.
Antonio Monroe, 44, of Blue Island, matched a description of the suspect and was arrested a short time later about a block away, police said.
Monroe was charged with two felony counts of kidnapping and one felony count each of murder, attempted murder and aggravated battery.
It wasn’t clear whether he has an attorney who might comment on the allegations against him.
