Indiana
Man pleads not guilty in teenage girl's death
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - An ex-convict has pleaded not guilty to charges that he killed a 15-year-old girl whose badly burned body was found in an Indianapolis backyard in August.
Forty-six-year-old William Gholston appeared before a Marion County judge for his initial hearing Monday on the murder charge he faces in Dominique Allen's death.
Investigators say DNA found on Allen's sandals and body matched samples from Gholston in the state inmate database. Authorities say Gholston was on parole at the time of her death after serving a prison sentence for 2006 convictions on illegal gun possession and resisting arrest charges.
Deputy Prosecutor Marc Hollingsworth declined to comment about whether prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Gholston.
Ohio
Thousands raised for men cleared in 1975 murder
CLEVELAND (AP) - Thousands of dollars have been raised to help two men who have been exonerated in a 1975 Cleveland slaying after decades in prison.
WKYC-TV in Cleveland reports donations on public crowd-funding Web pages for 57-year-old Ricky Jackson and 60-year-old Wiley Bridgeman totaled more than $25,000 in just a few days.
Jackson and Bridgeman were released from jail Friday after a judge dismissed the cases against them. The dismissals came after the key witness in the case - a then-13-year-old boy - recanted his testimony last year.
Jackson's GoFundMe fundraiser page had raised more than $26,000 as of Sunday. Bridgeman's page raised more than $600.
The pages were set up by the Ohio Innocence Project and Ohioans to Stop Executions to help the men rebuild their lives.
Iowa
Woman locked up after locked out of home for pot
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - Police say an Iowa woman who was locked out of her apartment has been locked up after officers who helped her regain entry found pot plants and drug paraphernalia inside.
Iowa City police say 19-year-old Jailin Turner is charged with possession of a controlled substance and other crimes. Jail records showed she was in custody on Monday. It's unclear whether she has an attorney.
The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports the officers were sent to investigate a report early Friday morning about a woman yelling and banging on an apartment window. She told them she'd lost her keys.
The officers said in the complaint that when firefighters broke into the apartment, two bongs were in plain view. Officials also said they found a scale, potted marijuana plants and grow lights.
New Jersey
Mother who shot children dies from her injuries
TABERNACLE, N.J. (AP) - A New Jersey woman who authorities say shot all three of her children, killing two of them, before turning the gun on herself died Sunday from her injuries, state police said.
The death of 44-year-old Jeannine LePage came three days after the shootings at the family's home in Tabernacle, a town in the New Jersey Pinelands that's 30 miles east of Philadelphia.
Authorities say LePage used a handgun that had been purchased legally and was in the family for decades. They say she used a pillow to muffle any noise so five other relatives who lived in the home wouldn't hear what was happening when she shot her children Thursday morning.
Authorities have not said what may have prompted LePage to shoot her children, saying it was a mystery that may never be solved.
Fourteen-year-old Nicholas Harriman and 8-year-old Nadia were killed. Their 11-year-old brother, Alexander, was wounded and remains hospitalized in "extremely critical condition."
LePage and her children were found in the same bed by a family member who called 911, police said. The two children killed in the shootings were pronounced dead at the scene.
The children's father did not live in the house.
Ohio
Suit challenges juvenile arrests and detentions
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A lawsuit alleges children are unconstitutionally arrested and detained in southwest Ohio because authorities don't present proper evidence for holding them.
The lawsuit says the Hamilton County Juvenile Court and detention system is arresting juveniles without proper warrants and holding them without timely hearings.
The lawsuit was filed late Sunday in federal court in Cincinnati on behalf of two juveniles incarcerated earlier this year and seeks to end the practice.
The lawsuit also alleges that Hamilton County arrests and detains black juveniles at much higher rates than whites.
The Children's Law Center in Covington, Kentucky, says the practice is not limited to Hamilton County's juvenile court system.
The Hamilton County administrator declined comment, while messages were left at the detention center and for juvenile court administrative Judge John Williams.
Pennsylvania
Former Steelers cornerback to run
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A Pittsburgh judge who spent more than a decade playing cornerback for the Steelers confirms he'll be a candidate for Pennsylvania Supreme Court next year.
Dwayne Woodruff told The Associated Press on Monday that he made the decision in the past week or two to seek one of three vacancies that will go before the voters in 2015.
Woodruff, an Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas judge, says the high court would give him a larger platform to help people, particularly when it comes to education and family issues.
The 57-year-old played in the NFL from 1979 to 1990. He was on the squad that beat the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl XIV.
About a dozen names are floating around as potential 2015 candidates for the state Supreme Court.
Published: Tue, Nov 25, 2014
