News Roundup

Published for NC Criminal Law on January 19, 2018.

A disturbing case of child abuse has received widespread national news coverage this week.  As the L.A. Times reports, David and Louise Turpin of Perris, California, were charged with multiple felony counts of torture and child abuse after it was discovered that the couple had held their thirteen children captive for years and subjected them to unimaginable mistreatment.  On Sunday, one of the children escaped the family home through a window and called 911, alerting authorities that she and her siblings had been beaten, starved, shackled, and forced to live in unsanitary conditions.  Bail has been set at $12 million for each defendant.  Keep reading for more news. Nassar.  From one shocking case of abuse we turn to another: the sentencing hearing for Larry Nassar, the former Michigan State physician who for decades sexually abused female gymnasts under the guise of medical treatment.  Nassar pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct charges involving seven victims, but more than one hundred women are expected to testify at the sentencing hearing, which may stretch into next week.  The stories of those who already have spoken have been moving and wrenching; an article from the Washington Post recounts some of the testimony.  The revelations about Nassar’s conduct have raised serious questions about the responses from both Michigan State and USA Gymnastics to various allegations against Nassar over the course of many years. Naloxone for APD.  The Asheville Citizen-Times reports that an Asheville teenager, Peter King, has raised $3,600 which he plans to use to buy [...]