Court Digest

Florida
Man accused of hacking woman charged with 1st-degree murder
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A Florida grand jury indicted a man on first-degree murder charges Thursday after police say he killed a Pennsylvania woman and dumped her dismembered body into a bay.

The Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office said it had obtained an indictment against 69-year-old Robert Kessler. He had been charged with second-degree murder for last month’s death of earlier of Stephanie Crone-Overholts, 47, of Erie, Pennsylvania.

A fisherman spotted body parts belonging to her in McKay Bay. Police released photos of her tattoo — three hearts including the name of her son. The photos went viral online and made their way back to her family in Pennsylvania where she had been reported missing.

The relationship between Kessler and Crone-Overholts was unclear. Interim Tampa Police Chief Ruben Delgado said last month that the two had been living together after meeting at a fast-food restaurant.

Police found her blood inside his van and home, Delgado said.

It’s unclear if Kessler has retained an attorney who could comment on the charges.

Prosecutors have not decided yet whether to seek the death penalty.

California
DNA match solves case of waitress killed in 1996
MARTINEZ, Calif. (AP) — A DNA match has helped cold case investigators solve the killing of a San Francisco Bay Area waitress whose body was found in a restaurant’s basement bathroom 25 years ago, authorities said Thursday.

A murder charge was filed by prosecutors against prison inmate Danny Lamont Hamilton, alleging he drowned Priscilla Lewis during an attempted rape and burglary at a restaurant in the city of Crockett on September 24, 1996, said a statement from the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office.

The case went unsolved for decades after investigators interviewed dozens of people, submitted numerous pieces of evidence for analysis and executed several search warrants, the statement said.

Detectives last year submitted additional evidence to a DNA crime lab and a match came back that linked Hamilton to the crime, the statement said.

He is serving a life sentence at a state prison near San Diego after being convicted of sexual assault charges unrelated to Lewis’ death, authorities said. It was not known whether he has a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.

Troy Kinslow, a cousin of Lewis who grew up with her in the nearby town of Port Costa, said her slaying haunted him for years.

“I was across the street, at the bar drinking and had seen her on her break,” Kinslow said. “And the next morning I went to the store to get something to drink and a friend said, ‘you heard about her?’”

He said he urged detectives three years ago to reexamine the case.

“They told me, ‘you have been on us.’ My thousands of texts and calls got them fired up,” he said.

Kinslow added: “It’s been a long process and it’s been very tiring emotionally and physically but I never gave up.”


Kentucky
Car dealer convicted in truck warranty fraud scheme
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A Kentucky used car dealer has been convicted by a federal jury in West Virginia in a truck warranty fraud scheme in which prosecutors said he bilked automaker Toyota Motor Corp. out of more than $4.3 million.

James Pinson, 46, of Pritchard, West Virginia, was convicted following a three-day trial of multiple counts including wire and mail fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiring to commit money laundering, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

Pinson, who was the owner of a dealership in Louisa, Kentucky, faces up to 220 years in prison, plus a mandatory two-year sentence for aggravated identity theft. Sentencing has been set for March 3. He also must pay restitution, while property connected to the scheme is subject to forfeiture.

According to evidence at his trial, Pinson bought Toyota trucks at wholesale prices at auction. He fraudulently titled the trucks in the names of Kentucky and West Virginia residents whose driver’s licenses he had obtained. Pinson then persuaded Toyota to rebuy the trucks at 150% of their retail value.

Between 2013 and 2015, Toyota issued 350 checks in the names of individual false owners, prosecutors said in a statement. Pinson forged signatures on all 350 checks, which he deposited into his bank account.

Pinson used the money to buy more Toyota trucks at wholesale prices. He also paid cash bribes to a Toyota dealership service manager and a company representative hired to administer a customer support program.

Prosecutors said Pinson used the money to buy a beach house in Pawley’s Island, South Carolina.

Maryland
Man who claimed panhandler killed wife convicted of murder
BALTIMORE (AP) — A Baltimore jury convicted a man of first-degree murder Thursday in the 2018 stabbing of his wife that he blamed on a panhandler.

Jurors deliberated about five hours over two days before convicting Keith Smith, 55, of Aberdeen, of murdering his wife, Jacquelyn Smith, The Baltimore Sun reported. He was also convicted of a weapons charge.

Keith Smith told police his wife, an engineer at an Army facility, was knifed by a man after handing $10 to a female panhandler who appeared to be holding a baby. Smith’s version of his wife’s slaying drew national attention, as he and his daughter, Valeria, gave tearful interviews. Oprah Winfrey, once a newscaster in Baltimore, tweeted that the tragic case would make her reconsider handing out cash to panhandlers.

