At a Glance ...

SBM sets ‘Supreme Summer Seminar’

The Negligence Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan will present its “Supreme Summer Seminar” at the MSU Management Education Center in Troy on Thursday, August 8, from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

The event will cover recent Supreme Court decisions.

Cost is $75 for members and $95 for non-members (includes membership).  Fees include a light dinner. The center is located at 811 W. Square Lake Road in Troy.

To register or for additional information, call 517.627.8700 or e-mail neglawsection@comcast.net.

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Handyman says he won’t change his plea

DETROIT (AP) — A handyman who said he was coerced into strangling a suburban Detroit woman says he’ll stick by his guilty plea.

Joseph Gentz was transported to the Wayne County courthouse after telling a judge that he wanted to withdraw his guilty plea to second-degree murder. But within minutes and after a reprimand, he changed his mind Wednesday and was returned to prison.

Judge Vonda Evans told Gentz, “This is not a game.”

Gentz, 49, has admitted killing Jane Bashara at her Grosse Pointe Park home in 2012. He says he was forced to do it by Bashara’s husband, Robert Bashara.

Gentz is considered to be a key witness in the murder case against Bashara, who’s awaiting a hearing to determine if there’s enough evidence for a trial.

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Charges filed against boy after break-in

SOUTHFIELD (AP) — Prosecutors have filed felony charges against a 12-year-old Oak Park boy arrested following a late night bank break-in.

The Detroit News recently reported the boy faces charges of breaking and entering and malicious destruction of a building. He’ll be arraigned in Oakland County Circuit Court’s juvenile division but no date has been set.

Officers found the boy inside Bank of America branch early one recent morning  after an alarm alerted the bank’s security company.

A window was broken and the boy’s bicycle also was found near the front door in Southfield north of Detroit.

Police say he had coin rolls and a small amount of cash from the bank.

Prosecutor Jessica Cooper says the case might include the boy’s parents and could involve the court taking “jurisdiction” of him.

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Man pleads not guilty in Deen extortion plot

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A New York man pleaded not guilty in federal court Tuesday to charges of trying to extort embattled celebrity cook Paula Deen.

Court documents show Thomas George Paculis of Newfield, N.Y., appeared in Chatham County Superior Court to enter his not guilty plea.

An indictment filed July 10 in U.S. District Court in Savannah charges Paculis with trying to extort $200,000 from Deen in exchange for keeping quiet about allegedly damaging remarks she had made in the past.

Details on what Deen’s alleged remarks were, and the relationship between Paculis and Deen, were unclear.

The attempted extortion case took form after Deen’s culinary empire began crumbling in response to her acknowledgement in a deposition that she had used racial slurs in the past.

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