Indiana
Prosecutor: Trio convicted in fatal shooting of former Indiana U football player
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Three people have been convicted in the fatal shooting of a former Indiana University football player who was gunned down during unrest in Indianapolis following the death of George Floyd.
Marcus Anderson, Alijah Jones and Nakeyah Shields were found guilty of murder and multiple counts of armed robbery, Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears announced Friday.
Businessman Chris Beaty, 38, was shot and killed May 30, 2020 as he walked through an alley near his apartment building during violence that followed protests over Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.
Beaty played for three state championship-winning teams at Indianapolis Cathedral High School before going on to play for Indiana University. He was known to some as Mr. Indianapolis because of his unwavering support and enthusiasm for the city.
Anderson, Jones and Shields are scheduled to be sentenced June 21. They were indicted by two grand juries after months of investigations into events that occurred prior to Beaty’s slaying. Six robberies or attempted robberies were committed before Beaty was shot.
Wisconsin
Protestor involved in pulling down statue gets 6 months in jail
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A man who drove the car that helped pull down the statue of a Civil War hero and abolitionist outside of the Wisconsin state Capitol during a night of protests in 2020 has been sentenced to six months in jail.
The statute of Hans Christian Heg was toppled and beheaded during a protest in downtown Madison in June 2020 against police brutality. Protests began a month earlier over the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police and flared up again that June after Madison police arrested a Black activist.
Kelsey D. Nelson, 33, was sentenced for his role in damaging the Heg statue and for looting a nearby jewelry store about a month earlier, t he Wisconsin State Journal reported Friday.
Nelson apologized in court, saying he was “someone who was trying to make a difference.”
Nelson was also ordered to pay $5,000 to the jewelry store, a cost to be shared with two other people, and $2,500 to the state Department of Administration for the damage to the Heg statue, a cost to be shared with four others.
Most of the original Heg statue has been restored, but the head was stolen and had to be recreated. A man convicted of misdemeanor theft for stealing the head has since returned it to the state.
Kentucky
Judge dismisses lawsuit against Churchill Downs
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A federal judge has granted Churchill Downs’ motion for summary judgment that dismisses Bob Baffert’s claim the track breached due process by suspending the Hall of Fame trainer for two years.
Churchill Downs Inc. suspended Baffert in June 2021 after his now-deceased colt, Medina Spirit, failed a postrace drug test after crossing the finish line first in the 147th Kentucky Derby. The trainer’s request to lift the discipline was denied in February, keeping him out of the Derby for a second consecutive May.
U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings ruled in a 12-page opinion issued Wednesday that Churchill Downs’ suspension of Baffert did not devalue his Kentucky trainer’s license. It cited his purse winnings exceeding $1 million at Keeneland in Lexington and stated that his argument “amounts to a false analogy that distorts caselaw.”
Jennings denied CDI’s motion to stay discovery as moot.
The decision comes less than a week after Baffert-trained colt National Treasure won the Preakness in his first Triple Crown race in two years. His record eighth win in the second jewel of the Triple Crown came hours after another of his horses, Havnameltdown, was euthanized following an injury at Pimlico.
Churchill Downs said in a statement that it was pleased with the court’s favorable ruling as in Baffert’s other cases.
It added, “While he may choose to file baseless appeals, this completes the seemingly endless, arduous and unnecessary litigation proceedings instigated by Mr. Baffert.”
Baffert’s suspension is scheduled to end on June 2, but the track’s release noted its right to extend it “and will communicate our decision” at its conclusion.
New York
Adventure park owner pleads guilty to pilfering $3M in federal coronavirus aid
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — The owner of a New York adventure park on Long Island admitted Thursday that he fraudulently obtained more than $3 million in federal coronavirus aid and spent it on himself, including buying a home on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket.
Donald Finley pleaded guilty to disaster relief fraud and wire fraud during a federal court hearing in Central Islip. Finley’s plea agreement calls for him to pay more than $3.2 million in restitution and a fine of up to $1.25 million. He also faces up to 30 years in prison but is not expected to get the maximum.
Sentencing was scheduled for Nov. 8.
“This office will continue investigating and prosecuting those, like the defendant, who shamelessly steal from government programs that were intended for struggling small businesses and families during the pandemic,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement.
Messages seeking comment were left for Finley’s lawyer, Christopher Ferguson, and at an email address and phone number listed for Finley Thursday evening.
“I am deeply remorseful for my conduct,” Finley said in court, according to a report by Newsday.
