Connecticut team wins regional Legion crown
BRISTOL, Connecticut — Connecticut state champion RCP (Rocky Hill, Cromwell and Portland) became the first team to win back-to-back American Legion Northeast Regional baseball titles in 23 years Sunday.
RCP (32-5) defeated Bristol, Connecticut, 5-0 in the championship game, avenging a 3-2 loss to the host team a day earlier.
RCP advances to the American Legion World Series that begins this week in Shelby, North Carolina.
Maine champion Coffee News of Bangor finished 1-2 during its second consecutive appearance at the Northeast Regional but did not play either of the finalists.
Ex-NFL star Hernandez wants double-murder indictment thrown out
BOSTON — Lawyers for former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez, who is serving a life sentence for killing an acquaintance in 2013, have filed a motion to quash a separate double-murder indictment, according to court filings unsealed on Monday.
In a motion filed in July, Hernandez’s defense team says law enforcement officials sought a search warrant based on information from Carlos Ortiz, a friend of Hernandez, who failed a lie detector test following his statement to police.
Prosecutors allege that in July 2012, Hernandez followed Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado from a downtown Boston nightclub in an SUV after de Abreu bumped into him and spilled his drink. The prosecution says Hernandez retrieved a revolver from his vehicle and fatally shot the two men while their car was stopped at a red light.
“The affidavit supporting the issuance of that search warrant relied extensively upon information provided by Carlos Ortiz,” lawyers wrote in the motion. “The affidavit deliberately omitted the fact that Ortiz failed a polygraph examination administered at the conclusion of his police interview.”
Hernandez was sentenced in April to life in prison for the fatal June 2013 shooting of Lloyd Odin, a semiprofessional football player who had been dating his fiancee’s sister. Ortiz, who prosecutors say was with Hernandez when he killed Odin, has also been charged in Odin’s death.
Ex-Dolphins assistant coach Turner suing Wells for defamation
Former Miami Dolphins offensive line coach Jim Turner plans to file a defamation lawsuit against Ted Wells after losing his job for being implicated in the 2014 bullying scandal report.
Turner is filing a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Wells, the NFL’s lead investigator, and his law firm, Paul Weiss of New York, seeking damages for defamation, according to ESPN.com.
The Dolphins fired Turner and head athletic trainer Kevin O’Neill after Wells’ report was released in February 2014 that detailed the actions of guard Richie Incognito and others that led to tackle Jonathan Martin walking away from the team in 2013.
Turner, who served as Miami’s offensive line coach for two seasons, believes that Wells’ report on the Dolphins negatively and perhaps permanently altered his ability to land another NFL coaching job.
In the lawsuit, Turner alleges that the NFL commissioned Wells and Paul Weiss to write a report that would placate the public and assign blame to certain individuals such as Turner, while the law firm was well-paid and well-positioned for future work on NFL cases such as the one that turned out to be Deflategate, according to ESPN.
Turner’s attorney, Peter Ginsberg, believes that Turner was falsely accused of helping create an atmosphere that allowed bullying and harassment to happen.
Turner’s name appeared several times in the Wells report. According to the report, Turner tolerated and even participated in the harassment of Miami players, lied to investigators and repeatedly attempted to convince Martin to publicly defend Incognito.
Mets activate OF Cuddyer, keep rookie Conforto
The New York Mets activated outfielder Michael Cuddyer from the disabled list on Monday and sent third baseman Eric Campbell to Triple-A Las Vegas.
The Mets chose to option Campbell rather than rookie outfielder Michael Conforto.
Cuddyer, 36, missed three weeks with a bruised knee, and the Mets apparently plan to platoon him with Conforto, who was in the starting lineup Monday against the Colorado Rockies.
Conforto, 22, is hitting .222 (8-for-36) with one homer, eight RBIs and 11 strikeouts in 11 games, but the 2014 first-round pick also has .326 on-base percentage and a .714 OPS.
Campbell was hitting .179 with three home runs and 19 RBIs in 61 games with the Mets this season.