Daily Briefs

Ohio
Prosecutor: Don’t dismiss doc’s 25-count murder indictment
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio court shouldn’t dismiss the 25-count murder indictment for a hospital doctor accused of ordering excessive painkillers for patients who then died, the prosecutor argued in a new court filing.

William Husel, who worked in the Columbus-area Mount Carmel Health System, has pleaded not guilty and maintains he was providing comfort care to dying patients. He was charged only in cases involving at least 500 micrograms of fentanyl — dosages big enough that prosecutors say they indicate an intent to end lives.

Husel’s lawyers sought to get the indictment dismissed, arguing that Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien wrongly influenced the grand jury and prejudiced Husel by excluding information about another patient who received even larger doses and survived for days afterward. The defense argues that patient’s records would contradict the prosecution’s case, but O’Brien says those records don’t contain exculpatory evidence.

Prosecutors called the defense request meritless in a court filing on Tuesday, and said the judge shouldn’t even have an evidentiary hearing on the matter as scheduled later this month. Husel’s challenge asks the court to prematurely and impermissibly “assess the legal sufficiency of the State’s evidence” in proving the charges, and that’s to be determined at trial, not beforehand, they wrote.

They also said Husel’s request to see transcripts of the grand jury proceedings, which are usually secret, asks the court “to presume he was wrongfully indicted” but doesn’t meet the bar of showing he’d be deprived of a fair trial if he is denied the transcripts.

The case against Husel, 44, is among the biggest of its kind ever brought against an American health care professional. Mount Carmel’s review concluded he ordered excessive painkillers for about three dozen patients who died over several years.

His colleagues who administered the medication weren’t criminally charged, but the hospital system said it fired 23 nurses, pharmacists and managers, and it referred various employees to their respective state boards for possible disciplinary action.

Mount Carmel has reached related settlements totaling more than $16.7 million, and lawsuits by more patients’ families are still pending.

Minnesota
Judge won’t move trial of officers in Floyd’s death
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A judge on Thursday declined defense requests to move the trial of four Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd’s death, and also ruled that all four would be tried in a single proceeding.

Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill ruled after defense attorneys had argued that pretrial publicity had made it impossible for the four men to get a fair trial. They had also cited a Sept. 11 hearing in which the men and their attorneys were confronted by angry protesters outside the courthouse, saying it showed that holding the proceeding in the same area where Floyd died would be unsafe for participants. Defense lawyers had argued that witnesses could be intimidated, and jurors could be affected by chants from a crowd outside.

Moving the trial away from Minneapolis to less diverse areas of the state likely would have affected the makeup of the jury.

Cahill said he would revisit the ruling if needed.

Defense attorneys had also argued that the men should face separate trials, as each officer tried to diminish their own role in Floyd’s arrest by pointing fingers at the other. But Cahill rejected that too, saying the complications of separate trials were too great and that trying the officers together would “ensure that the jury understands ... all of the evidence and the complete picture of Floyd’s death.”

Floyd, a Black man in handcuffs, died May 25  after Derek Chauvin, who is white, pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck as he said he couldn’t breathe. Floyd’s death sparked protests in Minneapolis and beyond, and led to a nationwide reckoning on race. All four officers were fired. They are scheduled to stand trial in March.

Chauvin is charged with unintentional second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The three other former officers, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao, are charged with aiding and abetting.

Wisconsin
Man charged in 1976 killings competent for trial
MARINETTE, Wis. (AP) — An 83-year-old man charged with killing a couple in a northeastern Wisconsin park in 1976 has been found competent to stand trial.

A judge in Marinette County Circuit Court on Wednesday found that Raymand Vannieuwenhoven is able to understand the court proceedings and assist in his own defense.

Vannieuwenhoven was arrested and charged last year in the long-unsolved fatal shootings of David Schuldes, 25, and Ellen Matheys, 24, in McClintock Park in Silver Cliff, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Milwaukee.

In March, Judge James Morrison ruled that Vannieuwenhoven did not understand the proceedings  and could not assist in his own defense. The judge ordered him to undergo inpatient treatment at Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison.

For decades, the widower and father of five children lived quietly among the 800 residents of Lakewood, a northeastern Wisconsin town surrounded by forests and small lakes.

Investigators didn’t have any major leads until 2018, when a DNA lab in Virginia identified the genealogical background of the suspect. Investigators said tests of Vannieuwenhoven’s DNA from a licked envelope matched DNA collected at the crime scene.

Morrison has also reinstated a $1 million cash bond, WLUK-TV  reported. A trial is scheduled to begin July 29.

Massachusetts
Gang leader gets 18 years for racketeering, drug charges
BOSTON (AP) — The former second in command of the Massachusetts Almighty Latin Kings gang has been sentenced to 18 years in prison, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling’s office said 32-year-old Jorge Rodriguez was sentenced Wednesday in Boston federal court. He pleaded guilty to racketeering and drug charges in June.

