Court Roundup

Alabama
Oxygen Media defends series about missing teen case
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A lawsuit seeking $35 million over an Oxygen Media television series about the disappearance of an Alabama teenager in Aruba presents an “inaccurate depiction” of the show, the company said in response to the complaint.

A statement released late Tuesday by Oxygen, which specializes in true-crime entertainment programming for women, said it has “deep compassion and sympathy” for relatives of Natalee Holloway and was disappointed in the lawsuit by her mother, Beth Holloway.

Holloway has filed a federal lawsuit in Birmingham contending “The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway” was a fake documentary that subjected her to weeks of anguish when it aired last summer.

Aside from Oxygen Media, which is an arm of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, Holloway also is suing the Los Angeles-based Brian Graden Media, which developed the show.

The six-episode series included the discovery of what were supposedly remains that could be those of Natalee.

But the lawsuit claims producers knew that bone fragments featured in the production weren’t linked to Natalee before supposed testing produced inconclusive results.

Oxygen Media said the show followed Dave Holloway, a Mississippi insurance agent who was Natalee’s father and the former husband of Beth Holloway, as he searched for answers about his daughter.

“We had hoped, along with Mr. Holloway, that the information was going to provide closure,” said the statement. “We cannot comment further on ongoing litigation.”

Natalee Holloway was 18 when she was last seen during a trip with classmates to Aruba. Her disappearance after a night with friends at a nightclub sparked years of news coverage, particularly in the tabloid and true-crime media.

No remains were ever found, and the Dutch teen suspected in her death, Joran van der Sloot, is now imprisoned for the slaying of another young woman in Peru in 2010.

A judge acting at Dave Holloway’s request declared Natalee Holloway legally dead in 2012.

Massachusetts
Prosecutors:  Zoo director ­fraudulently obtained animal drugs
ATTLEBORO, Mass. (AP) — The director of a Massachusetts zoo has been charged with fraudulently obtaining animal medications by using the zoo veterinarian’s Drug Enforcement Agency number without authorization.

The Sun Chronicle reports that Jean Benchimol, director of the Capron Park Zoo in Attleboro, was released on personal recognizance after pleading not guilty Tuesday to charges including obtaining drugs by fraud and theft of a controlled substance. The zoo has suspended her.

Prosecutors say the 59-year-old Pawtucket, Rhode Island, resident used a personal credit card to order flea and tick control medications and antibiotics online, had them delivered to the zoo, and took them home.

Benchimol says she used the medications for dogs she fosters.

Her lawyer argued for dismissal, saying the medications are available over the counter and his client bought them online to save money.

Maryland
Judge: Man ‘earned every minute’ of 15- year sentence in girl’s abuse case
HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) — A Maryland man who viciously abused a 2-year-old girl has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The Herald-Mail of Hagerstown reports 23-year-old Brenton William Reid pleaded guilty to second-degree child abuse Monday.

Prosecutors say the child suffered 18 external injures to her face, head and body, among other internal injuries that required surgery resulting from the June 10 attack. They say a doctor declared the injuries intentional.

Judge Mark K. Boyer says 15 years is the maximum possible sentence and Reid “earned every minute of it.”

Co-defendant Jennifer Buckler was working when the child was assaulted but also admitted to hitting the girl prior to the attack. She pleaded guilty to second-degree assault last year and is set to be sentenced next week, Assistant State’s Attorney Sarah Mollett-Gaumer said.

Pennsylvania
Charges: Dr. did coke, let office manager ­prescribe opioids
GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania doctor is accused of treating patients while high on cocaine and other drugs, and letting her office manager prescribe highly addictive opioids to patients she hadn’t examined.

The state attorney general’s office says it was tipped off about the Gettysburg doctor, 60-year-old Rita Harrison, in August 2016, when one of her patients tried to fill a prescription for Oxycodone but it was filled out improperly. The pharmacist tried to contact Harrison and discovered she’d been on sabbatical for a month.

She’s accused of, among other charges, letting her employee prescribe controlled substances.

According to an affidavit, 55-year-old Robin Bridgman is the office manager at Battlewound Healthcare. She also accused of forging Harrison’s signature on prescriptions.

Maryland
Police ask Supreme Court to overturn $2.3 ­million judgment
BALTIMORE (AP) — Three Baltimore police officers have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their appeal of a $2.3 million judgment for maliciously prosecuting a homeless man as a serial rapist.

The Baltimore Sun reported Tuesday that Marlow Humbert was held for 14 months, mostly in solitary confinement, after being arrested as the “Charles Village rapist” following two sexual assaults in 2008. Humbert sued, saying detectives failed to tell prosecutors that DNA results exonerated him.

U.S. District Judge William Quarles Jr. reversed a 2015 jury award, saying the detectives lacked “actual malice” and were entitled to immunity. In August, three federal judges in Virginia reinstated the award.

Humbert’s attorney, Charles Edwards, says the Supreme Court accepts about 1 percent of such petitions.