Pennsylvania
Defense calls prosecutors’ case against woman in 2019 deaths of 2 kids ‘conjecture’
READING, Pa. (AP) — A defense attorney has dismissed as “conjecture” the prosecution’s case against a Pennsylvania woman charged with killing her two young children, who were found hanging in the basement of their home five years ago.
Lisa Snyder, 41, is charged with first- and second-degree murder, child endangerment and evidence-tampering in the September 2019 deaths of 4-year-old Brinley and 8-year-old Conner, who were taken off life support and died three days after they were found in the home in Albany Township, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia.
After Berks County prosecutors rested their case late Friday morning, defense attorney Dennis Charles unsuccessfully sought an immediate acquittal, calling the case based on speculation and theory and “all guesswork,” The Reading Eagle reported.
Snyder had told police her son was bullied and had threatened to take his life, but authorities said they found no evidence to support her claim. The boy displayed no signs of trouble that day on a school bus security video. An occupational therapist later said he wasn’t physically capable of causing that kind of harm to himself or his little sister.
Police also cited the defendant’s online searches for information about suicide, death by hanging and how to kill someone as well as episodes of a documentary crime series called “I Almost Got Away With It.” Snyder also admitted going to a store to buy a dog lead on the day the children were found hanging from it, authorities said.
Charles said internet searches on suicide, hangings, carbon monoxide poisoning and drug overdoses indicated suicidal thoughts on her part rather than an intention to kill her children. He also said prosecutors lacked physical evidence to support their case, and a recording of Snyder’s 911 call and descriptions of her by emergency responders were consistent with what one would expect from a mother finding her children hanging.
“All you have is conjecture,” Charles said. Defense attorneys have also argued that if Snyder is determined to have killed her children, they planned to argue that she was insane and unable to tell right from wrong when she did so.
A judge last year rejected a plea agreement under which Snyder would have pleaded no contest but mentally ill to two counts of third-degree murder. Prosecutors earlier indicated an intention to seek the death penalty.
Texas
Cards Against Humanity sues Musk’s SpaceX over alleged trespassing
The maker of the popular party game Cards Against Humanity is accusing Elon Musk’s SpaceX of trespassing on and damaging a plot of vacant land the company owns in Texas.
In a lawsuit filed this week at a Texas court, Cards Against Humanity alleges SpaceX has essentially treated the game company’s property — located in Cameron County — as its own for at least the past six months.
The lawsuit said SpaceX, which had previously acquired other plots of land near the property, has placed construction materials, such as gravel, and other debris on the land without asking for permission to do so.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cards Against Humanity, which is headquartered in Chicago, had purchased the plot of land in 2017 as part of what it said was a stunt to oppose former president Donald Trump’s efforts to build a border wall.
The company said 150,000 people had each contributed $15 towards the effort.
Over the years, Cards Against Humanity says the land has been maintained in its natural state. It also says it contained a “no trespassing” sign to warn people they were about to step on private property.
The company is asking for $15 million in damages, which it says includes a loss of vegetation on the land.
Mississippi
Judge dismisses lawsuit seeking to protect dolphins along Gulf Coast
GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to protect dolphins along the Mississippi Gulf Coast after dozens were killed or sickened in 2019 following the prolonged opening of a spillway used for flood control.
U.S. District Court Judge Louis Guirola Jr. ruled Wednesday that local governments and business groups that filed the civil complaint in January had no legal standing to sue. The judge said the plaintiffs, who called themselves the Mississippi Sound Coalition, failed to show they faced imminent harm.
The coalition had sued the Army Corps of Engineers over its operation of the Bonnet Carre’ Spillway upriver from New Orleans. The spillway is used to divert Mississippi River water to Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne, after which it flows to the Mississippi Sound in the Gulf of Mexico.
When the river is high, opening the spillway eases pressure on the levees that protect New Orleans. However, it also flushes pollutants and nutrients into the Mississippi Sound and reduces salinity.
The coalition’s lawsuit said that polluted freshwater flowing into the Gulf in 2019, when the spillway for opened 120 total days, left dead and sickened bottlenose dolphins stranded along Mississippi beaches. One expert quoted in the lawsuit said 142 sick and dead dolphins washed onshore.
The coalition said the grisly sight tarnished tourism and seafood industries that are vital to the area’s economy.
The group’s attorneys argued the Marine Mammal Protection Act requires Army Corps and other agencies to obtain a U.S. Department of Commerce permit when their actions may kill, harm or harass animals like the bottlenose dolphin. They wanted a judge to order the Army Corps to seek permits before future operations of the Bonnet Carre’ Spillway.