Prosecutors say Rodriguez ran a cocaine distribution network in New Bedford that used apartment buildings known as “trap houses” to distribute the narcotics.

During the investigation, Rodriguez was recorded cooking cocaine base, directing violence against rival gang members, handing out discipline, and handling firearms, according to court documents.

A federal grand jury last December indicted 62 leaders, members and associates of the Latin Kings. Rodriguez was the first defendant to plead guilty in the case.

Federal prosecutors describe the Latin Kings as a violent gang with members across the nation that sells drugs to generate revenue.

Ohio
High court rejects request for Dayton gunman school records
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A request by several media groups for the school records of the man who gunned down nine people in Dayton last year was rejected Thursday by the Ohio Supreme Court.

The groups, including The Associated Press, argued that the student records could provide information on whether authorities properly handled early warning signs  from slain gunman Connor Betts.

But the court ruled 6-1 that the law “is unambiguous and is not truly susceptible to differing interpretations,” according to the majority decision written by Justice Melody Stewart.

“The records of a person who attended a public school can be disclosed only with the consent of the student, if that student is 18 years of age or older,” Stewart wrote. “If that student is deceased, he is no longer available to grant consent.”

Stewart added that if the state Legislature had intended that the death of a person could alter the confidentiality of such records, “it could have expressly enacted such a rule.”

Justice Sharon Kennedy dissented, noting the law refers to records of a student attending a public school, in the present tense.

The law “does not prohibit a public school from releasing the records of a former student who is deceased and therefore not currently ‘attending’ that school,” Kennedy wrote.

The court heard arguments for and against releasing the records in June. Ohio law was meant to align with federal law, a statute the U.S. Department of Education has interpreted to mean that students’ privacy rights end if they die, as do legal interpretations in other states, Erin Rhinehart, an attorney representing the media groups, argued at the time.

Those include opinions backing the release of student records posthumously by attorneys general in several states including Kentucky, Oregon, Texas and Utah, she said. Rhinehart called Thursday’s decision disappointing.

“Perhaps the Ohio Legislature will agree that the Court’s decision today is flawed, and contradicts Ohio’s public policy in favor of disclosure, and step in to clarify Ohio law to permit access to such records,” Rhinehart said.

Betts was killed by police half a minute after he opened fire Aug. 4, 2019, in Dayton’s crowded Oregon District entertainment area. Armed with an AR-15 style gun with an extended ammunition magazine, Betts killed nine people, including his sister, and wounded dozens more.

After the shooting, high school classmates said Betts was suspended years ago for compiling a “hit list” of fellow students he wanted to harm. Two of the classmates said Betts had also been suspended after he came to school with a list of female students he wanted to sexually assault.

Police investigators said Betts had a “history of obsession with violent ideations with mass shootings and expressed a desire to commit a mass shooting.” The FBI said it uncovered evidence Betts “looked into violent ideologies.”

But authorities have also yet to identify a motive, or been able to say definitely whether Betts intended to kill his sister, Megan, or if her death was inadvertent.

The Ohio Supreme Court took the case after an appeals court ruled in favor of Bellbrook-Sugarcreek schools.

The appellate court ruled the media organizations hadn’t established a clear legal right to the records. The organizations also include the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Dayton Daily News, CNN, The New York Times, and WHIO-TV.


Maryland
County accused of bias in hiring officers settles suit
TOWSON, Md. (AP) — Maryland’s Baltimore County has reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice in a lawsuit that accused the county’s police force of discriminatory hiring practices against Black applicants.

Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski announced the deal Wednesday, saying in a statement that the agreement “will help hold Baltimore County accountable” as it works to increase diversity in the Baltimore County Police Department.

The lawsuit, filed in August 2019, claimed the county’s use of the pass/fail written exams led to hiring fewer black applicants as entry-level police officers and police cadets than it would have had if it used a “non-discriminatory screening device.”

The Justice department also alleged Black applicants passed three versions of the exam at a “statistically significant” lower rate than white applicants, and said the use of the exams as a screening device was not “job related.”

Under the settlement, the county has to provide $2 million in back pay to eligible claimants and make 20 priority hires for Black applicants who previously took and failed the written exams, according to the news release.

The county, which discontinued using the written exam in 2019, has also agreed to retain a test developer to create a new exam that “does not have a disparate impact” on Black applicants, the release said. In the meantime, both parties have agreed to use the National Police Officer Selection Test.

Olszewski said he, along with Baltimore County Police Chief Melissa Hyatt, had already began efforts to diversify the police force prior to the lawsuit. The release said the United States acknowledged the exams were established prior Olszewski’s administration as part of the agreement, and that his administration is committed to resolving complaints about the hiring practices.

“Ensuring residents see themselves reflected in our ranks is a critical step towards strengthening our relationship with the communities that we are sworn to serve,” Hyatt said in the news release. “While maintaining our exceptional hiring standards, we are taking committed action to diversify our department, and we will continue building on these efforts in the months and years ahead to improve our capacity for diverse recruitment to make a strong department even stronger.”