Public Defender

An armored car guard accused of killing his partner and making off with more than $2 million returned to Pennsylvania on Thursday to face charges after his arrest last month in Florida. Kenneth Konias Jr., 22, appeared before a federal judge in Pittsburgh and asked for a public defender. He didn't enter a plea. Konias simply answered "yes" to questions from Judge Lisa P. Lenihan, who granted his request for a court-appointed attorney. Konias' public defender at the hearing, Christopher Brown, said afterward that he couldn't comment.

A California judge has refused to release a tuberculosis patient who was jailed and charged after allegedly refusing to take medication to keep his disease from becoming contagious. San Joaquin County Judge Brett Morgan on Wednesday denied 34-year-old Armando Rodriguez's request for release. The Record of Stockton reports (http://bit.ly/JMlaMy) the judge said he was uncomfortable releasing Rodriguez because of his methamphetamine and alcohol use and past behavior. Health officials say Rodriguez failed to take the medication on his own, once telling a nurse he had gone on...

The Massachusetts Senate passed measures designed to overhaul the state’s public defender program and tighten escalator safety rules yesterday as it debated its $30.5 billion state spending plan for the next fiscal year. The public defender amendment approved by the Senate calls for public defenders to handle 30 percent of criminal cases involving indigent defendants. Supporters say shifting more cases to public defenders would save the state money, though opponents say those savings could be offset by the need to hire additional lawyers.

PROVIDENCE - A Rhode Island mother convicted of strangling her 8-year-old daughter in 2009 after the girl refused to take a bath and threw a two-hour tantrum was ordered Tuesday to serve 20 years in prison. A judge in Providence ordered Kimberly Fry to serve 20 years of a 40-year sentence. The 38-year-old North Kingstown resident said at the hearing that she would forever hate herself and that she wished she were dead so she could be reunited with her daughter Camden in heaven.

NEW YORK — Leonard F. Joy, who for more than two decades led the federal public defender's office in New York that represented some of the city's most infamous criminals, died March 4 at his home in Carmel, Calif. He was 81. The cause was hemolytic anemia, a blood disorder, said his daughter, Elizabeth. Mr. Joy had been a lawyer with the Legal Aid Society when he was named in 1990 to head its federal defender unit. He remained director after the office became an independent agency in 2005, until he retired last year and moved to Carmel.

The state's embattled former probation commissioner asked a federal court judge Friday to approve the use of public funds to pay for two lawyers to defend him against racketeering and fraud charges, the latest high-profile defendant to ask for taxpayer money for his defense. John J. O'Brien asked US Magistrate Judge Timothy Hillman to approve the use of public funds to pay for Paul Flavin, whom he called his longtime lawyer, who has represented him in state hearings. O'Brien, 55, also asked that Hillman approve the use of a second lawyer, Anthony M. Traini...

PROVIDENCE - A Rhode Island mother convicted of strangling her 8-year-old daughter in 2009 after the girl refused to take a bath and threw a two-hour tantrum was ordered Tuesday to serve 20 years in prison. A judge in Providence ordered Kimberly Fry to serve 20 years of a 40-year sentence. The 38-year-old North Kingstown resident said at the hearing that she would forever hate herself and that she wished she were dead so she could be reunited with her daughter Camden in heaven.

Prosecutors say a Chicago police officer was fatally stabbed by her 15-year-old grandson after she caught him skipping school. Keshawn Perkins is charged as an adult with first-degree murder and armed robbery in the death of 55-year-old Hester Scott. Scott, an officer for 25 years, had adopted Perkins. The teen was denied bond Sunday and didn't comment in court. He has a public defender, but the Cook County public defender's office was closed Sunday and not accepting calls.

A Connecticut woman is returning to court to face allegations she phoned in bomb threats to banks to prevent her husband from inquiring about their money problems. Forty-five-year-old Nicolina McLean of Coventry is to appear in Rockville Superior Court on Monday, after having her first in-depth meeting with her public defender. She hasn't yet entered pleas to three felony threatening charges. Police say McLean hid the loss of her job and money problems from her husband for nearly a year.

PROVIDENCE - A man who admitted raping and strangling an 8-year-old neighbor was sentenced yesterday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, after calling his own actions "despicable and unforgivable. " Joshua Davis of Woonsocket was given the maximum sentence allowed by state law for the May 7, 2006, abduction and death of Savannah Smith. Smith's relatives applauded after the judge announced the sentence. "I can't begin to imagine how much heartache and sorrow I have caused you," Davis told the girl's family yesterday.

