Washington
State attorney general explains gay lawsuit
KENNEWICK, Wash. (AP) — Attorney General Bob Ferguson explained his gay discrimination lawsuit against a Richland florist during his visit Wednesday to the Tri-Cities.
He told a Rotary Club meeting that Arlene’s Flowers is violating consumer protection law by refusing to sell flowers for a same-sex wedding.
KNDU reports the state’s lawsuit against shop owner Baronelle Stutzman has been consolidated with a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, and it could be several months before it goes to court.
Stutzman is counter-suing the attorney general. Her lawyer, Kristen Waggoner, says Stutzman served her gay customer for years but balked at the wedding because of her religious beliefs. Waggoner says it’s a matter of religious freedom, protected by the constitution.
Other Tri-Cities florists are willing to arrange flowers for gay weddings.
Pennsylvania
New sentencing ordered in law student’s murder
YORK, Pa. (AP) — A central Pennsylvania appeals court has ordered a new sentencing hearing for a defendant who was 15 at the time of the 2010 murder of a law student.
The Superior Court on Wednesday sent the case of now-19-year-old Jordan Wallick back to York County Court for resentencing.
Wallick was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison plus 15 to 30 years in the murder of 28-year-old James Wallmuth III, a law student and former intern in the district attorney’s office who was shot outside a bar during a botched July 2010 robbery.
The court cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that mandatory life prison terms for juveniles were unconstitutional.
Defense attorney Dawn Cutaia said she will argue that Wallick doesn’t deserve a life term. Prosecutors declined comment.
Oklahoma
Juvenile gets no-parole life sentence
DUNCAN, Okla. (AP) — A judge in Oklahoma has sentenced a teenager to life in prison without parole for the stabbing death of a 14-year-old girl.
Sixteen-year-old Michael Anthony Ray was charged as an adult in the June 2013 slaying of Alyssa Wiles of Duncan. Ray pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in December and was sentenced Wednesday by District Judge Joe Enos.
Prosecutors alleged that Ray stabbed Wiles with a kitchen knife because the girl had broken up with him.
The Duncan Banner reports that Ray’s mother, Dawn Ray, urged leniency, saying that her son had a difficult upbringing.
In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles were unconstitutional. But the high court left open the possibility for judges to impose no-parole sentences on a case-by-case basis.
South Dakota
$2M bond for jailer accused of raping inmate
HOT SPRINGS, S.D. (AP) — A magistrate judge has set bond at $2 million cash or surety for a Fall River County jailer accused of raping a female inmate.
The Rapid City Journal reports that the attorney for 30-year-old Anthony Peet requested his client be released on personal recognizance Wednesday, but prosecutor Ken Orrock objected because he considers Peet a flight risk.
Peet, of Oral, was arrested Feb. 16 in Bryan, Ohio, after authorities in Fall River County issued a warrant for his arrest on a charge that he raped the inmate in January.
Peet could face more than 50 years in prison if convicted of second-degree rape. He’s due back in court for a preliminary hearing on March 10.
Kentucky
Man pleads not guilty in 1998 slaying of wife
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) — A southern Kentucky man has entered a not guilty plea to the 1998 slaying of his estranged wife in Bowling Green.
The Daily News reported that 44-year-old Leland Neal Jr. entered the plea during a brief court hearing Tuesday. Warren Circuit Judge John Grise set Leland’s bond at $1 million upon his indictment and left the bond in place during the hearing.
Neal is charged with killing Carol Neal in November 1998. A grand jury indicted him on Feb. 26. Only part of her skull has been recovered in McCreary County in the Daniel Boone National Forest.
U.S. Marshals caught Neal in Mexico on February on unrelated charges and returned him to Kentucky on a warrant related to the slaying issued in December 2012.
Carol’s mother, Barbara Smith, sat in the front row next to Carol’s sister Elizabeth McAlister. McAlister and Leland stared coldly at each other until he looked away.
“We are pleased Mr. Neal is back in Warren County and are confident in the judicial process,” Carol’s family said in a written statement through Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney Chris Cohron. The family declined through Cohron to speak to media after the arraignment. They sat quietly in the courtroom.
Along with Smith and McAlister, Carol’s other sister, Karen Lasch, her husband, David, and their daughter, Christina Gaines, also sat in the front row. Smith, along with Karen and David Lasch, raised Carol and Leland’s two sons, who were not in the courtroom. One son is grown. The other is high school age.
No one in Leland’s family showed up for the court hearing.
Ohio
State high court strikes down child enticement law
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court has struck down the state’s child enticement law, concluding it’s too broad and outlaws several activities protected by the state constitution.
The 5-2 decision came in the case of a Columbus man charged with child-enticement after asking a child to carry boxes to his apartment for money.
Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger says in the court’s Thursday ruling that while the law has the admirable goal of preventing child abductions and lewd acts against children, it can’t also ban protected speech and activity.
Last year a state appeals court in Akron threw out the conviction of a man accused under the same law of trying to entice a 13-year-old girl to be his Facebook friend.
