OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Douglas County jury has found a man guilty of first-degree murder in the 2012 slaying of a 16-year-old Omaha girl.
Tracy Parnell was convicted Tuesday in the drive-by shooting that killed Eriana Carr and injured Nakia Johnson.
Police had said that Parnell threatened Johnson at gunpoint a few days before the October 2012 shooting, because she had invited a rival gang member to the apartment she shared with Parnell’s girlfriend.
Parnell’s sentence hearing has been scheduled for June.
YANKTON, S.D. (AP) — Authorities are continuing to search for a 6-year-old southeastern South Dakota boy believed drowned in the Missouri River on Easter.
Lincoln Hilt, of Hurley, went missing Sunday night while fishing with family from the docks at a city park in Yankton. He had received a fishing pole in his Easter basket Sunday morning.
Yankton Police Chief Brian Paulsen says South Dakota and Nebraska officials taking part in the search are using several boats and will use airplanes weather permitting.
BOSTON –Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been found guilty of multiple charges in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing.
Tsarnaev, 21, was first found guilty of count one: conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, resulting in the deaths of Krystal Campbell, Lingzi Lu, Martin Richard and MIT campus officer Sean Collier. That guilty verdict alone makes Tsarnaev eligible for the death penalty.
The verdicts were returned after over 11 hours of deliberations over two days. Tsarnaev faced 30 charges in all.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys made their closing arguments Monday, and the jury began deliberating Tsarnaev’s guilt or innocence beginning Tuesday morning.
Twin blasts near the finish line of the April 2013 marathon killed three people, including eight-year-old Martin Richard, and injured some 260 others.
“The defendant brought terrorism to backyards and main streets,” prosecutor Aloke Chakravarty told the court, arguing that Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan, “felt they were soldiers” who were “bringing their battle to Boston.”
Meanwhile, defense attorney Judy Clark said that although there was no denying her client had “fully participated,” she maintained that “if not for Tamerlan it wouldn’t have happened.”
Tsarnaev stands accused of 30 counts related to the bombing as well as the murder of a police officer days after the blasts. Although Tsarnaev pleaded not guilty, his attorney admitted from the start that the 21-year-old suspect and Tamerlan were responsible for the death and destruction. However, the defense argued that Dzhokhar was only acting under the influence of Tamerlan, whom they painted as the violent extremist.
A later sentencing hearing by the same jury could hand down capital punishment in any of the convictions that are eligible for the death penalty.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An HIV-positive Ohio man accused of sexually assaulting three girls has pleaded not guilty to 19 counts in court, where a prosecutor said one of them, a 12 year old, is pregnant.
Twenty-seven-year-old Keith Anthony Allen of Columbus pleaded not guilty Monday to charges including rape, felonious assault and gross sexual imposition. He remains jailed with no bond, and court records listed no attorney for him.
Allen is accused of raping two 12-year-old girls since September and fondling a third girl. The assault charges allege he raped the girls while knowing he was HIV-positive and had consensual sex with a woman without telling her he has the virus that causes AIDS.
Prosecutors say Allen could face a life sentence if he is convicted of having sex with a child under 13.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Students, parents and alumni of an Omaha Catholic high school are among the thousands who’ve signed an online petition calling for the school to reverse its decision to fire a teacher over his same-sex relationship.
The change.org petition seeks to save the job of Matthew Eledge, an English teacher and Skutt Catholic High School’s speech team coach. His team recently won its fourth straight state championship.
According to petition organizer and Eledge’s assistant coach, Kacie Hughes, Eledge was told his contract would not be renewed if he went ahead with plans to marry his partner. Eledge was traveling Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.
The petition launched Tuesday morning had 9,000 signatures by midafternoon.
Skutt President John McMahon declined to comment, citing the school’s personnel confidentiality policy.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha man acquitted of first-degree murder in a fatal shooting will spend at least 15 years in prison in a separate case.
25-year-old Anthony Floyd was sentenced Tuesday to 25 to 35 years in prison on a charge of being a felon in possession of a weapon. He must serve 15 years before being eligible for parole.
Floyd was found not guilty in December in the shooting death of 31-year-old Rodney Hunt in October 2013. He was also acquitted of use of two weapons charges.
At the sentencing hearing, a judge called Floyd “extremely dangerous.”
In April 2014, while awaiting his murder trial, Floyd had his testicles partially detached during a fight with another inmate. He underwent surgery to reattach them.
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Grand Island police say a 42-year-old officer was injured when his cruiser collided with a minivan.
The accident occurred around 6:50 a.m. Tuesday on East Highway 30. The Hall County Sheriff’s Office says Officer Wesley Tjaden (JAY’-dehn) was driving west when his marked cruiser collided with an eastbound minivan that was turning left to enter a business parking lot.
Tjaden was taken to St. Francis Medical Center for treatment and soon was released. Sheriff’s Sgt. Quinn Webb says the van driver wasn’t injured but was cited for failure to yield.
The Sheriff’s Office handled the accident investigation because a police officer was involved.
WINNEBAGO, Neb. (AP) — An election has been scheduled to replace three Winnebago tribal council members who resigned after an investigation showed that council members had given themselves raises and bonuses.
The election is set for May 5.
Council members Travis Mallory and Morgan Earth resigned in March, and chairman John Blackhawk resigned last week, ending his 20 years as chairman of the nine-member council.
A tribal investigative committee released its report in February detailing the allegations. It said the council gave itself salary increases of 35 percent in fiscal year 2013 and that at least one council member gave loans to family members. The committee said it also found that council members received bonuses with no evidence that those bonuses were approved by the council.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican Gov. Sam Brownback has signed legislation making Kansas the first state to ban a common second-trimester abortion procedure that critics describe as dismembering a fetus.
Brownback signed the measure Tuesday in a private ceremony at the governor’s residence. A photo posted by his office on Twitter shows him flanked by anti-abortion leaders and large photos of fetuses.
The new law, which takes effect July 1, bans the dilation and evacuation procedure, and redefines the method as “dismemberment abortion.”
The method is commonly used in second-trimester abortions nationwide and in about 9 percent of the abortions in Kansas. Abortion-rights supporters say the method is sometimes the safest for a woman terminating her pregnancy.
The National Right to Life Committee drafted the measure. Similar measures are being considered in other states.
COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — A Columbus man accused of hitting his girlfriend’s 1-year-old son is scheduled to be sentenced next month.
Online court records say 24-year-old Ryan Roberts pleaded no contest and was convicted of negligent child abuse resulting in injury. Prosecutors dropped a second count in exchange for Roberts’ plea. His sentencing is set for May 15.
Roberts acknowledged that he backhanded the little boy in the mouth after the boy bit him.
The boy’s mother, 20-year-old Jodie Shelly, has pleaded not guilty to two counts felony child abuse involving her 3-year-old daughter. Shelly’s trial is scheduled to begin on June 15.
A court document says Shelly acknowledged having an anger problem and that “she grabs her daughter too firmly when she is whining or arguing with her brother.”
