National Roundup

California Murder conviction in East Palo Alto slaying upheld SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A federal appeals court has upheld a man's murder conviction in an East Palo Alto shooting. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled on Tuesday that the judge presiding over Brian Lee Parker's 2005 trial did not interfere with jury deliberations. Parker's attorney argued that the judge had improperly pressured the lone juror in favor of acquittal when she asked the jury to reconsider evidence in the case. San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Barbara Mallach issued those instructions after she learned the jury was deadlocked 11 to 1. The lone holdout eventually voted for conviction, and the jury found Parker guilty in the 2003 killing of Kenneth Hamel during a robbery. The appeals court said Mallach's instructions to jurors did not attempt to recast the evidence to favor the prosecution. North Carolina Federal judge from NC held court in combat zones CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- A federal judge is back in North Carolina after a seven-month assignment bringing justice to war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Charlotte Observer reports that U.S. District Judge Frank Whitney kept his 9 mm pistol holstered under his black robe as he presided over courts-martial of U.S. soldiers charged with wrongdoing. U.S. Army legal corps historian Fred Borch says Whitney was the first federal judge to become a military judge and preside over courts-martial in a combat theater. Borch says the 52-year-old judge also presided over the last court-martial in Iraq earlier this month. Whitney was the top federal prosecutor in eastern North Carolina when President George W. Bush nominated him in 2006 to be a federal judge in Charlotte for the state's western district. Illinois Man accused of killing stepfather in Harrisburg HARRISBURG, Ill. (AP) -- A southern Illinois man accused of fatally stabbing his stepfather is jailed on $1 million bond. Prosecutors in Saline County have charged 41-year-old Charles Ryan of Harrisburg with first-degree murder. Authorities contend Ryan choked and stabbed 59-year-old Carl Crouch on Friday night at the victim's home. Crouch died at the scene. Crouch was an Army veteran and a retired riverboat pilot who recently moved with his wife to Harrisburg from Kentucky's Crittenden County. Services for Crouch will be at 1 p.m. Thursday at Keeling Family Funeral Home in Paducah, Ky. Ryan couldn't be reached for comment. Online court records don't show if Ryan has an attorney. A woman who answered the telephone Wednesday at Ryan's home said she might comment about the case later. Tennessee Ex-priest convicted of raping boy seeks new trial BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Former Roman Catholic priest William Casey is seeking a new trial on charges that he raped an altar boy in the 1970s. Casey, who is 77, was sentenced to nearly 40 years in prison on his conviction in Sullivan County. Attorney Richard Spivey filed a motion Dec. 22 in Circuit Court claiming Casey's conviction was based on insufficient evidence and violated the statute of limitations, according to The Knoxville News Sentinel. A jury convicted Casey on Nov. 23 on charges of aggravated rape and criminal sexual misconduct. He was accused by Warren Tucker of Jeffersonville, Ind., who claimed Casey molested him when he was 13 and 14 years old as was an altar boy at St. Dominic's Catholic Church in Kingsport. Tucker went public with his claims. New York New suspect arrested in '94 slaying on Long Island CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) -- New evidence has led to the arrest of an accused co-conspirator in the 1994 killing of an armored car guard during a botched robbery on Long Island. Newsday reports that federal prosecutors say Scott Mulligan of Florida has been linked to the killing of armored car guard Julius Baumgardt. A 42-year-old Long Island gym owner was convicted last May of murdering the guard during the 1994 heist in Muttontown. Gym owner Christian Tarantino was convicted of killing Baumgardt and one of Tarantino's own alleged associates. Newsday reports that federal authorities say DNA evidence has linked Mulligan to a getaway car used in the robbery. Mulligan has been brought to New York and arraigned in federal court. An attorney for Mulligan did not return a call seeking comment Wednesday. Mississippi Special needs student lawsuit dropped OXFORD, Miss. (AP) -- The Oxford School District and the parents of a special needs child have agreed to drop legal action that began over a year ago. The school district was ordered in 2010 to $60,000 to reimburse the parents $60,000 of their cost of having to send their child to an out-of-state school. The school district appealed as did the parents. The decision to drop the lawsuit, initially filed in 2009, came Dec. 20 during a federal court ordered settlement conference. "The decision to end litigation was a mutual decision," Interim Superintendent Brian Harvey told the Oxford Eagle. "Both parties felt that it was in their best interest to avoid further legal costs." The parents had asked to be reimbursed for expenses for placing their child in a residential school out of state because they contended the Oxford School District was not providing services they said their child needed. The district claimed the parents failed to give adequate notice of their withdrawal of their child, did not allow the district adequate opportunity to evaluate the child and their actions were unreasonable. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, school districts are to reimburse students or their families for education costs when public schools do not have services that address or fulfill the students' needs. In 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled parents of students with learning disabilities can in many instances bypass public school special education programs and be reimbursed for private school tuition instead. That decision came in an Oregon case. Published: Thu, Dec 29, 2011