National Roundup

Massachusetts
Cops: Man left 3 kids in freezing car while in court

NEWTON, Mass. (AP) - A Massachusetts man is facing child endangerment charges after police say he left his three children - ages 5, 3 and 9 months - inside a car for about an hour in freezing temperatures while he was in court.

Newton police Lt. Bruce Apotheker says a passer-by notified police about the children after spotting them Tuesday afternoon inside a car in a municipal lot near Newton District Court.

Police say it was 23 degrees outside and the unlocked car was not running. The children were taken to the hospital as a precaution.

The 38-year-old Framingham man, whose name was not made public, told authorities he was only inside the courthouse for 12 minutes. Police estimate he was inside for an hour.

He'll be summoned to court.

Washington
Man arrested in 1997 homicide

YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) - With an assist from a true crime TV series, a 60-year-old man has been arrested in the 1997 shooting death of his wife, the Yakima County sheriff's office says.

Barrett Bailey was arrested Wednesday in Idaho on a warrant, waived extradition and was to be brought back to Yakima to face a charge of first-degree murder, sheriff's Detective Sgt. Mike Russell said in a statement.

Deborah Bailey was 32 years old when she was found in a car near Naches, Washington, on Feb. 16, 1997, fatally shot in the head. She was a former Miss Teen Washington, the Yakima Herald-Republic reported.

While the sheriff's office kept the investigation active for years, and identified persons of interest, investigators lacked sufficient information to make an arrest, Russell said.

Last summer, the TNT series "Cold Justice," which looks at unsolved murders, contacted sheriff's detectives to ask if they had a cold case that could benefit from a fresh look, as well as from the assistance of investigators associated with the show. Russell said detectives suggested the Deborah Bailey case.

With "Cold Justice" producers, investigators and production crews in Yakima in September, sheriff's Detectives Judd Towell and Dave Johnson took another look at the case, including re-interviewing key people.

The arrest warrant for Barrett Bailey was obtained this week "with the support of newly elected Yakima County Prosecutor Joe Brusic," Russell said. Towell and Johnson made the arrest.

Bailey is believed to have lived in the north Idaho community of Priest River. Russell did not immediately return an Associated Press call Wednesday night to confirm the man's hometown. When Deborah Bailey died, Bailey lived in Selah, Washington.

The man has said he was at his Selah home with his two children when his wife was killed. In previous news stories, he said he thought his wife was killed as a result of her "clandestine drug life," and he described the investigation into her death as a "witch hunt," the Herald-Republic reported.

The "Cold Justice" episode titled "Miss Congeniality" is scheduled to air Friday night.

California
Convictions upheld in 2007 killing of reporter

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - A state appeals court has upheld the convictions of two men in the 2007 murder of an Oakland newspaper editor, ruling that the defendants received a fair trial despite a negative pretrial publicity.

The Oakland Tribune reports the court on Wednesday ruled Yusuf Bey IV and Antione Mackey received a fair trial in the killing of journalist Chauncey Bailey and that a jury had been rigorously screen for bias.

The defendants appealed their 2011 conviction saying their trial should have been moved out of Alameda County because of scores of newspaper and television reports about Bailey's killing. Both men were sentenced to life prison without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors say Bey ordered workers at his Your Black Muslim Bakery to kill Bailey to stop him from publishing a story about the bakery's financial troubles.

Illinois
Police used 'unreasonable' force in death

MARKHAM, Ill. (AP) - Suburban Chicago police who fired beanbag rounds at a knife-wielding 95-year-old man used "unreasonable and unnecessary" force, an expert on police tactics testified Wednesday at an officer's trial on a felony reckless conduct charge in the World War II veteran's death.

John Wrana died after refusing treatment when he was hit by beanbags from a shotgun fired by the Park Forest Officer Craig Taylor in July 2013.

Consultant Francis R. Murphy, a former police officer and Secret Service agent, testified that the incident at an assisted living center was an officer-created crisis.

"There was no threat until Officer Craig Taylor and the others confronted him," Murphy said.

Taylor was one of several officers dispatched to the facility where Wrana lived after a staff member reported that Wrana had become combative with emergency workers. Wrana was shot five times with a beanbag gun before he dropped the knife and cane he was wielding.

Murphy said the officers could have used their ballistic shield to protect themselves.

"Police officers had more than the ability using their shield not only to enter but to knock Wrana down," Murphy said.

But Murphy later conceded under questioning by defense attorney Terry Ekl that Wrana could have been seriously injured if officers used the shield to knock him to the floor.

Ekl noted later that Taylor's action didn't have to lead to Wrana's death.

"He went to the hospital. He would have lived, survived, if he agreed to surgery," Ekl said. "He refused to get it and said, 'I want to die.'"

Taylor, 43, could face up to three years in prison if he's convicted. His trial comes amid heightened scrutiny of the use of deadly force by U.S. police departments.

Oregon
Ex-employee sues bookstore for discrimination

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A man who was fired from a Clackamas-area adult bookstore is suing for more than $330,000.

The Oregonian reports Wilford Paul Bearden testified Wednesday at the civil trial in Clackamas County Circuit Court.

The 73-year-old man who is gay says he has endured a lifetime of discrimination and wouldn't put up with an offensive drawing made by a co-worker at Fantasyland II. He says he was fired when he complained about sexual harassment.

Fantasyland's lawyer, Richard Franklin, says most of the customers at the bookstore are gay. He says it's not a place for people with tender sensibilities.

The lawyer says Bearden was fired because of customer and employee complaints about his bossy behavior.

Published: Fri, Jan 16, 2015