National Roundup

Georgia
Man pleads not guilty in Deen extortion plot

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A New York man pleaded not guilty in federal court Tuesday to charges of trying to extort embattled celebrity cook Paula Deen.
Court documents show Thomas George Paculis of Newfield, N.Y., appeared in Chatham County Superior Court to enter his not guilty plea.
An indictment filed July 10 in U.S. District Court in Savannah charges Paculis with trying to extort $200,000 from Deen in exchange for keeping quiet about allegedly damaging remarks she had made in the past. Details on what Deen’s alleged remarks were, and the relationship between Paculis and Deen, were unclear.
A complaint said Paculis initially tried extorting $250,000 from Deen but eventually lowered the amount after a discussion via email with one of Deen’s attorneys, Greg Hodges.
Hodges and Paculis eventually spoke by phone. Paculis said he didn’t want to leave a paper trail and at the direction of the FBI, Hodges negotiated the amount to $200,000. Paculis told Hodges he was house sitting in New York, didn’t have a car and didn’t know how he was going to collect the money, the complaint says.
Federal agents arrested the man in early July.
A message left with Paculis’ court-appointed attorney on Tuesday afternoon wasn’t returned.
The attempted extortion case took form after Deen’s culinary empire began crumbling in response to her acknowledgement in a deposition that she had used racial slurs in the past.
The deposition was part of a civil lawsuit filed in 2012 by Lisa Jackson, a former manager of Uncle Bubba’s Seafood and Oyster House, which Deen co-owns with her brother, Bubba Hiers. Jackson alleged that she was sexually harassed and worked in an environment rife with racial slurs and innuendo.

Pennsylvania
Man gets life for killing ex at church service

COUDERSPORT, Pa. (AP) — A northern Pennsylvania man who fatally shot his ex-wife while she played the organ at a Sunday church service has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Fifty-three-year-old Gregory Eldred, of Coudersport, apologized Tuesday and told a Potter County judge he was acting “irrationally” at the time.
Eldred pleaded guilty last week to first-degree murder for shooting 53-year-old Darlene Sitler on Dec. 2 at the First United Presbyterian Church of Coudersport. The church is about 140 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
Eldred was an elementary school music teacher, and Sitler taught music at the Northern Potter Children’s School.
Parishioners and the pastor came to Sitler’s aid, but no one else was hurt in the shooting. Eldred surrendered outside the church when police arrived.

Illinois
Law firm says it’s will sue Boeing on Asiana crash

CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago law firm has taken steps to sue Boeing Co. on behalf of 83 people who were aboard the Asiana Airlines flight that crash-landed in San Francisco earlier this month, alleging that a malfunction of the plane’s auto throttle may have caused the crash.
Ribbeck Law Chartered on Monday filed a petition for discovery, which is meant to preserve evidence, in Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago, where the aircraft manufacturer is headquartered. The firm said in a news release that additional pleadings will be filed against Asiana Airlines and several component parts manufacturers in coming days.
In addition to potential problems with the Boeing 777’s auto throttle, some emergency slides reportedly opened inside the plane, injuring passengers and blocking their exit, and some passengers had to be cut out of their seatbelts with a knife, the firm contends.
Three people were killed when the airplane, carrying 307 passengers and crew on a flight from South Korea to San Francisco International Airport on July 6, approached the runway too low and slow. It clipped a seawall at the end of a runway, tearing off the tail and sending the plane spinning down the runway. The impact caused the plane to catch fire.
“We must find the causes of the crash and demand that the problems with the airline and the aircraft are immediately resolved to avoid future tragedies,” attorney Monica R. Kelly, head of Ribbeck’s aviation department, said in a written statement.
Boeing spokesman John Dern said the company had no comment.
The petition asks a judge to order Boeing to identify the designer and manufacturer of the airplane’s autothrottle and its emergency evacuation slides. It also seeks information on the systems that indicate the airplane’s glide slope and that warn how close it is to the ground. Kelly said the firm wants to protect the wreckage “from destructive testing” and to obtain maintenance records, internal memos and other evidence.
A passenger filed a lawsuit against Asiana in San Francisco federal court on Monday, saying the airline showed “wanton and willful disregard for the rights and safety of all passengers,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Younga Jun Machorro and her 8-year-old son, Benjamin Machorro, were seated toward the front of the plane and both suffered back and neck injuries, their lawyer, Michael Verna, told the paper.
The pilots of Asiana Flight 214 have told investigators they were relying on automated cockpit equipment to control their speed. Inspectors found that the autothrottle had been “armed,” or made ready for activation, but investigators are still determining whether it had been engaged, the National Transportation Safety Board has said.
Two of the plane’s eight slides malfunctioned, opening inside the cabin and pinning two flight attendants underneath.

Montana
Sexual assault case sentence upheld by court

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — A panel of District Court judges has upheld the 10-year prison sentence given to a former University of Montana football player who pleaded guilty to raping a friend while she slept.
Former Griz running back Beau Donaldson was sentenced in January to 30 years in prison with 20 suspended. Defense attorney Milt Datsopoulos requested a sentence review in May.
The Missoulian reports the Montana Supreme Court’s sentence review commission upheld the punishment imposed by District Judge Karen Townsend.
Donaldson is an inmate at the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge. He could be eligible for parole after serving a quarter of the sentence.
Donaldson was charged in January 2012 with raping a friend in September 2010. The case came to light after the university ordered an outside investigation of sexual assaults involving students.