Iowa
Court rejects juvenile minimum sentence rules
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A divided Iowa Supreme Court says juvenile offenders must be resentenced if they were convicted in the state as adults and awarded mandatory minimum sentences.
State officials say the ruling means more than 100 people face resentencing for crimes including robbery, murder, kidnapping and sexual abuse.
In deciding the appeal of Andre Jerome Lyle Jr. on Friday, the court said required minimum sentences for juveniles are unconstitutional because they amount to cruel and unusual punishment. Lyle was 17 years old in 2010 when he was convicted of robbery and sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
Three justices disagreed with the Iowa ruling. It follows a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that all no-parole juvenile lifers must be considered for parole.
Kentucky
Prosecutor now accused of affair with defendant
JAMESTOWN, Ky. (AP) — A prosecutor in south-central Kentucky has been accused by his estranged wife and a defense attorney with having an affair with and impregnating a defendant whom he prosecuted for felony drug trafficking.
In court records in a divorce case and a criminal case, Russell County Commonwealth’s Attorney Matthew Leveridge is alleged to have carried on a two-month long sexual relationship with Lashley Sartain, then filing a motion to end her probation after she told his wife about the affair.
Leveridge declined to comment to the Lexington Herald-Leader about the allegations.
“I’ll have things to say in the appropriate forums before the appropriate people,” Leveridge, 41, said.
Leveridge cited a pending misdemeanor shoplifting charge as his reason for revoking Sartain’s probation in the drug case. After filing the motion, Leveridge disqualified himself. Wayne County Attorney Thomas Simmons took over the case and withdrew the motion.
“I’m not gonna comment,” Simmons said. “That’s those people’s personal lives, and I’m not going to get into it.”
Leveridge’s wife is suing him for divorce and sole custody of their child, alleging the affair with Sartain and other women, mental and physical abuse, and a history of bipolar disorder and alcohol abuse by her husband.
Sartain’s attorney, Larry Rogers, said Leveridge was wrong to start an affair with a criminal defendant.
Sartain, who is due in October, doesn’t expect fair treatment “with a five-year prison sentence still hanging over her head” until probation ends in February 2016 and Leveridge’s friendships in the local justice system, Rogers said.
“If you’re a prosecutor, you’re not even supposed to talk to a defendant without her attorney being present, much less — well, this,” Rogers said. “Universally, I think everyone would agree this is a big, big, big no-no.”
Leveridge pleaded guilty in 2009 to drunken driving in Somerset and paid a $200 fine. Three years later, Attorney General Jack Conway presented him with an award as 2012’s outstanding commonwealth’s attorney.
Conway’s office would not comment Thursday on the current allegations.
“If there are ethical violations, those would fall under the Kentucky Bar Association,” said Conway spokesman Daniel Kemp.
The state’s professional conduct rules prohibit lawyers from “commit(ing) a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects” or “engag(ing) in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.”
Texas
Killer of medical student loses his death row appeal
HOUSTON (AP) — A 33-year-old Houston man sent to death row for abducting and killing a medical student who was returning a movie to a video store near the Houston medical center 14 years ago has lost a federal court appeal.
Attorneys for Perry Williams had argued to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that he had deficient legal help at his trial for the slaying of 22-year-old Matthew Carter.
Williams testified at his trial that Carter begged for his life before he shot the victim in the head. Court documents show Williams contended the slaying was accidental as Carter tried to flee from the car. Prosecutors said the shooting was intentional.
Evidence showed Williams and three accomplices split $40 they took from Carter.
Williams doesn’t yet have an execution date.
Kentucky
Woman wins new trial on newly offered evidence
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky woman who has battled to be cleared of killing her boyfriend 16 years ago has won a new trial based on the statements a man made to police.
The Kentucky Court of Appeals on Friday concluded that 54-year-old Susan Jean King presented valid newly discovered evidence in the death of 40-year-old Kyle “Deanie” Breeden in Spencer County in October 1998. The ruling overturns a Spencer County judge’s decision to let stand King’s guilty plea to manslaughter.
Richard Thomas Jarrell Jr., 35, a felon and diagnosed schizophrenic, in 2012 admitted to killing Breeden.
Breeden’s body was found in the Kentucky River.
