Maryland
Convicted officer to pay $100K for beating teen
BALTIMORE (AP) — A federal jury has ordered the former Baltimore police officer who was convicted of assaulting a 14-year-old handcuffed to a hospital gurney to pay the teen's family $100,000.
The Baltimore Sun reports a jury returned the verdict of the civil complaint against Duane Williams Jr. on Tuesday. Williams was already convicted of assault and misconduct in 2016 and sentenced to one year of home detention.
The complaint filed by the boy's mother, Latoya Coner, accuses Williams of beating the teen 10 to 15 times, causing him to lose hearing in his left ear.
A Department of Justice investigation says the teen was at a Baltimore hospital in 2015 for a mental health evaluation when Williams beat him.
Two other officers received probation for denying and not reporting the beating.
South Carolina
Lawsuit: School didn't probe teacher accused of impropriety
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — A young woman who was abused by her physical education teacher as a middle schooler is suing in South Carolina, saying the school district hired the teacher knowing she'd been previously accused of improper behavior.
The Greenville News reports the Greenville County district responded this week, saying it can't be blamed for a criminal act by a teacher who had passed a background check.
The lawsuit says the district didn't properly investigate Meghan Colleen Dougherty when she was hired at Hillcrest Middle School. It says Dougherty sexually and emotionally abused the girl for years. It says Dougherty resigned in 2015 after being confronted. She was arrested and then accused of sexually assaulting the same victim after posting bail. Dougherty pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct with a minor in 2017.
New York
Lawyer who took on DuPont has book coming out
NEW YORK (AP) — A top environmental lawyer, the inspiration for a film starring Mark Ruffalo, has a book coming about his 20-year battle with DuPont. Rob Bilott's "Exposure" is scheduled for release in October.
Bilott had been representing corporations when he was contacted in 1998 by a West Virginia farmer who believed his creek was contaminated by runoff from a DuPont landfill. Bilott eventually filed a class action suit on behalf of thousands of people, a case ending in 2017 when DuPont and Chemours Co. agreed to pay more than $600 million. In a statement Wednesday issued through publisher Atria Books, Bilott said he hoped "Exposure" would inspire activists and raise awareness of chemicals in drinking water.
Arizona
Attorney: Man who killed teen over rap music is mentally ill
PHOENIX (AP) — The attorney for a white man charged with fatally stabbing a black teenager at a convenience store because he felt threatened by his rap music says he is mentally ill and was released from jail on a prior assault conviction without medication.
The killing has ignited a national outcry, including comments from a Democratic presidential candidate who is calling for a federal investigation.
"This is a failing on the part of the (Arizona) Department of Corrections," defense attorney Jacie Cotterell told a judge Tuesday, where Michael Adams was charged with first-degree murder.
Authorities say Adams stabbed 17-year-old Elijah Al-Amin last Thursday at a convenience store in a Phoenix suburb. First responders discovered Al-Amin collapsed outside the store's gas pumps and took him to a hospital, where he died. Police said several people inside the store had watched as Al-Amin was stabbed in the throat and the back before he ran outside.
Officers said they found Adams nearby with a pocket knife and blood on his body. Adams, 27, told them he had felt threatened by the rap music coming from Al-Amin's vehicle.
Adams is being held on $1 million bond. He had been freed July 2 after serving a 13-month sentence for aggravated assault.
Department of Corrections spokesman Bill Lamoreaux said in a statement that when Adams was released he "was not designated seriously mentally ill" and that once the department transported him from the state prison complex where he had served his sentence to the Phoenix area it "had no further legal authority over him."
Friends and family hugged Monday at the Islamic Community Center in suburban Tempe, where prayers were held for 17-year-old Elijah Al-Amin before his burial.
Al-Amin would have turned 18 in two weeks, family members said, and was looking forward to his senior year in high school. A modest makeshift memorial placed outside the convenience store included a pair of white porcelain angels, fresh flowers and burning calendars.
The Twitter hashtag #JusticeForElijah began trending over the Independence Day holiday weekend.
"Another one of our children has been murdered in a heinous and unprovoked way_the DOJ must investigate this hate crime immediately," Democratic candidate Cory Booker wrote on his Twitter account Monday. "RIP Elijah. #JusticeForElijah."
Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian American civil rights activist from New York called the crime "outrageous" and said it recalled the 2012 killing of 17-year-old high school student Jordan Davis in Jacksonville, Florida. "Rest in power Elijah Al-Amin," she wrote.
Many of the people commenting on Twitter said claims about Adams' mental illness should not be used to explain away what they believe was a hate crime.
There is no hate crime statute in Arizona, but a judge's determination that a hate crime has occurred can toughen sentencing. Adams is next scheduled to appear in court July 15.
Iowa
Man accused of burning LGBTQ books loses motion to dismiss
ORANGE CITY, Iowa (AP) — A magistrate has refused to dismiss a criminal mischief charge against an Iowa religious activist accused of burning four LGBTQ children's books that he checked out of a library.
Prosecutors say 63-year-old Paul Dorr posted a video on Facebook in October in which he denounced the Orange City library for having the books and threw them into a burning barrel.
He argued in his motion for dismissal that he was singled out for prosecution because of the message he was sending.
Sioux County District Court records show that Magistrate Lisa Mazurek said in her ruling issued Monday that Dorr didn't prove his assertions and that the only message being sent to him is "that he cannot burn books that do not belong to him."
His trial's set for Aug. 6.
