Alabama jury convicts officer of manslaughter in shooting

OZARK, Ala. (AP) — A mostly white Alabama jury on Friday convicted a white police officer of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man in 2016. Jurors returned the verdict against Montgomery police officer Aaron Cody Smith on the lesser charge for the shooting death of 58-year-old Gregory...

Iowa appeals ex-Gov. Branstad $1.5M discrimination verdict

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The state of Iowa has appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court a lawsuit in which a jury concluded former Gov. Terry Branstad discriminated against a former state official because the official is gay, Gov. Kim Reynolds said Friday. A jury awarded former Iowa Workers’ Compensation...

Iowa Supreme Court says stand-your-ground law has limits

An Iowa law allowing people to use lethal force to defend themselves doesn’t apply to defendants who engaged in criminal activity prior to the perceived threat, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday. The ruling reverses an Iowa Court of Appeals’ order in May issuing a new trial to Miguel Angel...

Poland approves controversial judges to constitutional court

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s parliament elected three ruling party nominees as judges to the constitutional court, including two widely denounced by opposition lawmakers, raising concerns about the court’s independence. Parliament voted the judges in late Thursday during a heated session...

Correction: Official Arrested-Detroit story

DETROIT (AP) — In a story Nov. 20 about the trial of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Controller Chelsa Wagner, The Associated Press mischaracterized the reason that staff at a Detroit hotel called the police on her husband. The staff called 911 to report that he had acted unruly during a dispute over...

Judge concludes Illinois man innocent in 1999 fatal shooting

KANKAKEE, Ill. (AP) — A judge has concluded that an Illinois man who spent nearly 20 years behind bars wasn’t guilty of a crime in the fatal shooting that sent him to prison. The Chicago Tribune reports Kankakee County Judge Michael Sabol granted Terrence Haynes a certificate of innocence Thursday...

Man found guilty of murdering British tourist in New Zealand

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A New Zealand jury on Friday found a man guilty of murder in the death of 22-year-old British backpacker Grace Millane. Millane died last December on her birthday after meeting the man through the dating app Tinder, going out for drinks with him, and then returning to his...

A man in New Zealand is found guilty of murdering 22-year-old British backpacker Grace Millane after a 3-week trial

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A man in New Zealand is found guilty of murdering 22-year-old British backpacker Grace Millane after a 3-week trial.

New Zealand jurors to decide if British tourist was murdered

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A New Zealand jury on Friday was deliberating whether a British backpacker was murdered by a man she met on a dating app or was accidentally choked to death during sex. Grace Millane died last December on her 22nd birthday after meeting a man through Tinder, going out for...

Military same-sex spouse denied Alaska oil check sues

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska woman alleges the state is wrongly enforcing laws barring recognition of same-sex marriages, five years after a federal judge found such a ban to be unconstitutional. In a lawsuit, attorneys for Denali Nicole Smith say Smith was denied eligibility for the check paid to...