National Roundup

Pennsylvania
Grand jury: Penn State showed ‘shocking apathy’ to drinking

BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) — A grand jury’s report in the wake of a fraternity pledge’s drinking death said Friday that Penn State officials displayed “a shocking apathy” to dangers from excessive drinking and that its inaction allowed criminal acts to occur.

The report was released by a district attorney in Pennsylvania and recommends a series of changes that the school should undertake in the wake of the death of 19-year-old Tim Piazza in February.

A Penn State spokesman did not have an immediate comment. The school permanently banned Beta Theta Pi in March, saying its investigation found a persistent pattern of excessive and forced drinking, hazing and drug use and sales.

The report calls on state lawmakers to pass stronger laws to deter hazing and underage drinking. It also calls on Penn State to regulate drinking itself, rather than hold a fraternity council responsible, and for the university to expel students involved in hazing after they are “afforded full due process rights.”

“Anything less will fail to operate as a truly effective deterrent,” according to the report.

Piazza’s death occurred two days after he suffered a series of falls and consumed a dangerous amount of alcohol during a pledge bid night.

Security camera footage documented how Piazza became visibly inebriated early in the evening, after which fraternity members made ineffective and even counterproductive efforts to help him. He had suffered a fractured skull, shattered spleen and other injuries.

Fraternity members found him unconscious in the basement the next morning, but waited about 40 minutes before summoning help.

Ohio
Photographer sues deputy who shot him

NEW CARLISLE, Ohio (AP) — A county sheriff’s office has retaliated by withholding information to a weekly newspaper in central Ohio after a deputy shot and wounded a news photographer when he mistook a camera for a gun, according to a federal lawsuit filed Thursday.

The lawsuit filed by photographer, Andrew Grimm, his wife and KBA News LLC in New Carlisle names Clark County Sheriff’s Deputy Jacob Shaw, Clark County and the city of New Carlisle as defendants and accuses Shaw of using excessive force and violating Grimm’s civil rights.

A Clark County Sheriff’s Office spokesman and the New Carlisle city manager declined to comment about the lawsuit, which seeks at least $75,000 in damages, according to the Springfield News-Sun. New Carlisle is about 60 miles (97 kilometers) west of Columbus.

Grimm, who owns the New Carlisle News with his father, was driving to photograph a lightning storm on the night of Sept. 4 when he stopped in downtown New Carlisle and began setting up to shoot a traffic stop. Before Grimm could take a photo, Shaw got out of his cruiser and, within a second, fired two shots, hitting Grimm in the chest and grazing his shoulder.

Video from Shaw’s body camera indicates he realized his mistake while rushing to help Grimm, who he knew.

“Andy, I’m sorry, brother,” Shaw said. “Listen, dude, you pulled that out like a gun out of the back of the Jeep.” A minute later, he tells Grimm: “I thought it was a freaking gun, Andy.”

Grimm is heard trying to explain that he waved at Shaw and flashed his car lights, but also takes responsibility, saying, “it’s my fault.” Later, he tells Shaw he doesn’t want him to lose his job.

Grimm underwent surgery at a Dayton hospital and was released the next day.

The lawsuit says Grimm suffers from headaches, anxiety and difficulty sleeping because of the shooting and that he becomes nervous when he sees sheriff’s deputies or police officers.

The complaint says the Sheriff’s Office failed to adequately train and supervise Shaw and has “ratified” his conduct by allowing him to return to duty before the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation
concludes its investigation. Shaw was assigned to work in the Clark County Jail in late October after being placed on paid administrative leave.

Vermont
70-year-old woman indicted in retirement home ricin case

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A federal grand jury has issued an indictment against a 70-year-old woman charged with manufacturing the deadly toxin ricin at a Vermont retirement community.

The one-count indictment issued Thursday charges that Betty Miller “knowingly possessed an unregistered select agent, namely ricin.”

Miller was arrested last month after telling investigators she made the ricin at her home at the Wake Robin community in Shelburne because she wanted to “injure herself.” She said she tested the poison’s effectiveness by putting it in residents’ food or beverages. No one became seriously ill.

Miller, who has an extensive mental health history, is alleged to have made the ricin from castor beans.

Miller is being held in a Vermont jail. Her lawyer has said he’s looking for a more appropriate placement for her.

California
9th Circuit judge faces sex ­misconduct inquiry

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The chief judge of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Thursday that he has opened a misconduct inquiry into a judge accused of inappropriate sexual conduct and comments by six women.

Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Sidney R. Thomas issued the order based on allegations against Judge Alex Kozinski in a Dec. 8 Washington Post article.

The women were clerks and others at the largest federal appeals court in the country. Kozinski is a prominent judge, serving as chief judge of the 9th Circuit from 2007 to 2014.

He is known for his irreverent opinions and his clerks often win prestigious clerkships at the Supreme Court.

Heidi Bond, who clerked for the Pasadena, California-based judge from 2006 to 2007, recalled three instances in which she said the judge asked her to look at images of naked people.

Kozinski told the Los Angeles Times he did not recall showing pornographic images to others. A message left for Kozinski with the 9th Circuit seeking comment Thursday was not immediately returned.

A spokesman for the court, David Madden, also confirmed “that one or more of Judge Kozinski’s current law clerks has resigned” but declined to elaborate.

The inquiry will be conducted by a different U.S. circuit court.