National Roundup

Arkansas
Trial opens for judge after son’s death in hot car
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) — Jury selection has started for an Arkansas judge charged with negligent homicide after his 18-month-old son died after being left in a hot car last summer.

Wade Naramore is charged in the July 2015 death of Thomas Naramore. Because of pretrial publicity, clerks summoned a larger number of potential jurors Monday.

Naramore faces up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. His lawyer has said the boy’s death was “a tragedy but not a crime.”

The judge stopped hearing cases after his son’s death, with special judges stepping in to hear cases.

His lawyers asked Monday that jurors not be shown autopsy photos, saying they weren’t pertinent to the case.

Texas
Businessman gets nearly 6 years in disabled veteran scam
SHERMAN, Texas (AP) — A Dallas-area businessman must serve nearly six years in prison for stealing a disabled veteran’s identity and using the information to seek $2.7 million in government contracts.

Sean Page was sentenced by a federal judge in Sherman. Prosecutors on Monday announced the penalty for the 45-year-old Frisco man, who in February was convicted of theft of government property and two counts of aggravated identity theft.

Page was awarded more than a dozen federal contracts by stealing the name and Social Security number of a disabled vet. Investigators say Page used the information to falsely claim his business was eligible for military contracts meant for veteran-owned companies.

Page was paid nearly $1.3 million in government funds as part of the scam.

He was sentenced to 69 months behind bars.

Utah
Lawyers want bail hearing for man accused in husband’s death
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Lawyers for a Utah man who could face the death penalty in the house-fire death of his well-known restaurateur husband are making a push for a judge to set bail.

Defense attorney Jim Bradshaw also asked a judge Monday to order authorities to hand over key evidence in the case before a bail hearing. The judge didn’t immediately grant the request.

Prosecutors say 47-year-old Craig Crawford set the fire and then watered the plants outside while his trapped husband called for help. Authorities say 72-year-old John Williams died of smoke inhalation in May.
Williams was an LGBT pioneer in Utah who owned the popular Market Street Grill and other restaurants.

His niece Laura Forsgren says his death was horrific and the family hopes Crawford isn’t released.

Prosecutors haven’t decided whether to seek the death penalty.

New Hampshire
Prosecutors: Mom beat toddler to death after she wet herself
NASHUA, N.H. (AP) — A woman accused of beating her 3-year-old daughter to death was angry that the girl wet herself and had gone into the kitchen in search of food, prosecutors said Monday in opening statements at her trial.

Katlyn Marin, 27, is charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter in the death of Brielle Gage. Her lawyer said someone else killed Brielle.

Prosecutors said the Nashua woman assaulted Brielle several times during Thanksgiving week in 2014 and Brielle died shortly after being rushed to a hospital. An autopsy determined she died of blunt-force injuries.
Prosecutors said the girl had bruises from head to toe and suffered over 50 injuries, WMUR-TV reported.

“She inflicted this brutal and cruel attack on her 3-year-old daughter because Brielle wet herself at night and because Brielle went to the kitchen looking for food,” Assistant Attorney General Patrick Queenan said. “Instead of consoling Brielle in the middle of the night, the defendant became enraged and attacked Brielle, delivering blow after blow.”

Prosecutors had said Marin felt strong hostility toward Brielle, telling police the child “was going to be with me forever because of her problems, because she’s delayed.” Marin told police she was going to “die an old lady” with her daughter, prosecutors said.

Marin’s lawyer, Justin Shepherd, has argued that her former boyfriend might have been responsible for the toddler’s death. He said Monday that the question isn’t whether a homicide was committed, but by whom.

The trial is expected to last 10 days. Marin opted for a bench trial, meaning a judge will decide her guilt or innocence.


Maryland
Inmate charged in cellmate’s beating death
JESSUP, Md. (AP) — Maryland State Police say they’re charging an inmate in his cellmate’s beating death at the maximum-security Jessup Correctional Institution in Jessup.

Troopers announced in a statement Monday that 37-year-old Johnnie Sellers is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and assault in the death of 58-year-old Glenn Smith.

Police say Smith was last seen uninjured before cells were locked for the night on Jan. 17. The next morning, his cellmate, now identified as Sellers, told a correctional officer that Smith was hurt. Smith died three days later.

Police say Smith’s death was ruled a homicide, from multiple blunt force injuries.

Smith was sentenced in 2002 to life for rape, burglary and other offenses. Sellers has 31 years left on a 35-year sentence for two counts each of carjacking and first-degree assault.

Texas
Educator placed more than 120 ads seeking sex
SHERMAN, Texas (AP) — Records show a Dallas-area elementary school principal calling himself “daddy” placed more than 120 online advertisements seeking sex with young males.

Oscar Figueroa of Carrollton on Aug. 1 was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for trying to solicit sex from someone he thought was a 16-year-old boy.

Prosecutors later released documents on the case. Some of the solicitation ads were posted when the 47-year-old Figueroa traveled to Waco, Austin and San Antonio.

Figueroa was principal of Viridian Elementary School, in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District, when he was arrested last summer at a Frisco mall. Authorities say Figueroa thought he was meeting a boy.

Figueroa resigned amid the undercover investigation that led to his April conviction for attempting to coerce and enticement of minors.
He’s appealing his sentence.