But the story fell apart. Investigators reviewed footage from surveillance cameras along the Smiths’ supposed route that night.

“The defendant’s vehicle and panhandlers are nowhere to be found,” Assistant State’s Attorney Shaundria Hanna told jurors. “There’s no panhandlers; it was all made up.”

Keith Smith and his daughter were arrested in March 2019 in Texas during what police portrayed as a desperate dash to Mexico.

Earlier this week, jurors heard from Valeria Smith, who pleaded guilty in 2019 to acting as an accessory after her stepmother’s slaying, admitting to ditching her stepmother’s purse at a bus stop to support the panhandler story.

She testified that her father drove them into the park with his wife dozing in the front passenger seat and stabbed her. Afterward, Keith Smith coached his daughter on what they would tell police.

“The story was supposed to be it was a homeless person, or two homeless people, that had a baby, and Mrs. Jacquelyn was supposed to feel sorry for them,” Valeria Smith told the jury. “When she gave them the money, they stabbed her.”

Keith Smith declined to testify. His attorney Natalie Finegar told the jury that inconsistencies in Keith Smith’s story do not prove he killed his wife. They also told the jury they can’t trust his daughter.

Under Valeria Smith’s plea deal, she agreed  to testify against her father in exchange for five years in prison. She would usually face 10 years. Her sentencing is set for Monday and she could be released on parole.

Sentencing for Keith Smith is set for Feb. 28. Prosecutors said they will ask for life in prison, the maximum penalty.

Colorado
Ex-cop pleads guilty to using Taser on man in his 70s
IDAHO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A former Colorado police officer who used a Taser on a 75-year-old man without warning, requiring the man to be taken to the hospital, pleaded guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor assault charge in a deal in which he permanently relinquished his right to serve as a law enforcement officer in the state.

An attorney for the man’s family objected to the deal, claiming that prosecutors showed former Idaho Springs Officer Nicholas Hanning special treatment and asking the judge to consider appointing a special prosecutor to take on the case, KUSA-TV reports.

Judge Cynthia Jones conditionally accepted the plea but scheduled a January hearing to hear objections from Michael Clark’s family attorney. The charge carries a penalty of six to 24 months in jail and sentencing was also set for January.

If the judge finds a special prosecutor is needed, the plea deal would be voided.

Prosecutors denied doing Hanning any favors and cited his acceptance of responsibility as a factor in the deal.

Hanning was charged with third-degree assault on an at-risk person and fired from the department after the May 30 event.

According to police body camera footage and court documents, Hanning and another officer knocked on the door to Clark’s apartment without announcing they were officers. A 30-year-old woman who had just moved in next door had accused Clark of punching her in the face, which Clark later denied.

Clark opened the door — yelling, “What do you want?” — and Hanning forced him into a wall, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Clark was holding what his attorney said was a collectible sword made from a sawfish snout and put it away but refused repeated police commands to both lie down and leave the apartment. Hanning then used his Taser on Clark, who fell and hit a chair, an affidavit said.

Hanning told a paramedic that he also kicked Clark in the knee and punched him in the back of the head, the affidavit said.

Within days, Clark was hospitalized for a stroke and other health problems, according to Clark’s family lawyer, Sarah Schiekle.

Police originally said Clark and the officer got into an altercation before the Taser was used but later said Hanning initiated the altercation and that Clark put down a sword-like weapon when asked to do so.


New York
Man who represented himself convicted of murdering 4 people in home
TROY, N.Y. (AP) — A man who represented himself at trial was convicted of murdering four people, including two children, in an apartment in Troy in 2017.

Jurors deliberated for just hours before finding James White, 42, guilty on 16 counts on Wednesday, the Times Union reported.

White and another man, Justin Mann, were both initially charged in the deaths of Brandi Mells, 22, Shanta Myers, 36, and Myers’ two children: Jeremiah, 11, and 5-year-old Shanise.

Prosecutors said the two men stabbed all four in the neck after going to the home to collect $12 allegedly owed to a relative. They also took a television and an Xbox video game system, prosecutors said.

The bodies of the four people were not found until several days later, the newspaper reported.

Mann pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and appeared as a witness for the prosecution, meaning that White cross-examined him directly in this trial.

White claimed that he waited outside as Mann killed the four people and insisted he was innocent in his closing argument, the newspaper reported.

A juror on the trial, Halbert Copeland, 61, told the newspaper he did not find White’s story believable.

“He was a manipulator and a liar and that was so evident,” Copeland said.

A judge declared a mistrial in a previous trial for White because of the coronavirus pandemic.

White is scheduled to be sentenced by the judge on Jan. 5 and faces the potential of life in prison without the possibility of parole.