Florida
Trial begins for accused serial killer of 4 women
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Prosecutors told jurors that DNA links an accused serial killer with the slayings of three women 16 years ago when he was a criminal justice student at a local university.
Prosecutors in Daytona Beach said during opening statements on Friday that DNA taken from Robert Hayes matches material found on the bodies of two of the three women, who were found shot to death by the same gun between December 2005 and February 2006. Hayes, 39, is also facing trial later for allegedly strangling a fourth woman in Palm Beach County in 2016.
According to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, prosecutor Jason Lewis told jurors that Hayes was responsible for “killing not once, not twice, but three times here in Volusia County.” Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Francis Shea, Hayes’ lead attorney, told the jurors that they would learn how long DNA lasts on a person and how tire tracks at one of the scenes led them to a junk yard, but did not explain how those are tied to the case.
The investigation into the deaths of Laquetta Gunther, 45, Julie Green, 35, and Iwana Patton, 35, was rekindled in 2016 after DNA found on the body of Rachel Bey, 32, near West Palm Beach linked their cases. All had worked as prostitutes.
At the time of the Daytona Beach killings, Hayes was a student at the city’s Bethune-Cookman University. Hayes was one of several men questioned in 2006 as a possible suspect based on a gun purchase similar to one used by the killer, but he told police he had given the gun to his mother and he wasn’t arrested. His mother later told detectives he never gave her a gun.
At the time of Bey’s death, Hayes was working as a chef in Palm Beach County.
Investigators said in 2019 they ran DNA found on the victims through a genetic database used by people trying to find long-lost relatives and determined the killer was related to a woman with three half-brothers, one of them Hayes.
Detectives testifying Friday told the jury they then put Hayes under surveillance and secretly confiscated a beer can and cigarette butt he discarded and, prosecutors say, the DNA from those items matched the killer’s. He was arrested.
Indiana
Man gets jail for role in Jan. 6 Capitol attack
GREENWOOD, Ind. (AP) — A central Indiana man has been sentenced to 30 days behind bars for his role in the 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Joshua Wagner of Greenwood apologized in court Friday and said “there’s nothing I can do to take that back.”
He pleaded guilty last year to a misdemeanor charge of parading in the Capitol. The government said Wagner’s phone video showed him referring to Capitol police officers as “traitors.”
“We will occupy this ground for as long as we can,” he said, according to investigators.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said Wagner clearly wanted to inspire the rioters.
He was not like others who “stepped in, took a selfie and stepped out,” she said.
A co-defendant, Israel Tutrow of Greenfield was placed on probation in December.
Nebraska
Couple charged with child abuse after baby thrown against a wall
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha couple has been charged with intentional child abuse after the man threw his 8-month-old baby against a wall, causing a skull fracture, and the girls mother did nothing for days after witnessing the attack.
The Omaha World-Herald reports that prosecutors say both 23-year-old Theodor Hurt and 24-year-old Dakota Vick initially lied to doctors and police about what happened to the girl.
Hurt eventually told police that he threw his daughter across the room into a crib and the wall because he was frustrated that she was fussy. Initially, Hurt and Vick both initially said the girl had fallen off a couch twice on Nov. 19.
The couple took the girl to Children’s Hospital days after the attack on Nov. 22 because her head was swelling. Court documents say doctors discovered she had a skull fracture and a brain bleed that was causing “malformation of her head.”
Both Hurt and Vick remain in custody. A judge set Hurt’s bail at $82,500 and Vick’s bail at $25,000. Hurt has pleaded not guilty while Vick has yet to enter a plea.
The baby and four other older children, ages 2, 4, 6, and 8, have been placed in state custody.
Colorado
Woman charged with killing stepson, 11, changes plea
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A woman accused of killing her 11-year-old stepson has changed her plea to not guilty by reason of insanity and said through attorneys she’s considering waiving her jury trial over fairness concerns.
In a status hearing Friday, District Judge Gregory Werner granted Letecia Stauch’s request to change her not guilty plea in the death of Gannon Stauch to not guilty by reason of insanity, The Gazette reported.
Defense attorney Josh Tolini said the request was made because an expert who had reviewed some of the evidence in Stauch’s case indicated a “high likelihood of psychosis,” which may qualify as an insanity defense.
He added the request wasn’t made to delay the trial, but because it was the best possible defense for Stauch.
Prosecuting attorneys didn’t object to the plea change.
Per Colorado law for insanity pleas, the judge ordered Stauch to undergo a sanity evaluation at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo, where she’ll be held until it is completed.
