National Roundup

Georgia City offers street performer $20K after 2013 arrest ATLANTA (AP) - City officials are set to offer a well-known Atlanta street performer $20,000 to settle a lawsuit in which he says police violated his rights to free speech. Multiple news outlets report that 62-year-old Bob Jamerson, commonly known as "Baton Bob," says police violated his rights when he was arrested in Atlanta nearly two years ago. Jamerson is known for dancing on city sidewalks in costume. In June 2013, Jamerson donned a white wedding dress and staged a performance he says celebrated the Supreme Court's decision to end the federal gay marriage ban. When officers asked him to leave the area, he refused and kicked officers. Police arrested Jamerson for simple assault but later dismissed the charges. The settlement still needs to be approved by the full Atlanta City Council. New Hampshire Man in attempted robbery of WWII vet turns self in MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - A man suspected of trying to rob a 95-year-old World War II veteran who used his cane to fight back in Manchester, New Hampshire, has turned himself in to police. Arthur Kamberis was leaving a pharmacy on May 2 when a man approached and reached for his wallet, which was in a zippered pocket. Kamberis started to fight him off and hit him several times with his cane. A passer-by went to help Kamberis, and the attacker fled. Kamberis wasn't hurt, and the good Samaritan drove him home. Police searched for the man and circulated a surveillance photo. They issued a warrant last week for 42-year-old David Farnsworth of Manchester. Farnsworth turned himself in early Wednesday, and was to be arraigned. It wasn't immediately known if he had a lawyer. Florida Terror suspect claims improper jail informants MIAMI (AP) - A Kenyan man accused in a U.S. terrorism support case says jailhouse informants have been improperly used to gather information against him. The attorney for Mohamed Said contends in a court motion that as many as five informants were used to gather incriminating evidence against him, obtain defense trial strategy and persuade Said to hire a different lawyer. The motion asks a judge to suppress any evidence from the informants. Prosecutors had not responded Tuesday to the motion. Said is scheduled to stand trial in June on eight terrorism-related charges involving alleged support for al-Qaida and terrorism groups in Africa and Syria. Said has pleaded not guilty. The charges are based on chat room conversations Said allegedly had with undercover FBI operatives about financing terror groups and recruiting fighters. Pennsylvania Mom accused of burning son faces charge of theft PITTSBURGH (AP) - A Pittsburgh woman accused of burning and malnourishing her 58-pound adult son has now been charged with stealing his Social Security benefit. Authorities say Vonda Brown submerged the 24-year-old man's hand in a hot liquid in October, resulting in a 58-day hospital stay. But Brown's attorney, Almon Burke, says medical records he's seen suggest Brown's son was being treated for a staph infection. State agents now say Brown spent her son's Social Security checks while he was in the hospital and didn't use the money for his medical care. Burke didn't respond directly to those charges. Brown's son is autistic and has cerebral palsy. Authorities have said he was screaming to be fed when he first arrived at a hospital. Brown also faces aggravated assault and Medicaid fraud charges. Missouri Jury gives $77M in case against Wells Fargo CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) - A Missouri jury has awarded a woman $77 million in damages in a lawsuit alleging Wells Fargo Bank mismanaged her family trusts, costing her tens of millions of dollars. The St. Louis County jury, after a trial of more than two weeks, sided late Monday with 78-year-old Barbara Burton Morriss of the St. Louis suburb of Olivette, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Tuesday. Morriss sued Wells Fargo in early 2012, alleging the bank breached its fiduciary duty by failing to fully disclose financial transactions in two family trusts that lost millions of dollars. Wells Fargo spokeswoman Vince Scanlon said the bank was "disappointed" by the verdict and was considering its legal options, including whether to appeal. Morriss was a beneficiary and co-trustee on both trusts with her son, venture capitalist B. Douglas Morris. That man, who is serving five years in federal prison for tax evasion, had helped raise through his Clayton-based venture and other companies tens of millions of dollars in private equity and venture capital funds until the companies he led filed for bankruptcy in January 2012, listing more than $35 million in debts. Barbara Morriss, the widow of a former Boatmen's Trust Co. chairman, has contended that she first learned her accounts were drained in late 2011, when her credit card was declined at Neiman Marcus. Her lawsuit alleged that funds in both trusts were wrongfully pledged as collateral for risky business ventures - something she became aware of after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused her son of defrauding investors in January 2012. The jury award includes more than $45 million in actual damages and about $32 million in punitive damages related to one of the trusts. A hearing on damages related to the second trust is expected to be held later this month. California Prosecutors: Man killed first wife, tried to kill 2nd SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - A Florida man awaiting trial for allegedly strangling his ex-wife and tossing her overboard during a Mediterranean cruise tried to hire two inmates to kill another ex-wife, prosecutors in California said. Lonnie Kocontes planned to have his second wife killed after forcing her to sign a letter recanting her testimony in the murder case involving his first wife, the Orange County district attorney's office said Monday. One of the two inmates told the inmates' lawyer, who notified the Orange County Sheriff's Department. It led to the new charges. Kocontes now faces two counts of solicitation to commit murder and one count of solicitation to bribe a witness. That's on top of the murder for financial gain charge he already faces in the cruise ship killing. Kocontes has pleaded not guilty in that case. Published: Thu, May 14, 2015