National Roundup

Kentucky
Police seize air fryer containing 20 pounds of meth
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) —  It may be the holiday season,  but police in Kentucky confiscated an unusual gift being delivered to a Kentucky man’s home — a package with about 20 pounds (9 kilograms) of meth that was shipped through the mail inside of an air fryer.

Narcotics officers were able to intercept the parcel containing about $100,000 worth of drugs, Louisville Metro police said in a Facebook post  Saturday.

The package was delivered to a suspect’s home where officers obtained a search warrant to collect it, the Major Case Unit confirmed to news outlets. The suspect wasn’t home at time of seizure.

Photos posted by the police department show at least seven packages of drugs wrapped in plastic alongside the Hamilton Beach brand air fryer and the box it came in.

Alabama
State doesn’t appeal injunction on abortion ban
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama’s near-total abortion ban will remain blocked by a federal judge as a lawsuit over the ban plays out in court.

Alabama did not appeal the court injunction that blocked the state’s near-total abortion ban from taking effect last month, according to the attorney general’s office. The state has previously acknowledged the ban is likely unenforceable unless the U.S. Supreme Court makes a major shift on abortion rights.

The preliminary injunction by U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson temporarily stopped the ban from taking effect Nov. 15 while he hears a lawsuit challenging the ban as unconstitutional. The 2019 law would make performing an abortion a felony in almost all cases.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has said the state’s objective is to get the case to the U.S. Supreme Court to try to get justices to reconsider rulings such as Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Roe legalized abortion nationwide. Casey affirmed abortion rights, but said that the states could enact limited restrictions.

Mike Lewis, a spokesman for the attorney general, confirmed the state is not appealing the temporary injunction.

“It will take time to develop a record in support of our arguments that Roe and Casey were wrongly decided and should be overruled. We hope to have a chance to build that record before any appeal. And for that reason, we have not appealed the preliminary injunction,” Lewis said.

The appeal deadline was Nov. 29, according to Randall Marshall, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama.

Alabama has acknowledged in court filings that its attempted abortion ban conflicts with current U.S. Supreme Court rulings that say abortion is legal. State lawyers wrote in a filing this summer that current precedent “regrettably requires” a judge to block enforcement.

Massachusetts
Court weighs whether Boston Marathon bomber got a fair trial
BOSTON (AP) — A federal appeals court in Boston will consider whether Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev received a fair trial in the city where the bombs exploded.

Oral arguments before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals are scheduled for Thursday, according to The Boston Globe.

Tsarnaev was convicted and sentenced to death in 2015 for carrying out the April 15, 2013, attack at the marathon finish line with his older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed by authorities.
Three people died and more than 260 were wounded.

Tsarnaev’s lawyers argue it was impossible to find a fair jury in Boston because the explosions traumatized the region. They’re trying to get his death sentence overturned.

Prosecutors maintain that an impartial jury was carefully selected. They wrote in a filing in June that exposure to high levels of pretrial publicity does not necessarily render a community unable to convene an impartial jury, otherwise no venue would be acceptable in the most nationally significant cases.

Tsarnaev isn’t expected to attend the hearing. He was convicted of all 30 charges against him, including conspiracy and use of a weapon of mass destruction.

His lawyers admitted at the beginning of his trial that he and his older brother set off the two bombs, but they argued Tsarnaev is less culpable than his brother. They’re challenging the judge’s refusal to allow the defense to introduce evidence tying Tamerlan Tsarnaev to the killings of three people in the Boston suburb of Waltham in 2011.

Connecticut
Judge: Woman’s lawsuit over prison medical care can advance
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A judge has ruled that a lawsuit about whether a woman who gave birth in a Connecticut prison cell was denied medical care can advance toward a trial.

Tianna Laboy’s lawyers argue that officials inside York Correctional Institution in East Lyme, Connecticut did not provide proper prenatal care during her pregnancy and ignored her pleas for help during four days of labor last year.

The state asked that the lawsuit against the Connecticut Department of Correction be thrown out, arguing Laboy did not file the required grievance with authorities and hadn’t exhausted administrative remedies.

U.S. District Judge Janet Hall ruled last week there was no available remedy due to the circumstances of the case, according to The Hartford Courant.

Hall also unsealed an internal inquiry by the Department of Correction into the birth. The department’s investigator identified a series of missteps, including the fact that nurses never connected Laboy’s complaints of abdominal pain to preterm labor.

A department spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment Sunday. The department previously said it wouldn’t comment on pending litigation.

Laboy gave birth without medical assistance on the toilet inside her locked and unsanitary cell on Feb. 13, 2018, according to her lawsuit. The child was born more than five weeks premature and spent two weeks in intensive care.

Following the birth, two UConn Health employees were escorted from the prison and told not to return while the incident was under review. Two weeks later, the state announced it would move responsibility for the inmate medical care from UConn Health to the Department of Correction, amid growing concerns over medical treatment, including that given to Laboy.