National Roundup

Rhode Island
Court upholds conviction in Brown University athlete assault
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The Rhode Island Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a Connecticut man who assaulted a former Brown University basketball player, leaving him permanently impaired.

The Providence Journal reports the court ruling Wednesday supported the felony assault conviction of 29-year-old Tory Lussier in the 2013 attack on Joseph Sharkey.

Prosecutors say Lussier confronted Sharkey after consuming several drinks in May 2013. Sharkey’s companion testified that he had his back turned when Lussier punched him in the face, causing the man to fall and hit his head.

Court records show Sharkey has long-term mental impairments and had to learn to walk again after the assault.

Lussier was given a seven-year suspended sentence, and he received a less than honorable discharge from the Marines.

Mississippi
Son describes decapitating mom to deputy
WIGGINS, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi deputy tells a judge that a Stone County man charged with killing his mother admitted decapitating her.

Sheriff’s Capt. Ray Boggs testified Wednesday at a preliminary hearing for Terrelle Johnson, who’s accused of killing Sherry Johnson. A grand jury must decide whether he’ll be indicted for first-degree murder.

Boggs says Sherry Johnson’s siblings asked authorities June 6 to check on her. Boggs says Johnson admitted choking his mother until she passed out. He says he then cut her head off.

Boggs says officers found her body in the backyard. Her head was on the other side of the fence.

Boggs says Johnson told him it started with an argument over credit cards.

Defense attorney Jim Davis indicated Johnson has previously been hospitalized with mental health problems.

Indiana
Court: Miranda applies in some student interviews
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indiana Supreme Court says students must be told about their right to remain silent when questioned by police in a custody-type setting at school.

The court ruled Wednesday in the case of a 13-year-old boy suspected of a bomb threat at an Indianapolis school.  The court threw out the confession, saying the boy wasn’t advised of his rights while being interrogated by a vice principal in the presence of armed officers.

The court says students must be advised of their rights if they’re being questioned while police are present and they don’t feel free to leave a room.

Chief Justice Loretta Rush says Miranda doesn’t apply if school officials simply are questioning a student, unless they’re acting as agents of the police.

Florida
Deputies: Man smoked weed while child drowned in pool
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man is facing manslaughter charges after authorities say a child he was watching drowned in a backyard pool while he smoked marijuana with a teenager in the front yard.

Bay County Sheriff’s Officials say 45-year-old Charles Lee was arrested Wednesday.

The News Herald reports the 1-year-old drowned May 31 at a Panama City Beach home. Deputies gave the boy CPR after a family member found him unresponsive in the pool. The baby died several days later.

Investigators said the boy was left in Lee’s care. He initially told investigators he was in the home when the boy drowned, but later admitted to smoking with a 15-year-old in the front yard. Authorities say Lee fled while the boy was hospitalized.

An attorney for Lee wasn’t listed on jail records.

Alabama
Police officer charged with raping teen resigns post
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama police lieutenant charged with forcibly raping a teen relative has resigned.

Al.com reports Birmingham Police Lt. Pete Williston submitted his resignation Tuesday. Defense attorney Scott Morro says Williston is remorseful and he and his family along with the police department need “healing.”

Morris Police Chief Mike Nazarchyk says a 24-year-old woman reported the abuse in May. She told police that Williston sexually abused her from 2008 to 2011, starting when she was 14 years old.

Nazarchyk says police investigated and turned the findings over to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office, which charged him with forcible rape. Williston was arrested in a hospital where he had been admitted for suicide concerns, and was released from jail Tuesday on $50,000 bond.


Washington
Man files $75,000 claim against Border Patrol
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A man has filed a $75,000 claim for damages against the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, contending he was illegally detained on a bus trip that went through Spokane’s bus station last summer.

The Spokesman-Review reports that 36-year-old Andres Sosa Segura is being represented by attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union and the Northwest Immigration Rights Project.

The claim was announced on Wednesday.

Lawyers for Sosa contend he was singled out for attention by Border Patrol agents because he was the only Latino-appearing passenger on the Greyhound bus that stopped in Spokane.

The Border Patrol declined to comment.

Sosa alleges he was traveling back to his home in Underwood, Washington, from Montana on the morning of July 25 when he was detained and threatened with deportation.

Montana
Man charged in meth deaths of wife, newborn
GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — A 25-year-old Great Falls man is charged with two counts of negligent homicide in the January overdose death of his pregnant wife and his daughter, who was born prematurely.

Devin Michael Olson was arrested Tuesday on a warrant setting his bail at $25,000.

Charging documents say 20-year-old Kayla Taylor Olson died on Jan. 13, shortly after her daughter, Charlotte, was delivered via emergency cesarean section. The baby was flown to a Seattle hospital where she died Jan. 18, also due to methamphetamine intoxication.

Prosecutors say the investigation found Devin Olson obtained the meth and gave it to Kayla for “one last hurrah before the birth of their child.”