Court Digest

North Carolina
Man who won $10(m) lottery prize sentenced to life in prison
BOLIVIA, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina man who won a $10 million lottery prize in 2017 has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the 2020 fatal shooting of his girlfriend.

The News & Observer reports that Michael Todd Hill, 54, of Leland, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced Friday in the killing of 23-year-old Keonna Graham of Navassa.
Graham was reported missing on July 20, 2020. She was later found dead in a hotel with a gunshot wound to the back of the head.

In a news release from the 15th Prosecutorial District of North Carolina, prosecutors said surveillance footage from the hotel showed Hill was the only person in the room with Graham.

They said Hill later confessed to shooting Graham after she had been texting with other men while at the hotel.

Hill won $10 million from a scratch-off ticket in August 2017, WECT-TV reported.

Kentucky
Militia leader guilty of pointing rifle at police
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The leader of a pro-gun group that has staged armed protests has been convicted of pointing a rifle at law enforcement while in Kentucky for a demonstration, officials said.

A federal jury found John F. Johnson, who goes by “Grandmaster Jay,” guilty on Friday on charges of assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement and brandishing a firearm during racial justice protests two years ago, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Sunday in a statement.

Court documents and evidence presented during the weeklong trial said Johnson pointed an AR-15 platform rifle and tactical flashlight at two federally deputized officers on a roof in downtown Louisville, the statement said. The alleged incident occurred the day before the Kentucky Derby, when hundreds of protesters peacefully marched to demand justice in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor by Louisville police.

Johnson’s group, known as the NFAC, has an all-Black membership and often demonstrates against white supremacy and police violence.

Johnson, 59, of Ohio faces at least seven years in prison when he is sentenced on Aug. 22, the statement said.

Washington
Trial delayed for Maryland man charged with storming Capitol
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has postponed for a trial for a Maryland man charged with storming the U.S. Capitol and breaking a window to enter the building during last year’s riot.

Nicholas Rodean’s bench trial was scheduled to start on June 3. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden rescheduled it for July 11.

Rodean waived his right to a jury trial. The judge will hear testimony without a jury before deciding the case.

McFadden already has presided over two bench trials for Capitol riot defendants, acquitting one and partially acquitting another.

Five other Capitol riot defendants have had jury trials. Jurors unanimously convicted all five of them of all charges.

A former U.S. Army reservist described by prosecutors as a Nazi sympathizer was the latest to be convicted after a jury trial. On Friday, jurors convicted Timothy Hale-Cusanelli of storming the Capitol to obstruct Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

Rodean, of Frederick, Maryland, was carrying a large red flag reading “Trump is My President” when he entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to the FBI.

Widely distributed photographs captured him standing next to Jacob Chansley, a shirtless Arizona man who called himself “QAnon Shaman” and wore a furry hat with horns.

Rodean was arrested less than a week after the riot. He is charged with seven counts, including engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds and destruction of government property.

Ohio
Man charged in slaying of customer in Walmart
HAMILTON, Ohio (AP) — A man accused of shooting a customer to death in an Ohio Walmart store while fleeing during an attempted theft is facing murder and other charges.

Fairfield Township police said 32-year-old Anthony F. Brown of Hamilton is charged with aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and a weapons count, and they said more charges may be filed.

Police said a man tried to steal items from the Fairfield Township store’s electronics department shortly before 8 p.m. Thursday. Police said two shoppers tried to stop him. The suspect pulled a gun and fired, killing one customer and seriously wounding an employee.

Police said the suspect was tracked to a Middletown hotel, where Brown was arrested after police said he jumped from a first-floor window and tried to run, dropping a handgun.

The Butler County coroner said Friday that 35-year-old Adam Black of Columbus was the man shot and killed. His ex-girlfriend, Jamie Redmond, told WSYX-TV that Black had moved to Cincinnati about a month ago, was expecting a baby with his fiance and was in the store shopping for furniture for their new home.

“Adam cared about people and that’s why he stepped into that situation because he wanted to do the right thing and he cared,” Redmond said.

Fairfield Township Police Capt. Doug Lanier called it “a very tragic incident.”

“I can’t even begin to fathom or speak for the people that were working here. Or shopping here when this occurred,” Lanier said.

During a court hearing Friday, a Butler County judge set bail for Brown at $5 million, an amount defense attorney Clyde Bennett II called excessive and unconstitutional. Bennett vowed to challenge the bail amount in the Butler County Court of Common Pleas and the 12th District Court of Appeals if necessary.

“We look forward to our day in court,” Bennett said. “He is presumed innocent and I am going to conduct my investigation and find out what evidence they have supporting the charges against hm.”

