TBO

A St. Paul man is accused of beating his instructor at Normandale Community College until she lost consciousness Wednesday, breaking two bones in her face. Gavin Mitchell Flynn Hutson, 21, was charged Thursday with one count of third-degree assault, two counts of fifth-degree assault and one count of carrying a pistol without a permit, according to a criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County Court. Hutson, who is in custody, is expected to make his first appearance before a judge on Friday, according to the Hennepin County attorney’s office. Hutson’s instructor asked him to stay after class Wednesday morning after he made an inappropriate remark to another student in the science building on Normandale’s Bloomington campus, according to the criminal complaint. When class had ended, Hutson struck the 51-year-old woman in the face, causing her to lose consciousness and fall to the floor, where he continued punching her, the complaint said. Another instructor tried to intervene, but Hutson struck him in the forehead and fled the classroom, according to court documents. As Hutson ran through the hallway of the science building, he “stiff-armed” another student into a wall, reinjuring that student’s broken wrist, which was in a splint, the complaint said. Police who caught up to Hutson in a nearby parking ramp said he had blood splattered on his hands and shirt sleeves when they arrested him. Officers also discovered a loaded .40-caliber handgun and extra ammunition in Hutson’s backpack, court documents said. Hutson’s instructor was taken to Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina, where X-rays revealed that she had two broken bones in her face. In response to the incident, the president of the Minnesota State College Faculty union has called for new system-wide investments in campus safety training. The charges against Hutson carry a maximum penalty of six and a half years in prison. https://www.twincities.com/2018/12/13/st-paul-man-charged-with-beating-normandale-instructor-into-unconsciousness/

Do you like the idea of everyone being able to know which party you vote for in a presidential primary? That’s the way Minnesota law reads now. And yes, that’s new. And no, not everyone likes the idea. “We’ve never had party registration in this state, and this looks like a back-door system of party registration,” Secretary of State Steve Simon said Wednesday as he amped up his push to change the state law. As part of that effort, Simon, Minnesota’s top election official, is pitching the idea of conducting the 2020 presidential primary almost entirely by mail. That would also be new. This type of election stuff can get surprisingly confusing. Here’s what it’s all about. ONLY ‘PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY’ We’re only talking about the primary for the president of the United States here — not the August primary elections for state and congressional offices, nor the November general elections. The presidential primary will take place in February of presidential years. It’s different from the other elections in that it only guides Minnesota delegates in how to vote at national party conventions, where delegates actually determine which presidential candidates will appear on the ballot. It’s new for Minnesota, and starting in 2020, it would replace those quirky caucuses that Minnesota has had for decades where folks file into school classrooms or other spaces and raise hands, scribble on scraps of paper and argue. In recent presidential years, there’s been blowback about the caucus system, largely because it forces people to give up several hours on a specific weekday evening in the winter. 2016 LAW MAKES IT PUBLIC In 2016, the Republican-controlled House, Democratic-controlled Senate, and Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, approved a new plan to ditch the caucuses and go with the more-familiar primary: Local governments open up polling places and voters vote. Like regular elections. However, because presidential primaries aren’t like regular elections, leaders of both the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and Republican Party of Minnesota pushed for the following sentence to be included in what became Minnesota’s Presidential Primary Law: “The list must include the party choice of any voter who voted in the most recent presidential nomination primary.” That “list” is the list of what becomes public information. And that would be the only instance of any Minnesotan’s party voting affiliation becoming public by law. Name, year of birth, address and some other info has always been public in all forms of voting. But, unlike some states, Minnesota doesn’t disclose — or even know — which candidates or parties a voter favors. (You have to pick a party in the August primaries, but both parties’ candidates are contained on the same ballot, so which party you choose remains as secret as which candidates you choose.) True, showing up at a party caucus is a public act, and parties require caucus-goers to sign in. But caucuses are entirely run by the parties; the new presidential primary is run by government and paid for by taxpayers. The notion raised privacy concerns, but both DFL Chairman Ken Martin and then-GOP Chairman Keith Downey said that without making each person’s party preference known, national parties wouldn’t recognize the primary. So it became law. Some objected to it in court, as well as another portion that requires voters to take the following oath in order to get a ballot: “I am in general agreement with the principles of the party for whose candidate I intend to vote, and I understand that my choice of a party’s ballot will be public information.” In August, an administrative law judge declared the law sound. SIMON: KEEP IT PRIVATE — AND VOTE BY MAIL? Simon, a Democrat who was re-elected to secretary of state in November, said he thinks the public requirement should simply be deleted, and he’s shopping the idea around with lawmakers. It’s unclear how much traction he has. He said several influential lawmakers he’s spoken to have been noncommittal, and Gov.-elect Tim Walz hasn’t weighed in. The Pioneer Press requested Walz’s thoughts Wednesday afternoon but hadn’t received any by deadline. Simon is also shopping around the idea of conducting the entire presidential primary by mail. No polling places. Just get a ballot of all the parties’ candidates and decide in the privacy of your own home which party you’ll vote for. Return the ballot either by mail or possibly drop it off at local election offices, he said. It would save taxpayers money and insulate local and county governments from having to navigate the logistics of a third full-on election every four years. Simon said the mail-in idea, which has been undertaken by a number of western states, was brought to him by those local governments. PARTIES WANT YOUR PREFERENCE But even if a vote-by-mail system is adopted and if the public disclosure of which party you picked doesn’t become public, the major political parties still want to know. “We would oppose any change where the parties don’t get the information,” the DFL’s Martin said Wednesday. “We need that information to comply with national party rules and to help party-building activities.” Kevin Poindexter, executive director of the state Republican Party, agreed. He said his party doesn’t just want to know which voters pulled Republican ballots, but also who voted Democratic — and who voted for Minnesota’s two new major parties: the Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party and the Legal Marijuana Now Party. “We think the public has a right to know as well,” Poindexter said. “More transparency is a good thing. But at the end of the day, we need to meet our party requirements, and we want to make sure the entire data set is being shared with all major parties.” Martin noted that in many states, voters need to formally register a party affiliation to receive primary ballots. In some states, that locks you in to which ballot you’ll receive the next primary you vote in unless you unregister yourself. None of that would happen under Minnesota law. Voters could vote in a Democratic presidential primary one year and the Republican one four years later. Of course, each time, they’d have to sign that oath of “general agreement with the principles of the party.” https://www.twincities.com/2018/12/12/your-party-preference-in-mn-presidential-primary-will-be-public-should-we-change-that/

