Deaf man convicted in assault on friend
A jury of nine men and three women convicted a deaf man Thursday of first-degree assault in connection with the stabbing last summer of his deaf friend.
The jury wasn’t moved by 35-year-old David Joe Bishop’s testimony Thursday that the victim, Anthony Cassano, was the aggressor in the Aug. 6 attack.
Deputy Prosecutor Steve Garvin said Bishop, who was convicted last year of robbery, will face between 10 to 12 years in prison. Assistant Public Defender Jeff Compton had no comment.
Cassano, 51, suffered a dozen stab wounds during a party in his apartment at 3724 N. Cook St. with his friend, Bishop, and a third deaf man. At some point Cassano and Bishop began to argue, and the witness said Bishop attacked Cassano.
None of the wounds was life threatening. Cassano was released from the hospital within a couple of days.
Attorney disbarred over misappropriation
Spokane attorney John Merryweather Cooper was disbarred this week by the Washington Supreme Court.
Cooper misappropriated a client’s money in a probate case, leaving her unable to pay creditors, and failed to do the work he was paid to do in that case and two others, according to a Washington State Bar Association investigation that led to the disbarment. In the other cases, Cooper failed to file an appellate brief on behalf of a criminal defendant and almost caused a couple to lose a custody dispute through inaction and bad advice.
Bar association records show Cooper was admitted to the bar in November 1993 and that he has practiced in College Place, Wash., as well as Spokane, where he worked for Plumb & Associates.
Nine Mile Falls
Searches with dogs stopped at schools
The Nine Mile Falls School District has agreed to stop using dogs to search for contraband at its middle and high schools in order to avoid a lawsuit.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and the Center for Justice were poised to file a lawsuit when the district announced this week that it would halt dog searches until a state or federal court authorizes the practice.
According to the state ACLU and the Center for Justice, the district’s use of dogs to search for drugs, alcohol and tobacco violated a 1985 state Supreme Court decision that it is unconstitutional to search a student without reason.
The school district hired a company in January 2004 to search its middle and high schools at least four times a year. Records showed the dogs were wrong 85 percent of the time when the program began, but the ACLU and the Center for Justice worried more about civil rights than accuracy.
“It is important that any searches at public schools be consistent with constitutional protections so that our students learn about the Constitution both in practice and in theory,” Center for Justice attorney John Sklut said.
Superintendent Michael Green contends the district did nothing wrong.
“The school and school district administration have been very careful to respect the constitutional rights of students during the course of searches by drug dogs,” Green said Thursday. “The school board has agreed to cease the practice of using drug-sniffing dogs only in order to avoid the huge costs and time loss that a suit by the ACLU would bring.”
Washington
Death, injuries prompt recall of toy sets
A Seattle-area child died and four others suffered serious injuries after swallowing tiny magnets found in building sets sold nationwide, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday in announcing a recall of 3.8 million of the toy kits.
The commission said it has received reports of 34 incidents involving the small magnets included in the Magnetix magnetic building sets, including the X-treme Combo, Micro and Extreme versions.
A 22-month-old boy – Kenny Sweet of Redmond, Wash. – died in November after he swallowed magnets that twisted his small intestine and created a blockage, federal officials said. Three other children, between the ages of 3 and 8, suffered intestinal perforations that required surgery and hospitalization in intensive care. And a 5-year-old boy inhaled two magnets that had to be surgically removed from his lungs.
The toys were sold from September 2003 through March 2006 at Wal-Mart, Target, Toys “R” Us, Fred Meyer, Design Science Toys Ltd., A.C. Moore and other stores nationwide. They cost between $20 and $60. The Chinese-made sets were imported by Rose Art Industries Inc. of Livingston, N.J.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission said consumers should stop using the sets and return them to Rose Art for a free replacement product. Consumers with questions can contact Rose Art at (800) 272-9667 or visit the company’s Web site at www.roseart.com.
From staff and wire reports