ILLINOIS
Lawsuit targets fraternity in NIU student’s death
DEKALB, Ill. (AP) — The family of a Northern Illinois University freshman who died after a night of heavy drinking has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the fraternity he was pledging.
Nineteen-year-old David Bogenberger was found dead at Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity on Nov. 2.
The night before, he and other pledges had attended an event there that the national fraternity organization says it did not sanction.
Toxicology results found Bogenberger’s blood alcohol content was about five times the legal limit for driving.
The family’s lawsuit says members of the fraternity failed to seek medical attention after the pledge had become unconscious.
Five fraternity members have been charged with felony hazing. Seventeen others face misdemeanor hazing charges.
IDAHO
Former teacher charged in child pornography case
LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) — A former agricultural education instructor at a northern Idaho high school has been charged with 11 counts of possessing child pornography.
The Lewiston Tribune reports the charges were filed against 27-year-old Tyler D. Mink of Lewiston in 2nd District Court.
Court records say officers searched Mink’s residence and found hundreds of files they allege contain child pornography and other sexually exploitative material on various electronic devices.
Culdesac High School Principal Shannon Morris told the newspaper that Mink resigned last month. He had started working at the school in June.
Court records say Mink told an investigating officer that he downloaded child pornography for his own gratification.
Mink’s preliminary hearing is set for Feb. 27.
MASSACHUSETTS
Rape suspect scheduled for September trial
PITTSFIELD, Mass. (AP) — An Adams man police say raped a woman just hours after his release from jail is tentatively scheduled to go on trial in September.
The trial’s start is dependent on DNA testing. Prosecutors say Jeffrey Vigiard (VIH’-zhee-ahrd) was connected to the crime through DNA, but in court Thursday said further testing is necessary.
Authorities say the 39-year-old Vigiard broke into the 20-year-old woman’s home in Pittsfield last March just hours after his release from a New York jail where he had served time for larceny.
Police say Vigiard fled to San Francisco, where he was caught in July,
Vigiard has pleaded not guilty to aggravated rape, witness intimidation, burglary, assault, and breaking and entering. The Berkshire Eagle reports that his lawyer calls the pattern in the case “strange.”
INDIANA
Judge sets trial Scoutmaster’s alleged killer
BUNKER HILL, Ind. (AP) — A northern Indiana judge has set a June trial date for a man accused of fatally stabbing a 76-year-old scoutmaster in front of Scouts he was leading on a nature hike.
The Miami Circuit Court judge on Thursday set a June 17 trial for 24-year-old Shane Golitko, who’s charged in Art Anderson’s August 2011 killing. Anderson bled to death in front of two Boy Scouts he was leading on a hike along the Nickel Plate Trail in Bunker Hill, about 60 miles north of Indianapolis.
The Kokomo Tribune reports that results of court-ordered psychiatric exams on Golitko could push back his murder trial.
Miami County deputy public defender Kristina L. Lynn says those exams have been completed.
Defense attorneys have said they might pursue an insanity defense.
VERMONT
Judge: Thousands may be needed for jury pool
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A federal judge says as many as 5,000 people might need to be questioned in order to find an unbiased jury for the upcoming trial of a Vermont man charged in the sexual assault and killing of his 12-year-old niece in 2008.
Michael Jacques potentially faces the death penalty. He has pleaded not guilty to charges that he abducted, sexually assaulted and killed Brooke Bennett.
Jury selection is scheduled to start Sept. 3.
The Burlington Free Press reports Judge William Sessions expressed concerns at a hearing Thursday about the logistics of assembling an impartial jury in Vermont.
Sessions said he plans to pick jurors from a statewide pool. He proposed simultaneously using all three federal courthouses during the preliminary jury-selection process. That involves the filling out of background questionnaires.
ARIZONA
Police: Man took advance steps for office shooting
PHOENIX (AP) — Phoenix police say a man who fatally shot two men involved in a business dispute with him made advance arrangements for the killings.
According to The Arizona Republic, police reports say 70-year-old Arthur Douglas Harmon borrowed the guns he used and rented his escape vehicle without the knowledge of relatives.
Harmon fled after the Jan. 30 shooting at an office complex where he’d gone for a mediation session in a lawsuit he’d filed against a company.
The company’s president and its lawyer were killed, and a bystander was wounded.
Harmon was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound the next day in Mesa.
According to police, Harmon borrowed the guns from a friend. Police say Harmon’s wife and son accompanied him to the mediation session but drove separately.
FLORIDA
Settlement reached in Ohio man’s death
FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — The widow of an Ohio man who died after being repeatedly pepper sprayed in a southwest Florida jail has settled her wrongful death lawsuit against the county’s sheriff, the jail’s medical provider and several deputies and nurses.
Nicholas Christie died in 2009 after being restrained and repeatedly exposed to pepper spray at the Lee County jail.
Joyce Christie’s attorney said the settlement reached Wednesday was “well into the seven figures.”
Nicholas Christie was visiting Naples when he stopped taking his medications and began acting erratically. He was arrested on trespassing charges at a North Fort Myers motel. The medical examiner ruled his death a homicide and said the pepper spray was a contributing factor that led to heart and brain failure.
The state attorney’s office declined to prosecute the case.
