National Roundup

Iowa Appeals court upholds Richter's perjury conviction IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- Two days after she was convicted of murder, an appeals court has upheld a perjury conviction of a woman who lied to obtain an Iowa driver's license under a fake name. A jury convicted Tracey Richter of using a forged divorce decree that falsely claimed she had changed her name to "Sophie Corrina Terese Baronin von Richterhausen Edwards" to obtain a name change and an Iowa license in 2008. She was sentenced to probation. The Iowa Court of Appeals rejected her appeal Wednesday, ruling there was sufficient evidence to conclude she knew the statement was false. A jury on Monday convicted Richter of first-degree murder in the 2001 shooting of Dustin Wehde. On Tuesday, authorities found her father dead outside his rural Iowa home. An autopsy was being conducted Wednesday. Texas Indicted El Paso ISD superintendent resigns EL PASO, Texas (AP) -- A West Texas school administrator indicted in a federal fraud investigation over use of education funds has resigned. Trustees of the El Paso Independent School District have accepted the resignation of Superintendent Lorenzo Garcia, effective Nov. 30. Garcia did not attend Tuesday's meeting. Garcia, who was arrested in August and freed on bond, had been on unpaid leave. Court documents show that the district paid $360,000 for simple math materials touted as "specialized data" under a no-bid contract. Garcia allegedly failed to disclose his financial stake in the company. Garcia has pleaded not guilty to a pair of conspiracy counts, one mail fraud count and one count of theft of federal funds. Texas Official: Lawmaker to plead guilty in travel flap AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- A state representative plans to plead guilty to a felony charge that he used taxpayer money to reimburse himself for travel expenses that his campaign had already funded, an official said Tuesday. Dallas-area Rep. Joe Driver will enter the plea on a charge of official abuse of capacity at a Nov. 22 court hearing, said Gregg Cox, the director of the public integrity unit with the Travis County district attorney's office in Austin. Driver, a 65-year-old Texas House veteran from Garland who was first elected in 1992, has acknowledged that for years he collected reimbursements from taxpayers for travel he already had paid for using donated campaign money. He paid for luxury hotels, airline tickets, meals and conference registration fees with campaign funds then submitted receipts for those same expenses to the state. Driver said he didn't know he was doing anything wrong, but he reimbursed his campaign $49,426 after The Associated Press revealed the double-dipping. He waived an indictment and was charged with misusing something of value to the government that was worth more than $20,000 but less than $100,000, Cox said. Cox said he didn't know the details of the plea agreement. Driver's attorney didn't immediately return a phone call. The punishment range for the third-degree felony is two to 10 years in prison, but Cox said Driver could receive probation. Driver announced last month that has retiring and would not seek re-election. He was elected to a 10th term a few months after the AP revealed the double-dipping practice. Driver could have owed more in taxpayer reimbursements, but House travel records before 2005 already had been destroyed and Driver's campaign said he was unable to calculate the amount of any double-billing that happened more than five years ago. Driver has said he didn't know when he began pocketing taxpayer money for expenses picked up by his campaign. Rhode Island Rehearing in possible death penalty case sought PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Federal prosecutors are asking an appeals court to reconsider its decision to let Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee (CHAY'-fee) keep an inmate facing a possible death penalty prosecution in state custody. In a petition filed Wednesday with the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, prosecutors ask for a second hearing in the case of 34-year-old Jason Pleau (PLEW). Rhode Island U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha is asking the case to be heard by a three-judge panel or the entire appeals court bench. In a 2-1 decision last month, the court ruled that Chafee could keep Pleau in state custody. Neronha wants Pleau to stand trial in federal court, where he may face the death penalty. Pleau is accused of fatally shooting a man outside a bank in September 2010. North Dakota Board recommends discipline for judge BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- A district judge violated a rule of professional conduct while serving as a county prosecutor, the North Dakota Supreme Court's disciplinary board has concluded. The board recommends South Central District Judge Cynthia Feland be suspended for two months and pay the $11,272 cost of the disciplinary proceeding, The Bismarck Tribune reported Wednesday. The decision is now up to the state Supreme Court. Feland defends her work as a former Burleigh County assistant state's attorney. Feland, who was elected to a judgeship in November 2010, was accused earlier that fall of failing to turn over a state auditor's memo that might have been favorable to the defense while helping prosecute former state workers' compensation director Sandy Blunt a couple of years earlier. Blunt, who was head of the Workforce Safety and Insurance Agency for almost four years before being forced out in December 2007, was convicted a year later of misspending thousands of dollars in public money. A district judge ruled last year that Feland did not break any rules on providing materials during the trial process. But the Supreme Court disciplinary board said Feland either knew or should have known the memo was not presented to defense attorney Michael Hoffman. The Supreme Court has upheld Blunt's conviction and in a separate appeal refused to grant him a new trial, saying Blunt failed to show that the failure of prosecutors to disclose the memo significantly hurt his case. Feland issued a statement in which she said she thinks it is unfortunate the high court has to deal again with matters surrounding the Blunt case. "The trial judge and the Supreme Court have already found the truth when they ruled that the defense in the Blunt case had all of the pertinent information," she said. Blunt was convicted of one felony that carried a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. He was given a two-year deferred sentence with no jail time, fined $2,000 and ordered to perform 1,000 hours of community service. Published: Thu, Nov 10, 2011