National Roundup

Connecticut
Court: Murder case against UConn doctor’s wife can proceed
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled that the murder case against the wife of a University of Connecticut medical school doctor can proceed, despite authorities having reviewed documents covered by attorney-client privilege that were seized from her home.

Justices issued their unanimous decision Wednesday in the case of Linda Kosuda-Bigazzi. She has claimed self-defense in the 2017 killing of 84-year-old Pierluigi Bigazzi, a professor of laboratory science and pathology at UConn Health.

Prosecutors allege she left his body wrapped in plastic in their Burlington home for months while she continued to collect his salary.

Kosuda-Bigazzi had sought dismissal of the charges, saying investigators’ review of her documents severely prejudiced the case against her. Some of the documents included notes about the killing, but her lawyers said those were part of her defense strategy and were protected by attorney-client privilege.

The Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that said while authorities should not have reviewed certain documents, the state has taken steps to insure a fair trial including having another state’s attorney’s office handle the case.

Justices also said investigators’ actions did not rise to the level of “extreme prejudice” that would warrant dismissal of the charges.

Indiana
Prosecutor seeks investigation in fatal shooting
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — An Indiana prosecutor has asked a judge to approve a special investigation into a murder case after the defendant alleged investigators lied about details under oath.

Kyle Doroszko, 19, was charged with murder in the 2019 fatal shooting of 18-year-old Traychon Taylor in South Bend, Indiana. Prosecutors say the shooting happened while Taylor attempted to rob Doroszko while he was selling him marijuana.

St. Joseph County Prosecutor Ken Cotter filed a petition asking Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Sanford to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the case after Doroszko’s lawyer alleged in a court filing that three officers lied under oath at their dispositions, South Bend Tribune reported Wednesday.

Doroszko’s arrest on April 30, 2019, in his home was caught on surveillance, Cotter’s petition notes.

When Commander Mike Grzegorek along with Detectives Brian Cook and Chris Kronewitter were deposed by Doroszko’s lawyer, there was “apparent discrepancy” between the officers’ testimony and the surveillance footage of the arrest, according to the petition.

In a court filing, Doroszko alleges that Grzegorek, Cook and Kronewitter, “chose to make intentional, material misrepresentations of fact” and “lied on multiple material points under oath at their depositions.”

The discrepancies include the three officers allegedly lying about not having an assault rifle when they arrested him in his home, Doroszko alleges. The filing also says the officers denied asking Doroszko questions about the shooting without him waiving his Miranda rights that allow him to stay silent and have an attorney.

Grzegorek told the newspaper Tuesday that he wouldn’t comment.

Cotter’s petition explains that “credibility” is part of the evaluation of any case. He noted that the “prosecutor must determine whether that conflict was a result of an honest mis-remembering of the events...”

Cotter is asking for a special prosecutor to handle the case to “avoid any appearance of impropriety, conflict of interest or influence upon the ultimate prosecutorial decisions to be made,” the petition says.

Doroszko’s next hearing is scheduled on April 27.

Minnesota
State Supreme Court rules some voter data private
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the secretary of state can withhold some voter information from a conservative election watchdog group.

In a 5-2 decision, the high court reversed a lower court ruling that favored the Minnesota Voters Alliance. That group sued to obtain data on millions of voters that Secretary of State Steve Simon’s office contends should be kept private.

The alliance says it wants to see if the data shows voter fraud. Simon produced a publicly available database for the group with names, addresses, birth year, voting history and telephone number for more than 5 million people, but he withheld details about the eligibility status of voters.

Justice David Lillehaug wrote in the majority opinion that Simon properly balanced transparency with voter privacy, Minnesota Public Radio News reported.

Chief Justice Lorie Gildea wrote in a dissent that the decision gives Simon too much power to classify data on his own.

Simon said in a statement that every action he has taken in the case “was to protect the privacy of Minnesota’s voters.”

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison calls the ruling “a big win for Minnesota voters’ privacy.”

The Minnesota Voters Alliance maintains the ruling affirms the group’s position that all of the records in the statewide voter registration database are publicly available data, and again called on Simon to release the complete set of election records to the public.

Oregon
Teen who killed sleeping man gets up to 7 years
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — A Eugene teen who beat a man to death in 2018 has become the first to be sentenced under a new law designed to keep teens accused of serious crimes in Juvenile Court.

Jonathan Daniel Kirkpatrick, now 18, admitted during a Tuesday hearing that he killed Ovid Neal, a 56-year-old homeless man, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. Kirkpatrick’s crimes — murder, first-degree robbery and second-degree assault — are offenses that for adults carry long mandatory minimum sentences.

Kirkpatrick was initially charged as an adult but the law underwent a significant change while his case was pending and he was returned to juvenile court because the crimes occurred when he was 16.

Lane County Circuit Judge Jay McAlpin ordered Kirkpatrick into the custody of the Oregon Youth Authority. The most he could serve is about seven years because the state cannot hold or supervise juvenile offenders past their 25th birthdays.

The case represents the first test of Oregon’s overhauled juvenile justice system. Instead of automatically being waived into adult court, juveniles between ages 15 and 17 face a court hearing where a judge decides whether they should be tried as adults.

Lane County prosecutor Erik Hasselman said Neal was asleep Oct. 3 when Kirkpatrick used a rock the size of a football to bash his head. Kirkpatrick then “stood or stomped” on Neal, he said.

Kirkpatrick grabbed Neal’s backpack and fled. He found $11, prosecutors said.