In the news
■ Tony Spell, a church pastor in Central, La., said no “dictator law” should keep people from worshipping God and declared the coronavirus “politically motivated,” as he held services attended by hundreds despite a state public-health ban on gatherings of more than 50 people.
■ Lea Piazza, 28, later apologized but is facing several charges, including false public alarm, after police said she persisted in coughing on officers in Hanover, N.J., and falsely told them she had the coronavirus as they processed her paperwork on charges of driving while intoxicated.
■ Quanterrious Gray, 16, of Calhoun City, Miss., was charged as an adult with capital murder after a man who had been shot several times drove himself to a hospital where he died in the emergency room, police said.
■ Brandon Burt, 19, of Suwanee, Ga., faces a third-degree arson charge after police at the University of South Carolina Upstate in Spartanburg identified him as the only suspect in about 20 fires set on the campus since early February.
■ Travis Pace, a Corpus Christi, Texas, police spokesman, said a man taken into custody after a foot chase is now facing murder and assault charges after one woman was killed and another wounded in a shooting on St. Patrick’s Day in an Irish pub.
■ Christian Kight, 29, of San Clemente, Calif., was sentenced to nearly eight years in federal prison after pleading guilty to hacking into an Atlanta company and trying to extort money in exchange for the return of the company’s intellectual property, prosecutors said.
■ Lewis Robbins, interim police chief of Meridian, Miss., called the shooting of Chancery Judge Charlie Smith outside a courthouse “personal” and an “isolated” incident, as investigators work to identify a suspect and a hospitalized Smith recovers from his stomach wound.
■ Alfonso Guzman, accused of sneaking into a woman’s dormitory room at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge to film her without her permission as she undressed, was charged with simple burglary and video voyeurism, authorities said.
■ Thomas Intagliata, 56, of St. Louis, who was tracked by police to his home and arrested after a brief foot pursuit, faces federal bank robbery charges after being accused of holding up three St. Louis-area banks over a five-week period beginning on Feb. 11, prosecutors said.