Afternoon briefing
Man arrested for string of crimes
WATERLOO, Iowa — Police have arrested a suspect after at least two clerks were sexually assaulted during a string of convenience store robberies in northwestern Iowa.
The Courier reports that 25-year-old Jamar Ronod Wise was arrested Tuesday as he entered a convenience store in Waterloo wearing all black with his face covered. Victims of four other robberies in Waterloo described the suspect as wearing the same attire.
Police say Wise is suspected in a Feb. 10 robbery in which the clerk was sexually assaulted and repeatedly punched in the face. Wise is also suspected of sexually assaulting another clerk in a Feb. 27 robbery, and carrying out robberies on Jan. 29 and Jan. 31.
Officials to turn over Prince files
MINNEAPOLIS — Prosecutors in Carver County have agreed to provide Prince’s siblings with documents connected to the county’s investigation into his death.
John Goetz, an attorney for Prince’s siblings, says prosecutors agreed to give him the medical examiner’s autopsy investigation this week. He expects to get the rest of the investigative files next week.
Prince was 57 when he was found alone and unresponsive in an elevator at his Paisley Park estate on April 21, 2016. An autopsy found he died of an accidental fentanyl overdose. The source of those drugs hasn’t been determined.
Goetz was seeking the investigative data so the family could determine who might be culpable in Prince’s death, before time to file civil claims expires.
Protester’s perjury charge dismissed
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — A court has dismissed a perjury charge against the chief organizer of a deadly white nationalist rally.
The Daily Progress reports the charge stemmed from Jason Kessler’s sworn statement that he was assaulted by a Charlottesville man in January 2017, months before the ill-fated rally. Judge Cheryl Higgins agreed with the defense that the prosecution did not show where the crime took place.
Last April, Kessler pleaded guilty to assaulting the man he accused.
Outside the courthouse, Kessler accused Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Tracci of “trying to do a political hit job,” noting that the perjury charge was brought in September, a month after the Charlottesville rally during which a woman was killed by a car that plowed into a group of counterprotesters.
Police cite man who shot finger
OMAHA, Neb. — Police say a 30-year-old Omaha, Nebraska, man accidentally shot his pinky finger after falling asleep holding his new handgun.
The Omaha World-Herald reports the accident happened early Tuesday. Police say the man told officers he was sitting on a couch in his house when he “must have fallen asleep” holding his newly-purchased 9 mm pistol in his right hand. He told officers he awoke around 4:30 a.m. to a loud bang and realized he had shot his left pinky finger.
The man’s wife and children were asleep at the time and weren’t hurt. The man was taken to a hospital where he was told the wound would require surgery.
Woman breastfeeds in campaign ad
BALTIMORE — The first campaign video ad from the lone woman running for Maryland governor features her breastfeeding her infant daughter as she calls for more women in state leadership.
Democrat Krish Vignarajah tells The Baltimore Sun that the online ad released Wednesday deliberately emphasizes gender to highlight how women in leadership can push for different polices than men, creating “better outcomes.”
The 30-second ad circulating on Facebook opens with the former Michelle Obama aide in business attire while feeding her 9-month-old daughter, as a voiceover notes that no women hold any of Maryland’s statewide offices.
By The Associated Press
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