Couty Digest

North Dakota
Worker who shot at man accused in 5 robberies inks plea deal
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A Fargo pawnshop worker accused of shooting at a fleeing robber accused in a string of thefts has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor reckless endangerment.

Kyle Ramsey was working at the Mister Money pawnshop in June when the store was robbed by Hunter Havisto, police said. Owner Daryn Kapaun has said Ramsey fired at the robber’s car to mark it for police.

Cass County prosecutor Birch Burdick said the agreement calls Ramsey to serve 360 days on probation and pay $325 in court fees. If Ramsey completes probation the case will be dismissed and sealed.

Investigators said Havisto, 21, got away with about $2,700 at Mister Money and a total of $4,600 from the five establishments he’s accused of robbing.

Havisto has signed a plea deal in federal court admitting to robberies in Fargo on June 6 at Tropical Smoothie, June 8 at Walmart and Casey’s General Store, June 9 at M&H gas station, and June 10 at Mister Money.

Havisto’s deal calls for a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. A change of plea hearing is scheduled for Jan. 4.

Tennessee
Judge finds woman guilty in deaths of 4 children
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee judge has found a woman guilty of stabbing four of her children to death in 2016.

Criminal Court Judge James Lammey Jr. rejected Shanynthia Gardner’s insanity defense in the deaths of the children, who ranged in age from 4 years to 5 months. Another child, who was 7 at the time, escaped to a neighbor’s home for help, the Shelby County district attorney’s office said.

Lammey, who heard the case in a nonjury trial last week, ruled Tuesday that Gardner could appreciate the wrongfulness of her actions, the prosecutor’s office said in a news release.

Gardner remains in custody and is to be sentenced Jan. 28 on four counts of first-degree murder as well as abuse, neglect and endangerment counts.


Vermont
Wealthy TV producer pleads not guilty to child sex charges
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A television producer has pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges in connection with paying a Nevada woman to bring her 9-year-old daughter to Vermont to engage in illegal sexual activity at a Ludlow ski house.

John Griffin, 44, of Stamford, Connecticut, appeared in federal court in Burlington to plead not guilty to three counts of enticement. Court records say Griffin did not oppose a request by prosecutors that he be detained.

The detention request said Griffin is, “charged with a crime involving the sexual assault of a nine-year old child that carries a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence upon conviction.”

In court documents, prosecutors described Griffin as a wealthy man who “has tried to deceive, delete, and spend his way out of being held accountable.” The documents also say Griffin also has a history of mental illness and substance abuse.

On Dec. 9, a Vermont grand jury handed down a three-count indictment against Griffin. He was arrested in Connecticut on Dec. 10.

Griffin’s Vermont attorney David Kirby declined to comment on Wednesday.

A motion for detention filed by prosecutors ahead of Wednesday’s arraignment says that in a Sept. 2, 2020 interview with FBI agents, Griffin said he met the 9-year-old’s mother on a sex-themed website.

He said he paid for the woman and her daughter to fly to Boston in July 2020. He picked them up at the airport and drove them to his Ludlow ski house. He admitted to witnessing the child perform sex acts with her mother.

Griffin said the activity was the mother’s idea, but that was contradicted by the contents of Griffin’s chat communications with the girl’s mother and other parents of minor girls that were discovered later, the court documents say.

The girl told investigators that Griffin sexually assaulted her while she was in Vermont and addressed her using derogatory terms, the court documents say.

Griffin also apparently attempted to “pay off” a potential witness, another relative of the 9-year-old girl, by making an electronic transfer to that relative of $4,000, the motion for detention says.

Griffin worked for CNN but has been fired since being arrested, the network said Wednesday.

On Dec. 11, the day after Griffin’s arrest,  CNN reported  that he had worked at the network for about eight years.

“The charges against Mr. Griffin are deeply disturbing,” said an unnamed CNN spokesperson quoted in the story.


Vermont
Woman convicted in teacher killing wants new trial
ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt. (AP) — A woman convicted in the 2015 killing of a Vermont teacher is asking for a new trial.

Patricia Prue is asking for her conviction thrown out, alleging misconduct by the prosecutor, the judge and her own defense attorney.

The Caledonian-Record reports she  filed the hand-written post-conviction relief petition last month.

Prue alleged she had ineffective counsel, lack of objective communication, she was under extreme stress and couldn’t effectively aid in own defense.

 Patricia Prue, now 42, and her husband Allen Prue, 39, were convicted of kidnapping and killing Melissa Jenkins after luring the St. Johnsbury teacher and her then-2-year-old son out of their home on March 25, 2012 with a false claim of car trouble.

The child was left behind in Jenkins’ car, where he was later found unharmed. Jenkins’ body was later found in the Connecticut River near a Barnet boat access.

Both Prues were sentenced to life in prison.

