National Roundup

Virginia
State paid $60K to settle suit against Radford University
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) — The state of Virginia has paid $60,000 to settle a race discrimination lawsuit that was filed by a former administrator at Radford University.

The Roanoke Times reported Wednesday that the suit was filed in 2019 by Ebenezer Kolajo. The 67-year-old is a former assistant provost for academic assessment at the public university.

His federal suit alleged that the school eliminated his job in 2018 because he is black and of Nigerian descent. The university denied the allegations.

The Virginia Department of Treasury released the settlement figure following a request by The Roanoke Times.

Ashley Schumaker, Radford's chief of staff, declined to comment to the newspaper. So did Kolajo's attorney.

The suit claimed that Kolajo had positive job performance reviews before a new superior criticized his department, said she couldn't understand his accent and corrected his pronunciation. That person retired in December.

Virginia
Man sentenced to 60 years in prison in murder-for-hire plot
CHESTERFIELD, Va. (AP) — A Pakastani national has been sentenced to 60 years in prison in a murder-for-hire plot in which a Virginia businessman was strangled with his own shoe laces.

Chaudhary Arshad Mahmood, 61, received his sentence in Chesterfield Circuit Court on Wednesday, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

He was convicted of first-degree murder and solicitation to commit murder in February for the 2015 killing of Adel M. Elmadany, news outlets said.

Prosecutors alleged Mahmood paid two men from Guatemala a total of $6,000 to carry out the plot because he believed Elmadany had helped shelter his wife while the couple was going through a divorce.

Mahmood also claimed that $70,000 in cash, 4 ounces in gold and important documents had gone missing from him and suggested the items may have ended up with Elmadany's wife, according to prosecutors.

Mahmood maintained his innocence during the trial and claimed he only hired the co-defendants to negotiate for the return of his property, and that the men acted on their own when they killed Elmadany in his auto sales business, The Times-Dispatch said.

Mahmood fled to Pakistan while he was being investigated and was arrested by local and federal agents in 2019 upon his return to Virginia, authorities said.

Ohio
High court sets arguments for appeal over judge shot video
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday scheduled oral arguments in an appeal by The Associated Press of a ruling that prevented the release of surveillance video showing a judge being shot and wounded at a courthouse.

The state's high court had previously decided to hear the AP's appeal of a September 2019 decision by a three-judge panel with the 7th District Court of Appeals in Youngstown. That ruling determined the video is exempt from being released under Ohio public record laws as part of the courthouse's security measures.

The court set oral arguments for July 21. It's uncertain if they will happen in-person in Columbus or via video teleconferencing because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The video shows Jefferson County Judge Joseph Bruzzese Jr. being shot outside a Steubenville courthouse in August 2017 by 51-year-old Nathaniel Richmond, and then Richmond being killed by a probation officer. Richmond had a pending wrongful death lawsuit in front of Bruzzese at the time. The judge recovered and returned to the bench.

The AP requested a copy of the surveillance video recorded by a camera positioned in front of the courthouse, but Jefferson County Prosecutor Jane Hanlin denied that request.

Hanlin argued that releasing the video could endanger lives of judges and their staffs. The AP's attorney argued that Ohio case law is clear that the video is a public record, as the Ohio Court of Claims previously ruled, and should be released.

The Court of Claims determined in February 2019 that the video doesn't contain information used to protect a public office from "attack, interference or sabotage."

Alabama
New details revealed in death of UFC fighter's stepdaughter
OPELIKA, Ala. (AP) — The family of the stepdaughter of a UFC fighter found dead last year was emotional as a police detective testified about how the Alabama college student was found.

Auburn Police Detective Josh Mixon testified in a Lee County courtroom Wednesday that a witness said he was with Ibraheem Yazeed when Yazeed appeared to drag a body, wrapped in a comforter, into the woods near Shorter, Alabama, news outlets reported.

"Tell me that's not a body," Mixon testified the witness as saying. "Yazeed replies, 'It won't come back on you or your family,'" Mixon said.

Yazeed is charged with capital murder in the death Aniah Blanchard, 19.

Blanchard, the stepdaughter of UFC fighter Walt Harris, was found dead in a wooded area in Macon County last November.

"I can't imagine what her family is going through," Lee County District Attorney Brandon Hughes told WRBL-TV. "Murder cases are ugly. You have to talk about these things. You have to talk about these things in somewhat of a dispassionate way."

Police previously said Yazeed was seen forcing Blanchard into her car at a gas station last October.

Mixon testified that Blanchard came into contact with Yazeed at a gas station and they left together, according to news outlets. Blanchard and Yazeed then stopped at a second gas station where he went inside and while she remained in the driver's seat. He returned to the passenger's seat and they both left, Mixon said.

Yazeed's attorney, William Whatley Jr., said Blanchard willingly allowed Yazeed into her car, news outlets reported. Whatley said there's no evidence a crime was committed in Lee County since her car was found in Montgomery and her body in Macon County.

Text messages from Blanchard's phone to a friend that night said she was with a person named "Eric" and that she had "just met him," testified Mixon.

Hughes, the district attorney, said Yazeed had ill intent because he gave a fake name, and that Blanchard "was lured under false pretenses," so, by extension, she was kidnapped while in Lee County.

Judge Russell Bush said he found that probable cause exists that the kidnapping happened in Lee County. He said the case would be bonded over to a grand jury.