Alabama
Lack of jurors forces delay in double murder trial
OZARK, Ala. (AP) — A judge rescheduled the trial of an Alabama trucker charged with murder in the killings of two teenagers in 1999 after too few jurors showed up for the start of the case.
Dale County Circuit Court Judge William H. Filmore delayed the trial of Coley McCraney, 48, in a one-sentence order issued Tuesday, records showed.
Only 75 of 250 prospective jurors showed up for the start of jury selection on Monday, and that number was quickly reduced for reasons including a large amount of publicity about the killings and McCraney’s arrest. WTVY-TV reported. With too few people from which attorneys could select a jury, the judge called off the trial until next year.
J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett, both 17, disappeared after heading out for a party in southeastern Alabama on July 31, 1999. Their bodies were found the next day in the trunk of Beasley’s black Mazda along a road in Ozark, with each teen shot in the head.
The case sat for decades without an arrest until police hired a company to run crime scene DNA through an online genealogy database. McCraney, who has pleaded not guilty, was arrested in 2019 after authorities said they had found a match with genetic material found at the crime scene.
Colorado
Democratic state lawmaker faces voting charge
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — An El Paso County grand jury has indicted Democratic state Sen. Pete Lee, chair of the chamber’s judicial committee, on one count of voting outside the district where he resides in 2020, in violation of state law. Lee vigorously denies the charge, an attorney for the lawmaker says.
The Aug. 3 indictment was first announced Tuesday by the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office led by Republican District Attorney Michael Allen.
It alleges Lee, whose formal name is Sanford Edmund Lee, “voted giving false information” about his place of residence during the presidential primary on March 3, 2020, The Colorado Sun reports.
Lee declined comment on the charge, saying he’d just learned about it. But he said he’d requested to be removed from interim committees on judicial discipline and behavioral health in the criminal justice system “to avoid having my personal circumstances become a distraction,” according to a statement.
David Kaplan, an attorney representing Lee, said in a statement the charge “will be vigorously challenged.”
The felony charge carries a possible penalty of one to three years in prison and a possible fine of up to $100,000. An initial hearing in El Paso County court was set for Sept. 8.
Lee is not seeking a second term in November’s election after being elected to represent his El Paso County district in 2018. He previously served in the House.
Ohio
High court upholds project to build Lake Erie wind farm
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A company can proceed with plans to build what will be the first freshwater offshore wind-powered electric-generation facility in North America, in Lake Erie off the coast of Cleveland, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
At issue is the 2020 approval by the Ohio Power Siting Board of the project by Icebreaker Windpower, which proposed the six-turbine development about 10 miles north of Cleveland.
Residents of the Cleveland-area village of Bratenahl sued to stop the project, arguing the siting board didn’t have enough evidence to determine the project’s environmental impact and that the project doesn’t serve the public interest as defined in Ohio law.
The court ruled 6-1 that the board had multiple studies before it that found a low impact on birds and bats. The court also said the board properly determined the project would have “a minimal impact” on the public’s ability to enjoy Lake Erie.
A message was left with an attorney representing the residents who sued.
The U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a 2019 environmental assessment that found no significant environmental concerns.
Louisiana
Man initially given life without parole in 2 murders freed
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A Louisiana man convicted of the 1979 killing of his roommate and another friend is being released after 42 years in prison, his life sentence without possibility of parole recently commuted by a state board.
The Louisiana Board of Pardons and Parole voted 2-1 on Monday to release David Chenevert, who had agreed to the life sentence when he pleaded guilty in 1981 to stabbing Michael Brown and Evelyn McIntyre. The board’s decision came after a nearly 90-minute hearing, during which the victims’ relatives testified. Almost all of them spoke against releasing him.
Chenevert, 64, said he and his wife, whom he married while incarcerated in 2001, plan to settle far away from his hometown of Baton Rouge.
The son of a Baton Rouge police lieutenant, Chenevert cried as board member Sheryl Ranatza cast the deciding vote, with Pearl Wise voting in favor of his release and Bonnie Jackson opposing it, The Advocate reported.
Chenevert agreed to restrictions that include his leaving Louisiana and not returning without permission from a parole officer.
“You’ve done harm, you’ve healed yourself, and now you’re healing others,” Wise told Chenevert, who appeared at the meeting via a video conferencing web feed from the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.
Chenevert was 21 when he stabbed Brown, 26, and McIntyre, 18. Investigators said he was angry over missing drug money. He surrendered days later.
He avoided the death penalty in a plea deal, pleading guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in exchange for life without the possibility of parole.
The state Board of Pardons and Parole voted 4-1 to commute his sentence after a December hearing, citing his good conduct, participation in several rehabilitation programs, a low risk-assessment score and “demonstrated growth through service to others.”
On Monday, Chenevert described himself as a devout Christian.
“I am not the devil,” Chenevert said. “I am the face of rehabilitation.”
He directly apologized to the relatives of Brown and McIntyre.
“I am sorry for the pain and hurt I’ve put in each of your families,” he said.
Judy Poche, Brown’s wife, said the reason she was able to move on after the killings was because prosecutors promised years ago that Chenevert would never walk free outside prison walls.
McIntyre’s family has remained forcefully opposed to Chenevert’s release. Her sister, Joan Guy, said she felt let down by the system that promised her parents, now both deceased, that Chenevert would stay behind bars for life.
“They didn’t tell my parents this would happen. This is not what they wanted. It’s not what they agreed to,” she said.
In addition to leaving Louisiana, Chenevert will be required to complete 20 hours of community service every month and is barred from contacting the victims’ families.
