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Teen suspect in Maryland officer's slaying held without bail
PERRY HALL, Md. (AP) -- A 16-year-old who was supposed to be on house arrest for auto theft was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder in the death of a Maryland police officer.
After hearing about Dawnta Anthony Harris' numerous recent run-ins with the law, a judge called him a "one-man crime wave" and ordered the teen held without bail.
More than 20 police officers were in the courtroom when Harris made his first court appearance by video. Harris has been charged as an adult in the Monday killing of Baltimore County police Officer Amy Caprio, who was responding to a report of a suspicious vehicle that authorities say was involved in a burglary.
Investigators have reviewed the slain officer's body camera footage, prosecutor William Bickel said during the hearing. It clearly shows Harris accelerating a stolen Jeep at Caprio after she tried to apprehend him on the suburban cul-de-sac in the Perry Hall community northeast of Baltimore, he said.
"She fired her weapon. He ran over her," Bickel said. Harris was apprehended shortly after abandoning the Jeep, which was stolen May 18 in Baltimore, not far away, Bickel said.
A yellow lockup jumpsuit appeared baggy on Harris' slight 120-pound, 5-foot-7 frame during the hearing in Towson. When asked if he understood the charge he faces, Harris mumbled "yes" as he sat next to his public defender.
Harris has a series of auto theft arrests and a repeated history of running away from juvenile facilities, Bickel said. The teen was on house arrest at his mother's West Baltimore home but ran away May 14, prosecutors said.
Judge Sally Chester ordered the ninth-grader to be held at Baltimore County Detention Center, an adult lockup.
"Your client is one-man crime wave," Chester told Harris' public defender, who was pushing for Harris to be sent to a juvenile lockup.
According to a probable cause statement filed Tuesday, Harris told a detective he had been waiting in the driver's seat of the vehicle as "associates" were committing a burglary.
He tried to flee in the Jeep when he saw Caprio arrive on the block, but she followed him and ordered him out of the vehicle, the statement said. Harris told the detective that he "drove at the officer," according to the statement.
Police have said three other teenagers suspected in area burglaries were in custody Tuesday in connection with the incident. The teens, who police didn't immediately name, were expected to have initial court appearances Wednesday.
Judge sides with parents, boots adult son from New York home
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- In a real-life case of "Failure to Launch," an upstate New York judge Tuesday ordered a 30-year-old man to move out of his parents' house after they went to court to have him ejected.
Michael Rotondo told the judge he knows his parents want him out of the split-level ranch they share. But he argued that as a family member, he's entitled to six months more time.
State Supreme Court Justice Donald Greenwood rejected that as outrageous, the Post-Standard of Syracuse reported.
Rotondo told reporters he'll appeal.
Mark and Christina Rotondo brought the court case after several eviction letters offering money and other help were ignored.
The parents didn't answer a call seeking comment Tuesday and their letters, filed in court, don't give their reasons for wanting their son out of the house. They do tell him to get a job and move his broken-down Volkswagen Passat.
"Michael, here is $1,100 from us to you so you can find a place to stay," a Feb. 18 letter starts. It goes on to suggest he sell his stereo, some tools and any weapons he may have to gain money and space.
"There are jobs available even for those with a poor work history like you," the letter reads. "Get one -- you have to work!"
It's signed "Christina and Mark Rotondo."
With reporters watching in court, Michael Rotondo sparred with Greenwood for 30 minutes, refusing the judge's request he talk directly to his parents, who were sitting quietly nearby.
When Greenwood called Rotondo up to the bench, the long-haired and bearded son tried to bring the podium with him -- noting it held the reporters' microphones.
Cohen partner pleads guilty in deal requiring cooperation
NEW YORK (AP) -- A longtime business partner of President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, has pleaded guilty to tax fraud in a deal that requires him to cooperate in any ongoing investigations.
New York City taxi magnate Evgeny Freidman entered the guilty plea on Tuesday at a court in Albany.
A person briefed on the plea deal says Freidman agreed to cooperate with federal or state authorities.
The person wasn't authorized to publicly discuss the case and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
State prosecutors charged Freidman last year with pocketing $5 million in state taxes on taxis he managed.
For years he's managed hundreds of cabs, including more than two dozen owned by Cohen.
Cohen's business dealings are under investigation by federal prosecutors in New York.
Bear trashes interior of Connecticut woman's car
CANTON, Conn. (AP) -- What might be the world's hairiest vandal has destroyed the interior of a Connecticut woman's car.
Linda Morad told WFSB-TV she was house-sitting in Canton last Friday when she noticed her car lights on and heard strange noises. She called police.
Officers found a full-grown bear that had somehow gotten into Morad's car and could not get out.
Police opened a door, ran to the other side of the vehicle, and the bear scampered into the woods.
The car's exterior was almost untouched, but the car's interior was torn to shreds. Morad says her insurance company tells her the vehicle is totaled.
There was no food in the car, but Morad had taken some garbage to the dump earlier that day. She thinks the smell attracted the bear.