National Roundup

California
Defense: Other partner killed McStays, buried them in desert

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) - Greed, debt and a gambling problem drove a Southern California man to kill his business partner's family with a sledgehammer and bury their bodies in the desert, prosecutors said Monday.

But the defense said authorities are charging the wrong man and the real culprit is another business partner.

Opening arguments were held in the trial of Charles "Chase" Merritt.

Merritt, 61, has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

Sean Daugherty, supervising deputy district attorney for San Bernardino County, told jurors that Merritt wrote checks for more than $21,000 on his partner's online bookkeeping account after the family was last seen alive in February 2010, the Sun newspaper of San Bernardino reported.

"Greed, and greed's child, fraud" were the motive, Daugherty argued.

Merritt is charged with killing Joseph McStay; McStay's wife, Summer; and their 3- and 4-year-old sons. The family's disappearance perplexed investigators for years, with no signs of forced entry at their San Diego County home.

Three years later, their bodies were found more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) away in a remote area of San Bernardino County, along with a 3-pound (1.5-kilogram) sledgehammer and a child's pants and diaper.

Merritt made custom fountains for McStay's online water feature business and prosecutors and sheriff's investigators have said he was in debt and had a gambling problem, the Sun reported.

Merritt "desperately tried to cover his tracks after the murders . misled investigators, talked in circles, and played the victim," Daugherty said.

But Rajan Maline, Merritt's attorney, said prosecutors ignored a prime suspect: Another McStay business partner that Maline said stole $7,900 from McStay's account in the days after the family vanished.

"The only reason he did that is because he knew Joseph wasn't coming back," Maline said.

Authorities said that after the family disappeared, Merritt's cellphone was traced to the area near the gravesites and to a call seeking to close out McStay's QuickBooks account for his water features business.

But Maline argued that two other phone calls that placed Merritt away from the burial site weren't considered.

They also say Merritt's DNA was discovered on the steering wheel and gearshift of McStay's SUV, which was impounded near the Mexican border a few days after the family vanished.

Merritt's attorneys say McStay could have transferred the DNA to the vehicle after he met with Merritt shortly before the family vanished. They say none of Merritt's DNA was found at the gravesites but DNA belonging to other unidentified individuals turned up there.

The McStay family disappeared from their home in Fallbrook, which is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of San Diego.

Daugherty said three victims died of blunt-force trauma to the head and there were not enough remains of one of the boys to determine how he was killed, the newspaper reported.

Investigators spoke with Merritt shortly after the family went missing and noticed Merritt referred to them in the past tense, Daugherty said.

Hawaii
Prosecutors ­consider upping charges in ­strangulation cases

HILO, Hawaii (AP) - Big Island prosecutors may take more punitive action against perpetrators of domestic strangulation after more than 50 cases were recorded last year, authorities said.

Domestic strangulation is a felony crime in Hawaii punishable by up to five years in prison, but prosecutors could pursue higher charges, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported this week.

"Domestic violence perpetrators who use strangulation to silence their victims could be charged with attempted homicide," said Dale Ross, Hawaii County's first deputy prosecutor. "We will be evaluating these cases in the future to determine when (and) where that might be the appropriate charge."

The number of strangulation cases appears to be on the rise, but there hasn't been adequate tracking of past cases, prosecutor Mitch Roth said.

"In the last couple of years, we've gone through a lot of training," Roth said. "This is one of the things that is a real determiner of lethality, so we're taking these cases a lot more seriously. We beefed up training for us and for police."

On average, about one new domestic strangulation case occurs each week on the island, deputy prosecutor Suzanne Tiapula said.

"Strangulation is, in fact, one of the best predictors for the subsequent homicide of victims of domestic violence," Ross said.

Outward signs of strangulation are not always apparent on the victim, presenting an additional challenge to police and medical responders, said Denby Toci, program director at Child and Family Service in Hilo.

"You can't always tell when you're looking at the victim, and the effects and the symptoms can carry over after the initial event," Toci said.

South Dakota
Woman seeks state survivor benefits after wife's death

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - A woman is asking South Dakota's Supreme Court to rule that she's eligible for state retirement system survivor benefits after her wife, a former Rapid City police captain, died of cancer.

Justices heard arguments Tuesday in the appeal of Debra Anderson. She was denied benefits because she and former Capt. Deb Cady weren't married before Cady retired.

The retirement system argues that Anderson doesn't meet the definition of a spouse in state law, which says the spouse must be married to a system member before retirement to be eligible for survivor benefits.

Cady retired in 2012 because of breast cancer. Anderson and Cady were a couple at that time but weren't married because it wasn't legal at the time.

They married in 2015 when the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage nationwide. Cady died two years later.

Anderson's attorney, James Leach, says Anderson is entitled to the benefits because South Dakota's prohibition against same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.

Published: Wed, Jan 09, 2019