The judge sided with the Army Corps in ruling that the coalition failed to show that it faces imminent harm from future spillway openings because their frequency and duration are unpredictable — as is the potential threat to dolphins.
The judge noted that the coalition presented no evidence that dolphins were harmed when the spillway was last opened in 2020, or during prior openings in 2018 and 2016.
“The possibility of future harm claimed by Plaintiffs is too speculative,” the judge wrote.
Robert Wiygul, an attorney for the Mississippi Sound Coalition, did not immediately reply to an email message Saturday.
New York
Jury awards $116M to family of passenger killed in no-door helicopter crash
NEW YORK (AP) — A jury has awarded $116 million to the family of one of five people killed in a no-door helicopter that crashed and sank in a New York City river, leaving passengers trapped in their safety harnesses.
The verdict came Thursday in the lawsuit over the death of Trevor Cadigan, who was 26 when he took the doomed flight in March 2018.
It was, family lawyer Gary C. Robb said Friday, “a death trap.”
“They just completely misled the public about the ability to get out in an emergency” from the harnesses, which were store-bought fall-protection gear envisioned for construction workers, not aviation use, he said.
Messages seeking comment were sent Friday to lawyers for the companies that jurors blamed for his death.
The jury decided 42% of the fault lay with FlyNYON, which arranged the flight, and 38% with Liberty Helicopters, which owned the helicopter and supplied the pilot. Jurors assigned 20% of the liability to Dart Aerospace, which made a flotation device that malfunctioned in the crash.
The chopper plunged into the East River after a passenger tether got caught on a floor-mounted fuel shutoff switch and stopped the engine, federal investigators found. The aircraft started sinking within seconds.
The pilot, who was wearing a seatbelt, was able to free himself and survived. But the five passengers struggled in vain to free themselves from their harnesses, the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation found.
All five died. They were Cadigan; Brian McDaniel, 26; Carla Vallejos Blanco, 29; Tristan Hill, 29; and Daniel Thompson, 34.
Cadigan, a journalist, had recently moved to New York from Dallas and was enjoying a visit from his childhood friend McDaniel, a Dallas firefighter.
The NTSB largely blamed FlyNYON, saying it installed hard-to-escape harnesses and exploited a regulatory loophole to avoid having to meet safety requirements that would apply to tourist flights.
FlyNYON promoted “sneaker selfies” — images of passengers’ feet dangling over lower Manhattan — but told employees to avoid using such terms as “air tour” or “sightseeing” so the company could maintain a certification with less stringent safety standards, investigators said. The company got the certification via an exemption meant for such activities as newsgathering, commercial photography and film shoots.
In submissions to the NTSB, FlyNYON faulted the helicopter’s design and the flotation system, which failed to keep the aircraft upright. DART Aerospace, in turn, suggested the pilot hadn’t used the system properly. The pilot told the NTSB that the passengers had a pre-flight safety briefing and were told how to cut themselves out of the restraint harnesses.
After the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily grounded doors-off flights with tight seat restraints. The flights later resumed with requirements for restraints that can be released with just a single action.
Robb said Cadigan’s parents sued in hopes of stopping the no-doors flights.
His father, Dallas broadcast journalist Jerry Cadigan, died in July in St. Louis, while visiting relatives during a break in the roughly three-month-long trial in Manhattan.
“He didn’t see the final journey to justice,” Robb said, “but he knew it was coming.”
Vermont
Police Officer pleads not guilty to aggravated assault
ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont police officer pleaded not guilty on Monday to aggravated assault accusing him of using excessive force while attempting to arrest a man in St. Johnsbury in May.
St. Johnsbury police Sgt. George Johnson did not have sufficient cause to stop John Stelzl, 35, who was walking on a street near a bridge on May 10, state police said. A physical altercation ensued and Johnson used excessive force on Stelzl, who was taken to the hospital for treatment of significant injuries, state police said. Stelzl was later released from the hospital, police said.
Police did not provide any details on the type of force allegedly used or Stelzl’s injuries.
A lawyer for Johnson said in a statement on Monday that his client “is confident that, if given the time and grace to defend himself in a court of law, the community will agree that his conduct was both lawful and justified.”
He said Johnson and his family “are grateful for the overwhelming community support and messages they’ve been receiving.”
Stelzl was originally charged with multiple violations. The Caledonia County prosecutor’s office dismissed the charges after a review of Johnson’s body-camera footage, police said.
Caledonia County State’s Attorney Jessica Zaleski told the St. Johnsbury’s police chief that she was concerned about Johnson’s use of force, state police said. Chief Joel Pierce referred the case to the Vermont State Police for an independent investigation. Pierce did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment on Johnson’s employment status.
Zaleski recused herself and asked the Grand Isle County state’s attorney to review the matter for criminal charges.
