Close to 1,000 Vermonters turned out at protests Friday afternoon and evening in Bennington, Brattleboro, Burlington, Montpelier and Rutland — denouncing the decision and calling for Vermont to further protect abortion rights.
The girl’s mother and a teenage companion are accused of being accessories in a violent altercation last month.
Marcus Lorensen, 18, is accused of trying to stab his mother’s boyfriend, Dennis Burnell Sr., with a knife during an argument that started at their home on Saturday night.
A Bennington Superior Court judge said the woman intentionally and maliciously tortured the dog by shooting it twice.
The eight opioid deaths recorded in Vermont in March, which all involved fentanyl, were down from 12 in February and 23 in January, according to the latest state data — but state health officials cautioned it’s far too early to talk about a trend.
Seven local residents were named to the board, even as the town considered legislative options to expand the citizen group’s oversight of the Bennington Police Department.
Superior Court Judge Cortland Corsones said the prosecution hasn’t proven “by clear and convincing evidence” that the teenager’s release poses a threat of violence to others and to herself.
The girl’s public defender said she’d been incited by her mother to participate in the alleged assault and otherwise didn’t pose a threat of violence to others.
The state has placed juveniles in jails when a New Hampshire facility that contracts with the Department for Children and Families had no room. But reform advocates say adult detention facilities have proven harmful to children and should be removed as an option for them.
The remains of Jessica Hildenbrandt, 43, were discovered near an abandoned gravel pit in Searsburg in September 2019 and identified as those of the New York woman a year later. Deven Moffitt pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder on Friday.
