Washington
Man who killed police officer gets life sentence
EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — The man who fatally shot a police officer in Everett, Washington, last year was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Richard Rotter, 51, apologized during his sentencing for killing officer Dan Rocha, 41, in a Starbucks parking lot in Everett, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Seattle, as Rocha tried to arrest him, the Daily Herald reported.
“My sincere apologies to the Rocha family and my family and everyone this has affected,” Rotter said. “I pray for everyone’s continued healing and restored peace. I ask you and everybody (to) please forgive me.”
During sentencing, Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Bruce I. Weiss called the fatal shooting a “brutal execution.”
The courtroom was crowded with Everett police, the city’s mayor and others.
Earlier this month, a jury found Rotter guilty of aggravated first-degree murder, unlawful gun possession, possession with the intent to manufacture or distribute methamphetamine, fentanyl and heroin, and attempting to elude police.
Rocha was on duty March 25, 2022, and waiting for a coffee when he saw Rocha moving guns between two cars in the parking lot, prosecutors said. Rotter, of Kennewick, Washington, had traveled to Everett, where he planned to buy a car, court documents said.
Rocha turned on his body camera and calmly engaged with Rotter, asking for his identification, according to court documents. Rocha learned Rotter had previous felony convictions and wasn’t supposed to have guns, the documents say. He also learned that he had a warrant out for his arrest.
Rocha tried to take Rotter into custody, according to court documents, but Rotter shot Rocha five times with a handgun he had hidden in a shoulder holster. Rocha had done a pat-down of Rotter’s waistband but had not found Rotter’s firearm, according to court documents. Rocha died at the scene.
Rotter then fled in a car and was arrested nearby after causing a three-vehicle crash.
Rotter’s public defender, Natalie Tarantino, has said her client had “no plan” to kill, but that a combination of drug use and post-traumatic stress led him to shoot Rocha.
Court records show Rotter had been convicted previously of crimes, including about a dozen felonies, mostly in southeastern Washington. Many of those cases were related to illegal drugs and several involved eluding police, according to court records.
Rocha’s sister, Morgen Henry, said in court that her brother was dedicated, supportive and a natural protector.
Wisconsin
Ex-Cardinal McCarrick charged with sex abuse
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The defrocked Roman Catholic cardinal who became the face of the church’s clergy sex abuse crisis has been charged in Wisconsin with sexually assaulting an 18-year-old man more than 45 years ago, court records show.
A criminal complaint filed Friday alleges that Theodore McCarrick, who was removed from the priesthood in 2019 after a Vatican investigation found he had sexually molested adults and children, fondled a man in 1977 while staying at a cabin on Geneva Lake in southeastern Wisconsin.
The alleged victim, who is not named, told investigators that McCarrick had repeatedly sexually assaulted him since he was 11 and even brought him to parties where other adult men sexually assaulted him, according to the complaint.
McCarrick became the highest-ranking Roman Catholic official in the U.S. to face criminal charges for sexual abuse when he was accused in 2021 of sexually assaulting a teenage boy in Massachusetts at a wedding reception in 1974. His attorneys asked the judge in that case earlier this year to dismiss the charges, saying that McCarrick, now 92 and suffering from dementia, is not competent to stand trial.
The once-powerful priest was ordained in 1958 and became archbishop in Newark, New Jersey, in 1986 and then archbishop of Washington, D.C., in 2000. He rose to power despite church officials’ knowledge of accusations against him. A two-year Vatican investigation into McCarrick’s tenure found credible reports of his problematic behavior dating back to 1999, including an inquiry confirming that McCarrick had slept with seminarians.
The church has confirmed it made financial settlements with adults who accused McCarrick of sexual misconduct. McCarrick retired in 2006 but continued to be active in political circles until he was defrocked by Pope Francis in 2019.
Wisconsin prosecutors learned of the alleged 1977 assault through a program dedicated to prosecuting instances of abuse by faith leaders, according to a news release. Officials were able to charge McCarrick because the statute of limitations does not apply to people who are not residents of the state. A similar law allowed Massachusetts prosecutors to bring their case against McCarrick more than 40 years later.
McCarrick’s attorney in Massachusetts, William Fick, did not immediately return a phone call or email sent Monday. An attorney for McCarrick has not yet been listed in the Wisconsin case.
Vermont
Man on trial denies charges of kidnapping woman, her son
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — The Vermont man on trial for kidnapping a New Hampshire woman and her 4-year-old child more than four years ago testified Monday in his federal court trial that he took the two vehicles he is accused of stealing and taking across state lines, but he denied kidnapping the woman or her son.
