National Roundup

Pennsylvania
‘Fire hazard’ home burns as couple signs deed

MEYERSDALE, Pa. (AP) — A western Pennsylvania couple who bought a neighboring vacant house because they feared it was a fire hazard was right: It caught fire while they were at the county courthouse signing the deed.

The (Somerset) Daily American reports that Bradley and Penny Mason bought the house in Meyersdale intending to tear it down. It’s located just feet from their home about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

A neighbor called 911 to report the fire at about 3 p.m. Wednesday, and fire officials have determined the origin was suspicious. The fire marshal is still investigating the cause.

Penny Mason tells the newspaper the home has “been sitting empty for a couple years. We didn’t even know about the fire until the fire department was called.”

The first-floor fire was quickly extinguished.

Indiana
State high court hears dispute over ‘0INK’ plate

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s highest court is considering whether a police officer was wrongly denied a vanity license plate saying ‘0INK,’ which state officials deemed offensive.

Solicitor General Thomas Fisher told the Indiana Supreme Court on Thursday that the Bureau of Motor Vehicles has the right to reject offensive messages sought on personalized license plates.

Greenfield police Officer Rodney Vawter sued the Indiana BMV after it denied his request for a license plate with a zero followed by the letters “INK.”

A Marion County judge initially ruled in favor of Vawter, prompting the BMV to suspended Indiana’s personalized license plate program.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, which is representing Vawter, says the BMV has approved other questionable plates and made an arbitrary decision that violated Vawter’s free speech.

Pennsylvania
Plaintiff in Penn State hazing suit  tours frat house

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — A former Penn State student who is suing over alleged hazing toured his former fraternity house with his parents and lawyers for the involved parties.

James Vivenzio’s attorney, Aaron Freiwald, says the tour was a chance to find evidence and take video. Kappa Delta Rho, which owns the property, has been suspended and a different fraternity takes over the property this weekend.

Penn State officials didn’t comment, referring reporters to a statement issued when Vivenzio sued in June that says the school “strongly disputes” the allegations.

Vivenzio contends he was burned with cigarettes and force-fed buckets of liquor mixed with urine, vomit and hot sauce in hazing rituals.

He also blew the whistle on a covert Facebook page on which frat members posted pictures of nude and semi-nude women.

Ohio
Lawyer wants murder trial of cop moved

CINCINNATI (AP) — An attorney for a University of Cincinnati policeman who fatally shot a driver he stopped over a missing front license plate is asking the court to move the officer’s murder trial elsewhere.

The change-of-venue request filed Wednesday argues that Ray Tensing can’t get a fair trial in Hamilton County because of extensive pretrial publicity and prejudicial comments made by several city officials and by county prosecutor Joe Deters, who called the July 19 shooting of Samuel DuBose “asinine” and said it was “without question a murder.”

“Deters made multiple inflammatory, derogatory and prejudicial statements about (Tensing) declaring his guilt prior to a trial, and these statements have led to an overwhelming number of comments on social media, letters to the editor, and commentary in various forms of media that demonstrate that opinions of potential jurors have been galvanized,” defense attorney Stewart Mathews said in the request.

Mathews also alleged city leaders and unspecified media outlets depicted Tensing as guilty and promoted the idea that riots could occur if he’s not convicted, creating a “cloud of doom” that might influence jurors.

The prosecution hasn’t filed any response to the change-of-venue request, but Deters said in a letter published earlier in The Cincinnati Enquirer that his “harsh words” about Tensing weren’t meant as a characterization of most officers.

The university fired Tensing shortly after his indictment on charges of murder and voluntary manslaughter. Tensing pleaded not guilty.

His attorney has said Tensing feared being dragged under the car as the 43-year-old DuBose tried to drive away.

Mathews also has said it would be difficult to get the trial moved. It is currently scheduled for Nov. 16.

Kansas
Prosecutors rest in murder trial of white supremacist

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors have rested their case in the capital murder trial of a Missouri white supremacist who acknowledges killing three people at two Jewish centers in suburban Kansas City.

Jurors on Thursday heard recordings of two phone calls Miller made from the Johnson County jail, in which he admitted killing a 69-year-old man, his 14-year-old grandson and a 53-year-old woman in Overland Park, Kansas, in April 2014.

District Attorney Steve Howe announced afterward that he was finished presenting his case.

Miller asked Judge Thomas Kelly Ryan to postpone the defense part of the case until Monday because he’s not prepared. Ryan reminded the 74-year-old he’s the one who demanded a speedy trial and fired his attorneys.

Ryan said he would rule on the request after speaking with Miller behind closed doors.

Pennsylvania
Man accused in $2M scheme with shoplifting addicts

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A Pittsburgh record store owner is accused of using heroin addicts to shoplift more than $2 million worth of books, videos, and other products he resold online.

Fifty-year-old Anthony Cicero’s defense attorney didn’t immediately comment Thursday on charges including running a corrupt organization filed by the Pennsylvania’s attorney general’s office.

According to a grand jury presentment, the East Pittsburgh man stored stolen items in the back room of his Slipped Disc record store, which is located in Oakland, a trendy Pittsburgh neighborhood home to The University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.

The investigation stretches back to 2008, when a Barnes & Noble investigator began tracing about $30,000 a week in stolen items to the addicts allegedly employed by Cicero.