Court Digest

Virginia
2 men convicted of hijacking tractor-trailer at gunpoint
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A federal jury has convicted two New York City men on multiple charges after they hijacked at 18-wheeler at a Virginia truck stop, a prosecutor said.

Stephen Pierre Paul, 30 and Wayne Ricardo Taylor, 26, were convicted of carjacking, armed robbery and possession of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, according to Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The verdict was returned last week and announced on Monday.

Court records and evidence show Pierre Paul, Taylor and co-conspirators went to a truck stop on April 1 and hijacked an 18-wheel commercial tractor-trailer, abducted the truck driver at gunpoint and forced him into their van.

The van and hijacked commercial truck were stopped at a roadblock on eastbound Interstate 66 at 5:15 a.m. in Fairfax County. The victim truck driver was rescued, and the defendants were arrested, according to a news release.
Pierre-Paul and Taylor each face up to life in prison when they are sentenced on March 11, the news release said. The two co-defendants will be sentenced for their roles in the next month, prosecutors said.

Missouri
Trial underway for wife in death of snake breeder
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri woman shot and killed her husband at his snake breeding business because she was the beneficiary of his $1 million life insurance policy, which would have helped her financially struggling spa business, a prosecutor said Monday.

Lynlee Renick is on trial for first-degree murder  in the June 8, 2017 death of her husband, Ben Renick. Prosecutors and the defense gave their opening statements on Monday.

She initially told police that her husband was crushed to death by one of his snakes at his breeding and sales business in New Florence, according to authorities.

After shell casings were found at the scene, investigators believed an intruder killed Ben Renick. His wife was not charged until January 2020 after an ex-boyfriend reported to authorities that she had killed her husband.

Defense attorney Tim Hesemann argued Monday that another of Lynlee’s Renick’s ex-boyfriends, Michael Humphrey, was responsible for Ben Renick’s death. He acknowledged Lynlee Renick was with Humphrey on the night of the killing but said she was not present when her husband was shot, KMIZ-TV reported.

Hesemann said on June 8, 2017, Lynlee Renick and Humphrey went to the snake farm to talk to Ben Renick about divorcing his wife. He said Lynlee Renick heard several shots as she was taking out the trash, KOMU reported.

Humphrey was convicted of first-degree murder in October. In a deal with prosecutors, the sentence will be reduced after he testifies against Lynlee Renick. He also led investigators to the weapon used in the killing.

Prosecutor Kelly King said in her opening statement that Lynlee Renick and Ashley Shaw, an employee at her spa, enlisted Humphrey to help with the killing.

King said Lynlee Renick didn’t want to divorce her husband because she thought he would take the couple’s children and because she was the sole beneficiary of his $1 million life insurance policy.

At the time he was killed, Ben Renick was in the process of selling his snake breeding business for an estimated $1.2 million.

Shaw testified Monday that she was aware of problems in the Renicks’ marriage and that the spa was in financial trouble. She said Lynlee Renick said divorce was not an option and asked her to help murder her husband.

Shaw said she provided Percocet that Lynlee Renick put in a milkshake and gave to her husband in a first attempt to kill him. After that failed, the two women enlisted Humphrey to help with the killing, she said.

Shaw reached a deal with prosecutors and was not charged in the murder.

California
Man charged in death of music icon’s wife
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Prosecutors filed charges Monday against a 29-year-old man in the fatal shooting of philanthropist Jacqueline Avant, the wife of legendary music executive Clarence Avant, last week at their Beverly Hills home.

Aariel Maynor is also charged with the attempted murder of the Avants’ security guard, whom he allegedly shot at during the Dec. 1 robbery but did not wound.

Maynor’s arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday. It was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

“Mrs. Avant was a treasured member of our community. Her generosity and goodwill touched so many lives,” District Attorney George Gascón said in a news release.

Maynor is additionally charged with one count of felon with a firearm — an assault long barrel pistol — and two counts of residential burglary with person present. He has previous felony convictions for assault, robbery and grand theft and was on parole at the time of the shooting.

Police were called to the Avants’ home on Dec. 1 after a 2:23 a.m. call reporting a shooting. Officers found Jacqueline Avant, 81, with a gunshot wound. She was taken to the hospital but did not survive.

An hour later, Los Angeles Police Department officers were called to a home in the Hollywood Hills — about 7 miles (11.27 kilometers) from the Avant residence — for a reported shooting. They found Maynor there, as well as evidence of a burglary at that home, and took him into custody.