The state's embattled former probation commissioner asked a federal court judge Friday to approve the use of public funds to pay for two lawyers to defend him against racketeering and fraud charges, the latest high-profile defendant to ask for taxpayer money for his defense. John J. O'Brien asked US Magistrate Judge Timothy Hillman to approve the use of public funds to pay for Paul Flavin, whom he called his longtime lawyer, who has represented him in state hearings. O'Brien, 55, also asked that Hillman approve the use of a second lawyer, Anthony M. Traini of Providence.

A newlywed accused of stabbing his pregnant wife pleaded not guilty to two counts of capital murder Thursday after the woman and baby died in western Arkansas. A judge explained the charges filed against James Herring, who is accused of stabbing his wife, Celestia Duffin, in the chest Tuesday. Duffin, who was nearly seven months pregnant, ran to a nearby police station and collapsed as blood soaked her blouse. Emergency responders rushed her to the hospital and delivered her son prematurely, but both Duffin and her baby died.

An armored car guard accused of killing his partner and making off with more than $2 million returned to Pennsylvania on Thursday to face charges after his arrest last month in Florida. Kenneth Konias Jr., 22, appeared before a federal judge in Pittsburgh and asked for a public defender. He didn't enter a plea. Konias simply answered "yes" to questions from Judge Lisa P. Lenihan, who granted his request for a court-appointed attorney. Konias' public defender at the hearing, Christopher Brown, said afterward that he couldn't comment.

OAKLAND, Calif. - A man charged with murdering seven people at a California religious college that he once attended pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Monday. A public defender for One Goh, 43, entered the plea on his behalf in Alameda County Superior Court. Goh is charged with seven counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder in the April 2 attack at Oikos University in Oakland. Authorities say Goh planned the shootings after becoming angry over a tuition dispute with the school.

An Idaho man has been charged with assault after authorities say he ordered another man to perform the "moonwalk" at gunpoint. The Coeur d'Alene Press ( http://bit.ly/IhdPmS) reports 30-year-old John Ernest Cross was charged with the felony Tuesday in 1st District Court and appointed a public defender. Police say they were called to Cross' Clark Fork home on Monday after getting a report that he pointed a rifle at another man and demanded that the man perform the dance move popularized by Michael Jackson in the 1980s.

INDIANAPOLIS - A teenager who allegedly shot five other teens along the canal in downtown Indianapolis pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of attempted murder and illegally carrying a gun. The 16-year-old entered his plea during a Marion County court hearing. The teen is being charged as an adult and will be represented by a public defender. His bond is set at $500,000. The Indianapolis Star said the teen quietly answered routine questions from the judge and that his relatives at the hearing declined to comment afterward.

BRENTWOOD, N.H. -- The wife of a man convicted of sexual assault has filed a complaint against the judge who oversaw the trial, saying the judge dozed off repeatedly during court proceedings. A special panel of the Judicial Conduct Committee will consider the complaint against Rockingham County Superior Court Judge Patricia Coffey. "There were periods that she'd just nod off," said Melissa Spinner, who filed the complaint. "The prosecutor saw it, the jury saw it, the public defender saw it, and I saw it. It's unacceptable.

A Hartford man convicted of sexually assaulting three children has been sentenced to 18 years in prison and life on the state sex offender registry. Devon Dean insists he's innocent and delayed the sentencing hearing Thursday by shouting and swearing. The Hartford Courant reports ( http://cour.at/qXBCF8) that Hartford Superior Court Judge John L. Carbonneau Jr. ordered judicial marshals to remove the 42-year-old Dean from the courtroom. The hearing resumed about two hours later when his public defender calmed him down.

NEW YORK — Leonard F. Joy, who for more than two decades led the federal public defender's office in New York that represented some of the city's most infamous criminals, died March 4 at his home in Carmel, Calif. He was 81. The cause was hemolytic anemia, a blood disorder, said his daughter, Elizabeth. Mr. Joy had been a lawyer with the Legal Aid Society when he was named in 1990 to head its federal defender unit. He remained director after the office became an independent agency in 2005, until he retired last year and moved to Carmel.