Shooting case stalled for mental exam

Shooting case stalled for mental exam

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.

The case against the man who acknowledges killing three people in an attack on a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic moves into a new phase while he awaits a mental-competency evaluation, ordered after he defiantly told a judge he wanted to fire his public defender and represent himself.

It could be months before Robert Lewis Dear, 57, is seen by a doctor at the state mental hospital who will determine whether he is capable of making that decision. And Dear promised to be uncooperative, saying he would refuse to answer an evaluator’s questions, even if it meant that a doctor would declare him incompetent and “administer the drug treatment and make me a zombie.”

‘Dangerous’ storms sweep southern US

HOLLY SPRINGS, Miss.

A storm system forecasters called “particularly dangerous” killed four people as it swept across the country Wednesday, and officials were searching for missing people into the night.

Tornadoes touched down in Indiana and Mississippi, where three were killed.

A tree blew over onto a house in Arkansas, killing an 18-year-old woman and trapping a 1-year-old child inside, authorities said. Rescuers pulled the toddler safely from the home.

Authorities in Mississippi did not have details of those dead after multiple tornadoes hit the state.

Fight goes on to rescind death ruling

SAN FRANCISCO

A Northern California mother’s two-year quest to have her brain-dead daughter declared legally alive moved to federal court Wednesday after attempts to secure an order from a state judge ended in failure.

Lawyers for the mother of 13-year-old Jahi McMath filed a lawsuit in San Francisco federal court asking that the girl be declared alive after state courts have refused to rescind the teen’s death certificate. McMath suffered cardiac arrest in December 2013 after a routine operation to remove her tonsils to cure her sleep apnea. Doctors say she suffered irreversible brain damage from lack of oxygen and declared her brain-dead.

Associated Press