Oregon
Police allege hit-run driver removed body
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Police say the driver in a Springfield hit-and-run fatality admitted she found the pedestrian on top of her car when she stopped to check for damage, removed the man and left him in the street.
The police statement was filed in Lane County Circuit Court in the case against the driver’s husband who is charged with tampering with evidence by cleaning off blood and hiding the car.
The Register-Guard reports Isabel McDaniel and her husband Gary McDaniel confessed to an investigator after they were tracked down at their home, two days after the Dec. 11 collision that killed Daniel Ortiz-Reynaga.
Isabel McDaniel has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter. Her lawyer Laura Fine Moro, declined to comment on the police statement and said Gary McDaniel also would not comment.
New Jersey
Daughter’s suit over tuition goes to higher court
CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — A higher court will be handling the case of whether a divorced New Jersey couple must pay their daughter’s college tuition even though they both disagree with where she’s going to school.
A judge on Monday referred the case to a state appeals panel, saying “I’ve really never seen a family torn apart the way this family is torn apart.”
Judge Donald Stein also ruled that Michael Ricci and Maura McGarvey won’t be held in contempt for their refusal to pay $16,000 they were previously ordered to put toward daughter Caitlyn Ricci’s tuition this year at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Some New Jersey lawmakers are taking up the issue with a bill that would require divorced or unmarried parents be treated the same as married parents in cases like this.
Nebraska
Convicted killer must wait for sentencing ruling
YORK, Neb. (AP) — A York County district judge has granted the state’s request to delay the resentencing of a man convicted of killing his 12-year-old sister when he was 14.
The York News-Times reports that Judge James Stecker ruled on Monday that Sydney Thieszen’s case will be suspended until the U.S. Supreme Court rules in a Louisiana case. The case will clarify guidelines on the sentencing of juvenile killers.
In 1987 Thieszen bludgeoned and shot his adopted 12-year-old sister in their Henderson-area home. At a resentencing in 1996 he was given life in prison without the possibility of parole. Earlier this month the York County District Court vacated Thieszen’s life sentence following a 2012 U. S. Supreme Court ruling prohibiting such mandatory life sentences for juveniles.
South Carolina
Ret. firefighter sentenced for sex crimes
FLORENCE, S.C. (AP) — A retired Myrtle Beach firefighter has been sentenced to more than 27 years in prison after police found more than one million images of child pornography in his home.
U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles said in a statement Monday that 56-year-old Webster Douglas Williams III of Myrtle Beach was sentenced in federal court in Florence.
Nettles said the charges included sexual exploitation of a minor, travel with intent to engage in illegal sexual conduct and possession of child pornography. Prosecutors said Williams filmed his activities with children for six years.
U.S. District Judge R. Bryan Harwell also ordered Williams to pay nearly $500,000 in restitution to his victims. Williams also must register as a sex offender and be supervised for the rest of his life after he is released from prison.
Ohio
Judge OKs divorce for 2 women, undoes it
ATHENS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio judge who mistakenly approved a divorce between two women has vacated that decision because their marriage isn’t recognized under state law.
The Athens Messenger reports Brenda Mohney and Erin O’Leary married in California in 2008. The newspaper says only Mohney appeared during the proceedings and an Athens County judge didn’t realize both parties are women when he approved a magistrate’s decision to grant the divorce.
Judge George McCarthy concluded he had to undo his decision, saying he couldn’t approve a divorce when the union isn’t legally valid under Ohio’s gay marriage ban. He vacated his decision late last week after scheduling hearings to explain the situation.
He says it’s an issue of jurisdiction and doesn’t reflect any personal view of the women or their relationship.
Washington
Teen agrees to take punch, dies after falling
EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — A high school student who reportedly agreed to let another teen punch him to settle a party dispute hit his head on pavement as he fell backward and later died, the Snohomish County sheriff’s office said. The teen accused of delivering the blow has been ordered held for investigation of manslaughter.
The two 18-year-olds from Lake Stevens got into a fight early Sunday after a minor vehicle collision outside a party, the sheriff’s office said.
In court papers, detectives said a witness reported the two shook hands and smoked a cigarette together before the punch was thrown, the Daily Herald of Everett reported. Sheriff’s spokeswoman Shari Ireton said the victim fell backward, hitting his head.
Autopsy results were not available Monday.
A judge set bail at $10,000 for Michael Galen and found probable cause Monday to hold him for investigation of second-degree manslaughter. The arrested teen’s father, also named Michael Galen, offered his condolences to the victim’s family and told reporters his son is “not a bad boy, not a bad kid.”
The victim was Jarom Thomas, the Granite Falls School District said. Both teens attended Crossroads High School in Granite Falls, officials said.
The confrontation reportedly followed a fender bender outside a party at a rural lake.
“After they finished their cigarette, (the victim) stood in front of Michael as a willing participant and let Michael punch him,” detectives alleged in court papers. The unconscious teen was later carried into a cabin. After efforts to wake him were unsuccessful, a friend drove him to Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, where he died.
