Mississippi
Woman sentenced to 10 years for failed murder-for-hire plot
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi woman who pleaded guilty to trying to hire a hitman to kill her ex-husband was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
U.S. District Judge Carlton W. Reeves handed down the sentence Monday. The sentence against Jessica Leeann Sledge, 40, of Pelahatchie in the unsuccessful murder-for-hire scheme also included a fine of $1,000 and three years of supervised release following her release from prison.
Sledge declined to make a verbal statement during her sentencing hearing. Her attorney, John Colette, said his client was a first-time offender with a “zero chance of recidivism.” Through his office, Colette declined to provide The Associated Press with an additional statement.
U.S. Attorney David Fulcher said the crime was premeditated and recommended the court give the maximum 10-year sentence that was offered as part of a plea deal.
“The premeditation of this ... Ms. Sledge knew (this murder) was going to take place,” Fulcher said.
Sledge pleaded guilty to using interstate commerce facilities in the commission of a murder-for-hire, said U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca and Jermicha Fomby, a special agent with the FBI’s Jackson field office.
Between September 2021 and November 2021, Sledge used the internet, her cellphone and a messaging app to hire a person she thought was an assassin. But the person was an undercover FBI agent, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney’s Office.
On Nov. 1, 2021, Sledge met in Brandon with the person she thought was the assassin to provide payment and information about her intended victim. According to previous testimony, Sledge was attempting to kill her ex-husband, WLBT-TV reported. He escaped the incident unharmed, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. After her arrest, Sledge waived her rights and admitted to her role in the plot.
Judge Reeves said the planning of the crime justified his sentence.
“What we have here is a methodical plan to kill her husband,” Reeves said. “All of that is very troubling to the court and the law itself.”
Reeves said the court would recommend Sledge complete her sentence at the Federal Bureau of Prison’s women’s facility in Aliceville, Alabama.
West Virginia
Cities, counties reach $400M settlement with drug firms
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia cities and counties reached a $400 million tentative settlement with three major U.S. drug distributors, lawyers announced Monday.
In a lawsuit in state court, the cities and counties accused the distributors of fueling the opioid epidemic. The companies are AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson.
The funds will be distributed over 12 years.
“This is a monumental settlement for the state of West Virginia, and it’s been a battle that’s been waged by a lot of families, a lot of communities,” Wheeling attorney Bob Fitzsimmons told news outlets. “A lot of bad things have happened as a result of the opioid epidemic.”
Fitzsimmons and Huntington attorney Paul Farrell Jr. said the individual counties and municipalities still must approve the settlement.
Lauren Esposito, vice president of external and executive communications for AmerisourceBergen, said the settlement will avoid years of litigation and help get resources to areas affected by opioid misuse, as well as make sure health care facilities are able to access medications that patients and providers need, news outlets reported.
Cardinal Health said in an emailed statement, “We remain committed to being a part of the solution to the opioid epidemic and believe this settlement agreement will help provide necessary relief to West Virginia communities in need.”
McKesson did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Monday.
Last month, a federal judge ruled against Cabell County and Huntington in similar claims. They are not included in the settlement announced Monday and plan to appeal the ruling that rejected most arguments made against the drug companies.
Washington
Murder charges dismissed against man in false-confession case
SEATTLE (AP) — Prosecutors have dismissed a first-degree murder charge against a Seattle man jailed for over two years after falsely confessing to strangling his girlfriend, who died in a Central District stairwell from an apparent drug overdose, according to the man’s defense attorneys.
Leo Driver, who has a severe mental illness, was clearly in a “deluded state” when he went to the police department in 2020 and confessed to killing his girlfriend, Elisabeth Wright, who was found dead over five years earlier, Driver’s lawyers, Amy Parker and Tracy Kolpa, said Friday.
Senior Deputy Prosecutor Don Raz filed a motion to dismiss the murder charge after reviewing Driver’s statements to police and determining the state could not prove he killed Wright, court records show, the Seattle Times reported.
Superior Court Chief Criminal Judge Karen Donohue dismissed Driver’s murder charge the next day and ordered his release from jail, the records say.
The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said in a statement that it was “unable to prove a homicide occurred to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt and, as a result, we were legally and ethically bound to dismiss the charges.”
“It’s not your typical false confession case,” which usually result from coercion, said Parker, who noted it’s difficult for prosecutors to stop pursuing murder charges after they’ve been filed and commended Raz “for doing the right thing.”
New Mexico
Man convicted in death and dismemberment of young girl
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A man was convicted Monday in the 2016 death of an Albuquerque girl who was strangled, dismembered and set on fire in the bathtub of her mother’s apartment on her 10th birthday.