Everett Simpson, who is representing himself in the trial, wrote the questions that were asked by his standby attorney. U.S. District Court Judge William Sessions told the jury that Simpson had provided the questions that were being asked of him.
After the day’s testimony, Sessions said closing arguments would be held on Tuesday, after which the case would be given to the jury. If convicted of the kidnapping charges, Simpson could be sentenced to life in prison.
Simpson answered “I do,” several times after Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Lasher asked questions, including whether he had taken the alleged victim and her son from New Hampshire to Vermont and whether he stole the woman’s car and drove it to Pennsylvania, where he was arrested.
“I am guilty of a lot of things, but not kidnapping,” Simpson said.
Simpson admitted before the jury that he left a Vermont drug treatment center shortly after he was dropped off there on the night of Jan. 4, 2019, for court-ordered substance abuse treatment from another case.
He then stole a van parked in a nearby driveway and drove it to New Hampshire, where it was abandoned. Simpson acknowledged driving back to Vermont with the alleged victim and her son, but he said it was consensual and she had opportunities to escape had she wanted to do so.
Prosecutors have said the victim did call for help, but it wasn’t provided. They traveled to a Vermont motel, after which Simpson fled in her car and drove to Pennsylvania, where he was later arrested.
Court documents say the victim was sexually assaulted while in the motel, but the federal charges do not include sexual assault. Simpson is, however, facing separate state sexual assault charges.
Simpson said he fled the treatment center because he was trying to find his estranged wife, who he believed was having a relationship with another man.
In 2020, the woman received $400,000 in the settlement of a lawsuit accusing the state of Vermont of not doing enough to find Simpson after he left the addiction treatment center. In court last week, the woman said she had received a sizable settlement from the treatment center, but the exact amount is unclear.
Maine
ICE ordered to dig deeper to respond to lawsuit
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement must release additional records about the agency’s detention practices in Maine and at a proposed detention center in Scarborough, a federal judge has ruled.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Maine and immigrants’ rights advocates sued the agency for information after an open records request was denied.
ICE eventually produced thousands of pages of heavily redacted documents that noted paint schemes and office chairs and other details in detention facilities — but not the material that the ACLU was seeking about actual detention conditions, Anahita Sotoohi, legal fellow at the ACLU of Maine, said Monday.
Judge John A. Woodcock last week ordered ICE to do a deeper search of policies, policy statements and written guidance applicable to detainees and detention activities at the Scarborough facility. It also ordered the regional field office in Boston to disclose policies that govern the detention of individuals in Scarborough.
It’s unclear if the Scarborough center has opened. An ICE spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
“The district court’s final decision is a victory for transparency that will shed more light on ICE, an agency that operates in the shadows and evades public accountability,” Carol Garvan, legal director of ACLU of Maine, said in a statement.
Iowa
2 teens plead guilty in Spanish teacher’s beating death
Two Iowa teenagers charged in the beating death of a high school teacher pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on Tuesday.
Willard Miller and Jeremy Goodale both changed their pleas to guilty Tuesday and admitted helping kill 66-year-old Nohema Graber, their Spanish teacher at Fairfield High School. Investigators said the attack was possibly regarding a dispute over grades in Graber’s class.
Prosecutors say the evidence shows both Miller and Goodale struck Graber with a bat. Miller admitted helping plan and carry out the killing but denied ever hitting Graber. Goodale testified that Miller initiated the plan to kill Graber and they both struck her.
The teacher’s body was found in a Fairfield park in November 2021 hidden under a tarp, wheelbarrow and railroad ties. The town of Fairfield is home to some 9,400 people and is around 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Des Moines.
Prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence between 30 years and life in prison with the possibility of parole as part of an agreement with Miller. Prosecutors said they would recommend a sentence between 25 years and life with the possibility of parole for Goodale.
Goodale previously agreed to testify against Miller at his trial, which was expected to begin later this week.
Goodale and Miller were both charged as adults because of the severity of the crime, but they weren’t subject to a mandatory sentence of life without parole because they were 16 at the time Graber was killed. Willard is now 17 and Goodale is 18.
Investigators have said that Miller met with Graber at Fairfield High School on the afternoon of Nov. 2, 2021, to discuss his poor grade in her class. Graber later drove her van to a park where she was known to take daily walks after school, authorities say. Witnesses saw her van leaving the park less than an hour later with two males in the front seat.
The van was left at the end of a rural road. After getting a phone call from Goodale, a witness later picked up Goodale and Miller as they walked to town on that road, investigators say.
In a police interview, Miller described the frustrations he had with the way Graber taught Spanish and over how the grade in her class was lowering his GPA.
Goodale testified that the two teens planned the killing for about two weeks, after Miller recruited him to help.
