Father of Nashville Waffle House shooter gets 18 months

PEKIN, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois man has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after being convicted of illegally giving his son an assault-style rifle he later used in a 2018 shooting that killed four people at a Waffle House in Tennessee.

A judge last May convicted Jeffrey Reinking of illegal delivery of a firearm to a person who had been treated for mental illness within the past five years.

Tazewell County Chief Judge Chris Doscotch, in sentencing the 59-year-old Reinking on Friday, gave him 90 days to prepare a likely appeal before he must report to begin serving his sentence, the (Peoria) Journal Star reported.

During Reinking’s bench trial, prosecutors argued the rural Morton, Illinois, man knew his son, Travis Reinking, had undergone mental health treatment in 2016.

In May 2016, police and fire personnel responded to a pharmacy parking lot in Morton where Travis Reinking told officers he believed singer Taylor Swift was stalking him and had hacked into his cellphone. Reports showed he was taken to a Peoria hospital for an evaluation afterward.

Jeffrey Reinking’s attorney, Kevin Sullivan, argued his client didn’t know his son had been treated for mental health issues at the hospital.

Death row inmate who acted as own attorney seeks new trial

NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee man on death row who was forced to act as his own lawyer is seeking a new trial, claiming multiple violations of his constitutional rights.

Howard Willis was sentenced to death in 2010 for the murders of teenage newlyweds, 17-year-old Adam Chrismer and 16-year-old Samantha Leming Chrismer, both of Chickamauga, Georgia. The boy’s head and hands were found by fishermen in Boone Lake in northeastern Tennessee in October 2002. The bodies of both teens were found a few days later in a storage unit rented by Willis’ mother in Johnson City.

Willis had nine lawyers before the judge ruled that he would have to represent himself, accusing him of sowing conflict with his attorneys in an effort to avoid a trial. Willis’ current attorneys say that characterization is unfair.

Representing himself at trial, Willis claimed that he was set up and that there was no evidence tying him to the murder weapon. The jury found otherwise and sentenced him to death.

In his bid for a new trial, Willis claims the original was unfair because he was forced to act as his own attorney and because he wasn’t afforded sufficient resources to defend himself, among other claims.

Many of the attorneys left the case for reasons that had nothing to do with Willis, such as conflicts of interest or the need to care for a seriously ill relative.

As for the other attorneys, Willis had legitimate complaints about their work, his new petition argues. One attorney spent only nine hours reading the discovery material in the case between his appointment at the end of May 2005 and his withdrawal three months later.

UT Chattanooga program aims to lessen nursing shortage

CHATTANOOGA (AP) — As the county and nation suffer from a nursing shortage, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is launching an accelerated nursing degree program to get more nurses in the field sooner.

UTC officials announced the accelerated bachelor of science in nursing degree program in a news release Monday. It will begin this fall.

The rigorous program is intended for those who already have bachelor’s degrees in any field and who want to transition into a nursing career, the news release said.

Capitol rioter guilty of stealing badge from beaten officer

A New York man pleaded guilty on Friday to stealing a badge and radio from a police officer who was brutally beaten as rioters pulled him into the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol over two years ago, court record show.

Thomas Sibick pleaded guilty to assault and theft charges for his role in the attack on Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson is scheduled to sentence Sibick on July 28. The judge allowed Sibick to remain free on bond until that hearing.

Estimated sentencing guidelines call for Sibick to receive a prison sentence ranging from a low of two years and nine months to a high of nearly six years, according to his plea agreement.

Rioters kicked, punched, grabbed and shocked Fanone with a stun gun after pulling him away from other officers who were guarding a tunnel entrance on the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace. Another rioter threatened to take Fanone’s gun and kill him.

Fanone’s body camera captured Sibick removing the officer’s badge and radio from his tactical vest during the mob’s attack, according to a court filing accompanying his guilty plea.

Others in the crowd escorted Fanone back to the police line. Before FBI agents showed him the body camera video, Sibick initially denied assaulting Fanone and claimed that he tried in vain to pull the officer away from his attackers.

Sibick said he buried Fanone’s badge in his backyard after returning home to Buffalo, New York. He returned the badge, but Fanone’s $5.500 radio hasn’t been recovered.