Florida
Escort's alleged murder-for-hire case to be heard
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - An appeals court will hear the arguments of a former escort charged with trying to hire a hit man to kill her newlywed husband.
Florida's 4th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed late last week to consider Dalia Dippolito's argument that her case be thrown out because of alleged misconduct by police investigators. No hearing date is set.
Dippolito's lawyers argue detectives pushed her former lover, Mohamed Shihadeh, to make her meet with an undercover officer posing as hit man even though Shihadeh wanted out of the investigation. The lawyers say Shihadeh threatened Dippolito with a gun when she balked at the meeting.
The video of Dippolito's meeting with the pretend hit man became part of a "Cops" television show episode. Dippolito's scheduled May trial will be postponed pending the ruling.
Florida
Doctor: Dad accused of killing child incompetent
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - A doctor says a 26-year-old Florida man charged with killing his young daughter by throwing her off a bridge over Tampa Bay remains incompetent to stand trial.
John Jonchuck didn't attend Tuesday's hearing. The Tampa Bay Times reports he will return to a state mental hospital to continue treatment.
Public defender Jessica Manuele says another hearing to determine whether Jonchuck will face first-degree murder charges is now scheduled for Oct. 18.
Police arrested Jonchuck shortly after they say he dropped 5-year-old Pheobe into Tampa Bay in 2015.
Mississippi
Man dead after police use stun gun on him
GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) - Authorities say a man has died after police used a stun gun on him outside a Mississippi restaurant.
Local news outlets report that police received a call about a 53-year-old man who was being disorderly. Gulfport police Sgt. Damon McDaniel said in a news release that police used a stun gun to subdue him because he was resisting them and acting erratically.
The man was brought to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Harrison County Coroner Gary Hargrove identified him as Bradford Macomber of Gulfport. Hargrove said the cause of death was under investigation and that an autopsy would be performed.
The District Attorney's Office and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation are investigating the case.
Hargrove says Macomber was white. McDaniel would not disclose information about the officer or officers involved.
Ohio
Man confesses to 911: 'I just shot and killed my wife'
CINCINNATI (AP) - A suburban Cincinnati man is charged with murder after calmly calling 911 to confess he'd killed his wife and say that he wasn't a threat and would be awaiting police on his front stoop.
The 57-year-old man told the dispatcher: "I just shot and killed my wife."
Police say Jeffrey Hawkins surrendered to officers at his Colerain Township home after the call late Monday morning.
The caller said he shot his wife multiple times with a handgun. He said Jo Ann Hawkins cleaned out their bank account Saturday, on his birthday, was refusing to talk to him, and referred him to her lawyer.
He said the shooting "just happened ... God forgive me."
A Hamilton County judge set $3 million bond Tuesday for Hawkins. Court records didn't list an attorney.
Delaware
Justices to hear arguments on death penalty law
DOVER, Del. (AP) - Delaware's Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments on the constitutionality of the state's death penalty.
The court has asked the attorney general's office and state public defender's office to prepare for arguments June 15.
The court agreed in January to answer questions from Delaware's Superior Court to determine whether the state's death penalty law meets constitutional muster. Meanwhile, all death penalty trials in Delaware are on hold.
Questions were raised about the constitutionality of Delaware's law after the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year struck down Florida's death penalty sentencing statute. That statute required a judge, not a jury, to find the factual existence of an "aggravating circumstance" making a defendant eligible for the death penalty.
Delaware's law is similar to Florida's, but prosecutors argue that it nevertheless is constitutional.
Kentucky
Man pleads not guilty after wife's body found in well
MONTICELLO, Ky. (AP) - A south-central Kentucky man accused of killing his wife and then hiding her body in a well has pleaded not guilty to murder.
WKYT-TV reports that 29-year-old Joseph A. Jones entered his plea through his public defender in Wayne County District Court on Monday.
Jones was arrested Saturday following the discovery of the body of 28-year-old Rachel Jones at the bottom of a well near Monticello on Friday.
An arrest citation read by the judge accuses Joseph Jones of killing his wife, putting her in a well and then dropping off the couple's 9-year-old son at a family member's home before going on the run.
Authorities say Joseph Jones went to Mississippi before returning to Kentucky. He was arrested at a home near the well.
Florida
Breast implants, tummy tucks funded by ID theft
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - When some central Florida women wanted plastic surgery they couldn't afford, police say they turned to a 28-year-old woman who used stolen IDs to cover the expenses.
Orlando police Detective Todd Herb tells the Orlando Sentinel that Terilyn Riggins ran the crime ring, scamming more than $50,000 worth of breast implants, tummy tucks or dental work. She was arrested March 29. It's not clear whether she has a lawyer.
Herb says they've arrested 14 women and identified at least 12 theft victims.
Police say the women were either friends of Riggins or met her in jail. Some paid her a small fee. Others offered services such as doing her hair or cooking for her in exchange for surgeries.
Officials say it was a full-time job for Riggins to set up the fraudulent accounts.
Published: Wed, Apr 27, 2016
