Kansas
Former jail inmate reaches $50K settlement in abuse lawsuit
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Sedgwick County has settled a lawsuit with a former jail inmate who alleged he was has beaten unconscious by a deputy for $50,000.
The Wichita Eagle reports that commissioners approved the settlement Wednesday with 32-year-old Kristopher Welch, who sued last year in federal court. Welch's lawsuit originally sought $75,000 in damages.
Among those named in the suit was Cody Alexander, the jail sergeant whom Welch said beat him. The sheriff's office says Alexander is now a lieutenant.
The lawsuit said Alexander "forcibly removed" Welch from a bed at the jail, ordered him into handcuffs and then slammed him against a cell wall when he didn't comply quickly enough with an order to move bunks on March 13, 2017.
The lawsuit says the sergeant then reacted to a comment from a handcuffed Welch by punching Welch "from behind in the left side of his face" while Welch was "in a defenseless position and was facing away." The blow fractured "multiple bones" and caused Welch "to black out."
Court records show Welch was in jail at the time of the alleged assault in connection with violating the terms of his probation in two 2016 cases. He pleaded guilty in those cases to damaging a 2012 Camaro and possessing marijuana and methamphetamine.
Delaware
Career criminal loses appeal on drug, weapons charges
DOVER, Del. (AP) - Delaware's Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a career criminal serving 75 years in prison on drug and weapons charges.
The court on Wednesday found no merit to Maurice Cooper's claims that a trial judge erred in not suppressing evidence obtained through search warrants executed on his home, a Wilmington business address, and his Instagram account. Cooper, 39, also argued that his lengthy sentence amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.
Cooper, whose previous felonies included murder and robbery, was convicted last year of heroin dealing, aggravated possession of heroin, and multiple counts of possession of a firearm during commission of a felony, possession of a firearm by a person prohibited and possession of ammunition by a person prohibited.
The investigation that led to Cooper's 2018 arrest began four years earlier when police received information about a drug ring operating out of the Riverside Housing Projects.
Last month, a federal grand jury returned a new indictment against Cooper and four other men accused of a series of violent crimes including kidnapping and killing a Delaware woman and shooting a 6-year-old boy in the head.
Cooper is charged in that case with conspiracy, stalking, kidnapping and use of a firearm during a crime of violence.
Authorities have said the federal charges stem from a feud dating to at least 2014 between one of Cooper's codefendants and Markevis Stanford. The feud escalated into violence and attempted shootings involving both men and their associates. It culminated in the kidnapping and killing of Stanford's girlfriend, 28-year-old Keyonna Perkins, in June 2017 and the shooting of 6-year-old JaShown Banner that same day.
Prosecutors say a bullet struck the boy in the head while one of Cooper's associates was shooting at Stanford. Banner was left paralyzed and brain damaged. Perkins was found shot to death in Elkton, Maryland, after being kidnapped and thrown into the trunk of a car in Delaware.
Minnesota
Widow sues lawyer who drew up will leaving estate to church
CROOKSTON, Minn. (AP) - The widow of an East Grand Forks man is suing an attorney who drew up a will that left her husband's estate of more than $5 million to a church the couple did not attend.
Cindy Driscoll is suing East Grand Forks attorney Gerard Neil and his law firm in Polk County District Court, alleging malpractice, negligence and fraudulent misrepresentation.
Driscoll says Neil, who wrote a new will for her husband Randy in the weeks before his death in 2015, was the registered agent for the Sacred Heart Catholic Church foundation and a board member.
The Star Tribune says Neil vehemently denies the allegations in Driscoll's lawsuit which focuses on Neil's actions in drawing up Randy Driscoll's will and trust and gaining Cindy Driscoll's consent to them.
The money issues over Randy Driscoll's estate have been largely settled. In 2018, the Driscoll family and Sacred Heart agreed to a deal that gave the church $1.5 million. Cindy Driscoll got the title to her home and $1 million in cash.
Five hundred acres of prime Red River Valley farmland went to other Driscoll family members, who had to come up with nearly $900,000 to complete the deal.
Arizona
State high court mulls appeal over tuition costs lawsuit
PHOENIX (AP) - The Arizona Supreme Court is considering an appeal in a case that involves both the cost of tuition to attend a state university and the authority of the state attorney general.
The justices will rule sometime in the future after hearing legal arguments Thursday on Attorney General Mark Brnovich's appeal of a lower court's ruling that dismissed Brnovich's lawsuit against the state Board of Regents over tuition costs.
Brnovich's 2017 lawsuit contends that a series of tuition increases approved by the regents violated a state constitutional mandate for university tuition to be "as nearly free as possible," while the regents successfully argued in the lower court that Brnovich lacked authority to sue the regents over the tuition issue.
Brnovich appealed to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeals upheld a trial judge's dismissal of the suit.
A central issue to be decided is the applicability of a 1960 ruing by the Supreme Court that limited the ability of the state attorney general to pursue litigation against a state agency.
Numerous current and former attorneys general from various states urged the Arizona court to rule for Brnovich, while the regents drew support from a bipartisan coalition of government officials and groups representing businesses and municipal governments.
Because of the coronavirus outbreak, lawyers argued through videoconferencing.
Published: Mon, Apr 20, 2020
