Virginia
Dred Scott case descendants meet at reconciliation event
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Descendants of a black slave who sued for his freedom and the U.S. Supreme Court justice who denied that freedom shared their stories at an event sponsored by Virginians for Reconciliation.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports Dred Scott descendant Lynne Jackson and Charlie Taney, a descendant of Chief Justice Roger Taney, spoke last week at the Virginia Union University.
Scott sued in 1847 seeking freedom for himself, his wife and their daughters. The case reached the Supreme Court in 1857. Taney's majority opinion that said no black people could ever be U.S. citizens was effectively overturned by the 13th and 14th Amendment after the Civil War.
Former Gov. Bob McDonnell recently formed the Reconciliation group to support racial healing through conversation and policy changes.
Iowa
Jury awards millions for prostate cancer diagnosis error
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A Polk County jury has awarded $12.25 million to a man who learned after prostate cancer surgery that a mistake had been made with his tissue samples: He didn't have cancer.
The jury said Friday that Iowa Clinic and its pathologist should pay 67-year-old Rickie Huitt and his wife the damages. The lawsuit they filed said Huitt's tissue sample slides had been mixed up with those of a man who did have prostate cancer. The subsequent misdiagnosis led to removal of Huitt's prostate gland in an April 2017 surgery that left him impotent and incontinent.
The Des Moines Register reports that the clinic acknowledged the error but fought the $15 million in damages the Huitts sought in their lawsuit. A lawyer for the clinic and the pathologist recommended Friday that jurors award the Huitts $750,000.
Missouri
Judge dismisses lawsuit over innocent teen's arrest
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A judge has dismissed a lawsuit alleging that white Kansas City police officers wrongfully arrested a black 15-year-old and allowed him to spend three weeks in juvenile detention despite having proof of his innocence.
The Kansas City Star reports that the family's attorney, Arthur Benson, says he will appeal the federal judge's ruling that the officers were entitled to "qualified immunity." It protects government officials from being sued unless there's a clear violation of constitutional rights.
Sherri James sued over the 2016 arrest of her son, Tyree Bell. He was taken into custody more than a mile (1.6 kilometers) from where three teens were spotted brandishing a gun. He had dreadlocks, like one of the suspects, but was much taller.
He was freed after a detective viewed dashcam video of the suspects.
Maryland
Digger of secret tunnelson trial over deadly fire
ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) - A trial opens this week for a wealthy stock trader charged with murder in the death of a man who was helping him dig a network of tunnels beneath his Maryland home when a fire erupted.
Jury selection was scheduled to start Monday for Daniel Beckwitt's trial in Montgomery County. The 27-year-old millionaire is charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the September 2017 death of 21-year-old Askia Khafra.
Prosecutors say Beckwitt recklessly endangered Khafra's life during his secretive campaign to build a bunker beneath his Bethesda home for protection from a nuclear attack.
Beckwitt's lawyers say Khafra's death was a tragic accident, not a crime.
Firefighters found Khafra's charred, naked body when they entered the burning home, which was littered with mounds of trash.
Published: Tue, Apr 09, 2019
