State Roundup

Briley Township Police: Montmorency Co. death likely homicide BRILEY TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) -- Police say the death of a 62-year-old man who was found at his northern Lower Peninsula home is being investigated as an apparent homicide. The Alpena News and WWTV/WWUP report the body of Terry Allen Lee was found Sunday by an acquaintance who had went to his home in Montmorency County's Briley Township. Police say they found evidence to suggest that Lee was the victim of a homicide. Lee's pickup truck was found parked about a mile away from his home. Police believe Lee may have been killed by someone who knew him. Additional details about the case weren't immediately released. Police were seeking tips from the public in the investigation. Jackson Lawyer: Bizarre circumstances surround beheading JACKSON, Mich. (AP) -- A defense lawyer says a man charged in the death of a 59-year-old Jackson woman whose beheaded body was found in her apartment likely didn't understand what happened. The Jackson Citizen Patriot reports Tuesday that lawyer Jerry Engle's written request to send 46-year-old Leo Kwaske for psychiatric evaluation said circumstances surrounding Shirley Meeks' slaying were "bizarre." Engle wrote that Meeks' head was found in Kwaske's apartment in the same building. Police haven't said where it was found.ack Kwaske is being held at the Jackson County Jail after being evaluated Monday at a state facility. He's charged with felony murder, mutilation of a dead body and first-degree home invasion. Records show Kwaske has a history of mental illness. Meeks' body was found Oct. 15, about 70 miles west of Detroit. Fowlerville New suspect sketches released in 1990 cold case FOWLERVILLE, Mich. (AP) -- A cold case team investigating the disappearance of a Lansing-area woman last seen in Livingston County 21 years ago has released three new suspect sketches. Authorities say the sketches released Monday in the investigation into Paige Renkoski's disappearance were developed from several recent tips. They're based on tips from a now-retired Michigan State Police intelligence officer and two separate travelers. The cold case team says it's optimistic about prospects for solving the case. The 30-year-old Okemos woman was driving home from Detroit Metropolitan Airport when she disappeared in May 1990. Police have ruled the case a homicide even though her body hasn't been found. Searches using ground-penetrating radar took place earlier this year. Ann Arbor Myanmar human-rights activist to get Mich. award ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- The University of Michigan is honoring a human-rights activist in Myanmar with the Wallenberg Medal, an award named for the Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Jews during World War II. The recipient is Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of a democracy movement in Myanmar, a Southeast Asian country formerly known as Burma. Myanmar is the subject of wide-ranging trade, economic and political sanctions from the U.S. and other nations. Suu Kyi will not be in Ann Arbor on Tuesday night to get the Wallenberg Medal but will give a videotaped speech from Myanmar and answer questions. She is a Nobel Peace laureate and was under house arrest until last year. Raoul Wallenberg was a 1935 University of Michigan graduate. The Wallenberg medal has been given annually since 1990. Ann Arbor Research team led by U. Mich. gets $8M grant ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- The National Science Foundation is giving $8 million to a university consortium led by the University of Michigan to improve methods for data-sharing among researchers working in sustainability. The university announced Monday that the grant goes to its School of Information and affiliated programs at Indiana University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Sustainable Environment-Actionable Data program will use social networking technologies to spur connections among scientists. A website and user workshops will extend the project's reach. The team will work with scientists in sustainable land use, water quality, urban planning and agriculture in the upper Great Lakes and Mississippi River Basin. Muskegon Man charged with murder in fellow parolee's death MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) -- A 34-year-old man with multiple criminal convictions has been charged with open murder in the strangulation death of a woman at a Muskegon home. The Muskegon Chronicle reports Christopher Wallace was arraigned Monday on the murder count as well a habitual offender charge. Bond was denied. A hearing was scheduled for Nov. 3. The body of 37-year-old Jennifer Phillips was found Friday. Police responded to a call from someone concerned for her well-being. It wasn't immediately clear if Wallace had an attorney. Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague says Phillips and Wallace were in the home as part of a program for parolees. Phillips was paroled in August after serving time for electronically sending pictures of herself having sex with children. Wallace was sentenced to prison for a 2005 rape. Clinton Township Man charged in rape, robbery headed to trial CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) -- A convicted burglar is facing trial in the rape and robbery of an 80-year-old woman in her suburban Detroit apartment. Twenty-nine-year-old William Porter Harrison III was in a Clinton Township court Monday as the woman testified. She said Harrison told her he needed money for ransom for his daughter who had been kidnapped. The woman also said he raped her as she yelled for him to take her things and leave. In court earlier this month, Harrison said, "I don't know what I was thinking." Defense attorney Richard Glanda said Monday the admission will have to be dealt with. The woman was attacked Sept. 13 at the Heritage Estates senior citizens' complex in Clinton Township. A Macomb County Circuit Court hearing has been set for Nov. 7. Muskegon Man who admitted to polygamy out of jail MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) -- A western Michigan man who pleaded guilty to polygamy has been freed from jail now that he's shown the court that he's no longer violating the law. The Muskegon Chronicle reports that 35-year-old Richard Barton Jr. was sentenced Monday to 12 days in jail, which he has already served. His bond was revoked last week because he failed to show evidence that he had divorced at least one of his two wives. The court now has the proof it sought: a divorce granted last month from the Rhode Island woman Barton wed in 2004 and an annulment granted from the woman he married in July 2010 in Muskegon. Detroit Execs admit guilt in auto parts price-fixing case DETROIT (AP) -- Two executives from a Japanese auto parts maker have admitted in a U.S. court that they conspired to fix prices of parts their company sold to auto companies, which may have raised car prices. Furukawa Electric Co. is to pay a $200 million fine, which the Justice Department said last month is among the largest it has won. Employees Junichi Funo, 41, and Hirotsugu Nagata, 46, told a federal judge in Detroit Monday that they helped to set prices on automotive wiring harnesses that Furukawa sold to car manufacturers in the U.S. and other countries in a scheme the government said dates back more than a decade. The harnesses are groups of wires that link electronic controls to everything from brake lights to transmissions. Nagata agreed to a 15-month prison term, while Funo agreed to one year and one day. Each will pay a $20,000 fine. The men will be sentenced Jan. 11 by Judge George Caram Steeh. They both agreed to testify against other companies the government contends were involved in the scheme. The other companies were not identified during Monday's court hearing, and prosecutor Kathryn Hellings would not comment. The company and a third executive also have settled federal charges against them and are expected to enter pleas in November. Prosecutors have said the price-fixing probably raised car prices for consumers, but just how much is unclear. An industry analyst said last month that auto companies probably were overcharged hundreds of millions of dollars. Nagata and Funo both said during the hearing that they met with competitors to fix prices and rig bids on the harnesses. In court documents signed by both men, the government said it is investigating violations of federal antitrust laws in the sale of the harnesses and sensors that detect the angle of a car's steering. The government alleges the conspiracy dates to January of 2000. Published: Wed, Oct 26, 2011