Conviction as a 2015 teen killer tossed
MADISON, Wis. — A federal court in Wisconsin on Friday overturned the conviction of a man found guilty of helping his uncle kill Teresa Halbach in a case profiled in the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer.
The U.S. District Court in Milwaukee overturned Brendan Dassey’s conviction and ordered him freed within 90 days unless prosecutors decide to retry him. A spokesman for the state Department of Justice, which was handling the case, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
Dassey confessed to helping his uncle, Steven Avery, carry out the rape and murder of Halbach, but attorneys argued that his constitutional rights were violated throughout the investigation. Dassey was 16 when Halbach was killed in 2005 after she went to the Avery family auto salvage yard to photograph some vehicles.
Avery was tried and convicted separately in the homicide. Both Avery and Dassey are serving life sentences.
Magistrate Judge William Duffin said repeated false promises, considered in conjunction with factors such as Dassey’s age, “intellectual deficits, and the absence of a supportive adult, rendered Dassey’s confession involuntary under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.” The ruling comes after Dassey’s appeal was rejected by state courts.
Ride rocky, JetBlue flight lands in S.D.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — People were “thrown around like little rag dolls” when turbulence rocked a JetBlue flight from Massachusetts to California, a passenger said Friday, in an incident that left more than 20 people injured and forced an unscheduled landing in South Dakota.
The New York-based airline said Flight 429 was traveling from Boston to Sacramento with 146 passengers and five crew members on board Thursday evening when it hit major turbulence.
Seven passengers and two crew members were taken to a Rapid City hospital by ambulance, and an additional 15 passengers were taken by bus for further evaluation. All 24 patients had been released by Friday morning. JetBlue said 122 of the passengers landed in Sacramento on Friday.
National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said the agency is investigating the incident and has requested that flight recorders be sent to its headquarters.
When planes hit extreme turbulence, they usually drop 40 to 50 feet, although the drop can feel like more because it happens so quickly and human bodies aren’t used to the force, said John Cox of the consulting firm Safety Operating Systems. In rare cases, planes have fallen 200 feet or more.
Puerto Rico gets Zika-emergency status
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico —The U.S. government on Friday declared a public health emergency in Puerto Rico as a result of a Zika epidemic.
The declaration allows the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to award grants, access emergency funds and temporarily appoint personnel where needed, among other things.
The announcement came hours after Puerto Rico reported 1,914 new cases in the past week.
Health Secretary Ana Rius said Friday that there are 10,690 cases altogether, including 1,035 involving pregnant women. Zika has been tied to severe birth defects.
The newest statistics were released a day after the U.S. surgeon general visited Puerto Rico and said he expected 25 percent of the people on the island to be infected by Zika by year’s end.
Maryland blast’s toll expected to rise
SILVER SPRING, Md. — Additional bodies likely will be found in the debris of an apartment explosion and fire in Maryland that already has claimed three lives and injured more than 30 people, police said Friday.
Montgomery County Assistant Police Chief Russ Hamill declined to say at a news conference how many people still may be unaccounted for in the explosion, which happened late Wednesday.
Two bodies were found Thursday, and a third was recovered Friday, police said. Those victims still have not been identified. Hamill said that the condition of the bodies made it impossible to determine the age or sex.
He said investigators have accounted for about 110 people who lived in the building, and authorities are still asking family and friends to contact them “until we can account for everyone who is in the building.” In all, 34 people, including three firefighters, were taken to hospitals. Hospital officials said most of those were released later in the day.
A Section on 08/13/2016