Court Digest

Nebraska
Man sentenced to up to 60 years for fatal shooting
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska judge on Tuesday sentenced a man to as long as 60 years in prison for manslaughter for a fatal shooting in a Lincoln alley.

Lancaster County District Judge Jodi Nelson sentenced 31-year-old Ryan Long to 49 to 60 years in prison for the May 2020 death of Michael Whitemagpie, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.

Long could be eligible for parole after 27 years. His family left the court after Nelson announced his sentence, the newspaper reported.

Long was tried on a charge of first-degree murder, but a jury last month found that Long killed Whitemagpie without malice during a sudden quarrel.

Long had argued that he shot Whitemagpie in self-defense on May 23, 2020, after Whitemagpie called him a racial slur and approached him aggressively about an hour after the two men had fought at a Lincoln hotel following a night of gambling.

Prosecutors argued that Long fired 16 times at Whitemagpie, showing he acted out of rage, not self-defense.

Long apologized to Whitemagpie’s friends and family Tuesday.

“This whole situation wasn’t supposed to happen the way it did,” he said. “I can’t take it back. I wish I could.”

Montana
Federal agent charged with pulling work gun on bar patron
BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — A Drug Enforcement Administration agent from Colorado was charged Tuesday with felony assault with a weapon for reportedly pulling his government-issued handgun on a man at a Bozeman bar while he was intoxicated.

Ryan Donahue, 32, of Parker, Colorado, made an initial appearance before Gallatin County Justice of the Peace Rick West, who set his bail at $150,000, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle  reported.

Donahue did not enter a plea and appeared in court via video with a public defender.

Donahue had met a group of people at a bar and restaurant in downtown Bozeman on Sunday evening and the group eventually went to another bar, court records said. As they were leaving at about 2 a.m. Monday, Donahue reportedly pulled his Glock 17 handgun out of a concealed carry holster and put it on or near the man’s neck, prosecutors said.

Bystanders were able to wrestle the gun away from Donahue. The victim said he was afraid to try to disarm Donahue because he was a federal officer, court records said.

While arresting Donahue, officers found an empty concealed carry holster attached to his waistband and a DEA badge and ID card in his wallet.

The DEA in Denver declined to confirm whether Donahue works for the agency, but issued a statement.

“The DEA holds its employees, whether on or off duty, to the highest standards of conduct as part of our commitment to ensure the safety and health of the communities we serve,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said.

Allegations of misconduct by employees are taken seriously and the agency will investigate, she said.

“If an investigation determines that an employee has violated the law or an internal DEA policy, we will take appropriate action to hold that employee accountable,” Milgram said.

Iowa
Judge OKs $5.4M Transamerica settlement over retirement plan
A federal judge has approved a $5.4 million settlement between Transamerica and its current and former employees who accused the company of offering several poor performing investments in its employee retirement plan.

The money will be divided up between roughly 24,000 people based on how long they invested in the funds and how much money they had invested.

According to the lawsuit, employees who invested in Transamerica’s retirement plan lost between $15 million and $20 million because some funds performed worse than comparable ones that employees couldn’t choose in the plan.

Attorney Charles Field, who represented the employees, said “the settlement provides genuine and meaningful relief” to the group.

The lawsuit argued that Transamerica should have spotted the problem funds sooner and changed the options in its retirement plan because six of the funds employees could choose from underperformed comparable funds by a significant margin over a 10-year period.

A spokesman for the company, which provides investment products and life insurance, said it maintains that the allegations are unfounded, but it agreed to settle the case to avoid the time and expense of litigation.

Transamerica remains committed to offering a competitive retirement plan to employees, the spokesman said. Transamerica is based in Baltimore, but it has major operations in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where the lawsuit was filed, and in Denver.

Minnesota
Man sentenced to life in prison for 2018 killing
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — A Hibbing man was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without parole for the shooting death of another man on Christmas Day 2018.

A judge found Jerome Spann, 32, guilty of murder and assault following a court trial in August.

Prosecutors say Spann exited an SUV and fired into a group of people standing outside a residence in Hibbing. A man with whom Spann had a dispute, 34-year-old Jeryel McBeth, was shot three times and died at a Hibbing hospital.

