National Roundup

Massachusetts
Lawyers: State withheld evidence about results of Breathalyzers

BOSTON (AP) — Lawyers representing 750 drunken driving defendants in Massachusetts say the state withheld evidence that might show Breathalyzer results were flawed.

The Boston Globe reports the lawyers believe they are missing about 400 potentially exculpatory documents detailing the calibration of the devices. The Office of Alcohol Testing handed over about 2,000 documents, most of which showed proper calibration.

The lawyers say the state withheld similar documents in a separate case this month that ultimately showed flawed results. They say the documents they are missing may also show calibration problems.

Prosecutors say they have stopped using Breathalyzer evidence at trial until the issue is understood.

Georgia
Students disciplined for ‘Jews vs. Nazis’ beer pong game

ATLANTA (AP) — Students from an Atlanta K-12 private school face discipline after a photo posted online shows them playing “Jews vs. Nazis” beer pong at an off-campus house party.

News outlets report William S. Peebles, headmaster of The Lovett School, said in a letter to parents Sunday that a student misled school officials about his role in setting up and participating in the game, leading to his expulsion.

Five students were suspended and two more were banned from co-curricular activities during the first two weeks of school.

In the image, students are seen playing beer pong with cups in the shapes of a swastika and a Star of David.

Florida
Appeals court says Facebook friends aren’t always friends

MIAMI (AP) — Legally, Facebook friends aren’t necessarily your friends.

That was the opinion from a Florida appeals court Wednesday. In a 10-page opinion, the court ruled that Miami-Dade Judge Beatrice Butchko doesn’t need to recuse herself because an attorney involved in a case in her courtroom is a Facebook “friend.” The case involved a lawsuit over unpaid legal bills.

The Miami Herald reports the ruling notes that Facebook data mining and algorithms lead to people accepting friend requests from people they hardly know or who they are only acquainted with in professional circles.

But the fight over Facebook friendship continues. An appeals court in Palm Beach has ruled to the contrary. That means the question over the true meaning of social media friendship could eventually be decided by the Florida Supreme Court.

Montana
Self-described ‘mountain man’ in 1984 killing is released at 86

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — Self-described “mountain man” Don Nichols was released on parole Wednesday after serving 32 years for kidnapping a world-class athlete out on a training run in 1984 and killing her would-be rescuer — an attack that drew widespread media coverage and became the subject of a made-for-TV movie.

Nichols, who must report to a parole office in Great Falls, was granted parole in April, The ­Missoulian reported.

Nichols, 86, was sentenced to 85 years in prison for kidnapping biathlete Kari Swenson in the mountains near Big Sky and killing Alan Goldstein, a friend helping to search for Swenson when she failed to return home from her run.

Swenson, who was 22, said she was chained up during her ordeal and spotted her would-be rescuers before her abductors did. She yelled at them to leave because Nichols had threatened to shoot anyone who tried to help her.

Nichols shot Goldstein, and Nichols’ son Dan apparently accidently shot Swenson. She said she was left for dead with a “sucking chest wound” for hours as Goldstein’s body lay nearby.

Don and Dan Nichols fled and were arrested five months later after a manhunt in the mountains of southwestern Montana.
During the parole hearing in April, board members noted Nichols’ clean record in his more than 30 years in prison and his completion of educational programs, including anger management and life skills.

Don Nichols, who kidnapped Swenson to be a bride for his then 19-year-old son, told the board members they would not regret their decision and he felt bad about his crimes.

Before Don Nichols’ 2012 parole hearing, Kari Swenson wrote a letter to The Bozeman Daily Chronicle calling the father and son “crazy misfits” who chose to live apart from society and defy its laws.

“I endured being grabbed by both wrists, hit in the face, thrown to the ground, chained to Dan, threatened with knives and guns, marched through the woods, secured like an animal to trees and spent a terrifying night chained next to Dan,” she wrote.

She said she spent years in counseling and still has shrapnel in her chest that hurts her and brings back haunting memories of the ordeal that ended her athletic career.

Dan Nichols was convicted of kidnapping and assault and was released from prison in 1991.

New Jersey
Lawyer arrested for not answering questions gets settlement

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A lawyer arrested for not answering questions during a traffic stop for suspected speeding in New Jersey will receive $30,000 under a settlement with the state, court records show.

NJ Advance Media reported Wednesday that the settlement for Rebecca Musarra was reached in July.

Dashcam video of the 2015 arrest shows state troopers telling the Philadelphia lawyer that she has the right to remain silent after they arrested her for not answering their questions.

The video shows the troopers repeatedly asking Musarra if she knows why she is being stopped. When she doesn’t respond, a trooper tells her, “OK, you’re going to be placed under arrest if you don’t answer my questions.”

When she told them she didn’t have to answer their questions, they told her to get out of the car and handcuffed her.

Musarra said she was detained in a police station where a trooper told her she was obstructing justice by not responding to the officers. When she informed the trooper that it was not illegal to stay silent, he then apologized for the arrest and called the officer a “rookie,” according to the lawsuit.

She was released the same night after a trooper told her he would do her a “favor” and get her car released from an impound lot without her having to pay any fees. The lawsuit also stated that a trooper chipped her driver’s-side window when he tapped his flashlight against it during the traffic stop.

The department has not admitted wrongdoing, though a spokesman said troopers were given additional training after the arrest.