The jury deliberated less than four hours before returning with guilty verdicts on all charges Fabian Gonzales faced in the death of Victoria Martens. He was charged with reckless child abuse resulting in death, tampering with evidence and conspiracy to tamper with evidence.
Prosecutors said Gonzales faces up to 43 1/2 years in prison when he is sentenced.
Gonzales, now 37, had moved into the girl’s mother’s apartment a month before the girl’s death on Aug. 23, 2016. Prosecutors during the trial argued that although Gonzales didn’t kill Victoria, he set in motion a series of events that created a dangerous environment that ultimately led to the girl’s death.
Gonzales was also accused of helping his cousin, Jessica Kelley, dismember the girl, set her remains on fire and clean the crime scene in an attempt to conceal the death.
Kelley, 37, testified that she was high on methamphetamine at the time. She reached a plea agreement with prosecutors on charges that included reckless child abuse resulting in death in exchange for testifying at Gonzales’ trial. She was sentenced earlier this year to 44 years in prison.
The girl’s mother, Michelle Martens, 41, pleaded guilty to one count of intentional child abuse resulting in death in a 2018 plea agreement. Her sentencing was delayed until the conclusion of Gonzales’ trial and prosecutors have said she is expected to get 12 to 15 years in prison.
During the investigation, police determined that Martens and Gonzales were not home when Victoria was killed and arrived later that night.
Defense lawyers tried but failed to convince jurors that Kelley was solely responsible for the girl’s death and dismemberment. Gonzales had allowed Kelley to stay at the Martens’ apartment shortly after Kelley was released from prison.
“I would tell you, this is not a complicated case, it’s actually fairly easy to solve. But emotion can overwhelm that,” Stephen Aarons, Gonzales’ attorney, said in his closing argument. “There is an urge to flush anyone and everyone remotely connected down the toilet.”
Aarons said the verdict will be appealed.
Gonzales tested positive for COVID-19 last week and appeared virtually at his trial for two days.
He returned Monday to hear the verdict from a plexiglass box inside the courtroom.
Texas
Man going on trial in 2008 slaying of 2 daughters
DALLAS (AP) — A man who evaded arrest for more than 12 years after being accused of fatally shooting his two teenage daughters in a taxi parked near a Dallas-area hotel was going on trial this week.
Testimony was scheduled to start Tuesday in the capital murder trial of 65-year-old Yaser Said, who is accused of killing 18-year-old Amina Said and 17-year-old Sarah Said on New Year’s Day in 2008. Said, described by relatives and friends as controlling and abusive, faces an automatic life sentence if convicted.
Prosecutors haven’t made any comments on what motivated the killings, though police documents show that before the teens were killed, their mother had fled with them to Oklahoma because they feared Said. According to a police report, a family member told investigators that Said at one point had threatened “bodily harm” against one of his daughters for dating a non-Muslim.
In a letter written to the judge overseeing the case, Said said he was not happy with his kids’ “dating activity” but denied killing his daughters.
The sisters were shot multiple times in the Dallas suburb of Irving. Sarah Said managed to call 911 using a cellphone, telling the operator that her father shot her and that she was dying.
Yaser Said, sought on a capital murder warrant since the slayings, was placed on the FBI’s most-wanted list. Said, who had worked as a taxi driver, was finally arrested in August 2020 in Justin, about 35 miles (58 kilometers) northwest of Dallas.
His son, Islam Said, and his brother, Yassim Said, have since been convicted of helping him evade arrest.
According to an affidavit for an arrest warrant filed just after the slayings, the teens’ mother told police that Said had threatened her and the teens before, and had recently threatened to kill the whole family.
Tennessee
Hearing set for 2 teens in pastor’s killing
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A hearing has been set for two youths who may be charged as adults in the carjacking and fatal shooting of a United Methodist Church leader in Memphis, Tennessee.
A Juvenile Court judge on Monday set a Sept. 12 hearing for two 15-year-old boys charged with first-degree murder, carjacking and other offenses in the slaying of the Rev. Autura Eason-Williams.
Eason-Williams was found in her driveway with multiple gunshot wounds on July 18. Video footage showed that the pastor was ordered out of her car and then shot before the vehicle was taken, police said.
Shelby County district attorney Amy Weirich is pursuing adult charges against the two teens. The Juvenile Court judge will decide at some point whether the teens should be transferred to adult court.
A 20-year-old man also has been charged in the killing, which shocked members of the United Methodist Church in Memphis and elsewhere.
Eason-Williams was superintendent of the Metro District of the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference of the United Methodist Church. She also was the pastor of Capleville United Methodist Church and a graduate of the Memphis Theological Seminary.
