Mississippi: Youth court response to TV station case
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Attorneys for the Forrest County Youth Court say Judge Mike McPhail acted properly in preventing WDAM-TV in Hattiesburg from broadcasting a videotape allegedly showing abuse of six juveniles at the county youth detention center.
The Hattiesburg American reports that Youth Court Prosecutor Pamela Castle said in court documents that WDAM wanted to broadcast the videotape “because of the sensation.”
In briefs filed Tuesday by Castle and the Forrest County Sheriff’s Department, officials told the Mississippi Supreme Court that WDAM had obtained the videotape from a disgruntled former detention center employee and had not gone through proper channels to get permission to broadcast the video.
The Supreme Court has not ruled in the case.
WDAM-TV contends it should be allowed to broadcast video that it says shows abuse at a local juvenile detention center. WDAM asked the Supreme Court on Jan. 13 to lift the ban on its broadcast ordered by McPhail.
WDAM, which said privacy will be protected, argued in court papers that McPhail’s order prevents it from broadcasting “truthful information of public significance.”
The Supreme Court has allowed about three dozen media organizations — including The Associated Press — to file briefs in support of WDAM.
WDAM has reported that a former employee of the detention center said the video shows juveniles being abused by guards. The station has reported that the sheriff’s office confirmed firing one guard accused of beating a juvenile in 2009, though so far no charges have been filed in the case.
The station says neither the youth court nor the state has shown any reason to stop WDAM’s use of the video.
Castle told the Supreme Court that WDAM had the ability to broadcast the tape before the court took any action, but chose not to do so.
“The right of the press to report the story was not restrained and no damage resulted,” Castle said. “WDAM was simply interested in airing the video footage for the sensation that it might create and not for any other reason.”
Castle said the court took action on Dec. 30, based on the “intent of Youth Court Law, the 24 hour news cycle in which we live ... the New Year’s extended holiday weekend, and more importantly, an attempt to prevent the irreparable harm that would have occurred if WDAM or any other media organization broadcast the juvenile records.”
Attorney Jimmy Dukes Jr., who filed a separate brief for the sheriff’s office, said the TV station had no intention of following the law and getting permission from the court to air the videotape.
“Clearly, the (TV station) and other network media believe they have unbridled authority to publish whatever comes into their hands irregardless of the law,” Dukes wrote.
Dukes also noted that McPhail “did not prohibit the publication of a story or discussion of the tapes and therefore the public was made aware” of the alleged beatings at the detention center.
Arkansas: Former trooper senten ced to 30 years in prison
TEXARKANA, Ark. (AP) — A former Texas state trooper has been sentenced to 30 years in prison in Arkansas after being convicted of a variety of crimes — including molesting a 14-year-old girl.
Forty-five-year-old Travis Eugene McRae was sentenced Monday in Miller County Circuit Court in Texarkana, Ark.
McRae was arrested in May after police found his identification inside a home where the girl said she was awakened from sleep by a man who disrobed and molested her. Police later found McRae hiding in a pond in Clark County.
He was convicted of sexual indecency with a child, residential burglary and theft of property.
The Texas Department of Public Safety has said McRae was a trooper in Bowie County for four years before resigning in 1990. He was convicted in 1991 in Texas of sexual indecency with a 13-year-old girl.
Indiana: Sheriff, attorney want judge to set class for suit
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — A northern Indiana sheriff says his jail violated inmates’ rights to go before a judge within 48 hours and he wants a judge to approve who’s affected by a class-action lawsuit.
Allen County Sheriff Ken Fries and attorney Christopher Myers agree in court papers filed last week that the class should cover everyone arrested during certain weekend hours over more than two years ending last March 20.
Myers represents LeTasha Myatt in the case alleging the Fort Wayne jail violated her Fourth Amendment rights when she was arrested in September 2009 and held for more than 48 hours without a judge reviewing her case. Allen County judges now hold weekend hearings for such cases.
Mississippi: Convictions in murder for hire case upheld
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld the convictions of two men in a plot to kill Grenada County District Attorney Doug Evans.
Charlie Gavin and Charles McCullough were convicted in 2009 in U.S. District Court in Jackson. They were each sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld their convictions Tuesday.
Prosecutors say Gavin and McCullough were inmates at the Federal Correctional Complex in Yazoo City when the plot was discussed from December 2007 to May 2008.
Prosecutors say Gavin agreed to pay a supposed hit man $22,000. McCullough passed on the supposed hit man’s number to a woman who called and gave him instructions. The supposed hit man was an undercover FBI agent.
West Virginia: Former attorney gets pr obation for billing fraud
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. (AP) — A former Martinsburg attorney who pleaded guilty to participating in an overbilling scheme will spend five years on probation.
Media outlets report that 32-year-old Heidi J. Silver also must pay $292,617 in restitution. She was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Martinsburg.
Silver was accused of overbilling for cases in which she was in a court-appointed attorney. She had pleaded guilty in April 2010 to aiding and abetting mail and wire fraud.
Silver, formerly Heidi J. Silver Myers, has been divorced since she was indicted. Her attorney, Andrew Arnold, says she now lives in northern Virginia and works for a government contracting business.
Co-defendant Nancy P. Burkhart is awaiting sentencing for perjury.
