A Pennsylvania man is behind bars for allegedly taking a clothes iron and burning 60% of his girlfriend’s body because he thought she was cheating on him.

Burton L. Byrd proceeded to hold the woman captive in their Pittsburgh appointment from Saturday to Tuesday, not allowing her to leave to seek medical attention, a probable cause arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime said. When he did release the alleged victim, he told her to make up a story about being assaulted near a Wendy’s and threatened to hurt her family if she spoke the truth, according to the affidavit.

More from Law&Crime: ‘Hanging down his face’: Man rips out stranger’s eyeball after victim asks ‘how are you doing’ while walking past him, police say

Pittsburgh cops responded to the hospital around 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday about a report of a possible domestic violence situation. The woman told police she and Byrd were at their apartment on Saturday when he accused her of infidelity.

“He figured he would punish me,” she told cops.

Byrd allegedly forced the woman to strip naked and tied her hands together with shoelaces. He began beating her with a belt and punching her in the face, cops said. Officers noted the woman had bruising around her eye and broken blood vessels in her right eye, suggesting she had been struck several times in the face.

A Michigan man who accidentally left his 3-year-old son to die inside of a hot car for several hours last summer may, in the end, avoid significant jail time altogether, a judge ruled this week.

In January, Chad Martin, 36, pleaded guilty to one count of leaving a child in a vehicle causing death.

On Thursday, the judge overseeing the case sentenced Martin to spend nine months in the Kalamazoo County Jail — with two favorable conditions. First, the sentence is delayed to start until February 2026. Second, the judge also scheduled a conference for December of this year that could lead to the sentence being jettisoned entirely.

Regardless of his time behind bars, however, the defendant was sentenced to three years of probation that began this week.

A group of young boys in Georgia, ages 12 to 15, are facing charges for allegedly dumping hot water on one of their “friends” in a sleepover prank gone wrong, according to police and the victim’s family.

“You got to be in shock to know your friends are capable of doing this to you,” the victim‘s aunt, Nachelle Austille, told local NBC and ABC affiliate WALB. “Like somebody you trusted. It’s just horrible. He never thought something like this would happen to him.”

Tiffany West, the victim’s mother, told the local station that her son, age 12, was at a sleepover at one of their neighbor’s apartments in Tifton — about 180 miles south of Atlanta — when his friends allegedly set upon him.  It’s unclear when the sleepover occurred as West is choosing to keep certain details private.

She says hearing about what happened to her son, who suffered second-degree burns on most of his face, upset her deeply.

A Florida father will reportedly spend the next two decades behind bars after he and his wife left their 18-month-old daughter in a car in the middle of the Sunshine State’s scorching hot summer.

Joel Rondon, 34, pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter of a child in the death of his daughter last year and was sentenced Friday by Judge Jalal Harb, according to Tampa Fox affiliate WTVT. Joel Rondon tested positive for methamphetamine, marijuana, and alcohol, while his wife Jazmine Rondon tested positive for both marijuana and alcohol. They left the toddler overnight after returning home from a Fourth of July party.

Rondon reportedly said he felt “shattered and scarred” by his daughter’s death, with Harb having harsh words for him at the sentencing.

More from Law&Crime: ‘My daughter really is dead’: Distraught dad hammers mom’s ‘negligence’ after 3-year-old allegedly dies from 100-degree heat in SUV filled with empty alcohol bottles

“One of the most impressive facts of this case is that you decided to go back to the vehicle to retrieve your cigarettes, and you didn’t notice your child there,” the judge reportedly said. “This is not a question and you’re done talking. You failed that child then, and you continue to fail that child now.”

Jazmine Rondon, 34, also is charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child and is awaiting trial.

As Law&Crime previously reported, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release that the Rondon’s attended the celebration in Lakeland with their three children, ages 8 years, 6 years, and 18 months old. The family arrived home at about 3:00 a.m. on July 5th, 2023, after both parents had consumed alcohol and smoked marijuana during the course of the party, the release states.

Upon their return, Jazmine Rondon instructed her husband to bring the toddler inside while she took the other two children into their home. Joel Rondon said the car door they used to access the child’s car seat was opened at that time. He then brought a few things inside and went back out where he observed that all four doors of the car had been closed. Assuming his wife had retrieved their daughter, Joel Rondon got into bed with his wife and went to sleep.

