National Roundup

Hawaii
Soldier charged in wife's death guilty in child porn case

HONOLULU (AP) - An Army medic charged in his wife's death will spend over two years in prison after being court-martialed for possessing child pornography and soliciting payment for sex.

Michael Walker pleaded guilty Saturday to solicitation and not guilty to possession of child pornography, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.

A military judge ordered Walker's rank reduced from sergeant to private and sentenced the 36-year-old to a dishonorable discharge.

Walker said in court that he placed advertisements in September 2014 and was paid for sex multiple times. "My purpose was to find people to have sex with and at the same time to give me money," he said.

Defense attorneys argued pornographic images and videos of children found on Walker's computer were dumped there in a massive file transfer. They say prosecutors did not prove Walker was the person who accessed the files.

An attorney pushed for leniency, saying Walker is seeking sex addiction treatment.

Stephen Walker said over the phone from Utah that the family wants to help his son "and wants to see him recover from this."

Walker has been in federal custody since he was arrested in November in the case of his wife's stabbing death. Her body was found in November 2014 at the Aliamanu Military Reservation home where she lived with her husband.

Prosecutors say Walker and his lover Ailsa Jackson planned to kill 38-year-old Catherine Walker.

Jackson pleaded guilty to murder in December and said in court that she stabbed Catherine.

Walker was indicted in November on charges of aiding and abetting and conspiring to commit first-degree murder. He faces a January trial in civilian court.

Missouri
Jury awards son of police shooting victim $680K

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A Jackson County jury has awarded more than $680,000 to the son of a woman with mental illness who was shot and killed by police.

The Kansas City Star reports the verdict Friday in the civil case stems from the 2007 death of 55-year-old Linda Friday. Police went to Friday's home after she called 911 to request an ambulance and then hung up. She was shot after pulling out a firearm.

The lawsuit contended that responding officers knew about Friday's mental state from a previous incident and were at fault for not requesting assistance from specially trained crisis intervention officers.

A Jackson County grand jury earlier cleared police of criminal action in Friday's death. A police spokesman said in an email to The Star that the department will appeal.

Montana
Attorney: Suspect in kidnapping and rape had stopped taking his meds

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - A defense attorney says a man charged with kidnapping and raping a 4-year-old girl on a Montana Indian Reservation had stopped taking his prescribed anti-psychotic medication prior to the alleged crime.

Assistant Federal Defender Hank Branom says John William Lieba II has no recollection of the Feb. 26 kidnapping as described in a federal indictment.

Branom filed a motion in U.S. District Court Friday asking for a mental evaluation to determine if the 21-year-old suspect from the Fort Peck Indian Reservation is competent to stand trial.

Authorities say Lieba abducted the girl from a park in Wolf Point and held her for ransom. It says he engaged in a sex act with the girl and assaulted her.

Lieba has pleaded not guilty. He could face life in prison if convicted.

New York
Engineering firm indicted for altering reports

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) - A New York engineering firm that was hired by insurance companies to evaluate damage caused by Superstorm Sandy faces charges that it illegally altered reports prepared by inspectors in the field.

An indictment unsealed Monday charges HiRise Engineering and one of the company's project managers, Matthew Pappalardo, with felony fraud. Pappalardo also faces charges of practicing engineering without a license.

He and the company have denied wrongdoing. They pleaded not guilty during an arraignment in Nassau County.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says the alterations of engineering reports by someone who wasn't even an engineer undermined the integrity of the federal flood insurance program.

Previously filed civil lawsuits have argued that in some cases, the alterations led to homeowners getting less insurance money than they deserved.

New York
Governor wants to bar sex offenders from 'Pokemon Go'

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has directed state authorities to prevent nearly 3,000 registered sex offenders now on parole from playing "Pokemon Go" in an effort to safeguard children who play.

The state's Department of Corrections and Community Services is making that a condition of supervised release from state prison for all sex offenders.

The state says Monday that county probation offices should adopt the same policy.

The Democratic governor has also sent a letter to software developer Niantic requesting help prohibiting sexual predators from playing the online game, where players roam through the physical world searching for virtual Pokemon creatures.

State Sen. Jeff Klein, a Democrat who raised similar concerns last week, says New York already prohibits high-level offenders from using social media.

New Jersey
Court eases rules for access to phone records

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - New Jersey's Supreme Court has made it easier for law enforcement to obtain phone records in criminal investigations.

A split court ruled Monday that police can get a court order if they convince a judge the records are relevant to an investigation.

A defendant in a 2014 drug case in Monmouth County had argued established case law requires police to get a search warrant, which uses the higher standard of probable cause.

Writing for a four-judge majority, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner said telephone records are similar to bank records, which only require a grand jury subpoena.

In a dissent joined by one other justice, Justice Jaynee LaVecchia wrote the decision creates a lower threshold that sweeps aside the governing standard in use for the last three decades.

Published: Tue, Aug 02, 2016