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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Judge says state mistreating mentally ill inmates

From Wire Reports

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A federal judge ruled Thursday that California’s treatment of mentally ill inmates violates constitutional safeguards against cruel and unusual punishment through excessive use of pepper spray and isolation.

U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton in Sacramento gave the corrections department 60 days to issue updated policies on the use of both methods but did not ban them.

He offered a range of options on how officials could limit the use of pepper spray and isolation units when dealing with more than 33,000 mentally ill inmates, who account for 28 percent of the 120,000 inmates in California’s major prisons.

The ruling came after the public release of videotapes made by prison guards showing them throwing chemical grenades and pumping large amounts of pepper spray into the cells of mentally ill inmates, some of whom are heard screaming.

Little known about stabbing suspect

PITTSBURGH – The 16-year-old boy accused of stabbing 22 people at his high school was dazed “like a deer in the headlights” hours later and doesn’t fully grasp what he did, his attorney said Thursday.

Deepening the mystery of what set off the violence, attorney Patrick Thomassey said Alex Hribal had no history of mental illness or troublemaking, didn’t abuse drugs and was no outcast at school, where the lawyer described him as a B or B-plus student.

The local prosecutor, meanwhile, said Hribal remained an enigma.

“We have very little information about him,” Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck said, “except for the fact that he was a student, his age, and how he was as a student.”

Hribal was jailed without bail on four counts of attempted homicide and 21 counts of aggravated assault.

Driver in day care crash in custody

WINTER PARK, Fla. – A manhunt across Florida ended Thursday with the surrender of a driver blamed in a crash at a day care that injured 14 and killed a 4-year-old girl.

Robert Alex Corchado turned himself in and was charged with leaving the scene of a deadly accident almost 24 hours after the KinderCare facility in Winter Park was torn open in the wreck. Police say Corchado, 28, of Winter Park, crashed his Dodge Durango into a convertible, which in turn smashed into the KinderCare building.

Woman throws shoe at Hillary Clinton

LAS VEGAS – A woman was taken into federal custody Thursday after throwing a shoe at Hillary Clinton as she began a Las Vegas convention keynote speech.

The incident happened moments after Clinton took the stage before an Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries meeting.

Clinton ducked, and she did not appear to be hit by the object. She then joked about it.

“Is that somebody throwing something at me? Is that part of Cirque de Soleil?” Clinton quipped.

Many in the audience of more than 1,000 people in a large ballroom laughed and applauded as Clinton resumed her speech.

“My goodness, I didn’t know that solid waste management was so controversial,” Clinton said. “Thank goodness she didn’t play softball like I did.”

Brian Spellacy, U.S. Secret Service supervisory special agent in Las Vegas, said the woman was being questioned and would face criminal charges.