Sarah Papenheim was supposed to be coming home for Christmas. The 21-year-old drummer, a precocious up-and-comer on the radar of some of the Twin Cities’ most respected musicians, had a show to put on. Next week, she was scheduled to be onstage at Schooner Tavern in Minneapolis, playing the blues with a friend and fellow musician. She was supposed to be flying in from the Netherlands, where she was attending Erasmus University in Rotterdam. But on Wednesday, a phone call from Dutch authorities replaced anticipation with grief: In Papenheim’s own apartment Wednesday, police said, her roommate stabbed her to death. “I’ve cried so much my ducts are dry,” her mother, Donee Odegard, told Fox 9 in Minneapolis. Police arrested Papenheim’s roommate, a 23-year-old man and cello player, Wednesday afternoon on suspicion of murder and expect he will be charged in her death soon, a Rotterdam Police Department spokesman told The Washington Post. The suspect, whom police have declined to identify, fled the apartment building in Rotterdam on a train and was captured at a station 65 miles away, carrying a suitcase and a cello, police said. Police aren’t sure about his motive in the killing at this time, the spokesman said. Her mother told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that her daughter started living with him about a year ago after bonding over music, but that he had recently become unstable. Odegard said her daughter planned to leave the apartment to stay with her boyfriend, but returned to grab clothes for school, which is when Odegard believes the stabbing happened. In a statement to The Post, Odegard said her daughter was always “the brightest person in the room.” Papenheim is the second child Odegard has lost. Her son, Papenheim’s brother, died by suicide almost three years ago, she said. That was why her daughter had decided to study psychology at Erasmus University, Odegard said. She wanted to understand it. “She lived for drumming, but she also wanted a steady career and was extremely interested in psychology [with an emphasis in studying] suicide, for which she lost her brother,” Odegard said in the statement. Papenheim loved the blues, Odegard said. While she spent some of her childhood in the Twin Cities, she attended high school in Redding, California, where she played drums in the jazz band and marching band. Her band teacher told the Redding Record Searchlight she “felt strongly about being a female drummer,” an instrument traditionally dominated by men. Returning to Minneapolis after school, she was thundering away behind a drum set at Shaw’s Bar in Minneapolis every Monday night before she was even old enough to have a beer, blending in with musicians twice her age. Garry “Jellybean” Johnson, the funk virtuoso and longtime drummer for Prince, was among those who took note. Eventually, he would become her mentor. “I liked her because she hit the drums just as hard as guys did,” Johnson, told CBS Minnesota. “So I nicknamed her ‘Thumper.'” When he learned from Odegard about what had happened to her, Johnson said, he couldn’t wrap his mind around it, especially because she studying to make sense of her brother’s suicide. “I’m still numb from it,” Johnson told CBS. “I still can’t believe that something this bad happened to her.” Living in the Netherlands didn’t keep Papenheim away from her music, or even the Minneapolis music community. On her birthday last year, she jammed with the Minneapolis-based Bernard Allison Group at a rock venue in Germany while the band was on tour. Perched behind the drum set, she whipped her high ponytail back and forth with the beat, rumbling through a cover of “Sweet Home Chicago.” Every now and then, she closed her eyes, scrunching her face with the gusto of the Blues Brothers’ John Belushi. “How about it, ladies and gentlemen?!” yelled singer and guitarist Bernard Allison. On Wednesday, he posted the clip with a message addressed to Papenheim, saying, “We will never forget you.” Odegard said that for now, she is trying to figure out how to bring her daughter back home, which she expects to cost thousands of dollars. Musicians in Minneapolis organized a benefit concert to celebrate her. As of early Friday, hundreds have donated more than $19,000 to a GoFundMe campaign to aid Odegard in bringing her home. Dozens have offered tributes on Facebook. “We have lost a great young musician and heaven has gained one,” the Minnesota Blues Society, sharing a photo of Papenheim behind a drum set, wrote on Facebook. link

