National Roundup

Massachusetts
Police: Woman acts as lookout while another robs nun of rosary
QUINCY, Mass. (AP) — Police say a Massachusetts woman robbed a nun at knifepoint and got away with her rosary beads.

Quincy police say a sister at the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth convent was in civilian clothing Sunday afternoon when a woman holding a knife approached her and tried to take a small satchel from her hand.

Police say the nun opened the satchel to show she didn’t have any money, so the woman took the beads instead.

Police say the nun noticed another woman nearby acting as a lookout.

Vanessa Young is scheduled to be arraigned Monday on charges including assault with a dangerous weapon.

Crystal Young is accused of being the lookout. She is charged with armed robbery and accessory after the fact.

It couldn’t be determined if they have lawyers.

Maryland
Inquiry ending in poisoning deaths of 13 bald eagles
FEDERALSBURG, Md. (AP) — Federal wildlife officials say they’re ending their investigation into who is responsible for killing 13 bald eagles found dead on Maryland’s Eastern Shore earlier this year.

The Baltimore Sun reports Neil Mendelsohn of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in a statement that officials intend to close the case “in the near future” because of a lack of evidence linking anyone to the crime. Mendelsohn said in the statement Friday that the eagles discovered in Federalsburg in February were poisoned. Necropsy results had previously ruled out disease.

A man searching for shed deer antlers discovered four of the dead eagles. Officials searched the farm and found nine more carcasses.


Florida
U.S. Rep.’s lawyers seek to withdraw in corruption case
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown is having trouble hiring lawyers to defend her in a corruption case stemming from a purported charity that federal prosecutors say was an $800,000 personal slush fund.

The Jacksonville Democrat’s latest pair of lawyers asked last week to withdraw after only two days. Attorneys Mark NeJame and David Haas said in a court filing they had irreconcilable differences with Brown and that their dealings were tinged with hostility and distrust.

A Jacksonville federal judge has set a hearing Tuesday on their request to withdraw. Federal prosecutors want Brown’s representation issue settled so the case can move forward. She’s had three sets of lawyers.

Brown and her chief of staff pleaded not guilty to charges in a 22-count indictment that includes conspiracy, wire fraud and tax law violations.


Washington
Man accused of knife attack on interracial ­couple outside bar
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Police say a man who told police he was part of a white supremacist group stabbed an interracial couple outside a bar in Olympia in a case that has garnered national media attention.

Daniel B. Rowe is jailed on $500,000 bail on investigation for assault and malicious harassment.

Olympia police spokeswoman Laura Wohl says Rowe approached the couple Tuesday night and without speaking, stabbed the 47-year-old black man in the abdomen and also knifed his 35-year-old white girlfriend. Their injuries were not life-threatening.

The male victim was able to chase the 32-year-old suspect, who fell and was knocked unconscious.

Police say the attack appears to be unprovoked and that Rowe reportedly made racists statements to officers.

The Olympian newspaper reported that Rowe allegedly told police that he had gone downtown after hearing about anti-police graffiti that had been put up Sunday night, according to court documents.

The Olympian reported that Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Wheeler said in court Wednesday that the attack “has all the hallmarks of a hate crime.”

“This black-and-white couple was simply expressing their love for one another,” Wheeler said.

Public defender Christian Cabrera says Rowe recently moved to the Olympia area after living in Richland.

Maryland
Lawsuits against top prosecutor lack merit, say her lawyers
BALTIMORE (AP) — Lawyers for Baltimore’s top prosecutor say lawsuits filed against her by five of the officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray are without merit and should be dismissed.

State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby filed charges against six officers in the death of Gray but did not win any convictions. Gray is a black man who died after he was severely injured while riding in the back of a city police van.

The Baltimore Sun reports that lawyers from the Maryland attorney general’s office responded to the lawsuits for the first time in court filings late Friday. They argued that Mosby can’t be sued for actions taken as a prosecutor. They also note that a court commissioner, a grand jury and the judge found probable cause to file charges.

Nevada
Lack of drugs is latest obstacle for death penalty
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada officials face yet another obstacle in carrying out the death penalty if they needed to do so.

One of the two drugs that make up a cocktail in the lethal injection has expired, and the pharmaceutical company that produces it refuses on principle to give the state any more.

The lack of drugs is another hurdle for a state that hasn’t had a working execution chamber since 2011. A new chamber is under construction in Ely at a cost of $858,000 and should be ready on Nov. 1.

There are 80 people on the state’s death row, but none have exhausted their appeals. Nevada hasn’t had an execution since 2006.

Officials with the Nevada Department of Corrections say they’re putting out requests for companies willing to supply lethal injection drugs.

The availability of execution drugs has become an issue in many death penalty states. Texas, by far the nation’s most active one, began using a compounding pharmacy as its source when traditional pharmaceutical makers refused to sell their products to prison agencies to be used for executions.