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Brown posted $200,000 bond in a separate armed robbery case about six months ago. County prosecutors said he is accused in the Oct. 23 robbery of a Minnicks Drive-Thru convenience store in Hamilton. Bennett is representing Brown in that case as well.

Florida
Gallery owner charged with peddling fake art
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A Florida gallery owner has been arrested on federal charges for peddling fake art pieces, claiming the cheap reproductions were in fact originals by Andy Warhol, Banksy, Roy Lichtenstein, Jean-Michel Basquiat and others, federal prosecutors said.

A complaint filed in South Florida federal court Thursday accuses Palm Beach art dealer Daniel Elie Bouaziz of mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering in his alleged scheme to sell forged copies of high-end art.

Bouaziz, a French citizen of Algerian descent, was ordered released on $500,000 bail after an initial hearing Friday. He has not yet entered a plea to the charges, according to court records. He could face many years in prison if convicted.

Bouaziz sold some of the forged art pieces for hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece, prosecutors said in a news release. An FBI criminal affidavit said undercover agents put $22 million down for several of the fake pieces.

Claiming to be an art expert and an official appraiser, Bouaziz appraised the inauthentic artwork he sold to the victims at an increased rate, the FBI affidavit said. To give one example, the FBI says Bouaziz bought a Warhol reproduction print for $100 and sold it for $85,000.

He operated two art galleries on Palm Beach’s famed Worth Avenue, one of the wealthiest places in the U.S.

“The FBI did not observe a single transaction in those accounts in which Bouaziz or his galleries purchased high-value artwork,” the affidavit says. “Bouaziz purchased low-cost reproductions from online auction sites that he then resold to unsuspecting victims, as originals, at drastically increased prices.”

And even those were low. For example, an original Andy Warhol painting would likely sell for millions of dollars. Bouaziz, according to the FBI, sold one of Warhol’s works called “Superman,” of which there were several versions, for just $25,000.

“I buy about 200 paintings in auction every year and I guarantee my stuff. I mean I am behind my stuff,” Bouaziz said in a conversation recorded by the FBI. “I’m not buying things that everybody has. That’s why you don’t see them in the other galleries.”

The affidavit does not say how many people were victimized. Bouaziz will have a plea hearing on June 15. No trial date has been scheduled. Bouaziz’s temporary attorney did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Saturday.

Missouri
Suspected serial killer charged  over 7th death
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A suspected serial killer already charged in six killings in the Kansas City and St. Louis areas has been charged with first-degree murder in a seventh death.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced the new murder charge Friday against Perez Deshay Reed. Baker also charged Reed with one count of armed criminal action and two counts of fraud involving a credit or debit device.

The most recent charges against the 26-year-old Reed, who lived in the St. Louis area, stem from the November 2021 shooting death of Stephon D. Johnson, of Kansas City, Missouri. The prosecutor’s office did not provide Johnson’s age.

Brian Horneyer, an assistant Missouri public defender in St. Louis representing Reed did not immediately return messages seeking comment left Saturday on his office phone and cellphone.

When law enforcement officers arrested Reed in nearby Independence on warrants from St. Louis County, they found a key on him that fit a deadbolt lock at Johnson’s apartment, Baker’s office said, citing court documents. Testing indicated DNA collected from an empty cigarillo package found in Johnson’s apartment was connected to Reed, Baker’s office said.

Baker’s office said the bullet found inside Johnson was fired from the gun that Reed had on him when he was arrested. Witnesses also told police that a man who had been a guest of Johnson’s was the “serial killer” from St. Louis whom they had seen on the news. They identified him by a distinctive, crescent moon-shaped tattoo on his forehead.

Reed remains in custody in St. Louis, and Baker’s office is asking that he be held on the new charges with no bond.

Reed is charged in the St. Louis County killings of 16-year-old Marnay Haynes on Sept. 13, 2021, and 40-year-old Lester Robinson on Sept. 26. He also is charged in the killings in St. Louis of 49-year-old Pamela Abercrombie on Sept. 16 and 24-year-old Carey Ross on Sept. 19. All four were shot in the head.

In Wyandotte County, Kansas, he is charged in the October 28-29 deaths of Damon Washington Irvin and Rau’daja De’Naya Farrow. Their bodies were found in separate apartments at a complex in downtown Kansas City, Kansas, authorities have said.

Johnson’s family reported him missing after they hadn’t seen him since Nov. 1, and officers found him dead in a closet in his apartment, shot in the back of his head.

Officers were tailing Reed on Nov. 5 when he got on an Amtrak train in Kansas City, Missouri, bound for St. Louis. They arrested him when he got off on the train’s first stop in Independence and boarded a bus.