Massachusetts
New court to focus on addiction withinfamilies
GREENFIELD, Mass. (AP) - The first family drug court in Massachusetts is up and running in Greenfield.
The specialized court, operated through the Franklin County Probate and Family Court, is part of an effort to deal with the region's opioid addiction crisis. Officials say the program offers a new approach for helping parents overcome substance abuse.
The family drug court was formally launched last week. It will be available to any parent whose addiction hurts their ability to raise children or threatens custody of their children.
Massachusetts has more than two dozen drug courts but this is the first focused on the specific needs of families.
Parents could be referred for mental health treatment and other medical care or provided with help securing housing and employment. Children could also receive services, including trauma assessments.
Maryland
Husband accused of holding wife captive at home
SALISBURY, Md. (AP) - A Maryland man is accused of holding his wife captive for nearly three months in the couple's Salisbury apartment.
Court documents show 51-year-old Michael David Austin has been charged with false imprisonment and reckless endangerment.
Records say Austin's wife states that her husband had kept her locked inside their apartment since March 26. His wife told police that Austin would lock the door from the inside and outside when he would leave for work.
Court documents state that Austin's wife was able to escape the apartment on Wednesday, after she told police Austin fell asleep without locking the door.
After escaping, court documents say Austin's wife approached two police officers, informing them of what happened.
Police are continuing to investigate the incident.
It isn't immediately clear whether Austin has an attorney.
Alaska
Court of Appeals challenges rules of police searches
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) - The Alaska Court of Appeals is asking the state's highest court to re-examine rules regarding police searches after throwing out a conviction for a Fairbanks man who was charged because officers found cocaine in his vehicle's ashtray.
A Superior Court judge found Frederick Pitka guilty in 2011 of driving under the influence and fourth-degree felony drugs misconduct. Superior Court Judge Michael MacDonald had rejected Pitka's argument that the ashtray search violated his federal and state rights protecting him from "unreasonable searches and seizures."
The appeals court decision issued Friday states that Pitka's Fourth Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution weren't violated because police had probable cause to suspect he had illegal drugs in his vehicle. However, the three-judge panel found that the officers violated a state law that says a closed container in a vehicle can only be searched if it's "immediately associated" with the suspect.
"Here, the police understandably (though erroneously) assumed that the ashtray of a vehicle could be searched as a matter of course incident to the arrest of the driver," the opinion says.
In a separate concurring opinion, judges David Mannheimer and Marjorie Allard asked the Alaska Supreme Court to look review laws that allow police to search center consoles in vehicles, The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.
"The current law has proved confusing and difficult to apply in practice - as Pitka's case illustrates," the judges wrote.
The court's Friday decision does not affect Pitka's DUI conviction.
Louisiana
Woman pleads guilty to stripper's dismemberment
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A 32-year-old woman has been sentenced to 40 years in prison in the stabbing death of a Bourbon Street dancer whose dismembered body washed up along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Margaret Sanchez, of Metairie, entered a guilty plea Monday, one year and one day after her ex-boyfriend, 43-year-old Terry Speaks, was convicted in same crime.
Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul Connick Jr. says Sanchez pleaded guilty to manslaughter, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice. She was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Sanchez and Speaks were charged in June 6, 2012, death of 22-year-old Jarne Lockhart.
Lockhart's torso floated ashore a day later in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Other parts of her body drifted onto beaches over the next few days.
Mississippi
'Mississippi Burning' civil rights case closed
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says that barring new information, no more prosecutions are expected in the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers.
Hood made the announcement about the Neshoba County killings in a Monday press release ahead of a scheduled news conference. The "Freedom Summer" slayings sparked national outrage and helped spur passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. They became the subject of the movie "Mississippi Burning."
Hood says the U.S. Department of Justice recently released findings to his office that led to the decision to close the case.
In 1967 eight people were convicted of federal civil rights violations related to the killings of the three workers.
In 2005 Hood and the Neshoba county prosecutor won a manslaughter conviction against white supremacist Edgar Ray Killen.
Virginia
Police reopen investigation into fraternity
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) - Blacksburg police have reopened an investigation into hazing allegations against Virginia Tech's first black Greek organization.
Citing emails obtained through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, The Roanoke Times reports the university failed to notify the county prosecutor - as required by state law - of its findings involving the Theta Iota chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity for two months.
The fraternity was banned from campus for 10 years for abusive conduct and hazing after Tech completed its own investigation in April.
A pledge told the national fraternity he was repeatedly beaten in January. Five other pledges backed his statement.
University spokesman Mark Owczarski says in a statement that Blacksburg police had already investigated and closed the case by the time the school had conducted its own hearings.
Published: Tue, Jun 21, 2016