Defense calls prosecutors’ case against woman in 2019 deaths of 2 kids ‘conjecture’
READING, Pa. (AP) — A defense attorney has dismissed as “conjecture” the prosecution’s case against a Pennsylvania woman charged with killing her two young children, who were found hanging in the basement of their home five years ago.
Lisa Snyder, 41, is charged with first- and second-degree murder, child endangerment and evidence-tampering in the September 2019 deaths of 4-year-old Brinley and 8-year-old Conner, who were taken off life support and died three days after they were found in the home in Albany Township, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia.
After Berks County prosecutors rested their case late Friday morning, defense attorney Dennis Charles unsuccessfully sought an immediate acquittal, calling the case based on speculation and theory and “all guesswork,” The Reading Eagle reported.
Snyder had told police her son was bullied and had threatened to take his life, but authorities said they found no evidence to support her claim. The boy displayed no signs of trouble that day on a school bus security video. An occupational therapist later said he wasn’t physically capable of causing that kind of harm to himself or his little sister.
Police also cited the defendant’s online searches for information about suicide, death by hanging and how to kill someone as well as episodes of a documentary crime series called “I Almost Got Away With It.” Snyder also admitted going to a store to buy a dog lead on the day the children were found hanging from it, authorities said.
Charles said internet searches on suicide, hangings, carbon monoxide poisoning and drug overdoses indicated suicidal thoughts on her part rather than an intention to kill her children. He also said prosecutors lacked physical evidence to support their case, and a recording of Snyder’s 911 call and descriptions of her by emergency responders were consistent with what one would expect from a mother finding her children hanging.
“All you have is conjecture,” Charles said. Defense attorneys have also argued that if Snyder is determined to have killed her children, they planned to argue that she was insane and unable to tell right from wrong when she did so.
A judge last year rejected a plea agreement under which Snyder would have pleaded no contest but mentally ill to two counts of third-degree murder. Prosecutors earlier indicated an intention to seek the death penalty.
Texas
Cards Against Humanity sues Musk’s SpaceX over alleged trespassing
The maker of the popular party game Cards Against Humanity is accusing Elon Musk’s SpaceX of trespassing on and damaging a plot of vacant land the company owns in Texas.
In a lawsuit filed this week at a Texas court, Cards Against Humanity alleges SpaceX has essentially treated the game company’s property — located in Cameron County — as its own for at least the past six months.
The lawsuit said SpaceX, which had previously acquired other plots of land near the property, has placed construction materials, such as gravel, and other debris on the land without asking for permission to do so.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cards Against Humanity, which is headquartered in Chicago, had purchased the plot of land in 2017 as part of what it said was a stunt to oppose former president Donald Trump’s efforts to build a border wall.
The company said 150,000 people had each contributed $15 towards the effort.
Over the years, Cards Against Humanity says the land has been maintained in its natural state. It also says it contained a “no trespassing” sign to warn people they were about to step on private property.
The company is asking for $15 million in damages, which it says includes a loss of vegetation on the land.
Mississippi
Judge dismisses lawsuit seeking to protect dolphins along Gulf Coast
GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to protect dolphins along the Mississippi Gulf Coast after dozens were killed or sickened in 2019 following the prolonged opening of a spillway used for flood control.
U.S. District Court Judge Louis Guirola Jr. ruled Wednesday that local governments and business groups that filed the civil complaint in January had no legal standing to sue. The judge said the plaintiffs, who called themselves the Mississippi Sound Coalition, failed to show they faced imminent harm.
The coalition had sued the Army Corps of Engineers over its operation of the Bonnet Carre’ Spillway upriver from New Orleans. The spillway is used to divert Mississippi River water to Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne, after which it flows to the Mississippi Sound in the Gulf of Mexico.
When the river is high, opening the spillway eases pressure on the levees that protect New Orleans. However, it also flushes pollutants and nutrients into the Mississippi Sound and reduces salinity.
The coalition’s lawsuit said that polluted freshwater flowing into the Gulf in 2019, when the spillway for opened 120 total days, left dead and sickened bottlenose dolphins stranded along Mississippi beaches. One expert quoted in the lawsuit said 142 sick and dead dolphins washed onshore.
The coalition said the grisly sight tarnished tourism and seafood industries that are vital to the area’s economy.
The group’s attorneys argued the Marine Mammal Protection Act requires Army Corps and other agencies to obtain a U.S. Department of Commerce permit when their actions may kill, harm or harass animals like the bottlenose dolphin. They wanted a judge to order the Army Corps to seek permits before future operations of the Bonnet Carre’ Spillway.
The judge sided with the Army Corps in ruling that the coalition failed to show that it faces imminent harm from future spillway openings because their frequency and duration are unpredictable — as is the potential threat to dolphins.
