New York
Appeals court: Spanking session not excessive
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — A state appeals court has ruled that a Long Island father used reasonable force when he spanked his 8-year-old son for cursing at an adult.
Newsday says the state Appellate Division dismissed a child neglect proceeding against the man last week.
The father had used the disciplinary action in October 2012 during a party at a friend’s house.
The Suffolk County social service department alleged he used an open hand and a belt on the boy’s buttocks, legs and arms after they got home. A county family court found him in neglect.
But the appellate division said under the circumstances the spanking “did not constitute excessive corporal punishment.” It said there was insufficient evidence to prove he hit his son with a belt.
Charleston
Man pleads guilty in slaying of man, 90, with hammer
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A former lawn care worker has pleaded guilty to killing a 90-year-old Charleston man with a hammer.
Media outlets report that 39-year-old Anthony David Caldwell pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on Monday. He entered the plea as his trial was set to begin in Kanawha County Circuit Court.
Prosecutors say Caldwell hit George Molle Jr. with a hammer and took money from the victim’s house.
Police found Molle’s body inside the house on Jan. 3.
Police say Caldwell had worked for a lawn-care business used by Molle.
Florida
Officer gets 5 years prison in Ponzi scheme
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A former Broward Sheriff’s Office lieutenant has been sentenced to five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy for his role in convicted Ponzi scheme operator Scott Rothstein’s $1.2 billion fraud.
U.S. District Judge James Cohn imposed the sentence Monday on 48-year-old David Benjamin.
Court documents show Benjamin was paid about $185,000 for assisting Rothstein in several ways, including having another lawyer’s ex-wife arrested falsely to gain advantage in a child custody fight. Former BSO detective Jeff Poole is being sentenced Thursday after pleaded guilty to civil rights conspiracy in that arrest.
Prosecutors say Benjamin also told other deputies to force a female escort to leave the state when her boyfriend threatened to expose her relationship with Rothstein partner Stuart Rosenfeldt.
Rothstein is serving 50 years in prison.
Kentucky
Judge calling in people who are jury no-shows
HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A state judge in southwestern Kentucky is calling in people who failed to show up for jury duty and threatening to issue a warrant for anyone who misses without a valid reason.
Christian County Circuit Judge John Atkins has set the hearing for July 25. Atkins told the Kentucky New Era the court is owed an explanation about why people didn’t respond to the legal summons and could be held in contempt if they don’t respond.
Atkins said in April, May and June, more than 400 summonses were sent and drew no response from potential jurors.
Atkins said the court is cooperating with people who have called in, who may have forgotten their notice on a kitchen table or have had other reasonable excuses like being hospitalized.
Atkins pointed out that he and his colleague, Christian Circuit Judge Andrew Self have had to use both jury pools over a three-month period from their respective courts because neither jury pool was adequately sized to seat a jury.
New Hampshire
Woman files suit over mother’s hospital death
NASHUA, N.H. (AP) — A Massachusetts woman has sued a New Hampshire hospital for $2 million about three years after her mother died of a heart attack, saying doctors failed to diagnose it.
Mariann Gobbi recently filed the lawsuit against St. Joseph Hospital in Nashua in federal court in Concord.
The Telegraph of Nashua reports the hospital denied any responsibility for Ann Blanchette’s death. A spokesperson said it won’t comment on ongoing litigation.
The suit says Blanchette was visiting Gobbi in August 2011 when she complained about pain in her neck and right arm. She went to the emergency room and was admitted about an hour later.
Gobbi says doctors failed to consider her mother was suffering a heart attack despite her symptoms. An EKG the next day showed Blanchette suffered the attack.
Rhode Island
Judge refuses to reduce 20-year gun sentence
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Superior Court judge has rejected a motion that would have reduced a 20-year sentence for a man sent to prison after pulling a gun on a police officer.
Jaylon Baker, who is now 20, asked for the reduced sentence in June after admitting for the first time that he pointed a gun at the then-Patrolman David Allen, just before Allen shot him in the arm in July, 2010.
The Providence Journal reports Superior Court Judge Robert Krause in upholding the sentence, called Baker a hoodlum who had raised the risk of injury and death in the incident exponentially by threatening a police officer.
Baker, who was 16, encountered Allen while on a weekend pass from a center for at-risk boys, where he’d been sent for selling crack cocaine.
Ohio
Ex-official asks Supreme Court to hear case
CLEVELAND (AP) — An attorney for a former Cleveland-area county official convicted in a public corruption case says they’re asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider his request for a new trial.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati previously upheld former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora’s 2012 conviction and 28-year sentence on bribery-related offenses.
His appeals attorney, Christian Grostic, tells The Plain Dealer they’ve sent the high court a request to hear and review his argument for a new trial.
Grostic argues that the trial judge wrongly denied their attempt to present Dimora’s ethics disclosure forms as evidence that could show that alleged bribes were gifts he had disclosed.
