Also on today’s menu:
Remington Insurers Settle With Sandy Hook Families
Threats Blamed On Overseas Service
Amanda Noverr, 34, of Logan, Utah, pleaded guilty to murder and other felonies in connection with the deaths of two people from Rumney, New Hampshire, who were found buried on a beach in South Texas in 2019. She received a 20-year sentence under her plea agreement with prosecutors.
Co-defendant Adam C. Williams, 35, also of Logan, is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to capital murder three months ago.
The Rumney couple, James Butler, 48, and Michelle Butler, 46, had been had been traveling in a motor home when they disappeared in October 2019.
Remington Insurers Settle With Sandy Hook Families
The insurance companies for the bankrupt Remington Arms have settled a lawsuit by families of five children and four adult victims in the December 14, 2012, shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, awarding $73 million. The settlement was based on the company’s marketing of the Bushmaster rifle to citizens while the plaintiffs called it a “combat weapon.”
The shooter, Adam Lanza, was able to purchase the weapon despite his history of mental illness because a background check by the gun dealer showed his criminal record as “incomplete” at the time of the sale. He was not placed on the list banning sales until after the shooting.
Gun manufacturers have been protected under a shield law that does not hold them liable for the actions of those who purchase the weapons, but the Sandy Hook case was able to proceed based on Remington’s sales pitch for the weapon. In one example provided to reporters, the company suggested that people should “report your friend for not ‘being a man’ because they didn’t own a Bushmaster.”
Threats Blamed On Overseas Service
A man who threatened to “lop off the head of the serpent in the heart of the nation” as well as several Secret Service agents says that his actions stem from having killed a child while serving in Afghanistan. Scott Merryman, 37, of Independence, Kansas, says he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of serving in the military.
Described as having a “decorated” career after enlisting in the Army at age 20, Merryman “inadvertently killed a young child who had been standing next to a Taliban fighter shooting an AK-47 at troops,” according to a letter from his court-appointed lawyers. A number of physical injuries also contributed to his mental health problems, they said.
Merryman’s mental health problems led to suicide attempts and marital difficulties that led his wife to kick him out of the house in December, a month before he headed to Washington DC with plans to assassinate the president. He remains in custody after his arrest in January.
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