IOWA
Sex charge reduced for ex-Iowa player
IOWA CITY | A judge on Tuesday threw out a second-degree sexual-abuse charge against former Iowa football player Cedric Everson but ruled that his trial will continue on lesser charges.
In a ruling from the bench, Judge Paul Miller said he found “insufficient evidence” that Mr. Everson was aided and abetted by his former teammate, Abe Satterfield, in the 2007 assault on a former University of Iowa athlete in a vacant dorm room.
Prosecutors needed to show Mr. Everson received the help from Mr. Satterfield to prove second-degree sexual abuse under Iowa law. But Judge Miller said he found enough evidence that Mr. Everson may have nonetheless sexually assaulted the woman and he would instruct jurors to decide his guilt on third-degree sexual abuse, assault with intent to commit sex abuse and assault charges.
KENTUCKY
School, astronomer settle suit over job
LOUISVILLE | An astronomy professor who sued the University of Kentucky after claiming he lost out on a top job because of his Christian beliefs has reached a settlement with the school.
The university has agreed to pay $125,000 to Martin Gaskell in exchange for Mr. Gaskell dropping a federal religious discrimination suit. Mr. Gaskell claimed he was passed over to be director of the university’s MacAdam Student Observatory in 2007 because of his religion and statements that were perceived to be critical of evolution.
Court exhibits showed Mr. Gaskell was a top candidate, but some professors called him “something close to a creationist” and “potentially evangelical” in e-mails.
The university said Tuesday that its “hiring processes were and are fundamentally sound and were followed in this case.”
MASSACHUSETTS
Charges against 2 tossed in Uzi death
SPRINGFIELD | A Massachusetts prosecutor on Tuesday dropped involuntary manslaughter charges against two men in connection with the death of an 8-year-old boy who accidentally shot himself with an Uzi at a 2008 gun show, citing last week’s acquittal of a third defendant.
Prosecutor William Bennett filed “nolle prosequi” — not prosecuting — motions in Hampden Superior Court in Springfield in the cases of Domenico Spano of New Milford, Conn., and Carl Giuffre of West Hartford, Conn.
A jury acquitted former Pelham, Mass., Police Chief Edward Fleury of involuntary manslaughter and furnishing machine guns to minors on Friday in the death of Christopher Bizilj of Ashford, Conn. Mr. Fleury’s firearms training company co-sponsored the gun show.
NEW YORK
600 police officers to secure WTC site
NEW YORK | New York Police Department Commissioner Raymond Kelly says the area around the World Trade Center will eventually have 673 officers assigned to it.
Mr. Kelly spoke about the need for securing the site at an event Tuesday for the nonprofit Police Foundation. The 9/11 memorial will open on Sept. 11, 2011, and the new buildings will open after that. The full number of officers won’t be at the site until all the buildings are completed.
Mr. Kelly has named a deputy commissioner for the World Trade Center command who is working on a security plan for the memorial service on the 10-year anniversary of the attacks.
Mr. Kelly said the site needs special attention because it remains a target for terrorists.
PENNSYLVANIA
Woman pleads guilty in FBI agent’s death
PITTSBURGH | A Pittsburgh-area woman who fatally shot a federal agent during an early morning raid on her home pleaded guilty Tuesday but said federal agents share the blame for the deadly confrontation.
Christina Korbe, 42, was sentenced to 15 years and 10 months in prison in the 2008 shooting death of Special Agent Samuel Hicks after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and weapons charges.
She apologized to Mr. Hicks’ wife and family but affixed some of the blame for his death on law enforcement agencies that descended on her home to arrest her husband on drug charges.
Korbe repeatedly claimed she fired at Mr. Hicks only because she thought the officers who raided her Indiana Township home on Nov. 19, 2008, were unknown intruders. Mr. Hicks, 33, of Richland Township, was killed by one shot that struck him just above his bulletproof vest.
TEXAS
Lawyer for exonerees faces misconduct suit
ARLINGTON | The State Bar of Texas is suing an attorney who collected millions of dollars from wrongly convicted ex-inmates, saying his fees were illegal and unconscionable.
State Bar of Texas spokeswoman Maureen Ray said Tuesday that the lawsuit accuses Lubbock attorney Kevin Glasheen of professional misconduct. If a court agrees, r. Glasheen could face punishments ranging from a public reprimand to disbarment.
Mr. Glasheen represents 15 wrongly convicted Texas exonerees and has collected about $5 million in fees from them. He kept $3.5 million for his firm and paid the rest to Jeff Blackburn, the chief counsel for the Innocence Project of Texas.
• From wire dispatches and staff reports
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