Alabama
Hey umpire, whattayou, drunk? Cops say he was
PRICEVILLE, Ala. (AP) - Hey umpire, whattayou, drunk? At one Alabama high school baseball game, police say the answer was yes.
WAAY-TV reports a north Alabama umpire faces public intoxication charges after he was arrested for officiating at a high school baseball game while drunk.
Priceville police say Derek Bryant was arrested by Monday with one inning left in a junior varsity game at Priceville High School.
Police were called after coaches said they smelled alcohol on Bryant.
At the time of his arrest, Bryant had been umpiring for several hours, but no one saw him drink alcohol at the baseball field.
The man told police he had been drinking earlier.
Bryant has yet to answer the charge in Priceville municipal court.
Georgia
Ex-nurse accused of sexually assaulting rapist in prison
MACON, Ga. (AP) - A former nurse accused of having sex on the job inside a Georgia state prison is now under arrest. The charges include sexually assaulting a convicted rapist.
Thirty-five-year-old Jodi Suzanne Rigby was arrested Thursday. The Telegraph newspaper in Macon reports that Rigby was a contract nurse at Macon's Central State Prison when she had sex with the inmate in 2015. She resigned that September.
Rigby also is accused of posing as that inmate's mother to deposit hundreds of dollars into his prison account.
Rigby began working at the prison months after her 4-year-old daughter Carly was strangled when her neck became tangled in the cord of a window blind. Her death was ruled an accident.
It's unclear if Rigby has an attorney.
Maryland
Passengers on party cruise sue following crash
BALTIMORE (AP) - More than two dozen passengers on a midnight party cruise on a ship that crashed into a pier in Baltimore last summer are suing the vessel's company.
The Baltimore Sun reports that 28 people have filed claims, ranging from $5,000 to $1 million, against Spirit Cruises LLC following the Aug. 28 crash.
Coast Guard investigators said about 400 people were aboard the Spirit of Baltimore when the ship's captain dozed off and the vessel struck the pier at Henderson Wharf Marina.
Two passengers were hospitalized with chest and back pain. Court records show other passengers suffered injuries to their necks, backs and knees.
An attorney for Spirit Cruises declined to comment on the case. Officials say the captain was fired.
New Hampshire
Court finds in woman's favor in van search case
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - The New Hampshire Supreme Court has reversed a judge's decision in a case that started as a traffic stop and ended with drug convictions.
The court on Friday found in favor of Jessica Morrill, a van passenger on Interstate 95 in 2013. A state trooper stopped it; a computer check indicated its license plate was registered to a different vehicle.
The driver, Morrill's boyfriend, first declined, then consented to a search of the van after the trooper requested a police dog. Cocaine and other drugs were found. Both were arrested. A judge denied motions to suppress the evidence and they went to trial.
The court said the judge's decision was wrong and sent the case back. It said beyond the license plate, none of the trooper's further inquiries established reasonable suspicion that the van contained illegal drugs.
Florida
Tell us why you haven't ruled, House tells court
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - The Florida Supreme Court would be forced to explain to the governor, attorney general and legislative leaders why it's taking so long to rule on certain cases under a bill approved by the Florida House.
The House voted 78-37 on Friday for a bill (HB 301) that's part of several measures aimed at the state's court system that the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature is considering this session. It heads to the state Senate.
Republican legislators contended the bill would "shine a little sunlight" on the high court. It would require the court to explain why cases that haven't been resolved within 180 days after the court first began to consider them.
Democrats opposed to the legislation say it's unconstitutional and violates the separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branch.
South Carolina
Fired officer wants judge to toss video of him shooting man
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Lawyers for a former South Carolina police officer who fired repeatedly into the back of a fleeing motorist hope to persuade a federal judge next week to throw out key evidence, including a bystander's cellphone video of the killing.
Michael Slager's attorneys also want a federal judge to toss out statements he gave to investigators that appeared to conflict with evidence at the scene where Walter Scott was fatally shot.
A notice filed Friday in the federal court where Slager will be tried on charges including violating Scott's civil rights says a pre-trial hearing is scheduled on March 17.
Prosecutors have filed motions of their own, asking to stop defense lawyers from mentioning police officers who die in the line of duty or suggesting jurors can send a message about the treatment of police through a not-guilty verdict.
Andy Savage, Slager's attorney, says jurors should not see the video because it doesn't show the entire encounter between the men, including how Scott took Slager's Taser and tried to shock him with it, making the officer fear for his life before Scott tried to run away.
The white North Charleston police officer's shooting of an unarmed black motorist brought fresh scrutiny to the treatment of black men by white officers across the nation.
Potential jurors from across the state are being summoned to Columbia for jury selection, a process schedule to begin May 9. The trial itself starts a week later in Charleston.
Slager's first state trial on murder charges ended in a hung jury, but state prosecutors have promised a retrial.
Published: Mon, Mar 13, 2017
