National Roundup

New Jersey
Man charged with smashing register with ax, biting cop

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Authorities say a New Jersey police officer was bitten by a man who used an ax to smash a gas station cash register while demanding lottery tickets.

Assistant Mercer County Prosecutor John Boyle told The Associated Press on Friday that 39-year-old Anthony Hunter, of Trenton, rushed at and bit an officer after police tried to arrest him at a Lukoil station in Ewing.

Prosecutors say Hunter smashed the register with an ax and demanded that workers fill a bag with scratch-off lottery tickets before he ran from the station. He was arrested Monday and charged with two counts of robbery.
It’s unclear whether the officer was hurt.

Hunter’s attorney tells NJ.com that his client maintains his innocence. The newspaper reports that Hunter is being held on a combined $350,000 bail.

Kansas
Mentally ill man sentenced to 20 years in killing

GREENSBURG, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing another patient at a mental health facility three days after he was discharged from a state psychiatric hospital.

The Hutchinson News reports that 31-year-old Brandon Brown, of Haviland, was sentenced Wednesday in Kiowa County District Court for second-degree murder. He pleaded no contest in October in a case that prompted a state inquiry.

Prosecutors say Brown beat Jerry Martinez so severely in May 2015 at a residential care facility that the 61-year-old died the next month. Brown had spent a week at the state-run psychiatric hospital in Osawatomie after fighting with residents at the Haviland Care Center near Wichita. The fatal beating happened after he was discharged from Osawatomie into the care of the Haviland facility.

Nebraska
Man resentenced for 1990 slaying loses state high court appeal

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by a man who’d been resentenced this year for a 1990 Omaha slaying when he was 16.

The court released its ruling Friday in the case of Christopher Garza, who originally was convicted of first-degree murder and given an automatic life sentence without parole for the slaying of Christina O’Day.

In February Garza was resentenced because the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled judges must have the option of sentencing juveniles to something other than automatic life terms. He argued in his appeal that his new sentence of 90 years was excessive.

The Nebraska high court ruled that the district judge considered all relevant sentencing factors and then imposed a new sentence within the statutory limits and supported by the record.

Minnesota
Microbrewer’s suit alleges trade secret conspiracy

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A St. Paul microbrewer is suing an executive who helped the company grow into one of the largest in the country.

Summit Brewing Company has accused Jeffrey Spaeth and another longtime employee, Timothy Daly, of conspiring to sell the brewer’s trade secrets to a direct competitor.

Spaeth was hired in 1986 and later became vice president of sales. Daly was hired in 2000 as sales market manager.

The Star Tribune says the lawsuit filed Thursday in Hennepin County, Summit alleges that Spaeth and Daly had access to confidential information, including plans for sales, marketing, pricing and distribution. Spaeth left the company in May and was hired as a consultant for a competitor. The lawsuit says Daly emailed trade secret information to Spaeth after he left the company.

Ohio
Supreme Court rules automaker not liable for cop’s injuries

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled Ford Motor Co. isn’t liable for a gas tank fire that severely burned a police officer after his cruiser was rear-ended by a drunk driver at more than 90 mph.

The court in a 5-2 ruling Thursday overturned an appeals court decision that said a Mahoning County judge in 2011 failed to tell jurors to consider Ford’s later warnings of a potential defect with the 2005 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor driven by Austintown Township officer Ross Linert.

Linert was burned over 40 percent of his body and is permanently disabled after the 2007 accident.

Ford later modified that model’s gas tanks.

An attorney says Linert and his family are disappointed and are considering whether to petition the Supreme Court for a new hearing.

New York
Run-DMC sues Wal-Mart, Jet and Amazon for using group’s name 

NEW YORK (AP) — The rap group Run-DMC filed a $50 million lawsuit in New York accusing Wal-Mart, Amazon, Jet and other retailers of selling products that traded on the group’s name without permission.

A founder of the group and owner of the Run-DMC brand, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, was listed as the plaintiff in the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday in the Southern District of New York.

The complaint said the defendants are “advertising, selling, manufacturing, promoting and distributing multiple products” in the group’s trademarked name. The products include glasses, hats, t-shirts, patches, wallets and other items.

The lawsuit alleged that the retailers have improperly profited, diluted and harmed the Run-DMC brand, which it said has generated more than $100 million in revenue since its inception in the 1980s.

Run-DMC was founded in New York in 1981 by McDaniels, Joseph “Run” Simmons, Darryl “DMC” and Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell, who was fatally shot in his Queens recording studio in 2002. McDaniels and Simmons later announced that the group was officially disbanding.

The group’s hits include “King of Rock, “It’s Tricky,” and “Can You Rock It Like This.”

In 2009, Run-DMC was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, becoming only the second rap act to be awarded that honor.

Amazon and Wal-Mart, which also owns Jet, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.