Hole in wun..... Sent from my Jack boot using Copatalk

Sent from my Jack boot using Copatalk

TWIN FALLS — A Jerome man accused of killing his girlfriend’s baby is set to face a jury in June. A trial for Joshua Molina is scheduled to start June 17, the court determined Monday. Attorneys said they expect the trial to last two weeks. Molina is charged with first-degree murder and four felony counts of injury to a child in connection with the October 2017 death of 20-month-old Lyryk Altom, the daughter of Molina’s girlfriend at the time. He is accused of repeatedly abusing and ultimately killing the Twin Falls infant. The state considered but decided against pursuing the death penalty in the case. The decision came after an “exhaustive review” of the record, case, and evidence, prosecuting attorney Grant Loebs said. Lyryk was taken to St. Luke’s Magic Valley Medical Center with bleeding in her brain on Oct. 8, 2017, and then was flown to a Boise hospital, where she died six days later. A doctor at St. Luke’s told police he believed her head injuries were caused by non-accidental blunt force trauma. Lyryk’s mother, Amanda Dunlap, was charged shortly after her daughter’s death with one count of first-degree murder, eight felony counts of injury to a child and one misdemeanor count of injury to a child. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges; a trial date for her has not been set. At the time of Lyryk’s death, Molina told police he was not really involved in the baby’s medical care, a claim that Dunlap initially agreed with. But in later interviews, she said she had lied about Molina’s level of involvement. Photos and text messages reviewed by police suggest that Molina may have physically abused the infant over several months leading up to her death, according to court documents. Dunlap told police that Molina wouldn’t let her take Lyryk to see a doctor after she had a seizure because he had been blowing marijuana in the baby’s face to alleviate her symptoms, according to a police affidavit. Dunlap said Molina was afraid that his son would be taken away from him if Lyryk tested positive for marijuana. A friend picked up Dunlap and Lyryk later that day and took them to the emergency room, she said. Molina was arrested in March, five months after Lyryk’s death. A grand jury indicted Molina in May, describing the alleged crime as “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, manifesting exceptional depravity.” A status conference for Dunlap is scheduled for Jan. 7. https://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/local/trial-date-set-for-boyfriend-in-baby-murder-in-marijuana/article_4ac39e6a-5638-5ccd-8219-776f01151bbc.html

