Court Digest

Florida
Sheriff: Man thinks he hears intruder, shoots pregnant wife
STUART, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man who thought he heard an intruder outside his bedroom door instead fatally shot his pregnant wife, authorities said.

The shooting happened around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday at a home in Stuart, Sheriff William Snyder of Martin County told news outlets. The man told detectives he didn’t realize his wife was not in the room. He frantically called 911 and told dispatchers he had accidentally shot his wife, according to the sheriff.

“He gave us a pretty in-depth statement, in which he said that he awoke in the middle of the night, thought he heard somebody in the house, went to investigate with a handgun, saw a shape in the hallway and fired one round and unfortunately, it turned out to be his wife,” Snyder said.

The woman was pronounced dead at a hospital where she was taken. She was six months pregnant, and doctors were able to save the baby, WPBF reported.

Deputies said a 2-year-old child in the home when the shooting happened was not injured. The sheriff’s office cited the state’s Marsy’s Law in not releasing the names of the woman or her husband. The law, approved by voters, was designed to protect victims of crime.

“This is a nightmare case,” Snyder said. “You know somebody who thinks he’s defending his home, actually shoots his wife.”

Louisiana
Alton Sterling suit: $5M settlement nixed in police killing
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The governing council in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has again rejected a proposed $5 million settlement in a lawsuit over the death of Alton Sterling, a Black man fatally shot by a white police officer in 2016.

Baton Rouge news outlets say the 12-member East Baton Rouge Metro Council fell one vote short of the seven needed for approval Wednesday.

The rejection makes a March 2021 trial more likely in the 2017 wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of Sterling’s five children against the city, its police department and former police chief and the two officers involved. It’s the third time the council has failed to pass a possible settlement.

Former Baton Rouge police officer Blane Salamoni shot Sterling six times outside a convenience store on July 5, 2016. Sterling, 37, had been selling homemade CDs. Officer Howie Lake II, who is also white, helped wrestle Sterling to the ground, but Lake didn’t fire his gun.

Two cellphone videos of the shooting quickly spread on social media after the shooting, leading to protests that year in which nearly 200 people were arrested.

The 2017 suit alleges the shooting fit a pattern of racist behavior and excessive force by Baton Rouge Police. It also claims poor training and inadequate police procedures led to Sterling’s death.

Internal investigators for the Baton Rouge Police Department concluded Salamoni had used excessive force, The Advocate reported.

Salamoni was fired in March 2018, but an August 2019 settlement allowed him to withdraw his termination and resign retroactively instead. Authorities did not file criminal charges after an investigation.

Rhode Island
Judge denies teachers union’s bid to halt in-person classes
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island judge on Friday rejected a request from the Providence Teachers Union to suspend in-person instruction at a city middle school over concerns about COVID-19.

Superior Court Judge Melissa Darigan denied the union’s motion for a temporary restraining order and found no violation of law or state health protocol.

The union sued this month in an attempt to force the closure of Nathanael Greene Middle School, where dozens of staff members had been out because of virus concerns. At least three students and two staff members had tested positive, according to the suit, and other faculty members were quarantining.

In the suit, the union argued that students and staff members “have an incontrovertible right to work and learn in an environment that is safe” and that meets state and federal health guidelines.

The union did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Providence Superintendent Harrison Peters said the judge found no wrongdoing by the district. “The judge also recognized the hardship that closing the school would impose on Providence families, specifically vulnerable populations, and urged PTU and the district to resolve any staff issues outside of the courtroom,” Peters said in a statement.


Louisiana
Trial move sought in case of LSU basketball player’s slaying
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Lawyers for the man charged in the 2018 slaying of LSU basketball player Wade Sims says the trial should be moved away from the Baton Rouge area.

The Advocate reports that attorneys for Dyteon Simpson, of Baker, say Simpson cannot get a fair trial in Louisiana’s East Baton Rouge Parish because of “pervasive and prejudicial” news coverage.

The parish district attorney, Hillar Moore III, disagrees.

Authorities say Sims was shot in the face when he intervened in a fistfight outside a fraternity party near the Southern University campus.

The defense lawyers are asking state District Judge Ron Johnson to move Simpson’s second-degree murder trial to another parish.

“Before and after Mr. Simpson’s arrest, the media coverage in this matter has been significant and unending on a local and national level in large part due to the victim’s status as an LSU basketball player,” Simpson’s court-appointed lawyers, Lindsay Blouin and Margaret Lagattuta, said in a change of venue motion filed Wednesday.

Blouin and Lagattuta added that coverage will increase as a trial nears. A trial date has not been set.

Moore opposes a change of venue.

“This coverage has not been at the direction of police or prosecutors nor has any legal strategy by any of those involved in the case been disclosed in the media,” he said. “We believe the coverage surrounding this case is not a basis to change venue.”


Colorado
Murder trial suspended; judge awaits virus test
DURANGO, Colo. (AP) — The trial of a man charged with killing his 13-year-old son in southwest Colorado nearly a decade ago has been temporarily suspended after the judge reported experiencing mild symptoms of the coronavirus.

During a court hearing Thursday, Judge Jeffrey Wilson said he could not taste or smell certain things in the morning but the symptoms went away later in the day, The Durango Herald  reported. A coronavirus blood test he took that day was negative but he said that jury selection would be put on hold until the results of his nasal swab test were known. The results are expected Saturday.

If the second test is positive, Wilson said he would declare a mistrial for Mark Redwine, ending the trial.

Redwine is accused of killing his son Dylan, who disappeared during a court-ordered Thanksgiving visit in 2012. His remains were not found until 2013 and 2015. Redwine was arrested in 2017 and there have been many previous delays in his case.

His lawyers sought to delay the trial until after the pandemic, arguing that it would be too unsafe to have so many witnesses, jurors and attorneys gathered together.

Wilson denied their requests, saying safety protocols had been put in place to allow the trial to proceed.