Tolini said Stauch was also considering waiving the jury trial over concerns that due to her case’s “massive amount of pre-trial publicity, she will not be able to find a fair jury pool.”
Werner left that ruling to a later date, with prosecutors and defense attorneys agreeing they could make a better determination as they received further information on Stauch’s mental health.
Werner kept the late March trial date in place with a review hearing set for March 17.
Prosecutors in September presented alleged evidence linking Stauch to the January 2020 murder, including that investigators found Gannon’s blood on Stauch’s shoe, found her DNA on a gun linked to his death and learned that she traveled to the Florida Panhandle shortly after he disappeared. The child’s remains were found there in March 2020, authorities said.
Defense attorneys sought to create doubt that Stauch committed the murder by suggesting someone else could have entered the home around the time Gannon died, and sought to link home security data with the unknown DNA on the gun investigators found.
Besides first-degree murder, Stauch is charged with child abuse resulting in death, tampering with a deceased human body and tampering with physical evidence.
Missouri
Prosecutor won’t charge reporter who uncovered database flaw
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri prosecutor will not charge a St. Louis Post-Dispatch journalist who exposed a state database flaw that allowed public access to thousands of teachers’ Social Security numbers.
Cole County Prosecutor Locke Thompson released a statement Friday saying there is an argument to be made that there was a violation of law, and that the issues at the heart of the investigation have been resolved through non-legal means, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
“As such, it is not in the best interest of Cole County citizens to utilize the significant resources and taxpayer dollars that would be necessary to pursue misdemeanor criminal charges in this case,” Thompson said.
Republican Gov. Mike Parson announced the investigation in October after a Post-Dispatch reporter informed the state of a significant data issue that left the teachers’ data vulnerable to public disclosure. The newspaper held off publishing a story about the flaw until the state fixed it.
“We are pleased the prosecutor recognized there was no legitimate basis for any charges against the St. Louis Post-Dispatch or our reporter,” Post-Dispatch Publisher Ian Caso said in a statement. “While an investigation of how the state allowed this information to be accessible was appropriate, the accusations against our reporter were unfounded and made to deflect embarrassment for the state’s failures and for political purposes.”
The Post-Dispatch obtained records through an open records request showing that the state education commissioner initially planned to thank the newspaper for finding the problem. But the state instead issued a news release calling the reporter a “hacker.”
Parson issued a statement saying Thompson’s office believed the decision “was properly addressed.”
“The state did its part by investigating and presenting its findings to the Cole County prosecutor, who has elected not to press charges, as is his prerogative,” spokeswoman Kelli Jones said.
Michigan
Court: Township can sue couple raising hogs in non-farm area
FRASER TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A township near Bay City can pursue zoning violations against a man who is raising hogs in a non-farm area, the Michigan Supreme Court said.
The unanimous opinion Tuesday was a victory for Fraser Township, which had lost a decision at the Court of Appeals, and will help guide Michigan’s local governments in nuisance disputes.
The Supreme Court said the township’s lawsuit in Bay County wasn’t barred by a time limit, even if officials waited years to formally try to get Harvey and Ruth Haney to remove hogs.
The Haneys started with one hog in 2006, according to a summary of the case, but the township didn’t file a lawsuit until 2016 when there were approximately 20. The property isn’t zoned for agriculture.
The township said the property was saturated with animal waste, “creating a horrible stench and attraction for flies.”
The Haneys raise hogs that are known for their unique hooves, which look like the hooves of a mule.
The Haneys’ position at the Supreme Court was tied to the question of time, not the condition of the property.
Tennessee
Man pleads guilty to defrauding rural school internet program
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Kentucky man has pleaded guilty to a multi-million dollar fraud scheme targeting a federal program that gives money to rural schools for internet access, prosecutors in Tennessee said.
Charles A. “Chuck” Jones, 51, has pleaded guilty in Memphis federal court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a news release Friday. He faces up to 20 years in prison at sentencing scheduled for June 1.
Prosecutors said Jones targeted schools in Missouri and Tennessee that benefited from the Federal Communications Commission’s E-Rate Program, which provides money to needy schools for internet access and telecommunications services.
During a 10-year period, Jones paid kickbacks to an E-Rate consultant working with the schools involved in the case. Jones, one of his employees, and the school E-Rate consultant lied on documents sent to the E-Rate Program, using the schools as vehicles to fraudulently obtain money for Jones, prosecutors said.
The loss to the E-Rate Program was about $6.9 million dollars, prosecutors said.
