National Roundup

California Teen faces trial in gay classmate killing LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A Southern California teen faces trial on charges of gunning down a gay classmate in front of other students at a middle school in 2008. Opening statements began Tuesday in Los Angeles in the first-degree murder trial of Brandon McInerney, who was 14 when 15-year-old classmate Larry King was killed. McInerney is being tried as an adult on charges that include lying in wait and a hate crime. He faces up to life in prison if convicted. Court documents say that the day before the shooting King said "I love you" to the McInerney in the hallway of E.O. Green Junior High School in the Ventura County community of Oxnard. The case was moved to Los Angeles County for trial. Nevada Accused head of Vegas ATM theft ring pleads guilty LAS VEGAS (AP) -- The reputed leader of a Bulgarian organized crime ring has pleaded guilty in federal court in Nevada to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Las Vegas-area bank automated teller machines. Court records show that Dimitar Dimitrov (DEEM'-ee-tar dim-EE'-trof) pleaded guilty June 21 to a felony counterfeit access device charge in a plea deal that spares him trial in Nevada. The 59-year-old Dimitrov could face five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine at sentencing Oct. 27. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Tuesday that prosecutors agreed to drop felony gun possession and credit theft of luxury items cases against Dimitrov, but can still prosecute him for any acts of violence that investigators find. The ATM scheme involved using hidden cameras to steal customer bank account and personal identification numbers. Tennessee Man given life in prison in code officer killing MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- A Memphis gun dealer has been sentenced to life in prison without parole after a federal prosecutor revealed he bludgeoned to death a Baltimore doctor three years before the killing of a code enforcement officer. Dale Mardis received the sentence Tuesday in the killing of code enforcement officer Mickey Wright in what the government called a federal hate crime. Prosecutor Steve Parker made a stunning revelation when he said Mardis admitted last week to killing Dr. Henry Ackerman in June 1998 in Memphis. Parker said Mardis agreed to plead guilty to first-degree murder in the doctor's slaying in both federal and state court. Mardis didn't speak at the hearing. He had already pleaded guilty to violating the civil rights of Wright, who was black, by killing him and disposing of his body. Mardis is white. Ohio State Supreme Court sets 2 new execution dates COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- The Ohio Supreme Court has set execution dates for a Youngstown man who killed a store owner and an eastern Ohio man who shot two motorists. The dates announced Tuesday are the farthest in the future that have been set to date by the court, which schedules when death row inmates die. The court set a July 26, 2012 execution date for 62-year-old John Eley, who shot and killed Ihsan Aydah (ee-SAHN' EYE'-dah) in Aydah's Youngstown market on Aug. 26, 1986. The state's highest court also set a Sept. 20, 2012 execution date for 46-year-old Donald Palmer, who killed Charles Sponhaltz and Steven Vargo along a Belmont County road in eastern Ohio on May 8, 1989. The court has now set execution dates for 11 inmates through September 2012. Georgia Court rules for motel in guest welfare case ATLANTA (AP) -- The Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that a hotel had no obligation to check on a guest who died after his wife was unable to reach him. The court ruled 4-3 on Tuesday to uphold a Georgia Court of Appeals decision in favor of Krishna Hospitality, which operated a motel in Jesup, Ga. Briefs showed that 77-year-old Sidney Rasnick left his home near Houston in 2006 and drove to Jesup, When his wife was unable to reach him, her request for the motel to check on her husband was refused. A housekeeper found Rasnick on the floor, and he was taken to a hospital where he died. His wife alleged that the motel breached its duty. The Supreme Court found the hotel was not required to check on Rasnick's health. Mississippi $4M award upheld in motel suit JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- The Mississippi Supreme Court has upheld a $4 million verdict awarded a couple who were robbed and injured in 2008 at a Jackson extended-stay motel. According to court documents, Michael Keith Howard and Shannon Poole rented a room at InTown Suites on Interstate 55 in north Jackson while waiting to move into a Belhaven home. The couple's attorney, Ashley Ogden, told The Clarion-Ledger that Howard suffered facial damage and a permanent eye injury in the attack, and Poole suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after listening to the men talk about raping her during the attack. Poole wasn't raped, but the three assailants were never captured. The couple sued InTown owners, and in July 2009, a Hinds County Circuit Court jury awarded Howard and Poole $2 million each. The couple alleged in their lawsuit that InTown knew or should have known that it had inadequate security, that strangers, trespassers and loiterers frequently came onto the property, that the wooden fence surrounding part of the property was in disrepair, that the locks on the guest room doors were not working properly, and that the property wasn't reasonably safe. InTown argued the couple failed to show that any additional security or any additional acts could have prevented the event from happening. In its appeal, InTown unsuccessfully argued that it should have been allowed a jury instruction assigning a portion of the fault on the couple for their injuries. Iowa Bank files lawsuit against former cashier CLARKSVILLE, Iowa (AP) -- Iowa State Bank has filed a lawsuit against a former cashier for allegedly transferring bank funds into his personal account. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier says the bank is suing G. Todd Powers in Butler County District Court. The lawsuit alleges that Powers moved money from an account he controlled to his own without authorization. He is accused of creating false accounts and transactions. Iowa State Bank president and CEO Fred Maifeld told the newspaper that no customer accounts were affected. Maifeld said Powers lives in Clarksville and had worked at the bank for nearly 20 years. The bank is asking a judge to award compensation for monetary loss, interest, court costs and attorney fees. Published: Wed, Jul 6, 2011