Utah: Artifacts defendant claims jewelry is legal
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — One of the two dozen defendants caught up in a Four Corners bust of artifact trafficking says he can’t be prosecuted for a collection of ancient jewelry he found on private land.
Brandon Laws will appear in federal court in Salt Lake City Tuesday as his lawyer asks a judge to toss out charges of theft and trafficking.
His attorney, Mark J. Gregersen, says prosecutors have offered no evidence that the artifacts Laws offered a government informant — bone and shell necklaces and accessories — came from tribal lands as an indictment alleges.
The Blanding, Utah, man has been held by federal authorities since April for violating terms of his lease on the looting charges — he was more recently arrested on suspicion of methamphetamine possession.
Arkansas: Dunn seeks to pin beauty queen’s slaying on Jones
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (AP) — A man accused in the 2005 slaying of a beauty queen in Russellville says in court papers that another man committed the killing and used a TV show to devise his method.
A jury deadlocked in May when Gary Dunn was tried for the murder of Arkansas Tech student Nona Dirksmeyer. A second trial for Dunn is scheduled for January. Dirksmeyer’s boyfriend Kevin Jones was acquitted of the slaying in 2007.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that Dunn has asked a judge to allow a jury to watch an episode of the TV show Forensic Files because it has “striking similarities” to how Jones acted around the time Dirksmeyer was killed.
Prosecutors have not responded to the motion. Parties in the case can’t discuss it because a judge issued a gag order.
Washington: Pregnancy-murder trial beginning in Tri-Cities
KENNEWICK, Wash. (AP) — Jury selection began Monday in Kennewick in the aggravated murder trial of a woman accused of killing a pregnant woman and cutting the baby from her womb.
If the 25-year-old Lao immigrant, Phiengchai Sisouvanh Synhavong (PEE’-en-chay SIS’-oo-vahn SIN’-ha-vahng), is convicted she would be sentenced to life in prison.
She has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the 2008 stabbing of Camacho Gomez in a Kennewick park.
The baby boy survived and is living with his father.
The trial in Benton County Superior Court is expected to take three weeks.
Arkansas: 3 charged in 2005 slaying of woman in Hot Springs
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) — Authorities have charged three people in the 2005 slaying of a woman in Hot Springs, and one of the suspects already faces capital murder charges over the deaths of five people in Pearcy last year.
The Sentinel-Record in Hot Springs reports that 24-year-old Samuel Conway, his brother 35-year-old Detric Conway and a woman, 23-year-old Dominic N. Hobson, are charged with capital murder for the killing of 50-year-old Mary Anderson.
Samuel Conway and another suspect are charged with the Pearcy slayings.
Detric Conway and Hobson have entered not guilty pleas to Anderson’s slaying. Samuel Conway is awaiting a mental evaluation and has not made a court appearance yet to answer his latest murder charge. All are in custody.
Iowa: Man dials wrong number in alleged threat
CHARLES CITY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say no charges will be filed against a man who allegedly called in a threat to the Floyd County Courthouse in Charles City by mistake.
Floyd County Sheriff Rick Lynch told the Globe Gazette that the man called Monday afternoon, but he dialed the wrong number. The man was actually in Cresco and was trying to call the Howard County Courthouse.
Lynch says precautions were taken at the Floyd County Courthouse until officials determined the man was outside the Howard County Courthouse.
Lynch said officials in both counties have dealt with the man in the past and he has some “anger issues.”
Mississippi: Defendant in pair of robberies sentenced
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A man who testified against his half brother in the shooting of a Jackson police officer has been sentenced for his role in the crimes leading up to the 2008 incident.
The Clarion-Ledger reports Cornelius Black earlier had pleaded guilty to brandishing a firearm in the commission of a violent crime and being a felon in the possession of a weapon as part of a plea agreement.
Black was sentenced last Friday in federal court in Jackson to 84 months for brandishing a firearm in the commission of a violent crime and 43 months for being a felon in possession of a firearm. The sentences are to run consecutively.
Authorities say Antonio Turner and Black held up a title loan company and a fast-food restaurant in July 2008, then wrecked their car as Officer Dewayne Collier chased them.
Authorities say Turner shot Collier when he approached their vehicle. The wounded officer was pulled out of his vehicle, and Turner drove away in the police car. Both were later apprehended.
Last month, a federal jury convicted Turner of armed carjacking and using a weapon in the commission of a violent crime. He was convicted of charges relating to the robberies in an earlier trial. Black testified against Turner.
Turner faces up to life in prison. He will be sentenced Nov. 12.
Indiana: Teen sentenced for terrorizing girls on school bus
VALPARAISO, Ind. (AP) — An 18-year-old man convicted of terrorizing girls on a northwestern Indiana school bus has been sentenced to four years in prison.
A Porter County judge ordered the sentence Monday for Ashley Toney on his convictions of sexual battery and other charges.
Toney cried during the court hearing, but declined a chance to speak. His mother told the judge that Toney was just 17 when the crimes happened and she feared he would become a hardened criminal in prison.
Prosecutors said Toney was the ringleader with two other boys in the attacks in which he exposed himself and repeatedly fondling two girls on the Portage school bus during the 2008-09 school year.
