National Roundup

Minnesota
Prince’s ­bodyguard deposed in ­wrongful death lawsuit

CHASKA, Minn. (AP) — Prince’s former bodyguard answered questions from attorneys for seven hours as part of a wrongful death lawsuit filed by relatives of the late rock star.

Kirk Johnson’s attorney told KSTP-TV that Wednesday’s deposition at the Carver County Courthouse was difficult for his client, who considered Prince a good friend. Prince died of an accidental fentanyl overdose on April 15, 2016.

“This was a traumatic event for my client,” attorney F. Clayton Tyler said. “He feels very sad over the loss of a good friend of his. To have to come back and go through this and re-litigate this whole matter has been very difficult.”

The lawsuit names Dr. Michael Schulenberg as a defendant. Authorities say Schulenberg admitted prescribing oxycodone, a different opioid, to Johnson in the days before Prince died, knowing the drug would go to Prince. Schulenberg has disputed that, although he paid $30,000 to settle a federal civil violation alleging the drug was prescribed illegally.

Schulenberg’s attorney has said his client stands behind the care Prince received.

The source of the counterfeit pills that were laced with fentanyl that killed Prince remains unknown. No one has been charged in his death.

The lawsuit alleges Schulenberg and others had an opportunity and duty in the weeks before Prince died to treat his opioid addiction and prevent his death, but they failed to do so. A week before he died, Prince lost consciousness on a flight home from a concert in Atlanta. The plane stopped in Moline, Illinois, where Prince was revived with a drug that reverses opioid overdoses.

Other defendants include North Memorial Health Care, where Schulenberg worked; UnityPoint Health, which operates the Moline hospital; and Walgreens Co., which operates two drugstores where Prince got prescriptions filled.

Ohio
Ex-judge faces jail after losing ­challenge to her conviction

CINCINNATI (AP) — A former county judge in Cincinnati faces six months in jail after unsuccessfully challenging her conviction.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Black on Wednesday rejected Tracie Hunter’s challenge to her 2014 conviction on a felony count related to mishandling a confidential document.

Hunter’s attorneys took her case to federal court three years ago, just before the former Hamilton County judge was scheduled to begin her six-month sentence.

Attorneys for the 52-year-old Hunter have contended the case against her stemmed from politics. The Democrat took the bench after being declared the winner of a disputed 2010 election.

She stood trial on eight other counts that were dismissed after a jury couldn’t reach a verdict on them.

She has remained free while appealing. A county court hearing is set for July 18.

Alabama
Nurse practitioner sentenced in pill mill case

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge has sentenced an Alabama nurse practitioner accused of running a pill mill to 10 years in prison.

The Montgomery Advertiser reports that Judge Sharon Blackburn called Lillian Akwuba a drug dealer during Wednesday’s sentencing hearing in Montgomery and said Akwuba had destroyed people’s lives.

Akwuba was found guilty in October of unlawfully distributing controlled substances, including fentanyl, oxycodone and metha­done. Blackburn said she prescribed outrageous quantities of narcotics to vulnerable patients.

Akwuba said she let her family down and was embarrassed and in pain.

She was among numerous doctors, nurses and medical staff charged in what prosecutors say was a pill mill operation in Montgomery.

Arizona
U.S. Supreme Court denies review of child welfare case

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has denied review of an Arizona case challenging a law that gives preference to American Indians in adoptions of Native children.

The order this week leaves in place a lower court ruling that dismissed a complaint from a Phoenix-based, right-leaning think tank.

The Goldwater Institute sought to keep two children with ties to the Gila River and Navajo tribes from being removed from their non-Native foster parents.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the case was moot because the children had been adopted.

The 9th Circuit didn’t rule on the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act.

That question is before a federal appeals court in Louisiana in a separate case out of Texas that represents the most significant challenge to the 40-year-old law.

Florida
Man filmed by ­security camera killing wife ­sentenced

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for killing his wife, whose death was filmed by a security camera at the couple’s home.

The Palm Beach Post reports 34-year-old Dwight Luton was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the 2017 death of 31-year-old Ashley Balius. Riviera Beach police say Luton shot his wife while she sat in a car inside the couple’s driveway and then called police saying Balius had shot herself.

Police say video from a home security camera showed the former firearms dealer point what appears to be a gun at Balius before she slumps over. Responding officers found Balius with a gunshot wound to the side of her head.

A wrongful death lawsuit by Balius’ parents against Luton is ongoing.

Tennessee
Man sent to prison for ­urinating in ­cereal factory

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee man has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for urinating on a Kellogg’s cereal conveyor belt at a Memphis facility.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Memphis says 49-year-old Gregory Stanton was sentenced Friday in federal court. Stanton had pleaded guilty in November to tampering with consumer products.

An indictment says Stanton was a contract worker at the Kellogg’s plant in April 2014 when he recorded a video of himself urinating into a bucket and dumping the contents into the Raisin Bran production line. He also recorded himself urinating into a production line a month later.

Stanton posted the videos on the internet in 2016.

Law enforcement and the Food & Drug Administration investigated. Kellogg’s said in a statement that it is pleased Stanton was “brought to justice.”