National Roundup

Ohio
Defense in baby death case appeals to state Supreme Court

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio (AP) - Attorneys for a former high school cheerleader charged with killing and burying her newborn baby want Ohio's Supreme Court to hear an appeal over testimony by doctors in the case.

Attorneys for 19-year-old Brooke Skylar Richardson recently asked the high court to hear their appeal of a district court's ruling that prosecutors can present testimony from an obstetrics-gynecology practice's medical staff.

The defense argues doctors shouldn't be allowed to testify, citing physician-patient privilege.

The appeals court ruled that public interest in detecting crimes to protect society outweighed doctor-patient privilege in this case.

Authorities first learned of the baby from a doctor.

Prosecutors have 30 days to respond before the Supreme Court decides if it has jurisdiction to take the case.

Richardson's trial is on hold in southwestern Ohio's Warren County.

New Mexico
Larceny suspect demands social media photo get removed, ­arrested

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) - Police say a man suspected of stealing a computer from a New Mexico church was arrested after he demanded a surveillance photo of him be removed from social media.

KTSM-TV in El Paso, Texas, reports Eric Martin Carnero was arrested last week and charged with larceny stemming from a June 6 theft at Calvary Chapel Three Crosses in Las Cruces.

According to police, the 40-year-old Carnero stole a backpack containing a laptop computer from the church.

The owner of the backpack posted surveillance camera still images of the suspect on a social media page. That generated several responses identifying Carnero as the suspect.

Carnero, himself, responded to the social media post and asked that his image be removed.

It is not known if Carnero had an attorney.

California
Science teacher arrested for forcibly cutting boy's hair

VISALIA, Calif. (AP) - A high school teacher in central California was arrested on suspicion of felony child endangerment after forcibly cutting the hair of one of her students while singing the national anthem, authorities said.

Margaret Gieszinger was arrested last week after videos posted to social media showed a student at University Preparatory High School in the city of Visalia sitting in a chair at the front of the classroom as Gieszinger cuts his hair.

In a video obtained by KFSN-TV, the 52-year-old science and chemistry teacher is heard belting the "Star Spangled Banner" while cutting chunks of the boy's hair and tossing them behind her. The circumstances of what led the teacher to cut the student's hair were not immediately known.

After cutting the boy's hair, Gieszinger grabs at a girl's long hair before the students make a run for it out of the classroom, the video shows.

Officers responded Wednesday to the high school housed on the grounds of the College of the Sequoias, a California community college, after receiving reports of child endangerment involving a teacher and a "pair of scissors," Police Chief Kevin Mizner told the Vasalia Times Delta. Mizner did not immediately return a message from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Rob Herman, a spokesman for the Tulare County Office of Education, said counselors were made available Thursday to support students at the public high school.

"We take very seriously the safety of the students in classrooms and on the COS campus," Herman said in an email.

Herman said Gieszinger "will not return to her classroom," but wouldn't say whether she was fired.

Gieszinger was hired in August to teach at the high school part-time, he said.

Gieszinger's teaching credential was suspended for 14 days in 2016 "for immoral or unprofessional conduct," according to the state's Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Her teaching credential was also suspended for two weeks in 2017 but the commission does not list a reason.

Lilli Gates, one of Gieszinger's students, told the newspaper the incident was out of character for the teacher.

"When everything was going on I was terrified, and I so badly wanted to blame her," Gates said. "She is a loving and kind lady. She is usually all smiles and laughs. This is not the Miss G. we know and love."

Gieszinger is being held on $100,000 bail. It was not immediately known if she has an attorney.

Virginia
Top state court rejects appeal of deaf, mute ­defendant

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia's top court says it doesn't have jurisdiction in the appeal of a deaf and mute man who has been confined for 13 years despite never having stood trial for the 2005 slaying he is charged with.

Forty-three-year-old Oswaldo Elias Martinez has been repeatedly found not competent to stand trial on charges that he raped and murdered 16-year-old Brittany Binger. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that lack of a trial figured into the Virginia Supreme Court's Thursday ruling.

The unanimous ruling sent the case to circuit court because there's never been a conviction in the criminal case.

Martinez had challenged his continued confinement. Commonwealth's Attorney Nate Green has said someone "unrestorably incompetent" who's charged with capital murder and poses a danger must continue along the restoration process.

Martinez's lawyer didn't respond to the newspaper's request for comment.

Utah
Man sentenced to life in prison in deadly ­Halloween ­shooting

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - A Jefferson City man has been sentenced in life in prison in the deadly shooting of another man two years ago on Halloween.

The Jefferson City News-Tribune reports that 21-year-old Terrance Wynn, 21 was sentenced Thursday for second-degree murder, armed criminal action and first-degree robbery in the death of 29-year-old Terrance Davis.

Charging documents say Davis was found lying in the street with two gunshot wounds in the early morning hours of Oct. 31, 2016. Multiple .45-caliber shell casings were recovered at the scene, and a .45-caliber bullet was recovered during Davis' autopsy.

Surveillance video from an area business showed two suspects approached Davis. After one of them shot Davis, the suspects walked away, then came back and fired another shot at Davis while he was lying on the ground.

Published: Mon, Dec 10, 2018