Finley, 61, of Locust Valley, New York, owns the Bayville Adventure Park on Long Island’s north shore, which features a pirate-themed miniature golf course, bumper boats, an arcade and other attractions. He also was the owner of a now-defunct Jekyll & Hyde theme restaurant in Manhattan.
Prosecutors said Finley submitted bogus applications for nearly 30 small business loans under the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program in 2020 and 2021, receiving about $3.2 million for businesses he controlled.
Instead of spending the money on pandemic-related expenses, Finley diverted it for personal use, including the purchase of the Nantucket home in February 2021, prosecutors said.
Washington
Man convicted of killing teen in 1991 gets 45 years in prison
SEATTLE (AP) — A man convicted of murder in the death of a 16-year-old girl at her Washington high school over 30 years ago will likely spend the rest of his life in prison.
King County Superior Court Judge Josephine Wiggs on Thursday sentenced Patrick Nicholas to nearly 46 years in prison for the killing of Sarah Yarborough, who was found fatally strangled on the Federal Way High School campus in 1991, The Seattle Times reported.
A jury found Nicholas, 59, guilty of first-degree murder and returned a special verdict that Yarborough’s killing was sexually motivated, which allowed for a longer prison sentence.
Defense attorney David Montes urged the mandatory minimum 20-year sentence, saying Nicholas didn’t commit crimes in the decades since. Wiggs, who had presided over Nicholas’ trial, determined more than 45 years was appropriate because of the facts of the case and his history of sexual violence.
During the trial, prosecutors said Yarborough was an honor student and member of her school’s drill team when she drove to school on Dec. 14, 1991, thinking she was late to meet teammates for a competition. She was an hour early, prosecutors said.
Senior Deputy Prosecutor Mary Barbosa wrote in the state’s sentencing memo that while they will never know how their interaction began, Nicholas in other attacks had approached women with knives, forcing them to walk to secluded areas.
Two boys, ages 12 and 13, who were walking through the school campus that day found Yarborough’s body after they saw a man pop up on an embankment and walk away quickly, prosecutors said.
Yarborough’s injuries and male DNA found under her fingernails was proof she “fought for her life” before she was strangled, according to the evidence presented at trial.
Detectives after the killing sent DNA samples from dozens of men to the state crime lab to be tested against the unknown male DNA, but none matched. The DNA was afterward periodically but without success run through the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, an FBI database of DNA profiles from people convicted of felonies.
In 2019, a genetic genealogist identified two King County brothers who were sex offenders as possible suspects. The older brother, whose DNA was already in CODIS, was eliminated, leading detectives to focus on Nicholas.
Detectives following him collected cigarette butts discarded by Nicholas near a laundromat in the Seattle suburb of Kent. That DNA matched DNA from the crime scene, and he was arrested, prosecutors said.
Years before, Nicholas at age 19 tried to rape a woman at knifepoint at a park in the eastern Washington city of Richland, but she escaped by jumping into the Columbia River, the state’s sentencing memo says. He was sentenced in that case to 10 years in prison in 1983 but was released after serving over 3 years and was in sex offender treatment and on parole when Yarborough was killed.
He had previously been sentenced to juvenile custody after raping two King County women at knifepoint, the state’s memo said.
Ohio
Acclaimed school dance teacher convicted of aping students
CLEVELAND (AP) — A former school dance teacher in Cleveland faces up to life prison after being convicted Thursday of raping six teenage students and sexually abusing two others.
Jurors in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court also found Terence Greene guilty on kidnapping and felonious assault charges.
Greene, 57, was an acclaimed dance teacher who helped launch the careers of many young dancers, including some who performed on Broadway.
Prosecutors said Greene began sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy in the late 1990s, soon after he was hired by the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.
The eight victims in the case were ages 14 to 17 when the abuse began, prosecutors said.
Greene resigned from a high school for the arts in 2014 and later began working at Cuyahoga Community College, where the abuse continued until 2019, according to prosecutors.
A message seeking comment was left with Greene's attorney on Thursday.
In 2021, the Cleveland public school district agreed to pay a $3.25 million settlement after eight former students filed a lawsuit accusing the school of failing investigate past claims of sexual abuse against Greene.
Greene had been found not guilty of sexual battery charges involving a student in 2004 and returned to teaching that year.
The students' lawsuit said the school allowed Greene to continue to share hotel rooms with students on school-sanctioned trips.
After resigning in 2014, Greene began teaching at Cuyahoga Community College's dance academy for children. The college has denied being aware of Greene's past claims of sexual abuse.