Maynor accidentally shot himself in the foot while breaking into the Hollywood Hills home. An LAPD watch commander “put two and two together” and reached out to Beverly Hills investigators.

Jacqueline Avant was a longtime local philanthropist who led organizations that helped low-income neighborhoods including Watts and South Los Angeles, and was on the board of directors of the International Student Center at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The Avants’ daughter, Nicole Avant, is a film producer and former U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas and is married to Netflix co-CEO and Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos.


Montana
Woman pleads not guilty to killing her 2 children
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — A western Montana woman pleaded not guilty Monday to two counts of deliberate homicide alleging that she killed her young children last month by cutting their throats.

Leannah J. Gardipe, 34, of Missoula appeared in District Court with her defense attorney, Benjamin Darrow. He did not request a hearing to modify Gardipe’s $10 million bail, the Missoulian reported.

The court has already ordered a mental health evaluation for Gardipe.

Gardipe’s mother first reported the Nov. 19 killings after Gardipe called her mother to say she had “saved her babies,” court records said. The victims were a 3-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy, NBC Montana reported.

Gardipe also called 911. She told dispatchers the stabbing happened that morning in her bedroom, and that “(she) was supposed to die” that day.

Detectives found a note in the house that said, “it was the only way that we all wouldn’t burn, now I’m the only one of us that will,” court records said.

The next hearing in the case is set for Feb. 8 before District Court Judge Robert Deschamps.

South Dakota
Man sentenced in crash that killed motorcyclist
ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) — An Aberdeen man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison with five years suspended in a crash that killed a man just weeks away from getting married.

Carson Maunu, 19, earlier pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in an agreement with prosecutors. Maunu originally faced three felonies.

Maunu was driving a pickup truck last June that crossed the center line on an avenue in Aberdeen, and collided with a motorcycle, killing 27-year-old Casey Kulm, of Groton.

During a sentencing hearing Friday, several relatives of the victim talked about the loss of a family member who was three weeks away from getting married. They said Kulm was studying to become a trauma medic at the time of his death.

“Carson, you are the only one responsible. I pray that someday I can forgive you, but that won’t come without a change in your lifestyle,” said Kulm’s father, Mike Kulm.

Brown County State’s Attorney Ernest Thompson said Maunu had been drinking alcohol that night and left the scene of the crash. Thompson argued for a 15-year sentence.

Maunu’s attorney Chad Locken argued for a lighter sentence and noted that his client has been going through trauma and grief counseling since the crash, Aberdeen American News reported.

Judge Gregg Magera suspended five of the 15-year sentence he imposed, provided Maunu have a chemical dependency evaluation and complete aftercare recommendations. Maunu’s driver’s license will also be revoked for 10 years starting at the time of his release from prison.


Massachusetts
Man who fled state convicted of 2003 sexual assaults
PITTSFIELD, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts man who fled the state in 2010 just before he was scheduled to face trial on sexual assault charges involving two young girls has finally been brought to justice, prosecutors said Monday.

Juan Harry, 54, was convicted on Friday of three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child and one count of rape of a child and was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, according to a statement from the office of Berkshire District Attorney Andrea Harrington.

Harry was arrested by North Adams police and charged with sexually assaulting two 11-year-old girls in 2003, authorities said.

But he fled the area in 2010 just as his trial was scheduled to start. Authorities did not catch up to him until this August when he was arrested on a default warrant in Nassau County, New York, the district attorney said.

“We are glad to finally bring the victims, now adult women who waited a long time for this day, some closure with this lengthy sentence,” Harrington said in a statement.


Massachusetts
Former teacher gets 4 years in prison for abuse of student
BOSTON (AP) — A former teacher in the Boston public schools who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a former student starting when she was 12 years old has been sentenced to four years in prison.

David Lockwood, 54, of Arlington, was a teacher at the James P. Timilty Middle School in the city’s Roxbury neighborhood at the time of the assaults, which started in 1996 and continued until 2000, according to a statement Monday from the office of Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins.

Lockwood, who pleaded guilty to four counts of child rape, was also sentenced by a judge to two years of probation, and ordered to undergo sex offender treatment and register as a sex offender.

He was indicted in 2017 after the now-adult victim came forward.

Lockwood used his position as a teacher to gain the girl’s trust, prosecutors said. He would often drive her to school-sponsored events and it was during one of those drives that the abuse began, prosecutors said.

“This individual used his position of trust and authority to gain access to his victim and to maintain an unequal power dynamic that kept her silent and under his control. These are the actions of a predator,” Rollins said.