JuristMail - Legal News

Cleveland Suspect Withdraws Insanity Plea

John Fiore — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:40:51 +0000

A Cleveland man charged with killing 11 women and hiding their remains in and around his home has withdrawn his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. Anthony Sowell’s plea was changed to not guilty during a pretrial hearing on Wednesday. Defense attorney John Parker tells The Plain Dealer newspaper that the switch was made after the judge asked if Sowell could be sent to a psychiatric clinic for evaluation.

Parker says it’s too early for that because the defense still doesn’t have Sowell’s military, medical or prison records. He tells the paper the plea could be changed back to not guilty by reason of insanity once Sowell’s attorneys have all the information.

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Court Throws Out Death Penalty for Slayer of Three

John Fiore — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:40:49 +0000

The Arkansas Supreme Court has ordered a new sentencing for a death row inmate convicted of killing his girlfriend and her two young children around the holidays in 2006. Justices on Thursday upheld James Aaron Miller’s murder conviction but ordered that he be resentenced. Miller was convicted of killing Bridgette Barr, 5-year-old Sydney Barr and 2-year-old Garrett Barr while the children visited their mother in Fort Smith for Christmas. The children lived with their father in Oklahoma.

Justices ruled that two witnesses should not have been allowed to recommend that the jury impose the death penalty during the sentencing phase. Justices rejected Miller’s argument that the bodies were discovered during a warrantless search of his apartment.

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Virginia Company Pleads Guilty to Arms Dealing

John Fiore — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:40:39 +0000

An Arlington company has pleaded guilty to trying to sell guns, night vision goggles and other military equipment to people in Yemen and Libya. At a hearing Thursday in federal court in Alexandria, a representative for Taipan Enterprises Ltd. pleaded guilty to unlawfully brokering sales of military equipment.

The company was ordered to pay a $15,000 fine, the amount recommended by prosecutors. The company was never actually able to sell any equipment. Defense lawyer John Hundley said the small fine is evidence that the company’s conduct was relatively minor. The company’s president said his contacts in Yemen were with a businessman. Court records show that the company tried to sell Swiss-made machine pistols to a Yemeni national in 2007 and night vision goggles to Libya and a Chilean military contractor.

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Mom Leaves Kids in Freezing Car While Tanning

John Fiore — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:40:38 +0000

Police in Connecticut say a 28-year-old mother is charged with leaving her two young children in her car in freezing temperatures while she went tanning in a salon. Candy Ann Rock of Enfield was charged Monday with reckless endangerment and risk of injury to children.

Enfield Police Chief Carl Sferrazza (sver-AH’-zah) told the Journal Inquirer that Rock left her two children – ages 3 and just under 1 year – in the parked car, which was not running, for 18 minutes during her tanning session at about 9 a.m. Monday. He says weather reports showed the wind chill was 19 degrees at the time. Rock posted $5,000 bail and is due in Enfield Superior Court on Feb. 9. She declined to comment when reached by telephone Thursday. The children were not injured.

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Man Threatens Jews; Kicked Off Plane

John Fiore — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:40:36 +0000

Police say an airline passenger in Miami proclaimed “I want to kill all the Jews” before officers forced him off a Detroit-bound plane. Miami-Dade police said in a statement Thursday that 43-year-old Mansor Mohammad Asad of Toledo, Ohio, was arrested. He faces several charges including disorderly conduct.

Police say a taxiing Northwest Airlines flight turned around at Miami International Airport late Wednesday. Authorities say witnesses told them Asad was loud, disruptive and claimed to be Palestinian. The Transportation Security Administration says three of his companions were also taken off the plane and questioned. The plane departed after a search.

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Ronald Reagan’s Grandson Arrested

John Fiore — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:40:35 +0000

Los Angeles police say the grandson of President Ronald Reagan has been arrested. Officer April Harding says 31-year-old Cameron Reagan was booked for allegedly resisting arrest about 12:30 a.m. Thursday.

Harding says police were called to a home believed to belong to his father, talk show host Michael Reagan, but she didn’t know why. Officers tried to stop Cameron Reagan when he tried to leave and say he was arrested after being uncooperative and belligerent. He is being held on a bail of ten thousand dollars.

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Nude Jogger’s Run Near White House Cut Short

John Fiore — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:40:34 +0000

A man was taken into custody and later hospitalized for a mental evaluation after he took off his clothes and began a jog a few blocks from the White House. The man was seen taking off his clothes Wednesday evening around 5 p.m. He left the clothes near the northeast corner of the Ellipse, the green space south of the White House.

Secret Service spokesman Darrin Blackford says run lasted less than a minute before the man was apprehended. The president was at home at the time. But Blackford says the man, who left his clothing in a duffel bag, did not make any threats. His bag was declared suspicious, but its contents were found to be harmless.

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Guilty Plea Date Set for Ponzi Scheme Case

John Fiore — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:40:30 +0000

A judge has set a Jan. 27 date for a disbarred South Florida lawyer to plead guilty to charges stemming from what authorities call a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme. The date was set at a hearing Wednesday after Scott Rothstein’s attorney announced he will plead guilty. Rothstein had initially pleaded not guilty to racketeering, fraud and conspiracy charges after his December arrest.

Rothstein attorney Marc Nurik said plea deal details are incomplete. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 100 years behind bars. Prosecutors say Rothstein used his now-defunct Fort Lauderdale law firm to bilk thousands of investors with the promise of payment from phony legal settlements.

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Missouri Officer Faces Child Sex Charges

John Fiore — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:40:27 +0000

A Boy Scout leader who is also the top police officer in the Missouri town of Fredericktown is facing statutory sodomy charges for allegedly having sex with children. The Missouri State Highway Patrol arrested 42-year-old Kenneth Tomlinson II on Tuesday. Details about the victims weren’t immediately available. Tomlinson is jailed on $100,000 cash-only bond in nearby Cape Girardeau County. It wasn’t clear if he had an attorney, and police in Fredericktown didn’t return phone calls seeking comment.

Tomlinson was captain of the force in Fredericktown, a community of 4,100 southwest of St. Louis. He was also leader of a Boy Scout troop in Fredericktown. The Boy Scouts of America Greater St. Louis Council says his membership has been revoked.

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Deputy-Slaying Fugitive Caught

John Fiore — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:40:25 +0000

The man charged with murder in the shooting death of a Utah’s sheriff’s deputy was arrested Wednesday after authorities found him asleep inside a shed.

Roberto Miramontes Roman, 37, was captured around 8 a.m. in Beaver County, authorities said. Roman, the subject of an intensive manhunt, was charged with capital murder and tampering with evidence in the early Tuesday shooting death of Millard County sheriff’s deputy Josie Greathouse Fox, who stopped him on a highway. Roman was arrested with another suspect, Ruben Chavez, said Millard County sheriff’s spokeswoman Lindsay Mitchell.

Detectives said Chavez owns the Cadillac that was stopped by Greathouse Fox. “Now we can focus on the victim,” Mitchell said. “It will give us some closure.” Beaver County Sheriff Cameron Noel told The Salt Lake Tribune that deputies found both suspects asleep inside a shed.

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