Knox County man charged with attempted murder after firing rifle at trooper HIMYAR, Ky. (WYMT) - A man is behind bars for allegedly shooting a gun at a police officer. Around 12:40 a.m. Monday, a Kentucky State Police trooper and a Knox County Sheriff's deputy responded to an assault complaint. They went to a home off KY Hwy 930 in the Himyar community. When police arrived, they tried to talk to Jason Marsee, 47, of Gray. A woman peeked out of a bedroom window and then quickly closed the blinds. Officers said Marsee then fired eight rounds with a .22 caliber rifle through the side of the house, almost hitting the state trooper. Two of the rounds hit a neighbor's home, one of which hit a room where two people were sleeping. The trooper and deputy took cover until Marsee came out of the house and threw the rifle into the yard. They then arrested him. While searching the home, the trooper found a monitor showing the cruisers in the driveway, several guns, a police scanner and marijuana. Kentucky State Police is still investigating. Marsee was charged with attempted murder of a police officer, first-degree wanton endangerment, menacing, resisting arrest, possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia and possession of a radio that sends/receives police messages.

Standard Defense Attorney check list, nothing will come of his motions. Plead straight up or go to jury trial.

James Bond has a 'severe' drinking problem, researchers argue https://www.foxnews.com/health/james-bond-has-a-severe-drinking-problem-researchers-argue Sent from my Jack boot using Copatalk

Witnesses describe Castle Heights Place homicide RAPID CITY, S.D. – Authorities have released interview details from a fatal stabbing that happened at a Castle Heights Place home over the weekend. A woman called police at 1:15 a.m. Saturday, saying a man had been stabbed. When an officer arrived, the defendant, 32-year-old Lorraine Swallow, opened the door and said, “I’m sorry, self-defense.” Swallow said she stabbed her nephew, 28-year-old Tyrell B. Bull Bear, in the chest after he tried to fight her. The officer detained Swallow and went inside the home. He found three people trying to help Bull Bear, who was found on the floor, in the doorway of an upstairs bedroom. The officer had them step back as he performed CPR. Other officers and medical crews arrived to help with life-saving measures, but ultimately, Bull Bear was declared dead at the home. The three people left in the house were taken in for interviews. Police learned that Swallow lived at the home, and she and her nephew were involved in a verbal altercation. Below are witness accounts: Witness #1 (female): According to this witness, the Bull Bear tossed a knife in his aunt’s direction, saying something to the effect of, “You think you’re tough? Go ahead and stab me.” The witness saw Swallow stab him twice. The witness was back and forth on whether she felt Swallow was justified and ultimately said she probably would’ve done the same thing in Swallow’s position. She said Bull Bear was in Swallow’s face and wouldn’t allow her to leave the room. She described him as belligerent, upset and “miserable,” saying he was egging Swallow on and putting his chest toward her. Witness #2 (female): This witness said she heard Bull Bear encourage Swallow to stab him if she was tough enough. She heard this through the neighboring bedroom but did not see the stabbing. Witness #3 (male): This witness spoke with investigators three times, saying he was under the influence of marijuana the first two times. The witness said he was in a bedroom at the time of the stabbing. He said Bull Bear fell into the partially closed bedroom door, and that was when the witness realized he’d been stabbed. He saw Bull Bear fall backward into the doorway of another bedroom, where he was found. He said he arrived at the home shortly before the stabbing. When he arrived, he heard Bull Bear talking loudly in Swallow’s bedroom, as if he was trying to prove a point. When he got to the bedroom, it was 5-10 minutes before Bull Bear fell into the door. In a second interview, the witness said Bull Bear came into the bedroom and threatened to beat him up. Swallow and the first witness came into the room and the victim also threatened to beat them up. He said Bull Bear knocked Swallow to the floor twice by pushing her with his shoulder. After the second time, Swallow came up with a knife and stabbed Bull Bear once. He recalled that Bull Bear had asked Swallow if she was tough but didn’t see him with a knife. The witness called back and asked to speak with investigators again, saying he was high on marijuana when he spoke the first two times. He said he had eaten some marijuana to destroy it after officers arrived. He again said he was in the bedroom and that Bull Bear came in with Swallow and the first witness, making verbal threats toward him. But the witness said he didn’t act on the threats. He said Bull Bear was clenching his fists and jumping around but never came toward him. He said Swallow intervened and an argument broke out between her and Bull Bear. He confirmed that Bull Bear pushed Swallow to the floor with his shoulder but that she then pushed him back. Bull Bear became more upset, took his shirt off and pushed her down again. He said the first witness grabbed Bull Bear and held him against the door, telling him to calm down. He calmed down, stopped clenching his fists and put his hands down. The witness saw Swallow grab a knife from the TV stand in the bedroom and said Bull Bear said something like, “Are you going to stab me with that knife?” Swallow took a couple steps toward Bull Bear and stabbed him once. When she grabbed it, the blade was pointed up, but when she stabbed him, she was holding it down. The witness thought Bull Bear was calm before the stabbing and that Swallow didn’t have to stab him. Evidence agrees with witness accounts that Bull Bear was stabbed in the entry area of one bedroom and fell into the entryway of another bedroom. Several knives were found that could potentially be the murder weapon. Swallow is being held on a $100,000 cash-only bond.

