FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) – A judge has blocked jurors from hearing testimony from a psychologist who says a woman charged with murdering a 20-year-old Iowa man has symptoms consistent with being a home invasion victim.
Psychologist David Grove, the first witness for Tracey Richter’s defense, was preparing to testify Wednesday about his opinion when Judge Kurt Wilke cleared jurors to hear arguments about the testimony.
Grove says he couldn’t judge Richter’s truthfulness about claims that Dustin Wehde and another man invaded her home before she shot him. But he says Richter suffered from stress symptoms consistent with a traumatic event such as violent crime based on her retelling of the story.
Wilke says the testimony would open questions about other stresses, such as Richter’s convictions and divorces, and “we don’t want to go there.”

GERING, Neb. (AP) – School officials say two students at Gering High School have been disciplined after an alcohol issue led to the discovery of a gun in a car on school property.
One student was expelled for a year and the other was suspended for 10 days. Principal Eldon Hubbard says the incident began Monday after an assistant principal smelled alcohol on one of the students while talking to him after lunch. An investigation led to another student who Hubbard says was under the influence.

Gering police were called. Hubbard says during a search for alcohol in one of the student’s car, officials found a handgun behind the seat.

NEW YORK (AP) – A new government report shows the number of overdose deaths from powerful painkillers have more than tripled over a decade.
Prescription painkillers such as OxyContin, Vicodin and methadone contributed to the deaths of nearly 15,000 people in 2008. That’s more than three times the 4,000 deaths in 1999.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 5 percent of Americans ages 12 and older say they’ve abused prescription painkillers. The highest rate of abuse was reported in Oklahoma while the lowest was in Nebraska and Iowa.

Fatal overdoses were more likely in men and middle-aged adults.

The report was released Tuesday by the CDC.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A federal appeals court has rejected a request from Nebraska death row inmate John Lotter for a rehearing in a triple murder that inspired the 1999 film “Boys Don’t Cry.”
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Lotter’s request on Monday.

Lotter and co-defendant Thomas Nissen were convicted in the 1993 slayings of Teena Brandon, Lisa Lambert and Philip DeVine at a rural Falls City farmhouse.

Lotter has maintained his innocence.

In split decision in August, a three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit rejected Lotter’s attempt to appeal his conviction. He filed a petition for the panel to rehear the case or for the full court to consider it. The request was denied.

 

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) – Crews are cleaning a Hastings elementary school after more than 80 students came down with flu symptoms. Alcott Elementary School principal Lawrence Tunks says that 87 students were either absent Friday or left early after becoming ill. Four teachers were also out sick. The student population at the school is about 300, so the number of illnesses was almost 30 percent of students. Tunks says maintenance crews are working over the weekend to scrub desk, doorknobs and handrails. He says he hopes the illness will have run its course by Monday.

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) – A 21-year-old Omaha man has made a deal with prosecutors and pleaded no contest to four charges.
Tyrell Lyle made his pleas Wednesday to three counts of robbery and one firearms charge. In exchange for the pleas, prosecutors dropped charges of attempted second-degree murder, use of a deadly weapon and two counts of terroristic threats.
Hastings authorities say Lyle and his cousin, Andrew Lyle, of Hastings, robbed two men on May 9 as they tried to make a night deposit at the Five Points Bank branch. Authorities say that on the same night, the cousins entered a Hastings home, demanded money from the residents and fired shots at one of the residents when he ran.
Andrew Lyle pleaded not guilty on Sept. 12 and is scheduled for trial in January.

 

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A Lincoln man has received a 6-year prison sentence for receiving and distributing child pornography.

U.S. Attorney Deborah Gilg says Robert M. Fast was sentenced Oct. 20 in U.S. District Court in Lincoln for receipt and distribution of child pornography. After his release, Fast will have to serve 5 years of supervised release and register as a sex offender. He also was ordered to pay nearly $20,000 in restitution to one of the child pornography victims.

Lincoln police found Fast through child pornography images on a file-sharing network. They tracked the images to a computer at his home, and searched the residence in November 2010. When investigators examined his computer, they found 26 digital images and 23 videos of child pornography.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) – Prosecutors have called their star witness in the first-degree murder trial of a woman who claims she killed an Iowa neighbor in self-defense: a former friend who supported her but came forward a decade later to provide key evidence.

Farmer Mary Higgins testified Friday at the trial of Tracey Richter in the 2001 death of 20-year-old Dustin Wehde at her home in Early, a small town in northwest Iowa. Richter claims she shot Wehde after he broke into her home.

Higgins says Richter showed no emotion when she recounted the events “like she was telling me her grocery list.” She also says Richter told her about a pink spiral notebook claiming her ex-husband was behind the attack.

Investigators say they kept the notebook’s existence a secret.

BRIDGEPORT, Neb. (AP) – A parole hearing is scheduled for a western Nebraska rancher convicted of letting more than 200 wild horses and burros starve.

Jason Meduna was convicted in January 2010 of 145 counts of animal cruelty. He was sentenced to 40 months to 10 years in prison. As part of his sentence, Meduna can’t own, possess or live with livestock for 30 years.

A parole hearing is set for Wednesday at the Lincoln Community Corrections Center.

Meduna owned the 3-Strikes mustang ranch south of Alliance, where many of the horses and burros were found emaciated and suffering from a variety of ailments in 2009. Dozens were found dead at the ranch. The surviving horses and burros were given new homes.

 

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) – Hastings police have identified a man whose body was found in a home. The body of 58-year-old Danny Weyers was found by an acquaintance at his home on Thursday. Police have said evidence found at the scene led officers to believe Weyers did not die of natural causes, but authorities have not said what caused his death. An autopsy was performed Friday. The results have not been released.