National Roundup

Florida
Inmate gets key at courthouse where murder suspect escaped

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - Authorities say an inmate at a Florida courthouse managed to get a jail deputy's handcuff key four days after a murder suspect escaped from the same building.

The Sun Sentinel reports that the guard realized his key was missing in a courtroom Tuesday, just a day after Sheriff Scott Israel promised to tighten security at the Broward County Courthouse.

A sheriff's office report says a deputy had placed the key in his shirt pocket while dealing with a prisoner in a wheelchair and soon noticed the key was missing. A search of inmates followed, and deputies retrieved the key from an 18-year-old inmate after another inmate told guards he had it.

Authorities say 21-year-old Dayonte Resiles escaped Friday after slipping out of his handcuffs while awaiting a death penalty hearing. He is still at large.

Florida
Parents won't sue Disney over son's death by gator

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - The parents of a toddler killed by an alligator at Walt Disney World say they don't plan to sue the theme park resort over the death.

Matt and Melissa Graves of Omaha, Nebraska, said in a statement Wednesday they want to focus on their family's future health.

A family spokeswoman, Sara Brady, says she couldn't say whether a financial settlement had been reached with Disney World.

Disney World president George Kalogridis said in a statement the company continues to provide support for the family. He did not elaborate.

Authorities say an alligator pulled Lane Graves into the water June 14. His father, Matt Graves, says a second alligator attacked him as he tried to save his son.

Lane's body was recovered the next day. An autopsy showed he died from drowning and traumatic injuries.

Oklahoma
Man walks free after judge tosses murder conviction

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - An Oklahoma judge has vacated the murder conviction of a man who was serving a life sentence for a 1998 killing.

Oklahoma County District Judge Timothy Henderson vacated the conviction for 34-year-old Salaam Moore, who was released from custody Monday night. Moore's attorneys had argued there was no physical evidence linking him to the death of Phillip Gonzales.

At trial, prosecutors argued that Moore shot and wounded a woman, then killed Gonzales, as part of a drug dispute. Moore was convicted in 2001 of shooting with intent to kill and first-degree murder, based on eyewitness testimony. At Monday's court hearing, prosecutors agreed to dismiss the case.

Moore tells Oklahoma City television KOKH he was "dumbfounded" and "distraught" after his conviction but that he was determined to prove his innocence.

Pennsylvania
Woman gets new trial in poisoning of son's girlfriend

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) - A Pennsylvania woman convicted of poisoning her son's girlfriend with antifreeze will get a new trial.

Eighty-four-year-old Helen Galli was sentenced in October 2013 to 5½ to 12 years in prison. A Luzerne County jury had convicted her of aggravated assault and reckless endangering.

Prosecutors say the woman from Wyoming borough gave the girlfriend poisoned juice in 2010 because she didn't want the girlfriend getting between her and her son, who'd just signed a million-dollar natural gas lease. The girlfriend was hospitalized for weeks.

A county judge says Galli's defense attorney was ineffective for not objecting to the victim's testimony that her boyfriend said, "My mother said, 'Drink this, it will make you feel better'" before handing her an antifreeze-laced drink. The judge says the statement was hearsay.

South Carolina
Deputies: Man shoots son to prevent him from burning house

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Sheriff's deputies in South Carolina say a man shot and wounded his son to prevent him from burning himself and a home in Columbia.

Multiple media outlets reported that 31-year-old Felton Wayne Swindler doused himself with gasoline and tried to set himself and the house on fire Tuesday morning. Richland County Sheriff's spokeswoman Brittany Scott says Swindler's father shot him to prevent the fires.

Deputies responded to the incident and took Swindler to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Scott says authorities arrested Swindler on charges of attempted arson and assault and battery. She says Swindler's father has not been charged.

Massachusetts
Pair convicted in sexual assault recorded on Snapchat

SALEM, Mass. (AP) - A man and a woman in Massachusetts have been convicted of charges they sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl and recorded the attack using Snapchat.

Prosecutors say 21-year-old Rashad Deihim and 20-year-old Kailyn Bonia were found guilty Tuesday by a jury of assault with intent to commit rape and related crimes stemming from the September 2014 attack.

During the trial, The Boston Globe reports the victim testified that she had little memory of the assault, but that she awoke in severe pain in a hospital. She recalled drinking vodka with Deihim and Bonia on a couch in the woods near an elementary school in Saugus.

A friend of the victim testified that she received graphic videos of the assault.

Deihim and Bonia are scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 6.

Indiana
Doctor to go to trial in reckless homicide case

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - An Indianapolis doctor is to go to trial on charges he overprescribed prescription painkillers that resulted in three deaths.

The Indianapolis Star reports that the trial will happen after the Indiana Court of Appeals unanimously decided to reverse the dismissal of charges against Dr. John Sturman. He faces three counts of reckless homicide and 15 counts of issuing invalid prescription drugs by a practitioner. A Marion County trial court dismissed the reckless homicide counts in December. Prosecutors appealed.

Marion County prosecutors say three patients died in 2010 and 2011 while Sturman operated a clinic at Indiana University Hospital in Indianapolis. IU Health suspended his medical privileges in 2012.

Sturman's attorney has called the accusations "baseless."

A trial date hasn't been set in Marion County Criminal Court.

Published: Thu, Jul 21, 2016