OMAHA, Neb. — A 14-year-old will be sentenced as an adult with second-degree murder. Zachary Parker, 17, died in February, after gunfire from near 25th Street and Crown Point Avenue. Detectives believe a drug deal led to the shooting. Defense attorneys tried to move the case against Tyon Wells to juvenile court, but the Nebraska Court of Appeals sided with prosecutors. Prosecutors argued Wells' motivation for committing the crime was to buy marijuana and support his drug habit. Neuropsychologist Colleen Conoley evaluated Wells while he was at the Douglas County Youth Center. She told the court Wells began smoking marijuana at 12 years old. Conoley also told the court Wells smoked marijuana multiple times a week, and that it resulted in a "poor ability to regulate anger." What Conoley said is less obvious, are the after effects from smoking marijuana. "I've used the term 'marijuana hangover' to explain those silent, or after effects that aren't so obvious," she said. "It's that downgraded effect that tends to happen. For days afterwards, there's almost a dulled effect, or a 'fog.' Most importantly, is that it really interferes with the brain's ability to make and form new connections that represent memory," she said. Conoley said, in a developing teenage brain, that can affect the brain long-term. "There can be lasting changes and less brain development: fewer verbal skills, less of an ability to pay attention; to consolidate memories, to learn things -- versus an established adult," she said. Research from the late 1980's showed scientists an early use of marijuana in teens results in less gray and white matter -- meaning, less volume in the brain, versus another teenage who didn't smoke. "But it also severely increases the likelihood of developing all sorts of mental problems," Conoley said. She clarified marijuana is not the primary cause of mental health issues, even as extreme as schizophrenia and psychosis; rather, Conoley said, it would be considered a 'component' cause. "In people who are vulnerable to psychosis, that can start the onset of psychosis. Marijuana can intensify it and sustain it over time," she said. Documents from the Nebraska Court of Appeals showed Conoley testified that her own testing revealed Tyon Wells "scored high on a scale measuring violent and aggressive tendencies and psychopathic features." Still, Conoley recommended Wells' case be moved to juvenile court, after Wells told her he recognized he needed to address his anger problem and marijuana use. "In a perfect case scenario, I would like to have one last shot at that juvenile," Conoley said. "My job is behind treatment, my job is behind trying to create change." Conoley wants parents and teenagers to have as much information as possible, so they can have a real conversation about the substance. "I think it's important to have an informed society. I'm not for criminalizing it. I'm not for throwing more people in jail, or saying that marijuana's a bad drug, but I do think it's important for adults and parents, to understand that it's not completely a benign substance. Not that marijuana is a bad substance, it's just that it's not a consequence-free substance," she said. Wells was found guilty of second-degree murder Nov. 8. He pleaded no contest to the murder charge, and the state of Nebraska dismissed both a second-degree assault charge and weapons charge. Wells will be sentenced Jan. 30. https://www.ketv.com/article/how-to-protect-package-deliveries-from-porch-pirates/25450952