Man charged in Craigslist killings AKRON, Ohio (AP) — A self-styled chaplain suspected in a deadly scheme to rob people who replied to a Craigslist job ad has been charged with multiple counts of aggravated murder, kidnapping and robbery and
Man charged in Craigslist killings
AKRON, Ohio (AP) — A self-styled chaplain suspected in a deadly scheme to rob people who replied to a Craigslist job ad has been charged with multiple counts of aggravated murder, kidnapping and robbery and could face the death penalty if convicted, according to an indictment announced Friday.
The charges against Richard Beasley accuse him of killing three men and wounding a fourth in August, October and November.
Beasley, 52, of Akron, who has been jailed in Akron on unrelated prostitution and drug charges, has denied involvement in the Craigslist slayings. He was arrested in November after authorities linked him to the alleged plot.
Prosecutors would not speculate on a motive but Attorney General Mike DeWine, who joined in announcing the charges, said investigators are looking at “serial killings.”
“Are there more bodies? We frankly do not know,” DeWine said, appealing to people with any information about missing persons to come forward.
Also Friday, a judge determined that the case of a juvenile suspect mentored by Beasley will be moved out of the county where two slaying victims were found and another was shot but survived.
The decision to transfer the case of Brogan Rafferty to Summit County came after a hearing Friday afternoon, said Tonda Brown, Noble County Court Assignment Commissioner. She said the gag order in the case has also been lifted.
Messages were left with the Noble County prosecutor and Rafferty’s attorney in Noble County. The Summit County Prosecutor’s Office could not immediately comment, said spokeswoman April Wiesner.
Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh said the case of Beasley, with the nature of the crimes and the multitude of charges, was made for the death penalty.
“This case we view as to be one of the worst of the worst when it comes to horrible murder cases,” Walsh said.
Deaths spur probe of Novartis drug
LONDON (AP) — A European agency is investigating a multiple sclerosis drug made by industry giant Novartis to determine whether the medicine played any role in the deaths of at least 11 patients.
The drug, Gilenya, was licensed last year in the European Union to treat a severe type of multiple sclerosis. It can cause a slow heart rate when first taken and doctors closely monitor patients after the first dose.
The European Medicines Agency, which is now investigating the drug, said it isn’t clear if it caused the deaths. One of the fatalities occurred in the United States, where a patient died within 24 hours of taking the first dose.The European agency said it didn’t know where the other 10 deaths occurred, but that they were reported to its drug database, which monitors side effects from medicines in the European Union.
Novartis said not all the deaths were heart related.
A spokeswoman at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it also is conducting a data analysis but has not made any definitive conclusions and does not know when its review will be complete.
More than 30,000 patients have taken Gilenya worldwide. The European Medicines Agency advised doctors to increase their monitoring of patients after the first dose of the medicine. The agency said the risk of a slow heart rate after the first dose of Gilenya was known when it was approved.
Government ends Volt investigation
DETROIT (AP) — The government ended its safety investigation into the Chevrolet Volt on Friday after concluding that the Volt and other electric cars don’t pose a greater fire risk than gasoline-powered cars.
The agency began studying the Volt last June after a fire broke out in one of the cars three weeks after it was crashed as part of safety testing. Two other fires occurred later related to separate safety tests, and NHTSA opened an official investigation into the vehicle on Nov. 25. The agency and General Motors Co. know of no fires in real-world crashes.
GM and federal safety officials believe the fires were caused by coolant leaking from damaged plastic casing around the batteries after side-impact collisions. The coolant caused an electrical short, which sparked battery fires seven days to three weeks after the crashes.
GM announced earlier this month that it will add steel plates to approximately 12,000 existing Volts to protect the batteries in the event of a crash. The company has sold around 8,000 Volts and 4,000 are still for sale. GM is repairing the vehicles for free. NHTSA didn’t order the recall, as it sometimes does after a safety investigation.
GM said Friday that NHTSA’s decision to close the probe is consistent with the results of its own testing. It said the steel plates will provide additional protection and minimize fire risk in the days and weeks after a crash.
Muslim inmates settle meal suit
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A Muslim death row inmate has settled a lawsuit that accused the Ohio prison system of denying him meals prepared according to Islamic law while providing kosher meals to Jewish prisoners.
Ohio had previously decided to remove all pork products from prison menus in response to the lawsuit, though inmates weren’t seeking a ban on pork. Details of the settlement announced Wednesday weren’t released. The inmate’s lawyer would not comment. JoEllen Smith, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said no policy changes have been made regarding food preparation.
Both sides anticipated making the settlement final in about 45 days, according to an order dismissing the lawsuit by U.S. District Court Judge Michael Watson. State prison officials said they have not made any policy changes. The state argued as recently as last month that providing the meals, known as halal, could bankrupt the state’s food service system because thousands of inmates have declared themselves Muslim.
Death row inmate Abdul Awkal argued in his lawsuit that the prison system’s failure to provide halal meals was a restraint on his religious freedoms.
Awkal, joined by a second Muslim inmate not on death row, said the vegetarian and non-pork options offered by the prison system weren’t good enough. The inmates said food must be prepared in a specific fashion to conform to Islamic beliefs, such as butchering an animal by slitting its throat and draining its blood.
Awkal, 52, is scheduled to die in June for the slayings of his estranged wife, Latife Awkal, and brother-in-law Mahmoud Abdul-Aziz in 1992, in a courthouse room in Cuyahoga County where the Awkals were taking up divorce and custody issues.
Joining Awkal in the lawsuit was Cornelius Causey, 35, serving 15 years to life for murder and aggravated robbery convictions out of Hamilton County.
Ohio argued that it provides both non-pork and vegetarian meals to Muslims and says the courts have sided with this practice. The state also says that providing halal meals could hurt Ohio financially, given the current budget situation.
“Once one Muslim’s request for a Halal diet is granted (or ordered to be granted), all other declared Muslims will want the same accommodation,” Assistant Attorney General Ryan Dolan argued in a Dec. 16 court filing.
