Ex-prof convicted of assault gets new trial
NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey appeals court has overturned the conviction of a former Rutgers University professor who was found guilty of sexually assaulting a disabled man she said consented to the relationship by communicating on a keyboard.
The court also ruled Friday that Anna Stubblefield should get a new trial with a new judge. The three-judge panel found the trial judge erred by barring testimony from an expert witness for the defense.
Stubblefield, who once chaired Rutgers-Newark’s philosophy department, testified at trial that she and the man fell in love after she was brought on by his family to help him communicate. But prosecutors said Stubblefield used her position to take advantage of the then-29-year-old man, who has cerebral palsy and can’t speak.
Stubblefield was convicted in 2015 and sentenced to 12 years in prison. It was no ordinary day at the beach Saturday in Ludington, Mich., as a recordbreaking 1,387 people simultaneously made sand angels for 30 seconds. The feat, verified by a Guinness World Records judge, far surpassed the 350 people who made sand angels for 15 seconds two years ago in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Participants in the event along Lake Michigan, dubbed “Be Someone’s Angel,” were asked to donate $20 to a Ludington hospital’s cancer center. Mediterranean Sea on Saturday during a rescue operation that saved more than 1,000 others who were attempting the dangerous crossing to Europe, according to a Spanish aid group.
Laura Lanuza, spokeswoman for Spain’s Proactiva Open Arms, said that while two migrants perished in international waters off the Libyan coast, the Spanish aid group and five other humanitarian organizations saved 1,058 migrants after intercepting several smugglers’ boats.
Lanuza said that in addition to the two deaths, another two migrants were in critical condition.
The Golfo Azzurro, Proactiva Open Arms’ converted fishing trawler, pulled 243 migrants from two smugglers’ boats. That group included one baby, a pregnant woman and several children.