National Round Up

Pennsylvania: Police: Woman used diaper in traffic beef
CONNELLSVILLE, Pa. (AP) — State police say a woman wiped a dirty diaper on the window of another woman’s vehicle during a dispute in a traffic jam as both were leaving the Fayette County Fair.

Twenty-three-year-old Jessica Hollis, of Mount Pleasant, has been charged with harassment in the incident which state police in Uniontown say happened about 10:50 p.m. Saturday.

Police say Hollis smeared the diaper on the rear window of a vehicle driven by 36-year-old Melanie Campbell, of Hopwood.

Police say the women began arguing while they were stuck in traffic leaving the fairgrounds in Dunbar Township.

Online court records don’t list an attorney for Hollis, and a phone number listed in her name was disconnected Monday.

Utah: Federal gun charge for son of slain professor
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The son of a slain Brigham Young University professor is now facing a federal gun charge in addition to a state murder charge.

Documents filed in U.S. District Court last week charge Roger Kay Mortensen with one count of being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition.

Court papers say seven guns were found at Mortensen’s home during a search by police. Most were in a hidden compartment under a furnace in the garage.

No federal court hearing has been scheduled.

The 48-year-old Mortensen was convicted of felony theft charges during the 1990s.

In July, Mortensen and his wife were arrested after being indicted in 4th District Court on a murder charge related to the November death of his father, Kay Mortensen.

Louisiana: Assumption man convicted of mother’s murder
NAPOLEONVILLE, La. (AP) — Prosecutors say a 34-year-old Assumption Parish man will spend the rest of his life in prison after a jury convicted him of beating his mother to death because she woke him from a nap.

During two days of testimony, prosecutors showed jurors evidence that Charles Gaspard punched his 65-year-old mother, Beatrice Gaspard, 16 times in the face and upper torso Sept. 1, 2008, causing injuries that led to her death four days later.

Gaspard’s defense argued he had a diminished mental capacity and did not intend to kill his mother.

The jury unanimously convicted Gaspard of second-degree murder Friday in Judge Jane Triche Milazzo’s court in Napoleonville.

The Daily Comets reports Gaspard will be formally sentenced to life imprisonment in October.

The couple’s attorney maintains their innocence.

Montana: Man facing rape charges arrested on AZ warrant
GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — A registered sex offender jailed while awaiting trial on three rape charges in Montana has been arrested for a December 2001 sexual assault in Phoenix.

Phillip Humeyumptewa made an initial appearance Wednesday in District Court in Great Falls on a charge of being a fugitive from justice. The 30-year-old was ordered held without bond on that charge.

He was arrested at the Cascade County Detention Center Tuesday on a Maricopa County, Ariz., warrant on felony counts of kidnapping, aggravated assault and sexual assault.

Humeyumptewa was convicted of kidnapping and sexual assault of a minor in Arizona in 1997.

He faces three counts of rape in Cascade County along with felony counts of aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence. He has pleaded not guilty.

Mississippi: Corinth man pleads guilty in wife’s death
CORINTH, Miss. (AP) — A Corinth man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 2008 death of his wife.

Matthew Wayne Rickman Sr. was set to go to trial on Monday but instead entered a guilty plea in Alcorn County Circuit Court Friday before Judge Paul Funderburk. Rickman had initially been charged with murder in the shooting death of 47-year-old Loris Rickman.

The Daily Corinthian reports Matthew Wayne Rickman Sr. received the maximum 20-year sentence on the manslaughter charge. He also received the maximum three-year sentence on a previous charge of credit card fraud and a 20-year sentence with five years suspended stemming from an assault on another inmate that occurred while Rickman was awaiting trial.

Idaho: New York skier’s heirs sue Idaho rescuers for $5M
DRIGGS, Idaho (AP) — The family of a New York man who skied outside the boundaries of a western Wyoming ski area and was rescued the following morning but later died of hypothermia has filed a wrongful death claim.

Edward J. Fitzgerald made contact with a sheriff dispatcher in Idaho using a cell phone after he realized he was lost last winter.

The claim contends Idaho officials botched the rescue attempt and failed to communicate with Wyoming rescuers trying to locate the 46-year-old after he went outside Grand Targhee

Resort boundaries, which the claim says weren’t adequately marked.

Named in the claim filed last month are the Teton County Sheriff’s Department in Idaho, Teton County, Idaho Search and Rescue, and others. Fitzgerald’s heirs are seeking $5 million in damages.

Teton County officials did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press on Sunday.

Fitzgerald, of Forest Hills, N.Y., called 9-1-1 at 7:37 p.m. and 7:43 p.m. on Jan. 19, court documents said. Teton County Sheriff Tony Liford in Idaho authorized the county and Idaho Search and Rescue to enter Wyoming to find Fitzgerald, according to the documents.

The claim contends that Idaho officials didn’t tell Wyoming rescuers that Fitzgerald said he was by a stream, or that his cell phone battery was getting low.

The claim also states that when rescuers found Fitzgerald’s tracks just before midnight, the rescuers didn’t search South Leigh Canyon, making “the grossly negligent and reckless decision to postpone the search until the next morning.”

Rescuers have previously said they followed the tracks for about an hour but eventually called off the search for the night because of avalanche concerns, rough terrain and poor visibility.

The claim also contends that once Fitzgerald was found unconscious and unresponsive about 8:45 a.m. on Jan. 20, there was an “unjustified” delay of more than two hours before he was taken to a medical facility.