WELLINGTON, Kan. (AP) — A south-central Kansas woman has been convicted of fatally beating and stabbing her 10-year-old son to death in his bedroom.
Lindsey Nicole Blansett of Wellington was found guilty Tuesday in Sumner County of first-degree murder in the December 2014 death of her son, Caleb Blansett.
Wellington police say the boy had gone to bed on Sunday when Lindsey Blansett entered his room with a rock and knife.
She is accused of hitting him with a rock before stabbing him several times. She told police she was concerned about her son’s future and wanted him to “go to heaven tonight.” She underwent mental exams and was deemed competent for trial.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri federal judge is refusing to block next week’s execution of a cancer-stricken inmate who used a hammer in killing three workers of convenience store more than two decades ago.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge Greg Kays in Kansas City, Missouri on Tuesday threw out Ernest Lee Johnson’s request to intervene.
Johnson claimed in an appeal filed last week that his brain tumor constitutes a “unique medical condition” that could be exacerbated by Tuesday’s scheduled lethal injection, possibly causing uncontrollable seizures and convulsions.
The state counters Missouri has carried out 18 rapid, painless executions since late 2013. Kays also sided with the state’s argument that 55-year-old Johnson’s appeal wasn’t filed timely enough.
Johnson was convicted of killing three people in 1994 at a Columbia convenience store where they worked.
LYONS, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say one person has died in a central Kansas house fire.
Lyons Fire Chief Brad Reid says crews responded to the fire around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. KWCH-TV reports that the parents made it out of the home safely. But Reid says their son, who was living on the second floor, did not.
The Lyons School District sent a note out to students and parents saying 17-year-old Dylon Pavlus-Newill, a junior at Lyons High School, died in the fire.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska regulators have quietly inspected Planned Parenthood of the Heartland’s Lincoln and Omaha clinics at the request of Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts.
The Lincoln Journal Star reports Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services surveyors visited the clinics in August.
Omaha clinic director Brenda Harvey said surveyors were interested in speaking with staff who handle fetal tissue.
The visits came after a group accusing Planned Parenthood of illegally selling fetal tissue released videos, prompting congressional inquiries and multiple state investigations this summer.
A department spokeswoman said she could provide little information about the inspections, but confirmed regulators made a similar visit to the Bellevue clinic.
The results appear similar to those of public investigations of Planned Parenthood clinics elsewhere that returned no evidence the organization violated state laws for handling fetal tissue.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska attorney general’s office is defending language approved for a 2016 death penalty ballot measure.
State attorneys argued in a court filing Tuesday that the ballot language is “sufficient, fair and not misleading.” Death penalty opponents have challenged the wording in court, saying it’s slanted in favor of the death penalty.
The ballot language informs voters that retaining the repeal law would eliminate capital punishment and change the “maximum” penalty for first-degree murder to life in prison.
Critics say the word “maximum” is misleading because it incorrectly implies that first-degree murder convicts could face a lesser sentence than life in prison.
Nebraska lawmakers abolished the death penalty in May, but the repeal measure was suspended until voters decide the issue next year.
(Missourinet) – A state legislator has called for an investigation of a central Missouri judge who ordered the dismissal of charges against a man who once admitted to sodomizing his then 5-month-old daughter.
Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce approved a motion to dismiss the case against Aaron Michael Fisher, saying he was denied his constitutional right to a speedy trial. The incident happened in 2009, and Miller County Prosecutor Ben Winfrey says the case dragged on due to motions by Fisher’s attorneys.
Fisher pleaded guilty in July 2014 to two charges of forcible sodomy of a child, but changed that plea four months later.
Lake Ozark representative Rocky Miller wants to investigate whether Judge Joyce acted incompetently.
“I’m just in the beginning phases of what I think should be due process of an investigation by the House,” Miller told Missourinet. “The House of Representatives, they are the body that impeaches elected officials such as circuit judges.”
Miller isn’t saying he thinks Fisher is guilty.
“I just think that he should have gone to trial,” said Miller. “I believe in the justice system and I’m not certain, at this point, if justice was served.”
Miller said Joyce declined to talk to him about the ruling.
The county prosecutor told Missourinet he is working on an appeal of the ruling, and working with the family of the child to make sure they are safe.
If an impeachment of Joyce would develop and be successful, it could be seen as a political victory for Republicans as well.
Joyce won reelection last year despite big spending by conservative groups from in- and outside Missouri hoping to unseat the only Democratic circuit judge in the county where most of Missouri government is housed, and therefore where cases with state government implications are filed.Judge Patricia Joyce (Photo courtesy Missourinet)
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) — A southeast Missouri man who has portrayed Santa Claus at events has been granted a change of venue for his trial on charges that he sexually abused a child.
The Southeast Missourian reports that 56-year-old Jeffrey Moffat of Jackson will be tried in New Madrid County rather than in Cape Girardeau County, where Moffat will continue to be jailed.
Moffat has pleaded not guilty to charges of statutory sodomy involving a person less than 14 years old.
Authorities allege Moffat molested a 7-year-old girl beginning in August 2014 at a Cape Girardeau house when he was babysitting her and her sisters.
Moffat has portrayed Santa Claus for the St. Louis Iron Mountain and Southern Railway in Jackson. Moffat isn’t accused of crimes while volunteering as Santa.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A recent Missouri constitutional amendment is being cited by felons who say it means they have the right to carry guns.
Attorneys for three felons convicted of unlawful use of weapons or stealing based their Tuesday arguments to the state Supreme Court on a 2014 constitutional amendment that says the right to bear arms is “unalienable.”
Missouri law bans felons from possessing firearms. In August, the Supreme Court upheld the felon-gun ban while analyzing it under the previous version of the constitution.
The latest challenge cites the 2014 amendment, which attempted to strengthen gun rights while also stating that lawmakers can impose restrictions on violent felons’ ability to possess guns.
St. Louis assistant circuit attorneys argued that doesn’t mean laws that prevent nonviolent felons from owning guns are unconstitutional.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A woman has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree arson in connection with a fire that killed two Kansas City firefighters earlier this month.
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced the charges Tuesday against Thu Hong Nguyen, an employee of a nail salon and spa that was one of several businesses and apartments destroyed in the fire.
Firefighters Larry Leggio and John Mesh died when a wall collapsed on them while they were fighting the blaze. To other firefighters were injured.
Nguyen was arrested Monday night and is being held on $2 million bond.
An investigator with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says the fire was intentionally set in storage room of the salon.