The judge noted that the coalition presented no evidence that dolphins were harmed when the spillway was last opened in 2020, or during prior openings in 2018 and 2016.
“The possibility of future harm claimed by Plaintiffs is too speculative,” the judge wrote.
Robert Wiygul, an attorney for the Mississippi Sound Coalition, did not immediately reply to an email message Saturday.
New York
Jury awards $116M to family of passenger killed in no-door helicopter crash
NEW YORK (AP) — A jury has awarded $116 million to the family of one of five people killed in a no-door helicopter that crashed and sank in a New York City river, leaving passengers trapped in their safety harnesses.
The verdict came Thursday in the lawsuit over the death of Trevor Cadigan, who was 26 when he took the doomed flight in March 2018.
It was, family lawyer Gary C. Robb said Friday, “a death trap.”
“They just completely misled the public about the ability to get out in an emergency” from the harnesses, which were store-bought fall-protection gear envisioned for construction workers, not aviation use, he said.
Messages seeking comment were sent Friday to lawyers for the companies that jurors blamed for his death.
The jury decided 42% of the fault lay with FlyNYON, which arranged the flight, and 38% with Liberty Helicopters, which owned the helicopter and supplied the pilot. Jurors assigned 20% of the liability to Dart Aerospace, which made a flotation device that malfunctioned in the crash.
The chopper plunged into the East River after a passenger tether got caught on a floor-mounted fuel shutoff switch and stopped the engine, federal investigators found. The aircraft started sinking within seconds.
The pilot, who was wearing a seatbelt, was able to free himself and survived. But the five passengers struggled in vain to free themselves from their harnesses, the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation found.
All five died. They were Cadigan; Brian McDaniel, 26; Carla Vallejos Blanco, 29; Tristan Hill, 29; and Daniel Thompson, 34.
Cadigan, a journalist, had recently moved to New York from Dallas and was enjoying a visit from his childhood friend McDaniel, a Dallas firefighter.
The NTSB largely blamed FlyNYON, saying it installed hard-to-escape harnesses and exploited a regulatory loophole to avoid having to meet safety requirements that would apply to tourist flights.
FlyNYON promoted “sneaker selfies” — images of passengers’ feet dangling over lower Manhattan — but told employees to avoid using such terms as “air tour” or “sightseeing” so the company could maintain a certification with less stringent safety standards, investigators said. The company got the certification via an exemption meant for such activities as newsgathering, commercial photography and film shoots.
In submissions to the NTSB, FlyNYON faulted the helicopter’s design and the flotation system, which failed to keep the aircraft upright. DART Aerospace, in turn, suggested the pilot hadn’t used the system properly. The pilot told the NTSB that the passengers had a pre-flight safety briefing and were told how to cut themselves out of the restraint harnesses.
After the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily grounded doors-off flights with tight seat restraints. The flights later resumed with requirements for restraints that can be released with just a single action.
Robb said Cadigan’s parents sued in hopes of stopping the no-doors flights.
His father, Dallas broadcast journalist Jerry Cadigan, died in July in St. Louis, while visiting relatives during a break in the roughly three-month-long trial in Manhattan.
“He didn’t see the final journey to justice,” Robb said, “but he knew it was coming.”
Vermont
Police Officer pleads not guilty to aggravated assault
ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont police officer pleaded not guilty on Monday to aggravated assault accusing him of using excessive force while attempting to arrest a man in St. Johnsbury in May.
St. Johnsbury police Sgt. George Johnson did not have sufficient cause to stop John Stelzl, 35, who was walking on a street near a bridge on May 10, state police said. A physical altercation ensued and Johnson used excessive force on Stelzl, who was taken to the hospital for treatment of significant injuries, state police said. Stelzl was later released from the hospital, police said.
Police did not provide any details on the type of force allegedly used or Stelzl’s injuries.
A lawyer for Johnson said in a statement on Monday that his client “is confident that, if given the time and grace to defend himself in a court of law, the community will agree that his conduct was both lawful and justified.”
He said Johnson and his family “are grateful for the overwhelming community support and messages they’ve been receiving.”
Stelzl was originally charged with multiple violations. The Caledonia County prosecutor’s office dismissed the charges after a review of Johnson’s body-camera footage, police said.
Caledonia County State’s Attorney Jessica Zaleski told the St. Johnsbury’s police chief that she was concerned about Johnson’s use of force, state police said. Chief Joel Pierce referred the case to the Vermont State Police for an independent investigation. Pierce did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment on Johnson’s employment status.
Zaleski recused herself and asked the Grand Isle County state’s attorney to review the matter for criminal charges.
