National Roundup

New Jersey
Judge who had sex with boy loses bid to regain pension

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey appellate court has upheld a ruling that denies pension benefits to a former judge who served a federal prison term for having sex with a boy in Russia and bringing back a tape of the act.

The ruling was issued Monday by a state appellate court.

Stephen Thompson is a disabled Vietnam War veteran who presided over cases in Camden County from 1989 until shortly after his arrest in 2003.

A state pension board ruled the now 72-year-old judge should forfeit his $51,916 annual pension. Administrative law courts upheld the decision.

Thompson has argued his crime occurred just before his retirement, so that time period should be used only to calculate how much pension he should lose.

But the appellate court found Thompson’s misconduct wasn’t confined to that time period.

Georgia
Woman accused of threatening judge over parenting classes

MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia woman is accused of threatening to kill a judge who ordered her to undergo parenting classes.

The Marietta Daily Journal reports 29-year-old Nikki Flukers told the judge, “I’m going to get a gun and shoot you for telling me how to raise my kid.” She’s now charged with making terroristic threats.

Arrest warrant says Flukers was arrested last month and charged with repeatedly punching a young boy in the chest. She’s also accused of kicking, punching and choking adults who tried to stop her from attacking the child.

In 2017, she was charged with aggravated assault and accused of beating a man with a candle holder, chasing him with knives, dousing him in alcohol and trying to light him on fire.

Illinois
Chicago-area man gets more than 27 years for sex trafficking

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge has sentenced a suburban Chicago man to more than 27 years in prison in a sex trafficking case.

Federal prosecutors in Chicago said Monday that 32-year-old Deronarte Norwood of North Chicago sent a 15-year-old girl to have sex with strangers, left her alone in hotel rooms and exploited her in graphic online advertisements. They say Norwood pocketed all the money she made. Prosecutors say Norwood “physically and emotionally harmed” the girl after he met her in 2015.

Norwood was arrested in October 2016 in Waukegan. Federal jurors in Chicago last year convicted him of attempting to transport a minor to Wisconsin from Illinois for prostitution. U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman sentenced Norwood last week to a 330-month prison term.

Wisconsin
Not guilty plea from retired priest in sexual assault case

LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) — The attorney for a 94-year-old retired priest has entered a not guilty plea on his behalf to a sexual assault charge in La Crosse County Circuit Court.

Monsignor Bernard McGarty did not appear in court Monday for his hearing on fourth-degree sexual assault.

WXOW-TV reports that in the criminal complaint, the alleged victim told investigators that McGarty approached her as she sat on a bench outside the main La Crosse library on May 11. She said she told him she was homeless and he handed her $20.

The complaint says that McGarty took her arm and placed it in his lap with clear sexual intentions.

McGarty is currently free on a signature bond.

Illinois
No retrial for man who served 20 years for murder

KANKAKEE, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois man who spent nearly two decades in prison for a killing he claims was self-defense will not be retried as ordered by an appellate court after problems arose with evidence in the case, Kankakee County prosecutors announced Monday.

An Illinois appellate court last year ruled there were enough problems with the prosecution’s original case to overturn Terrence Haynes’ murder conviction and order a new trial.

Haynes was told by his attorney when he arrived at court Monday morning that he wouldn’t be retried in the 1999 shooting death of 18-year-old Cezaire Murrell. Last month prosecutors said they were reconsidering whether to retry Haynes after a child witness recanted testimony.

State’s Attorney Jim Rowe said his office made the decision to drop charges against Haynes after interviewing witnesses with “a fresh set of eyes.” Rowe said it’s rare for the county’s prosecutors to drop a first-degree murder case after a conviction is overturned.

“It’s a prosecutor’s worst nightmare,” Rowe said of the case. “This is justice.”

Haynes was scheduled to go on trial June 10 for the fatal shooting of Murrell. Haynes, who was 22 at the time, claims he was forced to shoot Murrell after Murrell threatened him with a gun.

Marcus Hammond was 11 years old when he testified Murrell was unarmed at the time of the shooting. Hammond, now 30, says he gave false testimony at the urging of prosecutors.

Three adult witnesses told police Murrell was armed when he threatened and approached Haynes, records show. None testified at the first trial.

In the motion to dismiss, Rowe quoted from the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct: “the duty of a public prosecutor ... is to seek justice, not merely to convict.”

Missouri
Man charged after wife records fight ending with deadly fall

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A newlywed Illinois prison guard has been charged with assault after his wife recorded a fight that ended with her being found dead at the bottom of a parking garage near the St. Louis stadium where the Cardinals play.

Thirty-year-old Bradley Jenkins, of Taylorville, Illinois, was charged Monday with third-degree domestic assault. After his wife, 27-year-old Allissa Martin, was found dead over the weekend, police found her cellphone on the seventh floor of the garage, its camera still recording.

Charging documents say Martin, also a prison guard, can be heard on the recording yelling at Jenkins to stop punching her face. She dropped the phone and could be heard screaming as she falls.

The couple had been married less than two weeks.