Court Round Up

Arkansas: 2 men charged with murder face December trial
FORT SMITH, Ark. (AP) — Two Fort Smith men accused of killing an Oklahoma man are scheduled to go on trial Dec. 6.

Sebastian County Circuit Court Judge James Cox ordered two days be set aside for the trial of Quincy Plessy and Jamal Gibson, who are charged with first-degree murder in the death of Thomas X. Clayton of Poteau, Okla.

Investigators say Clayton was shot 10 times then was thrown from a vehicle.

Cox also set an Oct. 8 pretrial hearing and gave attorneys an Aug. 27 deadline for filing all motions.

The defendants remained in the Sebastian County jail on $750,000 bond.

Plessy’s attorney, Barry Neal, didn’t immediately return a call Sunday seeking comment. Gibson’s lawyer, John Joplin, couldn’t be reached for comment.

New Mexico: Widow of homicide victim sues over debt
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — The widow of a California man who was killed along with a New Mexico couple in their home last April is suing a man who was involved in a legal battle with the victims over an estimated $1.3 million debt.

Helga Harries DeLisle, her husband Gilles L. DeLisle and San Diego resident Peter J. Weith were shot and killed April 14 in the DeLisles’ secluded home near Mesilla.

The bodies were found the following morning when they did not show up for a court hearing on the money they were owed.

No suspects have been named in April’s slayings.

Weith’s widow, Barb Weith, has re-filed paperwork in federal bankruptcy court to recoup the money she says her husband was owed by Gino Ferri of Las Cruces and his mother Carol Ferri.

California: Fourth family member arrested in Calif. shooting
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A fourth family member has been arrested in connection with the May shooting death of a 29-year-old man at a Sacramento motel, according to authorities.

Brandy Lee Mays, 30, was being held in a Las Vegas jail after police arrested her Friday, said Sacramento County Sheriff’s spokesman Tim Curran.

Her three brothers were arrested Thursday.

Kenyatta Mays, 18, Lorenzo Jesus Mays, 27, and Demetrius Wayne Mays, 30, were being held without bail in Sacramento County Jail on suspicion of murder in the fatal shooting of Marcel Hatch on May 8.

Records show all three brothers were due to be arraigned Monday, though a jail official could not say if they had retained attorneys.

Investigators said the four members of the Mays family were passengers in a vehicle belonging to 25-year-old Charles Antonio Williams when he confronted and shot Hatch at a motel. Williams and Hatch had a disagreement the day before.

Sacramento County authorities were working with Las Vegas police to have Brandy Lee Mays returned to Sacramento, where she will also face a murder charge, Curran said.

Williams was arrested on May 11 on suspicion of murder. He is being held in Sacramento County Jail without bail, where he also faces charges in an unrelated child endangerment warrant from 2008, according to court records.

Records show after the case was continued several times, Williams was ordered to return to court Sept. 21.