Maine
Man convicted in submarine fire claims innocence
KITTERY, Maine (AP) - The man convicted of setting a fire that damaged a nuclear-powered submarine - ultimately causing it to be scrapped when it was deemed too costly to repair - now claims he made a false confession because he was threatened with life in prison.
Casey Fury, who pleaded guilty in the 2012 fire that damaged the USS Miami, told The Portsmouth Herald (http://bit.ly/1A7Qrob) in an interview published Sunday that he does not think he started the blaze.
"I don't believe I'm responsible," he said. "I don't believe I did it. I don't remember doing it."
Fury said he wants to ask a judge to reconsider his sentence because his mental health and addiction problems weren't fully considered at trial.
Prosecutors say Fury was seeking an excuse get off early from his job at the Portsmouth Naval Yard when he set fire to a box of rags in May 2012, starting a blaze that quickly spread through the forward compartments of the Miami. The fire caused $700 million in damage and the Navy eventually decided it was not worth fixing.
Fury, who pleaded guilty to two counts of arson, said he did later set a second, smaller fire and pull a fire alarm on another day.
Fury, 27, said he began suffering anxiety, panic attacks and depression soon after being hired as a civilian to do painting and sandblasting on the submarine, and that he often mixed prescription drugs with alcohol.
Fury said he was taking a lot of medication at the time and doesn't even remember his confession.
"I don't think I remember going to work that day," he told the newspaper.
New York
Brooklyn Law professor marks 100th birthday
NEW YORK (AP) - When Brooklyn Law School professors and alumni refer to an "institution," they might very well be talking about Professor Joseph Crea (CRAY'-uh).
Colleagues and friends are gathering Monday to celebrate his 100th birthday at the school where he has taught for over six decades.
Crea began working at the law school as a librarian after his 1947 graduation and started teaching the next year. Besides teaching tax, tort, commercial and other aspects of law to generations of students, he wrote a legal research guide and served on a mayoral committee for selecting marshals.
Crea taught until September. He continues advising faculty members, sitting on the admissions committee and attending faculty meetings.
His career interest dawned when he found a pile of abandoned law books on a roadside in the 1930s.
Florida
Police: Man said 'Go ahead and kill me' to officers
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - Before 18-year-old Austin Goodner was killed by Florida police on Sunday, authorities said he argued with four people near a city pool, shot a man on a bike in the arm and then shot an officer in the leg.
"A suspect shot at my officers, and they returned fire so they could go home," St. Petersburg police Chief Anthony Holloway said Monday at a news conference.
Goodner was known to officers, Holloway said, having been involuntarily committed twice in 2011. He had also been previously arrested for aggravated battery, the chief said.
On Sunday, Goodner made a comment to four people "about their sexual orientation" at near a pool near the city's downtown, Holloway said. Goodner then rode away on his bike, and officers said he confronted another man on a bike. He fired one shot and hit the man in the arm, police said.
Officers said they then went to the home Goodner shared with his parents and said they found Goodner in the backyard, holding a .9mm gun.
Goodner raised the weapon at the officers, and that's when they shot him, officials said. Holloway said Goodner returned fire and struck 40-year-old officer Michael Cordiviola in the leg. The officer was dragged away from the scene by a fellow policeman and used a nearby hose as a tourniquet.
Holloway said Goodner yelled, "Go ahead and kill me" to the officers as the shootout occurred.
The officers fired and hit Goodner. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Officials are looking into how Goodner obtained the weapon. Authorities say his parents told them they wouldn't have a gun in the house.
The county's state attorney is reviewing the shootings, which is routine for any police shooting that results in death.
Cordiviola, the injured officer, is recovering in a local hospital and is expected to be released later this week.
Massachusetts
Top court rules in tainted drug evidence case
BOSTON (AP) - Massachusetts' highest court has ruled that thousands of defendants convicted of drug crimes after a chemist in a state lab tampered with evidence can't be charged with a more serious crime or given a harsher sentence if they seek a new trial.
But the Supreme Judicial Court declined to vacate all convictions based on evidence tainted by chemist Annie Dookhan, who was sentenced in 2013 to at least three years in prison after pleading guilty to faking test results.
The court handed down the decision Monday.
It had heard arguments in the case in January from the Committee for Public Counsel Services, which oversees public defenders in Massachusetts, the American Civil Liberties Union and the district attorney's offices in Suffolk and Essex counties.
Florida
Battle over boy's circumcision enters court
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - The case of a Florida woman who fled to avoid her son's circumcision is entering a federal courtroom for the first time.
Thirty-one-year-old Heather Hironimus was arrested Thursday in the long-running dispute over the removal of her 4-year-old child's foreskin. She went missing with the boy nearly three months ago and ignored a judge's warnings that if she didn't appear in court and give consent for the circumcision to proceed, she faced jail.
The case originated in state courts but will be heard in a federal courtroom Monday in West Palm Beach. An attorney for Hironimus filed a federal civil rights complaint as legal options faded.
A judge is due to hear a motion asking for a restraining order against the boy's father to keep the surgery from happening.
Published: Tue, May 19, 2015
