National Roundup

 Arizona

Man sentenced in human smuggling from Mexico case 
PHOENIX (AP) — A Guatemalan man who led a Little Rock, Arkansas-based ring that smuggled hundreds of immigrants into the United States from Mexico in 2012 and 2013 has been sentenced to prison.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Arizona says 37-year-old Rony Abimael Gonzales-Herrera was sentenced Wednesday by a federal judge in Phoenix to 57 months of incarceration.
Gonzales was arrested in May 2013 in Little Rock. He pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens.
Prosecutors say the ring used multiple stash houses in the Phoenix area as way stations for people being smuggled. Those houses included one discovered in January 2013 with more than 40 immigrants in the country illegally.
The ring also coordinated the illegal transportation of people illegally in the United States.
 
Iowa
Court: Student cannot sue over her service dogs 
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit filed against Drake University by a former student who trains service dogs for veterans.
Nicole Shumate, a 2009 Drake Law School graduate, sued in August 2011 claiming the university barred her from taking a dog to classes. A district court judge dismissed the case in 2012, saying a person training a service dog may not sue for damages in the same way as someone with a disability who uses a service dog.
The Iowa Court of Appeals in November reversed that decision.
The Supreme Court on Friday ruled Iowa does not allow service dog trainers to sue, but a law that permits dog trainers to take the animals into public places does allow violators to be fined and sentenced to jail time.
 
Louisiana
Suit: LSU too harsh on student in sex video case 
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A lawsuit has been filed claiming LSU is seeking a punishment that is too harsh for an engineering student accused of recording two other students having sex in a dorm room in March.
Thursday’s state district court lawsuit, filed in Baton Rouge, says less serious sanctions have been handed down in the past to star football players convicted of various crimes.
The Advocate reports that the suit was filed on behalf of Xavien R. Riascos. It says Riascos’ recommended punishment was suspension of more than three years
John DiGiulio, an attorney representing Riascos, described the allegations involving his client as “a college prank that has turned into a sex offense.”
Riascos and another student were arrested for alleged video voyeurism, but neither has been charged by prosecutors.
 
Mississippi
Attorneys for cop want change of venue in his trial 
PASCAGOULA, Miss. (AP) — Attorneys for a Pascagoula police officer want to change the location of his upcoming trial stemming from the traffic death of a teenager.
Attorneys filed a motion Thursday arguing that pretrial publicity would prevent a fair trial in Jackson County for 44-year-old Daniel Roy Snyder. Snyder is charged with leaving the scene of the accident.
The Sun Herald reports that Snyder was off duty the night of Feb. 22, when 16-year-old Kaytlynn Brann was struck by a truck as she walked down a street. She died the following day.
Snyder had a blood-alcohol level of .102 when he was administered a portable breath test 45 minutes after the accident, records show. A blood test taken several hours later at Singing River Hospital showed a level of .06. A third blood test taken after midnight showed Snyder’s blood alcohol level at .05.
It’s illegal to drive with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent or above.
Jackson County Circuit Judge Dale Harkey has ruled the blood-alcohol evidence can be used in court, though the state won’t be allowed to give estimates of Snyder’s blood-alcohol level at the time of the accident.
Snyder is suspended without pay from the Pascagoula Police Department.
 
Pennsylvania
Insanity plea is made in stabbing  of man’s parents 
READING, Pa. (AP) — An eastern Pennsylvania man has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to charges that he attacked his parents with a knife after an argument over failing grades.
The Reading Eagle reports that 21-year-old Robert Hausch of Morgantown entered the plea Thursday in Berks County Court.
Prosecutors said Hausch was arrested early Dec. 30 after investigators said he stabbed his mother and father in the neck with a seven-inch military knife as they slept. A few hours earlier, they said, he had argued with his mother over his having received five failing grades in college.
Assistant Public Defender Holly Feeney said a psychiatric evaluation had concluded that Hausch was insane at the time and needed to be hospitalized. Assistant District Attorney Amy Rothermel agreed with the disposition.
 
Rhode Island
Court to decide fate of house built on park land 
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The Rhode Island Supreme Court is deciding the fate of a $1.8 million house in Narragansett that was built, apparently by mistake, entirely on public park land.
The Providence Journal reports lawyers for the developer this week asked the court to allow him to pay for the land in Rose Nulman Park or trade it for other waterfront property.
A lawyer for the Nulman Foundation, argued that it would amount to a “private eminent domain” for the court to force the the foundation to sell the land. He asked the court to order the removal of the 2,400-square foot house with its roof-top hot tub.
The developer, Robert Lamoureux, has said he was surprised to find the house was sited incorrectly and the lot had not been properly surveyed.
 
Ohio 
Judge pleads guilty to falsifying campaign reports 
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) — Authorities say a northeast Ohio judge has pleaded guilty to failing to report campaign contributions and expenditures in his 2008 campaign.
Federal and state authorities reported that Mahoning County Probate Court Judge Mark Belinky pleaded guilty Thursday in Youngstown to one felony count of tampering with records.
Prosecutors said the 61-year-old Belinky failed to disclose between $7,500 and $150,000 in campaign contributions, expenditures and loans used for campaign purposes on his 2008 finance reports.
Belinky, a Democrat from Boardman, was first appointed by then-Gov. Ted Strickland in 2007 and elected to another term in 2008. He resigned in March.