National Roundup

Illinois
Dad in Facebook case acquitted of 1 of 2 charges
CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago man who bound his 22-month-old daughter with tape and posted a photo on Facebook was acquitted Tuesday of unlawful restraint and will find out the verdict on a second charge next week.
Cook County Circuit Judge Lawrence Flood acquitted the 22-year-old father of one charge after a bench trial. The Chicago Tribune reports Flood later said he wanted more time to study domestic battery laws before issuing a verdict on that charge on Nov. 8.
Andre Curry, who did not testify on his own behalf, has said he and his daughter were playing on Dec. 13 and that he took the photo without thinking. Defense attorney Sam Adam Jr. argued the child was never in danger.
The posting on Facebook showed the girl’s wrists, ankles and mouth bound with tape and a note that read, “This is wut happens wen my baby hits me back,” and a smiley face.
Three witnesses testified during the trial, including Chicago police Detective Charles Hollendoner, who said he interviewed Curry twice in the days after the incident and the father insisted the whole thing was meant to be a joke.
“He said he was just playing with the child and didn’t mean any harm,” Hollendoner said. “He said the child was only taped up for a maximum of 30 seconds.”
His sister, Annastasia Curry, testified she was cooking dinner and could hear Curry and her niece laughing in the living room. She testified she went out to check on them at one point and saw the little girl covered with tape.
“She was laughing; he was laughing,” the sister said. “I saw him take the tape off, and I went back in the kitchen.”
Cook County prosecutors contend that by placing the tape over the girl’s mouth, Curry obstructed her breathing and committed a battery. Prosecutors did not present evidence the child was injured.
Defense attorney Sam Adam Jr. told the judge Curry is a good father who was just being playful.
“Was this something stupid to do? No question about it,” Adam said. “But they’re asking you to find him guilty of some very serious charges.”
Curry, who can have only supervised visits with the child, could face up to seven years in prison if convicted on the aggravated battery charge.
The girl’s mother, Yesmin Doss, has said she supports Curry.

California
Aircraft repair company exec pleads guilty
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — An executive at a California airplane repair company has pleaded guilty to endangering aircraft by cutting corners with replacement parts not certified by regulators.
The U.S. attorney in Sacramento said Tuesday that Jerry Edward Kuwata, of Granite Bay, admitted to using uncertified parts and falsely certifying that the Federal Aviation Administration approved their use in aircraft repair.
Kuwata was the operations manager at Lincoln-based WECO Aerospace Systems Inc.
Six other company executives and supervisors also have been indicted. Michael Maupin and Anthony Zito each pleaded guilty to similar charges. Four others have pleaded not guilty.
Kuwata faces a maximum of 20 years in prison when he’s sentenced. A sentencing date hasn’t been scheduled.
Investigators say they found no evidence of any accident caused by the allegedly fraudulent repairs.

California
Kings reach a settlement over exploding ball 
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Sacramento Kings have settled a lawsuit over an exercise ball the teams says exploded and injured a player.
The Sacramento Bee reported Tuesday the settlement was reached with Italian manufacturer Ledraplastic.
Roger Dreyer, the attorney who represented the NBA team and injured swingman Francisco Garcia, told the newspaper the settlement amount was confidential.
But he described it as extremely favorable to his clients.
An email to Ledraplastic was not immediately returned.
The Kings and Garcia claimed the ball exploded in October 2009 while Garcia was balancing on it and lifting weights, causing injuries that included a broken forearm.
He missed four months during the first year of a contract extension. The Kings sought to recover his salary. Garcia sued for loss of earning capacity, and pain and suffering.

South Carolina
Delay granted for attorney accused in extortion case
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The Lexington attorney charged with extorting more than $1 million from clients has been given a delay in his case until January.
An attorney for Richard Breibart requested the delay Wednesday. John Hare said he had just received more than 1,000 pages from prosecutors and needed time to review the documents.
Breibart appeared in a red jail uniform and shackles and said only that he agreed with the request for the delay.
Federal prosecutors say he got money from clients by threatening them with criminal charges or civil penalties that did not exist.
Breibart was charged last month with five counts of extortion, four counts of mail fraud and a count of wire fraud.
The indictment lists three people who allegedly cleaned out bank accounts, investments and retirement savings to give to Breibart
Hare has said that Breibart has no monthly income and cannot raise the $10,000 needed to get out of jail. In court papers, Hare has said his client has a negative net worth of $24,000.

Illinois
Boyfriend to be sentenced again in shotgun killing
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (AP) — A man whose retrial in a 2004 shotgun killing ended with a murder conviction could face up to four times the prison term he received in his first trial.
Fifty-one-year-old Brian Pinkas is to be sentenced Wednesday in Madison County in the 2004 killing of 37-year-old Sharon Reynolds.
Pinkas acknowledged he shot Reynolds in the head at their home in Granite City, but he says it was an accident.
Pinkas later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. But an appellate court threw out his guilty plea after he argued his sentence was invalid because it didn’t include a mandatory 25-year term for firearm use.
That set the stage for the September trial in which he was convicted. He could face up to 85 years in prison.o