BRIDGEPORT, Calif. — The Bureau of Land Management will be temporarily closing the Travertine Hot Springs in Mono County from 4 p.m., Wed., Oct. 30, to 4 p.m., Wed., Nov. 6, for use by a local Tribe. The public lands described in this order will be closed to all forms of public access, including but not limited to, vehicular, pedestrian, and camping activities.  

“The Travertine Hot Springs has a long history intertwined with the cultures and people of the region,” said Sherri Lisius, Bishop Field Manager. “We ask that visitors to the area respect the privacy of the local Tribe throughout the duration of this important closure and find other areas to recreate during this time.”

The closure area begins at the existing gate near the junction of the access road to the Hot Springs and Jack Sawyer Road. It also includes any other roads and trails that provide access to the Hot Springs. The public can review this map for the full closure area. 

The gate on the access road to the Hot Springs will be locked. All access points will be signed with the closure order. Visitors are encouraged to visit Mono County or California National Conservation Lands for alternative recreational opportunities in the area.

BLM California is committed to managing federal lands and waters in a manner that seeks to protect the treaty, religious, subsistence, and cultural interests of Tribal Nations; that such management is consistent with our nation-to-nation relationship; and fulfills our unique trust obligation to Tribes and their citizens.

More information is available from the BLM Bishop Field Office at 760-872-5000 or BLM_CA_Web_BI@blm.gov.

An argument about a bottle of hot sauce in Colorado elicited a fiery and ultimately fatal rage over the weekend that left one man dead and another behind bars, police in the Mile High State say.

George Vigil, 19, stands accused of one count of murder in the second degree, the Denver Police Department said in a relatively sparse press release issued on Monday afternoon.

Several aspects of the case are shrouded in mystery, but, in the end, someone the defendant knows was stabbed to death, according to an affidavit of probable cause obtained by Law&Crime.

A Kansas home day care provider is accused of burning her foster child in a hot bath and hitting him hard enough to cause bruising.

Ija Monae Hall, 29, faces a child abuse charge after the boy suffered second-degree burns last week, authorities said. She was arrested on Monday at the Child Advocacy Center, The Wichita Eagle reported.

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Ethics

Judge’s hot tub social media post makes waves with judicial conduct commission; she quotes Cardi B in response

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 1, 2024, 11:42 am CST

A Las Vegas judge is facing ethics charges partly for a social media photo of herself sporting a bikini while in a hot tub with public defenders.

Clark County, Nevada, Judge Erika Ballou is facing a Jan. 24 misconduct complaint filed by the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline. The document cites the hot tub post as well as a second post complaining about an early court calendar.

The hot tub post used a slang word for breasts, while the second post used an expletive in a hashtag.

The New York Post, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, KLAS and Law & Crime have coverage.

The misconduct complaint has specifics on the social media posts:

  • In April 2022, Ballou posted on Facebook a photo of herself in a hot tub with two public defenders—one man and one woman. Referring to the male public defender, Ballou said he was “surrounded by great tits.”

  • While attending the Life is Beautiful music festival in September 2021, Ballou posted on Instagram: “Life is STILL beautiful, despite the fact that Billie Eilish doesn’t START for 30 minutes and I have a 8:30 calendar tomorrow.” The Instagram post carried the hashtag #VacateTheShitOuttaOutofCustodyCases.

Ballou apparently responded to the controversy last weekend in a Facebook post that quoted lyrics from rapper Cardi B, according to KLAS.

“Went from makin’ tuna sandwiches to makin’ the news,” Ballou posted. “I started speakin’ my mind and tripled my views.”

The misconduct complaint alleges that both posts violate ethics rules requiring judges to act in a way that promotes public confidence in the judiciary; requiring them to comply with the law, including the judicial ethics code; and providing that judges participating in extracurricular activities should not act in a way that appears to undermine their independence and integrity.

The hot tub post also violates ethics rules banning judges from conveying the impression that others are in a position to influence them, the ethics complaint alleges. And the Billie Eilish post also violates ethics rules requiring judicial duties to take precedence over personal activities, according to the complaint.

Ballou became a district judge in January 2021. She was previously criticized for telling a Black defendant accused of battery against a police officer that he should stay away from officers.

“You know you don’t want to be nowhere where cops are ’cause I know I don’t, and I’m a middle-aged, middle-class Black woman,” she said. “I don’t want to be around where the cops are because I don’t know if I’m going to walk away alive or not.”

Ballou had explained that she supports law enforcement, but she tries to communicate with defendants “in a manner that is straightforward and understandable.”

Ballou did not immediately respond to an ABA Journal voicemail and email seeking comment. She also did not reply to requests for comment from publications covering the ethics charges.