National Roundup

Ohio
Trial of former campus cop delayed again
CINCINNATI (AP) — A judge Tuesday gave both sides more time before setting a trial date for a University of Cincinnati police officer charged with murder, frustrating the mother of the black motorist he shot.

Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Megan Shanahan scheduled another pretrial hearing Feb. 11 in the case of Ray Tensing, after his attorney and prosecutors said they would exchange expert witness reports and other potential evidence by Jan. 29.

Tensing, then 25, was indicted on murder and voluntary manslaughter charges in the July 19 shooting of Samuel DuBose, 43, after pulling him over near campus for a missing front license plate.

Tensing, who is white, has pleaded not guilty and was released under $1 million bond. He wasn’t in court Tuesday; DuBose’s mother was among courtroom spectators.

“I just want to know how long this is going to go on,” Audrey DuBose said after the brief hearing. “This man (Tensing) is out; on bond. My son is not free; why is this man free?”

Attorney Stewart Mathews has said Tensing feared being dragged under the car as DuBose tried to drive away. Mathews has requested that the trial be moved out of Hamilton County.

The university fired Tensing soon after his indictment and has restructured its public safety leadership.

The fatal shooting of DuBose came amid increased attention nationally to how police treat blacks.

Authorities haven’t focused on race as a factor in this case, but the University of Cincinnati’s police chief expressed alarm at a Cincinnati Enquirer report that showed a surge in citations against black motorists and pedestrians in the months before the fatal shooting. The newspaper said Tensing stopped and cited minority drivers at higher rates than other officers did.

Washington
Court: Judge
didn’t have power to hear gun case
WASHINGTON (AP) — An appeals court has ruled that a federal judge who halted enforcement of a strict District of Columbia gun law didn’t have authority to decide the case.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled Tuesday that Judge Frederick J. Scullin Jr. overstepped his authority when he halted the law’s enforcement in May. The panel found Scullin had not been specifically assigned to the case, though he had been assigned an earlier, related case.

The law requires that to carry a gun a person must show a “good reason to fear injury to his or her person or property” or another “proper reason for carrying a pistol.”

Tuesday’s ruling is the latest in long-running litigation over the city’s gun laws. A 2008 Supreme Court ruling struck down the city’s decades-long ban on handguns. The city rewrote its laws then and again in 2014 after another ruling against it.

North Dakota
Measure looks to strengthen rights of crime victims
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Supporters of a proposed constitutional amendment want to bolster the rights of crime victims in North Dakota.

Backers say the proposal is patterned after “Marsy’s Law,” which California voters approved in 2008 after the murder of a college student.

The measure would, among other things, ensure crime victims are protected against alleged perpetrators and that victims have information about court proceedings and parole hearings.

Sponsors turned in the petition to the North Dakota Secretary of State’s Office on Tuesday morning.

If the petition is approved, sponsors must collect 26,904 signatures by July 11 to get the measure on the November 2016 ballot.

Wyoming
Shooting suspect goes 8 months without hearing
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A man facing murder and attempted murder charges has gone eight months without a preliminary hearing while a judge waits for the results of a mental evaluation.

Daniel Guajardo is accused of fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend and wounding her boyfriend after breaking into her Cheyenne home in April.

The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports (http://bit.ly/1NndVsf) Circuit Judge Denie Nau ordered an evaluation for Guajardo in June, but the Wyoming State Hospital did not admit him until Oct. 13.

Hospital officials expressed concerns about Guajardo, citing charges that he injured a deputy at the Laramie County Detention Center.

The hospital’s report had not been turned over by Monday, the deadline hospital officials had requested.

New Jersey
Son: Couple deserves max in child abuse case
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The biological son of a former New Jersey military couple tells a judge his parents should get the maximum sentence for abusing his younger siblings.

The young man spoke Tuesday at a sentencing hearing for John and Carolyn Jackson in federal court in Newark.

The Jacksons were convicted in July on multiple counts of child endangerment. Prosecutors contended their three foster children, all toddlers, were left with broken bones and other health problems.

Their biological son testified that his siblings were made to eat red pepper flakes and drink hot sauce as punishment.

The Jacksons each face maximum sentences totaling decades in prison.

John Jackson was an Army major at Picatinny Arsenal in northwestern New Jersey at the time the abuse occurred.

The Jacksons’ first trial in 2014 ended when the judge declared a mistrial after a prosecutor, while questioning a witness, referred to the fact that one of the children had died.

The judge had previously ruled that the boy’s death could not be introduced during the trial since the defendants were not charged directly with his death.

North Carolina
Officials: Sex offender court program works
BOLIVIA, N.C. (AP) — Officials say a sex offender accountability and rehabilitation court program in Brunswick County allows for better monitoring and adequate treatment of offenders.

Superior Court Judge Ola Lewis tells the Wilmington Star-News she started the program after noticing a trend in her courtroom. She says several sex offenders came into her courthouse after violating the terms of their probation — namely not attending court-mandated treatment.

Lewis decided to set her court up on the drug court model and have a team of professionals, probation, treatment providers and a coordinator monitor their progress.