Court Digest

Nebraska
Omaha landlord found guilty of only 4 of nearly 90 counts
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha landlord who stood trial on nearly 90 misdemeanor counts accusing him keeping an apartment complex in such squalid conditions that tenants had to be evacuated has been found guilty of only four of the counts.

A judge found Kay Anderson guilty this week of four counts of municipal code violations in connection with the state of Yale Park Apartments, six months after Anderson’s trial on 89 counts. He now faces up to six months in jail and a $500 on each count.

About 500 apartment tenants — mostly refugees from Myanmar — were evacuated in 2018  after housing inspectors responded to nearly 100 complaints of bedbugs, lice, rodents, gas leaks, mold and other violations at the complex.

Douglas County Judge Grant Forsberg said in his ruling that while evidence of the property code violations was found for nearly all of the counts, the city failed to prove that Anderson had not fixed the problems within the required 90-day period.

Anderson told the Omaha World-Herald that he plans to appeal the judge’s ruling, saying city officials “violated my constitutional rights, removed me illegally from my home, removed my tenants illegally from their homes.”

Mississippi
First woman municipal judge named in Gautier, Jackson County
GAUTIER, Miss. (AP) — A former city attorney for a Mississippi city has been appointed as municipal judge.

The Gautier City Council named Amy Lassitter St. Pe’ to the bench for Gautier and Jackson County. The move makes her the first female municipal judge for those areas, The Sun Herald reported.

Lassitter St. Pe’ will replace Judge Jason Thornton, who’s held the seat since 2011.

Lassitter St. Pe’ served as the city attorney for Gautier from 2006 to 2009 and city attorney for Moss Point since 2008. She will start as judge in October and will continue to work as a city attorney in Moss Point.

“I’ve devoted most of my 20-year legal career to giving back to Jackson County,” Lassitter St. Pe’ said in a press release. “My focus has been on being a part of the county that has given me so much.”

Mayor Casey Vaughan welcomed Lassitter St. Pe’ back to Gautier.

“She will be an asset to Gautier like she was in her past appointment here as city attorney,” Vaughan said.

Gautier municipal court meets on Mondays.

Illinois
Parents sue school district over mask mandate
TROY, Ill. (AP) — A group of parents is suing a southwest Illinois school district over its mask mandate, asking a judge to allow their children to attend school without a mask.

An attorney filed the suit on behalf of three parents who have nine children enrolled in Triad Community Unit School District 2, which imposed a mask mandate after Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a coronavirus executive order over the summer requiring universal masking in Illinois schools.

The parents’ lawsuit asks a Madison County judge to approve temporary restraining orders that would allow their children to attend school without a mask, at least in the short term.

Their attorney, Tom DeVore, argues in the complaint that Illinois county health departments have the right to issue quarantine orders, but school districts do not. He also argues there is no health regulation to require asymptomatic students to wear masks, the Belleville News-Democrat reported.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people infected with the COVID-19 virus may be asymptomatic but still able to spread the virus to others.

Stephanie Jones, an attorney for district Superintendent Leigh Lewis, said in a statement that the district plans to fight the lawsuit. She said such suits “only serve to punish school districts for following the state’s health and safety guidance.”

“The lawsuits cost taxpayer dollars that districts could be spending on providing a safe and healthy environment for students to learn,” Jones added.


West Virginia
Teen girl sentenced for helping boy accused of killing 4
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A 17-year-old West Virginia girl has been sentenced to 10 years of incarceration on four counts of accessory after the fact in the slayings of four people.

Rebecca Lynn Walker was sentenced Thursday in Kanawha Circuit Court for assisting the 16-year-old suspect after the shooting deaths happened, news outlets reported.

Walker was initially charged with first-degree murder as a juvenile, but her case was moved to adult court in July and she pleaded guilty to the accessory charge in the deaths of Daniel Dale Long, 37, Risa Mae Saunders, 39, Gage Ripley, 12, and Jameson Long, 3, who were found fatally shot last year in their Elkview home.

The boy’s case is still in juvenile court and his name hasn’t been released.

Walker’s defense attorney, Robbie Long, said his client’s relationship with the boy turned into the “perfect storm.”

“The two of them become delusional about their futures together, and unfortunately her boyfriend acted on those delusions, and that’s what brings us here today,” he said.

Prosecutor Don Morris disagreed, saying Walker and the boy were selfish in wanting to spend time together at the expense of lives.

“The reason for the state entering this plea agreement, more or less, is that we believe the defendant here was manipulated to a great extent,” Morris said.