Spann continued to fire another four or five rounds and wounded 25-year-old Jamien Stuckey.

A Hibbing police officer testified to a grand jury that he had responded to Spann’s residence a day before the killing after the defendant called 911 to report McBeth “banging on his door and threatening to assault him.”

Pennsylvania
Probation official sentenced for child porn charges
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A former assistant commissioner with the New York City Probation Department who lived in Pennsylvania was sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison after he admitted he received and possessed child pornography.

A federal judge on Monday also ordered lifetime supervised release for Robert Costello, 54, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Costello pleaded guilty in March to receipt of child pornography, access with intent to view child pornography and possession of child pornography.

Costello admitted receiving sexually explicit images of children over the internet and possessing thousands of sexually explicit images and videos of children while he was employed by the probation department.

“The defendant held a position of public trust paid by taxpayer dollars as an assistant commissioner with the City of New York,” U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams said in a statement. “And at the same time, he was also downloading and storing sexually exploitative images of children – thus creating demand for those depictions to be produced and children to be victimized. “

He was terminated from his job last year.

Kentucky
Judge rules for city in lawsuit over no-knock warrants
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A judge has ruled against a police union in a lawsuit that sought to stop a ban on no-knock warrants in Kentucky’s second-largest city.

A Fayette County judge agreed on Friday to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the local police union, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.

The Fraternal Order of Police Bluegrass Lodge No. 4 filed suit in July against the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government over the no-knock warrant ban it enacted following months of debate after Breonna Taylor was killed by police in Louisville during a raid at her apartment.

The union said in the lawsuit that banning the warrants is unsafe and the organization has the right to bargain on behalf of Lexington officers over changes that affect officers’ “health and safety.”

Circuit Judge Kimberly Bunnell said elected officials had the right to enact public policies without bargaining.

The FOP may appeal the decision, local representative said.

Louisiana
Rule could make disciplined judge pay costs of probe
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana judges facing discipline from the state’s Supreme Court could be made to pay various costs arising from investigations into their conduct, including the cost of installing temporary judges to replace them if they are suspended, under new rules  announced this week.

The high court’s seven justices would decide whether, and how much, to charge the judge, based on recommendations from the state Judiciary Commission, the board appointed by the Supreme Court to review allegations of judicial misconduct.

The new rules also state that judges who retire or resign prior to the conclusion of disciplinary proceedings can be required by the Supreme Court to repay the costs incurred in the Judicial Commission’s investigation and litigation of the complaint.

“These changes ensure that judges who are convicted of crimes or who resign or retire in the late stages of judicial discipline proceedings, sometimes to avoid the imposition of public discipline by this Court, may be held accountable for the costs incurred as a result of their actions and that such costs are not ultimately borne by the taxpayers of this State,” Chief Justice John Weimer said in a Monday news release.

The rules also include procedures to make sure Judiciary Commission investigations involving “disabilities, impairments, or possible criminal conduct,” are handled quickly, saying the commission should try to make recommendations to the high court within a year of receiving a complaint.

Massachusetts
Former youth football coach gets 45 years in sex abuse case
BOSTON (AP) — A former youth football coach from Massachusetts who authorities say was filmed sexually abusing 11- and 12-year-old children has been sentenced to 45 years in prison, federal prosecutors said.

Derek Sheehan, 51, of Norwell was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty in July to three counts of sexual exploitation of children, according to a statement from the office of acting U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, Nathaniel R. Mendell.

“Adults who use their access to children for their own sexual gratification, like former football coach Derek Sheehan did, are both a danger and a disgrace,” Joseph Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston office said in a statement. “What Derek Sheehan did is absolutely horrific, and the impact on his victims is immeasurable.”

The investigation started in June 2018 when a minor went to local police to report sexual abuse by Sheehan.

A court-authorized search of his home in August 2018 resulted in the seizure of electronic devices that contained child pornography, prosecutors said. Video evidence showed Sheehan sexually abusing three victims who were either 11 or 12 years old at the time while they slept at his home on various dates.

According to an FBI affidavit in the case, the video appears to have been recorded by a camera positioned on metal shelving near where the abuse occurred. At least one victim was a friend of Sheehan’s son and was on the football team coached by Sheehan, according to the affidavit.