Massachusetts
Woman who texted boyfriend to kill himself pleads guilty
BOSTON (AP) — A former Boston College student who prosecutors say drove her boyfriend to take his own life with thousands of text messages pleaded guilty Thursday to involuntary manslaughter.

Inyoung You, 23, received a 2 1/2 year suspended jail sentence and 10 years of probation and was barred by a judge in Suffolk Superior Court from profiting from her case in any way. The sentence means You can avoid time behind bars if she adheres to all the terms of her probation.

Prosecutors said You sent Alexander Urtula, of Cedar Grove, New Jersey, thousands of messages in the last two months of their relationship, including many urging him to “go kill yourself.” Urtula died in Boston in May 2019, the day of his Boston College graduation.

Before her arraignment in November 2019 when she originally pleaded not guilty, You, through a public relations firm, released text messages suggesting she tried to stop Urtula and alerted Urtula’s brother in the moments before his death.

You’s lawyer said in court that his client is “very distraught,” and deeply remorseful.

The case was compared to that of Michelle Carter, who garnered national headlines and an HBO film. The young Massachusetts woman was sentenced to 15 months in jail after she was convicted in 2017 of involuntary manslaughter for using text messages and phone calls to encourage her boyfriend, Conrad Roy, to kill himself in 2014.


Kansas
Prosecutor drops charges in 2 high-profile cases
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A prosecutor in a Kansas college town has dropped charges against two Black men whose murder and rape cases became a rallying cry for racial injustice protesters and celebrities.

Douglas County District Attorney Suzanne Valdez announced Wednesday that she had moved to formally dismiss the first-degree murder case against Rontarus Washington Jr. and the rape case against Albert Wilson.

Josh Dubin, an attorney with the Innocence Project, which helped represent both men, said in email to the Lawrence Journal-World that he was “relieved and overjoyed.”

Washington’s case has faced a series of delays and one mistrial resulting from a hung jury. Valdez said in a statement that those delays raise questions about the integrity of the criminal justice system itself.

“A particular legal maxim holds true here: Justice delayed is justice denied,” said Valdez, who took office in January.

On Nov. 9, 2014, Justina Altamirano Mosso was found beaten to death in her home in Lawrence. Washington lived down the hall from the victim. During the trial, Washington admitted to entering Altamirano Mosso’s apartment and seeing her body, but he maintained that he did not kill her. The affidavit said he told police he was looking for change to steal. His defense suggested Altamirano Mosso’s estranged husband as a possible alternative suspect.

After a four-week 2019 trial ended with jurors unable to reach a verdict, Washington remained jailed until a judge reduced his bond to $500,000 from $750,000. Money to pay for his release was raised by Lawrence-area activists and businesses.

The case also became a flashpoint in the most recent Douglas County district attorney’s race, when Valdez defeated incumbent Charles Branson and another challenger.

Wilson was convicted of rape in 2019 after his accuser testified that he assaulted her at a popular bar in 2016 when he was a 20-year-old University of Kansas student and she was 17 years old. She said he then walked her to his house a couple of blocks away and assaulted her again before walking her back to the bar.

Supporters said the conviction was unfair because the jury was all-white and mostly female. Wilson’s case garnered the attention of celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, who shared news articles and petitions that criticized Wilson’s conviction.

A judge granted a new trial in March, finding that his trial attorney failed to review hundreds of text messages from the accuser.

Valdez said her office initially offered a plea deal to Wilson, but negotiations with Wilson’s attorneys did not result in an agreement. Without that agreement, she said her office then approached the accuser about another possible resolution.

“She wanted to address Mr. Wilson directly and to convey to him the impact this entire experience has had on her,” Valdez said.


Washington
Man convicted of killing clerk gets life sentence
EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — A 28-year-old man who was convicted of killing a mini-mart clerk in Everett has been sentenced to life in prison.

Jae An of Everett was working the closing shift at an Everett mini-mart on April 22, 2019 when prosecutors say he was stabbed to death during a robbery by Michealob Johnson, The Herald reported.

Snohomish Superior Court Judge Bruce Weiss sentenced John­son Tuesday to life in prison. A jury earlier this year convicted Johnson on charges of aggravated first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder.

Johnson had planned to rob the store near his residence in order to pay his rent and walked in with three knives that night, according to court documents.

Store surveillance video appears to show Johnson putting a bottle on the counter before he attacks An with a knife, stabbing him repeatedly, court documents said. Johnson didn’t say anything about money, according to court records.

The video shows a woman walking into the mini-mart soon after the attack and Johnson trying to stab her as well but she managed to escape, records said.

Customers honored An, 58, at a candlelight vigil days after he was killed.

“This was a human slaughter to a man who was kind, who had clientele, certainly a close family. It’s going to impact his family for the rest of their life,” Weiss told the court.