California: Man accused of running meth lab in aunt’s home
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A California man has been charged with running a methamphetamine lab in the living room of his bedridden, 87-year-old aunt.
Orange County prosecutors says 52-year-old Thomas George Hogue is his aunt’s caretaker and the woman was confined to a room in another part of the Anaheim home.
The woman’s granddaughter telephoned the Anaheim Police Department on Monday because she hadn’t heard from her grandmother for three months. Officers making a welfare check discovered the meth lab and arrested Hogue.
Prosecutors say Hogue has been charged with manufacturing methamphetamine, elder abuse and dependent adult abuse, all felonies. If convicted, he faces up to eight years in prison.
The elderly aunt is now in the care of another family member.
Mississippi: QB Favre’s sister arrested in drug raid for meth
DIAMONDHEAD, Miss. (AP) — The arrest of Vikings quarterback Brett Favre’s sister during a drug raid in southern Mississippi isn’t the first time she’s been in trouble with the law.
Hancock County Sheriff’s Maj. Matt Karl said officers are “very familiar” with 34-year-old Brandi Favre.
“She’s always in trouble,” Karl said.
Brandi Favre was among five people arrested in the Diamondhead bust Wednesday and was charged with manufacturing methamphetamine and generating hazardous waste, Karl said.
“She happened to be there and she was arrested along with the others,” Karl said.
Two of the other suspects face the same charges as Favre. The other two were charged with sale of a controlled substance. And one of them also faces a charge of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.
About nine grams of the drug — worth about $1,000 — was recovered and hazardous materials teams had to clear the condo, Karl said.
The arrest was first reported by WLOX-TV in Biloxi, Miss.
Brandi Favre has been in trouble before.
In 1999, Favre, her sister-in-law and another woman were booked with felony shoplifting. In 1996, she was charged with unlawful use of a weapon in connection with a drive-by shooting at a motel in Slidell, La. At the time she was a student at Southern Mississippi, where Brett Favre played.
She completed a program in Louisiana that allowed her criminal charges to be erased.
Brandi Favre was in custody early Thursday and had an initial court appearance scheduled for later in the day.
California: Court questions overturning of Marine conviction
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) — The military’s highest court is questioning last year’s ruling by an appeals court that threw out the murder conviction against a Camp Pendleton Marine in the killing of an unarmed Iraqi man.
In a ruling late Tuesday, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in Washington agreed there were errors at the trial of Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III but they may not have been enough to overturn his conviction.
Hutchins was released last June after the military appeals court ruled he had an unfair trial in 2007 because his lead defense attorney was let go three weeks before the start of his trial.
Tuesday’s ruling opens the possibility that his conviction could be reinstated.
Hutchins spent four years in a military prison for the killing of a retired Iraqi policeman in 2006 in the village of Hamdania. Authorities say the 52-year-old man was dragged from his home and shot by Marines who then framed him as an insurgent.
Six other Marines and a Navy corpsman were convicted or pleaded guilty in the killing.
Hutchins’ attorney, Capt. Babu Kaza, says the case against his client is without merit. He said he will file a motion asking the higher court to reconsider sending the case back to the lower court.
If the conviction is reinstated, Kaza said they will appeal.
California: Wrongfully convicted man freed after 18 yrs
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A man wrongfully convicted of a San Francisco double-murder is now free after spending 18 years in prison.
A judge ruled last month that the prosecution’s now-dead key witness against Caramad Conley lied on the stand.
The 40-year-old Conley walked out of the San Francisco County Jail a little after 4 p.m. Wednesday and told the San Francisco Chronicle he was taking life one day at a time.
Prosecutors told Superior Court Judge Cynthia Ming-Mei Lee on Tuesday that key witnesses are dead or unavailable and they will not retry Conley for the killings of Roshawn Johnson and Charles Hughes.
Pennsylvania: 350 jurors sought for FBI agent shooting trial
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A federal judge has ordered 350 people to be summoned for the jury pool for the trial of a Pittsburgh-area woman charged with fatally shooting an FBI agent who came to arrest her husband on drug charges in a pre-dawn raid.
Christina Korbe, of Indiana Township, is scheduled for trial March 7.
Typically, juries for criminal trials are selected from pools of 40 to 60 people.
But Korbe’s alleged murder of FBI agent Samuel Hicks in November 2008 has prompted intense publicity which may make it more difficult to find impartial jurors.
North Dakota: Lawyer receives reprimand but not suspension
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — The North Dakota Supreme Court has ruled that a reprimand is sufficient punishment for a Fargo lawyer who missed a civil trial because of a personal scheduling conflict.
The state’s disciplinary board had recommended William Kirschner serve a 30-day suspension, saying he had declined to change travel plans to take care of family obligations so that he could represent two clients at trial. Kirschner instead had unsuccessfully sought a continuance in the case.
The state Supreme Court said there were several mitigating factors and that a reprimand was sufficient sanction. Among the factors justices cited was that Kirschner accepted responsibility for the scheduling error, showed remorse and cooperated with officials.
Kirschner still is required to pay the $3,600 cost of the disciplinary proceedings.
Those summoned will fill out lengthy questionnaires to help attorneys decide if they can fairly serve as jurors.
