Kansas
ACLU to amend gay-marriage suit against state
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - The lawyer who sued to overturn Kansas' ban on same-sex marriages says he will amend the lawsuit to try and force state agencies to provide benefits to married same-sex couples.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that the state can't enforce its ban on same-sex marriages. But Gov. Sam Brownback's administration said this week it will not make any policy changes to recognize the marriages while it defends the ban against the federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Some counties are issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples but others are not.
The Wichita Eagle reports Doug Bonney, who represented the couples suing the state, said Thursday the lawsuit will be amended to force state agencies to grant full legal rights to the newly married couples.
Tennessee
Defense attorney in Vanderbilt case suspended
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The Tennessee Supreme Court has suspended one of the defense attorneys in the Vanderbilt rape case.
Media report John Herbison was suspended Thursday after three complaints alleging misconduct.
Herbison is part of the defense team representing Brandon Vandenburg, who is one of four former Vanderbilt football players charged with raping a woman in a campus dorm. Vandenburg's trial is set to begin Jan. 12.
The Supreme Court's Board of Professional Responsibility, which regulates lawyers in Tennessee, said in a statement that Herbison's suspension will begin on Nov. 30. He'll be on active suspension for 60 days, and then be on probation for the remainder of the time.
According to the Board of Professional Responsibility, Herbison failed to communicate with two clients and didn't file an appeal for a third.
Indiana
Ex-con charged in teen's death
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - An ex-convict has been charged in the killing of a 15-year-old girl after DNA tests linked him to her badly burned body that was found in an Indianapolis backyard in August, a prosecutor said Friday.
DNA found on Dominique Allen's sandals and body matched samples from 46-year-old William Gholston in the state inmate database, Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry said.
Investigators don't know of any connection between Allen and Gholston, who wasn't initially a suspect in the Aug. 31 slaying, Curry said.
"It was the DNA match in the database which brought Mr. Gholston's name to the attention of the detectives," he during a news conference.
Gholston was released from prison in May after serving a sentence for 2006 convictions on illegal gun possession and resisting arrest charges. He previously served prison sentences for armed robbery and drug possession, according to Indiana Department of Correction records.
Curry said Gholston was arrested in the northeastern Indiana city of Bluffton this month for parole violation.
Court records didn't list an attorney for Gholston and an initial court hearing on the murder charge wasn't immediately scheduled Friday.
Gholston told police investigators that he wasn't in Indianapolis in August and knew nothing about Allen's death, Curry said. The address Gholston gave for his parole was near where her body was found, but it wasn't clear when or whether he ever lived in the neighborhood on the city's near northwest side.
The teen's purse and shoes were discovered about a block from where her body was found, according to police.
Several of Allen's relatives and friends held hands and prayed in a circle after the news conference announcing the charges.
Kansas
Man pleads not guilty in death during chase
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) - The case of a northeast Kansas man who faces six felony charges after a 5-year-old girl died during a police chase might move to federal court soon, according to a county prosecutor.
Marcas McGowan, 30, of Atchison pleaded not guilty Thursday to felony murder after waiving his preliminary hearing in Leavenworth County District Court. He's also charged with two counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, aggravated endangering a child and fleeing or attempting to elude police by engaging in reckless driving.
Authorities allege McGowan abducted Cadence Harris on July 18 from a home they shared with the girl's mother in Atchison. The police chase crossed into Missouri before it ended near Leavenworth, Kansas, when officers shot McGowan after they say he pointed a gun at them. He was briefly hospitalized before being jailed.
Cadence was found dead from a gunshot in McGowan's car. Authorities have not publicly said who fired the shot that killed the girl.
Cadence's mother, Christina Harris, told reporters after the shooting in July that she and McGowan were involved in five-year relationship that often was abusive. She said McGowan took Cadence, who was not his daughter, after the couple got into an argument.
Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson said during the hearing that the case may be headed to federal court, which would mean the state charges would be dismissed, The Leavenworth Times reported. He said the federal indictment could come within a month.
McGowan remains jailed in Leavenworth County on $1 million bond.
South Carolina
Firefighter sentenced in murder for hire
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - A former Charleston firefighter has been sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison for trying to hire an undercover police officer to kill his wife.
Edward Clinton Jones III, 42, was sentenced Wednesday. He previously pleaded guilty to murder for hire charges, according to reports by local media outlets.
Authorities have said that Jones approached a man last year and asked him if he knew someone who would be willing to kill his wife. Jones allegedly told the man he wanted his wife killed because she was planning on leaving him and moving to Delaware with their children.
The man went to police and later met with Jones and an undercover officer, whom authorities say Jones offered to pay $8,000 to "finish off" his wife. Testimony revealed Jones wanted to collect insurance money.
Michelle Jones said she is still afraid that her husband wants to have her killed and has been saddled with debt since his arrest.
"I have to check in with someone every day, I have to call my children to tell them I'm on my way home every night," she said.
Published: Mon, Nov 24, 2014
