Louisiana
Codefendant in rape case asks to split from 2nd codefendant
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A former waiter accused in state court of raping two women with former New Orleans Saints safety Darren Sharper is asking a judge to divide the federal case against him from that of a former sheriff's deputy.
Erik Nunez and former St. Bernard Parish sheriff's deputy Brandon Licciardi are the remaining defendants in state and federal cases in which Sharper has pleaded guilty.
Nunez was added to the federal indictment last month, on a charge of impeding a grand jury investigation.
That unfairly ties Nunez with Licciardi, who faces charges that include distributing drugs with intent to commit rape, Nunez' attorneys argued in court papers filed Friday.
Attorneys Herb Larson and Sara Johnson based their arguments in part on a federal appeals court ruling in the case of a New Orleans police officers convicted of shooting Henry Glover days after Hurricane Katrina, The New Orleans Advocate reported Sunday.
In that case, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the conviction David Warren, who killed Glover, was unfairly tainted by the conspiracy charge against codefendants accused of covering up the shooting. Warren was tried alone in 2013, and was acquitted.
District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo set a Sept. 10 hearing on the motion.
Sharper has pleaded guilty in New Orleans' federal court to drugging women with intent to rape them and in state court to three rapes. The pleas are part of a multistate deal over the druggings and rapes or attempted rapes of nine women in Louisiana, California, Arizona and Nevada. He awaits sentencing in both courts in Louisiana.
Colorado
Attorneys hear safety concerns from Indians
IGNACIO, Colo. (AP) - U.S. attorneys and prosecutors say they want to help Native American communities bring more cases to court and cut down on crime following a surge of drug abuse, violence, sexual assault and other crimes plaguing their communities.
Colorado U.S. Attorney John Walsh, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates, Associate Attorney General Stuart Delery and Montana U.S. Attorney Michael Cotter heard reports of insufficient funding, a lack of full-time prosecutors and problems during a meeting in Ignacio.
Tribal leaders say there are not enough victim advocates serving the Navajo Nation, and the Southern Utes are also asking for more help.
Patrick Woods, a tribal prosecutor in Utah, said some cases, like sexual assault, are hard to prosecute.
"It's embarrassing. We don't get people that want to talk about it. We need to address this when they're young, and actively have the conversation that it's not OK. We're losing generations of mothers and daughters, and that's the lifeblood of most of our tribal communities," Woods said.
In 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice launched the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation to help with the grant-application process for tribal communities to improve public safety and address other needs. Other programs include the Drug Endangered Children program and an initiative to address the needs of veterans in tribal communities.
Yates spent 27 years working in the Justice Department, but she admitted she had little knowledge of problems in native communities until she was appointed to her current position this year and she visited the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation with former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, the Durango Herald reported.
Yates said she was surprised to learn about the frequency of sexual assault on reservations. She said new solutions must be found because of cultural differences among the tribes.
"What may work and be important for one tribe is not the approach that will necessarily work somewhere else," Yates said.
New York
3 charged in gun bust that led to shooting of man
NEW YORK (AP) - Three people have been charged in connection with a probe into the sale of illegal firearms that an officer was investigating when he opened fire on an armed suspect and accidentally shot and killed a bystander, authorities said Sunday.
The encounter led to the death of 61-year-old Felix Kumi on Friday afternoon. It started when Jeffrey Aristy, 28, contacted an undercover officer that day saying he had two guns for sale, according to police and court documents. When the officer met him in the Bronx, Aristy entered the officer's unmarked car and told him to drive to a residential neighborhood in nearby Mount Vernon, police said.
When they arrived there around 4 p.m., a 37-year-old man - whose name was not released - hopped in the back seat of the car, pointed a gun at the officer's head and demanded money, police said. The undercover officer handed cash to the man before signaling for backup and confronting him in the street, where the officer began firing when the man pointed his gun at him, police said.
Authorities said Kumi was standing behind the suspect in the street and was shot by the officer. He died Saturday at a local hospital.
Court papers say Aristy had sold the undercover officer guns and drugs during 10 previous encounters beginning in March. Most of the meetings happened in the Bronx and involved the sale of cocaine and handguns, the court papers said.
Aristy's wife, Ivett Cruz, 29, and another man, Samuel Ruiz, 24, also were charged in the probe, authorities said.
Investigators allege that Cruz acted as a go-between on a drug sale in July. Ruiz, they say, helped arrange gun sales between Aristy and the officer.
All three pleaded not guilty at their arraignments early Sunday in Manhattan criminal court.
The 37-year-old gunman in Friday's incident was struck three times in the torso, police said.
Police said they found a replica of a large-caliber gun and the officer's money on the gunman.
Connecticut
2 arrested for dining on boat while family slept
NORWALK, Conn. (AP) - Police in Connecticut have charged two people they say broke into a boat at a Norwalk marina to enjoy a fast food meal and take some selfies while a family of five slept on board.
Police said the family was awoken at about 2 a.m. Sunday by the flash from a camera.
One family member confronted the intruders, and they ran away.
Police found a receipt inside a bag of still warm fast food and used the receipt to track down 20-year-old Julia Armijo, of Weston, and 23-year-old Renny Isaac, of Ridgefield.
They face charges including breach of peace and criminal trespass.
Armijo told police that neither she nor Isaac had ever been on a boat and only wanted to take some pictures.
Published: Tue, Sep 01, 2015
