Ohio
Model A grabbed from churchgoer, then destroyed
PRINEVILLE, Ore. (AP) — Central Oregon authorities say a 79-year-old man took his 1930 Ford Model A coupe to church on Sunday to show it off.
But when he left it so he could get a bite of lunch, sheriff’s deputies say it was stolen and crashed into the Crooked River south of Prineville.
Photos show the mangled vehicle in the river, but no estimate of the damage was immediately available.
Capt. Michael Boyd said deputies couldn’t release the name of the owner.
Boyd said 34-year-old Erik Blake Halpin, described as a transient, was arrested for investigation of drunken driving and unauthorized use of a vehicle. He swam to shore and was arrested after he was treated at a Bend hospital.
Alaska
Man sees polite troopers, then turns himself in
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Acting courteous, even when arresting someone, has paid dividends for the Alaska State Troopers.
KTVA reports a 49-year-old Anchorage man wanted on several felony warrants decided to turn himself in to troopers Friday after watching an episode of the reality show “Alaska State Troopers” on the National Geographic Channel.
Brian John Fahey approached two troopers in the parking lot of the Anchorage headquarters late Friday afternoon.
According to troopers, Fahey said he believed they “were more professional and courteous to the people they arrested than other law enforcement personnel he had dealt with.”
Fahey has outstanding warrants for felony escape from an Anchorage halfway house and for failure to appear on original counts, including forgery and theft. He’s being held on $20,000 bail ahead of an arraignment later Monday.
Colorado
Holmes lawyers seek an officer’s discipline records
DENVER (AP) — Defense attorneys in the Colorado theater shooting case want to see disciplinary records of a police officer who was working on the day of the attack, but the reason wasn’t immediately clear.
A subpoena, made public Monday, seeks documents from a 2008 internal affairs investigation of Joshua Schol, an officer in Aurora, the Denver suburb where the shooting took place. The subpoena says the investigation concluded Schol was untruthful in a police report.
That report would be unrelated to the theater shootings because it was written four years before the attack.
The subpoena does not say why the defense wants the records, but it could be to discredit Schol if he is a prosecution witnesses in the upcoming trial.
The subpoena directs city officials to bring the records to a July 22 hearing where the attorneys are scheduled to discuss evidence about chemical and metal analyses, firearms, ballistics and tool marks. It wasn’t known if that timing was coincidental or whether Schol has expertise in any of those areas.
Aurora police spokesman Frank Fania said Schol was working on the day of the theater shooting, and like all the officers on duty, he would have had some role in the response.
James Holmes is charged with murder and attempted murder in the July 20, 2012, theater shooting, which killed 12 people and injured 70. Holmes is accused of opening fire on more than 400 people watching a midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises.”
He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
The trial is scheduled to start Oct. 14 with jury selection, a process expected to take months.
Nevada
Nurse’s aide is convicted of rape of 92-year-old
CINCINNATI (AP) — A former aide at a Cincinnati nursing home has been convicted of raping a 92-year-old resident who was confined to her bed and unable to communicate.
A judge on Monday found 22-year-old Samuel Onyenweaku guilty of the woman’s Nov. 24 rape at the Amber Park Nursing Home.
A prosecutor says the woman died in February from an unrelated condition.
A nursing supervisor testified that she had tried to enter the resident’s room, but the door was locked. When she finally opened it, she says she found the resident naked from the chest down and Onyenweaku in her private bathroom.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Onyenweaku was convicted of rape, felonious assault and patient abuse.
He could face 20 years in prison when he’s sentenced July 28.
New Mexico
Village council’s ‘no criticism’ rule is struck down
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A federal judge has come down hard on New Mexico village officials who tried to ban residents from saying anything negative at council meetings.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that U.S. District Judge James O. Browning issued an injunction Monday finding that the village of Ruidoso’s rule or policy barring speakers from being critical is “an unconstitutional burden on free speech.”
Under the village rules, a speaker could praise personnel, staff or the village council, or could make a neutral comment, but could not voice criticism.
In an 89-page opinion, Browning granted summary judgment to lawyer William Griffin, who sued after the council refused his request to speak.
Browning said limits can be placed on time and topic, but not on the speaker’s opinion.
Pennsylvania
Lawyers get $508K in parents’ final settlement
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A judge has awarded $508,000 to the attorneys who represented the parents of a therapist fatally shot at a Pittsburgh psychiatric hospital.
Harry and Mary Schaab had sued the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center over the 2012 shooting at the center’s Western Psychiatric Institute.
Mentally ill gunman John Shick killed their son, Michael, and wounded five others before being fatally shot by police.
The Schaabs settled their lawsuit for $1.5 million.
But they ended up suing the law firm that represented them, Farrell & Reisinger. They said they had wanted to sue the gunman’s estate and parents but the law firm advised against it.
Monday’s settlement ends the related litigation over the legal fees.