Rhode Island
Hells Angels leader rejects plea deal, will head to trial
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The man authorities say leads the Rhode Island chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club has turned down a plea deal that would have sent him to prison for five years, and will now take his chances at trial.
Joseph Lancia, 30, of Smithfield, told a judge on Thursday that he would rather go to trial, WPRI-TV reported.

He faces multiple criminal counts stemming from two separate incidents. In one case, he is charged with shooting at a truck in June 2019 being driven by a former Hells Angels prospect with whom he had a dispute. He is charged with felony assault and battery in that case.

He is also charged with knocking someone unconscious with a punch outside a Providence strip club in March 2020.

Prosecutors has initially offered a deal that came with eight years in prison, but after speaking with the judge, the sentence was lowered to five. Assistant Attorney General Joseph McBurney said if Lancia is found guilty at trial on all counts he faces 61 years behind bars.

Lancia, who is out on bail, refused to comment outside of court.


Alabama
Woman charged after boy, 5, is shot in Walmart fight
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — A woman has been charged with reckless endangerment after her gun went off as she was attacked by two other women in a Walmart in Mobile, authorities said.

The gunshot struck her relative — a 5-year-old boy — in the foot on Tuesday, Al.com reported.

Police on Thursday announced the charge against Miracle Murray. Police said she was on the ground and being attacked by the women when her gun accidentally discharged. A round from the gun struck her hand before hitting the boy’s foot, Mobile police Officer Katrina Frazier said.

Murray took the boy to a hospital for treatment, Frazier said.

It’s up to Murray whether to pursue charges against the women who attacked her, Frazier said.

Massachusetts
Driver involved in Boston rail crash now facing charges
BOSTON (AP) — The operator of a light rail train that crashed into the rear of another train on the Boston area’s public transit system in July, sending more than two dozen people to the hospital, now faces criminal charges, according to court records.

Owen Turner, 50, is charged with gross negligence of a person in control of a train and gross negligence of a person having care of a common carrier, The Boston Globe reported Thursday.

Turner declined to comment to the newspaper.

The crash on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Green Line B branch on July 30 near Boston University sent 27 passengers and workers to the hospital with minor injuries.

According to a National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report released this week, Turner had his train on “full power” and was traveling 31 mph when he struck a train going 10 mph.

According to court records, Turner told police that he received a signal light indicating he was cleared to proceed but that “he does not remember anything” before impact.

Turner has a history of operating trains at excessive speed, according to the police report.

An MBTA spokesperson said this week that the agency is moving to fire Turner.

He is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 6.


Missouri
Judge orders restaurant to cease operations in mask dispute
BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. (AP) — A Jackson County judge has ordered a suburban Kansas City restaurant to shut down in the wake of its owner’s continued defiance of a mask mandate intended to fight the spread of COVID-19.

Earlier this month, Judge James Kanatazar ordered Rae’s Cafe in Blue Springs to temporarily close after owner Amanda Wohletz ignored a health department order to close because of repeated violations of the county’s indoor mask requirement.

On Thursday, Judge Jennifer Phillips barred the restaurant from operating, rejecting Wohletz’s argument of medical exemptions and that the restaurant could skirt the mandate by operating as a private club. The judge also ordered Rae’s Cafe to cease operations until it obtained a valid food permit.

On Sept. 3, Jackson County health officials and sheriff’s deputies served Wohletz with an order to close because the mask mandate was being ignored. But the business continued to operate, and its food permit was then suspended. Wohletz reopened as a private club, which charged customers $1 to join and prohibited masks.

Wohletz had said she and all her workers were medically exempt from the mask mandate, saying in court filings that “wearing masks caused them anxiety and mental stress.”

The restaurant was the first business the county sought to close for not following public safety requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic.

West Virginia
Plaintiffs added to suit over denied transgender care
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Two plaintiffs have been added to a federal lawsuit alleging West Virginia’s Medicaid and state employee health plans unlawfully denied coverage for gender-confirming care for transgender residents.

LGBTQ interest group Lambda Legal announced the additions to a lawsuit Thursday that it had filed in November 2020 accusing the state of violating the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid law by not covering treatments for gender dysphoria.

Transgender women Shauntae Anderson and Leanne James were denied coverage for gender-confirming care, according to the lawsuit. Anderson is enrolled in a Medicaid plan and James is enrolled in a Public Employees Insurance Agency health plan offered by the state.

The original suit was filed on behalf of Christopher Fain, who was denied coverage for his testosterone prescription under Medicaid, and Zachary Martell, who is married to a state employee with health care coverage. Both Fain and Martell were denied coverage for a bilateral mastectomy.

Lambda Legal has sued at least two other states for excluding gender-confirming care in state employee health plans, and two other groups.